Month: August 2014

Raiders host Seahawks in preseason finale

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — As the NFL preseason draws to a close, the Raiders will host Oakland native Marshawn Lynch and the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks at O.co Coliseum Thursday night as both teams look to finish off strong before the games start to really count.

Oakland is coming off their third preseason game, losing to the Packers, 31-21, in Green Bay last week. The Raiders first-team defense played strong early, forcing the Packers into back-to-back three-and-out drives and three straight punts in the first  quarter. Rookie linebacker Khalil Mack was active all over the field, collecting five tackles and an interception.

Linebackers Miles Burris and Nick Roach each finished with six tackles, while defensive end LaMarr Woodley recorded his first sack as a Raider.

Offensively, Oakland’s first-team showed progress, after running back Maurice Jones-Drew stormed for a 40-yard touchdown run on the Raiders’ first possession to tie the game at 7-7, after Eddie Lacy’s 1-yard run on Green Bay’s first possession.

Quarterback Matt McGloin, who has made a strong case to be the Raiders’ No. 2 quarterback, finished 10-of-17 for 162 yards passing, and two touchdowns, both to wide receiver, Bryce Butler. Butler added three catches for 60 yards receiving.

Even with McGloin’s impressive play, rookie quarterback Derek Carr is slated to start Thursday. Carr sat out the Green Bay game to rest his bruised ribs he suffered in Oakland’s second preseason game.

Seattle showed why many experts believe that they can repeat as Super Bowl champions with another dominating performance, dropping the Chicago Bears, 34-6 at home.

Quarterback Russell Wilson looked in midseason form, scoring three touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing) while passing for 202 yards on 15-of-20 passes. Wilson also had a robust 140.o quarterback rating.

Lynch, who held out the early part of training camp after being unhappy with his contract, had three carries for 16 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run on the Seahawks’ opening drive of the game. Lynch would watch the remainder on the game from the sidelines, tossing the cleats for some basketball shoes.

Even the Seahawks’ punishing defense appears to be ready for another run at the Lombardi trophy, having surrender only 20 points in three preseason games.

Oakland will also see a familiar face Thursday, with Terrelle Pryor returning to the Black Hole. It will be a good test for the Raiders’ defense who haven’t faced a quarterback with the frame and elusiveness quite like Pryor.

Both teams will see each other during the regular season, when the Silver and Black travel to CenturyLink Field for a Week 9 match-up.

With all 32 teams having to reduce their rosters down to 53 players by Saturday, August 30, it will be a busy week in Oakland. The Raiders have 10 open positions on the practice squad to fill as well.

After Thursday night’s game, the Seahawks will open up their title defense on Sept. 4 when they will host the Green Bay Packers, while Oakland will begin the season on the road when they will travel 3,000 miles to New York and face the Jets on Sept. 7.

You can watch the game on KTVU/FOX 2, or listen on 98.5 KFOX.

Stanford vs UC Davis Preview

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal opens the 2014 football season Saturday August 30th. Their opponent will be the UC Davis Aggies. The game will be played at Stanford Stadium and game time is at 1:00 PDT.

This will be the 120th season for Stanford and the game is designated as the Bill Walsh Legacy Game

in honor of the late Stanford coach whose impact continues to felt at all levels of football.

Stanford hopes to have its sixth consecutive winning season, the last three under the tutelage of coach David Shaw. Stanford is 11-3 in its last 14 season openers, with six consecutive victories dating back to 20o8. Shaw could be the first Stanford head coach to win his first four season openers since the legendary Glenn “Pop”Warner from 1929-32.

The Cardinal has a wonderful 37-5 record at Stanford Stadium since the final home game of 2007 and is 10-0 against non-conference opponents since losing to Notre Dame in 2007.

Stanford has quarterback Kevin Hogan returning as well as wide receiver Ty Montgomery. Montgomery,who had shoulder surgery in February, has been cleared to play and will start on Saturday.

Junior running back, Kelsey Young is listed as the starting running back but Barry Sanders,Rickey Seale and Remound Wright are all listed as number 2 and they all should see considerable playing time.

Coach Shaw has had to rebuild some holes on both offense and defense and hopes the player will gel sooner rather than later. Blake Martinez replaces the departed Shayne Skov at inside linebacker.

A.J.Tarpley returns as a fifth year senior and can’t wait to get the season going. Blake Lueders and Aziz Shittu are listed as co-starters at one defensive end slot. Ronnie Harris and Alex Carter will share duties at left cornerback.

