Month: April 2017

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Blues, Flames in post season; Isles Taveras out week to week; Young stars shine Leafs Matthews and Oilers McDavid

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

A trainer checks on New York Islanders’ John Tavares after he was injured during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils Friday, March 31, 2017, in New York. The Islanders won 2-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

On the NHL Podcast with Daniel:

1. East playoff picture comes into better focus St. Louis and Calgary have clinched West playoff berths – last spot either LA Kings or Nashville Predators

2 Islanders’ John Tavares out ‘week to week’ with leg injury, Islanders trying to snag playoff berth.

3 Young stars Auston Matthews of Toronto and Connor McDavid of Edmonton having an impact on playoff races.

4 Dallas Stars playing the spoiler, all but knock Carolina out of playoff picture with win on Saturday night.

5 Flyers rookie goalie Anthony Stolarz helped Philadelphia blank New Jersey Saturday. 6 Team USA routs Russia 7-0 in women’s hockey world championships. Second win for Americans in two days.

Daniel does the NHL podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Categories NHL

MLB Podcast The Show with Matt Harrington: A’s open up Monday night against the Angels; Giants Melancon gets first blown save of 2017

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

On the MLB Podcast The Show with Matt Harrington:

#1 Giants pitcher Jeff Samardjiza had quite an outing on Friday night going five innings of shutout ball against the Oakland A’s in the Giants win

#2 The Giants who swept the A’s during the Bay Bridge series got some excitement from Nick Hundley who hit a grand slam home run off A’s starter Andrew Triggs on Sunday

#3 The A’s got a help in the third inning on Saturday from Marcus Semien off Giant starter Ty Beede. Semien got a hit off Beede but Beede pitched a decent ball game in his own right striking out four of six hitters

#4 The A’s had the day off Sunday but that might not be a good thing as they would like to get the bad taste of losing the three game Bay Bridge series to the Giants out of their mouths. They ‘ll get their chance Monday night at the Oakland Coliseum on opening night against the Los Angeles Angels

#5 The Giants opened their season in Phoenix and Giants starter Madison Bumgarner not only was pitching a gem but he hit couple homers in his own right but closer Mark Malencon couldn’t hold the Diamondbacks and gets his first blown save of 2017 as the D-Backs come back down 5-4 to win it in the ninth 6-5. Maybe Mad Bum should have went the distance.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcasts each weekend at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks Sunday game wrap: San Jose Dominates Vancouver Yet Again–3-1; now have won two of last four

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Vancouver Canucks’ Alexander Edler, left, of Sweden, and San Jose Sharks’ Mikkel Boedker, of Denmark, compete for the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP

By Barbara Mason

The San Jose Sharks have got to start playing better, it’s as simple as that. With four games left in the regular season the team is in real trouble unless they can get their defense going and improve on their grim 15% power play success. They cannot go into the playoffs playing like this if they expect to have a viable run. Beating the Vancouver Canucks Sunday afternoon would be a step in the right direction.

Vancouver is officially eliminated from the playoffs but there isn’t a team out there that doesn’t enjoy playing spoiler, especially when they have been dominated all year by the Sharks. San Jose came out in this game playing with a purpose. At 11:00 Tomas Hertl scored his 9th goal of the season assisted by Mikkel Boedker and Jannik Hansen for the early 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Hertl would score his tenth goal of the season to give San Jose a 2-0 lead. He was assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The first period would come to an end with the Sharks maintaining that 2-0 lead. There was some concern when Joe Thornton left the ice late in the period after a nasty collision on the boards. An apparent leg injury had not been updated and word was anxiously awaited as to his condition.

As the second period got underway there was no sight of Thornton. His return to the game was listed as questionable. There was no scoring for either team in the period as San Jose adjusted to line changes due to the Thornton injury.

The Canucks turned up the heat as the third period was winding down. They would score at 16:07 off the stick of Sven Baertsch for his 18th goal of the season pulling within one goal of a tie. At the two minute mark Vancouver pulled their goalie. They were unable to score and gave up an empty net goal at 19:57. It was Patrick Marleau’s 27th goal of the season. The final was 3-1.

