Month: August 2014

A’s Outfielder Gentry Cleared to Begin Rehab

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics received a bit of good news in a weekend that saw the Green and Gold swept by the Braves in Atlanta. According to the A’s, Craig Gentry took batting practice with the Oakland Class AAA affiliate Sacramento. After evaluating Gentry’s injured hand, the A’s felt comfortable clearing Gentry to being a minor league rehabilitation stint.

Craig Gentry opened his rehab going 0-for-4 with the Sacramento River Cats, striking out twice in a 7-0 loss to the Oklahoma City RedHawks Monday night. The right-handed hitting Gentry is currently batting .264 with 18 steals and 10 runs batted in with the parent club over 80 games in 2014. Gentry, shelved after breaking his hand on a bunt attempt in late July, began the season on the disabled list with a back injury.

Since Gentry went on the disabled list July 28th, the A’s have gone 8-12. They welcome the New York Mets to O.Co Coliseum having lost seven of their last eight contests and find themselves a half-game back of the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.

The return of Gentry adds to the glut of players with outfield experience on the Athletics roster. Oakland currently has Brandon Moss, Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Stephen Vogt, Jonny Gomes and Sam Fuld on the active roster. The speedy Gentry provides a late-inning option both on the base paths and defensively for Oakland.

No time table has been set on Gentry’s return, but with so many outfield options, the A’s staff can be cautious with their offseason acquisition from Texas. One option could be to wait until rosters expand in September, allowing the A’s to keep the current roster without having to designate a player for assignment. Once the postseason rolls around though, general manager Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin will have a challenge on their hands thinning out the outfield depth.

49ers look to bounce back against San Diego

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By:Phllip Torres

SANTA CLARA- The San Francisco 49ers will look to earn their first win of the preseason on Sunday as they will host the San Diego Chargers in the second preseason home game at Levi’s Stadium.

The 49ers were defeated by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos 34-0 yesterday in the preseason home opener at Levis. San Francisco’s first team offense moved the ball but were unable to put any points on the board because of two missed field goals by kicker Phil Dawson.

Coach Jim Harbaugh said that he was not worried about his offense putting up only 3 points in their first two preseason games. Harbaugh commented on the upcoming week in preparation for the Chargers.

“It’s going to be a big week, we need to make decisions on who we are going with. We cant keep experimenting,” said Harbaugh.

The Chargers will be the third prrseason game, and the third gane of the exhibition season typically results in the increase of playing rime for starters for most teams.

The new stadium brought a lot of excitement to the game, but quarterback Colin Kaepernick said it did not make much of a difference on the field.

“When you’re on the field a field is a field. It didnt make too much of a difference. I think here we’ll get more noise in our favor, but thats about it,” said the dual threat quarterback.

The 49ers will host the Chargers this Sunday at 1 pm before wrapping up the preseason in Houston with the Texans the following week.

A’s preview

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by Jerry Feitelberg

—

The Oakland A’s have a day off Monday as they return home after a disastrous road trip to Kansas City and Atlanta. The A’s went 1-6 n the trip and have lost six in a row. Their new ace, Jon Lester, lost his first game as an Athletic and the rest of the starters also lost. The A’s need Scott Kazmir, Sonny Gray, Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to get back in the groove and get some wins for the A’s. Hammel has not pitched well for the Green and Gold and he may be headed out of the rotation. A’s manager, Bob Melvin, and his staff will have to decide to let Hammel continue as a starter or replace him with either Jesse Chavez or Drew Pomeranz. Chavez started the season well but seemed to have cooled down as he pitched deeper into the season. Pomeranz was also performing well until he broke his non-throwing hand in a fit of youthful anger. Bet he won’t do that again.

In the meantime, the A’s have called up Andy Parrino from Sacramento to play shortstop as Jed Lowrie fractured his index finger on his throwing hand and is on the 15 day disabled list. One of the big problems for the A’s is that the hitting has stopped and they are not getting the same run production as they had earlier in the season. There are several factors for that. Many people will say that the trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to Boston has caused the decline in hitting. The argument has some merit as the A’s were 65-35 with him in the lineup this year and 228-131 over the last 2 ½ years. Also, the A’s have gone 7-10 to drop into a virtual tie for first place with the Los Angeles Angeles for the AL West lead.

