Month: September 2017

Oakland A’s Podcast with Charlie O: Last podcast for A’s 2017 but loads of interesting moves and big future ahead

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AP File Photo: Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin, left, and general manager Billy Beane during a media conference Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin has received a two-year contract extension that takes him through the 2018 season. General manager Billy Beane made the announcement Wednesday with the A’s sitting as the worst team in the American League this year following three straight playoff seasons. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

On the A’s Podcast with Charlie O:

OAKLAND–It really has been an interesting season for the Oakland A’s and it’s been a season of transition. They haven’t had overwhelming expectations that began the season. We expected something to transpire. We didn’t think former A’s pitcher Sonny Gray would be here at this point in time and of course he’s not. We expected to see some players moved out and to see some new players brought in and that indeed has happened.

There’s some transitions here not only on the field but off the field that have been so significant to the team overall we look at the whole organization what transpired off season with A’s owner Lew Wolf suddenly no longer being part of the organization with John Fisher being the majority owner and the one in control. With Dave Kaval coming in and taking over as president of the organization.

The dynamic change of momentum that move alone brought and the drive to get a stadium going but not just a drive to get a stadium going but the whole concept of Made in Oakland and a commitment by the city of Oakland and then a commitment that they made to the fans and to the players and to saying to team vice president Billy Beane “Billy we really appreciate what your trying to do with a minimal budget but how what we want you to do is build a ball club long term.”

Charlie has much more to close the Oakland A’s 2017 season on the podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Giants defeat D-Backs reserves 9-2; Hundley goes deep for three run shot for SF

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San Francisco Giants closer Albert Suarez gets a fist bump from his catcher Tim Federowicz after closing out the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017 in Phoenix. The Giants won 9-2. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, September 25, 2017

San Francisco used a five-run fourth inning to overtake Arizona Monday and defeat the Diamondbacks 9-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Since the D-Backs clinched the top Wild Card berth on Sunday, many reserves saw action for Arizona. It was the Giants’ fifth win in their last seven games.

Nick Hundley’s three-run homer was the big hit for the Giants, driving in Brandon Crawford and Jarrett Parker. Earlier in the inning, Parker drove in Buster Posey with an RBI double.

Pablo Sandoval capped the rally when he reached on a error, allowing Denard Span to score.

San Francisco added a run in the fifth on Hunter Pence’s solo home run to right.

The Giants completed their scoring in the last two innings on a Hundley RBI single, Parker scored when Pence reached on an error, and Joe Panik added a sacrifice fly.

Parker led the Giants’ 11-hit attack by going 3-for-4. Pence, Posey and Hundley each had two hits.

Johnny Cueto (8-8) gave up two earned runs on five hits over six innings, striking out eight and walking two. Josh Osich, Derek Law, Cory Gearrin and Albert Suarez finished up for the Giants.

San Francisco did most of its damage off Diamondbacks starter Zack Godley (8-9), who gave up six runs – five earned – in 4 1/3 innings.

Matt Moore (6-14) faces Arizona’s Robbie Ray (14-5) in Tuesday’s game.

Mariners snap the A’s seven-game winning streak; M’s take A’s to task quite handedly 7-1

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By Jerry Feitelberg

Oakland- The visiting Seattle Mariners beat the A’s Monday night 7-1 behind A’s killer Felix Hernandez six innings of two-hit ball. Hernandez allowed just one run, and that came on Marcus Semien’s eighth blast of the season. Daniel Gossett started for the A’s, and he exited the game in the fifth inning with just one out. The Mariners tagged him for four home runs, and all seven of their runs were a result of the homers. Gossett, coming into the game, had allowed sixteen in just 84 innings of work. He has now allowed twenty in less than ninety innings. His record is now 4-10 for the year. His position in the rotation for next season may be in jeopardy.

The Mariners scored three in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth. Mitch Haniger hit two, Mike Zunino had one, and our old friend, Yonder Alonso hit his twenty-sixth of the year and the first against his former teammates.

