Month: June 2015

The A’s rally to start the road trip with a win over the Texas Rangers.

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Baseball is a game that defies description. There are nights that pitchers perform well but end up taking a loss. Bloop singles can beat you while balls hit right on the nose end up in an outfielder’s glove for an out. The A’s starter, Jesse Chavez, has pitched  well this season. However, he entered the game with a record of 3-6. Chavez did his job, but the A’s offense failed to give him any run support. Tuesday night Jesse did not pitch well. He went five innings, allowed eight hits and was touched for five runs. Did he take the loss? No, he did not, he won. The A’s rallied in the top of the sixth from a three-run deficit to score four times to take the lead. The A’s bullpen shut the Rangers down as they recorded the last twelve outs of the game, and Oakland won 8-6. Chavez, since he was the pitcher of record when the A’s rallied to take the lead, won his fourth game of the year.

Chi Chi Rodriguez started for Texas, and Chavez was on the hill for the A’s. It was a matchup of a good-looking rookie pitcher going against a very good veteran. The Rangers struck first in the bottom of the second. Ranger shortstop Elvis Andrus doubled to start the inning. He advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a passed ball. A’s catcher Josh Phegley may have had a  chance to nail Andrus at home but Chavez forgot to  cover the plate. The A’s tied the game in the top of the third. Eric Sogard singled to drive in Marcus Semien with the run.

The A’s took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth when Phegley blasted his fourth home run of the year over the centerfield wall. The lead didn’t last long as the Rangers scored four times in the bottom of the fifth. With a man on first, Rangers’ second baseman Rougned Odor hit his second home run of the year into the right-field seats to give Texas a 3-2 lead. At this point in the game, Chavez was struggling with his location. The next batter, Joey Gallo, doubled. Prince Fielder also doubled but Gallo held up waiting to see if the ball was caught, and he had to stop at third. Adrian Beltre, in his first game back from the DL, hit a sacrifice fly allowing Gallo to score, and Fielder took third on the throw home. Andrus singled to drive in Fielder with the Rangers fifth run of the night. A’s trail 5-2 after five. Chavez pitch count reached 97 and his night was over.

This is where the game gets interesting. The A’s scored four times in the sixth to put them ahead 6-5 and since Chavez was the pitcher of record was in line to get credit for the win even though he left the game trailing 5-2. Ben Zobrist led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second when Billy Butler was hit by a pitch. Ike Davis doubled to right-center to drive in Zobrist and Josh Phegley followed with a double over the head of Ranger center fielder Leonys Martin to drive in Butler and Davis to tie the game at five. Ranger manager Jeff Bannister went to his bullpen and replaced Rodriguez with Keone Kela. Marcus Semien greeted him with a double to put the A’s ahead 6-5.

The A’s scored two more runs in the seventh. Eric Sogard walked and came home on Zobrist’s fifth home run of the year. The Rangers scored a run in their half of the inning. With two out Beltre reached on a Brett Lawrie throwing  Mitch Moreland singled to put men on at first and third. A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in righty Fernando Rodriguez to face Elvis Andrus. Andrus doubled driving in Beltre, but Moreland could not score as he was not running well and had to stop at third.Rodriguez retired the next hitter to end the inning.

Rodriguez started the eight and walked Chirinos with one out. Melvin brought in Drew Pomeranz to pitch. Pomeranz walked Odor to put runners on at first and second. Pomeranz struck out Joy Gallo for the second out and got Prince Fielder to ground out to end the inning. Pomeranz came out to pitch the ninth as A’s closer, Tyler Clippard, was no available. Beltre singled to start the frame but was erased when Pomeranz induced Moreland to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. Pomeranz struck out Elvis Andrus to end the game. Final score 8-6 in favor of Oakland.

Game Notes- The A’s have  won three straight and seven of their last nine. The A’s are now 32-41 for the year, and Texas falls to 37-34. Josh Phegley was the hitting star for the A’s with a home run, double and three RBI. Billy Burns had a hit in the game and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games in a row.  Stephen Vogt did not play as he has a strained flexor tendon in his elbow. Vogt was available for pinch-hitting duties Tuesday and is expected to be in the lineup Wednesday.