The win was a great thing for San Jose but was overshadowed by the exit of Joe Thornton and the uncertainty of his status. “Obviously we don’t want our big guy to go down,” said Patrick Marleau after the game. Marleau was happy with the effort in this game because he knows what they are in for in the playoffs.

The Sharks will finish the season at home for their final three games taking on Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Tuesday night they take on Vancouver one more time hoping to sweep them this season. The puck drops at 7:30.

Oakland A’s Sunday day off report: A’s may show what they’ve got to offer sooner rather than later this season

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

Oakland Athletics’ Yonder Alonso slides to score against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning of an exhibition baseball game Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. Alonso scored on a two-run double by Athletic’s Matt Joyce. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–The A’s enter Monday’s season opener at the O.co Coliseum against the Angels with this unsettling fact in the back of their collective minds: they haven’t won a game in more than a week, losing their last six exhibition contests and 8 of 9.

Luckily, regular season momentum isn’t always built in spring training.  But for a club that lost 93 games in 2016, scored an American League worst 653 runs, and lost 47 games at home where its offense was its most tepid, a fast start would be a welcome change, and quite obviously, a good sign.

But the A’s schedule doesn’t offer many soft landing spots, especially in the first two months, so whatever the A’s have to do to win, it likely will have to start with playing well.  In the first two months, the A’s play the Angels 10 times, the Twins three times and the Marlins twice.  Other than that, Oakland will  see a steady diet of teams that consider themselves playoff contenders and threats to win the AL pennant. The Mariners, Rangers, Yankees, Indians, Royals, Astros, Tigers and Red Sox comprise 38 of the A’s first 53 games and all eight of those teams figure to be in the mix for the AL postseason.

To counter all those talented clubs, the A’s have to get the most out of their youthful, but promising pitching rotation, their experienced bullpen, and their hopefully improved lineup.  But Sonny Gray, the presumptive ace, will start the season on the disabled list, and Ryan Madson, the guy most likely to earn a closers’ role, didn’t pitch well in the spring.   The A’s starting lineup offers Jed Lowrie, Matt Joyce and Trevor Plouffe as experienced additions, but this is an offense that has to build itself up from scratch based on last year’s inability to score runs.

If the A’s do overcome all the inertia that might be pulling them downward in the AL West standings, a couple of names stand out: Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea and Stephen Vogt.

Graveman made five spring starts, allowing just 13 hits in 19 2/3 innings of work.  He stuck out 16, and issued only three walks.

San Francisco Giants Sunday game wrap: D-Backs spoil Bumgarner’s big 2-HR Opening Day with 9th inn comeback 6-5

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chris Owings (16) celebrates his walk-off single against the San Francisco Giants with David Peralta, left, and Daniel Descalso (3) in an opening day baseball game Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks defeated the Giants 6-5. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, April 2, 2017

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The roof was open at Chase Field for the Opening Day matinee Sunday, and maybe it was all that sunshine that agreed with Madison Bumgarner.

The Giants’ starter hit his 15th and 16th career home runs, helping his own cause. In the end, though, it wasn’t quite enough.

“I was hoping his spot would come up again so he’d get one more at-bat so he could go for three,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s a big day when your pitcher hits two homers and pitches the way he did. That’s what makes it tough to not come away with a win.

“You have to give the other team credit sometimes. They certainly came back on us.”

Chris Owing’s RBI single with two out in the bottom of the ninth off new Giants closer Mark Melancon gave an announced sellout crowd of 49,016 something to cheer about, as the Diamondbacks edged San Francisco 6-5.

“I’m really proud of how we battled,” Pollock, who was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, said. “Bumgarner was throwing perfect-game stuff – it was as good as he’s ever looked. For us to scratch and claw…Nick getting that pinch hit; we got a lot of clutch hits. It was awesome.”

