Author: jeremy2878

Stanford survives slow start to down UC Davis 30-10

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD, Calif. – It’s a good thing that the scoreboard doesn’t have pictures or game film.

The quality of play left a lot to be desired from both teams. Saturday morning’s game at Stanford Stadium featured shanked punts, botched fake punts, scratch-your-head interceptions, late hits that were not called, and just overall bad football.

However, the Stanford Cardinal pushed through all of that to get their third straight win to start the season and keep its No. 9 national ranking intact with a (30-3) win over UC Davis. What was much more deceiving than the score was the official attendance on Saturday, which was announced as 31,772. Looking into the stands, which were more than half empty, a four-digit number would have been much more accurate.

Getting past all of that, one thing is abundantly clear going forward: Stanford will have to play a lot better if they are going to beat a much-improved Oregon team, which will be waiting for the Cardinal upon their arrival in Eugene next Saturday.

Quarterback K.J Costello overcame a horrific start to lead the Cardinal to victory. He completed 17 of his 30 throws for 214 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He was visibly off target in the early going, as he also threw two interceptions, both coming in the first quarter. Although he completed his first pass of the game for a first down, that momentum quickly fizzled, and the Cardinal’s opening drive resulted in a punt.

Stanford’s second possession ended up abruptly when Costello’s pass over the middle was intercepted, giving UC Davis the ball on Stanford’s 12-yard line. The Aggies converted that into a field goal to give them an early 3-0 lead.

Stanford averted disaster on its third drive when Costello appeared to have thrown an inadvertent backward pass and was ruled a live ball, which linebacker Nas Anesi scooped up and jaunted into the end zone untouched to give the Aggies a shocking 9-0 lead.

That play was reviewed, and it was then determined that the ball was thrown forward, therefore an incomplete pass, and the touchdown was taken off the board.

That good fortune vanished into the wind on the very next play, however, as Costello sailed another pass over the middle and had it picked off by sophomore defensive back Isaiah Thomas (not to be confused with the point guard for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets).

The defense held up remarkably well during that stretch, and the offense eventually got itself together in the second quarter. That’s when the Cardinal drove deep into UC Davis territory and took the lead, as J.J Arcega-Whiteside posted up cornerback Vincent White in the end zone, giving Costello a relatively easy 9-yard touchdown pass.

Late in the quarter, Stanford got into the red zone and Arcega-Whiteside got position in the end zone again, this time on cornerback Jordan Perryman. Costello found him once more, and the 8-yard score capped off a seven-play, 62-yard drive and gave the Cardinal a 17-3 lead, which stood at halftime.

A botched fake punt gave the Cardinal the ball on the Aggies’ 19-yard line for its first possession of the second half. After a three-and-out, Stanford settled for a field goal, increasing its lead to 20-3.

Following a Stanford touchdown, UC Davis had another crack at a score, pushing into the red zone. However, that hope was dashed when freshman Thomas Booker picked off a tipped pass.

That was, until UC Davis converted a Hail Mary pass for a touchdown, which was rather meaningless – college fantasy football does not exist, folks – but it changed the overall score nonetheless.

The No. 9 Cardinal head to Autzen Stadium next Saturday, September 22 to take on the No. 20 Oregon Ducks at 5:00 pm PDT on ABC.

Giants appear to be in a free fall

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Photo credit: mccoveychronicles.com

By Jeremy Harness

Right now, the Giants are playing like they can’t wait for the season to be over.

After being in contention for much of the season, they have now lost 11 straight games and are sinking deeper into the abyss of the major leagues. Instead of playing spoiler, other teams seem to be able to look at the Giants as a way to pick up a few easy wins and keep their playoff hopes alive.

The next team to hope to use the Giants to fatten their records is the Colorado Rockies, who make their way to AT&T Park for a three-game weekend series that starts Friday night.

The Rockies are 1 ½ games in front of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West lead, and they swept the Giants at Coors Field in a three-game series just last week, and they hope to do the same this weekend.

Righty Chris Stratton will take the ball Friday night opposite Colorado left-hander Tyler Anderson (6-8, 4.89 ERA).

Anderson, however, has fallen on hard times on the mound lately. After a promising start to the season, Anderson has lost each of his last five decisions, including his last outing against the Dodgers that saw him go only 2 2/3 innings and surrender three runs on five hits.

Stratton has not been much better. He has dropped five of his past six decisions, and his last outing saw him go five innings and give up four runs on four hits in a loss at Milwaukee.

