Month: July 2014

Do the Giants really want to win this year?

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By Jeremy Harness

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline came and went Thursday afternoon, but not without most of the playoff-contending teams making significant deals to bolster their lineups in time to make a second-half push.

The one team that was MIA on Thursday was, of course, the Giants, who judging by the way they conducted business near the deadline, look like they are pretty much conceding the National League West title to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Granted, the Giants got a nice addition to the rotation in Jake Peavy last week, but in order to catch the division-leading Dodgers, they had to do a lot better than that.

For starters, they did absolutely nothing about their long-standing issue at second base. Ehire Adrianza and Marco Scutaro are both on the disabled list with different injuries, and neither appears to be ready to come back any time soon.

As a result, the Giants will be forced to play Dan Uggla, a notorious butcher at the position whose only saving grace had been his bat, which has declined in the past few years to the point where no other teams would touch him after he was released by Atlanta a few weeks ago.

That is, of course, until general manager Brian Sabean went on a wing and a prayer that a simple change in scenery would make all the difference for a player who has really had only two solid big-league seasons to begin with.

It appears that all the Giants have been doing this season following their June collapse is playing the hope game, that all of their injured key players would magically come back and lead a major resurgence to catapult the team back into the postseason without having to make any real upgrades to do it.

In addition, Sabean failed to upgrade the team’s leadoff situation. This is especially important because Angel Pagan’s back injury is almost exactly the same as Scutaro’s, and the Giants are simply hopeful that Pagan will be able to return at some point and save their badly-struggling lineup.

The Dodgers have a bona fide leadoff man in Dee Gordon. The Giants, on the other hand, have been using Hunter Pence as their top-of-the-lineup guy. Even though Pence has been decent at that position, he is much better suited as a No.2 or even a No. 5.

This isn’t all Sabean’s fault, however. The main reason why the Giants could not pull the trigger on any significant moves is due to the fact that their farm system, once a reliable tool in situations like this, is not strong enough to entice other teams into giving up one of their key players.

So when you add it all up, the best move that the Giants were able to muster up was getting Peavy, who still a serviceable starter, is a few years past his prime and is ceiling at this point of his career is holding down the No.4 spot in the rotation.

Not exactly what you’re looking for when trying to catch a team that is gaining momentum and is already significantly better than you anyway. Now, it seems that the only question that remains is how long it will take the Dodgers to wrap up the division.

Meanwhile, that other Bay Area ballclub didn’t exactly half-step in the wheeling-and-dealing game.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Cespedes refusal to play center main factor for trade to Boston

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEM–Nobody that follows the game should be surprised by Athletics Genral Manager Billy Beane dealing A’s outfielder Yoenis Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox for three-time All Star lefhander Jon Lester. On that same deal, the Oakland A’s also get popular outfielder Jonny Gomes (Petaluma’s own) who played for the A’s in 2012.

After 2015 Céspedes can be a Free Agent, and the A’s were probably not ready to give the two-time Homerun Derby Champ a lucrative deal, so Céspedes (.256 17 Homeruns 67 runs batted in) value was high and the reigning World Champion Boston Red Sox, today living in the cellar of the American League East, took Billy Beane’s deal without a problem.

Remember, Lester said he would not mind going back to Boston after this season) so this could be a two-month rental, and one that could bring a World Series Championship to Oakland, the first since 1989. It could also backfire for Billy, but such are the risk General Managers take when they wheel and deal.By-the-way in that same deal, the A’s received cash from the Red Sox.

More action today, the A’s traded left hander pitcher Tommy Milone (27 years old) 6-3 with a 3.55 earned run average) somebody that the lowly Twins can insert right away in their rotation.

It is only poetic that this Saturday the Athletics have “La Potencia”T-Shirt promotion at the Oakland Coliseum. “La Potencia”is what they called Yoenis Céspedes in Cuba prior to his defecting to the US. First time I interview the Cuban-born star was during his first season as he got ready to put the A’s uniform on in Spring Training, in Phoenix, Arizona. I will never forget that moment, his locker was next to that of Bartolo Colón, and Céspedes was ready to take the field for practice with his glove that sported a Cuban flag on it.

Céspedes was a good player for the A’s, recently he told manager Bob Melvin he didn’t want to play center-field, Colón was not re-signed by the A’s after he won 18 games and wanted a two-year deal, one that the Mets gave him. Colón is also a pitcher that many teams have talked to the Mets about. At 41 the man throws nothing but strikes and even with the Mets (not a good team) has a very good number. Both Colón and Céspedes were part of A’s history.