With two out in the Arizona ninth, Melancon (0-1) failed to nail down the elusive third out for a possible first save as a Giant. Jeff Mathis doubled, was replaced by pinch-runner Jeremy Hazelbaker, and pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso delivered an RBI double, scoring Hazelbaker. Pollock followed with a single to center, moving Descalso to third.

After Pollock took second on defensive indifference, Owings singled to right, driving in Descalso with the game-winning run.

Pollock said it was also good to get Torey Lovullo his first major league managerial win.

“It was awesome for him, and I’m sure it’s something he’ll remember for a while,” Pollock said.

Bumgarner, 2-for-2 with a walk, became the first pitcher ever to homer twice on Opening Day, and the first Giant to hit two home runs in a season opener since Barry Bonds did it in 2002, according to the Giants Media Department. He threw seven innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits while fanning 11 with no walks.

“His stuff was really good,” Bochy said. “Breaking ball, everything. To throw like that on Opening Day was quite impressive.”

“I felt good, it was the best I’ve felt in a long time,” Bumgarner said. “Obviously, I’d like to come away with a win, but that’s how this game works sometimes.

“I think it was a pretty well played ballgame and unfortunately we came out on the losing side today.”

Bochy originally had Bumgarner penciled in the 8-slot on the San Francisco batting order, but changed his mind and had his ace right-hander hit in the usual No. 9 spot for pitchers.

Bumgarner led off the fifth with his first home run of the season, a line drive to left-center off Arizona starter Zach Grienke that put the Giants up 2-0. With one out in the seventh, Bumgarner went yard again, breaking a 3-3 tie with a drive to left-center that D-Backs leftfielder Yasmany Tomãs not only didn’t chase, he didn’t move or turn around to watch.

“I try to be pretty level-headed and keep things on an even keel,” Bumgarner said. “It’s obviously something pretty special to have a chance to have that to happen, but my job out there is on the mound – that’s where my main concern is at.

“Sometimes a pitcher’s bat can determine the outcome of a game, and we certainly had that today. But (the two homers) is something you look back on when you’re done playing. Right now, I’m not really concerned about it that much.”

In turn, Arizona used the long ball to tie the game at 3-3 against Bumgarner in the bottom of the sixth. Jeff Mathis tripled with one out and scored on pinch-hitter Nick Ahmed’s base hit. A.J. Pollock homered to left, driving in Ahmed.

“Bum wasn’t tiring,” Bochy said. “He felt fine, went right back out and threw a nice inning.

“These guys are human, you know. We forget that sometimes. They’re going to give up some runs occasionally.”

The Diamondbacks offered a rude welcome to Giants reliever Derek Law and re-tied the game at 4-4 on Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single. After A.J. Pollock and Chris Owing hit back-to-back singles, Goldschmidt hit a slow bouncer to left that eluded the reach of Brandon Crawford and Eduardo Nuñez, driving in Pollock.

Joe Panik greeted D-Backs reliever Fernando Rodney (1-0) with a ninth-inning triple to left, then scoring on pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie’s sacrifice fly to center.

Things didn’t improve for Rodney, who proceeded to give up a single to Denard Span and issue walks to Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence to load the bases. But he got Buster Posey to pop out to shallow right and Crawford to chop a ball in front of the plate that was snagged by catcher Mathis, who, after a brief delay of confusion, tapped the plate for a force play to end the inning.

“We thought that was foul,” Bochy said. “It was hard to tell from where I was, but Crawford certainly thought it was foul. It was one of those balls where the catcher grabbed it fast and (the umpires) didn’t get a good look at it.”

Rodney, the sixth Diamondbacks pitcher, wound up with the win despite giving up one earned run, walking two and throwing two wild pitches. Zach Grienke, Arizona’s starter, threw 98 pitches in five innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits while striking out four and issuing two walks.

San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Nuñez led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Joe Panik’s sacrifice fly to center.

The Giants got their third run in the sixth when Crawford doubled with one out and scored on a Nuñez single.

Due to a scheduling quirk, the Giants and D-Backs take Monday off before resuming the season-opening series on Tuesday.

“I’d rather not take a day off,” Bochy said.

