Month: November 2014

Cardinal ruin Bruins’ season again, play spoiler in Pac-12 South race

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, November 28, 2014

Stanford went to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, Friday looking to have some fun and have a say in who represents the Pac-12 South in the upcoming conference football championship game.

And you can’t blame Stanford if they feel right at home in the Rose Bowl, since Friday marked their fourth visit to the famed stadium in the last three years.

While the Cardinal’s chances for a third consecutive conference title were dashed some time ago, Stanford closed out its regular season playing like champs while hammering No. 9 UCLA 31-10.

The Cardinal win helped Arizona slip in and take the Pac-12 South crown, after the Wildcats upended Arizona State 42-35.

Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan had a fine day, completing 16 of 19 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns while running for two more scores.

Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector were on the receiving end of Hogan’s scoring strikes for Stanford (7-5 overall, 5-4 Pac-12), as the Cardinal came up with their seventh consecutive defeat of UCLA (9-3 overall, 6-3 Pac-12).

While Hogan enjoyed one of his best days of the season, his counterpart, Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley didn’t fare quite so well. Hundley threw for 146 yards — the third worst passing game of his 39 career starts — and left the game with an injured throwing hand.

Playing without the services of injured wide receiver Ty Montgomery (shoulder), Hogan still completed his first 12 passes. In the final minute of the first half, Hogan put his agility to good use, escaping the Bruin pass rush and tossing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Cajuste with 40 seconds left in the second quarter.

That drive capped a remarkable first half for the Stanford signal caller, who was 14 of 15 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the first two quarters.

Stanford outgained the Bruins 436 yards to 262 and had the ball for 38 of the 60 minutes.

UCLA Coach Jim Mora has yet to defeat Stanford or Oregon in his first three seasons at the helm.

Now, the Cardinal will wait a few days and see what bowl game they land in, and who they’ll face. Same for UCLA, which thought it was headed to the Pac-12 title game and a possible College Football Playoff berth and will participate in neither.

A’s Trade 3B Josh Donaldson to Toronto ; Acquires RHP Graveman, LHP Nolin, IF Lawrie and minor league IF Barreto

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OAKLAND – The Oakland A’s acquired left-handed pitcher Sean Nolin, right-handed pitcher Kendall Graveman, infielder Brett Lawrie and minor league infielder Franklin Barreto from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for third baseman Josh Donaldson, the club announced today.  To clear spots on the 40-man roster, the A’s designated right-handed pitcher Josh Lindblom and first baseman Kyle Blanks for assignment.

Donaldson batted .255 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI in 158 games with Oakland last year.  He ranked sixth in the American League in walks (76), eighth in runs (93), tied for ninth in home runs and tied for 10th in RBI and extra base hits (62).  Donaldson was elected to his first AL All-Star team in 2014.  He is a .268 career hitter with 63 home runs and 228 RBI in 405 games in four seasons with Oakland.

Lawrie batted .247 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 70 games with Toronto last year.  He missed most of the final three months of the season due to two stints on the disabled list with a broken finger and an oblique strain.  The 24-year-old right-handed hitter started 44 games at third base and 26 at second base in 2014 but has made 311 of his 344 career starts at third base.  Lawrie was the first round pick of Milwaukee in 2008 and was traded to Toronto following the 2010 season.  He is a .265 career hitter with 43 home runs and 157 RBI in 345 games.

Graveman made his Major League debut with Toronto last year, compiling a 3.86 ERA in five September relief appearances.  He combined for a 14-6 record and a 1.83 ERA in 27 starts for Single-A Lansing and Dunedin, Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo, earning Baseball America Minor League All-Star honors.  The 23-year-old right-hander struck out 115, walked just 31 and allowed two home runs in 167.1 innings.  Graveman was originally selected by Toronto in the eighth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.

Nolin made one relief appearance with Toronto last year, allowing one run in 1.0 inning.  He combined for a 4-7 record and a 3.43 ERA in 20 starts with the GCL Blue Jays, Single-A Dunedin and Triple-A Buffalo.  The 24-year-old left-hander was drafted by Toronto in the sixth round of the 2010 draft and is 27-17 with a 3.06 ERA in 92 games, including 86 starts, in five professional seasons.

