Month: April 2022

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Montreal Legend Lafleur passes at 70; Wild’s Kaprizov passes 100 points for the season; plus more

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Former Montreal Canadien Guy LaFleur was a staple in Montreal sports, LaFleur was a five time Stanley Cup Champion and scored 50 or more points for six consecutive seasons (file photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 He was called the cornerstone of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty, scoring at least 50 goals for six straight seasons for the Habs superstar Guy Lafleur died at age 70 after a three year battle with cancer. LaFleur played from 1971 to 1985 and returned to playing from 1988-91 and was a five time Stanley Cup Champion.

#2 The Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov scored his 100th point and then eclipsed it on Friday against the Seattle Kraken at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul in a 6-3 win. Kevin Fiala set a Wild record with five assists for points in nine consecutive games.

#3 The Ottawa Senators goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 33 shots enough to hold back the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday night in Columbus. The Senators won in a shootout 2-1. The Sens Tim Stutzle scored the only goal in the shootout enough for Ottawa to get by Columbus.

#4 The Toronto Maple Leafs Wayne Simmonds was fined $2250 for charging the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Mikhail Sergachev at 15:21 of the third period of Thursday’s game in Tampa Bay. The money goes to the Players Emergency Assistance Fund.

#5 The Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks are at SAP Center in San Jose. The Blackhawks have won two of their last 11 games, more recently winning two of their last five games. The Sharks come into tonight’s game winning one of their last 11 games.

Matt does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Kevin Weekes named as a top contender for Sharks GM job

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Former New Jersey Devils goaltender and NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes is a top contender for the San Jose Sharks general manager job (photo from Kevin Weekes twitter account)

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Sharks are on a course to look for a new general manager for retired Doug Wilson. The Sharks who had lost nine of their last 11 games have struggled in the last few months of the season are looking for someone who can be like Wilson and consistently build a team that makes the post season each year. Kevin Weekes a former NHL goaltender and NHL Network analyst has been placed as a contender for the Sharks GM job.

#2 Wilson who reportedly got a persistent cough and had to step away from his general manager job how much did his absence at the helm impact the Sharks as an organization and the players efforts on the ice.

#3 You look back on the season the Sharks did have some bright spots with some good offensive scoring from Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture who were the top three scorers for the Sharks this season.

#4 Mary Lisa when you look at the current slump the team is in and some of the struggles they’ve had getting here what are some of the areas that you can point to where they really need improving.

#5 Just a couple hours away the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks will face off at SAP Center in San Jose. The Blackhawks have won two of their last 11 games, more recently winning two of their last five games. The Sharks come into tonight’s game winning one of their last 11 games. Puck drops at 5:00 pm PDT.

Mary Lisa does the Sharks podcasts Wednesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB podcast with Bill Gould: Why was Don Orsillo the late Jeremy Remy’s broadcast partner at the Red Sox left out of Remy’s tribute?

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Autographed signed photo of former Boston Red Sox broadcasters Jeremy Remy (left) and Don Orsillo (right) (photo from worth point)

Former Boston Red Sox broadcaster and former Sox second baseman Jeremy Remy who passed away after the 2021 season on Oct 30, 2021 had a tribute at Fenway Park at the Sox home game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thu Apr 21.

What overshadowed the tribute was Remy’s longtime broadcast partner Don Orsillo was left out of the tribute. Orsillo and Remy broadcasted together on NESN Sports for 15 years. Remy did not renew his NESN contract and left the Sox broadcasts after the 2015 season and Orsillo left to do play by play TV for the San Diego Padres.

Remy who was given the tribute but most notably was Orsillo who was his broadcast partner all those years who had a prepared speech recorded on video was not presented on the Fenway Park video board. This was widely noticed by the media, fans, employees and front office people. Orsillo couldn’t make the tribute in person because he had to broadcast a Padres game but was also surprised when the video was not played during Thursday night’s tribute at Fenway.

