Author: jeremy2878

Safeway Open: Snedeker maintains lead while Mickelson comes apart

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Photo credit: @NFL_Commentary

By Jeremy Harness

NAPA–In a tournament that has seen a lot of birdies and a lot of movement among the leaders, Brandt Snedeker has been the constant at Silverado this weekend.

After Saturday’s proceedings, Snedeker has the same three-stroke lead that he had a day prior, and he is now 18 holes away from winning for the first time in nearly two months, and it would be his first time winning the Safeway Open, the first PGA Tour event of the 2018-19 season.

Snedeker got things going early with what usually get him there: the putter. He had a long birdie putt at the third hole, and he shook off a bogey at the seventh with a birdie at the par-5 ninth.

He couldn’t get it up and down at the 13th and dropped a shot there, but he responded beautifully with three birdies in a row at holes 16 through 18 to get to 16-under par.

“It was a tough day,” Snedeker said. “The wind kicked up on the last 12, 13 holes and made it hard to hit it close and make birdies.

“I did a great job of staying patient knowing I had 16, 17, 18 for birdie holes left, and I was really proud of the way I stepped up there and hit some quality shots when I needed to. Tomorrow’s supposed to be tougher than today, so every shot is really important coming down the stretch.” One guy who has hung in there is Kevin Tway, who shot a 68 on Saturday, and he will play with Snedeker in the final pairing Sunday afternoon after finishing the third round at 13-under. He played a bogey-free round with back-to-back birdies on the front side – including a hole-out from a greenside bunker 41 feet away at the eighth – as well as two more birdies on the back nine.

“I kept the ball in play nicely, made a nice save on 14 when that was my only real bad shot,” Tway said. “I hung in there and played well.

“I got in contention a few times last year and didn’t do very good, so I’ll use tomorrow to learn from the bad and try to do better tomorrow.”

Phil Mickelson, however, didn’t hang in there as well as the other two. After being in the thick of things the first two days, he came unglued a bit on Saturday, starting with a double bogey at the par-5 eighth. He had two birdies on the back nine, but those were undone by two bogeys on the back side.

Safeway Open: Snedeker takes the lead

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Photo credit: @SwingMasterGolf

By Jeremy Harness

NAPA–A familiar face is on top of the leaderboard now.

Brandt Snedeker grabbed the lead on Friday, as she shot a seven-under round of 65, using a high-powered front nine that featured five birdies to go ahead by three shots at the Safeway Open at Silverado Golf Resort.

He kept the momentum going on the back side, recording three birdies without a single bogey, including back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th to close the second round out in grand fashion.

Snedeker, the man with the never-changing, simple putting stroke, has nine wins in his PGA Tour career, the most recent one coming in the Wyndham Championship in August to close out the 2017-18 regular season.

“I’ve played pretty solid golf all the way around,” said Snedeker, who played with Champions Tour regular Fred Couples on Friday. “I only played, really, two poor shots all day today, was able to get up and down on one hole and didn’t get up and down on the other hole.

“We had a great group, we had a fun time out there. Freddie kind of keeps everybody relaxed, and part of the reason why I played so well the first two days is playing with him.” Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson stayed within striking distance in the second round, although his Friday round of 69 was four shots worse than the 65 he shot in Thursday’s opening round.

He got off to a fantastic start to the front nine, recording four birdies without a bogey, but things started to go sideways for him on the back side. He birdied the 10th and was in the lead at that point, he bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes before dropping another shot at the 17th before getting things together with a birdie at the par-5 18th.

Mickelson is tied with Ryan Moore, who is perhaps best known for clinching the Ryder Cup for the United States two years ago at Hazeltine, at 10-under par and three strokes behind Snedeker.

“I’m casually optimistic,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly turning from pessimistic because I didn’t think I was going to be here on the weekend, and the next things you know, I’m on top of the leaderboard.

“I’ve hit a lot of good shots, I’m really surprised.”

Safeway Open: Straka snatches first-round lead; Mickelson in the hunt

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Photo credit: @golfweek

By Jeremy Harness

NAPA–Exactly a year after a terrible firestorm ripped through this area and damaged a part of Silverado Golf Resort, the PGA Tour has returned to Northern California and is in very good shape.

The players have responded in kind, and it shows in the low scores that were carded on Thursday.

Sepp Straka took the first-round lead by shooting a nine-under 63, carrying a one-shot advantage into Friday’s action. He birdied four holes on the front nine, and then he added five more on the back side, including birdieing the last three holes in a row en route to a bogey-free round.

“I really wasn’t expecting that right out of the gates,” said Straka, who is playing in his first PGA Tour event after graduating from the Web.com Tour after last season. “But I had a good game plan, and I just tried to do it shot by shot.

“My putter was really hot, putted the ball very well. Other than that, I just took advantage of my chances.”

