Author: jeremy2878

San Francisco Giants Wednesday game wrap: Giants continue epic meltdown

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By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: San Francisco Giant reliever Joe Nathan’s reaction after giving up the game winning double to the Colorado Rockies Cristhian Adames in the bottom of the ninth at Coors Field on Wednesday

The Giants just keep on losing games at an eye-popping level, and the bullpen – which seems to find more creative ways to blow leads – has had a lot to do with that. That showed up again in a huge, gut-wrenching way Wednesday night.

They had a two-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth against Colorado, but the bullpen – particularly closer Santiago Casilla, who is turning into the new-but-not-so-improved version of Armando Benitez – did what it has done for much of the second half.

It quickly surrendered that lead, and Casilla was not around to see the end of it. That honor was handed to the newly-acquired Joe Nathan, who gave up the game winning hit – a driving double off the bat of pinch-hitter Cristhian Adames – to send the Giants into the dugout in a rather-somber mood, 6-5 losers at the hands of the Rockies.

That has been quite a familiar theme for the Giants in the second half, which has seen the team complete squander a sizable lead in the National League West and are barely hanging on to the NL’s wild-card lead, by a half game, to be exact.

The way things are going, that will not change any time soon.

Unless the bullpen suddenly turns into either the 2010 or the 2012 version of itself – which, at this point, is as likely as O.J Simpson finding “the real killers” – the choke will soon become complete, with the Giants missing the postseason altogether and officially putting an end to the much-ballyhooed even-numbered pattern of World Series titles.

At this rate, it also appears that the 49ers will end up winning as many games this month than the Giants will, particularly if the offense cannot get its act together and provide some run support, an occurrence that has been increasingly rare these days.

In the meantime, the Giants have now won only two games in the month of September after dropping two of the three games played in Colorado, and the Giants now head to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks.

There is hope for the Giants here, since Arizona just finished getting swept by the surging Dodgers – who look like they are going to run away with the division title at this point – in Los Angeles. But then again, the Giants appeared to be primed to get off to a hot start to the second half with a three-game series with the San Diego Padres teed up perfectly for them.

Instead, as we all know now, the Padres – as has just about every other team in the National League in the past couple of months – teed off on the Giants.

If the Giants do not find a way to right this ship and do it very quickly, we could be very well talking about a collapse unlike many others in franchise history.

 

Cardinal sneaks by feisty K-State 26-13

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By Jeremy Harness

sfgate.com photo: Stanford’s Michael Rector receiver (3) celebrates touchdown with Francis Owusu (6) in the second quarter against Kansas State on opening night at Stanford Stadium on Friday

STANFORD – There may be a dispute regarding who the starting quarterback will be for Stanford this season, but there’s no doubt about who the team goes to when things start to get a little tight, as was the case Friday night.

Christian McCaffrey, the runner-up in last year’s Heisman Trophy voting – although, in many circles, it was thought that he should have been the run-away winner – is that guy.

The junior running back-return specialist-receiver once again came up with the big plays when the Cardinal offense needed them in a 26-13 win over Kansas State in the season opener at Stanford Stadium.

Head coach David Shaw did say, however, that his team will need to make a huge jump in performance if it hopes to beat USC, who they will play at home in two weeks, following Stanford’s upcoming bye week.

“We’ve got to get better,” he said. “In the first half, we were great, but in the second half, I thought we left a little bit out there.”

McCaffrey didn’t put up the video game-type numbers that he did last season – he amassed 210 all-purpose yards, including 133 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns – but then again, the Wildcats spent a great deal of effort keeping their collective eye on him to be sure that he did not go completely crazy on them like he did with other schools last year.

He would have had 97 more yards – thanks to a highlight reel-worthy punt return in the first quarter, which saw him break at least a pair of tackles and sidestep a few others – only to see it get called back on an illegal-block penalty.

“That was the best punt return, that didn’t count, that I’ve ever seen,” Shaw said.