Bill Gould Sportstalk analyst shares his views as to what happened and what a shame it was that the Orsillo video was not played recognizing one of the Red Sox most memorable TV analysts Jerry Remy.

Giants take game two from Nationals 5-2

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San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Camilo Doval, left, is congratulated by catcher Curt Casali after defeating the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in DC on Sat Apr 23, 2022 (AP News photo)

Giants Take Game Two In Nationals Series 5-2

By Barbara Mason

After stomping the Washington Nationals (6-11) yesterday in their series opener to the tune of 7-1 the San Francisco Giants (10-5) took on the Nationals in Game Two Saturday afternoon.

The Giants got on the board in the first inning when Brandon Crawford hit a single that drove in Darin Ruff for the early 1-0 lead.

San Francisco would take that lead into the fifth inning. That’s when the hits just kept on coming for the Giants. Wilmer Flores, Thairo Estrada, Curt Casali and Austin Slater all scored for a 5-0 San Francisco lead.

Tha Nationals would try to make a comeback in the same inning but fell short. Riley Adams and Victor Robles both scored runs making the score 5-2 which would turn out to be the final. Adams would hit a solo homer 385 feet. While the Nationals did make a bit of noise in the fifth inning it was not enough to catch San Francisco.

San Francisco’s starting pitcher Alex Wood pitched five very solid innings and the bullpen would close this game out. Wood allowed two runs and four hits. The lefty struck out five Nationals and walked one. He was relieved by Dominic Leone, John Brebbia, Tyler Rogera with Camilo Duval closing the game for his third save this season.

Sunday the Giants will send Logan Webb (1-1, 2.55 ERA) to the mound. He pitched in San Francisco’s loss to the Mets last Tuesday. He gave up three runs and six hits in the loss.

The Nationals rookie pitcher Joan Adon will get the nod for Washington. He threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks las Tuesday for his first major league win. First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 AM.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s Murphy ends slump with a flurry a HR and three RBIs to defeat O’s 6-4

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Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy belts a single in front of Baltimore Orioles catcher Anthony Bemboom in the bottom of the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed Apr 21, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 The Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy who came into Thursday’s game 0-10 ended the slump with a home run, double and three RBIs to help lift the A’s to a 6-4 win Thursday over the Baltimore Orioles at the Oakland Coliseum.

#2 Baltimore’s Trey Mancini was yanked after trading barbs with first base umpire Rob Drake when Drake called Mancini out after he ran through the bag at first base. Mancini said he only turned left and was not headed for second base once being called out he and manager Brandon Hyde were later ejected.

#3 Mancini said during the post game presser that he wanted to apologize to Drake for the language he used to get booted from the game. That said Mancini didn’t agree with the call.

#4 A’s pitcher Paul Blackburn had himself an outing going five innings allowed a run, three hits, striking out four hitters and didn’t walk a batter. Blackburn picked up his second win of the season.

#5 The A’s meet the Texas Rangers for three games starting Friday night. Adam Oller (0-1 ERA 13.50) will pitch for the A’s, and Spencer Howard (0-0 ERA 18.00) for the Rangers will oppose him.

Jerry F filled in for Jeremiah Salmonson on the A’s podcasts heard each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Silver Knights take down Barracuda 6-4, losing streak reaches 14 in a row

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San Jose Barracuda defenseman Anthony Bitetto (2) looks for the puck Henderson Silver Knights defenseman #94 Brayden Pachal (right) at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson on Fri Apr 22, 2022 (photo from the San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

Gage Quinney scored two goals to help the Henderson Silver Knights defeat the San Jose Barracuda 6-4 on Friday evening at Dollar Loan Center.

San Jose continued its franchise worst 14-game losing streak. Henderson has won four games in a row and have 71 points.

Henderson (33-28-4-1) drew first blood late in the first period. Alan Quine received the puck along the right wing. Quine faked a centering pass and beat ‘Cuda goalie Zachary Emond with a wrist shot to the short side for his sixth goal of the season at the 17:50 mark.