The A’s resume the three-game series Wednesday night at the Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 5:05 PM PT.

Kendall Graveman will be on the hill for Oakland, and he will be opposed by the veteran lefty, Wandy Rodriguez.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: AL West is loaded, the Angels are on the move, the Astros have the hitting, and the A’s need relief

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–This is the time of the year when the Los Angeles Angels start to get hot and jell and they did it this time last year. The Angels were hovering in the .500 range at 33-32 and all of a sudden they caught fire they won 98 games at the end of the season. It’s a wonder if they can do that again. The American League West is going to be a race until the finish.

The Oakland A’s are still in the cellar and if they can fix their bullpen and they’re 11 games out, this western division is certainly exciting and anything can happen. For the A’s to catch up it’s going to be tough because like the Angels their going to have to win three game series like two out of three. The A’s are going to have to win a lot of series to get back into the race.

Once in a while the A’s will have to sweep somebody to get right back into this race. We’ve been saying this all along the bullpen is very weak the A’s could make a run for it but they’re 10.5 games out and in order to get back into it all the stars will have to be aligned. Houston is going to have to go into a slump.

Houston holds a slight 3 game margin lead in the AL West and just lost two out of three over the week. The Astros have a lot of confidence and they have very good pitching. The Astros are more interesting they’re aggressive, they hit the long ball, they get pitching they can come back and string a few victories together.

That’s how they win and the A’s can hope by the end of July they’ll be just three games out but if they’re ten games out by the end of July there’s going to be a big fire sale and A’s general manager Billy Beane is going to trade for some new players. The Astros have one of the best lefthanded pitchers in baseball Dallas Keuchel 8-3 ERA 2.53.

Here’s one of the things as I was talking with one of the Astros broadcasters last night and I asked if they were going to make any trades and the Astros are so talented and it will be tough to decide who to deal. For Houston that’s a wonderful problem to have because they have talented players all throughout their roster.

The Astros were not expected to contend this year and maybe they would contend for 2016 or 2017 so what happened the Astros have guys who can hit, George Springer is hitting .279, Jose Atulve .287, Chris Cater strikes out a lot but hits a lot of home runs and is hitting .201. The Astros have a lot of talent and their in first place.

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

Senior Tour Player Fred Couples

Fred Couples Withdraws from U.S. Senior Open Because of Back Troubles

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By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

Fred Couples has withdrawn from the U.S. Senior Open because of a back injury.

The 55-year-old Couples has a long history of back trouble. He missed the cut at the Masters and has not played in the past two months. Couples also pulled out of qualifying earlier this month for the U.S. Open, held outside his hometown of Seattle.

He was runner-up at the U.S. Senior Open in his first year of eligibility and has not recorded a top 10 in the event since then.

Couples was replaced by Paul Trittler of Cave Creek, Arizona

Should the Kings trade DeMarcus Cousins?

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sbnation.com

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Should the Kings trade DeMarcus Cousins?

The simple answer is yes. The reasons why they should trade the talented All-Star center are much more complicated, but there is no doubt that the Kings should move Cousins now.

The first reason why the Kings should trade Cousins is that he does not want to be in Sacramento anymore. James Herbert from CBS Sports reports that Cousins requested a trade a month ago. That means he took some time after the season ended to evaluate the year and his 30 games under head coach George Karl. It appears Cousin’s conclusion is that things are not going to work out in Sacramento.

Who can blame him? In his five years in Sacramento, Cousins has played for two ownership groups, three general managers and five coaches. Until the current ownership group took over, there was great doubt about the Kings remaining in Sacramento. The circumstances of Cousins tenure have been the very definition of instability.

Adjusting to the NBA life is taxing on any young player. Playing in a completely dysfunctional atmosphere might be a burden that is too much to bear for the 25-year Cousins.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers want Cousins and are trying to negotiate a deal that would include the Orlando Magic along with the Kings. Vlade Divac, vice-president of basketball and franchise operations, immediately denied that the Kings were giving any consideration to trading their All-Star center.