Others will say that the A’s have a solid enough team to win without Cespedes and they would have had to do that had Cespedes been injured. The A’s starting pitching and bullpen are strong. The five starters with the exception of Hammel are very good as has the bullpen with Ryan Cook, Luke Gregerson and closer Sean Doolittle. Fernando Abad and Dan Otero have also made great contributions all year long.

The A’s play the New York Mets on Tuesday and Wednesday at home in Oakland. The Mets have an overall record of 59-67 and are in fourth place in the NL East. The Mets have lost six out of their last ten but , in baseball, you never know what can happen and the Mets would love to put a wrench in the A’s plans. The A’s have a day off on Thursday but then begin an important three game series with the LA Angels starting Friday night at the O.co. The A’s then travel to Houston for three and the Astros are no longer pushovers. The last time the A’s went to Houston they lost two out of three and then from Houston it’s off to Anaheim for four more games with the Angels. These A’s have to get their act together and start winning in order to win the division. Keep in mind the Seattle Mariners are now starting to make a run and are now just 5 ½ games back. They have great pitching and are gelling at just the right time. The Mariners have won eight out of the last ten and picked up five games in the standings. The A’s face the Mariners six more times this year. They play them immediately after the Angel series at home and then travel to Seattle on September 12th for the final three games between the teams.

Yes, the A’s may be tired and they may not be hitting but it is gut-check time. If the want to win the division they will have to put the pedal to the metal. If the don’t win the division , they will have to play a one game playoff game with the second wild-card team and anything can happen. Let’s hope the A’s regroup and do what they have to do to win the division. People said the A’s were favorites to be in the World Series when they acquired Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes. However, games aren’t won on paper. They are won on the field and the A’s better get that through their heads or they may end up on the outside looking in.

Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938

Debut Dud: 49ers shut out in Levi’s Stadium opener

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By Morris Phillips

Maybe it was just the 49ers heeding the new NFL in-stadium bag policy.

One plastic bag no more than a foot in length, hardly big enough for a player to pack his “A” game, instead containing a clearly visible game plan all the better for the opponent to quickly dissect.

What else would explain a team expected to compete for a Super Bowl berth getting embarrassed in front of a rare, hyped-up sellout pre-season crowd, 34-0 in its first game at a spanking new stadium?

Well, the 49ers arrived too early to get stuck in traffic, and Peyton Manning may have been in regular-season form, but he played just two series. Six San Francisco defensive starters didn’t play, but that does excuse the other five. And two interceptions and two fumbles won’t cut it for a Jim Harbaugh-coached team.

49ers TV analyst Tim Ryan felt the 49ers appeared physically spent, coming off an extended weekend in Baltimore where they scrimmaged with the Ravens daily and then took two days off from practice upon returning to the Bay Area.

Whatever caused the team’s second straight desultory exhibition performance wasn’t going to send Harbaugh searching for explanations. Instead he made it clear he needs the football team he was expecting to coach to show up for work, starting this week.

“We need improvement,” Harbaugh said. “And we need to make decisions on who we’re playing with. We’re not going to keep experimenting. We got to tighten this down fast.”

For the second straight week, the 49ers allowed their opponent to run too many plays and gain too many yards. Early the presence of Manning–running a quick hitter attack–put the 49ers’ young interior linebackers Michael Wilhoite and Chris Borland on their heels. In the absence of sidelined All-Pro NaVorro Bowman, one of the two figures to start opposite Patrick Willis, but none of the three can give the team the playmaking ability that Bowman possessed. The secondary also lacked the needed playmaking to counteract Manning, who completed all eight of his pass attempts on his second series, which culminated with a 17-yard Julius Thomas touchdown catch and a 10-0 Denver lead.

Colin Kaepernick looked good in his limited time, completing 5 of 9 attempts, but missing on a deep ball intended for Brandon Lloyd. All signs point to Kaepernick continuing his upward arc in his second, full-season as starter, but on Sunday mistakes cropped up and the offense could only muster a missed Phil Dawson field goal attempt during Kaepernick’s time in the game.

“I should have hit a few more throws today but I think our offensive line is playing well and our running backs have run well,” Kaepernick said. “We just have to finish our drives off.”

Backup Blaine Gabbert is due $2 million this season but he hasn’t distinguished himself with his play with two poor pre-season performances along with his spotty play in the team’s practices. On Sunday, Gabbert took over for Kaepernick and played into the third quarter, but threw for just 40 yards and one pick.