Colorado righty German Marquez (12-9, 3.94 ERA) will go Saturday afternoon against Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner
Marquez has been a workhorse for the Rockies, as he has gone at least seven innings in seven of his past nine outings, including a 13-2 win over Arizona in his last outing on Monday. The 23-year-old has won four of his last five outings.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Dereck Rodriguez (6-3, 2.35 ERA) will take the hill against Colorado righty Antonio Senzatela (4-6, 5.01 ERA) to close out the series.

49ers look to bounce back in home opener vs. Lions

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Photo credit: @49ers

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers will get their season on track on Sunday, as they will host the Detroit Lions in their first home game of the year.

However, as was the case most of last season, the team is dealing with a multitude of injuries at key positions, following an opening-week 24-16 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings, a game that saw Jimmy Garoppolo throw three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown.

The 49ers got a little thinner at the linebacker position this week, as they placed Brock Coyle on the injured reserve/eligible to return list. According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, he had not only a concussion in the team’s opening week loss to Minnesota, but he also suffered a T-4 compression fracture in his back.

Coyle will be out at least six weeks, and at that point, he is expected to be able to resume football activities. Beyond that, his timetable for return is uncertain.

Meanwhile, fellow linebacker Malcolm Smith did not practice Wednesday due to a hamstring injury he suffered during the preseason. Among the others who did not practice were receiver Marquise Goodwin (quadriceps), guard Joshua Garnett (toe) and safety Adrian Colbert (hamstring).

All of them are listed as questionable to play Sunday against the Lions, whose injury report is not nearly as long as that of the 49ers. Guard T.J Lang (back) and tackle Andrew Donnal (knee) were both held out of practice on Wednesday.

Just like the 49ers, the Lions are still licking their wounds after a tough loss in Week 1. However, the Lions were more decisively beaten at home Monday night against the New York Jets. Just like Garoppolo, Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford had his bouts with interceptions. The veteran threw four to the other team, including one that was returned for a touchdown in a 48-17 rout.

Giants starting to play out the string in upcoming series against the Brewers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

It’s quite evident that the Giants are not going to make the playoffs – Buster Posey having season-ending surgery and the team trading Andrew McCutchen after a little more than half a season more than showed they have waved the right flag – so they might as well mess things up for teams that are still contending.

They can start with this weekend’s three-game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers, which starts Friday night at Miller Park. The Giants just got finished getting their heads handed to them by the Rockies in Colorado (what else is new?) in getting swept in a three-game series at Coors Field.

So if they are going to play spoiler–or if they think they actually have a chance in grabbing a wild-card spot in the National League–they will need to get things back on track very quickly.

The Giants’ Derek Holland (7-8, 3.56 ERA) will take the ball Friday night against the Brewers’ Chase Anderson (9-7, 3.96 ERA).

Anderson has won each of his last three decisions, and in his last outing, he went five innings and gave up only a run on four hits in a loss to Washington, although he got a no-decision. Holland, meanwhile, has won each of his last two decisions, while he has spent some time in the bullpen this season.

The left-hander went six innings in a loss to the Mets at home–he got a no-decision–and he also gave up only a run and surrendered only four hits in the process.

Chris Stratton (9-8, 4.90 ERA), who has spent some time in Triple-A Sacramento this year, will go Saturday afternoon, and he will face Milwaukee lefty–and former Nationals and A’s standout–Gio Gonzalez.

Stratton has been stellar in his past two starts, although he lost his last outing in a 4-1 loss to the Mets four days ago, when he gave up only a pair of runs on three hits over six innings. The outing before, he shut out the Diamondbacks over eight innings, giving up only five hits and striking out six in a 2-0 win.

On Sunday, Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 3.07 ERA) will take the hill for the Giants and opposite the Brewers’ Zach Davies (2-5, 4.88 ERA).

Story blasts Giants 5-3 with 3 HR’s

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Photo credit: @SportingGreenSF

By Jeremy Harness

Trevor Story blasted three home runs on Wednesday, and that proved to be the difference as the Colorado Rockies beat the Giants, 5-3, inside Coors Field.

One of those, which was in the bottom of the fourth inning, traveled 505 feet and was the longest ball ever to be hit in the history of the Rockies’ home field.

With the loss, the Giants fell to five games under .500 and are now 10 games behind the National League West lead. That, to go along with the fact that the Giants just cannot beat the Rockies in Coors Field, particularly when it matters.

The first bomb by Story gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead, but the Giants came right back in the third when Austin Slater’s run-scoring single tied the game at 2-2, and they took the lead when Aramis Garcia slammed a home run of his own in the fourth.

However, Colorado took over the game from that point on, and this time, the Giants could not recover.

