Author: lleonardbw

Kings downtown arena: Judge tosses out most of arena opponents arguments project to continue

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–Donald Mooney who represents Sacramento for Shared Prosperity said that his group who has no problem with the construction of the Sacramento Kings arena now under construction at Downtown Plaza. Mooney has stated that his group opposes the public subsidy of $250 million being spent out of the city coffers for the new Sacramento Kings digs.

Opponents say the city’s attention to environmental issues such as noise, traffic, pollution and other California Quality Air Act are issues that the city needs to address regarding the arena in the neighborhood. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley threw out most of the Kings arena opponents arguments last Thursday.

Meanwhile lawyers representing the Kings and the City say that the opponents had other ulterior motives and that using the CEQA air act was just a smoke screen for other agendas. For example plaintiffs for the Coalition Shared Prosperity were more interested in getting the city to spend $40 million for in affordable housing near the arena site.

Former Caltran director Adriana Saltonstall was interested in raising the “secret subsidy” issue with the court that the City Council used public monies to fund the new arena $255 million. Saltonstall said that this money was not earmarked for such a project but for public funding of the city.

On affordable housing Frawley ruled that CEQA had nothing to do with affordable housing. Saltonstall’s arguments that there would be post game rioting in downtown and that the project would encroach on Old Sacramento business were thrown out. The two CEQA lawsuits that would have brought an injunction to stop construction of the arena was tossed out in July and filed again and it looks like it will go down to defeat as Frawley has struck many of Saltonstall’s points about riots and the new arena would encroachment on Old Sac business.

Frawley did leave it open to hear about traffic impacts on sold out nights at the arena and how traffic would impact downtown when there will be more seats sold when the Kings are not playing at home that would exceed 17,500. Saltontall said that there would be outside events that would draw huge crowds, concerts and other shows that could exceed the 17,500 mark that would create nightmarish traffic conditions in downtown.

The arena is set to open two years from now on October 2016, the Kings and the City are looking at two other lawsuits that are pending one opponent wants to challenge the subsidy and in the Southeast corner of the plaza the owners are arguing over the price of the building that housed the old Macy’s Mens department. The groups that are tussling over the sale of the property are CalPERS and co-owners of U.S. Bank represented by their lawyers.

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

Photo credit: google images

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: 2014 MLB Postseason, predictions and analysis

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

American League. Baltimore and Kansas City.

ST.LOUIS–This is a very intriguing series, here we have a team that lead the majors in home runs, the Orioles with 211, and Kansas City with 95 round trippers, last in the major leagues.

On the speed side of things, the Royals were number one with 153 stolen bases, while the Orioles only stole 44 sacks.

The Orioles must stop the Royals running game, they will bunt and steal you to death, that is the way they have won this season. As far as the pitching is concerned, the Royals have a better bullpen, but the Orioles have a very respectable relief staff, plus a very nice rotation, at least one equal to the Royals.

Buck Showalter manager of the Orioles and manager Ned Yost of the Royals, two solid baseball men. I favor Showalter, he is very creative and can manage with the best. I can’t forget the game in which Showalter, when managing the Diamondbacks, at Candlestick park ordered an Intentional walk on Barry Bonds, It was in late May 1999. The Diamondbacks led San Francisco, 8-6, with two out when Bonds walked to the plate with the bases loaded.

When he walked to first base, the run forced in by the rare intentional walk made it 8-7. Gregg Olson, who had walked five other batters in the eighth and ninth, went to a 3-2 count on Brent Mayne before getting him on a line drive to right field, ending the game. I have never seen a manager walk a hitter intentionally forcing a run. Buck Showalter did it and he won the game. I broadcast that game for the Giants, and I will never forget that moment. When a manager can make a difference, I think Showalter will be the one during this series, with all respects to Ned Yost.
Orioles in 6 games over the Royals.

National League. San Francisco and St Louis

These teams met seven times during the regular season, San Francisco won four. Two teams that play for their home crowd, and I mean crowds. The Giants averaged 41,588 at AT&T Park, while the Cardinals had a 43,711 average at Busch Stadium. Bruce Bochy will be trying to take his club to the third World Series in the last five years, with two Championships on his trophy case.