Among those that stood out offensively were rookies Bruce Ellington and Carlos Hyde. Michael Crabtree made his pre-season debut as did Frank Gore, though both appearances were brief.

In the second half, the 49ers coughed the ball up three times as the Broncos increased their 17-point halftime lead. When the 49ers did move the ball, the ending wasn’t the desired one.

Kicker Phil Dawson missed from 55 yards on the game’s initial possession, and then again early in the second quarter.

The two teams meet again on October 19 in Denver which undoubtedly contributed to the bland nature of the game plans. Still, the bottom line was the 49ers wanted to look and play better.

“You put a lot of thought into anything you do,” offensive tackle Joe Staley said. “Anytime you step on the football field you’re trying to put your stamp on what you do and how you perform, so you take care of your business and do as best as you can. I don’t think there’s any, ‘well it’s pre-season.’ It all means something.”

The 49ers get their second chance to endear themselves to the Levi’s Stadium crowd when the San Diego Chargers visit.

A’s swept by Braves

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics lost to the Atlanta Braves 4-3 on Sunday night. The win completed the Braves’ sweep of the A’s in the three game series. The loss was the A’s fifth in a row and it kept them from retaking the lead in the AL West from the Angels.

The loss was also John Lester’s first defeat as member of the Oakland A’s. Lester (13-8) worked 6.0 innings giving up four runs (3 earned) on six hits. Lester’s downfall on Sunday night was the long ball. He gave up two home runs that accounted for the three earned runs. Lester’s cut fastball was not fooling the Braves’ hitters.

Mike Minor (5-8) had a quality start for the Braves. He threw 7.0 innings giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits. Minor struck out seven and walked two hitters. He issued two home runs.

Craig Kimbrel entered to close out the game for Atlanta. He threw 99-100 mph fastballs and 88 mph breaking balls. Kimbrel struck out two on his was to his 37th save of the season.

Nate Freiman put the Athletics on the board first with a no doubt about it 459-foot home run to straight-away center off Mike Minor in the top of the second inning. It was Freiman’s third home run of the season.

The Braves came back to the tie the game in the bottom of the second inning. Justin Upton hit a lead-off single to center off Jon Lester. Chris Johnson then hit a sharp liner to the third baseman Josh Donaldson. Donaldson threw to first base in an attempt to double-up Upton. The ball hit Upton and rolled into the Braves dugout. That caused Upton to be placed at third base. Evan Gattis hit a single to right field that allowed Upton to score the tying run. The score was tied 1-1 after two innings of play.

The Braves took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Phil Gosselin led off the inning with a single to right field. With one out, Justin Upton came to the plate with a runner on at first. Upton took a 0-2 cut fastball from Lester over the left field wall for a two run home run (23). The Braves led the A’s 3-1 after four innings.

The A’s made it a one run game in the top of the seventh inning when Nate Freiman took a slider from Minor over the left field fence for his second home run of the night. The A’s trailed the Braves 3-2 after six and one-half innings.

The Braves struck back in the home half of the seventh inning. Chris Johnson led off the inning by taking a 2-1 Lester cutter over the fence in left field giving the Braves a 4-2 lead. When Evan Gattis followed up with a single and that was the end of Lester’s night on the mound. Dan Otero came on in relief and closed out the inning. After seven complete innings, the Braves led the A’s 4-2.

Sam Fuld was brought in as a pinch hitter for Otero to lead off the top of the eighth inning. Fuld hit a 2-2 changeup from reliever Anthony Varvaro into center field. B.J. Upton misplayed the ball and Fuld moved to third on the double and an error. Coco Crisp hit a sacrifice fly to left that allowed Fuld to score. James Russell replaced Varvaro. Josh Donaldson singled off Russell but was stranded at first base. The A’s trailed the Braves 4-3 after the top of the eighth.

Kimbrel came out of the bullpen to record the save and to preserve the Braves’ victory.

The A’s have Monday off and then have a two game series with the Mets in Oakland that will be followed by a three series with the Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum.

Morse shines huge in win

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-There is one player that will be disappointed the San Francisco Giants will be going on the road and that is Michael Morse.

During the five game home stand, Morse went 9-for-14, including a 3-for-3 day and the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 before a crowd of 41,851, the 310th consecutive sellout at AT&TPark.