Chase Wright, another Web.Com Tour graduate, is one stroke behind Straka after firing a bogey-free round of 64. He didn’t get off to as good a start as Straka, recording a pair of birdies on the front side. However, he absolutely caught fire on the back nine, as he put four birdies on the board to go along with an eagle at the par-5 16th hole.

“(It was) patience at its finest,” Wright said. “Just tried to stay positive, committed to what I was doing and didn’t really put myself in any crazy spots.”

Less than a week after capping off a disappointing showing by himself as well as the United States team in this year’s Ryder Cup, Phil Mickelson had a nice bounce-back performance at Silverado, and he finds himself only two shots back after the first round.

He fired a seven-under round of 65 on Thursday, which included an eye-popping six birdies in a row on holes nine through 14. Although he hit only half of his fairways (seven of 14), he hit 14 of the 18 greens and was able to get up and down when he missed the other four greens.

However, he certainly didn’t feel like he was going to have a round like he did before he teed off.

“I hit it terrible (on the range),” Mickelson said. “I had one of the worst warmups of the year. I was hitting the fence on the range right, I was hitting the fence left.

“But you throw on one of these shirts and you can dance and you can hit fairways, it’s awesome. So this week, I’m not hitting any balls, I’m not practicing, I’m not hitting chips, I’m not hitting putts. I’ll have a nice 45-minute warmup, and that’s it. I’m trying to just save every ounce of energy and shotmaking and visualization for the course.”

49ers look to get back on track vs. winless Cardinals

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Photo credit: @49ers

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers have been banged up all season thus far, but they have stayed competitive throughout, when it has seemed that all has been lost.

That should help, as they prepare to face the Arizona Cardinals, who have yet to win a game in this young season, Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium, in a game featuring a pair of struggling teams that had lofty expectations heading into the season.

C.J. Beathard kept the 49ers in the game but ultimately could not bring his team to victory on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers, as a pair of interceptions–including one that put the brakes on the 49ers’ last drive of the game–proved to be his undoing.

He will look to improve on his performance at home Sunday afternoon, but he will have a rather-depleted lineup to work with. For starters, left tackle Joe Staley injured his knee against the Chargers, and he did not practice Wednesday because of it.

Meanwhile, running back Matt Breida was limited in practice on Wednesday with a shoulder injury he’s been dealing with, while guard Mike Person was limited with a knee injury of his own.

To add to all of that, receiver Dante Pettis also injured his knee early on in Sunday’s game and did not practice on Wednesday, while fellow receiver Marquise Goodwin is nursing hamstring and quadricep issues and was held out of Wednesday’s practice.

Like the 49ers, the Cardinals have a new starting quarterback in rookie Josh Rosen, who impressed the Arizona brass in his NFL debut in nearly pulling out the win against Seattle last Sunday.

For Arizona, star receiver Larry Fitzgerald is dealing with hamstring and back issues and did not practice on Wednesday, although he is expected to play Sunday. Also expected to play on Sunday are tight end Jermaine Gresham and tackle Andre Smith, and both were limited in practice

Niners fall late to Chargers 29-27, but Beathard does better than expected

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Photo credit: espn.com

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers were certainly up against it facing a very good Los Angeles Chargers defense with a backup quarterback that has not shown much in his young NFL career, but C.J Beathard rose to the occasion. Well, sort of.

After going 1-4 last season as a starting quarterback before Jimmy Garoppolo took over, Beathard gave a very good account of himself on Sunday, keeping the 49ers in the game until the very end. However, the end result was another loss that dropped them to 1-3, this time going down 29-27 at the StubHub Center.

Beathard completed 23 of his 37 throws for 298 yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, he was also tagged with a pair of interceptions, the last one coming on the 49ers’ final possession of the game and thwarted a chance for at least a game-winning field goal, the interception coming as his arm was hit as he threw.

His main target on Sunday was tight end George Kittle, who hauled in six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown, with a few more of those catches putting the 49ers deep in Chargers territory and set up scores later. Pierre Garcon also got into the act, catching four balls for 52 yards.

However, they didn’t get much from their running game. Matt Breida was the leading rusher with 39 yards on nine carries, while Beathard was the second-leading runner with 19 yards on seven dashes.

The 49ers got out to a 14-0 lead when safety Antone Exum, who was questionable for Sunday’s game with a thigh bruise, picked off Philip Rivers and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown, and Kendrick Bourne caught a short touchdown pass in the back of the end zone.

However, the lead would not last long, as Rivers picked away at the lead before the two teams went into their respective locker rooms with a 17-17 tie at halftime.

The Chargers grabbed the lead when Rivers passed to Melvin Gordon for a 6-yard touchdown and would have had more if Beathard was not able to track down cornerback Trevor Williams after a long interception return. The Chargers still got the ball deep in 49ers territory, but the defebse was able to hold them to a field goal.