GIANT JOTTINGS: The passing of former MLB executive Katy Feeney was announced during the game. Feeney served in a variety of positions with the National League, including assistant director of public relations, senior vice president of club relations, and MLB scheduling. Her father was former Giants and NL president Charles “Chub” Feeney, and was the grand-niece of former Giants owner Horace Stoneham. … There were two replay challenges. In the top of the sixth, Arizona challenged a tag play on Eduardo Nuñez that was reversed (2 minutes). In the top of the seventh, the Giants challenged a tag play involving Denard Span that was upheld (1:30). … D-Backs C Jeff Mathis became the first Arizona catcher to collect three hits on opening day since Miguel Montero did it against Colorado in 2011. … Madison Bumgarner is the third Giants pitcher to homer on Opening Day, joining Johnny Antonelli (April 17, 1956) and Larry Benton (April 18, 1929) from the team’s New York days. … Bumgarner’s 11 strikeouts are a Giants Opening Day record, eclipsing Juan Marichal’s 10 in 1962 against the Milwaukee Braves. He’s also the first pitcher to hit two-plus homers and record 10-plus strikeouts in a game since Rick Wise of Philadelphia did it on Aug. 28, 1971.

TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Madison Bumgarner,Arizona Diamondbacks,Opening Day,Sports Radio Service,Daniel Dullum

The Kings hand the T-Wolves a 123-117 loss on the road in Minnesota

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

by Charlie O. Mallonee

min kat
Two former Wildcats working against each other Photo NBAE

The Sacramento Kings faced an impossible task on Saturday night in Minneapolis. They had been blown out of the arena in New Orleans on Friday night and then had to make a long flight to the Twin Cities to play the second game of a back-to-back set on the road on Saturday versus the Timeberwolves.

Dealing with losses is something a young team has to do but wait … the Kings did not lose in Minnesota. They beat the Timberwolves 123-117 to up their record to 30-47 on the season which puts them just one game behind the 12th place T-Wolves in the Western Conference standings.

The loss puts Minnesota just one game behind the Kings for the seventh best odds in the NBA Lottery. I hate this time of year where winning can be bad and losing can be good for your team. Somehow that system needs to be tweaked – hello Adam Silver!

This was a game of extremes

min buckets
Hield drives on the basket Photo NBAE

The T-Wolves led by 13 after the first 12-minutes. They increased that lead to 16 at one point. The Kings recovered from the big leads and held a 15 point lead of their own at one point.

There were 13 lead changes in this game and it was tied nine times. Both teams fought hard in this contest. The key for Sacramento was outscoring Minnesota 37-28 in the second quarter and 36-26 in the third quarter.

The Kings out-shot the Timberwolves

min hield
Hield scored 22 for the Kings Photo NBAE

Sacramento finished with some very strong shooting stats. They shot 56.4-percent (44-for-78) from the floor overall. They were an incredible 11-for-19 (57.9-percent) from downtown.

Minnesota shot 39-for-87 (44.8-percent) from the field and just 36-percent (9-of-25) from behind the 3-point arc. The two teams tied with 48 points each in the paint.

The big difference was the bench scoring

The Kings bench outscored the Minnesota bench 66-26. It is very tough to stop a team who has a second unit that is that on fire.

Ty Lawson led the Kings bench scoring with 21 points. He was 5-for-8 from the floor and an incredible 11-for-14 from the charity stripe. Langston Galloway put up 17 points and hit 3-of-4 3-point shots. Arron Afflalo scored 16 points for the second unit converting 4-of-5 3-point tries.

Buckets and WCS lead the starters

min wcs
WCS ready to shoot Photo NBAE

Rookie Buddy Hield tied his season-high points total with 22 against Minnesota. He went 9-for-15 from the floor and hit 4-of-6 from downtown. Hield played just over 34-minutes in the game.

Willie Cauley-Stein posted another double-double scoring 15 points and posting 10 rebounds. He shot 5-for-9 from the floor and hit 5-of-7 free throws. WCS also had three assists and two steals.