Now, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that George Karl wants to trade Cousins. Per the reports, Karl does not feel that he and Cousins meshed during the 30 game honeymoon period at the end of the season. Karl said some nice things about Cousins during the season. The head coach has not had anything to say about his center lately.

If the situation was not confusing enough, Chris Broussard of ESPN is reporting that Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive is blocking any move that would send Cousins to another team.

Let’s deal with the Ranadive story first. It was Ranadive who reportedly disliked Michael Malone’s style of play and pushed for him to be fired. Cousins had built a strong relationship with Malone and was responding to him as a leader. Cousins’ attitude changed almost immediately following the firing of Malone, and the change was not for the better.

Ranadive has made other unusual personnel decisions since becoming the owner. He hired Malone as coach before he hired a general manager. Ranadive then hired Pete D’Alessandro as general manager. According to multiple reports, Malone and D’Alessandro were at odds over basketball philosophy and “style of play” from the very beginning of their working relationship.

Ranadive may be a genius when it comes to running high tech companies, but his decision making process as a NBA owner has been dubious. It has become very clear that Ranadive needs to let his experts – Divac and Karl – do their jobs and allow them to make the tough decisions that will build a solid foundation for the Kings in years to come.

Karl – at the request of Ranadive – is trying to install a fast moving, positionless style of play. Cousins appears to more comfortable in a hard hitting defensive game with a set offense style of play. Frankly, Cousins would be more accepting of a change of playing style if he was happy in his situation.

Let’s be clear. Cousins is not happy being in a unstable situation that has been in a rebuilding mode for all of his five seasons with the team. The chances of getting him to be happy with the current changes are “slim-to-none”.

Cousins is an All-Star now. He is a premier player in “the association”. Cousins knows he can begin to dictate the way he wants his career to go from this point forward. Apparently, Cousins wants his career to continue in some other locale.

Why should the KIngs make a move now? Because Cousins value is as high as it has ever been. He is an All-Star and a member the USA National team. By all appearances, he is healthy. Cousins stock may never be higher.

The Kings do not want to have to move him after a season of turmoil under a coach Cousins does not want play for and after his attitude becomes a major problem. If the Kings wait until the situation really deteriorates, they will only get fifty-cents on the dollar for an incredibly talented basketball asset. Sacramento cannot allow themselves to squander their future by trying to make an unhappy player, happy again.

What should the Kings ask for in return for Cousins? I will leave the details up to Vlade Divac, George Karl and the basketball operations staff of the Kings. By the way, Vivek Ranadive should get out of the way and do the same.

Quoting CSN Kings Insider Bill Herenda, “The NBA is a fickle business and chemistry is extremely fragile.” The current situation with the Sacramento Kings certainly proves that statement to be true.

Giants hold some distinct advantages over the Dodgers in the race for the NL West

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By Morris Phillips

After a Dodgers’ loss in Chicago against the Cubs Monday night, one game separates the Giants from their heated rival in the NL West.  But make no mistake, this divisional race is beginning to take shape.

The Dodgers continue to struggle, losing three of four, and 22 of their last 39 after beginning the season with wins in 22 of their first 32 games.   Staff ace Clayton Kershaw hasn’t been anywhere near the lights out performer he was last season, losing Monday to even his record at 5-5.  No. 2 guy Zack Greinke has been on top of his game, but doesn’t have the results to show for it.  Greinke hasn’t won since May 5, despite an ERA of 1.99 in the eight starts since.

So with starters Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy already on the shelf and expected to miss the rest of the season, the Dodgers are likely to hit the trade market in search of another starter or two.  Given their resources, the likelihood that the Dodgers come up with a Scott Kazmir, Chris Sale or Cole Hamels are high.  But that acquisition could cost the team someone like Andre Eithier and impact their ability to acquire another bat, which would qualify as their second priority for the trade deadline.

