sfgate.com file photo: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) during an an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, in Glendale, Ariz. The Raiders won 33-26.
By Jeremy Kahn
OAKLAND — Before he even played a game for the Oakland Raiders, Antonio Brown is gone from the Silver and Black.
Brown was released by the team after he posted on Instagram that he be released by the team, who acquired him from the Pittsburgh Steelers back in February.
According to ESPNs Adam Schefter and NFL sources, Brown was fined $215,073.53 for conduct detrimental to the team.
The end of Browns tenure came after he emailed another ESPN insider, Jeff Darlington and stated that there is no way that he will play for the Raiders.
Brown will be a free agent at 1:01 (Pacific) this afternoon; however, he is not eligible to play this week.
ESPN.com contributed to this report
Photo credit: mercurynews.com
By Jeremy Kahn
On a night where the Los Angeles Dodgers honored Bruce Bochy, the San Francisco Giants put a stop to the Dodgers clinching the National League West.
Mauricio Dubon went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, as the Giants defeated the Dodgers 5-4 at Dodger Stadium.
With the loss, the Dodgers magic number to clinch their seventh straight National League West Division Championship at four.
This was a win that the Giants desperately needed if they want to have a chance to get into the National League Wild Card.
Prior to the win against the Dodgers in the opener, the Giants were in a big time slump, as they lost eight out of 10 and 12 out of their last 16.
Clayton Kershaw was not his usual self for the Dodgers, as he lost for the third time in a row and was frustrated when he was pulled from the game in the top of the fifth inning by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Kershaws frustrations boiled over into the dugout, as he was seen kicking the cooler, throwing his hat and glove after Roberts pulled him.
Dubon tied up the game, as he hit his second home run of the season, a solo blast off the left field pole.
Kevin Pillar drew a walk that was the end of the night for Kershaw, and his replacement Dylan Floro did not help Kershaw at all.
Evan Longoria grounded out, but after an intentional walk to Buster Posey, pinch hitter Mike Yastrzemski hit a two-run double that gave the Giants the lead for good. After an intentional walk to Belt, Dubon hit a two-run single that gave the Giants a 5-1 in the top of the fifth inning.
Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning, as A.J. Pollock hit his third home run of the game off of Giants closer Will Smith to narrow the Giants lead down to 5-4.
Russell Martin then came off the bench and walked, but then Smith struck out Will Smith swinging to pick up his 32nd save of the season.
Jeff Samardzija won his 10th game of the season, as he went six innings, allowing three runs, not walking a batter and striking out three.
Two of those three hits allowed by Samardzija were solo home runs by Pollock. Kershaw lost for just the fifth time this season against 13 wins, as he went just four innings, allowing three runs, walking three and striking out six.
NOTES: Bochy received an autographed Sandy Koufax jersey, as the Dodgers honored the longtime Giants manager who will be retiring at the end of the 2019 season after a 25-year managerial career. In his career between the San Diego Padres and the Dodgers, Bochy is now 219-204.
Trevor Gott was transferred to the 60-day injured list with a right elbow strain. Johnny Cueto will throw a bullpen session this weekend in Los Angeles after experiencing tightness in his back.
UP NEXT: Tyler Beede will start Saturday for the Giants, while the Dodgers will counter with Tony Gonsolin. Game time scheduled for 6:10 p.m.
Photo credit: @tigers
By Lewis Rubman
Detroit: 5 | 11 | 0
Oakland: 4 | 6 | 0
OAKLAND — This is when I usually say who’s pitching and how he’s doing. Instead, I’ll just mention that when the two-part serial that began in Detroit on May 19 and wound up in Oakland this afternoon, Mike Fiers was the winning pitcher and is now 14-3. Zac Reininger was saddled with the loss and stands at 0-2. There was no save.
For the record, Detroit’s starting pitcher in the scheduled game, Spencer Turnbull, started the evening at 3-14, 4.45. The right-hander is tied for sixth place among rookie hurlers at 116. His 125 1/3 innings pitched makes him ninth among freshmen in that category, but makes his punch out total a little less impressive.