Morse singled in all three at-bats, as the Giants won back-to-back games for the first game since August 3 and 4, when they won two straight against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

This was the first time that the Giants back-to-back game at home since winning five in a row from May 27 thru June 8.

Tim Lincecum went five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out two, as he won for the first time since defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 11.

Chase Utley gave the Phillies the lead in the first inning, as he tripled in Jimmy Rollins, who walked with one out.

The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the second inning, as Brandon Crawford singled in Morse and Andrew Susac, who each singled prior to Crawford and on a throwing error by Marlon Byrd, Crawford advanced all the way to third base.

After the Giants took the lead in the bottom of the second inning, the Phillies tied it right back in the top of the third inning, as Cody Asche walked with the bases loaded to score Byrd with the tying run.

Lost in all this was the pitching performance by Phillies starter David Buchanan, who went six and two-third innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits, walking one and striking out four.

Javier Lopez came into the game to replace Lincecum in the top of the sixth inning, and allowed just one hit, while striking out three before giving way to Jean Machi, who struck out the only batter he faced.

Sergio Romo came in the eighth inning, allowing one hit and striking out three, before giving way to Santiago Casilla, who retired the Phillies in order to notch his 10th save of the season.

Raiders and 49ers commentary: Schaub and quarterbacking looking much better;49ers fans still slogging into Levis

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders looked a lot better in last Friday’s game against the Detroit Lions in the the 27-26 close shave win at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders had a little bit of a wobble earlier on when quarterback Matt Schaub threw an interception. You don’t have to worry about that with Schaub remember last season Schaub he had six interceptions returned for touchdowns it just became one of the things that snowballed.

Schaub last season just lost his confidence because the interceptions kept coming while interceptions are bad the quarterback surely has something to do with it there’s also a bit of luck involved in it. Sometimes Schaub throws an interception it’s just weird tips, sometimes it’s from receivers running the wrong routes there were a lot of different things coming.

That really ruined Schaub’s season last year, if you see similar interceptions again you can pause, you don’t want to see it, you don’t want to see it coming. Schaub threw that early interception he recovered he came back and played pretty well and he played a couple more series and that’s all he played. Then quarterback Derek Carr came in and he look really good until he got knocked out of the game with a rib injury.

Some of the reporters and players were saying based on what they have seen from Carr and several of his series and a couple of his scoring series, Carr could be the quarterback by the middle of the season. I don’t know about that, that’s anybody’s guess and it all depends on how everyone plays. The Raiders picked Carr with the idea that he would compete for that starting job at some point and the earlier the better.

Traffic still about the same for the 49ers at Levis Stadium: The San Jose Earthquakes earlier this month had a regulation game against the Seattle Sounders at Levis Stadium and it was a test on what it would be like with a lot less fans attending an event at Levis then when the 49ers opened up Levis on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Fans waited and waited for hours to get in and out of Levis for that match and VTA had lines that lasted one and half hours long.

Traffic again was tied up getting to the park, some fans arrived as early as 6:30 AM to line up for parking, at this stage the city of Santa Clara and the 49ers are working out the kinks and it’s hopeful by the regular season on September 14th the 49ers have it all worked out or most it. Expect this season to be a whole work in progress getting people in and out of that stadium.

As we all know Candlestick Park ran for more than 50 years and they never figured how to get people in there and you hope that’s not the problem with Levis. It’s going to be tough, at this point in the year August, Great America is still open so that the Great America parking lot is off of the table as far as parking options are concerned.

Once Great America closes in September those parking lots will open up for the fans and getting in and out will become a lot more easier just because of the size of those lots and the fact that their already set up for big crowds that should help. Part of the problem you have tens of thousands of people coming in and without that Great America parking lot they flow out on all these other side streets and company lots in the neighboring areas.

It’s just a mess, once Great America is closed that parking lot becomes fair game and that should be easier and they definitely have to work out the issues with the VTA because that’s the big connector to Caltrain. The best option is to figure your public transportation to get to the ball park and go from there. The VTA had it’s issues during the Earthquakes match and part of it was people were litterally crossing in front of the train. Let’s see how it goes for the home opener on September 14th.