The A’s only tally came in the sixth when Semien hit a solo home run to get the A’s on the board. The Mariners’ Feliz Hernandez won his sixth game of the year and improved to 6-5. Felix went six innings and allowed just two hits and one run. Hernadez is bow 25-9 lifetime against the A’s. He is now 13-3 at the Coliseum and has passed Tommy John for most all-time by a visiting pitcher. John was 12-6 against the A’s here in Oakland.

Daniel Mengden (2-1) will go for Oakland Tuesday night. Mengden has been brilliant in his last two starts, and A’s manager Bob Melvin hopes the Mengden can continue to do well. Seattle will counter with lefty James Paxton. Paxton is 12-5 with an ERA of 3.03. Game time will be at 7:05 Tuesday night.

The A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell, who played Monday, knelt for the third game in a row as the Star-spangled Banner was played. Teammate Mark Canha showed his support as he placed his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder. The fans at the Coliseum also gave Maxwell a lot of love each time he came to bat. The Anthem was played by the Oakland Unified Marching Band and many members of the band played their instruments while kneeling. The band’s protest probably will make the news locally and nationally.

Injury Report- First baseman Matt Olson suffered a grade 2 hamstring injury that will probably sideline him for the rest of the season. Chad Pinder and Boog Powell are hoping to recover and come back and get on the field before the season ends but it may be doubtful as there are just six games left.

Time of game was a relatively quick two hours and twenty-two minutes. Attendance was a meager 9,329, one of the smallest crowds of the year.

San Jose Sharks Podcast with Len Shapiro: DeBoer to look for that one player or players to step up and fill the void that Marleau left behind

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Anaheim Ducks’ Josh Mahura (76) reaches for the puck next to San Jose Sharks’ Joonas Donskoi, right, during the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, in San Jose , Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

On the Sharks Podcast with Len:

1 The Sharks who won their third pre season game last Saturday in Glendale with a 5-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes head to Anaheim on the 28th for a pre season contest with the Ducks. Things are going well so far in pre season and head coach Peter DeBoer will have a problem that every coach would like and that’s trying chose from a crop of very talented forwards and defenseman. Also we’ve been talking about it all summer whose going to step us and take former Shark Patrick Marleau’s place for this season.

That seems to be the burning question coming into the season right there and there are four players the Sharks are looking at that have had one 20 goal season in the last 17 years out of Tomas Hertl, Joonas Donskoi, Mikkel Boedker, and Melker Karlsson in 17 NHL seasons it’s kind of amazing a little bit. These guys are young their still struggling for a position and the way the Sharks work so this isn’t a major surprise.

Len Shapiro does the SJ Sharks podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants Podcast with Morris Phillips: There was nothing worse than watching your division rival clinch while on the road

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Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after they defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-2 and won the NL West title, after a baseball game Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

On the Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

The Giants won’t end up losing 100 games for the season and they need to win two out of their last six to avoid that plateau and had a very uneventful off  season. They start a series with to get back on track with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field Monday night. The Giants opened a series in Los Angeles last Friday with the Dodgers opening the series clinching the Western Division and that’s something you don’t want to have happen to open your road trip.

You remember 1982 when former San Francisco Giant Joe Morgan hit a home run against the Dodgers to knock them out of he pennant chase at Candlestick Park. There are moments like 1993 the Giants went to Dodgers Stadium and got knocked out of the post season in a four game series. Playing spoiler as the Giants or a Dodger against your big rival is a big deal historically those are moments in time you don’t forget.

Morris has much more on the Giants podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

Cal Bears Football Podcast with Morris Phillips: Cal’s Wilcox was familiar with USC’s Darnold and coaching staff being a former Trojan assistant

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Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold (14) game stats 26-38-1 int and 2 TD get flush out of the pocket for a long yard gain during the NCAA Football game between USC Trojans and the California Golden Bears 30-20 win at California Memorial Stadium. Thurman James / CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

On the Cal Bears Podcast:

The early gambling pressures worked against the USC Trojan quarterback Sam Darnold whose probably the best player in the Pac 12 and a huge NFL prospect. He was without his starting tailback and one of his to receivers it was really tough on USC to get their offensive attack going with the Cal Bears going and making defensive plays and remember these coaching staffs know each other very well.

