Author: lleonardbw

49ers and Raiders commentary: Time adjustment could be challenging for Raiders; 49ers McDonald girlfriend won’t testfiy Police to pursue case

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders won’t have to worry about one thing having snowballs thrown at them at this time of the year as the Raiders get set to meet the New York Jets at Giants Stadium because in September it would be really freaky if it snowed there. Going back east is always tough for the west coast teams. It really makes your body clock go crazy, I don’t know the exact stat but I’ve heard it over the years the record of west coast teams flying to east coast teams for games is really bad.

It’s just a tough proposition to fly back east because of the time change it’s so drastic and the Raiders are used to starting at 1:00PM PDT. When they start in the east coast it would be 10:00AM PDT and it’s hard on their body. It just feels strange and it takes half of the game for them to really wake up and be ready to play like they normally would.

This makes the trip really difficult on the Raiders, now fortunately for the Raiders this is the first game of the season so they’re not as beat up or worn out, that makes the time change a little less drastic. The fact of the matter is a win or a loss on the field could make a difference because of the time change, it might make a little difference on the field because it really comes down to your performance.

Hopefully that time change doesn’t have too much of an impact but when it comes down to it, it’s the players and when you look at the Raiders and the Jets these are particlarily good teams that anyone would expect to make it to the Super Bowl. Most people would be surprised that anyone of them would make it to the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.

San Francisco 49ers update: It’s hard to say how much of a distraction the Ray McDonald case will have and it can be handled by the 49ers in terms of replacing McDonald and Aldon Smith as the 49ers are capable of compensating and there are a lot of different distractions and for that the 49ers have a lot really good players. Once their on the field I don’t think they’ll think too much of the off the field stuff.

When it gets to the post game and guys are putting mics in their faces that kind of comes back some distractions but on the field the 49ers have been pretty good of not letting these things effect them. Everything that’s going on with Ray McDonald effects how they play and maybe it has some impact on how their preparing. The big question leading up to the game is is Ray McDonald going to play?

Head coach Jim Harbaugh said that until the particulars of the case have been established and if McDonald is proven to have commited domestic abuse then the Niners may look at discipline at that time. The 49ers are waiting for the charges and what kind of charges are going to be filed if any. Until that happens their going to let the justice process run it’s course.

The one thing the 49ers are going for their playing in Dallas against a Cowboy team that is not very good and to be honest that helps. The Cowboys might have the worst defense in all of football, the Cowboys didn’t get anyone in free agency so they got worse. That definitely gives the Niners a little advantage and the Niners will let their offense do the talking and their defense struggles a little bit with the losses of Smith and Navarro Bowman but they’ll still be able to hang in there.

49ers and Cowboys at 1:25PM PDT on Sunday

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

Giants Wed report: Giants fall, but still keep pace

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by Jeremy Harness

DENVER–You can look at Wednesday’s events in two different ways: You can view it as a blown opportunity for the Giants, who fell 9-2 to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, a place where the Giants have had more than their share of issues in recent years.

Or you can see it as the Giants dodging a bullet. After that game finished, the Washington Nationals helped the Giants keep pace in the National League West, as they overcame surrendering a late lead and downed the Los Angeles Dodgers in 14 innings.

Either way you choose to see this thing, the Giants are only two games behind the Dodgers in the division race while keeping their spot as one of the NL’s wild cards for the time being, and it could have been a whole lot worse.

At the same time, it could have been a bit better, as the Giants had a chance to close to within one game of the division lead with one of their best starters on the mound.

However, Ryan Vogelsong was quickly reminded of what it’s like to pitch in the launching pad that is otherwise called Coors Field.

The right-hander surrendered a career-worst four home runs on Wednesday, two of which would have been regular fly balls just short of the warning track in any other major-league ballpark. When it was all said and done, he was tagged for eight earned runs on 10 hits, walking two and striking out five.

On the bright side, Hunter Pence was able to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, while Buster Posey and Gregor Blanco each had two hits, with Posey driving in both of the Giants’ runs. The last RBI came in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

The lead was short-lived, as the Rockies dropped back-to-back four-run innings on Vogelsong to render Posey’s efforts meaningless.

The Giants will not have it easy this weekend, either, as they are slated to head to Comerica Park to visit the Detroit Tigers, who are in a tooth-and-nail battle in their own division race, the American League Central.