San Jose (20-41-4-2) evened the score 39 seconds later. Dillon Hamaliuk sprung Zachary Gallant up the middle for a breakaway. Gallant sneaked a backhander through the five hole of Silver Knight’s goalie Isiah Seville for the first of his two goals at the 18:29 mark.

The Silver Knights regained the lead over a minute later when Gage Quinney poked home a loose puck in the crease for his 10th goal of the season with 19 seconds left in the opening frame.

The Barracuda once again tied up the game thanks to Gallant’s second goal of the game. Nick Cicek fed a pass up the ice to Gallant. The second year forward for the ‘Cuda skated down the left wing and wired a wrist shot from a tough angle that beat Seville for his third goal of the season.

Gannon Laroque earned his first point in a ‘Cuda uniform as he picked up the secondary assist on Gallant’s goal.

Henderson scored three unanswered goals in the middle frame to take control of the game.

Ben Jones redirected a shot from the point by Quine for his 25th goal of the season at the 12:33 mark. Jones has 11 points in seven games against San Jose this season.

The Silver Knights doubled its lead with a short-handed goal less than three minutes later. A turnover at the red line led to a breakaway for Jonas Rondbjerg. The Danish forward beat Emond with a backhand to forehand move for his 13th goal of the season at the 15:45 mark.

Quinney scored his second goal of the game 59 seconds later to put the game away when he cleaned up a rebound off of a Bradyen Pachal shot, his 11th of the season at the 16:44 mark.

Quinney has four games in his five games against San Jose.

Anthony Bitteto gave the ‘Cuda a brief sign of hope when he scored his sixth goal of the season and second with the Barracuda at the 11:11 mark of the third period.

Henderson regained its three-goal lead two and a half minutes later on the power play. Jake Leschyshyn redirected a shot from Brendan Brisson at the 13:50 mark.

Adam Raska made the score look respectable with a power play goal with four seconds left in the game. Raska cleaned up a loose puck to the right of the crease for his fifth goal of the season.

Seville (5-1-0) finished the game stopping 27 of the 31 shots he faced to earn the victory. Emond (3-4-2) made 25 shots on 31 saves in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-7 on the power play. Henderson was 1-for-4.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Quine 2) Quinney 3) Brisson

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its regular season schedule on Saturday 4/23 at 4:00pm at Dollar Loan Center.

Slater’s big game with glove and bat lifts Giants past Nats 7-1

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San Francisco Giants’ Austin Slater singles during the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington on Fri Apr 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Friday, April 22, 2022

Austin Slater had himself a night to remember on Friday in the nation’s capital.

The San Francisco outfielder saved a pair of runs with a sparkling catch in the field, then clubbed his first home run of the season, sparking the Giants to a 7-1 win over the Washington Nationals.

In the bottom of the first inning, Slater, batting .105 and making his third start of the season, made a diving catch on a sinking liner to left field off the bat of that likely prevented two runs from scoring.

Just minutes later, in the top of the second, Slater hit a three-run homer to right-center,
Slater’s blast sparked a seven-run rally that chased Nats starter Patrick Corbin (0-3).

San Francisco batted around in the second, with six hits and two walks, including a three-run double by Brandon Crawford. Mike Yastrzemski’s RBI single to center started the rally.

Crawford finished 3-for-5 with a run and three runs batted in. Slater, Yastrzemski, Darin Ruf and Thairo Estrada each collected two hits.

The Nationals’ lone run came in the bottom of the eighth, when Maikel Franco hit his second home run of the season to left field off Giants reliever Yunior Marte.

Corbin worked 1 2/3 innings and has an ERA of 11.20 through four starts. Washington owes him $70 million on a free agent contract he signed after the 2018 season.