Cardinal manager Mike Matheny replaced Tony La Russa, and in three seasons as skipper of the Cards has won an average of 92 games each season and taken them to their third consecutive NLCS, under his command. This is no La Russa’s team, there is no Albert Pujols or David Freese on this St Louis team, they are both wearing red, but not for the Cards, but the Angels. Yet Matheny is a very methodical manager, in a way a good continuation to the Tony La Russa days, which have kept this great baseball franchise on top.

The Giants have more experienced players, but the Cardinals have Yadier Molina, the best catcher in baseball, as their leader, specially handling that pitching staff. The Giants continue to win with pitching. Against the Nationals the Giants did not score more than three runs in any of the four games, yet they won three of those four with their pitching and excellent defense. There are some concerns about Adam Wainwright the #1 pitcher for the Cardinals, he still dealing with tendinitis and discomfort in his right elbow, and has been pitching like this since June.

Overall the Giants have more home-run power in their lineup, the Giants are not a speedy team, neither are the Cardinals, and in the bullpen the Giants have sort of an edge. You can flip a coin here, it’s anybody’s series. Madison Bumgarner and Adam Wainwright could both open two games.

This series could go all the way to a seventh game, which will be played at Busch Stadium, and for that, home crowd advantage, I give the edge to the Cardinals in seven games.

World Series: St.Louis Cardinals vs. Baltimore Orioles

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: MLB Post season 2014, Some great players who did not perform well

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ST.LOUIS MO–We are now heading into the American League and National League Championship Series. In the American League, it will be Kansas City at Baltimore, if it goes all 7 games, 4 will be at Baltimore and 3 in Kansas City. In the National League San Francisco at St Louis. if it goes all 7 games, 4 will be at St Luis and 3 in San Francisco..Two of these four teams will battle in the 2014 World Series. The World Series will open either at Baltimore or Kansas City, because the American League won the All Star Game this year, so they have the home field advantage

This is the fourth consecutive year that St Louis is in the NLCS and the first time since 2012 that they will meet San Francisco. This is the first time Baltimore has gone to the ALCS since 1997, as well as Kansas City. There is a possibility of a rematch of the 1985 World Series, when Kansas City beat St Louis in the famous I-70 World Series, which Kansas City won in seven games, their only World Series title. The Baltimore Orioles have won three World Series, the last time in 1983.

Of these four teams the most successful is St Louis Cardinals with 11 World Series titles, last one in 2011.Only the New York Yankees with 27 World Series titles have won more. The San Francisco Giants have won two World Series, 2010 and 2012 and their fans hope they can continue winning this year, and one every two years, for the next 48 years and compete with the Yankees in that department.

Some great players did not produce in the postseason. The obvious and most recent name of those great players that just do not perform well in the postseason, is Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, with a record in the regular season of 21-3 and an earned run average of 1.77 who will win the Cy Young and probably the Most Valuable Player in the National League.

The lefty (considered the best pitcher in all of baseball) is now 1-5 in the postseason, lost 2 of the 4 games against the St Louis Cardinals in this NL Divisional Series.He is the first pitcher to finish as the earned run leader in the National League in four consecutive years. Kershaw from 2010 until 2014 (including this postseason) is 3-7 with a 4.33 against the Cardinals and 70-22 with a 1.99 against everybody else.

Then we have a young guy in the American League who is going to win the Most Valuable Player, Mike Trout, of the Los Angeles Angels who hit .287 with 36 Home runs and a league-leading 111 runs batted in. During his first playoff against Kansas City this past week, Trout had one hit in 12 at bats, a Home Run, his average for the series was .083. How about Mister Home Run King? Barry Lamar Bonds with 22 seasons with Pittsburgh and San Francisco hit 762 Home Runs? In 9 Postseasons Bonds had 37 hits in 151 at bats with 9 Home Runs for an average of .245.

And then The Greatest Hitter Ever, Ted Williams,of the Boston Red Sox, last man to hit over .400. when in 1941 finished with a .406 batting average. “The Kid”, “The Splendid Splinter”, “Teddy Ballgame”, with a legendary 19 year career hitting .344 with 521 Home Runs and 1,843 runs batted in. That same Ted Williams, in the 1946 World Series against the St Louis Cardinals in 7 games had a total of 5 hits in 25 at bats, zero Home Runs and 1 run batted in, for a total batting average of .200.