This will be the third meeting between Stanford and UC Davis. The series is tied at 1-1. The Aggies shocked the Cardinal in 2005 scoring twenty unanswered points to upset Stanford 20-17.

The Aggies are coached by Ron Gould. Gould is in his second year at the helm. Before coming to Davis, Gould coached at Cal where he helped develop several top flight running backs. The list includes Marshawn Lynch, Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen, Justin Forsett and Will Ta’ufo’ou.

The Aggies have eight starters returning on offense,six on defense and four on special teams.

The Aggies tied for fourth place in the Big Sky Conference but are unrated in the national polls.

Stanford is listed as number 11 in the nation in the pre-season poll.

Stanford will be favored but anything can happen and the Cardinal should not take the Aggies lightly.

The Cardinal begin Pac-12 play the following week as they entertain the USC Trojans at Stanford Stadium. Steve Sarkissian is the new head coach for USC.

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s finding out that winning the west might go down to the wire

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–The Houston Astros managed by Bo Porter will not finish last their going to finish next to last, their not going to lose 100 games. Porter is doing a great job and Chris Carter hit a home run on Tuesday night against the Oakland A’s a three run shot that helped beat the A’s 4-2 at Minute Maid Field.

Carter a Redwood City native and designated hitter for Houston has 32 homers and 77 RBIs and is one of the best sluggers in baseball. The A’s are having problems, they lost pitcher Sean Doolittle and he’s out for two weeks. Now their going to have to find someone solid like Doolittle closing games.

On Tuesday it was Gregorson who gave up the three run homer, the A’s also have catcher John Jaso whose out with a concussion indefinitely and the club has some injury problems. This is like I said before a race for the finish line. The L.A. Angels keep winning and they hold first place over the A’s and the Angels host the A’s starting this Thursday that will be a test for the A’s.

The Angels have the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night at the Big A and this will be the last time the Halos play a National League team and the then the A’s are in Anaheim for a four game series which is crucial for both teams here in August.

The A’s and Angels are both grasping for the brass ring as the pennant race is razor thin right now. One of these teams are vying for the division and if they make it fine but everybody is trying to get into the division. Because you win the division you win the best of five and if you win the wild card you play one elimination game that’s a big difference.

I subscribe to the theory of former A’s manager Tony LaRussa the most difficult thing to do is to win your division. You play 162 games and you try and win your division. Once you win your division then your in decent shape but we’ll have to see what happens. Both of these teams are probably going to make it to the playoffs.

However aside for the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Angels let us not forget about the Seattle Mariners their six games out and in first place in the wild card and they still have a bunch of games left with the A’s and Angels and if the M’s can keep winning they’ll keep rising to the top.

So this very well could be a three team race for the division with a few days left, most teams have to win between 28-38 games after tonight. Now is when the rubber hits the road and were going to see what teams are contenders and what teams are pretenders.

Amaruy Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com each week

Bumgarner nearly perfect

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Madison Bumgarner came within six outs of baseball immortality, but Justin Morneau put a stop to that.

Morneau hit a leadoff double off of Bumgarner in the top of the eighth inning and that was the only hit that the left-hander allowed, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 3-0 before a crowd of 41,050 at AT&TPark.

Bumgarner threw a complete game, not allowing a run on just one hit did not walk a batter and struck out a career-high tying 13.

The previous time Bumgarner struck out 13 in a game came on September 5, 2011 against the San Diego Padres at PetcoPark.

Buster Posey gave Bumgarner all the run support he needed in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he took a 3-1 offering from Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa and put it into the left-center field bleachers to score Hunter Pence right in front of him.

It was the 16th home run of the season for Posey, and he extended his hitting streak to six games.

Posey added a second home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he hit a Brooks Brown pitch into the left-center field seats.

It was the 17th home run of the season for the 2012 National League Most Valuable Player and the second multi-home run game of his career.

Posey also hit two home runs in the same game on July 7, 2010 against the Milwaukee Brewers at MillerPark.

In the 2012 National League Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Posey hit two home runs, helping the Giants comeback from a 2-0 deficit to take the series.

Pence walked against De La Rosa to lead off the inning, and then immediately after the home run to Posey, De La Rosa was forced to leave the game with a left thumb contusion.

Before leaving with the thumb injury, De La Rosa went five innings, allowing two runs, while scattering four hits, walking two and striking out five.

Gregor Blanco made the defensive play of the game in the top of the first inning, as he robbed Drew Stubbs of a sure extra base hit.