The question heading into Friday night’s game was who was going to get a leg up in the battle for the team’s starting signal-caller. However, although one guy got most of the work, that question still remains rather unanswered.

Senior Ryan Burns played all but one series against Kansas State and performed very nicely, completing 14 of his 18 throws for 156 yards and a touchdown. Although he slightly overthrew a pair of deep throws by a matter of inches, his only real blemish came early in the third quarter, when was late in handing the ball off to McCaffrey on an option read and resulted in a lost fumble and the Wildcats getting the ball on Stanford’s 29-yard line.

However, the Cardinal’s defense, as it did for much of the game, held firm and eventually forced Kansas State to kick a field goal.

Keller Chryst, a junior who spent last season as the now-departed Kevin Hogan’s primary backup, played his lone series early in the second quarter and connected on his only pass, an 11-yarder over the middle to McCaffrey. The remainder of the drive consisted of just giving the ball to his all-world runner, as he capped things off by juking his way to a 35-yard touchdown to give the Cardinal a 17-0 lead.

Chryst, meanwhile, was out in front of the play and finished off that run by knocking cornerback Duke Shelley, against whom he has a 65-pound advantage, through the end zone as McCaffrey waltzed in.

“I never talk about competing for a starting position,” Shaw said. “(But) he’ll continue to get worked in. He’ll continue to play, just as long as we see improvement.”

There were a few hiccups early on, however, that appeared to keep some points off the board and make the margin closer than it needed to be.

Working from the Kansas State 37-yard line in the first quarter, for instance, fifth-year senior receiver Michael Rector took an end around and had at least three blockers in front of him.

Rector appeared to have a clear path to the end zone just outside of the left tackle area, with a blocker accompanying him. However, he bounced it too far outside and allowed defensive tackle Will Geary to stop him after picking up only a single yard.

Three plays later, Stanford was faced with a third-and-two, which typically prompts the Cardinal to bring in its jumbo package and picks up short yardage by force. This time, however, Stanford tried an option play and got dropped for a 3-yard loss, forcing the Cardinal to settle for a 50-yard field goal by Conrad Ukropina.

However, Stanford soon got the home-run play it was looking for anyway. On the first play of the second quarter, Burns went play-action and found a wide-open Rector down the middle of the field for a 40-yard touchdown to give the Cardinal a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Kansas State also alternated their two quarterbacks, Jesse Ertz and Joe Hubener, but the Wildcats did so with far more regularity than did Stanford. However, the duo was not quite as effective.

Although Ertz finished with more yardage than Burns, he did so by completing 16 of his 34 passes for 207 yards. He did complete a touchdown pass late in the game, but by that time, the Wildcats were fighting a fierce battle against the clock that they would eventually lose.

San Francisco Giants Thursday game wrap: Bullpen can’t pick Samardzija up, Cubs win 5-4

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By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Former Chicago Cub Jeff Samardzija throws in the first inning for the San Francisco Giants against the Cubs at Wrigley Field to open the four game series on Thursday night

The Giants’ bullpen has been shaky for a better part of the season, and it was victimized again Thursday night.

After Jeff Samardzija was forced out of the game after pitching only four innings, the Giants could not hold on to a slim one-run lead, and as a result, they fell to the Chicago Cubs, 5-4, within the confines of Wrigley Field.

The first three innings proved to be explosive on the offensive end. Hunter Pence got things started in the first inning with a two-run homer off Cubs starter Mike Montgomery.

However, Chicago came to the plate in the bottom half of that inning and pounced right on Samardzija, who was making his return to Wrigley Field after starting his career with the Cubs. Three runs were scored off the Giants right-hander in the inning, with singles by Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward as well as a double by Chris Coghlan doing the damage.

Samardzija rallied and even helped himself at the plate, as in the second inning, he got a fly ball deep enough to bring Joe Panik home and tie the game. One inning later, a throwing error by second baseman Ben Zobrist allowed Buster Posey to score on Brandon Crawford’s fielder’s choice, giving the Giants the lead.