Jeremy Harness covers San Francisco Giants baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s also planned to get cut in in land giveaway for new Coliseum City; Raiders planned to get free land

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by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–Let the free land give away begin, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said that the Oakland Raiders would get to develop a new stadium on land that would belong to the Raiders and it would all be for free from the city of Oakland according to Oakland Mayor Quan. The Coliseum would be demolished the cost for the new stadium would run $900 million to $1.2 billion.

The Raiders who said they wanted to blow up the existing Coliseum and build their new stadium at the current site but were turned off when the city offered the Oakland A’s a ten year lease at the Coliseum the supporter’s attorney Zach Wasserman said that the “basic terms of the deal” financially have been worked out amongst the city and the Raiders.

In the event that the A’s are not satisfied with the supporters group land would be offered to the A’s and team owners Lew Wolf and John Fisher. The offer most likely would be that the Raiders and A’s would have seperate stadiums at what city officials would call the “Coliseum City” There would be hotels and restaurants built at the Coliseum City and a whole complex of shopping and the city of Oakland saw the light and at the threat of losing the two teams they realized the economic importance of having the A’s and Raiders in Oakland.

The A’s have not responded to the latest notion that the Raiders would have a new stadium and free land but would be happy if the lease agreement they just signed would be ripped up and that they would receive a new stadium and new FREE land at the Coliseum site. The A’s would have their own park and they won’t be sharing it with the Raiders and won’t have the field marked up like it is today and after a couple of Raiders games if the A’s are still in the playoffs the field won’t be ripped up in a new stadium setting.

The plan is to have the existing Coliseum come down but there is no mention of any plans for the arena to come down and that would be obviously after the Warriors move to San Francisco. There has not been any mention by the powers that be if there is any plans for the arena to ripped down. The plan as of now is that the new stadiums would be built on the existing properties for the A’s and Raiders.

The question is what are they going to do about the parking and they might have to buy some land across fron 880 to accomadate the people for parking. There is still excellent transit that exists that comes right to the stadium for both of them and it should work out. This will be a big boon economically for the construction contractors and the city of Oakland.

It’s no secret the tax payers will be on the hook for the bill for these projects and there is $120 million that has to be paid off for building Mount Davis. It will be absorbed into a new loan, a refinanced package or what the supporters come up with. The Raiders might get some support from the NFL in paying for the stadium. The people in L.A. were looking for some help from the NFL and the NFL should be helping the Raiders in building a new stadium.

Kings downtown arena: Opposition hanging onto portions of anti arena arguments in appeals case

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–The scrum continues between three Sacramentans and the City of Sacramento as opponents who recently filed an appeals case in front of the same judge who threw out that last set of appeals from the last case argued that subsidies that finance the new Kings arena at Downtown Plaza were done with the public funds that were illegal subsidies. Three Sacramentans filed arguements in Sacramento Superior Court saying that the funding of the arena is illegal and wasteful. The opponents in the appeals case also restated that funding from taxes from Sacramento owned garages should not be used to pay for the new arena.

Sacramento Kevin Johnson said after the opponents last appeal was thrown out by Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley that this was the last hurdle of any road block to stop the new arena from coming through. Then came last week and the opponents argued again about subsidies and the waste part of the lawsuit was the funding coming from the garages. The city argues that the garages are worthless and shouldn’t be counted as part of the subsidy arguement and they can be fixed up to be useful.

Frawley who threw out two previous arguments has allowed the arguements of “illegal and wasteful” and “abuse of discretion” the latter blamed on the Sacramento City Council, to stay as part of the opponents aguments. The Downtown Plaza has already broke ground as of the middle of August and a great majority of the retail outlets at the Plaza have already moved out prior to the ground break. The opponents before and during construction have fought as far back into last year to stop construction of the Kings arena.

They’ve primarly argued on environmental issues such as post game traffic, noise and pollution of exhaust and for displacing neighbors that have paid for affordable housing for decades in neighboring hotels by forced moves to convert the area and hotels into condos or luxury hotels. Frawley in the previous appeals case ruled that the subsidy sheets were not binding and that the opponents arguments were not going to stop the new arena because the opponents were not able to demonstrate that the subsidies were illegal or wasteful.

The opponents this time around are arguing that they can demonstrate that the financial terms of any balance sheet entered by the city does not legitimately allow the city to use such funding as the garages to pay for the new arena and that monies also used from the city general fund was not suppose to be used for paying for the construction of the Kings new arena. The city’s share of the cost of the new Kings arena is $255 million and the Kings will put in $222 million.