Later in the quarter, the 49ers struck quickly as Beathard found Kittle over the middle, and he made a couple of nifty moves and beat the Chargers secondary to the end zone for an 82-yard score to get the 49ers right back into the game.

Robbie Gould kicked a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth to give the 49ers the lead, but five minutes later, Caleb Sturgis came back with a 21-yard field goal to re-gain the advantage for the Chargers.

Meanwhile, the never-ending injury saga continues to haunt the 49ers. A week after losing Garoppolo for the season with an ACL tear in his left knee, the 49ers had two more key players leave Sunday’s game.

Rookie receiver-kick returner Dante Pettis suffered a knee injury on his first punt return of the game in the first quarter and did not return. One quarter later, left tackle Joe Staley also left the game with a knee injury of his own and did not return, either.

Giants can knock Dodgers out of the playoffs

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

We’ve seen this a few times before in the long history of these two teams.

There was 1982, when Joe Morgan’s homer knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. However, the Giants also suffered heartbreak at the hands of the Dodgers in 1993, as the Dodgers blasted them 15-1 on the final day to keep them out of the postseason.

Compelling, potentially season-altering moments like these are exactly why the Giants and Dodgers engage in a three-game series to end the regular season year in and year out.

The Giants have been out of the playoff picture for quite some time, but the Dodgers are right in the middle of it. In fact, the three-game weekend series – the final three games of the regular season for both teams – is a make-or-break one for LA in every sense of the word.

The Dodgers are currently sit one game behind the Colorado Rockies for the National League West.

However, they are only one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s final playoff spot. In other words, the defending National League champs are hanging on by a thread.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals end the season with a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs, a team that has already clinched the top spot in the National League and will most likely look to rest its key players in order to get ready for the league’s Division Series next week.

To start the three-games series at AT&T Park, the Dodgers will send Hyun-jin Ryu (6-3, 2.00 ERA) to the mound against Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.20 ERA).

Ryu enters this matchup in fine form, as he did not give up a single run in each of his last two outings, giving up a total of eight hits over 13 innings in wins over the Rockies and San Diego Padres. Bumgarner has not been too bad himself, as he shut out the Rockies on Sept. 15 but gave up three runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Cardinals last Saturday.

Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.50 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Saturday against Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 2.53 ERA). Rodriguez has lost each of his last two decisions, while Kershaw has won each of his last five.

To end the season, there will be a pair of rookies who take the mound, and this could very well decide the Dodgers’ season. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) will go for the Dodgers against Giants lefty Andrew Suarez (7-12, 4.22 ERA).

Garoppolo’s season over, so the 49ers’ fate may be sealed

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Photo credit: @49ers

By Jeremy Harness

With one attempted cut inbounds to try to gain a few more yards, the fate of the 49ers’ 2018 season appeared to be sealed.

The 49ers were trailing in the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made that cut and then fell to the ground after his left knee buckled. He left the game and learned the next day that he had torn the ACL in that knee, effectively ending his season.

With that, the 49ers’ season may be over as well.

The second-biggest fear has also come to reality: C.J Beathard, the team’s second-year backup quarterback and has been far from awe-inspiring, is next up.

Expect the Los Angeles Chargers, who will host the 49ers at the StubHub Center on Sunday, to put heavy pressure on Beathard, who has shown a significant lack of accuracy in his brief career. He completed 55 percent of his throws last season and threw six interceptions against four touchdowns, amassing a lackluster passer rating of 69.2.

Of course, last season was just that, and it wouldn’t be so bad if he had shown any improvement, but that has yet to be seen.

He was out of shape for last year’s training camp, and he reportedly showed up in the same exact condition as the season before. Not exactly what you would want to see in your second-string signal-caller. That’s the reality that is staring the 49ers right in the face at this point.

To make matters worse, Beathard will not have any offensive stars to lean on. Jerick McKinnon, of course, is out for the season after tearing his own ACL in training camp. The team’s running game is headed by the duo of Alfred Morris, who didn’t even have a job when training camp opened this year, and Matt Breida, who provides a bit of quickness and catching ability out of the backfield but has otherwise been unimpressive in his young NFL career.

Meanwhile, the receiving corps has been less than stellar, as Pierre Garcon, who the 49ers had big expectations for when they brought him in prior to last season, has been practically nonexistent this season.

On the defensive side, cornerback Richard Sherman suffered a strained calf on Sunday, is expected to miss the next few weeks, while safeties Adrian Colbert and Jaquiski Tartt both missed practice with assorted injuries.

So basically, the 49ers will need to get healthy very quickly if they hope to be at least competitive for the remainder of the season.

