Author: jeremy2878

Niners look to ride great defense to second win

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Photo credit: ninersnation.com

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers didn’t bring their best offense to the party last Sunday, but the defense stood out and made a statement, and that was enough to get a win on the road to open the 2019 season.

In order to make the travel a little lighter, the team is staying in Youngstown, Oh., this week in preparation to face the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium this Sunday.

The Bengals had a very good showing on the road at Seattle, although they did come out of it with a loss. Quarterback Andy Dalton threw for more than 400 yards against the Seahawks defense, and receiver John Ross had a breakout game with two touchdowns.

So the 49ers defense will have a challenge on its hands, particularly in the secondary. A year ago, the secondary struggled in coverage, but 2019 seems like a different year, particular after a pair of pick-sixes against Tampa Bay in Week 1.

The Niners, however, have been dealt yet another injury setback at the running back position. Tevin Coleman suffered a high ankle sprain last Sunday and will not play against the Bengals. He is said to be out a couple of weeks ago, but based on the nature of a high ankle sprain, expect Coleman to miss a significantly longer amount of time.

This means that Matt Breida and Raheem Mostert, who flashed in Sunday’s game, will be expected to get most of the snaps against Cincinnati.

Speaking of high ankle sprains, defensive end Nick Bosa is still feeling the effects of his injury – which kept him out most of training camp and all of the preseason – and only played a handful of snaps on Sunday. He did not practice on Wednesday and is questionable for the game at Cincinnati.

The Bengals are missing a few key pieces, too. Receiver A.J Green will not play Sunday while still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered early in the preseason, while Bay Area native Joe Mixon is questionable with an ankle injury of his own, which he sustained against Seattle.

He didn’t practice Wednesday and is listed as day-to-day.

Webb gets bombed, Giants go down in flames 10-0

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Photo credit: @sfgiants_fanly

By Jeremy Harness

It all went bad for Logan Webb on Thursday afternoon, and St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of every mistake that he and the rest of the Giants behind him made in a 10-0 rout at Busch Stadium.

With the loss, the Giants also dropped the season series to the Cardinals, and they continue to lose ground with the rest of the contenders in the National League.

Webb did not make it out of the third inning, as he gave up eight runs – seven of them earned – on eight hits, walking two and striking out another two.

Things got off to a bad start, as Webb gave up a leadoff double to Tommy Edman, who eventually scored on an infield hit later in the inning. Webb appeared to get the wheels straightened out, as he struck out Marcell Ozuna for the second out of the inning.

However, the next batter, Paul DeJong, took Webb over the center-field wall for a two-run homer that gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead.

He pitched a scoreless second inning, but the Cards resumed their assault on the young hurler in the third. They used hard-hit singles as well as a jam shot by Yadier Molina to score a run, and they scored another when first baseman Brandon Belt took a throw from second baseman Mauricio Dubon but forgot to touch the bag.

Manager Bruce Bochy eventually threw in the towel on Webb when he surrendered a two-run single to his pitching counterpart, Dakota Hudson.

On the positive side, the Giants bullpen did well in relief of Webb, keeping St. Louis off the scoreboard for the next four innings until Kyle Barraclough surrendered a two-run homer to Rangel Ravelo in the eighth.

Hudson, meanwhile, cruised through a suddenly-punchless Giants lineup, giving up only a hit over six innings, walking two and striking out two.

The Giants open a three-game series against the Dodgers in L.A. starting Friday night at 7:10 p.m.

Giants blow lead, then rally to topple Cards 9-8

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants got off to a hot start, only to watch the big lead vanish. However, they were able to pull themselves together in time to get a 9-8 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium Wednesday night.

They scored four runs in a big third inning, a surge that was started by Mike Yastrzemski’s solo homer. However, the Cardinals used the next three innings to chip away at the lead and eventually tie the game. The game-tying hit came from none other than Paul Goldschmidt, a notorious Giant-killer whose triple in the fifth brought in two runs.

Undeterred, the Giants grabbed the lead again one inning later, when Brandon Crawford nailed a three-run homer off reliever Dominic Leone.

The Cardinals came up with a four-run inning of their own in the sixth, which was sparked by Tommy Edman’s run-scoring triple, while Goldschmidt’s two-run double gave St. Louis its first lead of the game, 8-7.