Homer Bailey started for the A’s. The question was, which Homer Bailey would answer the bell? It was the pretty good Homer Bailey who pitched the top of the first, walking Miguel Cabrera but getting his three other adversaries out on grounders to second and short. As the game progressed, Bailey got better and better, holding the Tigers scoreless over the next five and a third innings before yielding to Joakim Soria. Bailey gave a good account of himself but got no decision.
Oakland got men on base early and often. Chapman walked with one out in the first but was cut down at third by Victor Reyes’s bullet to Lugo when he tried to advance an extra base on Olson’s single to right. They didn’t waste their opportunities in the second, though. Phegley’s double, singles by Brown and Profar, Laureano getting hit by a pitcher on his first plate appearance since coming off the IL, and walks to Semien and Chapman combined to give Oakland four runs and drive Turnbull to the showers. He had thrown 56 pitches, 31 for strikes in one and 2/3 of an inning pitched, giving up four runs (all earned) on four hits, three walks, and a hit batter. He struck out two. In spite of this terrible performance, Turnbull escaped with a no decision.
Turnbull’s replacement, Nick Ramírez, applied the tourniquet that stopped the hemorrhage of scoring against the Bengals, doing an excellent job over 2 1/3 innings and allowing only one walk while punching out three. He gave way to another southpaw, Tyler Alexander, at the start of the fifth. The two relievers held the A’s at bay and gave the Tiger batsmen a chance to get the team back in the game.
They did that in the top of the seventh, when Bailey seemed to run out of steam. He issued a lead off walk to Cabrera on five pitches and then surrendered a home run to Christin Stewart on an 83 mph split fingered fast ball that landed in the left field seats. With the score now 4-2 in favor of the A’s, Bailey got a ground out to second from Candelario before yielding a single to Dawel Lugo. That ended Bailey’s outing. His line was 6 1/3 innings pitched, two runs (both earned and coming on Candelario’s bomb) on five hits, one walk, and three strike outs. Joakim Soria, following Bailey to the mound, manged to quell the Tigers’ uprising in spite of giving up hits to two of the three batters he faced. The inning ended on Willi Castro’s fly out to Laureano at the warning track in left center field.
Soria had done his job, not elegantly but effectively. His replacement, Jake Diekman, started off the eighth in high fashion with two quick groundouts by Reyes and Castro. But then the A’s lefty began to unravel. Carbrera singled. Stewart did damage for the second straight inning, this time lining a double to left that sent Tim Beckham, running for Cabrera, to third. Diekman hit Candelario with his last pitch of the day to load the bases. His replacement, Lou Trivino, gave up a single to Lugo, which brought in Beckham and Brandon Dixon, running for Steward, to tie the game. The runs were charged to Diekman.
When Oakland came to bat in the bottom of the eighth, they faced Buck Farmer, whom Davis and Profar hit hard, but the KD’s fly landed in Reyes’s glove at the warning track, and Profar lined out to the same outfielder.
The A’s sent their closer Hendriks, who had pitched the seventh frame of the afternoon’s continuation game, to face the now dangerous Tigers in the ninth. He retired the Tigers’ 8, 9, and 10 hitters, 1-2-3.
Wlth the exception of Hendriks and Wendelken, who worked the 10th, the A’s bullpen once more disappointed. Paul Blackburn, another September call up, gave up a leadoff double to Lugo in the 11th. Travis Demeritte sacrificed him to second. It looked as if Blackburn might wiggle out of trouble when Pinder, now playing left field, caught Grayson Greiner’s fly ball on the warning track, but weak hitting shortstop Willi Castro lined a double to right that plated the leading, and eventually winning run in the 11th frame. Blackburn was charged with the loss, but it was a collective failure.
The Tigers’ bullpen, in contrast, was excellent. Between Ramírez, Alexander, Farmer, José Cisnero, Daniel Stumpf, John Schreiber, who got the win, and Joe Jiménez, who earned the save, they hurled 9 1/3 innings without allowing a run, and they gave up only two hits and four walks. They struck out 10 Oakland batters.
Oakland lost a full game today to Houston in the division race, but that’s academic now. The A’s still are the second wild card leader, trailing Tampa Bay by 1 game but a 1/2 ahead of the Indians.