Yoenis Céspedes was the most exciting player the A’s have had during the past few seasons, but baseball is a business and nobody does that better than A’s General Manager Billy Beane. So I wish the A’s good luck and hope the deal works for the team. Coco Crisp continues with his neck problems, Craig Gentry who was signed as a fourth outfielder is out with a broken hand, Céspedes didn’t wanted to play centerfield recently in Houston.

Melvin said he doesn’t know when Crisp will return to the lineup. … left fielder Yoenis Cespedes told him that he didn’t want to move to center field. … outfield, Brandon Moss is not a candidate to play center field, Melvin

Adiós Yoenis!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsrradioservice.com

What a Day for the A’s

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by Jerry Feitelberg

A’s report for July 31st 2014

Today’s report was just going to be a pretty strait forward report on the upcoming ten game home stand against the Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays an Minnesota Twins.

All that changed this morning when A’s General Manager Billy Beane pulled off a huge trade on the last day that non-waiver deals could be made. The A’s acquired the ace left handed pitcher, Jon Lester, and an old old friend, Jonny Gomes, from the Boston Red Sox early Thursday morning. As exciting as that was getting those two players, the big news is the the A’s are sending their All-Star left fielder, Yoenis Cespedes, to Boston. Cespedes in the third year of a four year contract and would be a free agent after the 2015 season. It was doubtful that the A’s could pony up the kind of money that Cespedes could command as a free agent in the future.

What this says is that Beane wants to win it all in 2014. The A’s under Beane have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs except for 2006 when they were swept by the Detroit Tigers in the AL Championship Series. Beane know that good pitching will stop good hitting and he now has four starters that all could be an ace on anyone’s team Lester, Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir and Jeff Samardzija

are all terrific pitchers. The fifth man in the rotation is still Jason Hammel who has been ineffective since coming to Oakland in a trade.

The A’s then traded lefty Tommy Milone to the Minnesota Twins for outfielder Sam Fuld. Fuld was with the A’s early in the season but was Designated for Assignment as the A’s had too many outfielders at that time. Fuld is hitting .263 with an on base percentage of .356 and .722 ops.

The A’s plan to platoon Fuld and Gomes in left field. Gomes will play against lefties and Fuld will face the righties. Gomes is a local lad from Petaluma and he had a great clubhouse presence when he played he in 2012. Welcome back, Jonny.

Now to look at the three teams the A’s will face in the next ten days. The Kansas City Royals arrive Friday night for a three game set with the A’s. The Royals are currently in second place in the AL Central. Their record is 54-50 and they trail the Detroit Tigers by 4 ½ games. The Royals sent three players to the All-Star game. The standouts are outfielder Alex Gordon, catcher Salvador Perez and closer Greg Holland. The Royals also feature Eric Hosmer at first base, DH Billy Butler, third baseman Mike Moustakas and second baseman Omar Infante. The Royals cannot be taken lightly.

The Tampa Bay Rays arrive in Oakland on Monday with a record of 53-55 and have been playing better lately. The Rays had a lot of injuries to the pitching staff early in the season but some of the pitchers have returned from the DL and have been pitching well. One pitcher the A’ s won’t have to face is former Cy Young award winner, David Price. Price went to the Detroit Tigers Thursday in a three-way trade between the Rays,Tigers and Mariners. The Rays received Drew Smyley from Detroit and Nick Franklin from Seattle while Austen Jackson went to Seattle. The Rays, under Joe Maddon, play the game the right way and the A’s will be tested during this three game set.

Rounding out the home stand will be a four game series with the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are in last place in the AL central with a record of 48-58. The Twins have always played the A’s tough in the past. Former A’s catcher, Kurt Suzuki, is the team leader hitting .304 so far this year and Kurt made the AL All-Star team.

It will be interesting to see how the revamped A’s starting rotation performs during the next ten days.

The A’s have four goals in mind right now. One, win the division. Two, win the ALDS, 3, Win the ALCS and finally, win the World Series. They have made the moves to make this team very formidable. All the A’s have to do is go out and win.

Giants get plenty of assistance from Pirates to end losing skid

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By Morris Phillips

It was wacky and ridiculous at AT&T Park on Wednesday, and for the first time since July 13 it was a Giants’ win.

Leading 5-4 in the sixth inning and looking to add on, the Pirates committed a series of blunders on the bases and in the field that allowed the Giants to mount a comeback and avoid a history-making 0-6 homestand.