Bears Head coach Justin Wilcox was an assistant coach at USC in 2010 and 2011 and it was basically the same coaching staff at that point and they were coaching under former Trojan head coach Steve Sarkisian. Clancy Pendergast is the current Trojans defensive coordinator. The coaches know each other and there’s not a lot of secrets according to some guys I talked to that covered USC it’s a combination of Wilcox’s defenses and how they worked at and how they were deployed.

Morris has more Bears coverage check out the podcast each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s announce Liam Hendriks as the 2017 winner of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award

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Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Liam Hendriks throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND- The Oakland A’s announced Liam Hendriks as the winner of the 2017 Dave Stewart Award for community service. The text of the release follows below.

Liam Hendriks to Receive Dave Stewart Community Service Award

Dave Stewart will present award pregame on Wednesday

 

OAKLAND, Calif. – A’s pitcher Liam Hendriks has been named the recipient of the 2017 Dave Stewart Community Service Award, the team announced today. Stewart will present Hendriks with the award prior to the game on Wednesday, Sept. 27 in a special on-field ceremony.

 

The Dave Stewart Community Service Award is given annually to an A’s player in recognition of charitable contributions throughout Northern California and across the nation.

 

Hendriks teamed up with Big League Impact and Striking Out Poverty with the mission of ending poverty in the Dominican Republic. Hendriks designed a “K” poverty T-shirt, and proceeds from shirt sales benefit this mission. During the 2017 season, he also pledged to donate $100 per strikeout and $200 per walk to the poverty campaign.

 

In addition, Hendriks has supported many A’s community initiatives and programs, including serving meals at the St. Vincent de Paul free dining room for Thanksgiving in June; participating in Youth Sports Nation’s Play Ball Tour, which combines music, sports, and community to celebrate the game of baseball in Oakland schools; A’s Root Beer Float Day, which raises funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; A’s Bowling Bash, which raised more than $100,000 for the Oakland A’s Community Fund; Habitat for Humanity, where Hendriks helped build a playhouse at the Coliseum.

 

The award originated in 1996 in honor of Stewart’s many years of community service in the Bay Area. Throughout the years, Stewart has been involved in many non-profit organizations, including the Oakland Boys & Girls Club and Team-Up for Youth, a program that supports healthy development for young people living in low-income communities through after-school sports and physical activity programs.

 

Previous winners of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award include: Ernie Young (1996), Scott Spiezio (1997), Tom Candiotti (1998), Art Howe (1999), Jason Giambi (2000), Terrence Long (2001), Tim Hudson (2002), Scott Hatteberg (2003), Eric Chavez (2004), Barry Zito (2005), Mark Kotsay (2006), Mark Ellis (2007), Dana Eveland (2008), Dallas Braden and Kurt Suzuki (2009), Craig Breslow (2010), Josh Willingham (2011), Jonny Gomes (2012), Sean Doolittle (2013), Jed Lowrie (2014), and Stephen Vogt (2015, 2016).

There’s a method to the madness in the A’s season-ending win streak

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Oakland Athletics’ Mark Canha (20) places his hand on the shoulder of Bruce Maxwell as Maxwell takes a knee during the national anthem prior to a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–For a last place club, the A’s sure have a way about themselves. Maybe, that’s because they’re not going to be a last place club much longer.

Winning 14 of 17 in September has the A’s within striking distance of the fourth place Mariners, who visit the Coliseum for the final three home games starting Monday. The A’s have been stuck in the AL West cellar since May 30, and haven’t had a winning month in well over a year. The monthly streak is likely to end, while catching the Mariners will be significantly trickier.  But either way, the A’s biggest winning roll since 2013 portends better days ahead.

With a youthful club stripped of almost all of its veteran presence, the A’s haven’t stepped back, they’ve stepped forward, sweeping the Rangers with a 8-1 win Sunday to backup a rare, succesful road trip. Manager Bob Melvin’s list of needed improvements wasn’t short or easily achievable, but his club made all the checkmarks anyway.

“We needed to play better against Houston and we swept them,” Melvin recounted. “Second was we had to play better on the road, and we had a good road trip. And then we want to finish up here and play well within our division because we have not played well within our division this year.”