Minnesota’s big two did their best to beat the Kings

Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 32 points. He hit 13-of-20 shots from the floor and sank 4-of-7 3-point attempts. Interestingly, Wiggins converted just 2-of-6 free throws. He also had three assists and one blocked shot.

Karl-Anthony Towns sank 8-of-17 shots from the field for 26 points. He was just 1-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. He excelled from the charity stripe by sinking 9-of-10 from the line. Towns posted a double-double game by hauling in 11 rebounds.

The Kings return to the friendly confines of G1C

Sacramento – who has won two of their last three games – will return to action on Tuesday night when they will host the Dallas Mavericks.

San Jose Barracuda Saturday post game wrap: Barracuda offense chips away at Moose to take two game set 6-3

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

sjbarracuda.com photo: San Jose Barracuda forward John McCarthy (17) puts some follow through into his swing against the Manitoba Moose on Saturday night at SAP in AHL action

by Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda swept the back-to-back series with a 6-3 victory over the Manitoba Moose at SAP Center Saturday.

The Barracuda and Moose wrapped up their four-game season series this weekend. San Jose entered the second game of a back-to-back with the AHL’s best home winning percentage (.776) while Manitoba ranks 21st in road winning percentage (.429).

The Barracuda controlled the tempo for a little over half of the opening period as they had the first eight shots until the 9:06 mark. The Moose committed two penalties when Brian Strait went to the box for tripping at 13:38 and Kevin Czuczman was called for delay of game less than two minutes later. San Jose then broke a scoreless deadlock as Buddy Robinson cleaned up the rebound of Adam Helewka’s shot and put it into the net, beating Jamie Phillips for his 14th goal of the season.

“Absolutely,” Robinson said when asked about his thoughts on home-ice advantage. “Home-ice advantage is important in the playoffs and I think anyone who you talk to is going to say the same thing…The (Barracuda) fans out here have been great and this team has been hot so the fans have been coming out to show their support and we love it…It’s easier to play at home (SAP Center) because you have the same routine everyday…The more home ice we get, the more better we’ll be.”

Ryan Carpenter made it a 2-0 game with just six seconds left in the period. Carpenter collected a pass from John McCarthy and stuffed the puck through traffic, which went over Phillips’ pads for his 13th goal of the season.

The time on the clock winded down and the Barracuda held a 2-0 lead over the Moose after 20 minutes. Shots were 21-6 in favor of San Jose.

The Moose cut the Barracuda’s lead in half early in the second period. Patrice Cormier’s shot from the point deflected off of Jacob Middleton. Czuczman tipped in the deflection to beat Clarke Saunders top-shelf for his eighth goal of the season.

Peter Stoykewych was called for tripping at 13:52. The Barracuda went on the power play and capitalized with the man advantage. Joakim Ryan collected a pass from Tim Heed and fired it into the net for his 10th goal of the season, giving his team a 3-1 lead 21 seconds later.

The Moose scored another power-play goal to pull within one at the 14-minute mark. Mirco Mueller was called for cross-checking. Dan DeSalvo then collected a pass from Scott Kosmachuk and beat Saunders for his 16th of the season.

The Barracuda outshot the Moose 31-23 and brought a 3-2 lead to the locker room after 40 minutes.

Zach Stortini scored his third goal of the season early in the third period, expanding the Barracuda’s lead to 4-2. Stortini’s scoring attempt worked despite crashing the net for a goal and then crashing into the net himself. However, San Jose’s comfortable cushion was short-lived as the Moose went on the power play after Barclay Goodrow was assessed a slashing penalty at 15:59. Kyle Connor put home the rebound to make it a one-goal game 16 seconds later.

The Barracuda scored an insurance goal for a 5-3 lead over the Moose with a little over three minutes left in regulation. Helewka sent a pass to Rourke Chartier, who fired a long-range shot past Phillips short-side for his 17th of the season. McCarthy capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal — his 18th of the season — with 51.7 seconds left in regulation.

“We’re all kind of on the same page,” McCarthy said. “It’s a nice feeling.”