The Giants, of course, are interested observers.  The reigning World Champs have survived an eight-game losing streak and a more recent eight straight losses at home to pull virtually even with the division leaders.  The Giants offensive lineup has gotten a nice boost from their young infielders Joe Panik and Matt Duffy, not to mention Brandon Crawford, who is on pace to have his best offensive season to date.  The Giants could hit the trade market too, but the Giants figure to get a boost to their rotation from within with the imminent returns of Matt Cain and Jake Peavy.

The Giants would appear to be better situated in terms of schedule as well with 46 home games remaining compared to the Dodgers 41.  And while both teams have similar schedules in terms of opponents, the Dodgers have a 10-game roadie in July along with the 10-game trip they’re on currently.  Meanwhile, the Giants can look forward to a closing stretch in which they play 19 of their final 22 games without leaving the Bay Area (three games in Oakland September 25-27).

So do the Giants have the edge on the Dodgers in the race for the division title?  Yes, but only if they get hot and take advantage of downtrodden opponents with a heavy dose of NL East teams in July that represents the best opportunity to win games in bunches.

The Giants open a six-game homestand on Tuesday night with the Padres in town.  Madison Bumgarner faces the Padres’ Odrisamer Despaigne in the opener at 7:15pm.

Preview of A’s vs Rangers Series

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s have  been playing a little better lately. They won series against the San Diego Padres and the LA Angels and five of the last seven games played. The starting pitching continues to be excellent. The starters,  Scott Kazmir, Jesse Hahn, Jesse Chavez, Kendall Graveman and Sonny Gray have all pitched well. The bullpen has not. There are exceptions, but everyone has to hold their breath when A’s manager Bob Melvin goes out to the mound to bring in a reliever. A’s closer Tyler Clippard recorded two saves over the weekend and has recorded eleven for the year. The A’s are still committing too many errors, but shortstop Marcus Semien seems to be improving.  Former A’s coach and Rangers’ skipper, Ron Washington is on board as a special assistant to help him with his fielding and throwing.

So, the A’s are off to Texas to play a three-game series with the Rangers before returning home to face the Kansas City Royals and the Colorado Rockies. The Rangers are currently in second place in the AL West with a record of 37-33 and are 3.5 games behind the first-place Houston Astros. The Rangers are playing well despite the fact that so many of their key players are on the disabled list.Yu Darvish is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. Derek Holland is on the 60-day DL, and closer Neftali Feliz is on the 15-day DL. Matt Harrison, who was on the 60-day DL, is slated to come off in late June. Other players on the DL include Adrian Beltre, Delino DeShields and Josh Hamilton. Hamilton played in just seven games after coming back to Texas. Prince Fielder leads the Texas offense. Fielder sports a .340 batting average with eleven home runs and 47 RBI and has an OPS of .929.  Other key performers for Texas are Mitch Moreland, Shin-Soo Choo, and rookie Joey Gallo. Gallo was brought up to replace the injured Adrian Beltre. Gallo started well but has trailed off a bit. Gallo is hitting .222 with five home runs and ten RBI in his first eighteen games in the show.

Rangers’ starters include Yovani Gallardo ( 6-6, 2.98 era), the 23-year-old sensation, Chi Chi Gonzalez ( 2-1,0.90 ERA), veteran Colby Lewis, Nick Martinez (5-3,2.77 ERA) and Wandy Rodriguez ( 3-2,3.20). The bullpen consists of Ross Detwiler, Tanner Scheppers, Shawn Tolleson and Keone Kela.

The A’s and Rangers have played ten times so far this year and the A’s hold a 6-4 advantage. The Rangers can be beaten in Arlington as their record there is just 15-16. The A’s are a sub .500 road team in 2015. They are just 17-21 away from Oakland.

It should be a terrific series between the two division rivals. The A’s won the AL West crown in 2012 and 2013 much to the dismay of the Rangers. Last year the Rangers floundered as so many of their star hurlers were injured, and it is amazing how well they are playing under the leadership of their first-year skipper, Jeff Bannister. The Rangers may be buyers as they are in contention for the AL West lead. The A’s, are ten games under the .500 mark and need to start climbing out of the basement. When Oakland wins, the team looks great but they looked awful more often than great and the A’s will have to make decisions on players like Kazmir, Clippard and Ben Zobrist. These three players will be free agents at the end of the season. If the A’s are in contention, the team will probably keep them. If not, the A’s will probably try to rebuild the team again, and Billy Beane is probably on the telephone trying to find new homes for them.