Above are just a samples of present and past players, who are great players, but come postseason they are not. The jury’s still out on Kershaw and Trout, they are still young and could easily reverse their fortunes in the future.

So do not be surprised if one of these guys are the heroes from now on: David Lough (Orioles),Christian Colón(Kansas City), Pete Kozma(St Louis), Gregor Blanco(San Francisco) they are not household names across the country, only known really in the cities they play, but one of them could easily be “The Man”
This is what makes baseball the greatest game on earth.

Of these four teams left Baltimore and St Louis won their divisions. Kansas City was the First Wild Card in the American League and San Francisco the Second Wild Card in the National League. Best record during regular season of these four teams: Baltimore Orioles 96-66. Worst record during regular season of these four teams: San Francisco Giants 88-74.

ALCS: Friday October 10 Kansas City at Baltimore 5PM West Coast Time. (TBS)
NLCS: Saturday October 11 San Francisco at St Louis 5PM West Coast Time (FOX)

I like to see the Orioles win it all. It was my very first team as a teenager in Miami that I saw play, during Spring Training and I was one of their ball and bat boys then.This was back in the 1960’s,since then I always had a soft place in my heart for the Birds.

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Royals were dominating since All-Star break; Angels fans could have been arguing in ball park before parking lot KO

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–After broadcasting the A’s and Angels all season and they both got quickly eliminated from post season I’m just enjoying the beginning of my off season here and getting ready to go on vacation. The Kansas Royals who swept the Los Angeles Angels are a tremendous team and their the Cinderella story and this team could go all the way.

The Roayls stole 150 bases, they only hit 95 home runs and here’s the beautiful thing about baseball it’s like former A’s pitcher Jauquin Andujar says “you never know” the Royals hit more home runs in this post season then any other team like the Giants, Dodgers and Cardinals. Here’s the thing they hit 95 home runs, not even 100 everybody else hit at least 100.

Here’s a team that has hit less than 100 home runs, for 2014 the Royals Mike Moustakas had 15 homers, Alex Gordon had 19, Salvador Perez 17, who are in double digits and all of sudden the Royals are scoring runs watch out the Royals can score with home runs and they steal more bases than anybody else. They stole third base a whole bunch of times.

The Royals have good pitching, their defense is unpeccable, so here’s Kansas City a small market team a small town in the middle of America with players that most people wouldn’t recognize outside of the media. If someone outside of KC was reading about Billy Butler they would have no idea who he is. This is a team right now that’s peaking.

The Royals are a very dangerous team, they’re going to play the Orioles in a couple of days and guess what the Royals will be in the World Series for the first time since 1985. So congratulations to the Royals they eliminated the A’s, they swept the Angels a team that won 98 games this season, right now their the team to watch.

Angels fans could have been arguing inside ball park before KO: An unidentified Angels fan who was knocked out cold by another Angels fan in the Angels parking lot after Friday night’s game could have been arguing with each other inside the ball park previous to the knock out. Two witnesses said that the fan who got knocked out was attacked from behind and there were three suspects who got away according to two witnesses identified as 15 year old Morgan and her mother Sandra.

Morgan and Sandra both have said that they did not get a good look at the suspect. The victim identified as a 43 year veteran Marine was rushed to UC Irvine Medical in Orange. I used to stay right across the street fron the hospital three or four blocks from the ball park. This is not a situation like Giants fan Bryan Stow who was beaten in the Dodgers parking lot.

The difference here Stow was a Giants fan and the other two suspects Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez were Dodgers fans. These were Angels fans having an argument and Anaheim Police are still investigating. The victim is in serious condition and their still looking for the suspect. This is one of those things where it’s bad PR for the Angels who normally have very good fans.

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Why the Athletics have the best fans

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–There might be not very many of them, around 20,000 to 30,000 on any given day, but there should be little doubt that the Oakland Athletics today have the best fans in baseball by the bay. Yes, it is true the Giants draw over 3 million since they built SBC/AT&T/PAC BELL Park and begun play there in 2000. But,there is no comparison between the Oakland Coliseum aka OCO, and AT&T Park. The beauty and the many amenities at AT&T are in another world compared to the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. And that exactly leads to my point.

