Month: July 2014

Stults keeps Giants bats at bay

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By Jeremy Kahn

Even with Brandon Belt back in the lineup, the San Francisco Giants still are unable to break out of this rut that now sees them in second place in the National League West.

Eric Stults pitched seven strong innings, as he he and two other relievers combined on a four-hit shutout and the San Diego Padres defeated the Giants 2-0 in the opener of their three-game series at Petco Park.

Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth inning, and then closer Huston Street hit the final three outs for his 23rd save of the season.

It was the first win for Stults in his last nine starts, as he snapped a six-start losing streak and for the first time in two months.

Belt went 0-for-4 including a strikeout in his first game since breaking his wrist earlier this season, as the Giants dropped their third straight game and are now one and one-half games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National a League West.

Once again, it was a tough night for Matt Cain, who lost for the fourth straight time and saw his record for the season fall to 1-7.

Cain allowed two runs on seven hits in six and one-thirds innings, as he is now winless in seven straight starts.

Alexei Amarista hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning, and then Chase Headley drove in Seth Smith with a single later in the inning for the only runs allowed by Cain and the Giants pitching staff on the afternoon.

Punto Provides Pop In 12th To Beat Toronto 1-0

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OAKLAND, CA - JULY 04: Nick Punto #1, and teammates of the Oakland Athletics celebrates deteating the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 in twelve innings at O.co Coliseum on July 4, 2014 in Oakland, California. Punto hit a walk-off rbi double scoring Derek Norris #36 (not pictured) from first base to win the game. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – JULY 04: Nick Punto #1, and teammates of the Oakland Athletics celebrates defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 in twelve innings at O.co Coliseum on July 4, 2014 in Oakland, California. Punto hit a walk-off rbi double scoring Derek Norris #36 (not pictured) from first base to win the game. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – After a Derek Norris walk to lead off the top of the twelfth, Nick Punto smacked a double to left field that Melky Cabrera mishandled and scored Norris to give the A’s a 1-0 win to bring them to a 53-33 record on the year.

On his hit Punto said, ” (I was) Just hoping that D-No could get to third base there. Second and third with one out would have put us in a good position to win that game. Fortunately for us, it got by him (Cabrera).”

The game was pitch perfect the entire time until that error to end the game. Tommy Milone, who started the game for Oakland went six innings and struck out six and only walked one batter. The A’s then sent up a battery of relievers (six total) to secure the win for the A’s including Dan Otero who earned his seventh win of the year.

“I felt really good. Really from the beginning I was able to work the counts, go in and out, up and down when I needed to,” said Milone.

Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “All of the pitching today was fantastic. Once the starter comes out of the game, it’s a 0-0 game, you know you have to shut them down. They came in and did their job for the inning, passed the baton to the next guy.”

The attitude of the Coliseum and the players were the same – the knew they could win the game.

“I don’t know one guy that thinks we’re going to lose a game when we’re going to extra innings. We have that confidence, we have the track record, we’ve been able to get it done in the past, and I think that’s what helps us when we do get into extras,” said Milone.

The A’s continue to have the best record in the majors with 53 wins. The next best team in the league is the surprising Milwakee Brewers who have 51 wins. The A’s hope to extend their winning ways when they face the Jays again tomorrow when the A’s send up Scott Kazmir against Mark Buehrle.

A’s clear favorites for the AL Pennant after big trade nets two starters

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s want to win now. And nothing states that desire more clearly than the acquisition of a pitcher with a losing record and a tough-to-pronounce last name.

According to multiple media outlets, the A’s have acquired starting pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for top prospect Addison Russell, pitcher Dan Straily, 2013 first round pick Billy McKinney and a player to be named later.

With the trade, the A’s acquire a pair of top line starters without losing anyone off their big league roster which has surged over the last month to claim the best record in baseball (53-33). Also, the trade comes nearly four weeks before the July 31 trade deadline, giving the A’s a likely six or seven starts from the former Cubs that they wouldn’t have enjoyed had the trade been consummated at the deadline.

The A’s lose Russell, their top minor league prospect and a guy considered to be among the five best minor leaguers in any organization. The 22-year old Russell participated in the 2013 Futures Game in New York and projects as a middle infielder with pop that would have likely made his big league debut with Oakland in 2015 had he not been traded.

Samardzija stands as the jewel of the trade, a 29-year old power pitcher who is enjoying the best season of his career, despite his 2-7 record for the struggling Cubs. On May 26, Samardzija and the Cubs played at Pac Bell Park against the Giants, and the Chicago ace picked up his first win of the season in his 11th start. A victim of a notoriously unsupportive Cubs attack, Samardzjia claimed the statistical oddity of having the lowest ERA in the history of the game (1.46) after 10 starts of a season without having at least one win.