Note- Just a word about the sad news that former Texas Ranger and San Francisco Giant outfielder, Daryl Hamilton, was found murdered in his suburban home near Houston. Hamilton was in the big leagues for 13 seasons and was well liked by his fellow teammates. He was very personable and was an analyst on the MLB Network. Very sad day for baseball to lose one of its own, but bad things happen to good people. Daryl tragic death saddened all of us at SportsRadioService, and we extend our sympathies to his family, friends, former teammates, and colleagues. RIP, Daryl.

Sportstalk Podcast @ Le Colonial Restaurant in downtown SF Mon Jun 22, 2015

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Cast: Michael Duca (host), David Zizmor, Jeremy Kahn, Morris Phillips, Jessica Kwong, and Lee Leonard (producer) enjoy French-Vietnamese dining thanks to our hosts Dining Manager Nur Zayed, Sales Manager Dahlia, and Server Andrian. Le Colonial serves dinner each night of the week. We recommend Le Colonial’s appetizers Crispy rolls with Dungeness crabs, chicken, and shrimp, there are more appetizers to choose from.

For Entree’s Lemongrass chicken roasted breast & sautéed thigh meat, also try the Coconut water braised pork shoulder, served with scallion, and also another favorite Coconut curry prawns with eggplant, shitake mushrooms, mango, potato, yellow onion and basil.

On Sportstalk at Le Colonial the panel discusses the suicide-murder of former San Francisco Giant Darryl Hamilton, the Golden State Warriors go golfing post season, and the A’s finally are stringing some key wins together.

San Francisco Giants commentary with Michael Duca: Darryl Hamilton was a father, friend, teammate, and co-worker

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Giant centerfielder Darryl Hamilton. (photo: Tom Gallagher 3/28/98 Review Sports)
Giant centerfielder Darryl Hamilton. (photo: Tom Gallagher 3/28/98 Review Sports)

by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–Former San Francisco Giant outfielder Darryl Hamilton 50 was shot and killed by his girlfriend Monica Jordan 44 on Monday in a murder suicide at their Pearland Texas home. Their 14 month old child was found in the home unhurt. According to authorities at the scene Hamilton was shot inside the front door area of the home. Questions to whether Hamilton was trying to get away from Jordan and escape through the front door is still not known.

“At this point there does not appear to be a struggle the incident took place inside the front door” said police Lieutenant Onesimo Lopez who spoke to reporters at the Hamilton home.

Hamilton was an MLB Network analyst he played 13 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and New York Mets. Hamilton was close to the his teammates when he with the Giants and he was admired for his hard work and what he brought to the clubhouse and the team by Giants manager Dusty Baker.

Hamilton finished his career with a .291 average, 1333 hits, 707 runs scored, 454 RBIs, Hamilton was relentlessly positive as a person and his getting killed and shot like this was a waste and it leaves several children without a father. It leaves one child without a mother and it proves like every other murder-suicide in history the shooter got the order wrong.If you want to do something like this do it yourself but leave the rest of us alone.

Hamilton was always smiling, always thoughtful, and most of what I knew of the personal side of Darryl he was involved in his church, he was a father to his kids, he was available for appearances, he was available for fundraising, he would bid out prices and would buy up some of the auction items to help out with causes. He was generous to a fault. Right now I’m just consumed with rage over this.

Hamilton was one of the rare guys whose talents on the field and ended up talking about the game on radio, TV and the MLB Network. Given a fair opportunity he would have developed into a better analyst than he was player. Hamilton was part of a long line of veteran outfielders that former Giants manager Dusty Baker brought in with the likes of Ellis Burks and Eric Davis there was a long, long, list guys who brought character to the clubhouse.

