Author: lleonardbw

49ers and Raiders commentary: Niners Kaepernick threading the needle; Raiders Sparano showing flashes of brillance

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New York Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano looks on against the New York Giants during the second quarter of their pre-season NFL football game in East Rutherford

by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–Three wins in a row for the San Francisco 49ers make things a lot better. They opened the season with a win over Dallas and that was a great win considering Dallas is 5-1 and they have the best record in the league and then lost two straight to Chicago and Arizona those were rough ones. The 49ers kind of looked at themselves and course corrected and they realized they were focusing too much on the pass and not enough on the run.

They did that in the subsequent game against Philadelphia and won that one and continued the streak with wins against Kansas City and Arizona. The 49ers were focusing on the running game against the Eagles a game they won 26-21 on September 28th. The 49ers 22-17 win over the Chiefs they were able to stop the run and the win against the Cardinals the 49ers beat Arizona with the pass.

Against Arizona 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had his best game of the season and threw for over 300 yards and he looked fantastic with amazing throws in last week’s Monday Night game. He cemented himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. Everybody knew but there was a little bit of doubt creeping in because the early part of the season was so unsuccessful.

Going into the game in Denver this Sunday it’s a whole new ball game, the Eagles are a very strong offensive team and the Niners defense does a great job to shut them down but the Eagles are incredibly banged up on the offensive line. One of the reasons the Eagles was unable to move the ball was because the Niners knew they can beat them straight up on the line in the running game.

Oakland Raiders update: It’s tough to say how this one will go as the Raiders host the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum. Last week their game against the Chargers was just a no brainer that the Chargers were going to roll right over the Raiders in their win 31-28 that didn’t happen the Raiders came out with a little bit of purpose they had a much better game plan.

The Raiders were more confident in themselves they didn’t get the win but they made it very competitive the Raiders lost by a field goal. They put the scare into the Chargers. That was a close game 31-28 you have to give the Raiders credit quarterback Derrek Carr had a good game and head coach Tony Sparano did a good job having Carr looking at the playbook in this one.

Sparano had the Raiders stuck at what they were good at and they were successful to a certain extent. The defense didn’t really stop the Chargers in this one. This is something to work off of, they were much more confident in themselves and they played a much better game that’s something to be commended to Sparano. That’s something that we hadn’t see from the Raiders this season.

The fact that they hung in there tells you their going to be a little more competitive as they progress during the season. Are they going to be competitive enough to make any real impact in these games and the outcome that’s anybody’s guess. You have the same situation this week that the Raiders are going to face a very good team in the Cardinals the NFC West leading team.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

NHL Commentary: Panthers might not be able to survive much longer could they be headed for Quebec City?

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by Daniel Dullum

GLENDALE AZ–The Florida Panthers who last Monday night drew a crowd of only 7,300 fans announced in Miami made national headlines by drawing the smallest crowd in the NHL in recent memory. The announced attendence also included all sold seats and that includes season ticket sales. The crowd of 7.300 fans was estimated to be closer to 4,000 that sounds about right.

There was a certain number of unused seats but with that said that does stick out in an arena like the one in Miami that would seat close to 20,000 for hockey. This is nothing terribly new keep in mind Florida like most of the sun belt there’s pockets of hockey fans but this game is in NASCAR and SCC football country that’s where all the fans are at.

To expect even a three quarters house this early in the season for the Panthers that’s kind of unrealistic. You talk about traditional and non-traditional hockey markets Miami is certainly not one them. It was an expansion team and it was started up with the purpose of creating a network of sorts of American large markets to make it have a television deal that would make it better.

As we know the idea is gradually backfiring, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the other day that the Arizona Coyotes are not going any place. There is no plans for the team to leave Glendale anytime soon. Their going to stay where their at. There’s still rumors that the Coyotes can wind up in Seattle. That’s not going to happen.

The Coyotes and Panthers situatons all kind of ties in together, what this does is if these types of crowds continues in Miami I can’t believe the NHL would stand for that much longer. You’ve got a premimum hockey market in Quebec City with a new arena if it hasn’t opened already it should be ready to go almost anytime. The Panthers certainly could move to Quebec City.

When push comes to shove the NHL Board of Governors they want money and hockey is still a gate driven professional sport you have to have people bucking the turnstiles. What can happen at best the next city that’s ready to go Miami could be headed in that direction. Teams have moved before leaving the cities to pay for an empty arena.