While their performance in the 7-5 win wasn’t one to trumpet the end of their season-altering slide in which they’ve won just 16 times in 45 games, the Giants figure to generate momentum in another way: by making a trade or two on the final day of trading before the non-waiver trade deadline.

The Giants are rumored to be on the trail of Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera, the Cubs’ Emilio Bonifacio and others in an attempt to breathe life into their moribund offensive attack. In scoring seven runs on Wednesday, the Giants scored more runs than the six they scored in their previous six games.

Also the Giants have parted ways with Dan Uggla and Tyler Colvin in advance of their east coast road trip which commences on Friday night. Uggla was hitless in 11 at-bats with six strikeouts and three errors in a failed attempt to resurrect the 2010 All-Star’s career. Colvin’s status remains undetermined; he could wind up at AAA Fresno or released unconditionally.

With runners aboard, Pittsburgh’s Chris Stewart drew a walk to apparently load the bases with one out. But the runner at second base, Travis Snider wandered off base, misreading the situation and was tagged out in a rundown. Then Gabby Sanchez made a similar mistake in between third and home and was also tagged out.

“We got lucky with that one. Everything happened so quick. Almost like little league, a rundown, playing a game of pickle,” Giants’ infielder Joe Panik recounted.
“I haven’t seen that,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He (Snider) must’ve thought the bases were loaded, going to third.”

The Pirates then played the follies defensively, contributing to the Giants’ rally with a passed ball and a throwing error in the two-run seventh inning. Gregor Blanco contributed a softly-struck single up the middle to tie the game at 5, preceding the past ball charged to the Pirates’ Stewart.

Jean Machi picked up the win for the Giants, improving to 6-0. Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings for the Giants with Casilla picking up his eighth save of the season.

The Giants hadn’t won a game at AT&T Park since July 13 against the Diamondbacks. Even with the win, the Giants have dropped 21 of their last 28 home games.

Bears report: Dykes admits team needs spurcing up on offense; reports GPAs much better

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by Ralph Gora

SANTA CLARA–The one thing that was discussed at Wednesday’s college coaches luncheon at Levi’s Stadium that the Cal Bears player athletes scores were much better. That was something confirmed by the head coach Sonny Dykes. Dykes also admitted the Bears had a tough year last season going 1-12 but look to turn things around in 2014.

“We have tremendous optimism as we start on Sunday and look forward to moving on our program, we talk about this last year about the small battles that we won and what they meant to us” Dykes said. Dykes said that there are things that need to be worked on during camp that will impact the future of the program at Cal.

Dykes said that the Bears need to believe in themselves and said that last season brought some pretty adverse situations especially considering that the team won only one game in 2013 with not a lot wins on the field. The optimism on the club has continued and Dykes said it’s carried from early spring to this summer.

Dykes is happy with the team’s hard work in camp thus far and he’s been please with the players attitude and what they’ve brought to camp. Dykes is excited about what he’s seen with the team since last fall and feels that the Bears have a chance to build for this season and looks forward to be involved in a program that the school could be proud of.

The student athletes have improved in the classroom in what was an issue, Dykes said that the team has addressed this with the team and told the players that improvement on their grades need to have the utmost action taken and that it’s paying off for the Bears in the classroom. Dykes said that the players have raised their APR from a 922 to 969 from last year and that was a tremendous jump.

The grade scores have placed Cal in the middle of the Pac 12 Conference and Dykes said there is still work to be done as he is pushing for the school to be at the top. Dykes feels with that number the school can only get better and better with improvement and Dykes said he’s excited that that grade average number is only going to increase for his players.

Ralph Gora covered the Cal Bears at the college coaches luncheon at Levis Stadium on Wednesday for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bay Area College Football Media Day

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[tags, college football, Pac-12, San Jose State}

by Jerry Feitelberg

San Francisco Bay Area College Football Media Day.

The annual Bay Area College Football Media Day was held at the spanking brand new Levi Stadium in Santa Clara. It was the first event of this type to held at the 49ers new stadium and all the media was truly excited to be at the stadium and after the tour the media gave the new stadium rave reviews.

The event kicked off Doug Kelly honoring the late Sam Goldman by placing butterscotch candy at all the tables. Goldman who passed away last month had attained iconic status as he handed out butterscotch candy at all the athletic events he attended and was loved by all that knew him.

After a few short speeches, the coaches from San Jose State, University of California Berkeley and Stanford were introduced. First speaker was Ron Caragher from San Jose State. In his first season, Caragher had a 5-3 record in conference play and 6-6 overall. It was the first time in 21 years that a first-year San Jose State coach produced a .500 percentage and a winning record in conference play. Jabari Carr and David Peterson represented the SJS players.