David Zizmor does Raiders and 49ers commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Why I never liked the Cespedes for Lester trade

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–Right after the Oakland Athletics traded outfielder and clean up hitter Yoenis Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox, for pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes, I made it known why I did not like such deal. I said it on A’s Spanish radio and also on Fox Sports West TV in Anaheim with Angels. So this is not a reaction to today’s standings where the A’s who not very long ago had a 6 game lead and looked like the best team in the world are today percentage points in first place behind the LA Angels.

Yes, Céspedes was inconsistent, but he was still the SOUL of that Athletics lineup. Billy Beane was tired of losing game 5 vs.Tigers, but this year (the way things are going) the Tigers might be the last thing the Oakland team has to worry about. I also wrote about it right after the deal was made, here in this site.

With Yoenis Céspedes the A’s have won two Western Divisions, he was the most popular player on the Athletics, he can do it all, offensively and defensively, he made the other hitters in that lineup much better, fans would love to watch Céspedes at the plate. If he is healthy, he will thrive in the AL East, where he would play most of his games not only at Fenway but also in Baltimore, New York and parks much more hitter friendly than the Oakland Coliseum, Safeco Field, Angel Stadium and others.

Lucky for Yoenis, now his mentor in Boston is none but El Papi Grande Ortiz. A potential Hall of Fame player that also speaks Yoenis’ language. He doesn’t need Ariel Prieto to translate anymore, but most important, with Papi his “language”is more about hitting, and that my friends, is a tremendous advantage for Yoenis.

Billy Beane loves numbers, he still employs Daric Barton (who is in AAA Sacramento) because of his On-Base-Percentage, Barton is a first-baseman that walks a lot but doesn’t have much power. But anybody that knows anything about the game, knows that Barton is not a Major League player. I do predict he will come up again to Oakland, during the September call-ups. Beane loves Lester and his ability to win in the postseason, and that is fine, I do understand that.

World of Money Ball: Beane is not a genius in my book, he would be if he had won a couple of World Series for the Athletics, but many consider him such because with a $75-80 million payroll he can compete with teams that have twice that in players salaries. Economy wise, he is a genius to the owners, saves them money, and the team makes a profit, but as far as winning a championship, he still far from it.

Fans could care less about the economics of the game, the pay $10 for a beer and much more for tickets they want to see a championship team in Oakland, something that happened back in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake, when they swept the San Francisco Giants.

Yoenis always told me he was happy in Oakland, and that he would not mind staying here, because he appreciates the opportunity (his first since defecting from Cuba) into the Major Leagues. Yoenis Céspedes is a baseball player and he loves to play the game like most Cubans, but with the A’s he will never win a World Series.

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

A’s run atop the AL West ends with four-game losing streak

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s have been caught.

And for the first time since 2011, their rival, the Angels have first place to themselves. And for the first time since April 28, the suddenly struggling A’s are on the outside, looking up in the AL West.

The A’s came up short in Atlanta for the second night in a row, losing 4-3 to the Braves while the Angels won for the second straight night in Texas. The A’s fell to 1-5 on their road trip to Kansas City and Atlanta and their four-game losing streak is only their second such skid this season.

“We haven’t really been through a tough stretch all year other than a sweep here and there were we responded very well,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’re just going through a tough stretch right now.”

The A’s got an uneven outing from Sonny Gray, who allowed eight hits and four runs in an outing that lasted five plus innings. Still, the A’s battled back from 3-0 and 4-2 deficits only to see Josh Reddick’s blast to the left field wall in the ninth inning that would have tied the game caught by Justin Upton.

Gray couldn’t survive the sixth, while the A’s offense couldn’t capitalize on several rallies that were a result of the team’s five hits and five walks. In the end, the A’s were shut down by pitcher Julio Teheran who put up five scoreless innings then allowed two runs on Stephen Vogt’s two-run shot that brought the A’s within 3-2 in the sixth inning.

Gray was perfect in July, going 5-0 and being named the American League pitcher of the month, but in August, Gray has been saddled with a loss in all four of his starts, prompting questions of whether the young starter has run out of gas in his first full season as a big league starter.

“I thought I made a lot of really good pitches and it just kind of didn’t go our way,” Gray said.

The A’s look to avoid the sweep on Sunday when Jon Lester takes the ball looking for his eight consecutive victory. The Braves will counter with lefty Mike Minor.