Blanco leaped to rob Stubbs of extra bases for the second out of the first inning, and of course Blanco is old hat at making great plays in big games.

It was in Matt Cain’s perfect game on June 13, 2012 that Blanco made a diving catch in the top of the eighth inning to preserve Cain’s perfect game.

Brandon Crawford made a great defensive play in the top of the fifth inning, as he went deep in the hole to snag a ball hit by Matt McBride and then Crawford threw off balance to get McBride at first by a step.

Rockies manager Walt Weiss came out to speak to first base umpire Jim Joyce about the play; however after speaking to Joyce, Weiss decided not to challenge the call and the inning came to an end.

Late Houston Rally Sinks the A’s

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Houston Astros rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to defeat the Oakland A’s 4-2 Tuesday night in Houston. The A’s sent Jason Hammel to pitch for the Green and Gold. Hammel

has a 1-5 record and an ERA of 6.75 since coming to the A’s on July 1st. Hammel had two good outings but has not pitched well and was bombed in his last outing. The A’s allowed him to skip a start and he was well rested and he pitched extremely well for seven innings. Without question it was his best outing as he allowed just three hits and the only run allowed was a Dexter Fowler blast to right field in the fourth inning. He threw just 93 pitches and 60 were strikes. He was opposed by Astro lefty Dallas Keuchel who also pitched very well. Keuchel went seven innings allowing just five hits and two runs, one of which was unearned. The A’s were shocked when Luke Gregerson blew the save and took the loss.

The A’s took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Coco Crisp drew a walk to start the inning

Craig Gentry laid down a push bunt that Houston starter, Dallas Keuchel, couldn’t handle. Keuchel was charged with an error but it was a very difficult play and it could have been ruled a hit. Josh Donaldson and Derek Norris hit into ground outs but Jonny Gomes, who hits left-handed pitchers very well, singled to drive in Gentry with the first run of the game for the A’s.

The Astros threatened in the bottom of the third. Hammel hit Gregorio Petit with a pitch. With one out, Jose Altuve hit a double that went into the stands sending Petit to third but had it not gone into the stands Petit would have scored. Former Athletic Chris Carter, who has 31 home runs so far this year, hit a line shot to left field that Jonny Gomes made a great play robbing Carter of at least a double and saving two runners from scoring.

The A’s scored another run in the top of the fourth. With one out, Jonny Gomes singled and then scored on a double to left off the bat of Nate Freiman. Freiman took third on the throw home but the A’s could not bring him home. The A’s and Jason Hammel were hoping for a shut down inning. The Astros’ Dexter Fowler had other thoughts as he blasted a home run to lead off the Astros half of the fourth.

The score stands at 2-1 after four.

The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luke Gregerson was is relief of Jason Hammel who went seven innings and allowed just one and really pitched well. With one out, Robbie Grossman reached on an error. Gregerson hit Jose Altuve with a pitch to put men on at first and second.

Chris Carter then blasted a monster home run to left field to put the Astros in the lead 4-2 at the end of eight innings. Chad Qualls pitched the ninth and shut the door on the A’s and Qualls picked up his fifteenth save of the year for the Astros.

Notes- With the loss the A’s drop ½ game behind the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels had a 7-0 lead in their game against Miami and should they win the game the A’s will be a full game behind the Angels.

Geovany Soto, acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers, started in his first game as an A and had a hit.

The A’s conclude the three game set with Houston Wednesday then head to Los Angeles for a huge four game series with the Angels. Lefty Drew Pomeranz will go for the A’s and he will be opposed by the Astro’s Brad Peacock.

The Giants entertain, confound but fail to win against the Rockies

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By Morris Phillips

Being quirky, different and thought-provoking isn’t carrying the Giants right now.

But simply playing better baseball might.

The Giants hit into four double plays, committed four errors and contributed heavily to an unique play that interrupted midnight snack time back in New York, but came up short Monday, losing to the Rockies 3-2 at AT&T Park.  The loss was the Giants’ first-ever, fourth consecutive loss at home to Colorado and their 24th in their last 34 home games.

All the close calls, borderline pitches—especially those thrown by starter Jake Peavy—and botched plays brought a lot of focus on the umpiring crew, who then in turn contributed to the angst of a Giants’ team that’s reached late August, both contending and floundering at the same time.  Not surprisingly, manager Bruce Bochy didn’t survive the eighth inning.  The manager left fuming after arguing with home plate umpire Doug Eddings, who had just rung up Buster Posey on a borderline pitch with a runner on and no outs.