Kevin Pillar, who went 4-for-5 on Wednesday, gave the Giants the lead back for good in the top of the eighth with a two-run shot off Giovanny Gallegos.

The Giants bullpen shut the Cards down for the final three innings, Fernando Abad, Tyler Rogers, Tony Watson and Will Smith, who nailed down his 31st save of the season, combined to give up only three hits and a pair of walks.

Madison Bumgarner did not have a strong start, as he surrendered six runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out two.

The Giants and Cards wrap up their series on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. PT.

Niners kick off 2019 campaign, but questions remain

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Photo credit: sacbee.com

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers will head to Tampa to open the season, against a beatable opponent in the Buccaneers, but there a few things that will need to be answered.

The first thing is whether or not the defense will be better. On paper, it appears they are poised to make a big stride. The 49ers drafted defensive end Nick Bosa with the second overall pick, but he missed all of the preseason with a high ankle sprain. However, he practice in a limited fashion Wednesday and appears to be on track to play Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, free agent pickup Dee Ford, a fellow pass rusher, practiced in full on Wednesday, and he is expected to be on the field to face the Bucs offense.

With these two on the field, the 49ers pass rush should be considerably better than it was in 2018, but now it’s time to show it on the field.

The 49ers have bolstered the running back position in the offseason by picking up Tevin Coleman, and as it turns out, he will be counted on more than was expected at the beginning of training camp.

That’s because Jerick McKinnon, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, suffered a major complication with the same knee, and he has since been placed on season-ending injured reserve, meaning that the man the 49ers so coveted will go two full seasons without playing in a single regular-season game.

The team still has depth at the position, with Coleman and Matt Breida expected to split the carries, while Raheem Mostert, who had a breakout game against Oakland last season before breaking his forearm in the same game, will back them up and is expected to play mostly on special teams.

The 49ers have more injury issues, as receiver Jalen Hurd is dealing with a back problem, and he has been ruled out of Week 1 and could miss a few more weeks. Receiver Trent Taylor will also be out of Week 1, as he is nursing a foot injury.

Center Weston Richburg (knee) and receiver Dante Pettis (groin) practiced in a limited fashion Wednesday, but their status for Sunday’s game is uncertain.

49ers fall to Chargers 27-24, but bubble guys show flashes

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sfgate.com photo: San Francisco 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard rolls out to pass against the Los Angeles Chargers during the first half of an NFL preseason football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019.

By Jeremy Harness

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers lost their final preseason game of the year, 27-24 to the Los Angeles Chargers, but really, the night was about guys trying to make the team getting one last chance to put some good tape out there.

One of those guys is running back Jeff Wilson Jr., and on Thursday, he ran like he wanted that roster spot. He was the focal point of the team’s second drive, and to cap it off, he made an almost Walter Payton-esque cutback across the field to his right and got a kinda-sorta block from quarterback C.J Beathard on his way to a 41-yard touchdown that gave the 49ers a 7-6 lead near the end of the first quarter.

One quarter later, he also made a nice catch of a pass from Beathard that was at around his knees and was also behind him and converted it into a first down.

After an opening-drive field goal for the Chargers, D.J Reed Jr. took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 56 yards into Charger territory. Reed, who is a backup corner, is thought of as a guy who can play multiple corner positions – outside as well as in the slot – and with his special-teams playmaking ability, that should bolster his chances of making the 53-man roster that will suit up in Tampa for Week 1 of the regular season.

Dre Greenlaw is another guy who flashed on Thursday, and looks like he has solidified his spot on the team as a linebacker. After Damontre Moore whiffed on a sack attempt early in the second quarter, Greenlaw tracked Chargers quarterback Cardale Jones down and stood him up for a five-yard loss, to go along with a very nice open-field tackle on the first drive of the game.

Otherwise, the 49ers’ defense looked listless in the first half, regularly giving up chunk plays down the field before the Chargers were able to punch it in from point-blank range, eventually taking a 20-7 lead late in the second quarter.

The one things that has kept Kendrick Bourne from securing a spot on the roster has been his case of the drops, and that showed up the first time he was thrown to on Thursday, as he ran a nice crossing pattern but let the pass clank off his hands, taking away a first down.

However, he cashed in on the next opportunity he got, with a minute left in the first half. As Beathard eluded the Charger rush, he overthrew his intended target. But like a good backstop, Bourne was there to make a sliding catch in the end zone, the 21-yard touchdown cutting LA’s lead to 20-14.