Barreto hit .311 with six home runs, 61 RBI and 29 stolen bases in 73 games with Short Season Single-A Vancouver in his second professional season.  He was originally signed by the Toronto organization as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela on July 2, 2012.  The 18-year old right-handed hitter was named the Blue Jays fifth best prospect by Baseball America following the season.

Raiders Commentary: Oakland hoping to extend win streak to two games in St.Louis

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–It’s another tough game coming up for the Oakland Raiders as they face the St.Louis Rams and they have it tough for the rest of the way. Even the teams that are not quite as good are still reasonably one of the decent teams in the NFL. You look at the Buffalo game at the end of December the Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL but they have a really tough defense.

The Raiders offense is where they struggle the most, in this game against the Rams the Raiders could win it. There’s a better chance going into this one against St.Louis than the game they had against Kansas City a game that was played at the Oakland Coliseum the other week and they ended up beating the Chiefs.

The Rams are a weird team because if they were in another division they might be a playoff contender the fact of the matter is their stuck in the NFC West which is really tough and even though they have a really strong defense at least on some level they have a competent offense. Their good enough to challenge some of the playoff teams.

We saw the Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks by two points 28-26 Sun Oct 19th, we’ve seen them beat a decent team the 49ers and the Raiders defense is going to have a real struggle and the Chiefs have a very tough defense and they managed to fall to the Raiders. Anything is possible you have to wonder how the Raiders are going to handle getting this one.

Will the Raiders be too tense? Will they sit back and say “we got our win, we feel good about our selves we’re looking ahead to the 49ers next week. Maybe were not going to pull one off on the road” the Raiders snapped a long losing streak which ran into 23 just overall.

This streak was long but their road losing streak was longer and it’s been over 15 months since they’ve won a road game. This game is going to be tough this Sunday. They’re still not very great at getting prepared for their next road trip and they don’t even know who their going to play next. They had that amazing win against the Chiefs when the Raiders Latavius Murray carried up the middle for a 90 yard touchdown and it was a run that helped avoid a winless season.

The other running backs the Raiders have Marcel Reece and Darren McFadden haven’t really done anything all season long. Without that running threat to keep defenses honest the Raiders are going to have a little bit of trouble especially going against a good defense.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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49ers commentary: Holes in the line up the Niners have over a week to prepare for Raiders

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–This wasn’t a new development that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick couldn’t get the offense moving. The 49ers offense has been struggling for about a month and a half now and they really haven’t had a good game all season and there hasn’t been a single game during that time where they had a dominant offense.

The game on the road against St.Louis Mon Oct 13th was a pretty good victory 31-17 and that was probably Kaepernick’s best game of the season in that one. That was the only one where the offense look competent other than that this team has struggled on offense all season. It’s tough to put your finger on why the offense has such a tough time this year.

Last season it was clearly the lack of wide receivers Anquan Boldin had one good game this year and in 2013. Michael Crabtree was out most of the year and everybody after Boldin on the depth chart really contributed nothing. There’s Boldin and Vernon Davis and then the running game, this season all the receivers are more or less healthy Boldin is having a very good year.

Davis hasn’t contributed much and maybe that might be a bit of a factor he’s been hurt since the third or fourth game of the season. Crabtree has had a lousy year for the first season he’s played pretty much every game he hasn’t had a good season at all. Nobody in the third slot of the wide receiving core stepped up but Stevie Johnson has been pretty good.

For intents and purposes Johnson is not on the field most of the time he’s kind of splitting time with Brandon Lloyd and except for that one game Lloyd hasn’t done very much either. Part of it is the wide receivers are not all that good beyond that fumble. Davis hasn’t contributed and the other big factor the offensive line is lousy.

Left offensive guard Mike Iupati has had some problems with injuries this season and Davis hasn’t played in a couple of weeks and he’s missed several games and the Niners have a new center Marcus Martin. Daniel Kilgore went down and he was playing really well then he got hurt Martin came in he really struggled in that first game at home against St.Louis.