NHL: The All-Important Details

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By Mary Walsh

From the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to the NHL’s new Terms of Service agreement, the trick this week has been to sort through volumes of information to find the relevant details.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is certainly the more widely compelling story. It began as an awareness campaign for ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and has spread far and wide. It seems that anyone with a recognizable face or name is fair game for a challenge. In the NHL, the names of hockey players, management, owners, league executives and journalists have all popped up with videos and photos of dousings accompanied by challenges to others to get doused.

Beyond hockey, you can also find Hollywood celebrities posting their videos and challenging each other. Of course you don’t have to be a celebrity to participate, but your tweets and videos will probably get more views. The primary platforms for the challenges are also the most used social network sites: Twitter and Facebook. This is where the details come in. At least one person familiar to Sharks fans challenged someone who had already been challenged:

Actually, joining Twitter would not be enough for Drew Remenda to know who exactly had been challenged. There are so many people involved now that you would have to join and read Twitter for several hours a day to keep track. Even a standard Twitter search only gives you a sampling. Many videos are being posted without a helpful hashtag.

That is excellent news for ALS research. Awareness campaigns take some criticism for creating more noise than progress, but this campaign at least has paid some dividends for the cause. In the first couple weeks of the campaign, the ALS Association received $1.25 million in donations, an enormous jump for the same time period last year. While the challenge does have a donation in lieu of dousing component, it is unlikely that most of that money came from people who preferred not to have a bucket of ice water dumped on them. Even if it did not start out as a fund raiser, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has done an excellent job of raising both awareness and money for a good cause.

It is worth noting that some of the long-term symptoms of brain damage are similar to ALS. Until relatively recently, many people were diagnosed with ALS when in fact they were suffering the long-term results of concussions. While symptoms are similar, the causes are quite different. There is no reason to suppose that this is why the hockey community has supported the cause so enthusiastically, but it is an interesting connection that predates one awareness campaign.

A more hockey-specific bit of news also cropped up this week, with the NHL’s revised Terms of Service Agreement. A section was added explaining that users could not mine NHL sites without permission, either manually or with automated data gathering programs. Not long ago, this little passage might have been considered irrelevant small print. At the moment, it can probably still be regarded as such by most users, but it could pose a problem very quickly for sites that sort and interpret NHL statistics. Sites like Behind the Net could be asked to stop using these stats without getting permission from the NHL. They could even be asked to pay for them.

It is true that this seems to be the Advanced Stats community’s coming out summer. NHL teams are hiring well-regarded hockey statisticians as quickly as Bleacher Report is hiring popular bloggers. Both moves are sensible business decisions, and probably long overdue. Did this acceptance of statistical analysis trigger the NHL’s sudden concern that they were giving their numbers away for free when they should not be?

Maybe the new TOS was overdue as well. Those statistics don’t compile themselves or even get to the website without many eyes and hands working to gather and publish them. Shouldn’t the advertising revenue from the site be enough to cover that? Maybe. Or maybe the recognition that stats are valuable means everyone will put more value on them, including monetary value. I would not say that the NHL is waging war on advanced stats sites, but they have put themselves in a position to claim their share of any value derived from those stats. 

The discussion is very similar to other cases involving Fair Use of copyrighted material. In short, if the use of someone else’s work is deemed “fair” it is okay, you don’t have to sell your house to pay the owner of the material you used. “Fair” use can include non-profit educational purposes, commentary on the material, or use that does no harm to the owner’s rights. The last part is mentioned in the NHL’s TOS, where they talk about harm:

You may not access or use, or attempt to access or use, the Services to take any action that could harm us or any other person or entity

That line covers more than ownership rights, implying that the NHL wants the option to defend against any sort of abuse using their material, but the Fair Use question is the simplest to identify and the most likely to be acted on first.

Fair Use has most conspicuously applied to music, books, and images. The owner of the material usually prevails in a law suit. There are a lot of people using images without permission, but that is only because many industries recognize the value of having their images promoted for free. (The music industry is notorious for their refusal to see it that way.) Even with images, though, you don’t have the right to use just any image any way you want. The same applies to data, so anyone who helps turn that data into a valuable commodity runs the risk that the owner might notice and ask to be compensated. The owners certainly played a part in making NHL statistics valuable, by making them available for free to so many for so long. Was this little take-back part of the plan from the start? Probably. You have to get people hooked before you can make any money as a data-dealer.