When the Athletics fans go to the Oakland Coliseum, they go to watch baseball. There is no Coke bottle in Oakland for the kids to slide, or little baseball diamonds for the kiddies to play,there are not all these different types of gourmet foods at Oakland,from Boudin Bakery to fancy vegetarian cuisine,(although the A’s have improved their food services in recent years) plus the beauty of the bay and the location of the Giants park, is one of the most beautiful things any baseball fan can experience. Yours truly called the first game at Pac Bell Park in 2000,and came over from the very maligned Candlestick Park to the park by the bay. I have a historic brick with the other announcers that first opened AT&T Park,located around the Willie Mays statue at the main entrance of the park.

Some old enough to remember Candlestick Park and the 7,680 fans that used to gathered there to watch a night game against the Pirates in the middle of July, (those were real fans to weather the wind and cold of many nights) that park was one of the worst in Major League Baseball, for many years; specially after they put seats all around the stadium. Back then,Pat Gallagher, of the Giants marketing, came out with the idea of a ‘Croix De Candlestick’, a button that was given to the fans for enduring those frigid nights.

But now it is the Oakland Coliseum the one baseball park in the Bay Area where people that go, they go to watch the game, not to be seen on television, or to take selfies,or for the social event of the day, this is not a knock on Giants fans, but nothing but the reality of the situation. When you go to an A’s game you go to see baseball, it is as simple as that. Why? well, there is not much to take your attention away from the game itself. Simple economics dictate, if I were an owner of a team, that I would rather have 45,000 causal fans than 23,000 die-hard fans, at the end you want to win at the gate, and after all is said an done, this is a business. We all understand that.

The Athletics were the first Bay Area baseball team to go over 2 million in attendance. when that was a big deal, and there was no cable television covering all home games (in 1988 with 2,287,335). This 2014 season the Athletics drew 2,003,048 an average of 24,726 per game. This average per game attendance in Oakland was the highest for the team since the 2004 season.

For the A’s, winning comes as the main reason for increased attendance, some popular promotions like $2 BART Wednesday for example is a very popular promotion during weekdays day games. and until this year they have won the last two divisional series. The A’s will be improving their scoreboards and electronic big screens for the 2015 season, but they will still be playing in that same OCO.

The San Francisco Giants drew over 3 million the very first year they played at AT&T in 2000, and they have since gone over that 3 million attendance for a total of 15 consecutive seasons. For the first decade the Giants were drawing mainly on the novelty and the beauty of their beautiful new park, I remember for the “real”Giants fans that building a new park was something they believe they were never going to see during their lifetime. Then in 2010 and again in 2012 won the World Series, and since then they have recruited more fans than any other pro-franchise in the Bay Area. Most are young and the very casual fans, affluent, who buy all the merchandise they can get their hands on.

I also see more consistency in loyalty with the Athletics fans nowadays, there are always bandwagon fans, here and in any area in the country, except maybe in St Louis, Wrigley Field Field in Chicago and a few other places that do not need to win every year to fill their parks most of the time; you know the real baseball tradition from family to family. I like to salute the Oakland Athletics fans this year, it was not the outcome they were expecting, and Kansas City might be the Cinderella team this season in all of baseball,with more names of players that most people never heard. My hats are off to all A’s fans, for a good job.

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 for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NCAA Football commentary: Undefeated no more five teams find the loss column and here’s who they are

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by Michelle Richardson

Mississippi (5-0) 23 vs. Alabama (4-1) 17: The Alabama Crimson Tide have that USC thing going for them when they had that run but you have to play the game, the game has to be played. Alabama they have a lot of talent but this is what happens when teams have a lull. As a recruit I’m going to choose Old Miss over Alabama simply because Alabama is about three deep.

Arizona (5-0) 31 vs. Oregon (4-1) 24: I didn’t expect Oregon to continue being a perfect team and after I saw the Washington State (2-4) game when the Ducks went to Washington State Stadium in Pullman. I knew that Oregon would probably be out of the top five. I don’t necessarily see Oregon in the top four in the National Championships.

Especially the way that the Cougars stopped their offensive line if the Cougars had five or six more minutes I honestly think that the Cougars would have beat Oregon. I wasn’t drinking that Kool Aid and I wasn’t drinking Duck soup.

TCU (4-0) 33 vs. Oklahoma (4-1) 27: I’m from Forth Worth Texas and I have to tell you the Horned Frogs were so happy with this victory. I will honestly say this is probably one of the biggest wins for TCU since the break up of the old Southwest Conference when they used to play Oklahoma on a regular basis. I’ll just give you a little history lesson here when the old Southwest Conference broke up and the Big 12 was formed TCU was kind of put on the outs.