Opponents are arguing also about the large portion of the bonds that will pay for the arena from the city’s coffers and want a list of why the city should use public funds to pay for the arena and where and how it’s going to be paid. The Mayor’s office has said that the opposition has been down this road before and have been overruled twice by the same judge (Frawley) but understand that the opponents are entitled to due process under the law to appeal once again the arguement of the public subsidies.

Frawley will continue to hear further arguemnents of this case by opponents on December 12th regarding the merits of the case. With this being the opponents third appeal the plan to make the challenges of the subsidy funding the core of their case like “illegal and wasteful” and “abuse and discretion” the opponents intend to turn the tide on stopping the new arena that already is underway for construction. The NBA has said that the arena must be ready to go by fall of 2017 or the Kings will have to move to another city.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Race in the wild card tighting up to three way brass ring

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The Los Angeles Angels were driving hard but had hit a bump in the road in the first half of the year but their bull pen is excellent and they got hot again since the All-Star break and when the Oakland A’s came to Anaheim this past weekend that tide turned as the Halos swept the Athletics in four and have a 4.5 game lead on the second place A’s.

The Angels dealt Ernesto Frieri for Jason Grilli from the Pirates and since the deal nine days ago the Angels manager Mike Scoscia’s bullpen has been going well and there’s been a big difference with pitcher Mike Shoemaker who now has 14 wins as a rookie and he’ll be 29 years old this month. Shoemaker has been the difference and remember the Angels lost their big pitcher Garrett Richards and they lost lefty Tyler Skaggs and for the Angels there’s 25-26 games left.Now in September everybody is playing everybody and with that kind of race that’s going on this month anything can happen.

The A’s Adam Dunn set the stage with that home run in the first inning and came through on Monday in his first ever at bat as an Athletic for what would be the game winner over the M’s it was Dunn’s 21st homer of the season. The A’s during the Anaheim series their offense had been dead and the A’s had nothing to lose in making the deal and they had to do something for an offense that had been dead. Brandon Moss as of tonight is not in the line up he has he has four hits in the last 40 games and Moss is hitting .100.

The A’s needed someone to do something in this line up and Dunn hit that two run home run at the beginning of the game and it was the game winning runs as it turned out, so he’s a veteran who announced he’s going to retire after this season and he’s never been to the post season and it’s win-win for both sides. Manager Bob Melvin in spite of the recent struggles in the A’s line up has to stick with some of the guys. These guys were winning in the first half Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie are back and you need Coco Crisp in this line up.

The A’s are hoping that when they get into the post season that Crisp will be ready and you have to and the Seattle Mariners threw one of their toughest pitchers to start on Tuesday night James Paxton 4-1 ERA 1.83. Donaldson was in the line up and Moss is not in the line up Tuesday night and it’s a good time to bench him he’s currently hitting .243 but that long drought over his last 40 at bats have pretty much put him on the shelf.

The A’s are starting left handed hitters against a left handed pitcher who own the M’s the last few years and the A’s have to keep staying with what’s best in the line up and Melvin is an excellent manager and this happens to every team you go through these slumps and that last weekend in Anaheim they looked really flat but you have to give credit to the Angels they played hard ball and played very aggressive they’ve taken the extra base and the A’s are doing everything.

Erick Eybar is doing everything in L.A. with the longest hitting streak of his career and that’s the way things are happening. The A’s still have to face Seattle who are just a hair out of the wild card a 1.5 games back in the wild card. The M’s are playing a huge role in the A.L. West and the M’s have seven games left with the Angels.

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

NCAA Commentary: Cal might have something there with upset in Northwestern; USC’s Shaw story jumping to conclusions

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by Michelle Richardson

What a shocker by Cal in a 31-24 win over Northwestern: I was one of the people with my mouth open because the Cal Bears took my card in the pick em, this could be the tide turning for Cal. They’ve had some many years in missing bowl games and last year they won only one game and maybe former head coach Jeff Tedford’s exit might have brought in a change and right now it’s new blood with head coach Sonny Dykes.

Part of that new blood is new students and a new attitude at Cal, I always say sometimes it takes a change in management to change how a place works and I’m hoping that there is another team in the Pac 12 that will be competitive this year. If you rank the big time conferences the Pac 12 is at the bottom. UCS is not impressive, Stanford I’m not sure if they’re kind of a bubble team or a team that’s been pretty much running the Pac 12 the last few years.