However, that would not last.

Samardzija was able to settle down for the next three innings after giving up the three-spot and keep the Cubs from scoring any more runs while he was in the game. However, by the end of the fourth inning, he had already thrown 87 pitches, and it was time for manager Bruce Bochy to go to the bullpen.

Things were going smoothly until the seventh inning, when Addison Russell hit a two-run single off reliever Cory Guearrin to give Chicago a lead that it would not relinquish.

As a result, the Giants fell behind the Los Angeles Dodgers by one more game, and they are now two games back of the National League West leaders.

The Giants have three more games in Chicago before heading to Colorado and Arizona for three-game series against the Rockies and Diamondbacks, respectively.

 

San Francisco Giants-Baltimore Orioles preview report: Giants look to keep up good vibes

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By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: San Francisco Giant pitcher Matt Cain who starts on Friday against the Baltimore Orioles seen here in Aug 6th photo at AT&T Park

SAN FRANCISCO–Now that the Giants have regained the top spot in the National League West by themselves, they will try to build on the momentum that they have recently generated.

They had not gotten much of anything going since the All-Star break, a prolonged lull that started with a sweep at the hands of the lowly San Diego Padres to begin the season’s second half, but all of that may have changed after taking a three-game series from the Miami Marlins this week.

The Los Angeles Dodgers had completely closed the gap in the division, tying the Giants for the NL West lead, but by virtue of their series win, the Giants have recaptured the lead by a single game.

The Giants will now head home for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, a series that kicks off Friday night at AT&T Park. Matt Cain (4-6, 5.16 ERA), who has been up and down for much of this season, will take the ball Friday night against Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy (5-3, 3.05 ERA).

However, Cain enters Friday’s series opener on a high note, as he is coming off an impressive win over the Nationals, during which threw five shutout innings in a 7-1 win over Washington on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Bundy is also coming off a nice performance. The right-hander gave up only two runs while striking out nine hitters in picking up a win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

The Giants will have the advantage in momentum, however, something they have not been able to claim in quite some time. The Orioles were victorious in Oakland Thursday afternoon, but in doing so, they avoided being swept in four games by the lowly A’s.

In addition, the Orioles held a sizable lead into the eighth inning, but the A’s stormed back with four runs in the eighth and had the bases loaded in the ninth with a great chance to win the game, but Oakland simply ran out of outs.

Baltimore once held the lead in the American League East, but the Toronto Blue Jays have since overtaken them by a half-game at press time.

 

San Francisco Giants Wednesday game wrap: Bonds thrown out, Giants get crucial win

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By Jeremy Harness

csnmidatlantic.com photo: Florida Marlins batting coach Barry Bonds argues with the plate umpire that he didn’t say anything from the dugout after being ejected as Marlins manager Don Mattingly stands between them during the Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants game Wednesday at Marlins Park in Miami

The Giants came through with a series win on Wednesday afternoon that they desperately needed, a day after the Los Angeles Dodgers officially caught up to them in the National League West standings after trailing by eight games as recent as a month and a half ago.

The win, however, had an interesting subplot for longtime Giants fans. That’s because former Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who now serves as the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach, was ejected from Wednesday’s game for arguing balls and strikes.

Meanwhile, Giants starter Jeff Samardzija had a bounce-back effort. After scuffling badly since the All-Star break (who hasn’t for the Giants, really?), the righty shut out the Marlins for the 5 2/3 innings that he in the game while giving up only three hits in leading the Giants to a 1-0 win at Marlins Park.

The win meant that the Giants took two of the three-game series from the Marlins, the first series that they have been able to claim since the All-Star break.

Samardzija also struck out three hitters, and the only real blemish on his day was that he issues three walks in the process.

After the starter left the game, the much-maligned Giants bullpen kept the Marlins off the scoreboard, as Will Smith, Hunter Strickland, Derek law and closer Santiago Casilla combined to surrender only two hits, striking out four and not walking a single guy.