TCU and SMU were put on the outs, TCU wasn’t allowed to join the Big 12 at that time it was because of Baylor University. That’s why there’s such a rivalry, Baylor did not want TCU in the Big 12, but now that their back in and they’re playing Baylor on a regular basis and their playing Oklahoma too. It’s old school again it like Texas rivals, so this win is huge for a program like TCU.

Miss St (5-0) 48 vs. Texas A&M (5-1) 31: This was an exciting game and I’ll be honest with you wow, I did not expect this. Miss St is just killing them. Wouldn’t it be crazy if you saw an all Mississippi finals. This game was just crazy Miss St was at home in their own stadium and A&M knew this was going to be hard because you just don’t leave to play at Miss St down in Oxford.

It doesn’t matter if Miss St was the worst team in the country you still can’t sell them short because when they go on their home field they want to play like champions. When they did they stuck it to Texas A&M. Texas A&M had a better fourth down efficency rating but it was the third down efficency rating that got it working for Miss St.

Utah (4-1) 30 vs. UCLA (4-1) 28: UCLA is one of the best teams in the Pac 12, they’ll get it together and they’ll turn it around. I expect to see UCLA in the Pac 12 Championship game. This is the one team I expect to see bounce back from this loss and possibly run the table again.

Watch out for Washington St in the Pac 12. They were the whipping boy of the old Pac Ten and now the Pac 12 for a long time. What you got to realize Cougars head coach Mike Leach is in his third year and you can see the difference in how their playing. The Cougars almost beat Cal on Saturday by one point 60-59. Watch out for a team like Wash St that’s the kind of team that’s going to spoil your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

Michelle Richardson does weekly commentary on the NCAA for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants postseason commentary: Bochy could make this series a chess match for Williams

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by Michael Duca

WASHINGTON DC–In baseball a trend is a trend ask anybody in baseball they go with the trend and the San Francisco Giants certainly have a trend going with World Series wins in the even years 2010 and 2012 and now their working on another even year win here in 2014. The Giants going into Saturday’s action had won nine straight post season games all with Giants manager Bruce Bochy at the helm.

The Washington Nationals were heavily favored on Friday night and were heavily favored on Saturday and I’m sure they’ll be heavily favored to go home soon too. Bochy has the experience and more so than first year Washington manager Matt Williams and the question begs how long would Bochy would have left Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in in the Dodgers Friday night loss to the St.Louis Cardinals? Not very long and certainly not six and two thirds worth surrendering eight runs and eight hits. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was exposed on Friday being the inexperienced guy that he is, the unfortunate thing is he’s been the manager for four years so he ought to have learned by now.

The most important thing that Bochy brings to the Giants everyone has a supreme sense of calm and a leadership style that makes this guy willing to trust. By trusting not creating any descension on the team even though you have say a Pablo Sandoval whose playing gold glove quality baseball at third base but you still replace him late in the game.

There’s issues with that because Panda already is capable of playing for you when you need him. You have no issues with an All-Star MVP caliber catcher not catching some 50 games out of a season (Buster Posey), he’s been playing first base or DH when it’s possible during interleague when it’s possible.

The really striking similarity between 2010 and 2012 in 2010 the Giants had lost their centerfielder and changed their leftfielder when they went into the playoffs and they did okay. In 2012 the Giants had lost their centerfielder when they went into the playoffs and they did pretty well. This year they’ve lost their centerfielder and changed their leftfielder and their in the Division Series. Who knows how they’ll do but they certainly started out better than most clubs probably would.

The Giants have won one game on the road to start this series and they’re playing in the house of money now and sure you come home and would like to sweep the Nats and end this thing quickly but if you actually come out with a split going back to San Francisco on Monday night you still have home field advantage. Saturday night’s game two is not a pressure must win game, the Giants have won two and lost five against the Nats this year and both games that they won the winning pitcher was Tim Hudson.

Game three with Madison Baumgarner scheduled to throw at AT&T for the Giants will be the tipping point. Ga 72 percent of teams who win game one go onto in the World Series. Of the 28 percent who lost game one a third of those went onto win the series and they weren’t the San Francisco Giants. So you got to think that history is on their side but the most important game of the series is game one and then game three to try and go up at least a game.