The former Notre Dame All-American as a wide receiver in football and a NFL prospect has a mid- 90’s fastball and a nasty slider that has allowed him to post a healthy 3-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and allow just 7 home runs in 108 innings pitched this season.

Hammel has eight victories for the Cubs this season with an ERA (2.98) a full run lower than his career mark. The 31-year old Hammel has post-season pitching experience with the Rockies and Orioles. As with Samardzija, Hammel is on track for a career-best season.

The pair stood as the most sought after pitchers on the trade market this summer along with the Rays’ David Price and the Phillies’ Cole Hamels. Both pitchers have extensive experience as relievers before turning into full-time starters.

The A’s needed to make a deal to sure up a rotation that’s missing injured Drew Pomeranz and started the season without Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin. Also current starters Sonny Gray and Jesse Chavez have never pitched over 100 innings in a big league season and they figured to have some drop off in performance at some point.

With the trade, the A’s rotation figures to feature Samardzija, Gray, Scott Kazmir, Hammel and Tommy Milone with Chavez a guy who can clearly be an effective starter but no current spot to ply his trade.

Along with the AL’s best record, the A’s have their statistical dominance featuring a run differential through 86 games (+129) that stands as the biggest in the big leagues prior to the All-Star break since the 2001 Mariners. The A’s lead the majors in runs scored, steal bases at the highest percentage of any club. and they rank fourth in team ERA which also highlights their outstanding bullpen that saw six relievers throw one scoreless inning in Friday’s 1-0, 12 inning win over the Blue Jays.

And now the biggest trade of the season to date has the A’s poised to improve and give them equal footing with playoff nemesis Detroit, who knocked Oakland out of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

Kings sign pass first point guard Darren Collison

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 By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings have apparently signed the pass first point guard that they have been desperately seeking since last season. As reported first by the Los Angeles Times, point guard Darren Collison will leave the Los Angeles Clippers and become a Sacramento King by signing a three-year, $16-million contract. The deal will not become official until July 10th when free-agents can sign with a new team under NBA rules.
Collison became a free-agent when he opted out of the final year of his contract with the Clippers that would have paid him a reported $1.9-million in 2014-15. Collison averaged 11.4-points per game, 2.4-rebounds and 3.7-assist as the back-up point guard to Chris Paul. Collison started 16 games when Paul was out due to injury.
The signing of Collison immediately brings up the question of what does this acquisition mean to the Kings pursuit of Isaiah Thomas? Signing Collison does not change what the Kings are thinking when it comes to Thomas. The worst kept secret in the world has been the Kings desire to have a pass first point guard in the lineup. Isaiah Thomas’ role with Sacramento was going to change in 2014-15 because a “true” point guard was going to be added to the roster.
The Kings were hoping to move Thomas into the sixth-man role to energize the second unit and keep scoring pressure on their opponents. The Kings have reportedly priced that role at $6-million per year. Reports have the Detroit Pistons offering Thomas a three-year contract at $8-million per year. The Kings have the first right of refusal but $8-million per year may exceed their budget for the position.
It has been suggested that the Pistons offer sets the table for a sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento that would send Thomas to Detroit in exchange for forward Josh Smith. The Kings were reportedly interested acquiring Smith for their number-eight draft pick, but the deal was not completed.
The selection of Nik Stauskas also put Thomas’ future with Sacramento in doubt. The Kings now have two legitimate shooting guards in Stauskas and Ben McLemore. Either of those players have the talent to become the sixth-man off the bench for the Kings. Sacramento also has Ray McCallum to play backup point guard which leaves the need for Thomas at a much lower priority.
Collison is a 6-foot, 175-pound point guard who played his college ball at UCLA. He was a first-round pick (21st selection) of the New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans) in 2009. Collison spent one-year in New Orleans, two-years in Indiana, one-year in Dallas and last year in Los Angeles with the Clippers.
Clippers coach and president Doc Rivers had indicated that re-signing Collison was a priority for the Clippers. The prospect of being the starting point guard and making $5-million plus per year appears to have been too much for Collison to ignore.
The signing of Collison does not mean the Kings are finished with making changes to their roster. Sacramento continues to be rumored to be looking to move forward Jason Thompson. Veteran guard Jason Terry has an expiring contract that might make him attractive to a team looking for cap room.
For now, the Kings appear to have filled what they saw as a major hole in their roster with the signing of Collison.