Tomorrow’s game is scheduled to start at 6:07 p.m. with Chris Bassitt (9-3, 3.67 ERA) facing Jordan Zimmermann (1-9, 6.03 ERA). The numbers are disparate, but, as tonight’s action showed us, on any given day…
Photo credit: @Athletics
By Lewis Rubman
Oakland: 7 | 12 | 1
Detroit: 3 | 5 | 0
A line drive double to left center off the bat of Stephen Piscotty broke a 3-3 tie between the A’s and the Tigers in Detroit with two outs in the top of the seventh back on May 19. Matt Olson received a declared walk, and Jurickson Profar lined out to deep right field, at the foul line. (I got these facts from Baseball Reference’s invaluable website).
Liam Hendriks, who hadn’t yet become Oakland’s closer, came in to relieve Mike Fiers in the bottom of the frame. He threw four pitches (two balls, a swinging strike, and a foul) to Josh Harrison concerns about the weather caused umpire Tim Timmons to halt play. A hard rain began to fall, and what began as a rain delay became a suspended games before the Tigers had a chance could further reply to the A’s recent offensive. Since the teams’ schedules prevented resuming play in Detroit, the remainder of the game was played this afternoon, with the Tigers the home team in Ring Central Coliseum, as a prelude to this evening’s scheduled contest. The inherited line up for Oakland was Semien (SS), Chapman (3B), Pinder (LF), Davis (DH), Piscotty (RF), Olson (1B), Profar (2B), Laureano (CF), and Grossman (pinch hitting for Phegley).
The alignment Detroit brought west with them consisted of Niko Goodrum (1B), Dawel Lugo (3B), Nicolás Castellano (RF), Miguel Cabrera (DH), Ronny Rodríguez (SS), Christin Stewart (1B), Josh Harrison (2B), Grayson Greiner (C), and JaCoby Jones (CF). Gregory Soto had started, followed by Buck Farmer, Daniel Stumpf, Zach Reininger, and Victor Alcántara.
These changes were made when play resumed:
For Oakland: Pinder moved to right, Sheldon Neuse at second base replaced Piscotty, Profar moved from second to left, Canha moved from left to center; and Sean Murphy replaced Phegley as catcher.
For Detroit: Victor Reyes at first base replaced Goodllrum, Harold Castro in right replaced, Jordy Mercer at second replaced Harrison, Jeimer Candelario in center replaced Jones, and, finally, David McKay relieved Alcántara on the mound.
Play resumed at 5:18 p.m., and Hendrix set the Tigers down in order on two strike outs, interspersed by Greiner’s fly to the warning track in center field. McKay, in turn, got the A’s down 1,2,3, but the only fair ball hit against him was a grounder to short.
Detroit mounted a mini threat on Lugo’s one-out double to left center against Jake Diekman, who had pitched for Kansas City on May 19 and replaced Hendriks to start the home, i.e. Detroit, eighth. In the day by day chronicles, Diekman now has pitched for two teams in one day.
Matt Chapman led off the top of the ninth with a single to left and, two pitches later, trotted home in front of Pinder, who had blasted a 94 mph slider into the seats beyond right field.
J.B. Wendelken, freshly called up from Las Vegas, closed out the game for the A’s. He received help from a stellar play by Semien on Rodríguez’s grounder to the left of second base. He got the last two outs on his own, striking out Stewart and Mercer on curve balls.
The scheduled game will start at 7:07 p.m. The sword of Damocles has been lifted from above the A’s head.
bleacherreport.com photo
On the Raiders podcast with J Hawkes:
#1 Joe, Oakland Raiders running back Antonio Brown has been all the news the last 24 hours, his latest antic was threatening to punch Raiders general manager Mike Mayock until he was restrained.
#2 There wasn’t physical violence but there were threats of violence according to reporters who were there to witness the confrontation between Brown and Mayock.
#3 Brown who said he was angry with Mayock over a fine he received for not reporting to practice took a football in front of Mayock and punted it and said to Mayock “suspend me now”
#4 Head coach Jon Gruden when asked about the run in said that he’s busy on the field trying to get his players ready for Monday Night Football for opening night and he’s focusing on the guys who are working hard.
