Author: lleonardbw

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The San Francisco Giants will be taking a look at leftfielder Nori Aoki in the leadoff spot as Angel Pagan moves down to the third spot in the line up as it stands now. Catcher Buster Posey looking forward to his usual clean up spot but the team is without Hunter Pence who can pile up the numbers offensively. Pence is expected back in six to eight weeks because of the broken left arm.

The Giants right now don’t have a lot of power outside of Pence and Posey and at first base no one knows who it’s really going to be as the Giants are looking at Travis Ishiskawa and Brandon Belt. After Pence broke the arm there is still talk some four days after Pence broke the arm that it’s a big blow for them.

It’s hopeful for Giants manager Bruce Bochy that Aoki can do the job in left and in the leadoff spot. Pence was very optimistic and he wants to return a little bit earlier but they all say that. That’s Pence talking they have to wait until his bones heal the fracture in the left forearm is not an easy thing for a ball player.

It’s going to take awhile for the Giants to see how this line up works out the first part of the season. When General Manager Brian Sabean acquired Aoki it’s very important that Aoki pays off with the bat and glove as they don’t have Pence in the first two months of the season. With Giants pitcher Madison Baumgarner pitchers like him throw so hard they have so much stuff and they always get injuries. Mad Bum is aiming to stay healthy and cash in again this season.

Oakland A’s camp in Mesa: The A’s have delegated without no competition Coco Crisp as the opening day outfielder if he stays healthy. Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry were competing for the left field spot but both have been told that the centerfield job is up for grabs as Crisp is expected to start there by opening night.

Last season Yoenis Cespedes who made his rounds in the American League after leaving Oakland for Boston and now with Detroit had a lock on left field as Crisp was starting in centerfield. Crisp is considered the better centerfielder than Cespedes at the time and now he’s looking at starting left. Cespedes at the time didn’t want anything to do with centerfield and insisted on playing exclusively left which was one of the reasons the A’s forced a trade for Cespedes to Boston

Crisp playing centerfield has a lot of ground to cover and the last few years if you check the numbers he hasn’t played more than 110-120 games. If they A’s are going to make any run this year they need a healthy Crisp and when he plays centerfield you have more opportunities to get hurt and cover more ground than in the corners in right and left so moving him to left that was a good decision by A’s manager Bob Melvin.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

by Michael Duca

SCOTTSDALE AZ–The ball that hit Giants outfielder Hunter Pence that fractured his left arm came at the area where all the wrist bones come together. It should not be a major issue on his throwing arm and if his wrist had been bad by the injury he should be able to roll that bottom hand and have the strength to pull the bat through.

It’s a set back there’s no question about it, this is a guy who’s the only person in Major League Baseball whose played every game since mid 2012. He led the Giants in games played, hits, runs scored, RBI’s, stolen bases, and a home run. Other than that he hasn’t contributed much.

Realistically Pence will be out of commission for the next six to eight weeks and the last week of it will be rehab, it will probably take about four weeks in a cast for it to fully heal. He’s going to miss all of spring training and he’ll spend a couple weeks to rehab at Triple A Sacramento to get himself into hitting condition and for him to get used to seeing live pitching.

I’m sure he will stay shape, he will work on his running, he will practice throwing but I’m sure he will not be able to throw it back because his catching hand will be in a cast. With him not being in the line up it will bring the Giants to another time when the Giants remembered what it was like not to have catcher Buster Posey out when he had a broken leg.

Oakland A’s pitcher Barry Zito likes his performance in camp: A’s pitcher Barry Zito has been working with a pitching coach for about seven or eight months now. He said that he squared up his delivery a little bit and he’s getting back to the way he’s been throwing when he was with the A’s years ago.

He never did have anything remotely like throwing an overpowering fastball but he doesn’t need one, he didn’t have to throw 90 MPH and you can ask former Mariners veteran Jamie Moyer who lasted so long with a very successful pitch that didn’t require much velocity and neither did former Braves pitcher Greg Maddox.

For Zito it’s just a matter of placing the ball where you want it and keeping it off the center percussion of the bat and throw some off speed stuff and keep hitters off stride. Zito needs to try to keep the ball from the hitter squaring up and if he does so he’s going to have very successful results. There’s never been a question about his results or his commitment to succeed.

What Zito did on the Giants in 2010 was perhaps the greatest act of sportsmanship that any big league teammate could have done since I’ve been following the game in my lifetime covering or watching MLB. Zito was a healthy scratch for the 2010 post season and sucked it up and supported his teammates. You can rival it with Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum in 2012 who learned everything about that from 2010. Zito was the first guy out on the field in all three rounds of those playoffs and World Series in 2010 and was the last guy to leave the field after the World Series win.

Michael Duca is covering the A’s and Giants at spring training in Arizona for http://www.sportsradioservice.com and listen to his podcast below

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Attention baseball fans! Coming to your city! Better get used to them! There will be six(6)new rules this 2015 season in order to “speed up” the game.

1.Hitters must keep at least one foot inside the batter’s box at all times, barring exceptions like foul balls, wild pitches, or if the umpire grants him time out.

2.Pitchers must throw a pitch within 20 seconds of receiving the ball. Clocks posted in each dugout will count down the 20 seconds.

3.There will be a maximum break between innings of 2:05, with a clock keeping track. Hitters must be in the batter’s box by 1:45. If the hitter’s not ready, the umpire can call a strike. If the pitcher doesn’t throw a pitch by 2:05, the umpire can call a ball.

4.Teams will have a maximum of 2:30 to change pitchers, with the clock starting as soon as the reliever enters the playing field.

5.Teams are limited to a maximum of three mound visits per game, not including pitching changes. This applies to trips to the mound by managers, coaches, and catchers.

6.Pitchers no longer have to deliver four balls for an intentional walk. The manager can simply signal to the umpire.

The average MLB game lasted three hours and eight minutes in 2014

I agree with the first five, but I have a disagreement on number six. I think the pitchers should still deliver four balls when the manager calls for the intentional walk. With men on base there is always the opportunity that the pitcher might throw a wild pitch, while delivering the four intentional balls; I believe that takes away from the game.

As a traditionalist, I do not believe in many changes to the game of baseball, which it is after all, a unique game, unlike any other, unlike basketball and football and soccer and hockey where the arenas are all the same dimensions in each city, baseball is the most colorful and different, each park has its peculiarities, Fenway Park in Boston and Coors Field in Denver are as different as day and night, and that is what makes the game of baseball(among other nuances)a great game.

This was bound to happen, in a world of fast communications, little patience and quick answers baseball doesn’t conform to these modern models in the sports world. When I was a kid growing up, I learned how to score a game, most kids going to baseball games today have absolutely no idea on how to score, or how to follow game, but they can Twitter around the world, and text the person sitting in the next seat.

Baseball faces those challenges. There was a time where baseball was the national pastime, today Football has passed baseball, thanks to television(NFL is made perfectly for television)and other sports are not far behind. The new Commissioner indicated he is open to ideas of a shorter season. Less than 162 games, and that I think it will eventually happen, and very soon.

It will be interesting this season, the first with these new rules. Everybody is going to have to adapt to it, veteran players might have a harder time, than younger players, meanwhile it is also a learning process for all the managers.

One of the things that always separated baseball from the rest, is the lack of clocks. Obviously that is changing. However, extra innings will continue, for those than missed double headers and want more baseball, so we can always find the glass half full…or half empty.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com