Cal coach Sonny Dykes talked about the expectations to improve on last year’s dismal season and how tough the Pac-12 Conference is. Dykes said that his team will be ready to play and they open the season against Northwestern. Dykes was accompanied by Cal players Chris Adcock and Brannon Scarlett.

The final speaker was Stanford coach David Shaw. Shaw is starting his fourth year as Cardinal coach and he is hoping to continue the success that he has had the last three season which included three straight bowl appearances and the last two were at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Stanford won the Rose Bowl game in 2013 but lost the game on New Year’s day 2014. Stanford has a lot of the team returning including quarterback Kevin Hogan, linebacker A.J.Tarpley and wide receiver, kickoff returner Ty Montgomery. The Cardinal lost player on both the offensive and defensive lines, linebackers and defensive backs. Hopefully the new players will step up and help Stanford to the Pac-12 championship again this year. Coach Shaw spoke about the need for the team to gel. He did not elaborate about how long the process would take but he was hoping for sooner rather later. A.J. Tarpley felt that the team would be prepared as the open the season against UC Davis and then meet the University of Southern California Trojans at Stanford Stadium in the second game of the year. He, however, warned against looking ahead to games on the schedule and stated that the team would prepare only for the team that they woulf face that week.Ty Montgomery reiterated much of what Tarpley said and he felt that he would be ready for the season despite having shoulder surgery earlier this year.

It was a great event again this year and football practice starts next week for the upcoming season. No one knows how the teams will fare this year but that’s why they play the games.

Kings sign C/PF Eric Moreland

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings have signed forward/center Eric Moreland to a contract according to Kings General Manager Pete D’Alessandro. Moreland played for the Kings Summer League team in Las Vegas.

Moreland is a 6-10, 218 pounder who has played both center and power forward. In Las Vegas, Moreland averaged 3.5 points per game with a .444 field goal percentage. He averaged 8.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 2.7 blocks and 19.2 minutes per game in six appearances for Sacramento. Moreland came off the bench for the Kings in all of the games he played. He led the Summer League with 16 blocks.

Moreland is a two time Pac-12 All-Defensive Honorable Mention player. He finished his career at Oregon State in 2013-14. Moreland is the all-time leader in blocked shots at Oregon State with 184 total blocks in his career.

Moreland has a 7-4 wingspan and is said to have excellent mobility. Scouting reports say he runs the floor well and can play above the rim.

Astros Jump on Hammel Early to Top A’s 8-1

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By Matthew Harrington

For the fourth time in as many outings, the Oakland Athletics lost a game started by trade acquisition Jason Hammel. In need of a win to keep the Los Angeles Angels over a game back entering play Wednesday afternoon, the A’s instead fell to the Astros 8-1 at Minute Maid Park. The Green and Gold (66-41) also dropped Monday’s contest in Houston 7-3, marking Wednesday as only the second series loss in 11 chances all-time against the Astros (44-64) since the start of interleague play and Houston’s move the American League last season.

Two starts removed from a brief two-inning July 19th start where the right hander yielded five runs against the Orioles, Hammel again found himself in early trouble Wednesday afternoon. The other starter acquired in the July 4th Jeff Samardzija blockbuster surrendered six runs in a six-hit first inning, then served up a two-run home run to Jon Singleton in the fifth for eight earned runs. Hammel (8-9, 3.87 ERA) struck out four, walked a trio of Astros and scattered seven hits in his 4 1/3 innings of work to take the loss. He has now allowed 18 runs over 17 innings with the Athletics.

The lone bright spot for the A’s came in the second inning after Josh Donaldson took the first pitch, an 88 mile-per-hour fastball, of the inning over the Crawford boxes in left field. Donaldson’s 23rd homer of the season was the only run Oakland scored off Astros starter Dallas Keuchel. The southpaw (10-7, 2.97) went the distance, notching five strikeouts and a scant three hits over his complete-game gem. Billy Burns went 0-for-4 in his first major league start in the leadoff spot for Bob Melvin with Coco Crisp still in Oakland after receiving an MRI on his neck Monday.

With the A’s idle Thursday, the Angels could pull a half-game back of Oakland by the time the AL West Leaders open up a 10-game homestand Friday night against the Kansas City Royals. The Halos, sitting two games back at the moment, play an evening game against the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday before wrapping up the four-game set at Camden Yards Thursday.