In a season where the norms for winning big league ballgames has shifted dramatically, the A’s have been ahead of the curve. Scoring is up slightly, home runs are being hit at a record pace, and the percentage of at-bats that end with either a strikeout, a walk or a home run has never been higher.

Wait for the big inning then pounce? You could term it that. It’s definitely not Moneyball, but maybe Moneyball 2.0. Whatever you call it, the A’s are good at it, with Sunday’s five-run fifth the latest example.

With Rangers’ starter Martin Perez softened up by being forced to throw 71 pitches through four innings, the pitcher reached the breaking point in the fifth by allowing singles to Josh Phlegley and Jake Smolinsky.

Marcus Semien then popped out trying to advance the runners with a bunt. Martin’s next pitch was roped by Matt Chapman for an RBI double, then four pitches after that, Jed Lowrie contributed a two-run double. That chased Perez before he could finish five innings, and qualify for a win.

Capping the inning, Khris Davis greeted effective reliever Tony Barnette with a 445-foot bomb with a man aboard, and the A’s led 5-0. Davis has now homered 40 times in consecutive seasons, a first for an Oakland Athletic.

The A’s would add two in the sixth, and one more in the eight and the rout was on.

Currently, the A’s rank in the top five in the American League in homers, walks and strikeouts. While Melvin and the A’s would love to see the strikeouts reduced (the A’s average more than nine a game) the additional pitches extracted from the opposing pitcher have the desired effect of elevating pitch counts as Perez’ number grew burdensome on Sunday.

Jharel Cotton was the beneficiary of the runs against Texas, pitching five innings to earn the win, his ninth.

For the A’s on Sunday, that’s hitting, pitching, and defense as the club committed no errors, and turned a nifty double play. Check, check and check.

“Let the teams in our division know we’re on our way back,” Melvin said. “This three-year period we’ve gone through is hopefully over.”

 

 

PURE INSURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP: Behnard Langer pulls away to take title

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golfweek.com/USA Today Photo: Pure Insurance Champion Behnard Langer basks in victory after taking the top prize at Pebble Beach on Sunda

By Jeremy Harness

 PEBBLE BEACH – Bernhard Langer just knows how to win golf tournaments.

 The 60-year-old German, who in 1986 became golf’s first official number one-ranked player, won his 34th PGA Champions Tour (formerly known as the PGA Senior Tour) win on Sunday, taking home the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

 This marked his fifth win of the year, a string that includes the Senior PGA Championship as well as the Senior Open Championship.

 Langer suffered a bogey at the par-4 eighth, but that was the last real mistake he would make for the rest of the day. He righted the ship with a par at the ninth, and then played a bogey-free back nine that saw him record four birdies, including three straight at holes 13 through 15.

 His closest pursuer, Jerry Kelly, shot a bogey-free 67, but after a lights-out front nine that saw him go four-under, he just could not make up ground on the back nine after Langer hit the accelerator. As a result, he settled for a second-place finish.

 Kenny Perry, who entered Sunday trailing by only one stroke, struggled a bit out of the gate, dropping a shot in the first four holes without a single birdie. He did record a pair of birdies in his second nine, but he simply made too many mistakes to be a factor down the stretch, as he shot a two-over 74 on Sunday and finished in a tie for fifth.

 Langer began Sunday’s proceedings with a one-shot lead but soon saw it increase to three. However, it would not take long before he had some company again.

 Kelly, who won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship last weekend in Victoria, British Columbia and also took the Boeing Classic two weeks before that, made a huge charge on the front nine on Sunday.

 He birdied the first two holes and then made eagle at the par-5 sixth to tie Langer at the top, at 13-under.

 Soon thereafter, Langer bounced back from a bogey at the par-3 fifth with a birdie on the very next hole to go back in the lead by himself. He would not relinquish that advantage, and he only built on it as the afternoon progressed.

 Scott McCarron, the first-round leader who lost ground on Saturday, got himself within striking distance on Sunday, shaking off a bogey at the par-4 fourth and ran off three birdies in a row at holes six through eight to get to within three shots of the lead.