Bochy’s mandate to his Giants: Get mad

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By Morris Phillips

Get mad. That, according to manager Bruce Bochy, is the solution to what ails the Giants.

“Get mad at what’s happened here and do something about it. You’ve got to do that. Do something yourself, including myself, everybody. That’s the best approach,” Bochy said, repeating his message to a group of team leaders in a closed door meeting after the Giants dropped a 7-2 decision to the Cardinals on Thursday, their 17th loss in their previous 22 games.

Get mad and get out of town. With the myriad of issues affecting the Giants’ play over the last month, playing at normally friendly AT&T Park may be the biggest one. Thursday’s sloppy effort resulted in the Giants’ 14th loss in their last 17 games at home. Whether it’s the cooler than normal weather with the heavier air keeping the better struck balls in the park, pitchers that can’t get loose, pesky seagulls or too many darn sellout crowds, something’s not working along the Bay.

So the Giants head to San Diego for the Fourth of July where they will get Brandon Belt back into the lineup after an extended run on the disabled list to heal the broken bone in his hand. The Giants will welcome the added punch Belt provides at the top of their lineup where normal leadoff man Angel Pagan is still out, and the preferred two-hole guy, Marco Scutaro has yet to make his season debut.

What’s certain is a fractured offensive attack won’t do. The Giants just scored 19 runs over the length of their 10-game home stand. That means a lot of fans sitting on their hands, Giants’ hitters headed back to the dugout after making outs, and little room for error for the team’s pitching staff.

On Thursday, Madison Bumgarner felt the pinch, allowing a pair of first inning-runs, three more in the fourth and the conclusion of his outing in the fifth with the Giants trailing 5-1. In many ways, Bumgarner’s in the midst of his finest season yet. In other ways, he’s just been dreadful pitching at home. Over his last four home starts, Bumgarner’s 0-3 and allowed a whopping 29 hits.

“You always want to play at home and I haven’t pitched very good here all year,” he said. “I don’t know what it is. You can’t give in, you have to keep grinding.”

The Dodgers won Thursday, 3-2 over the Rockies in Denver to retake first place in the NL West. If anything positive can be taken from the Giants’ month of poor play is that the race for the division is still in directly in front of them. Their 42-21 start—the best of any big league club in the last 10 seasons—is still keeping them afloat, but there’s no grace period left. They’ll need to play better immediately, starting in San Diego and continuing next week with the major league-best A’s on tap for four games.

“Things aren’t going our way at times and other times we’re making mistakes,” Bochy said. “It’s hard on the coaches, it’s hard on those guys. We have a lot of baseball left. We have time to get this right. This is a group that has learned from the past. We know how critical every series is now.”

The Giants turn to Matt Cain and his unsightly 1-6 record in the mid-afternoon series opener at Petco Park. The Padres will give the ball to Eric Stultz, who leads the majors with 11 losses. Stultz, who has pitched more effectively in his last three starts still has lost eight of his last nine starts.

Gray bounces back, A’s down Blue Jays

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, July 3, 2014

Sonny Gray scattered four hits over seven innings for Oakland Thursday, as the Athletics defeated Toronto 4-1 Thursday night at the Coliseum.

With the loss, the Blue Jays gave up sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time since May 21. Toronto dropped into a first-place tie with Baltimore. The Athletics, meanwhile, continue to lead the AL West.

Gray (8-3) walked three and struck out five, while the A’s defense turned three double plays.

Dan Otero held the lead in the eighth and Sean Doolittle pitched the ninth, picking up his 12th save.

Gray might have had a shutout if it weren’t for a disputed play in the second inning that went to replay.

After the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out, Anthony Gose hit a grounder to first baseman Nate Freiman, who appeared to tag Munenori Kawasaki as he ran to second base. Umpire Vic Carapazza ruled that Freiman missed the tag, and Kawasaki was safe.

Freiman then threw home to catcher Stephen Vogt, who stepped on home plate for a force out on runner Edwin Encarnacion. Toronto manager John Gibbons requested the video review, claiming that Kawasaki was out and Encarnacion should have been allowed to score because the force at home should have been nullified.

After 4 minutes and 27 seconds the call was overturned, and Toronto was awarded a 1-0 lead. The A’s played the game under protest, but that became a moot point.

In the bottom of the second, Freiman drove in Brandon Moss with a double, and Vogt scored on a passed ball, giving Oakland a 2-1 lead.