The Barracuda (41-14-2-5) beat the Moose (25-36-4-5) by a score of 6-3. Saunders stopped 32 of 35 shots in his first appearance in San Jose. Phillips made 36 saves in a losing effort for Manitoba.

“It was an unbelievable way to start,” Saunders gushed. “And it kind of let me ease my way into it. I just want to thank them (Barracuda) for working their butts off tonight.”

The Barracuda are 4-0 against the Moose and won seven straight games against Central Division teams.

“It’s kind of unusual,” Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer recalled. “But they (Moose) had 3-for-5 or something like that. We were pretty much right on, but we had some rebounds and stuff like that. Overall, the game we had was alright.”

Notes
Carpenter played in his 200th AHL game.

Up Next
The Barracuda host the Ontario Reign (33-19-10-0) Wednesday to conclude a three-game homestand. You can tune into the game on AHL Live and AM 1220 KDOW.

It really is Springtime in Oakland for the Athletics in 2017

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

by Charlie O. Mallonee

A's logo

OAKLAND–This is not just your usual end of spring training lets get ready for the regular season story. This year is really a new beginning for the Oakland Athletics and their fans for multiple, positive reasons.

Change of ownership and new upper management

John Fisher was always the majority owner of the Oakland Athletics for the past 11 years but no one really knew that fact. Mr. Fisher – who resides in San Francisco – preferred to stay in the background. Lew Wolff – a minority owner – was the managing partner.

During the Wolff era, the main emphasis was building a new stadium for the A’s that would allow them to better compete for the Bay Sports dollars with the Giants and their AT&T complex. There were several attempts and failures:

  • First came the plan to build a baseball park, shopping complex and residential area in Fremont on the west-side of I-880. That plan died a quiet death.
  • Then came the plan to move to San Jose. City officials were behind  the plan and had the land ready across from the SAP Arena. The Giants jumped in and said “over out dead bodies – San Jose is our territory!” In its typical avoid confrontation at any cost fashion, MLB asked the A’s to back off. The City of San Jose filed a law suit but lost in court.
  • The City of Oakland then tried to get Wolff excited about building a waterfront ballpark in the Howard Terminal area near Jack London Square. Wolff never seemed too excited about that location.
  • Finally, Wolff put together a plan to build a new ballpark, business center, shopping and residential complex on the current Coliseum site. That idea never caught traction as Oakland was still trying court the Raiders and Warriors to stay in the East Bay.

It became evident that Mr. Wolff was not going to get the job done. That combined with his age which he said was causing him to slow down made it apparent a change was coming. Many feared it meant a sale and move of the team to another market.

Mr. Fisher bought out Wolff’s stake in the team and them began to remake the front office. Michael Crowley – who had been president of the team for 20 years – moved into a consultants role. Dave Kaval – president of Fisher’s San Jose Earthquakes – assumed the team’s top spot in addition to his job with the soccer team.

kaval

Kaval has been through the stadium building process as he oversaw the construction of Avaya Stadium for the Earthquakes. The $100-million complex was completely privately funded.

avaya

Kaval has brought a new sense of enthusiasm to the organization. He is accessible to the fans, press and government officials. He has an openness to new ideas and what seems to be “can do” attitude. For the first in a long time, people are believing the Oakland Athletics are going to get a new place to play.

The A’s are now the only game in town (or soon will be)

Now that the NFL has told Oakland Raiders “to go pound sand” for the second time in 25 years by giving their OK to the team to move to Las Vegas, the A’s are or will soon be the lone occupants of the Coliseum.

coliseum-raiders_750xx640-359-0-11

As I sit in the press box and look out at “Mt. Davis” – the ugly monster third deck that was built to entice the Raiders back from Los Angeles – I want to vomit. That view out to center field used to be of the beautiful East Bay hills and BART trains zipping by every few minutes. The stadium felt open and spacious. Now, it feels closed in and crowded by too much concrete.

coliseum before

By the way, the Raiders do not use “Mt. Davis” because they cannot sell enough tickets to fill the seats. It is covered with large tarps baring Raiders logos. When the Raiders move to “Sin City”, the people of the City of Oakland will still be paying off the bonds for that ill-fated stadium alteration. Las Vegas – you might want to keep that in the back of your mind.