The lone run came in the fourth inning, when Brandon Crawford led off the inning and worked a full count on starter David Phelps and got a pitch that he liked, a belt-high fastball that he raked over the right-field wall.

This came two days after the shortstop collected seven hits against the Marlins in pacing the Giants to an 8-7 win in extra innings.

The Giants will now head back home to face the Baltimore Orioles, who are completing a series of their own across the bay in Oakland on Wednesday, for a series that starts Thursday night.

NOTES: Manager Bruce Bochy was released from a Miami hospital Tuesday night after battling an undisclosed illness, and reports are that he is expected to return to his manager’s role as early as Tuesday.

 

San Francisco Giants Thursday game wrap: Span’s late HR stops skid

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By Jeremy Harness

cbslocal.com: The San Francisco Giants Denard Spans (2) crosses the plate past Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz (51) in the first inning of Thursday’s game at Citizens Bank Ball Park

The Giants needed to get a win in the worst win, and Denard Span delivered that for them Thursday afternoon.

The center fielder, who has been a steady presence at the top of the lineup this season, turned on a low-and-inside fastball from Severino Gonzalez in the top of the 10th inning and sent it into the right-field seats just inside the foul pole for a solo home run.

It was a much-needed hit, as the Giants were able to escape from Philadelphia with at least one win, avoiding a sweep at the hands of the Phillies with a 3-2 win in 10 innings.

“It’s been a steady up and down for me all year, but I’m hoping I can continue this feeling right now,” Span said. “We’ve been struggling since the second half started, and we’ll take any win we can (get) right now.”

Span ended up going 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs and crossed the plate twice to increase his batting average to .265.

The Giants got a solid outing from newly-acquired lefty starter Matt Moore, who went six solid innings and surrendered only a pair of runs on three hits and striking out seven hitters, although he did walk six guys in the process.

The bullpen then backed up Moore and combined to give up only one hit over the next four innings.

In fact, Sergio Romo ended up getting the win without having to throw a single pitch, the first time that has happened in the majors since 1990. 

The Giants will now head to Washington to start a three-game series with the Nationals, a series that begins Friday night. This will certainly be a challenge for the Giants, as the Nationals head into this series with a 64-44 record and are the leaders of the National League East, leading the Miami Marlins by seven games.

San Francisco Giants Wednesday game wrap: Giants blow lead late, continue 2nd-half slide

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By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto delivers against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Ball Park on Wednesday night

It’s pretty safe to say that the Giants have entered into a sort of a panic mode at this point.

The Giants (60-46) are now 4-13 since the All-Star break, and even though they still have the lead in the National League West, that advantage is only two games ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers, who just made a big trade to bolster their lineup, adding outfielder Josh Reddick and starter Rich Hill.

The latest installment of the melting-down process came Wednesday night, as they found themselves with a 4-0 lead but ended up surrendering that lead and could not get it back, falling to the lowly Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, at Citizens Bank Park in 12 innings.

Starter Johnny Cueto carried a 4-2 lead into the eighth inning, but the Phillies (50-59) got to the tiring righty, to the point where they tied the game on a two-run single by Maikel Franco, which finally chased Cueto from the game.

The bullpen, which has been spotty at best for much of this season, held up pretty well until the 12th inning. At that point, the Phillies got to reliever George Kontos, loading the bases on him and forcing manager Bruce Bochy to go to former starter Jake Peavy out of the bullpen.

It did not go very well. The very first batter he faced was Franco, and he did not waste any time seizing the opportunity, ripping a single up the middle to win the game and take the second game in a row from the Giants.

If there was a positive that came out of Wednesday, it was that Will Smith, the reliever whom the Giants acquired from Milwaukee at the trade deadline, faced one batter in the eighth inning and struck him out.