With Alex Wood’s next start pushed back to Saturday, the Giants forged a bullpen game with Sam Long serving as the opening pitcher, throwing two scoreless innings. Jakob Junis (1-0) worked the next five innings, striking out four and giving up three hits and no walks, to get his first win of the season, Jarlin Garcia gave up one walk in s scoreless ninth.

Off the field, the Giants placed outfielder Steven Duggar on the 60-day injured list with a strained left oblique, and pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is on the 10-day IL to address right ankle inflammation.

On Saturday, Wood (1-0, 1.93) will face Washington starter Paolo Espino (0-0, 4.91) in a 10:05 a.m. PDT start.

Rangers take opener of three-game set with A’s 8-1

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Oakland A’s reliever Sam Selman (40) delivers in relief against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri Apr 22, 2022 (photo from Oakland A’s twitter)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s welcomed the lowly Texas Rangers to Ring Central Coliseum Friday night to start a three-game weekend series. Texas Rangers’ manager Chris Woodward was hoping to have his team upset the A’s applecart in the opening game of the series.

Despite their acquisition of star players Corey Seager and former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien, the Rangers started the season with a record of 3-9. On the other hand, Oakland surprised the league and came into the game with an 8-6 record.

However, as the fans know, baseball is a strange game. Anything can happen on any given night. Poor teams can beat the better ones. That is what happened at the Coliseum Friday night. In the second inning, the Rangers put a five-spot on the board as they coasted to an easy 8-1 victory.

A’s manager sent righty Adam Oller to the hill. Oller was looking for his first win of the year. The Rangers had Glenn Otto handling the pitching chores. Oller was hoping to pitch better to keep his spot in the rotation.

His hopes faded in the top of the second when the Rangers put five runs on the board. Adolis Garcia got things going for Texas when he reached on an infield single. Rangers’ first baseman, Nate Lowe, sent Oller’s offering over the wall in center.

The blast traveled 387 feet to give the Rangers an early 2-0 lead. Oller retired Kole Calhoun for the first out. The next batter, Andy Ibanez, made it 3-0 when he hit a 390-foot blast over the fence in left field. Oller’s problems were not over.

He walked Rangers DH Willie Calhoun. Former A’s catcher Jonah Heim doubled, sending Calhoun to third. Shortstop Brad Miller drove in Calhoun on an infield single. Former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien drove in Heim with a sacrifice fly. The Rangers lead 5-0 midway through the second inning.

The A’s managed to put a run on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With two out, back-to-back doubles by Sean Murphy and Seth Brown produced the only run of the game for Oakland. The two doubles were the only hits the A’s could muster Friday night. The A’s trail 5-1 after four.

There was no more scoring in the game until the top of the ninth. Adam Kolarek was now pitching for Oakland. The Rangers nailed him for three hits and three runs as they made it an 8-1 game. Rangers’ reliever Garrett Richard set the A’s down in order in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win for Texas.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s are now 8-7. The Rangers improved to 4-9.

Adam Oller was the losing pitcher. His record is now 0-2, and he owns an 11.70 ERA. Glenn Otto earned his first win of the season. Otto and Oller were high school classmates at Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas.

The A’s announced that they would retire Dave Stewart’s number 34 in a ceremony at the Coliseum on September 11th, 2022. Stewart won 119 games over eight seasons, pitching 49 complete games, and nine shutouts while compiling an ERA of 3.63. 

The A’s will send their ace, Frankie Montas, to the mound Saturday afternoon. Montas is 2-1 with an ERA of 3.63. Lefty Martin Perez (0-2, ERA 6.75) will go for Texas. The game will start at 1:07 pm.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Daniel Dullum: Mets Carrasco strikes out seven goes seven in 6-2 win

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The New York Mets starter Carlos Carrasco pitches to the San Francisco Giants in the first inning on Thu Apr 21, 2022 at Citi Park in New York (AP News photo)

On the SF Giants podcast with Daniel:

#1 The New York Mets (6-8) starter Carlos Carrasco pitched 7.2 innings, four hits, two earned runs, no walks, and seven strike outs in their 6-2 win over the San Francisco Giants (8-5) on Thursday.