Six innings later, Oakland extended its lead to 4-1. Craig Gentry singled off losing pitcher R.A. Dickey (6-8) and scored on a double by John Jaso. The fourth A’s run came on a sacrifice fly by Alberto Callaspo.

The four-game series continues Friday, when Oakland left-hander Tommy Milone (6-3) faces Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (4-2).

A’S ACORNS: Oakland OF Yoenis Cespedes went 0-for-4, snapping a 15-game hitting streak. … The Athletics activated LHP Eric O’Flaherty from the 60-day disabled list and designated LHP Jeff Francis for assignment. O’Flaherty was recovering from Tommy John surgery and hadn’t pitched in the majors since May 17 of last year. Francis was 0-1 with one save and a 6.08 ERA after he was picked up on waivers from Cincinnati. … The Athletics made their 10-year lease extension at the Coliseum official. As part of the agreement, the A’s will pay $10 million for upgrades that include two new video scoreboards. The Coliseum Authority will pay for any necessary structural work.

The All-American game on America’s Birthday.

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[Baseball, Oakland A's]
[MLB]

by Jerry Feitelberg

The All-American game on America’s Birthday

This 4th of July America will be celebrating her 238th birthday. Still a young country compared

to China or many countries in Europe such as England and France. Without a doubt, baseball

is the most quintessential of all American sports and was the first professional sport in the Unites States. The first professional team was started in Cincinnati and the National League was established in 1876. The second Major League was created in 1901 when Ban Johnson created the new American League.

Hockey and football created pro leagues in the 1920’s and basketball came of age in the 40’s but baseball is the DNA of the American people. No other sport has the history of baseball and the stats that players put up are followed by the fans of today and they can compare them against the numbers put up by the greats of the past and argue about whether or not the players of yesteryear were better than today’s players.

All of this brings us to baseball and the 4th of July. What could be better than to go to a ballgame on the 4th? Not everyone lives in a city where Major League baseball is played but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a barbecue and then watch the hot dog eating contest from Coney Island and then watch a game or two or three on TV. However, it’s better if you can go to the game in your city and record the hot dog eating contest for viewing later then have a hot dog or two and maybe a beer at the park and watch your favorite team play and hope that your team wins. It’s so much better when that happens. You will be in a good mood for the second cookout of the day and more hot dogs and apple pie, of course for dessert, perhaps with some ice cream added. An All-American holiday menu on America’s birthday.

After the game, attendance at a fireworks show is mandatory and then conclude the day with a good night’s sleep and have fond memories of a day well spent with family and friends as you celebrate the freedoms that we have living in the United States. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Twenty-five years ago in the postseason

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-It is hard to believe that 25 years ago this October, the Oakland A’s and the Toronto Blue Jays were on top of the baseball world.

Behind great pitching by Dave Stewart, Mike Moore and Bob Welch made it two consecutive American League Championships for the Green and Gold, as the A’s defeated the Blue Jays four games to one.

After taking the first two games at the Coliseum, the series switched to newly opened Skydome and despite the fact that the Blue Jays took game three from the reigning American League Champions, the A’s came back in the final two games to take the American League Flag for the second consecutive season.

It was in the fourth game of that series that two of the biggest home runs of the A’s eventual World Championship season by two legendary A’s players.

Oakland native Rickey Henderson hit a solo home run to deep center field, and later that inning, 1988 Most Valuable Player Jose Canseco hit a mammoth blast that landed in the fifth deck of the left field seats at the Blue Jays new home that opened on June 5, 1989 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Stewart won game one at the Coliseum, as he defeated Dave Stieb by the final score of 7-3 before a sellout crowd of 49,435.

The next night, Mike Moore took to the Coliseum mound and left with a 6-3 victory, as Dennis Eckersley saved his first game of the series.

With the series moving to The Great White North for just the second time in American League history, Jimmy Key got the Blue Jays within one game of a tied series after the Blue Jays defeated the A’s 7-3 before a crowd of 50,268 at Skydome.

Welch got the A’s within one of their fifth American League pennant since moving to the West Coast in 1968, as he along with Rick Honeycutt and Eckersley defeated the Blue Jays 6-5.

Just one day later, the A’s took home the pennant, as they defeated the Blue Jays 4-3 behind stellar by another Oakland native in Dave Stewart, who went eight innings before giving way to Eckersley, who is also a Bay Area native (Growing up in Fremont) and picked up his third save of the ALCS.