The Giants will test out another recent trade acquisition, left-handed starter Matt Moore, who will take the ball Thursday in an attempt to salvage at least one game from the three-game series in Philadelphia before heading to Washington for a three-game series against the Nationals that starts Friday

A’s among big sellers at trade deadline

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By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Oakland A’s Josh Reddick shown plays the ball off the wall hit by Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez on Sunday was part of the deal sending him and pitcher Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday

OAKLAND–It’s pretty safe to say that “Careless Whisper” will not be heard inside the Oakland Coliseum for the foreseeable future.

That’s because the A’s sent outfielder Josh Reddick, who brought the George Michael-performed slow melody to the batter’s box with him a couple of years ago to much fanfare, to the Los Angeles Dodgers along with starting pitcher Rich Hill for three prospects.

For the A’s, unloading top players for prospects that the team hopes can contribute at some point down the road is nothing new, as they have had nothing to play for at this point in the past two seasons, and it does not looks like they will be playing for anything any time soon, either.

After a hot start to the second half, the A’s were swept in a weekend series by the Indians in Cleveland, which own one the second-best record in the American League at 60-43, and they followed the drubbing up by essentially throwing in the towel on their season yet again in an attempt to gain hope in a future that is, at this point anyway, murky at best.

For another example of that, one just needs to reference the trade of third baseman Josh Donaldson after the 2014 season, a deal that the A’s have yet to real any benefits at all, with the exception of the unloading of salary.

Donaldson, by the way, went on to win the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 2015 with his new team, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are doing whatever they can to try and take down the Giants in the National League West, and adding Reddick and Hill went a long way toward accomplishing that goal. Expect Reddick, who is batting .296 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs after missing five weeks with a broken thumb, to start in right field, particularly after the Dodgers promptly sent immensely talented-yet-mightily troubled outfielder Yasiel Puig to the minors following Reddick’s acquisition.

Hill is expected to bolster an injury-plagued rotation that is desperately in need of a fifth starter. He is 9-3 this year with a 2.25 earned-run average, but he is currently battling a blister on his pitching hand himself. He is schedule to come off the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 20, on Saturday.

As for the A’s, they will get on with the rest of their season on Tuesday, when they travel to Anaheim for a three-game series with the Angels, who share last place with the A’s in the American League West.

They will then come back home to the Coliseum for a three-gamer with the Chicago Cubs, who are atop the National League Central before hosting the Baltimore Orioles for four games and then the Seattle Mariners for three more

ELLIE MAE CLASSIC: History-making victory for Jaeger

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By Jeremy Harness

zimbio.com file photo: Stephan Jaeger makes web.comtour history with the lowest 36 and 54 hole marks at the Ellie Mae Classic in Hayward

HAYWARD, Calif. – Going into this week, Stephan Jaeger did not have a single win in the four years that he has played on a major pro tour. He scratched that one off the list in emphatic fashion Sunday afternoon.

The 27-year-old German, who played his college golf at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, immediately took control of the Web.com Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic at TPC San Francisco at Stonebrae and never lightened his grip.

He made only one bogey during the entire tournament and set several scoring records along the way – the lowest score in the history of the Web.com Tour as well as the lowest 36 and 54-hole marks, and finally, the lowest 72-hole score as he finished with an overall mark of 30-under par – and as a result, he was the wire-to-wire winner.

The victory, which he sealed Sunday with a seven-under 63 to win by nine strokes, also means that he will now be in the top-25 on the tour’s money list, and if that holds up to the end of the season, he will have full exemption on the PGA Tour next season.

“I’m speechless,” Jaeger said. “It was a phenomenal week for me. I stayed in the moment today, which was hard. (But) I knew if I played solid all the way around, it was going to be hard to catch me. I really played very, very solid today.

“I won a few small mini-tour events, and you get a check for $2,000 or something, but it’s a little different story this week (in receiving $108,000 for this victory),” he continued. “But if you win a golf tournament, you’re happy, no matter what stage. Obviously the bigger the stage, the more benefits come out of it.”