In the bottom of the fourth, Story struck again and re-tied the game at 3-3 with his record-breaking home run the cleared the bleachers in left field. He left the ballpark one last time in the bottom of the sixth to give the Rockies a 4-3 lead.

D.J LeMahieu added some insurance in the seventh when he singled to score Carlos Gonzalez, and the Colorado bullpen slammed the door on the Giants the rest of the way, as they keep their hopes alive for the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Giants’ playoff hopes are long gone at this point. That was hammered home when catcher Buster Posey elected to have hip surgery a month ago, and then the team traded away right fielder Andrew McCutchen.

San Francisco 49ers preview: New look 49ers get ready to roll

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mercurynews.com file photo: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo talks with the media on June 13th at Levis Stadium. Garoppolo will start opening day this Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

By Jeremy Harness

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the 49ers prepare to kick off the 2018 regular season, the expectations and the anticipation are completely different from a year before.

Of course, winning the last five games of the previous season, with a new, young quarterback at the helm, has a tendency to raise the excitement a little bit.

That’s what the 49ers are experiencing, as they travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings to start the regular season. Of course, most people know about the acquisition of Jimmy Garoppolo, and the new signal-caller responding by winning the first five games he started for his new team.

But they have also added a few new pieces on defense over the past couple of years, which will add to an improved unit.

There have been a few bumps in the road, however. The 49ers suffered a major setback last week, when running back Jerick McKinnon suffered a torn ACL in practice during a non-contact drill, meaning that the back, whom the team signed this offseason to a four-year contract, will miss the entire 2018 season.

That opens up the opportunities for the other running backs exponentially. Matt Breida and Alfred Morris, whom the 49ers signed in training camp when McKinnon and Breida suffered injuries early on in the preseason, are expected to split the carries early on, but it is unclear who will be the team’s starting tailback.

Second-year linebacker Reuben Foster, who spent some time out of the lineup with a nagging shoulder injury last year, is suspended for the first two games of this season stemming from his domestic-abuse case this spring.

That means guys like Brock Coyle will get more of a chance to see what he can do, particularly when the games count.

49ers rally late, but fall to the Chargers 23-21

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Photo credit: @49ers

By Jeremy Harness

SANTA CLARA – The best thing you can take out of the final preseason game of the year for the 49ers is this: the injury list did not grow, and for the most part, the quarterbacks showed flashes of brilliance.

Signal-callers Nick Mullens and Jack Heneghan got plenty of burn in Thursday night’s 23-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at Levi’s Stadium, and each of them certainly gave solid accounts of themselves in the process.

Each guy led the 49ers on long, time-consuming touchdown drives and gave their team a chance to win, particularly when Heneghan drove the team down for a score that gave the 49rs the lead with a little more than two minutes left in the game.

In the end, however, the 49ers’ run defense let them down, as did a big kick return that put the ball in 49ers territory immediately following the go-ahead score.

The 49ers did feature a handful of starters, including Solomon Thomas, who made a pair of big tackles for losses on the first drive of the game before taking a spot on the sideline for the rest of the night. Linebacker Reuben Foster, meanwhile, blew up a screen pass for a huge loss on the Chargers’ second possession. Three plays later, the 49ers forced a punt.

Foster played considerably longer than Thomas, as he is facing a two-game suspension that starts next Sunday. On the offensive side, lineman Joshua Garnett played into the second quarter, but no other starters took the field on Thursday.

C.J Beathard started the game and played one series but accomplished next to nothing in the process. In fact, he did not attempt a single pass. Mullens, on the other hand, was able to build on his game-winning performance in the first preseason game against Dallas with another very good effort on Thursday.

Mullens did have to suffer through some pains early on, getting rocked by a pair of blindside hits in his first two possessions, and the second one – by defensive end Chris Landrum – forced him to cough up the ball, and Los Angeles took over deep in 49ers territory.

However, the 49ers defense stood up to the challenge wonderfully, and the Chargers were forced to kick another field goal to give them a 6-0 lead.

He settled down very nicely immediately following the turnover. He made a handful of nice throws and extended plays when the protection broke down during a 75-yard drive that he punctuated with a six-yard touchdown plunge to give the 49ers a 7-6 lead.

The Chargers, however, took advantage of the 49ers’ soft run defense and ended the first half by punching it in for a score, after going 73 yards on 10 plays to go in front, 13-7. Los Angeles added another touchdown early in the second half, shortly after Jeremy McNichols fumbled and gave the Chargers the ball on the 49ers’ 10.

The 49ers marched it deep into the red zone late in the third quarter but were stopped on fourth-and-one at the 2-yard line.