Martin has been a struggled to come back but he’s still learning as a rookie and everybody on that offensive line got injured to a certain extent. Joe Staley got knocked out in proportions of games he hasn’t missed a start but he’s banged up. Don’t forget right offensive guard Alex Boone he missed the all of camp and didn’t come in until about a month into the season.

The Niners play next on Sunday December 7th at Levis Stadium hosting the Oakland Raiders

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings Notes: Protest denied; Cousins out?

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

Protest Denied

The NBA has denied the protest filed by the Sacramento Kings about their 111-110 loss to the Memphis Grizzles on November 13, 2014.

The Kings protested the outcome claiming that Courtney Lee’s game winning shot should not have counted because it was made after time had expired. Both teams were allowed to submit evidence in support of their positions on the decision to count the basket and award the win to Memphis.

Per the league office, “The Commissioner determined that the game officials’ call that Lee’s shot was timely was within their judgement and not a misapplication of the playing rules. Sacramento’s protest therefore did not justify the extraordinary remedy of overturning the games’ result.”

Cousins out versus the Spurs?

The Kings have released the injury report for tonight’s game in San Antonio and the news is not good for Sacramento fans. DeMarcus Cousins has a virus and is listed as doubtful to play in the game. By NBA definitions, that means there is only a 25-percent chance that Cousins will appear in the contest.

Rudy Gay and Darren Collison who have missed the last two games due to injury are listed as questionable. That means the team feels there is a 50- percent chance they will be available for the game in San Antonio.

A game without Cousins, Gay and Collison would make a win for the Kings in San Antonio a real long shot.

Cal basketball commentary: Bears prepare for Fresno; nice pull away in Cal Poly win

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by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The game against the Cal Poly Mustangs was close for quite awhile last Wednesday night but the Cal Bears pulled away and won it 72-52. The Bears started pulling away with 11 minutes left in the game. Until it was a three point game, right when I turned to Jeff Faraudo of Bay Area News Group and said their letting Cal Poly hang around too long they stopped letting them hang around.

It took Cal 30 minutes of play to really solve the way Cal Poly was defending the game running the shot clock down as close to zero as they could. Extending possession making a lot of passes with a lot of ball movement. On defense they were packing it in low.

Cal was kind of filling up the lane and forcing Cal Poly to take shots that they didn’t really want to take at that time and it took them a little while to really solve it but they eventually did. They executed a three guard offense and three guards scored in double figures Jabari Bird (18), Jordan Matthews (17), and Tyrone Wallace (16).

Basically Cal on defense collapsed in the lane making it impossible to drive the lane, you have to move the ball around a lot and find an open shooter. On offense Bird played well, Matthews used his speed to get the transition game going in the last ten minutes of the game. Christian Behrens had a really nice night he had a career high with nine rebounds.

Behrens could stand to put on a few pounds he still is in general in Cal terms a lightweight compared to a lot teams in the Pac 12. That really showed in the Texas game during the 2K Tournament which they lost, Texas had four guys who were 6’11 and were bigger. All of those four weighed at least 250 pounds and they were able to go in and physically dominate Cal.

The one thing that Cal does not have at this point is bulk down in the key as a senior David Kravish looks like he’s missed a couple of meals. The kids all have sufficient stamina to play 40 minutes that’s not an issue but what’s more an issue is just the ability to be a physical presence in the lane. When your 6’10 290 lbs you take up a lot more space in the key.

When your 6’10 220 lbs you get the leverage to spread out your base and have the physical mass just to move people off the block or just from keeping them from getting the position. Cal Poly was a good basketball team that Cal faced on Wednesday night they compete all night long and if you go back to last year they were the NCAA Tournament team and Cal was not an NCAA Tournament team.

Cal now gets set to play at Fresno State on Sunday for a 3:00 PM (PST) tip

Michael Duca does Cal basketball commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bad digestion: 49ers’ Thanksgiving ruined by the Seahawks

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By Morris Phillips

The first Thanksgiving meeting of the NFC West rivals Seattle and San Francisco couldn’t be broken down more accurately if it were gravy and stuffing: the Seahawks looked like one big, happy family while the 49ers looked like their holiday meal was catered and served ice cold.