Michael Duca is doing the Giants commentary throughout the post sesaon for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

49ers and Raiders commentary: 49ers get ready for old nemisis Smith; Raiders get new coach ready for first game

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–Kansas City Chiefs (2-2) quarterback Alex Smith is going to be like his old Alex Smith self not much of a risk taker and your not going to see anything different from the old Smith. Every now and then they like to take a pass down the field. To be honest that’s not Smith’s strong suit and he doesn’t have the receivers in KC to pull that off anyways.

The Chiefs offense is conservative west coast style offense they like to hand off to their star running back Jammal Charles as much as possible, whether it’s from a hand off or screen passes. Smith is doing what he does the Chiefs were very successful last year and they got out of the gate slowly this season.

The Chiefs are coming off a big win where they blew out the Patriots, part of that was like a great performance by the Chiefs defense and a poor performance by the Patriots offense. You watch that game and Smith didn’t make mistakes he was his normal self he handled the ball well and they didn’t need him to do a whole lot everything kind of took care of itself.

The Chiefs aren’t a team that’s going to be trifle and the Chiefs are going to take care of themselves, I don’t know if I would want to call them one of the elite teams in the league but this was a team that was in the playoffs last year. They certainly are not dangerous but their well coached by Andy Reid. Smith it’s not known how much insight he’s going to give his teammates against the 49ers but but he knows his way around.

Oakland Raiders update: As far as the firing of head coach Dennis Allen is concerned we saw this coming we were a little unsure if the Raiders would fire Dennis Allen so soon or wait until later in the season. It’s pretty rare for a head coach to get fired this early on. It’s four games in there’s no more than 12 games to go usually guys give their coaches a bit more rope.

They let the coach try and prove themselves and try to recover, the problem is the Raiders have been floundering for awhile it’s not like the 0-4 start is a new thing. It’s not like the expectations were super high. Allen is the scapegoat this not to say he wasn’t doing a great job but part of the problem is the hand he’s been dealt.

He can only play the players he has and he doesn’t have very good players so I don’t know what you could possibly expect from Allen or his team. Other than a poor performance, it’s just not a very good team. It’s not known if any other coach could have done much better than 0-4. Obviously in that last game against Miami in London the Raiders were particularly bad.

The Raiders came out to a very early lead and then Miami just dominated the rest of the way and it looked like bad. That’s not unusal for this team they just don’t have a lot of talent and when quarterback Derrick Carr got knocked out and Matt McGloin had to come in your down at quarterback. Your down to your third string guy. When the Raiders started training camp back in July it was Matt Schaub at quarterback now he got dinged up and it went to Carr their early draft pick becoming the starting quarterback.

David Zizmor does NFL commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Thats Amary’s News and Commentary: Athletics all in and all out & Cybermetrics

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The great thing about baseball is you really never know what’s going to happen. Unlike the NFL where coaches write plays on their game plan to execute the quarterback, in baseball a manager has to think on the spur of the moment, and then accept the results as they happen.

During the Wild Card game last night in Kansas City, between the #1 Wild Card team Royals and the #2 WIld Card team Athletics, Ned Yost, manager of the Kansas City Royals took his stellar #1 starting pitcher James Shields out with just 88 pitches, winning 3 to 2, with runners in second and third and nobody out in the sixth inning, to bring a 22 year old rookie who has been a starter during the season, Yordani Gallardo, he promptly served a three-run home run to Brandon Moss to deep center field, who already had hit a two-run homer in the first inning.

The five runs that Moss drove in, will be forever just a trivia question, since the Royals won this exciting game 9-8 in 12 inning.Yost made an inexplicable move that could have cost him the game, but his team bailed him out.

For the Oakland Ahtletics, who were “all in”, now they have to go “all out” and rebuid the engine of this car for the 2015 season. The Jon Lester for Yoenis Céspedes trade did not worked out. It is as simple as that. Yes the A’s were plagued with injuries, but they put themselves in this situation of a one game elimination, after they backed into the playoff, for one night in KC.

The A’s still have a good young pitching staff, headed by Sonny Gray, who in 2015 should have some very nice duels against Jon Lester, who will be back with the Red Sox, his favorite team, the one he has won two World Series rings. By the way, Tuesday night John Lester was charged with 6 earned runs in the A’s defeat.Put that in your Cybermetrics.