A’s get a new lease on life, pressure came from Selig for city council to act

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by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Oakland City Council had a change of heart in mnatter of 24 hours, after learning that the council was about to deadlock on approving the Oakland A’s new lease on Wednesday night Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said that the A’s were free to leave Oakland immdediately. The council then voted 6-2 to approve a ten year lease for the A’s to continue playing at the Oakland Coliseum.

If the Oakland Joint Powers Authority voted to deadlock the council drew concern that the team would in fact leave forthwith. Upon hearing the news two councilmen who were prepared to vote no on the new lease changed their votes.

Wolff was of the understanding that the city council had reached an agreement to approve a new ten year lease for the team. The A’s will have their payment for the second year of the lease lowered and that the A’s if they want to leave the City of Oakland must give the city at least two years notice. The A’s still would have to pay the remainder of the ten year lease agreement.

If the A’s move to San Jose or outside of Oakland they would have to give a two year notice before vacating and pay the difference on the ten year lease. If the A’s decided to stay in Oakland or build at the Jack London Square’s Howard Terminal the city would void the two year notice and the A’s would be free to leave the Coliseum without paying the remainder of the lease.

The council learned of Selig’s permission to the A’s to leave Oakland at anytime to seek permanent or temporary digs outside of Oakland 10’O Clock on Wednesday night. Theoretically the team could have left during the current homestand with the Toronto Blue Jays this week and played at another field or stadium until the city got it together, Wolf said that over the past 14 months when the lease was negotiated it was his impression that the council agreed upon all the talking points of the agreement and that there would be no reversal due to politics or finance whatsoever especially at the 11th hour.

Wolf said of the reversal of the city council before hearing of their change of heart, “We believe we have an agreed lease that we were informed would be voted by the JPA, and if passed would be submitted to the city and county. No other lease negotiation entity was noted to us or MLB for 14 months. To characterize not looking beyond the fully negotiated lease as a negative of our 14 months of discussion is unacceptable to us and MLB.

We now find out that the city had some rule that causes even a city JPA representative that wishes to vote their beliefs that such a decision can be altered to translate a positive vote into a negative vote. At no time over 14 months was this use of some rule ever mentioned to us. We do not wish to be involved in any aspect of local city political maneuvering. To try and suddenly try and involve us in a direction that was never once noted is absolutely unacceptable.”

Jerry Feitelberg does sports commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Wainwright locks Giants down

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By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – When your team gets shut out, as this one did Wednesday night, you ask whether the offense was lousy or if the pitcher was just really good. In this particular case, it was clearly the latter.

The Giants got stifled by a stellar Adam Wainwright, who kept the Giants off-balance for most of the night and forcing them into mostly weak groundouts, as the Giants suffered a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park. They were shut out for the seventh time this season, twice by the Cardinals.

Despite the setback, however, the Giants remain atop the National League West, at least for one more day. The

The Giants knew that they were in for a battle against Wainwright, though, since the right-hander had given up only two runs over his previous three starts, during which he pitched 23 innings. He didn’t miss a beat on Wednesday, as he went 7 2/3 innings and gave up only four hits, walking two and striking out one in keeping the Giants from crossing the plate.

In the process, Wainwright now owns the lowest ERA in the majors, surpassing Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto (1.99) with a mark of 1.89.

Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong ripped through the first two innings on Wednesday but ran into big trouble in the third, during which the Cardinals scored a pair of runs. Oscar Taveras led off with a double down the right-field line, and Mark Ellis followed that with a single before Matt Carpenter singled to bring in Taveras.

Matt Holliday then singled in Ellis and gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead and, although Vogelsong settled down very nicely to go seven innings and surrender only one more hit the rest of the way.

Unfortunately for him, Vogelsong has started to get used to this. He has not gotten any run support for the second straight start, as he surrendered only three runs in 13 innings while allowing only one walk while striking out 15 batters in those two starts, both losses.

Meanwhile, the Giants were only able to mount a pair of scoring threats against Wainwright. Oddly enough, both of those rallies were started by a rookie and not considered a big star by any stretch.

Rookie second baseman Joe Panik led off the sixth with a single before Vogelsong put down a nice sac bunt to get him over to second while Gregor Blanco almost beat out a grounder but nonetheless moved Panik to third.

However, Hunter Pence could not bring him in, as his bouncer to short ended the inning and kept the Giants off the scoreboard.

The Giants put together a two-out rally against Wainwright, as Panik and Hector Sanchez strung together back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners as well as get Wainwright out of the game. However, after working the count full, Blanco, who has not given the Giants very much at the plate at all this season, popped out to end the inning and keep the shutout intact.