In the big showdown between the two teams that battled to the wire in last season’s NFC Championship game, the Seahawks stopped the 49ers and Colin Kaepernick dead in their tracks.  The 49ers managed just 164 yards in total offense, scored three points and saw Carlos Hyde’s 16-yard catch and run in the second quarter stand as their longest play of the night.

Based on the 49ers’ recent performances, the lack of offense couldn’t have been completely unexpected, but in the biggest game of the season to date, the assumption was that one of the better teams in the NFL could lift their game.  But against the Seahawks, they couldn’t.  Richard Sherman picked off two Kaepernick passes, preened and pranced while the 49ers and Michael Crabtree appeared frustrated and helpless.

“Things just aren’t happening for us and I don’t know why,” Frank Gore said.  “We need to look at ourselves as a whole and see what is going on.  It’s tough.”

“We didn’t get it done,” Coach Jim Harbaugh admitted.  “The Seahawks played much better team football than we did.  We know what we have to do now—to come back and win them all.”

Coming in all the numbers pointed toward the NFC playoff picture not being big enough for all three NFC West contenders.  Now the 49ers appear to be the obvious omission come January with the Seahawks (8-4), Cowboys (8-4) and Lions (8-4) a game ahead with at least two of the three needing to falter to help San Francisco.  The 49ers (7-5) have winnable games ahead with the Raiders, Chargers and Cardinals in the season finale at home, but now a loss at Seattle on December 14 probably would eliminate them from contention.

The stark reality of the 49ers’ post-season hopes and the poor performance drew an immediate reaction from team owner Jed York who tweeted an apology to the fans while calling the team’s performance “unacceptable.”

Sharks commentary: Hunger Games in San Jose; team flat, chances fall, and can’t win shoot outs

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by Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE–There is definitely a lack of production on the San Jose Sharks right now who just dropped their fourth straight game and their third at home. The Sharks also lost two of those games on shootouts. The defense is not doing great either and they had some goaltenders they faced who stopped a lot of chances for them. They have skaters who can’t score goals and there aren’t a lot of goals to win games.

What happened is the season started well for the Sharks and all four lines were scoring and now there’s a bit of a dry spell from the bottom two lines and also from Patrick Marleau and Logan Courture have gone through a dry spell with five or six games without goals. The Sharks finally broke through in the game against the Coyotes Sat Nov 22 but it wasn’t enough for the Sharks which they lost by a goal 4-3.

They really need to have their third and fourth lines step up and score some goals again, the Coyotes goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 40 goals last Saturday and that’s not helping San Jose and that happens that’s part of the game and the Sharks have to overcome it and they have to find ways to score goals and the Sharks aren’t able to do so.

The game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night which they got shutout 2-0 Flames goaltender Karri Ramo stopped all 32 shots against to shutout the home team at SAP Center. The Sharks have been shooting from the perimeter rather than getting close to the net or shooting from the blue line. The shots against Sharks goalie Antti Niemi are getting through pretty easy for Calgary as the Flames Jiri Hudler put on a one man show scoring both goals on Wednesday night for the 2-0 win.

Niemi has had a pretty good season so far 2.58 goals against, his numbers are there and he’s won a few games that they didn’t deserve to win. Niemi is one player that is hard to really accuse him of any thing right now. Sharks back up goalie Alex Stalock could have taken the start from Niemi because he had a good season last year but has been playing below average.

Stalock went out with injuries and the Sharks had called up another guy from Worcester who went down with injuries and so the Sharks had to call up a local guy from San Jose Ryan Lowe. The Sharks woes continue as the other backup goalie Troy Groesnick got an upper body injury during the morning skate Wednesday and sat out.

Lowe sat on the bench and didn’t see any action and was ready for the call of duty. Lowe is local and played college hockey at San Jose State. Lowe played hockey in an Australian league. The Sharks continue to have backup issues in net. Niemi for the most part has been good so far.

The Sharks have been a bit unlucky and there has been a lot of chatter about trading Marleau but Marleau has done the best that he could so prove that he belongs and be a leader on the team. Joe Thornton has been doing a lot better after he lost his captaincy at the beginning of this season and leads the team with 20 assists and has said that he wants to get it back.

