Author: lleonardbw

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–Barry Bonds, the ex Pirates and ex-Giants Major League Baseball home run leader (762)was all smiles during the Giants victory parade last week in the streets of San Francisco, invited by the Giants and in the parade on Market Street. Barry Lamar Bonds is a seven time Most Valuable Player of the National League, who won 8 Gold Gloves, selected to 14 All Star Games, and he doesn’t have a statue around AT&T Park? Ok, we all know he was the controversial central figure in the steroids scandal, BALCO Laboratories of Burlingame, and appeared in front of a Grand Jury. Mays, McCovey,Cepeda,Marichal, they all have statues around or in the area of AT&T Park.

People in today’s world tend to have short memories, especially in the baseball world, but this man should have a statue if we just go by his baseball accomplishments. Pete Rose who had more hits than anybody in history, but was never inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, because he gambled on baseball. But the Cincinnati Reds have a Rose Garden named after him at their ballpark today in Cincinnati. Adjacent to both the stadium and the Reds Hall of Fame is a rose garden that symbolizes Pete Rose’s record-breaking 4,192nd hit. It was strategically placed here because the ball landed around this area in Riverfront Stadium. The garden is visible from a stairwell in the hall of fame displaying the amount of balls that Rose hit.

Why not have a Barry Bonds statue around the right field area where he hit the ball into the water? As far as we know, Bonds didn’t gambled on baseball, but he might have lied under oath to a Grand Jury.Although today it looks like his conviction might be overturned soon. A decision won’t be issued for some time, one presumes, but from the sounds of it, Barry Bonds’ 2011 obstruction of justice conviction is going to be overturned.

A decision won’t be issued for some time, one presumes, but from the sounds of it, Barry Bonds’ 2011 obstruction of justice conviction is going to be overturned.A decision won’t be issued for some time, one presumes, but from the sounds of it, Barry Bonds’ 2011 obstruction of justice conviction is going to be overturned.

Then after he is “cleansed”of all negative stuff, I am sure the Giants will build him a very nice statue at AT&T Park, hopefully by that time it will still be named AT&T Park, since it had different telephone company names since it inauguration in 2000: SBC Park, and Pac Bell Park. I was part of the media group that was invited to visit AT&T Park while it was under construction and I remember Barry Bonds standing at what was going to be the plate at the park, with a bat and a ball in hand he then hit one over the right field fence. Basically, AT&T Park was buit for Barry Bonds, that is why if we are honest here, if anybody deserves a statue at AT&T Park its Mr. Barry Lamar Bonds.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Hertiage Museum and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

by Matt Harrington

SAN FRANCISCO–When you remember the 2014 San Francisco Giants championship parade you always will remember game seven and the way they put it away. What a sight it was seeing those floats with Giant players on them going down Market Street in downtown San Francisco in the pouring rain on Friday afternoon. It took a team effort of some 40 various players during the season to make this happen.

Three World Series titles in five years and it still felt like the very first world championship parade number one, there were tons of people out there wearing orange and black. There were a lot of businesses closed down because a lot of employees caught the Orange and Black Flu and also a lot of businesses closed their doors on Market Street because of the over flowing crowds who just wanted to stay in the restaurants and retail stores just to stay out of the rain.

It was amazing to see someone like Pablo Sandoval out there who might not be back with the Giants depending on how free agency turns out. This parade gave a chance for everyone to celebrate everyone who was involved in making these playoffs and World Series a success. It really takes guys one through 25 to get the job done. It takes every man, every manager and it was a great chance for all the fans to go out there and show their appreciation.

Baseball is a war of attrition it’s fitting to have a parade come right down Market Street with thousands of fans yelling their lungs out. There is a lot you have to say about rookie Joe Panik who played second base like an old veteran. The defense of Panik and the double play he started in game seven with that diving stop he made.

Pitcher Madison Bumgarner was lights out pitching but it was the defense that kept Bumgarner in those games and Panik to come in and play like a veteran and performing the daily duties of second base and hitting in that number two hole for a World Series champion. Panik echoes another Giants great catcher Buster Posey when he was a rookie he won the World Series in 2012.Not to put too much pressure on a player like Panik he already followed that path of Posey.

The issue of Sandoval there are a lot of clubs that took notice of him and he’s up for a heavy pay day and he might forgo San Francisco and play elsewhere where he might play for some big dollars. The question is whether he’s willing to take a hometown discount and stay in San Francisco, he did struggle earlier in the season but he came on strong and in October he came to hit.

The Giants would be foolish not to break the bank as he’s a huge commodity, he’s huge with the fans and the community. The whole Panda thing is a big part of the Giants and he’s right up there with Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Hunter Pence whose the face of the franchise. All in all it was great for the thousands who braved the rain on Friday afternoon and who got to celebrate their heroes on Market Street.

Matt Harrington is a fill in reporter covering Giants baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: sf gate

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–In the world of sports a lot of stuff is very subjective, some are calling the victory by the San Francisco Giants in this 2014 World Series, a dynasty, because now they have won three World Series during the last five years; 2010, 2012 and 2014. In this instant-social-media-world we live in some forget that the Oakland Athletics won three (3) consecutive World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974.

The New York Yankees won four consecutive World Series from 1936 to 1939, then the Yankees again won five consecutive from 1949 to 1953. The Oakland Athletics won three consecutive from 1972 to 1974 and then the Yankees again from 1998 to 2000. Those are the real dynasites in Major League Baseball.