I’m a little older and I remember in the 70s in the city of St.Paul Minnesota they built the original Civic Center specifically for the World Hockey Association Minnesota Fighting Saints and that team folded twice and the city wound up with that arena on it’s lap. It happened before and it could easily happen again.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: The Earthquake Series 25 years later. I remember.

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, this Friday the 17th, which stopped the World Series for eleven days, we must remember what was going on in 1989 and during those years.

Just after the Oakland Athletics defeated the San Francisco Giants in that 1989 World Series, with two victories prior to the earthquake and two victories after the earthquake, KSTS CH 48 Telemundo would begin a schedule of weekend games live in Spanish of the four time World Champion Oakland A’s. The first and only time that a Spanish television station in the Bay Area broadcasted live baseball games in Spanish. This was years before the soccer furor and the US 1994 World Cup, which I also covered for Telemundo.

Then, General Manager, Joe Cruz, built a brand new set, colors Green and Gold, and authorized an expense of a few thousand dollars to build such a nice set. Yours truly was the Sports Director and Anchor those early years at Telemundo. The play by play of the games then were done from those studios, live, with a green screen in the background calling A’s games.

In this I Phone-Twitter-I Pad-Smart Phone and whatever else world we are living today, it is good to remember the many things that were done on radio and television. Like an old friend in the business tells me: “everything already has been done, at least once, although some people think they are re-discovering the world”.

But for me that faithful moment on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 PM is forever engraved in my memory. That morning it was a clear and perfect day in the Bay Area, temperatures around 70 degrees. One of those beautiful ‘Indian Summer’ days which we are accustomed here in the Bay Area, in September and October. I was doing the Spanish play by play for the Oakland Athletics on KNTA 1430AM radio, with main studios in San José.

My broadcast partner was Evelio Areas Mendoza, today retired and living in his native Nicaragua, Erwin Higueros (today broadcasting the Giants in Spanish)was our engineer. The A’s won games one and two at the Oakland Coliseum. Game three, four and five, were scheduled for San Francisco.

We were given a very small auxiliary broadcast booth next to the roof at Candlestick Park. The A’s dominated, winning at Oakland Saturday the 14th, by a score of 5-0 and then again on Sunday the 15th, by 5-1. The Loma Prieta Earthquake struck on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m. Game 3 was scheduled to start at 5:35 pm at Candlestick Park, and thousands of people were already in the stadium when the quake occurred. Because of the coincidence of timing, it was the first major earthquake in the United States ever to be broadcast by live television.

We were doing our pregame show when the earthquake struck and I remember Evelio doing commentary about the enthusiasm of the Giants fans at the park, saying that the park was rocking because of the Giants fans in the stands, when the quake struck and I remember saying, “Evelio this is more than the Giants fans, I think we are having an earthquake” Both teams players were standing on the field, in a state of disbelief, I remember some of the players’ wives of the A’s came down to the field to be with their husbands, legendary Giants star and Hall of Famer Willie Mays wondered around the field, the San Francisco Police Department and other emergency services came onto the field at Candlestick Park. Our broadcast lines went down, we were “off the air”.

After the quake, and while in the main Press Box at Candlestick, I was interviewed by various local Bay Area as well as Latin American media outlets to talk about the earthquake. We were inside a stadium that had no view to the outside, so we all didn’t know what was happening outside. While at the Press Box I remember seeing the first images on CH 5 with Anchor Ana Chávez and saw for the first time the part of the Bay Bridge that broke in two with some cars dangling on top of the water, and then the fire at the Marina. By the way, Olga and Joaquin (my parents) previously to living in the Mission District in San Francisco, also lived for a few years at #2 Cervantes in the Marina. That building was destroyed and fire burned it to the ground that afternoon.

It took me close to three hours to drive back to my home in Fremont, since the bridges were close I had to drive around the bay all the way south. First stopped to see my mother and father whom at that time- were living in a retirement building in the San Francisco Mission District, they were fine, although their apartment was a real mess. Then I dropped Evelio at his home in Daly City and later Erwin at his home in Oakland. My car water pump was leaking that morning, so I drove my wife’s car(who was in much better shape) to the game.