The Sharks are now .500 at 10-10-4 a position that is very foreign to them as they have always been on the top at this time of the year in the Pacific but are battling to stay in the race. The Sharks host the Anaheim Ducks this Saturday night at 7:30pm.

Ivan Makarov hosts Sportstalk and is a beat writer covering San Jose Sharks hockey for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal tops Cal Poly to improve to 4-1 on the season

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By Morris Phillips

On the same night, on the same big stage, on the same court, experienced, but still youthful coaches Cuonzo Martin and Joe Callero experienced the biggest wins of the careers last March.  In Dayton, at the NCAA First Four, Martin’s Tennessee team got past Iowa in overtime, and Callero’s Mustangs of Cal Poly became just the second team in NCAA Tournament history to win a tournament game despite having 19 losses that season.

Wednesday night was not in any way the same stage for Martin and Callero.  Just a holiday eve meeting of teams trying to find their way that went decidedly to Martin’s Bears, 72-52 at Haas Pavilion.  For Martin, the adjustment of being the new coach with an established group of players continued full force as he described after the game.

“Any time there’s a coaching change there’s adjustments with different styles and different philosophies,” Martin explained.  “I thought Jordan Mathews has taken steps defensively and has really accepted challenges.  I thought (point guard) Sam (Singer) did a great job defending.  I thought Christian (Behrens) played a tremendous game on both ends of the floor.  He really defended and really accepted challenges.  It doesn’t happen overnight because you have to go through things.  Every team presents a different challenge.  They have to take personal pride and be tough and hard-nosed.  That’s how you win games.”

For Callero, his team and environment is the same, but the challenge to maintain the momentum created by winning the Big West tournament last spring and then winning their NCAA opener against Texas Southern without repeating the adversity that comes with losing 19 games.  Callero’s team last spring overcame injuries, got hot at the right time and made a run.  Now with most of that team back, minus a pair of senior leaders, Callero is trying to create an environment that includes winning more frequently.

Against Cal, Callero’s Mustangs had their hands full.

“We took care of the basketball, but their speed you just can’t simulate,” Callero said.  “They had six or eight transition baskets on us in the first half, which we felt like that was difference in the seven-point lead they had at the half.  Second opportunities and tip-ins are things you can control.  They ended up with nine offensive boards and just dominated the glass with potential possessions there.”

The Bears built upon their edge on the glass, out rebounding Cal Poly 44-27 and shooting 47 percent from the field.  Cal led by seven at the half, and the stubborn Mustangs hung around for much of the second half, but the Bears extended their lead to double digits with eight minutes remaining.

The Bears were led by the trio of Jabari Bird, Tyrone Wallace and Mathews who combined for 51 of Cal’s 72 points.  David Kravish added nine points and six rebounds.

Brian Bennett had 16 points for Cal Poly.  David Nwaba added 14 points, five rebounds.

On Sunday afternoon, Cal travels to Fresno State to face the Bulldogs at 3pm.

Warriors Runaway With 111-96 Decision in Orlando

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The Golden State Warriors continued the franchise’s best start to a season, running their record to 11-2 following a 111-96 beat-down of the home team Orlando Magic. One night after cracking 40 points, Stephen Curry burned the Magic for 28 points on 9 of 13 shooting and four free throws.

The Warriors also received double-digit scoring from starters Harrison Barnes (16), Draymond Green (10) and Klay Thompson (12). Andre Iguodala (13), Marreese Speights(11) and Shaun Livingston (15) also joined the double-digit club coming off the bench. Center Andrew Bogut topped Golden State with 12 rebounds.

Magic Center Nikola Vuceic had a game-best 13 boards. Forward Tobias Harris scored 16 points for the Magic to lead the team Wednesday.

The Warriors outscored the Magic in every quarter except the fourth, but by then they’d built up a 92-65 lead. Despite outscoring the Warriors 31-19 in the fourth quarter, the Magic fell victim to the blowout loss 111-96.

The Warriors continue their road trip Friday in a homecoming for Stephen Curry. The Warriors travel to Charlotte to face the Hornets. It may be one of the last Warriors games Dish subscribers see. The television provider plans to remove Comcast Sports programming from its schedule in the coming year.