Giants to face Cardinals; could play spoiler in St. Louis

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants are fresh off of taking two of three games from the San Diego Padres, but they have a new challenge on their hands as they head into the weekend.

They will now travel to St. Louis for a three-game series with the Cardinals, a series that starts Friday night at Busch Stadium.

Unlike the Giants, the Cards definitely have something to play for at this time of the year.

St. Louis currently holds an 84-69 record and currently hold the second wild card spot in the National League. If the playoffs started today, the Cards would travel to Milwaukee for a one-game elimination against the Brewers, who they trail by three games.

The National League Central crown is not completely out of the question, but chances become dimmer as the games go by. The division-leading Cubs are 5 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals and only 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Brewers.

However, the Cards’ playoff spot is far from guaranteed. In fact, they only sit a game and a half in front of the Colorado Rockies for the last playoff spot.

For the Cards, the mission to stay in the postseason race continues Friday night against the Giants. Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.14 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Friday against Cards righty John Gant (7-6, 3.53 ERA).

Gant has won four of his last six decisions, but he got shelled in his last outing. He surrendered six runs on six hits, including a pair of damaging home runs, in only 4 1/3 innings as the Cards were routed by the Dodgers, 17-4.

Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.30 ERA) will go Saturday afternoon against Cards veteran righty Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.72 ERA).

Giants’ Andrew Suarez (7-11, 4.24 ERA) will hope to start turning things around on Sunday as he takes the mound against Cards righty Miles Mikolas (16-4, 3.01 ERA), who has won five of his last six decisions, including each of his last three.

49ers welcome Foster back, but face an uphill battle

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Photo credit: @247Sports

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers got their first win of the year last Sunday, getting past the Detroit Lions, who made a hard charge in the fourth quarter to make things mighty interesting, to say the very least. But now, they have a completely different challenge on their hands.

The Lions have a potent offense – particularly with a guy like Matthew Stafford pulling the trigger – but the Kansas City Chiefs have an offense that has just exploded onto the scene in this young season.

Patrick Mahomes, who has taken over the reins as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback after the team traded away Alex Smith, is off to a blistering start to this season. Mahomes has thrown for a whopping 10 touchdown passes over the first two games and has not thrown a single interception, and he brings a dimension to the Kansas City offense that has not been there for a very long time.

The second-year signal-caller specializes in throwing the deep ball, which allows big-play receivers such as Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, as well as tight end Travis Kelce, to rack up big yards and get upfield.

That is something that was not prevalent when Smith, who was much more proficient in the short-to-intermediate throws, was at the controls. He is now the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

The 49ers will get some help on the defensive side. However, the team welcomed back linebacker Reuben Foster, who was suspended by the NFL for the first two games due to disciplinary issues stemming from his domestic assault case in the offseason.

He practiced on Wednesday and is expected to start on Sunday against the Chiefs. Also making his way to the practice field for the first time was fellow linebacker Malcolm Smith, who had been recovering from a hamstring injury.

Smith has yet to play in a game for the 49ers, as he missed the first two games of the year with the hamstring issue. Smith also missed the entire 2017 season with a pectoral injury.

Giants drop series finale against the Padres 8-4

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Photo credit: @KNBR

By Jeremy Harness

Thankfully, there are only a couple of weeks left in a season that has quickly turned dreadful for the Giants.

The latest piece of debauchery was Wednesday night, when the Giants blew a 3-0 lead and ended up with their tails between their legs after an 8-4 loss to the Padres at Petco Park on Wednesday night.

Wednesday actually started off pretty well for the Giants, as starter Chris Stratton cleared the bases in the top of the second inning with a three-run double to give his team a 3-0 lead.

However, that success did not translate to the pitching mound, where it was really needed. The Padres blasted him for five runs in the bottom half of that inning, the big hot coming when Wil Myers hit a two-run homer that sailed over the wall in left-center.

Stratton lasted only three innings and gave up those five runs and six hits, walking one and striking out two.

“He just got out of sync, couldn’t get the ball where he wanted,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He was missing his spots by a big margin, which is unlike him, especially with the way he’s been throwing the ball.

“I don’t know if running the bases (after the second-inning double) threw him out of sync or what, but he just couldn’t hit his spots.”

Aramis Garcia, who has played catcher in the minor leagues, but has been at first base while Nick Hundley has been behind the plate, narrowed San Diego’s lead in the top of the eighth when he lined a Craig Stammen pitch into the right-field seats.

“He looks comfortable up here (in the majors),” Bochy said. “With Belt down, he’ll get some (playing) time.”

However, Ray Black got into trouble in the bottom half, and when he could not locate his other pitches, Freddy Galvis keyed on his fastball, got one he liked, and sent it over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer that essentially put the game away.

The Giants have a much-needed day off and then they’ll take on the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game series starting Friday at 5:15 pm PDT.