Michael Duca is a San Francisco Giants analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

George Karl’s thoughts on the 2015 NBA Draft

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

You are NBA head coach and it is Father’s Day. How do you spend your morning? You are not out having brunch and mimosas. You are probably in a gym watching draft prospects go through drills and evaluating their skills.

That is exactly how George Karl spent his Father’s Day. He attended a workout with four players at the Kings practice facility. Two of the players will probably be drafted in the mid to late first round in Thursday’s NBA Draft. The other two players may go in the second round or be potential free agent pick ups.

Karl felt it was a good workout, and that all four players worked really hard.

When asked about his input into the draft process Karl said, “Most of my input is philosophical. Do we need a passer, a shooter or a shot blocker? Do we need a big guy?”

Karl noted that he is seeing most of these players for the first time. Where he sees NBA players multiple times in person and on video, Karl does not have the time to keep up on potential draftees.

“I feel much more comfortable being a consultant on NBA players than I am with the draft,” said Karl.

Karl indicated that he is looking for skills, coachability. speed, size and style of play when he is evaluating players in the workouts..

“When the roster is set, I have to adapt to the style of play a little bit. In pro ball, a coach has to be adaptable. In college, you can recruit the type of player you want. In pro ball, you have to have good players. You have got  to have talented kids. If you (the coach) can’t get your type of player, (you have) to change the style of play until you get your type of player.”

Karl responded to a question about dealing with younger draftees with some strong words. “If I am a basketball sociologist, I’m saying the one and done stuff has not been good for the game – I can buy that. I can also buy that AAU has not been good for college or pro basketball. No one wants to hear that. They want to believe that we can take six months to a year and turn them into pro basketball players.” Karl added, “In our case it’s not one player, (we need) three or four players to get our roster into the right place.”

Karl was clear that the team has plans in place for whatever happens on Thursday night. He indicated that the Kings know who they will take if they keep the sixth overall pick. Karl pointed out the team could also trade the sixth pick for multiple picks or use the pick to trade for experience players.

Karl implied that he would get pretty aggressive on Thursday night if there is a player available who can give him 30-minutes of playing time per night. “I don’t think any guy at six is going to play 30-minutes. Most of these guys we’re considering are 19-year old kids who are going to have to grow up a little bit,” said Karl.

Karl also waxed philosophically about the development of younger players. He told reporters that it is easier for a player to grow up on a winning team than it is on a losing team.

In the NBA, the best prospects go to the worst teams. That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on young players to produce quickly.

Karl also pointed out that he will be looking for coachability once gets the young players into the gym. He will be looking for players that want to win and are all about the team. Karl also indicated he has no problem being the policeman for any player who is not about winning and being a team player.

Karl was very clear on what it takes to win. “The best way to do that is to play better as a team.”

SaberCats use second half surge to topple Outlaws

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, June 21, 2015

San Jose returned to the Arena Football League win column Sunday in Las Vegas, using a big second half to rout the Outlaws 63-31 at Thomas & Mack Center.

The victory gives the SaberCats a 12-1 record and a chance to host the ArenaBowl. San Jose, which has already clinched the Pacific Division title, has a one-game lead over the Philadelphia Soul (11-2) for the league’s best overall mark.

Reggie Gay hauled in eight passes for 67 yards, and Adron Tennell snagged five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. SaberCats’ quarterback Erik Meyer completed 20 of 28 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

The SaberCats scored 35 unanswered points in the second half after taking a 21-17 lead into the locker room.

Meyer started the second-half rally, scoring on a quarterback sneak, extending San Jose’s lead to 28-17. Rookie defensive back Fred Obi intercepted a J.J. Raterink pass, returning it to the Outlaw 2-yard-line where Darius Reynolds scored from on the next play.

Reynolds caught four passes for 56 yards and scored three touchdowns – two of them on the ground.

San Jose native Francis Maka came up with two sacks for the SaberCats. Obi came up with his second interception at the 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter, returning it for a 20-yard touchdown that gave San Jose a commanding 56-17 lead.

Obi finished with eight tackles. His two picks were the first of his Arena League career.

The SaberCats have little time to savor this win, as they travel to Spokane Friday to face the Shock in a 7 p.m. contest.