 He lost some of that momentum by bogeying the ninth, but he got it back on the back nine, as he made back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th holes. However, he just could not generate enough of it – and started the final round too far back – to make a real challenge to the title once Langer got going.

 

Offensive woes dooms Carr and Raiders in Washington DC

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Photo credit: Oakland Raiders

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer

HYATTSVILLE, MD — Boy, you didn’t see that one coming from a mile away.

Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders were straight out humbled by Washington 27-10 Sunday night at FedEx Field to brought their record to 2-1 on the season.

Carr and the offense were completely out of sync, registering just 128 yards of total offense. The Raiders signal-caller completed just 19-of-31 passes for 118 and threw two interceptions (with a 52.9 passer rating) that led to a 14-0 lead for Washington at halftime.

Last season, Carr didn’t have a game in which he threw two interceptions in the contest. Before tonight’s two-interception clunker, Carr’s last two-interception game was in Week 15 of the 2015 season against the Green Bay Packers.

“Man, we just got our butt kicked,” Carr told reporters after the game, “This isn’t alarming, but we did get punched in the mouth.”

Punched in the mouth is an understatement.

Washington (2-1) took a pair of rusty pliers to Oakland’s mouth and pulled their teeth out. Oakland took care of the football in the first two games this season, but tonight was a different story.

Oakland couldn’t move the ball on third down, finishing 0-for-11 while Washington converted 7-of-15 on third downs. Washington controlled the time of possession, holding on to the football for 38:06 to just Oakland’s 21:54.

Oakland gained just seven first downs the entire night.

The Raiders didn’t record a first down until 11:34 into the second quarter, and that came off a penalty on Washington.

Wide receivers Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree were virtual no-shows, combining for two catches for 13 yards on eight targets on the night. Crabtree left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a wicked hit to the chest and didn’t return.

Running back Marshawn Lynch racked up 18 of Oakland’s 32 rushing yards and was a non-factor after Oakland had to abandon the run after Washington took a 21-0 lead at the 10:37 mark in the third quarter following a 52-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins to wide receiver Josh Doctson.

Trust me, the offense had a hand in this debacle, but Oakland’s defense got pushed around and were hammered by Washington.

Doctson jumped over Oakland and former Washington cornerback David Amerson up the right sideline that was a gut-punch to a Raiders defense that surrendered 472 yards of total offense.

Cousins ripped Oakland to shreds, completing 25-of-30 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns with a 150.7 passer rating.

Washington running back Chris Thompson was unstoppable, dominating Oakland with six receptions for 150 yards and a 22-yard touchdown catch from Cousins.

Tight end Vernon Davis went back into the time machine, hauling in five catches for 58 yards, which included an 18-yard touchdown catch after gaining a step past cornerback Sean Smith down the middle of the field.

But what makes this loss so gruesome for the Silver and Black was that it occurred in prime-time in front of the entire country.

The over-priced offensive line, and rightfully so, was just out-worked by a speedy and powerful Washington defensive front that gave Oakland problems from the opening kickoff.

Carr, who was sacked just twice coming in two games coming into Week 3, was sacked four times by Washington. On Oakland’s second possession of the game, Carr was sacked on back-to-back drop-backs and the offensive line couldn’t maintain Washington’s speed on defense.

If it weren’t for a fumble by Washington wide receiver Jamison Crowder on a punt that Oakland recovered to set up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Carr to tight end Jared Cook (four receptions for 43 yards) to cut Washington’s lead to 21-7 with 3:52 left in the third quarter, the Raiders could’ve been shut out.

At one point, I’m looking at the stat sheet and the Raiders had just 74 yards of total offense. One of the league’s premier offenses was a shell of itself in the first of their franchise-record five prime-time games this season.

It will be a long flight back to the Bay Area for the Raiders and to a man, everyone on that team plane has to be upset. Everyone from the coaches to the players had a hand in this no-show of a football game.

Oakland has to now turn their attention to Week 4 and prepare for a trip to Denver for a key AFC West game next Sunday.

With both teams looking up at the undefeated Kansas City (3-0) in the division, the matchup against the Broncos (2-1) at Sports Authority Field at Mile High is now a must-win for Oakland.