In my opinion, in the last five years, the Giants have generated a pattern of winning in even number years. The Atlanta Braves had the longest divisional dynasty in all American professional leagues, they won 14 consecutive Divisional Titles from 1991 to 2005. I am sure Braves fans call that a dynasty.

A lot of stuff today is put out by the media in an instant second, but that doesn’t mean it is accurate. Right after the Giants won the World Series, in the euphoria of the moment, some in the local media went as far as saying this was “the best Giants team in history”. I believe this was the “most improbable Giants team in history to win a World Series”.

For many reasons, they didn’t win their division, they finished the season with a 88-74 record, six (6) games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, the worse record among all teams that began the postseason. Their starting pitching staff was not necessarily one loaded with winning records, with Hudson,Vogelsong and the two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, who was taken out of their rotation.

Their original #1 hurler Matt Cain had surgery and didn’t pitch much of the season. They lost their leadoff hitter and “real MVP” during the season in Angel Pagan and eight guys (8) played second base until they brought Joe Panik from the minor leagues to settle that situation. Then they won the World Series with an incredible demonstration of stamina, pitching and control of Madison Bumgarner.

The numbers are there for everybody to see. The Giants should name a street around AT&T Park- Bumgarner Street, he deserves it. The Victory Parade will take place this Friday, Halloween, October 31st, and the Giants are the Halloween Team, since win or lose they always wear Orange and Black, your Official Halloween colors, Trick or Treat? This time is Treat again for Giants fans, like six (6) million of them in the Bay Area, or at least the ones buying merchandise from this championship season.

I would recommend the Giants owners, to buy the building across AT&T Park and just open the “World’s Largest Baseball Souvenir Store”, a little more money could not hurt in trying to keep guys like Sandoval, before he says “Me gusta San Francisco, pero más me gusta Boston $$$$$”

One of the best signs I remember seeing from Giants fans was one that said, after they lost Game Six in Kansas City by the score of 10-0 “Do Not Fear Giants Win in Even Years”. That has been the pattern so far. Last season they had an awful season, among the good things they did was signing Hunter Pence to a 5-year $90 million contract, he has proven to be the inspirational player and greatest cheerleader $90 million dollars could buy.

The Yes-Yes-Yes man together with Pablo “Panda” Sandoval could have been the MVP’s of this series if not for Superman himself without a cape Madison Bumgarner who won the MVP in the NLCS and then in the World Series. A pitching demonstration we might never see again in our lifetimes.

Among the challenges for the champs this off season will be to keep Pablo Sandoval in San Francisco, who the Red Sox are dangling around $100 million, to get an everyday left fielder, preferably a right handed hitter with some power and they will.

But for now, at least in San Francisco, is Fiesta Party, let the Parade begin. If you are smart, you would take public transportation and an umbrella.I will be calling the parade for KSTS CH 48 Telemundo Network. This is my third time doing this rodeo, so would this be considered a Parade Dynasty?

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is your anchor for the San Francisco Giants parade for Telemundo on Friday and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

by Michael Duca

KANSAS CITY–It’s the best of all the three World Series that I have been able to cover with the San Francisco Giants better than 2010 and 2012. There is simply no way to discribe what we just witnessed out here at Kaufman Field in KC. It was the best pitching performance in the world by a Giants reliever here in game seven by Madison Bumgarner in a century.

The guy who comes closest to Bumgarner’s performance is former and late New York Giant Christy Mattewson who pitched for the team in 1900-1916. Mattewson did it with a dead ball. In the live ball era this was the best ever with three victories on the road who does that. You got to give credit to the Giants opponents the Royals who forced a game seven on Tuesday night in game six the Royals took no prisioners with a 10-0 victory.

The Royals were a very formable opponent against the Giants and were a very, very good team. They were a solid team, they didn’t get too shook up, they gave no holes to exploit, this was a team that had to go out and outlast them. The Royals will be back and this is a fine young team. There were about 5,000 Royals fans who remained after their team loss and they sat behind the Royals dugout still cheering their team on.

This was a historic night here in game seven in the 139 year history of the New York and San Francisco Giants this is the first time that they have won a decisive game seven in the World Series. This was going to be a tough one because five of the first six games were blow outs it was crystal clear that game seven was going to be a nail biter right down to the last pitch and indeed it was as the Giants won this one by one run 3-2 there was never a doubt.

Bumgarner’s relief performance was unreal he went five innings surrendered only two hits, shut out the Royals to the end of the game, slammed the door and if this doesn’t cement his reputation as the best World Series pitcher in the modern era what does? He’s absolutely unflappable it’s not that he ignores pressure. Mad Bum was undescribable he was unbelievable to watch.

On Bumgarner there is not much to say he threw two complete games and in this game seven in relief for five innings and for the total series he gave only one home run, 14 hits, and three walks. He was incredible and Bumgarner throughout this whole World Series was lights out. It’s just unbelievable to see someoene do what he did in three games that he pitched in in the modern era.

I’ve been to all three of the Giants World Series in the last six years and I have to say it never gets old, it just gets better and better. The highlight of this series was when Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval made the last out but also who tagged up a on a fly ball going from second to third to set up the game winning run. Everyone will forget that but it was a gutsy play and it was a play that showed why the Giants won this World Series.

Michael Duca had covered the San Francisco Giants all season, post season and the World Series for http://www.sportsradioservice.com. Special thanks to our staff of beat writers who covered the Giants for 2014 Jeremy Kahn, Jeremy Harness, Morris Phillips, Matt Harrington, Jeff Hall, Kahlil Najar, Phillip Torres, and Joe Lami.

photo credit: sf gate