As for the Series itself Commissioner Fay Vincent decided to postpone Game three (although he didn’t tell anyone before doing so, resulting in an umpire protest) initially for five days, resulting in the longest delay in World Series history.. It was postponed for another five days (until October 27) because of delays in restoring transmission links. When action resumed for game three, the 27th of October the Athletics won 13-7 and then completed the four-game sweep by winning the next day, by a score of 9 to 6. The score was settled, the Athletics swept the Giants and now they have won four(4)World Series since they arrived in Oakland (from Kansas City)in 1968.

At the time of this 1989 World Series, the Giants have not won a World Series in their history in San Francisco since 1958. They won it 21 years later in 2010, and then again in 2012,at their new ATT Park.

Just one of my many memories in the business, which I thought was appropriate to remember during this week, when we celebrate 25 years since the earthquake that stopped the World Series for eleven days.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s and on television on Fox Sports in Los Angeles with the LA Angels, and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google credit

Kings downtown arena: Attorneys argue traffic congestion issues; Kings and City to consider street car plan to ease pain

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento City attorneys and Sacramento Kings attorneys argued in the Sacramento Superior Court of Judge Timothy Frawley saying that the traffic impact report that plaintiff lawyers who are making claim that there will be well over 17,500 fans in downtown to the higher number of 31,000 plus would be rarer in size. The 31,000 count assesed by attorney’s representing groups concerned about environmental traffic issues say that on non-game nights concerts, ice shows, boxing, WFC, and any other event could draw the 31,000 mark.

Extra seats could be sold where standing room and outside perimiters of the Kings Arena could have concert goers inflate the usual 17,500 that would attend Kings games. Frawley heard closing arguments in lawsuits that were filed by two seperate environment groups. The final decision of the lawsuit is expected in less than 30 days from now.

Frawley contended that most parts of the lawsuits arguing about unruly fans, pollution,fan riots and use of public subsidies by the city had been for the most part thrown out. Former Caltrans director Adrianna Saltonstall whose lawsuit about traffic conditions in downtown was allowed to stay in the fight. Saltonstall said that the city failed to include “enforceable performance standards” that would assist the Kings new arena traffic management in the planning to reduce traffic in downtown.

Most retailers have already moved out of the center portion of the Downtown Plaza and the end parts of the plaza are occupied by Starbucks, Macy’s and Forever 21 on one end and 24 Hour Fitness and Sketchers shoes at the other end of the plaza. It just so happens one of the Kings co-owners Mark Mastrov is the founder of 24 Hour Fitness and his store at the plaza will remain in place.

If Saltonstall’s arguement is found relevant by Frawley the Kings very well might have to revisit it’s traffic obligations if the environmental impact report or the outlines of the California Environmental Quality Act are not met the Kings then would have to develop a budget to satisfy the CEQA standards and spend more dollars to work with Arena Traffic Management in making street access and freeway traffic conditions practical for fans arriving at the arena for events.

Studies have shown by the city’s arena traffic analysis that traffic one hour before events coming from either I-5 North or South off ramps at Third and J Streets would suffer congestion anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before events. The Kings attorneys said that the team have put $500,000 into studies that would construct a street car plan that would run past the arena by the cities of West Sacramento and Sacramento.

Caltrans officials have concluded that a new street car line going past the arena and into downtown would reduce traffic on the I-5 corridors and the estimated cost of construction from start to finish on such a project would run $130 million. The Kings and City attorneys are studying a financing plan for such a street car project. The approval of the traffic measurement plan by the Sacramento City Council left out one issue after the final drafts were approved and that was paid police officers at the foot of the I-5 ramp at J Street directing traffic.

With Frawley throwing out most of the arguments made by the plaintiff’s attorneys challenging the traffic conditions the Kings and the City will have to tighten down the traffic congestion issues before games and events. City Attorney Shaye Diveley of Mayer Nave said that the oversight on the traffic documents do not affect the traffic’s enforceability.

Sacramento for Shared Prosperity attorney’s Kelly Smith and Don Mooney begged to differ stating that the oversight into the plan could make it more difficult to enforce the traffic mitigation plan. Mooney had called the oversight “fishy” and that the true count for events would be more than the 17,500 that the Kings claim but there would be a outdoor plaza that could fill up to 12,000 fans, and a room for standing only for 2,000 fans.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the arena developments for the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Teams that travel to Dallas are concerned about Ebola; MLB Postseason update

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–The latest is everyone professional and college sports teams although they don’t say it real loud are concerned about the Ebola situation when teams have to make the trip to Dallas. For the professional teams in MLB, NFL, NHL, and the NBA all have their own charter planes. So folks who fly in and out of Dallas have a lot of concern because people don’t know about this desease and it might be airborne too.