NOTES: Prior to Thursday’s game, the 49ers released linebacker Malcolm Smith, who had spent most of his tenure with the team on the sidelines with assorted injuries, most notably a torn pectoral muscle that kept him out for the entire 2017 season.

The team also waived offensive linemen Willie Beavers and Dillon Day. The 49ers turned around and signed corner Chris Campbell, running back Brandon Wilds and receiver Nick Williams, who had a pair of catches in the third quarter.

UP NEXT: The 49ers take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1:25 p.m. Game will be broadcast on FOX.

Time for Giants’ young players to get a look

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Photo credit: sfexaminer.com

By Jeremy Harness

Slowly but surely, the chances of sneaking into the postseason in the National League have slipped away for the Giants. The back-to-back losses to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday and Tuesday seemed to solidify that fact.

At this point, the Giants have decided that it’s about time to give their young prospects a taste of the major leagues, and to see what they can do going forward.

On Tuesday, the Giants released second baseman Scooter Gennett, whom they had acquired at the trade deadline but, other than a brief road trip to Colorado, never really got going. He hit only .234 during a stint that lasted slightly less than a month.

In the process, the team called up right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers, a 28-year old who has a side-winding delivery that features his knuckles coming within inches of scraping the mound, from Triple-A Sacramento.

Coming to Oracle Park with him is infielder Mauricio Dubon, whom the Giants have high hopes for and also grew up a huge Giants fan. He originally came to the Giants organization days before the deadline from Milwaukee when starter Drew Pomeranz and reliever Ray Black were dealt to the Brewers.

He is expected to get plenty of starts at second base and will share time with emerging infielder Donovan Solano, who can also play shortstop to spell Brandon Crawford.

The Giants are now 65-67 and are now in third place in the National League West, and they have slipped to six games back in the wild-card race.

The Giants will host the San Diego Padres, a team that has long forgotten about the postseason despite high expectations going into the 2019 season, for a four-game series that starts tomorrow night.

49ers players on the bubble who have one last chance to make mark

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Photo credit: mercurynews.com

By Jeremy Harness

The 49ers will play one more preseason game before it’s time to go for real, but don’t expect the starters to be anywhere but the sidelines on Thursday.

The preseason finale, which will pit the 49ers against the Los Angeles Chargers, is really all about the guys who will make one last push to make the team’s 53-man roster, as the final cutdown will take place this Saturday.

There are reportedly a few notable names that are on the bubble to make the 49ers’ final roster, including receivers Jordan Matthews, Richie James and Kendrick Bourne as well as linebacker Malcolm Smith.

Matthews struggled in his last few years with the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles, and was signed by the 49ers as a free agent this offseason. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been open in expressing how impressed he has been with the veteran pass-catcher’s showing in training camp.

He would otherwise be a lock for the 53-man roster, other than the fact that he does not stand out on special teams, as a backup receiver should. However, if he has a great outing on Thursday, there is no reason to believe that he will not be suiting up come Week 1.

Bourne came on during the second half of the season, but he has had a continued issue with the drops, which will be crucial in deciding exactly how many wideouts the 49ers want to keep. Marquise Goodwin, Dante Pettis, physical running back-turned receiver Jalen Hurd, highly-touted rookie Deebo Samuel and Trent Taylor all seem to be locked on to the final 53, so that apparently leaves either one, or maybe two, spots.

Smith has been nonexistent for much of his two years with the 49ers, and a lot of that has to do with assorted injuries, a bug that started in his first training camp with the team, which resulted in a torn pectoral muscle that saw him miss the entire season.

It hasn’t gotten much better for him since, and he was nowhere to be found during his preseason debut last week at Kansas City. The 49ers may keep him around as a locker room influence – he has been to two Super Bowls, including a win over the Denver Broncos that saw him return an interception for a touchdown – but his lack of production may force the team to pull the plug on him.

But this much is certain: There will be a lot of tough decisions to be made in the two days following Thursday’s game.

Shark is sharp, but Cubs sweep Giants with 1-0 win

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

For the past couple of years, the jury has been out on Jeff Samardzija. However, on Thursday afternoon, it was the offense that let him down, less than 24 hour after scoring 11 runs.