The Warriors are headed to San Francisco and a new home just south of the Giants’ AT&T Park.

Guess who that leaves in Oakland? “Holy Toledo!” (that’s for you Mr. King) its the A’s.

Now the A’s have two potential stadium sites. The Howard Terminal/Jack London Square site with the waterfront appeal is still available. The current Coliseum site with its great transportation infrastructure and unlimited development possibilities is now back in play.

Wow! The Oakland Athletics have choices for stadium sites. Who would have predicted that last Fall?

Finally – there is the beginning of a new season and the hope it brings

The MLB season gets underway on Sunday with three games including the Giants at Arizona. (That just chaps my hide. Baseball is supposed to begin of Monday with one day game in Cincinnati – the first professional baseball team – then the rest of baseball begins play on Tuesday).

The Athletics open the regular season on Monday at home with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It will be a four-game series that concludes with a day game on Thursday.

RHP Kendall Graveman (10-11, 4.11 in 2016) gets the call for the A’s and RHP Ricky Nolasco (8-14, 4.42 in 2016) taking the hill for LAA.

The A’s still have some personnel decisions to make. They still have 36 players on the roster as of Saturday. Five of those players (Bassitt, Gray, Mengden, Smolinski and Wendle) are expected to start the season on the Disabled List. So, that means six players remain who have to be sent to the minors or released. These are never easy hours for front office personnel and coaches as they have to decide the fates of players.

Eight relievers in the “pen” to start the season

A’s manager Bob Melvin announced on Saturday the team will start the season with eight pitchers in the bullpen. Melvin said that will be the case until of the starting pitchers have made at least two starts. The “skipper” is anticipating shorter outings until his starters have a little more game experience under their belt.

Another reason for the expanded relief corps is the performance of RHP Frankie Montas. Montas came to the A’s from the Dodgers last season in the Reddick/Hill trade. He was on DL recovering from rib surgery last year. The 100-mph throwing pitcher is on a limited pitch count so the “pen” is a great spot for him right now.

When Sonny Gray returns, Montas is expected to go Nashville and return to working as a starting pitcher. A starting pitcher that throws 100-mph – whew.

Giants win the final Spring Training game 6-3 over the A’s in Oakland

The Giants used the long ball to beat the A’s on Saturday. Nick Hundley crushed a grand slam home run in the 4th inning off A’s starter Andrew Triggs. Hundley ended up with four RBIs in the game to improve his total to 12 for the spring.

Justin Ruggiano hit a two-run homer in the top of seventh inning with Raul Alcantara on the hill for the A’s. All of the San Francisco runs came via the long ball.

Giants RHP Tyler Beede (2-0, 2.03) started the game and picked up the win. He pitched 4.0-innings giving up two runs on five hits. Both runs were earned. He struck out five and walked none. Ironically, Beede did not make the Giants major league roster.

RHP Andrew Triggs (1-3, 8.10) took the loss for the Athletics. Triggs allowed four runs (all earned) on six hits including the Hundley grand slam. He struck four and walked one. Triggs will be on the A’s roster on Monday night when they open the season with the Angels.

 

San Francisco Giants Saturday game wrap: Hundley slams A’s in Spring Finale

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

San Francisco Giants’ Nick Hundley, right, is congratulated by third base coach Phil Nevin (16) after hitting a grand slam off Oakland Athletics’ Andrew Triggs in the fourth inning of an exhibition baseball game Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-San Francisco Giants hitter Nick Hundley changed the finale of the Bay Bridge Series with one swing of the bat.

Hundley hit a towering grand slam off of Andrew Triggs in the top of the fourth inning, as the San Francisco Giants closed out the Spring Training portion of the 2017 season with a 6-3 victory over the Oakland A’s before a crowd of 30,743 at the Coliseum.