The government says it doesn’t know much about it, the Centers for Deasese Control in Atlanta I won’t say their confused but they don’t know enough yet. Whatever they know is kind of controversial. On Sunday a goup of nurses in Oakland they went and demonstrated in front of the hospital in Oakland saying the nurses are not the problem. They say the nurses need more training.

This is a desease that is not new but it’s new to the United States but it’s been happening in Africa for along time. It’s not a direct threat right now to the players and the public at large. The players do travel in their own private planes. All teams in the four main leagues charter their planes. The same cannot be said about college players because many times when I fly to Anaheim from Oakland I run into college athletes like the Stanford women’s polo team.

I would be more concerned for the college teams because 99 percent of colleges don’t have the funds to charter their own planes. To charter a plane your talking about $40-50,000 a trip. It’s a long trip from coast to coast. I would be more concerned for college players if this pandemic spreads to other cities and states.

Kaplan returns A’s owner mayoral donation: Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolf this week received $700 that he donated to Rebecca Kaplan Oakland mayorial candidate because of a conflict of interest. Kaplan whose campaigning for mayor doesn’t want to be tainted by this donation. It would give the appearance that if Kaplan got in she would owe political favors to the Oakland A’s.

Wolf has a right to donate money to a political campaign he’s a citizen of the United States. Not only you don’t have to be a millionare you can give money to any government office. The difference here as opposed to the common citizen, Wolf is the owner of the A’s and it gives a bad impression, if Kaplan kept the money and the A’s start looking for a favor.

Is the Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie on the chopping block? The Oakland Raiders are now 0-5 and I watched most of the game versus the Chargers on Sunday at the Coliseum and Raiders rookie quarterback Derrek Carr became the first rookie to throw four touchdowns in a game so maybe a star is born. They already fired Dennis Allen and you have Tony Sparano as the new head coach give him a shot and he told the team to forget about the 0-4 record before last Sunday’s game.

I watched that game and any Raider fan would be happy to see this kid Derrick Carr who threw for four touchdowns that would be a ray of hope for the Raiders that they have a quarterback for the future. Maybe that could start mending this situation. The fact remains their still 0-5 and they’re going to end up with the worst record in the league and they have to host the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday.

MLB postseason: The playoffs are a different season as we can see, the St.Louis Cardinals hit only 105 home runs in their regular season. Yet they hit four home runs on Sunday night against the San Francisco Giants. Kolten Wong hit one that won the game by edging the Giants 5-4 and tying up the series 1-1. Giants releiver Sergio Romo was the difference for the one run victory.

However the Cardinals lost their ace catcher and star of the team to an Oblique injury Yadier Molina. Molina is the best catcher in baseball next to Giants catcher Buster Posey. There is nobody close to Molina.
He’s the leader of that team and this will allow the Giants more prone to win this series. The Giants should be favorites. The Giants will also have to see an old guy that they don’t like A.J. Pierzynski also a former Giant.

Pierzynski will probably be catching on Tuesday night for the Cards, the Cards have 27 year old Tony Cruz but the Cardinals front office was brilliant in bringing in Pierzynski and the team carried three catchers and it paid off. They lost Molina, they have Cruz who is still a young guy and is suppose to be good defensivley. Pierzynski hits Giants pitching very well and he’s hit Hudson well.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball and does News and Commentary weekly for sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

MLB Postseason commentary: Royals can do more damage in KC; Cards will try to prevent Giants going up 2-0

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by Daniel Dullum

(0)Baltimore @ Kansas City (2) game ALCS three Monday: I’ll use the old cliche’ there is something to be said about getting hot at the right time and the Royals had a fierce month of September just to get to that one game playoff. That American League Central race was tight for the last three months of the season and the Royals just kept coming.

Here’s the secret for the Royals over the last three or four years they’ve done a great job scouting and drafting and they herded up a herd of rabbits that could hit. You put that with the pitching that they rounded up and good things are going to happen. The Royals were able to put a quality team back out on the field that fits their stadium Kaufman Stadium.