Heneghan responded in the fourth by leading the 49ers down the field, and when McNichols plunged into the end zone with a little more than two minutes left, the 49ers had a 21-20 lead.

That lead, the 49ers’ only one of the game, did not last. After the Chargers returned the ensuing kickoff into 49ers territory, they converted a pair of first downs before Roberto Aguayo kicked a 26-yard field goal as time expired.

The 49ers head to U.S. Bank Stadium to take on the Vikings on Sunday, September 9 at 10 am PDT.

49ers prep for final exhibition vs. Chargers at Levi’s Stadium

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Photo credit: ninerfans.com

By Jeremy Harness

One more preseason game, and then after that, it will be for real.

The San Francisco 49ers will play their final exhibition game Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The team has seen more than its fair share of injuries this preseason, so don’t expect the starters to be in the game for very long on Thursday, if at all. Typically, teams do not usually play their starters in the final preseason game anyway.

However, this game will serve as the final audition for players who are fighting the final 53-man roster, so expect those guys to play most of the game, if not all, of it.

Meanwhile, the players who were lost early in the preseason are expected back for the beginning of the regular season, which starts next Sunday, Sept. 9 at Minnesota.

Among those players are running backs Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida, who were lost in the first preseason game against Dallas and the practice in the days following that.

Also expected back for the start of the season is defensive end Solomon Thomas, which will certainly help the young 49ers defense against a talented Vikings offense.

MadBum gets Giants out of New York with a split following 3-1 win over Mets

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Photo credit: @MLB_News247

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants desperately needed to get a win to get out of town and capture some momentum, and Madison Bumgarner made sure they got that against the New York Mets.

The Giants’ big lefty took the ball Thursday afternoon and threw eight solid innings at the Mets, and as a result, the Giants came away from New York with a 3-1 win at Citi Field, and the two teams ended up splitting the four-game series.

Bumgarner surrendered a single run on five hits, striking out eight and not walking a single batter. Not only did Bumgarner get it done on the mound, but he also helped his own cause at the plate, as his double in the fourth inning gave the Giants a 2-0 lead and gave the team the momentum that they sorely needed and would not relinquish.

However, the double almost did not happen, and maybe it should not have happened, either. That’s because the batter before Bumgarner, catcher Nick Hundley, took a ball that looked like it should have been a third strike that would have ended the inning.

Hundley ended up coaxing a walk out of Mets starter Jacob DeGrom, who saw his record drop to 8-8 after giving up a pair of runs on four hits, walking four and striking out 10.

The Mets put some major heat on Bumgarner in the seventh inning, after Todd Frazier led off the inning with a solo homer, and then used a hit batsman and a single to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

However, Bumgarner got out of the jam flawlessly, as he forced Kevin Plawecki into a double play before striking out Michael Conforto to keep the Giants up one run.

The Giants got that run right back in the eighth, when Evan Longoria tattooed an inside fastball and sent into the left-field seats to increase the lead to 3-1.

The Giants return home to AT&T Park to host the Rangers for a three-game series starting Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Giants keep yucking it up on road trip as they lose to Mets 5-3

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants appear to be running out of gas at the wrong time. They were swept this past weekend in Cincinnati, and things are not looking very good against a team that they are clearly better than in the New York Mets. They committed a couple of costly errors and gave up more than their fair share of home runs in a 5-3 loss at Citi Field Wednesday night.

The Giants have dropped two of the first three of this four-game series to the Mets.

Starter Casey Kelly surrendered a pair of solo homers while closer Hunter Strickland gave up one of his own, and as a result, the Giants have slid all the way to 9 ½ games back of the National League West lead, as they now sport a 62-66 record.

The Mets got two of those longballs in the first inning to shoot out to a 3-0 lead, and the Giants could not recover from that.

Kelly gave up four runs–two of those earned because of the two errors the Giants made during the course of the game–on seven hits over six innings. He struck out four hitters while not walking anyone, but the two homers proved to be his undoing.

Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard was solid over six innings, as he gave up a pair of runs on five hits, striking out six while walking only one. In the process, he ran his season record to 9-3.

Austin Slater and Joe Panik each had a pair of hits for the Giants apiece, with Slater hitting a solo homer in the seventh to narrow the Mets’ lead to only a run.

Things seem to be getting worse for the Giants off the field as well. Catcher Buster Posey, who went 0-for-4 on Wednesday and now has a batting average of .284, is reportedly heading toward having hip surgery that would put an end to his season.

The Giants and Mets wrap up their four-game series Thursday at 10:10 am PDT.