Samardzija clearly pitched well enough to beat the Chicago Cubs and salvage a game from the three-game series, but the Giants could not bring a single run across, and that resulted in a hard-luck 1-0 loss at Wrigley Field.

As a result, they were swept right out of Chicago, in a series that would have gone a long way in continuing their push for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

The right-hander, who started his pro baseball career with the Cubs after starring in baseball as well as football for Notre Dame, went seven strong innings and gave up only a run on two hits, walking one and striking out four.

Meanwhile, the Giants had all kinds of trouble with Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks, who threw seven shutout innings at them, giving up only three hits – one of those coming off the bat of his pitching counterpart, Samardzija – and striking out seven and not walking anybody.

From there, the Giants managed only one hit off the Cubs’ relievers, as they flew away from Wrigley Field two games under .500. As expected, the National League as a whole has improved since the All-Star break, as the second wild-card spot holder, the St. Louis Cardinals, have a 68-58 mark at press time.

The Giants are now a full six games out of the wild card, and they clearly have a ton of work to do in this next month if they are going to have a chance to make a serious run at the postseason.

The Giants head to RingCentral Coliseum to take on the A’s for a two-game weekend series starting Saturday night at 6:07 p.m.

Giants fall in wild shootout against Cubs, 12-11

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants’ bats, which had been clearly identified as a problem for most of this year, was definitely not an issue Wednesday against the Cubs.

Their ability to get the Cubs out on a regular basis was.

As a result, despite a comeback in the late innings, the Giants fell to the Cubs, 12-11, at Wrigley Field, despite pounding out 13 hits, including four home runs.

The Giants trailed 6-2 after four innings, but they mounted a stellar comeback that saw them take the lead in the seventh inning, 11-10. However, reliever Reyes Moronta gave up a two-run homer to Kris Bryant, his 26th of the season, to put Chicago back on top in the bottom of the eighth.

From there, the Giants could not get anything going against Chicago closer Craig Kimbrel, who tossed a perfect ninth to nail down his 11th save of the year, after spending half of this 2019 campaign as an unclaimed free agent.

Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez had an outing to forget on Wednesday. After a stellar start in Arizona over the weekend, Rodriguez was shelled by the vaunted Cubs lineup, surrendering six runs on six hits over only four innings, including a pair of homers.

Yu Darvish, the Cubs’ starter, didn’t fare much better. He gave up seven runs and lasted only 5 1/3 innings, and four of his pitches left the ballpark.

Mike Yastrzemski continues to tear up major-league pitching. He has three hits on Wednesday, which included his 17th homer of the 2019 season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that cut Chicago’s lead to 6-4.

Stephen Vogt, Alex Dickerson and Evan Longoria each had a pair of hots for the Giants.

49ers offense is a disaster

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Photo credit: ninerswire.usatoday.com

By Jeremy Harness

OK, so what we’re going to write about here is not very pleasant, but let’s at least have some fun with this one.

We’re going to start off with a little exercise.

Step 1: Grab a partner and a football (or whatever you can find around the house that you can toss), and stand approximately six feet from each other.

Step 2: Toss the chosen object to your partner. Underhand, overhand, sidearm, it doesn’t matter a lick how you do it. Just do whatever you can to ensure that your partner catches it.

Step 3: Congratulate yourselves on a job well done. You have just passed for more yards – and one fewer interception – than Jimmy Garoppolo did on Monday.

Yes, you read that right. The quarterback that the 49ers paid more than $100 million for last offseason completed one of nine passes for zero yards and one interception, and was very fortunate that another pass was not picked off and returned for a touchdown midway through the first quarter.

However, this isn’t all Garoppolo’s fault. The entire starting offense looked inept against a young Denver Broncos defense, with pass protection especially being an issue, particularly the left side with Joe Staley and Laken Tomlinson.

The 49ers beat the Broncos on Monday, 24-15, but it was mostly on the back of the backups who, simply put, are trying to secure a spot on the team and are not expected to see much action when the regular season begins.

Which brings us back to the starting offense. The unit is going to need to show a bit more on Saturday, when it faces the Kansas City Chiefs, which made it to the AFC title game last season despite finishing near the bottom in most defensive categories, particularly against the pass.

Running back Jerick McKinnon, who missed all of 2018 with a torn ACL, did not play Monday and is not expected to practice Wednesday but, according to reports, could return Thursday on a limited basis.