The stadium is so spacious, you remember back in the 70s and 80s they had some guys like George Brett that had power and guys like Willie Wilson and Amos Otis, guys like that who run, and it’s a pitcher’s ball park. So if the Royals have someone who can hit in the gaps in right field your good to go. The Royals have a line up for these guys. I don’t know where the home runs are coming from but Mike Moustakous he’s going to become a high draft pick in the fantasy league drafts.

The Royals have some awsome pitching and their heading home with pitchers like Yordano Ventura and James Shields. With the Royals leading this series 2-0 this is not what the Orioles had in mind but also keep in mind the Orioles are not out of it yet. This is a seven game series so if the O’s win on Monday night their right back in it. The Royals had Wade Davis on the mound on Saturday who did a terrific job.

Picking up Shields from Tampa Bay has been a huge addition and they’ve got some guys that can throw bullets like Greg Holland in the bull pen. The Royals bullpen is very strong it’s similar to like the Giants. If the Royals have a lead going into the seventh or eighth inning your work is cut out because these guys can slam the door.

San Francisco (1) @ St.Louis (0) NLCS game two Sunday night: The Giants have got into the NLCS in a very unspectacular way offensively their actually using a better small ball strategy to get the job done. They’ve got power in the line up but the power kind of comes and goes and the Giants have had to manufacture runs to do it.

The Giants have scored runs well and they’ve done it enough to back up that excellent pitching. The pitching for the Giants has really been the key here. In the starting pitching department their obviously missing Matt Cain for this series and the previous one. The Giants have these veterans like Tim Hudson and Madison Bumgarner to assume the role of the ace.

All these guys have to do is get that game to the seventh inning, the Giants might have the best bullpen out of the final four teams in the playoffs right now. That is saying something because Kansas City’s bullpen is outstanding. So are the Giants, you get to the seventh inning and later your going to be looking at Sergio Romo in the eighth, Santiago Casillas in the ninth, in the seventh you have any number of pitchers you can call on Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Lincecum are two.

The Giants have done well and they really accomplished what they really wanted to do and Saturday night they got the 3-0 shutout against the Cardinals behind the help of starter Bumgarner. The very least the Giants will get out of this trip is a split in two games. The Giants are in good shape regardless of what happens Monday night.

Daniel Dullum does MLB Post Season commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

NCAA commentary: Stanford keeps Wash St under wraps; Seminoles keep roolling; Miss St with huge win over Auburn

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by Michelle Richardson

Stanford (4-2)34 vs. Washington St (2-5) 17: The Cougars are 2-5 but I’m going to tell you why that this is a young team that you’ve got to watch. The Cougars have a great quarterback in Connor Halliday. For Stanford although they won it 34-17 on Friday night the Cardinal defense really had to stop that young quarterback. Halliday next season is going to be the guy to watch in the Pac 12.

Halliday has some targets and he’s got some action, Washington State scored in the first quarter and they scored in all but the second quarter. Total they had two touchdowns and a field goal. Stanford a couple of years ago was in the top of the heap in the Pac 12, Stanford did a good job but the Cougars did a good job too and the reason why Stanford won this game is because they held the ball longer.

The Cardinal did better things with the football and they got 20 first downs, 477 total yards, 284 yards passing, their rushing game was on point with 109 yards. Whereas Wash St had 126 yards rushing. For any team to be successful you have to have a balance attack you can’t have one part working, like having the passing game working and the running game not working.

Florida (6-0) 38 vs. Syracuse (2-3) 20: The Florida State Seminoles are doing well but their first real test will be next week when they face undefeated Notre Dame (6-0) which comes to Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. That game is going to be crazy. Florida St is going to show up and the thing is Notre Dame fans do travel and the Fighting Irish is one of those schools that have fans that really travel with their team, not just a few of them, a lot of them.

It’s going to be very, very interesting to see how this happens. I can guarantee you there will be a ton of Notre Dame fans down there. Their going to get tickets and their going to show up at Campbell Stadium and their going to support the Irish. This will be the Seminoles real first test, they had their real first test earlier this year with Clemson.

For the Seminoles it will not be quite the test they’ll get from Notre Dame, the Irish had a game against the University of North Carolina (2-4) they played Notre Dame really, really tight. The game was at Notre Dame and NC lost it but by a close margin 50-43.