No, we will never know if the trade was not made, how would the A’s have finished this 2014 season, but we do know that when Céspedes left, the problems began for the Athletics, nobody can refute that. We know that with Yoenis Céspedes (the best athlete they had the last two seasons) the Athletics won consecutive western divisions. No, the A’s collapse was not all because of that trade, but sometimes you have to look for the obvious. I am not a guy that believes a lot in the Cybermetrics.

Cybermetrics is a new baseball statistic that seems to be invented every year, measuring another variable in the game and attempting to measure value in a different (sometimes better) way that takes the human element out of the argument. Take the human element? Hey, why have umpires then? Let’s just have four computers inside each base, to tell you if the runner was out or safe. Sounds funny? Don’t laugh, this could also happen as “changes”continue in the best game ever invented. When the runner is out, the base will turn solid red, when he is safe it will be solid green.

Many of these stats can be attributed to “sabermetrics,” which were born in the 1980s, grew in the 1990s, and really gained traction in the 2000s as many of baseball’s front-office decision makers became disciples of some of these statistics, and make consider them Gospel”. Well, I am not one of those that just go by Cybermetrics.

Imagine some GM in 1941 asking for the Cybermetrics stats of Ted Williams? For Ted Williams “WAR” (Wins Against Replacement), the only WAR Ted Williams knew was the Korean War were he served with distinction as a pilot.

My friends, if your catcher can’t catch the ball, or cannot throw anybody out at second, and your hitter cannot hit with runners in scoring position, and your outfielders can’t throw anybody out at the plate, what good are your Sabermetrics, Cybermetrics or the Metric Decimal System?

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s are looking to come all the way back; Royals back in post season from best campaign

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by Daniel Dullum

The Oakland A’s put a little touch of drama to cap off their regular season, they just barely stuck in there and that team will tell you you just want a chance. If it’s for a one game playoff so be it. Even though the A’s were in the driver’s seat the biggest issue for Oakland right now is a lack of offense. Pitching is not a problem as you go into the playoffs.

One of the reasons that hitting could be a problem is that the A’s have struggled with it after the All-Star break and they need to get their swing going now when they face the mighty Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium on Tuesday night. From this point on your not going to see the number four or number five starter for anybody it’s pretty much a three man rotation for every team with the exception of the occasional one starter.

It comes down to nine innings and the A’s will start Jon Lester (16-11 ERA 2.46) against the Roayls James Shields (14-8 3.21) on Tuesday night. The Royals are playing really good baseball right now and that could be a problem for Oakland as well plus the Royals are playing at home and in the playoffs that matters a little bit because you got your fans behind you.

It’s a whole different vibe working in your own ball park and it’s been so long since the Royals have been in the post season 1985 that’s the last time the Royals were there. There were players that weren’t even born when that 85 team went to post season. It’s exciting for the Royals in Missouri and the A’s have their work cut out for them.

Pitching isn’t a problem but their running right into a red hot team and the Royals to a man also believe they think they can get the job done, they have timely hitting, and their hot at the right time of the year we’ll see how it goes for the green and gold.

San Francisco Giants wild card playoff Wednesday night: The Giants are in Pittsburgh for a one wild card match with the Pittsburgh Pirates and that could be problematic. Again Giants manager Bruce Bochy has done a terrific job pasting a line up together the last several months. They have players that have hardly been around all season long like Angel Pagan, Matt Cain and Brandon Belt.

Second base had been a problem and that started with the Giants Marco Scutaro being out for the season, rookie Joe Panik has been sensational and a real pleasant surprise taking the second base role .305, 31 runs scored, a homer and 18 RBIs. It’s been one thing after another for the Giants regarding the injuries. The outfield is in flux.

The Giants have veterans in that line up that can come up with a timely hit, like Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Hunter Pence. Brandon Crawford has been swinging the hottest bat on the team in the last month. For Moss you can’t pick a better time to pick it up. It’s not impossible for the Giants their gong to run into a steadily improving Pirates team that’s not going to be satisfied with just getting into the playoffs. You can be assured the team who wants this game and wants to advance from the N.L. Wild Card is going to be in for a fight.

Daniel Dullum covers Oakland A’s baseball and is fills in for Amaury’s News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com