Jaeger said after Saturday’s round that someone could get hot, which would make things quite interesting down the stretch, and for the first six holes, that’s exactly what happened.

His closest competitor, San Diego State grad Xander Schauffele, made virtually every out he looked at for the first six holes, compiling four birdies to go along with an eagle in that span and cutting Jaeger’s sizable lead to four shots before a bogey at the par-4 eighth derailed his momentum.

“I did everything I could,” Schauffele said. “That was all I had, and it clearly wasn’t enough.”

Meanwhile, Jaeger continued to make birdies without any mistakes in between. He played the front nine bogey-free and threw in five birdies to keep Schauffele – or anyone else, for that matter – to gain any more ground.

Rhein Gibson, the owner of the lowest golf round ever recorded with a 55 four years ago, needed that kind of performance on Sunday to catch Jaeger, but he did not get it. Although he made a nice run at it, shooting (a five-under 65), he simply ran out of holes, and Jaeger did not give any opportunities to make up ground.

Not everyone was knocking in birdies at a regular clip, however. Maverick McNealy, who is the world’s top amateur and is currently going into his senior year at Stanford, took a considerable step back from his first two rounds.

After posting a 67 and a 66 on Thursday and Friday, respectively, he struggled mightily on Saturday and shot 78 to take himself out of the running right then and there. He did come back on Sunday and shot an under-par round, however, but he was nowhere near a threat to Jaeger’s title.

ELLIE MAE CLASSIC: Jaeger extends lead, moves closer to pivotal win

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By Jeremy Harness

mb.com.ph photo: Stephane Jaeger set the web.comtour record for the lowest hole score at 36 Saturday at the PGA Ellie Mae Classic in Hayward

HAYWARD, Calif. – About the only thing that Stephan Jaeger had not done this week was record an eagle. Well, after Saturday’s action, you can scratch that one off the list, too.

After a record-setting 58 in the opening round, which compelled the crew at TPC San Francisco Bay at Stonebrae to coin a drink called the Jaeger-bomb – which is appropriately priced at $5.80 – and adding a rash of birdies to set another record for the lowest 36-hole score in Web.com Tour history, Jaeger followed an outstanding 3-wood shot that settled only about 10 feet from the hole at the par-5 15th by draining the ensuing putt for an eagle that extended his lead to seven shots.

As was the case in the first round, he did not record a single bogey and finished with a six-under 64, and at a hard-to-believe 23-under par, he carries a seven-shot lead into Sunday’s final round.

“It’s been a good week, it really has, everywhere, in my whole game,” Jaeger said. “Sometimes you don’t get the good breaks and sometimes you do, and I’m fortunate enough that I’ve had a few this week.”

However, what’s even harder to believe is that he has not really locked up anything yet.

Despite how well he has played up to the point, Jaeger knows that he will need to continue to make birdies in the final round to ensure himself a victory. To illustrate that point, Eric Axley of Knoxville, Tenn. got into the thick of things on Saturday by shooting a 10-under 60 Saturday morning and finds himself nine strokes back.

Meanwhile, Georgia native Keith Mitchell fired a nine-under 61 and also finds himself nine shots behind with an overall score of 14-under par.

“I’m going to stay aggressive (Sunday) and try to shoot the lowest score I can,” Jaeger said. “You never know, one of the guys in second or fourth (place) can shoot a good round and make it a little more interesting.

“But if I play well, I think it’s going to be tough to catch (me).”

Speaking of record-breaking rounds, Jaeger’s third-round playing partner, Rhein Gibson, is no stranger to historically-low rounds himself.

Four years ago, the Australian who played his college golf at Oklahoma Christian University, where he was an NAIA All-American, shot a score of 55 on a par-71 course. The mark earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the lowest round ever recorded.

Gibson finished Saturday’s round with a three-under 67, but it could have been lower had his short birdie putt at the 18th not spun out of the hole and forcing him to settle for a par, nullifying a fantastic iron shot into the green that fed down and nearly found the hole for an eagle.