Auburn (5-1) 23 vs. Mississipi State (6-0) 38: This was a game where number three beat number two. For the Miss St Bulldogs they remain undefeated. Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 246 yards, 18-34, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Bulldogs wasted no time going to work on the Tigers scoring 21 points in the first quarter and ten more in the fourth. The Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen walked off the field pumping his fist in the air satisfied that the school was able to win in what would have been a tough game but the Miss St defense was able to contain Auburn.

Once again Prescott is back in the Heisman Award discussion agian with his very satisfying win over a tough Auburn school, “everytime we needed to make a play, a guy stepped up and made a play, we always wondered how to take the next step in this league, that’s it” said Mullen. Mullen was also happy with the Bulldogs defense stopping Auburn in the red zone and forcing turnovers so the offense could get back out on the field.

For Miss St this is their ninth consecutive win which stretches into last season and beating Auburn was huge because they were the SEC Champion from last season. For Auburn they pulled within eight points 28-20 to try and get something going but couldn’t catch Miss St as Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall who threw for 209 yards, two interceptions and had 100 yards rushing.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA Football commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Photo credit google images

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Cain and Bumgarner are post season hereos

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

BALTIMORE–At Camden Yards in Baltimore. Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain went four for five and continued his incredible defense and the Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles for the second day in a row, to take a two game lead in the American League Championship Series. The Royals and Orioles now travel to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, where the next three games are scheduled, needing only two more wins to land in the World Series for the first time since 1985.

With temperatures of 50 degrees, a sold out crowd of 46.912 saw their team losing two games in a row, for the first time this season since June 28-29 to the Tampa Bay Rays. Royals starter Yordano Ventura left with tightness in his right shoulder after pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up four earned runs on four hits. Ventura said after the game “I had trouble gripping the ball” Wade Davis won it in relief, and Greg Holland saved it. Mike Moustakas continues his torrid hitting with another home run, his fourth in the last six post season games.

Game 3: Monday October 13 at Kauffman Staidum in Kansas City. 5:00PM PDT West Coast time

At Busch Stadium, St Louis. The San Francisco Giants took game one of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, behind the arm of Madison Bumgarner who blanked the Redbirds for 7 2/3 innings, allowing only 4 hits, while walking 1 and striking out 7. Adam Wainwright pitched for 4 2/3 innings allowed six hits to the Giants a total of three runs (two earned) and struck out two, he has been pitching with a sore elbow (tendinitis since June).

In nine postseason innings this October, Wainwright has already thrown 200 pitches, allowing eight earned runs and 17 hits.The Cardinals bullpen blanked the Giants the rest of the way, with a combination of González,Martínez,Choate and Maness. A total of 47,201 crowded the park.These two teams who faced each other again in the National League Championship Series back in 2012, will battle gain on game two on Sunday.

Game 2: Sunday October 12 at Busch Stadium in St Louis. 5:00PM West Coast time.

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

49ers and Raiders commentary: Cops off 49ers security beat sites McDonald conflict; Sparano debuts for Raiders Sunday

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–San Jose Police have been taken off the San Francisco 49ers security detail siting that a conflict of interest arose after learning one of the sargents who does security for the Niners was at lineman Ray McDonald’s house on the day of the domestic violence complaint call came. The sargent is one of 16 cops who are assigned to do security for the Niners but the program has been suspened forthwith.

On the night in question when the alledged domestic violence occured the sargent was one of the first on the scene who also was also employed by the 49ers. He was there before the other officers arrived at McDonald’s house because of the 911 call. Because of that that leaves some concern that this particular police officer was working for the 49ers that maybe he covered some information with McDonald.

It was also possible that he might have coached McDonald to say things to cover things up or it’s even possible that he did nothing of the sort. At the very minimum there is the appearance that something shady was going on and that’s almost as bad as something that is actually going on. You always want to avoid the appearance of some wrong doing. It was decided that the SJ Police would no longer be involved in the team’s security detail because it gave the appearance that the police in such matters could favor the 49ers in a situation like this instead of the justice that your suppose to be loyal to.

Does this mean anything in terms of the McDonald case? It doesn’t mean anything persay in terms of the outcome but what it does mean the case is going to take a little bit longer for any conclusions to be drawn from it. One of the reasons why were discovering it right now and why this case has been taking so long is this particular police officer was there at the scene and also he does security for the team.