Opening Day starter Sonny Gray will open the weekend series for the A’s Friday night looking for a superhuman effort on a night when O.Co Coliseum will be lit up with a postgame super hero-inspired fireworks display. He’ll clash with the Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie in an attempt to save the dwindling AL-West lead from peril.

After three against the Royals, the surging Tampa Bay Rays roll into town (with or without hot trade commodity David Price) for a three-game set followed by a four-game series against former Athletic Kurt Suzuki and the Minnesota Twins. August 9th against the Twins, fans will receive a special Tony La Russa Hall of Fame bobblehead in honor of the legendary skipper’s induction into Cooperstown earlier this month.

The A’s rally to defeat the Astros

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by Jerry Feitelberg

A’S SNATCH VICTORY FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT

Holy Toledo!! That’s what the late great A’s broadcaster would say when a great play or a great win would occur on the field. Tuesday night in Houston, the A’s came back from a three run deficit trailing 4-1 in the top of the ninth and they were down to their last strike when they rallied for six runs and beat the Houston Astros 7-4. The Astros have played the A’s tough so far this year and the won the first game of the three game series on Monday night. Had the A’s lost , the team would have had a record of 2-3 on the five game trip to Texas and the best they could hope for was a 3-3 road trip. However, the never-say-die guys from Oakland came to life and stunned the Astros with their comeback.

The A’s sent Jeff Samardzija to the hill and he was opposed by the Astros’ Scott Feldman. The game didn’t start well for Samardzija as Marwin Gonzalez, the second batter Samardzija faced, hit a home run to give Houston an early 1-0 lead. The A’s tied the game in the top of the fifth when Josh Reddick blasted his sixth home run of the year to make it a 1-1 game. The Astros, however, came back and scored two in the bottom of the fifth. Robbie Grossman singled singled and then stole second. Enrique Hernandez followed with a triple and the American League leader in batting and hits, Jose Altuve singled to drive in the third run of the game for the Astros. The Astros scored another run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 4-1 game and A’s manager Bob Melvin took Samardzija out of the game.

Samardzija went 6 2/3rds innings giving up six hits and four earned runs. He walked two and struck seven while throwing 104 pitches. The Astros Scott Feldman probably had the best game of his career against the A’s Tuesday night going seven inning allowing just five hits and one run. At this point in the game it looked like Feldman was going to pick up the win.

However, we are talking about the Oakland A’s and as Yogi Berra once said “it ain’t over till it’s over.”

It’s also the magic of baseball. A team can look lethargic and beaten for eight innings but then can rally in the ninth to come back and win the game. That is exactly what the A’s did to the Astros Tuesday night. The Astros brought in their closer, Chad Qualls, to pitch. With one out, A’s catcher Derek Norris reached base on an infield single. The next batter was Josh Reddick. Reddick, who had homered earlier in the game, doubled to left center field advancing Norris to third base. Alberto Callaspo, pinch hitting for Eric Sogard, slammed a double to right center and drove in Norris and Reddick making it a 4-3 game. The A’s replaced Callaspo with the very fleet footed Billy Burns. The next batter John Jaso ground into a fielder’s choice, Jaso reached second on a wild pitch and was now in scoring position to tie the game. Shortstop Jed Lowrie walked on a 3-2 pitch to put men on at 1st and 2nd. Quall had two strikes on Cespedes and needed one more strike to win the game but Yoenis Cespedes was able to hit a blooper to right field to drive in Jaso with the tying run. Astros’ manager Bo Porter had seen enough. He brought in left Tony Sipp to pitch to Brandon Moss. With the count at 3-2, Moss singled sharply to right field allowing Lowrie to score the go-ahead run. That was it for Sipp and he was replaced by Jose Veras. Donaldson swung and missed at the first pitch thrown by Veras but he didn’t miss the second one as he blasted a shot to deep center field that went way over the center fielder’s head and two more runs scored. 7-4 in favor of the A’s as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth. The A’s brought in closer Sean Doolittle and he set the Astros down 1-2-3 to secure the win and pick the save.

Winning pitcher was Evan Scribner who pitched the eighth inning for the A’s and Chad Qualls took the loss.

After the game Chad Qualls said “They make contact. They take a lot of pitches Two of the hits they got tonight weren’t hit really hard.-Norris’ to start everything off was a little nubber to third and the Cespedes that tied it was just a jam shot they got to the outfield. They found some holes when they needed to and hit the ball on the screws when they needed to. I just didn’t get it done.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin said ‘That’s amazing. For a late-inning at bat, that’s as good as I’ve ever seen in a team.The 27th out, we don’t give that away. It’s an attribute. That’s the way this team is.”