“We made four errors and that’s not going to help our cause.  If you do that, you better score some runs,” Bochy explained.  “Overall, just not a well-played game.  It caught up with us.”

The Giants dropped their third in a row, following the announcement that Tim Lincecum had been demoted from the starting rotation, and on the heels of the meltdown in Washington D.C. to end the road trip in which the Giants watched the Nationals score 14 of the final 15 runs in the ballgame, a 14-6 loss.  Given that sequence of events, the fiery presence of Peavy on the mound Monday seemed to be a plus.  And once the veteran right hander was faced with a one-run deficit, he dug in keeping the Giants within reach for three innings.

But Peavy couldn’t will his team to score, and he couldn’t get all the calls from Eddings either.

In the seventh—after retiring the first two batters, Peavy gave up a single to D.J. LaMahieu and walked starting pitcher Tyler Matzek.  Both batters reached after Peavy achieved two-strike counts and the sequence had the pitcher lathered.  Charlie Blackmon followed with a single to center and all confusion broke out: LaMahieu was declared safe on a bang-bang play at the plate, Blackmon took second in the confusion, and Matzek attempted to score from third but was thrown out. 

But what Eddings saw wasn’t backed by the MLB replay crew in New York and after a two-minute break for review, LaMahieu was called out, ending the inning before all the rest of the excitement.

But remaining within a run of the worst road team in baseball with nine outs remaining didn’t inspire the Giants to rally.

In the seventh, the Giants got a two-out single from Joaquin Arias and a throwing error on the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado allowed Arias to advance to second.  But Angel Pagan grounded out to end the inning.

In the eighth, after Bochy was ejected arguing Posey’s strikeout, Pablo Sandoval grounded into the Giants’ fourth double play of the night.

And in the ninth, a walk to Michael Morse didn’t inspire a rally as Joe Panik lined out, Gregor Blanco struck out and Brandon Crawford also struck out on a foul tip that was caught.

Two of the Giants’ errors led directly to the Rockies two-run rally in the fourth that gave the lead they didn’t relinquish.  In addition to the errors Peavy’s balk allowed Drew Stubbs to score from third base with the tying run.  Corey Dickerson followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Justin Morneau with what would stand as the winning run.

The Giants remain a half-game ahead of the Braves for the second wild card spot, with both teams trailing the Cardinals in that race.  The loss also dropped the Giants five games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

Among the things the Giants will look back on if they don’t hang on to their playoff spot: the Rockies improved to 5-2 at AT&T Park in 2014.  In all the other parks Colorado has visited this season, they’re 14-42.

“We must just like coming out of the elevation and playing down here.  Bodies feel a lot better when you get down to sea-level, and that might have something to do with it.  But really it’s baseball and anybody can win on any given day,” winning pitcher Matzek said.

On Tuesday, the Giants turn to Madison Bumgarner, looking for his 15th win of the year, while the Rockies offer Jorge De La Rosa.

 

Niners gear up for Preseason Finale Against Houston

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By: Phllip Torres

SANTA CLARA- The San Francisco 49ers will play their preseason finale against the Houston Texans on Thursday night in Houston.

The Niners are coming off of their first win of the preseason as they beat the San Diego Chargers 21-7 on Sunday.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh will make the final roster moves after the fourth and final preseason. San Francisco will look to finish the exhibition season with a 2-2 record before they fly to Dallas to take on the Dallas Cowboys on September 7th.

The roster will have to be trimmed down to a 53 man roster by Sunday the 7th. The big question is how many receivers will the Niners look to keep as they have a healthy receiving core that can contribute on the offense and on special teams.

The 49ers will also have a tough decision to make as far as how many linebackers to keep.

Regardless, this 2014 San Francisco 49ers team will be the deepest team that they have had in many years.

Samardzija Whiffs 10, Pulls A’s Even Atop AL West Standings

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By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics did their part Monday night in finding a way to return to the top of the American League West Standings. The A’s beat the Houston Astros 8-2 at Minute Maid Park, riding a dominant performance from Jeff Samardzija to victory. Josh Donaldson knocked in three runs while Derek Norris and Josh Reddick picked up a pair of RBIs apiece.

Samardzija (6-10, 3.23 ERA) turned in a much-needed deep outing for the Athletics, pitching eight solid innings of two-run ball. Samardzija, who fanned a whopping 10 Astros Monday, provided some respite for a taxed Oakland bullpen that was called upon to pitch six innings Sunday against the Angels after starter Scott Kazmir scuffled.