The Giants finish the 2017 version of the Spring Training with a record of 20-16.

This is the first time that the Giants finish Spring Training with a winning record since 2014 when they went 17-12-1.

Conor Gillaspie singled to lead off the inning, then Chris Marrero was hit by a pitch, then Aaron Hill picked up the second hit of the inning and then Hundley hit a Triggs offering into the left-centerfield bleachers to give the Giants their first runs of the afternoon.

Tyler Beede struck out four of the six batters he faced, as he pitched four innings, allowing two runs on five hits, not walking a batter and striking out five.

After Beede struck out the four of the six batters he faced in the first two innings, the A’s finally broke through in the bottom of the third inning.

Marcus Semien singled to break-up the no-hitter, then Yonder Alonso singled and after a Rajai Davis pop out to Hundley behind the plate and then Matt Joyce broke up the scoreless tie with a double to score Semien and Alonso with the first two runs of the game for the A’s.

The Giants got to Triggs in the first two innings, as they got three hits in the first two frames. Gorkys Hernandez doubled in the top of the second inning that sent Nick Hundley to third, but Triggs was able to get out of the inning, as he snared a Eduardo Perez liner up the middle and threw to Ryon Healy at third base to end the frame.

Michael Roth came on to pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning, and despite giving up a leadoff single to Alonso, Roth was able to get the next three batters out to end the inning.

Andrew Decker scored to cut the Giants lead down to 4-3, as he scored on a Josh Phelgley double, Kyle Crick was able to get Trevor Plouffe and Chris Parmelee to end the inning.

Justin Ruggaino stretched the Giants lead up to 6-3 in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit his fourth home run of the Spring that landed in the left-field seats.

NOTES: Madison Bumgarner will make his fourth consecutive Opening Day start on Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, while the Diamondbacks will send Zack Greinke to the mound.

After an off-day on Monday, the Giants will send Johnny Cueto on Tuesday to the Chase Field hill and the Diamondbacks will Patrick Corbin to the mound.

Matt Moore and Taijuan Walker face each other in the third game of the series, and Jeff Samardzija will close out the series against Robbie Ray.

This is the fourth time in six seasons that the Giants are opening the season in The Valley of the Sun, as they previously opened the season there in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

San Jose Earthquakes Saturday game wrap: New York downs Quakes 2-1

Published on by smallforceLeave a comment

~Photo: New York City Football Club Twitter

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ New York City’s Thomas McNamara made his mark as San Jose’s road woes and New York’s home dominance combined in a 2-1 result Saturday.

In the 67th minute, four minutes after he came off the bench, McNamara made the final kick after a number of players passed en route to the goal, including a pass from David Villa with his back to the net.

On their home turf, New York has posted a 9-0-2 record in 11 games. The Quakes meanwhile are now 1-13-7 on the road.

San Jose’s Victor Bernardez gave them their only card in the 80th minute, but its color was damaging as they went down a man, already down 2-1.

The Quakes had more possession in the second half, but were missing the score.

New York dominated almost all of the first half with 70.5% possession, while San Jose had more shots on target, less fouls and more clearances.

The Quakes’ Chris Wondolowski made the game’s first attempt in the 3rd minute and was nearby when Marco Urena scored his first goal for his club. With no lag from international competition and travel, he got a deflection and scored from a diagonal in the 6th minute.

New York was not far behind. Jack Harrison tied the match in the 10th minute as goalie David Bingham’s initial save deflected into the net.

Harrison got close again, but could not corral the ball from Andrea Pirlo in the 22nd minute.

New York had four corners in a row from the 36th through 38th minutes and San Jose blocked three of their shot attempts in the 40th minute, the first two from Harrison.

In the 74th minute, the Quakes’ Shea Salinas missed and goalie Johnson made his fourth save against Nick Lima. It was the third straight game in which Johnson had to make four saves.

Salinas took the corner kick in the final seconds, but San Jose was unable to capitalize.

Game notes: The Quakes’ Anibal Godoy rested. San Jose next hosts the Seattle Sounders Saturday at 7:30pm.