There’s a lot of questions about how accurate the information is in this investiagtion and the police officer and his duel loyalties with the 49ers and the San Jose Police Department. What the police dept are discussing that their having to double check and triple check everything that happened to make sure what was said and what was legitimate and accurate.

Oakland Raiders update: He’s had head coaching experience with the Miami Dolphins and was promoted to head coach from assitant coach at the Oakland Raiders. Tony Sparano debuts in his first game as head coach with the Raiders. Sparano has said that he’s anxious to get things started and after the Raiders have had two weeks of rest including a bye week Sparano is set to get things going.

Sparano compares his time in Miami to his first game coming up at head coach for Oakland, “I look back at that experience quite often, particularly now, but quite often. I didn’t come into this league to do anything other than, honestly, to be a head coach. This has been my goal since the time I came in this league.” said Sparano.

In the head coaching role there are moments when a coach is going to question himself on how things could be better and Sparano did that with the Dolphins and with the Raiders 0-4 record coming into week five coming off the bye and a long trip from London two weeks ago he could ask those questions again if the Raiders don’t win this week, “you look at yourself and say, ‘how could I have I done it better? What could have I done differently?'”

Sparano is the new hope for the Raiders organization, former head coach coach Dennis Allen fired after that loss in London to Sparano’s former employer the Dolphins. Allen left a team in which he could have done a little better, get a win at least one, it also seemed that Allen lost the team in the dressing room but it should be noted that Reggie McKenzie the Raiders General Manager is on the chopping block too and that Raiders owner Mark Davis had considered firing Allen and McKenzie after the 2013 season but retained both going into this season.

David Zizmor cover the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

Giants NLCS commentary: Can Giants get another 2-0 jump on Cards just like in Washington?

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by Michael Duca

ST.LOUIS–The San Francisco Giants batting practice was scratched due to rain on Thursday but the St.Louis Cardinals were able to get in a little work later in the afternoon. The two teams had a round of batting on Friday and given their druthers both of these teams would prefer having continue to play without the three day break. However they’ll get a better playoff series because of this layoff it’s going to turn on pitching.

This way the pitching staffs including the bullpens are all well rested, last week’s 18 inning game from the Division Series is not going to be any trouble for the Giants on Saturday. The Giants and Cards have the rotation set up just the way the managers like them with Madison Bumgarner (1-1) ERA 1.13 for the Giants and Adam Wainwright (0-0) ERA 12.46 for the Cards in game one.

You have to look at this first game and say that there are some pitchers that perform well in the regular season and some pitchers perform well in the post season and a few pitchers that perfrom well in both places. The Dodgers Clayton Kershaw outdueled Bumgarner in the regular season but in the post season Bumgarner has been the best lefthander in the National League.

Then there’s Giant pitcher Ryan Vogelsong (0-0) ERA 1.59 who has been pedestrian during the season but he just seemed to come up enormously big during the post season. As far as Cardinals game one starter Wainwright is concerned the Cards are not going to win without him and they may not win with him. He has had tendinitis and if Wainwright goes down with an injury it’s not one that’s going to keep him out of next season. You might as well use Wainwright and see what happens if he doesn’t make it then it won’t make any difference because you weren’t going to get to the next round anyway.

The Giants have left handed hitters on their roster that they could go to Gregor Blanco, Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford and with these hitters you can’t rely on any mistakes by Cardinal pitching and you also have to remember the Washington Nats the Giants last opponents were not ones that made too many mistakes in a number of those one run games in the NLDS.

Who knows whats going to happen, the playoffs are so unpredictable for example the Giants went out and grabbed the last spot in Pittsburgh beating the Pirates 8-0 in the Wild Card game and if they lose that one it was pack your bags. Then the Giants advanced and beat Washington in five games and beat them in the first two games in Washington.

Jauquin Andujar the former A’s pitcher said it best when it come to this game, “you never know” and how big will it be for the Giants to have a split or a two game lead coming back to San Francisco for game three on Tuesday afternoon. The Giants would be thrilled to come back with a split but also they would love to come back with a two game lead.

If you come home 2-0 in the best of seven series the odds are almost prohibitive that your going to win the series the numbers get up in the 75 percent range. If the Giants can come back with a split they can have home field advantage. It’s a question or not if you take advantage of that home field advantage.

Michael Duca is doing SF Giants post season commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com to hear the rest of the interview please scroll down and click on sound cloud

photo courtesy of: KRON 4 News San Francisco