The A’s (77-53) staked Samardzija to an early lead after a run-scoring double off the bat of Josh Donaldson in the top of the third inning, then added two more runs an inning later on Josh Reddick’s 10th home run of the season off Houston starter Scott Feldman. Feldman (7-10, 4.34) yielded three runs over seven innings of work, taking the loss for the Astros.

In the eighth inning, Former Athletic Chris Carter lifted his 31st long ball of the season to right field, blemishing Samardzija’s shutout bid. The blast, coming with a man on, drew the Astros (55-77) within one run at 3-2.

Eric O’Flaherty, installed by manager Bob Melvin as interim A’s closer after All-star Sean Doolittle hit the disabled list Sunday with a strained right intercostal, looked en route to get his first save opportunity in his new role. While the lefty was loosening up with the A’s at the plate in the top of the ninth, his offense decided to delay him of his first chance. Oakland exploded for five runs in the frame to stake O’Flaherty to an 8-2. O’Flaherty worked his way around a double and walk to pitch a scoreless ninth and nail down the win.

The win, mixed with an Angels loss to the Marlins Monday, means Oakland now stands tied atop the West with Los Angeles. They’ll turn to Jason Hammel Tuesday night in hopes of maintaining the top spot in the division. Hammel will be opposed by the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel.

Joining Oakland Tuesday night will be newly-acquired catcher Geovany Soto. Soto, acquired Sunday from the Rangers in exchange for cash considerations, will take the place of John Jaso. Jaso was placed on the seven-day disabled list after suffering a concussion Sunday. The A’s also moved Kyle Blanks to the 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster for Soto. Oakland also added minor league catcher Bryan Anderson from the Cincinnati Reds for cash as a contingency plan.

Kings arena downtown: Kings have the jack hammers going as Downtown Plaza block is shutdown for construction

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–Downtown plaza the future home of the Sacramento Kings new arena has the L Street mall shutdown for construction. Most of the plaza stores in the mid part of the mall are shut down. Plans for L Street include buildings that will be office occupied and retail that will serve the nearby arena. One buyer in the neighborhood Trinity Pacific Partners bought 555 Capital Mall an entire city block a 380,000 foot space that has two connected offices that is 14 stories that already has retail and stores on the street level.

The block also has parking that is right across the street that features 791 spaces for parking. The ideal situation when the Kings start play at the arena for the fall of 2016. Currently the building has a 60 percent occupation rate that contains law and accounting firms. Trinity is invloved with business partners Buzz Oates LLC, AM Investors and Rubicon Partners as a group they remodled the Forum building at Ninth and K Streets and the Citizen Hotel at 10th and J Streets.

Purchase price was not available through public records, Trinity has plans for the towers to fill the empty office space and they most likely will succeed when the new arena is up and running and downtown office space will be at a premium with many companies ready to rent the space that would attract businesses who will come down to see the newly refurbished neighborhood.

With Downtown Plaza demoed there are already takers waiting to move into the new buildings in anticipation of the Kings new arena, Kipp Blewett from the firm Ribicon Partners plan to operate and lease the building and there are big plans with retail and businesses already lining up to move in.

The mere excitment of the Kings moving downtown has the locals excited to get business going and there will be a lot of improvements and new looks to downtown the these buildings being remodeled will according to Blewett have more boutique firms. Michael Ault of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership said the new arena will bring economic benefits “everything that we had talked about in the way of momentum from the arena project is starting to come together.”

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the new arena developments for the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants Starter Tim Lincecum moved to the bullpen

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By Jeff Hall

SAN FRANCISCO — Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced Monday that the team would be moving Tim Lincecum to the bullpen. The Giants will start Yusmeiro Petit (3-3 3.59) in Lincecum’s place in the rotation.

Petit has been strong in relief and has retired 38 straight hitters over a 7-outing stretch. and  has not allowed a run in his last nine relief appearances.

Lincecum (10-9) had won 4 straight since his no-hitter against San Diego 25th. Since then, Lincecum has lost 4 of his last 5 starts and is coming off his shortest start of his career Saturday against the Washington Nationals.

According to Giant’s Manager Bruce Bochy, “He’s going to the bullpen to work on some things.”

It’s not the first time in the bullpen for Lincecum, a two-time NL Cy Young Award winner, he pitched in relief in the 2010 and 2012 World Series.

Petit will start the final game of the series against the Rockies on Thursday.

It’s yet to be decided if Lincecum will return to the rotation on his next turn. ”We’ll make that call on the next start after this Petit start,” Bochy said.