#2 The Mets Francisco Lindor had three hits and a homer and teammate Eduardo Escabar also hit a home run to help the Mets in their four run victory on Thursday.

#3 The home run by Escobar was the go ahead run as the Mets took three games from the Giants at Citi Field to conclude the long series for the Giants.

#4 Lindor exclaimed after the game “Were the New York Mets” and “Were a good team” also it was the return of manager Buck Showalter after he was out for a medical procedure on Wednesday and managed Thursday’s win.

#5 The Giants starting pitcher Sam Long (0-0 ERA 0.00) goes in Washington against the Nationals for Friday night at Nationals Park. The Nats will start Patrick Corbin (0-2 ERA 7.50) at 4:05 pm PDT

Join Daniel Dullum for the San Francisco Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Blues, Gregor Scores Second in Three games

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Nick Leddy, left, and defenseman Justin Faulk, right, battle for the puck against the San Jose Sharks left winger Rudolfs Balcers (92) in second period action at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Apr 21, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks the St. Louis Blues Thursday at SAP Center. Dakota Joshua, Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for the win. Noah Gregor scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 25 saves in the loss. It was likely to be a tough game for the Sharks. The Blues have now won ten of their last eleven games and the Sharks have lost ten of their last eleven.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“You know, it was a challenge for us tonight, to try and match them. And you know there was times I thought we did a decent job but you’re not going to win a game scoring one goal and you’re not going to win against these guys if the power plays are 5-1 at the end of the night and you certainly aren’t going to win against these guys unless you’re best players are your best players. And all three of those things didn’t happen.”

Boughner talked about the development of forward Noah Gregor, who scored his sixth goal of the season Thursday, and his second in three games: “Noah’s now into his third year pro and you can see the switch starting to go on and it’s definitely a process and he’s no different than a lot of the guys.”

Gregor talked about playing the last few games on a line with Rudolfs Balcers and Thomas Bordeleau: “It’s been working out pretty well for us. Me and [Rudolfs] are pretty north and south and [Bordeleau] is able to make plays to us and hit us with speed and so far in the games we’ve played together we’ve played pretty solid.” The trio have eight points between them in the last three games.

Gregor scored to give the Sharks a lead 3:05 into the first period. Rudolfs Balcers lifted the puck into the zone and Gregor caught up with it in the circle before taking a quick shot that went under Binnington. Assists went to Balcers and Brent Burns.

It did not take long, a little more that two minutes of play, for Dakota Joshua to tie the game. Logan Brown chased the puck down near the goal line and then passed it back to Joshua for the shot. Assists went to Brown and Nathan Walker.

The Sharks took two penalties in the first period. They gave up two shots to the Blues power play and had one short-handed shot.
The shot count for the period close, 11-9 Blues.

Robert Thomas gave the Blues the lead 31 seconds into the second period with a power play goal. Tarasenko found Thomas across the ice with a pass and Thomas had a lot of space and time to get the shot away. Assists went to Tarasenko and Pavel Buchnevich.

The Sharks had only five shots on goal in the second period. They had two penalties to kill in addition the carryover penalty from the first period, in which the Blues scored. They gave up four shots to the Blues power play and had one short-handed shot. The Sharks power play had two shots. That left just two shots at even strength from the Sharks.

The Sharks pulled Reimer for the extra skater with a little under two minutes left but could not maintain control of the puck. Eventually, they gave up an empty-net goal from Buchnevich. The assist went to Brayden Schenn.

The Sharks had one penalty to kill in the third period. They gave up no shots to the Blues and had two short-handed shots. The shot count for the period was close again, 8-7 Blues. The Sharks won 53% of the face-offs. Notably, Thomas Bordeleau improved to 60% in ten draws. Matt Nieto led the team in shots with four.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks at 5:00 PM PT.