#5 How much of a distraction will the possible release of Brown be during week 1
Joe Hawkes Beamon does the Raiders podcast each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: mercurynews.com
On the Giants podcast with Michael:
#1 At this juncture, how anxious does this club seem to be to end this season regroup and see what next spring brings?
#2 The Giants faced two Cardinals pitcher Dakota Hudson and reliever Genesis Cabrera, who both shut the Giants out. The Giants simply could not figure either pitcher out.
#3 Giants starter Logan Webb got lit up going 2.2 innings, eight hits and seven runs, two walks and strikeouts with the Red Birds scoring three in the bottom of the first and five in the bottom of the third.
#4 The Giants used six pitchers, but most of the damage had been done in the five-run third. Webb was charged for all eight runs in the early going.
#5 The Giants hope to turn the page with a series coming up Friday night at Dodger Stadium. For the Giants, Jeff Samardzija (9-11, 3.61 ERA), and for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton Kershawn (13-4, 2.96 ERA).
Michael does the Giants podcast each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes
On the San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana:
1. The Quakes win two in a row to close out homestand, 3-1 over Vancouver and 3-0 over Orlando City.
2. The Quakes stop by Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, September 11.
3. The Quakes will be without head coach Matias Almeyda, whose suspension will include the September 11 match.
4. Cristian Espinoza was named to the MLS Team of the Week for Week 26.
5. Turning to San Jose State football, will they win their second straight game this Saturday?
Ana does the San Jose Earthquakes podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: buccaneers.com
On the 49ers podcast with Joe:
#1 There has been so much speculation on 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to get it done. He said this past week that he’s throwing an incompletion intentionally.
#2 Garoppolo is in the second year of his $173.5 million contract. That’s a lot of expectation for that amount of money.
#3 Everybody is looking for Jimmy G after his ACL injury. There is so much expectation on Garoppolo, but Garoppolo says he can fill the bill and is anxious to get the season underway.
#4 Injuries, injuries plague the San Francisco lineup. Tackles Daniel Brunskill and rookie Justin Skule have not played a down last season. The big loss is Shon Coleman to a leg injury. 49ers general manager John Lynch says that Coleman’s the key guy at the tackle position and that’s a void that’s going to hurt the team.
#5 Lastly, head coach Kyle Shanahan says that Garoppolo hasn’t played a lot of games and he said it was a shame that he missed most of last season. Shanahan said this is an opportunity for Garoppolo to show what he’s all about and wouldn’t it be surprising if he can get them in the postseason.
Join Joe Lami each week for the 49ers podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @sfgiants_fanly
By Jeremy Harness
It all went bad for Logan Webb on Thursday afternoon, and St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of every mistake that he and the rest of the Giants behind him made in a 10-0 rout at Busch Stadium.
With the loss, the Giants also dropped the season series to the Cardinals, and they continue to lose ground with the rest of the contenders in the National League.
Webb did not make it out of the third inning, as he gave up eight runs – seven of them earned – on eight hits, walking two and striking out another two.
Things got off to a bad start, as Webb gave up a leadoff double to Tommy Edman, who eventually scored on an infield hit later in the inning. Webb appeared to get the wheels straightened out, as he struck out Marcell Ozuna for the second out of the inning.
However, the next batter, Paul DeJong, took Webb over the center-field wall for a two-run homer that gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead.
He pitched a scoreless second inning, but the Cards resumed their assault on the young hurler in the third. They used hard-hit singles as well as a jam shot by Yadier Molina to score a run, and they scored another when first baseman Brandon Belt took a throw from second baseman Mauricio Dubon but forgot to touch the bag.
Manager Bruce Bochy eventually threw in the towel on Webb when he surrendered a two-run single to his pitching counterpart, Dakota Hudson.
On the positive side, the Giants bullpen did well in relief of Webb, keeping St. Louis off the scoreboard for the next four innings until Kyle Barraclough surrendered a two-run homer to Rangel Ravelo in the eighth.
Hudson, meanwhile, cruised through a suddenly-punchless Giants lineup, giving up only a hit over six innings, walking two and striking out two.
The Giants open a three-game series against the Dodgers in L.A. starting Friday night at 7:10 p.m.
Sports Radio Service 