Mike Leach at Washington State took over and made the Cougars his team and the team has got better and better every year. This is his third year and all of those recruits are all his, I’m looking forward to seeing whats going on and not like USC whose changed coaches in the last few years. I’m very excited that Cal turned it around and beat a team in the Big Ten and their hoping to be number one and to show some strength in their schedule.

Notre Dame’s win over Rice 48-17 not surprising: Don’t get confused this win by the Fighting Irish is not a tone setter for the season, it’s Rice its not going to set any tone unless your playing Rice in baseball I’d say no. Notre Dame was supposed to win this game and win this game handedly. Had Rice won I would tell you that Norte Dame could stick a fork in it.

This is not a game where you can say Notre Dame beat Rice the Fighting Irish are going all the way, no there not, I need to see the Irish play a Michigan and play more top ten teams. When Notre Dame starts getting into their part of the ACC schedule we’ll see. The Irish play Michigan for the last time this year we’ll see then. Right now no, that game meant nothing except that’s the first game of the season for the Lucky Charms.

USC controversies: Josh Shaw’s fake balcony jump and he was also named in a burglary report in L.A. I don’t feel sorry for him and I know he’s a young man and he’ll make mistakes but he lied and said he went and jumped do really think somebody is going to follow up on that? His nephew was drowning and he jumped two stories do think people are going to follow up on that. USC is going to follow up on that because the school is concerned now about their reputation.

You have the L.A.Times and Sports Illustrated making this a national story is Shaw stupid? Then there is the fact that he lied. You could lie about a whole lot of things but you don’t lie about people’s lives being in peril and you don’t lie about people dying. Because you believe in karma and it mighht come back on you in a bad way.

That was just a horrible, horrible, thing that Shaw did and I truly, truly hope that he learned his lesson and he’s eligble for the NFL draft, doesn’t Shaw know he’s affecting his draft stock? My thing is if Shaw just said he jumped off the balcony and he did something stupid and he hurt his ankle that would show more character than saying he saved two kids from a burning building. This lying is ridiculous and you put yourself in a bad position with the team over something that was completely stupid and illegal, I don’t have a place for you on my team.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com. You can hear the rest of her commentary on the soundcloud audio below the column

49ers and Raiders commentary: Without Smith Niners are without best pass rusher in NFL;Will Raiders start rookie Carr?

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The San Francisco 49ers will start the 2014 season without the best pass rusher in football linebacker Aldon Smith who started his nine game suspension this weekend. Smith will be allowed to attend meetings and workouts at the 49ers facilities but will not be able to play until November 10th one week before the Niners play the New York Giants on Sunday November 16th.

The impact of not having Smith around will effect the 49ers defensive line and there is no way you could replace a guy like Smith. Smith has more sacks than everybody in the league. Even his first three seasons he’s had more sacks than everybody in the NFL. There is really no way to get around it you just can’t replace a guy like Smith. The 49ers have been preparing for injuries and depatures on their defensive squad for several years now.

They keep drafting guys on their defensive line who will replace guys who will depart and if you look across from their defensive line they have several older players like Justin Smith, being the key player, Justin has been the key player for many, many years and arguably a Hall of Fame level player. Justin is in his mid thirties and his contract is coming up in a year or so.

The 49ers will look at linebackers Tank Carradine and Quintin Dial these are going to be guys who are hopefully going to step up and provide a little bit of breathing room for the 49ers and for those individual players. Aldon will be out and the 49ers have a lot of guys along these lines who can practice hard and play hard, work hard and we’ll see how they do in replacing a guy like Aldon.

Oakland Raiders update: Raiders quarterback David Carr had a very good pre season and there’s a very strong case to be made. Right now he’s already the best quarterback for the Raiders. The problem is that he’s a rookie and he was never with the first team against first team defenses. In that fourth game they never played against first team defensive units.

Even though Carr was the starter with the first group to be out there he never played against the number one defense. Carr looked good in that game against Seattle and that Seattle defense you saw them in the Super Bowl. There were a couple of starters here and there and the rest were a couple of guys who were going to be third stringers.

There is a case to be made that Carr is already a better option rather than quarterback Matt Schaub but again he’s a rookie. He hasn’t faced the top competition. He’s played a lot different in pre season than regular season. When you have a rookie and Carr who has a bright future he’s going to end up starting at some point this season because it’s doubtful that Schaub is going to be very good.

The Raiders haven’t seen anything that’s been very good from Schaub in the pre season, he didn’t look good with Houston last year. He’s had three bad pre season games and he’s out for personal reasons as of this weekend. There’s no reason to believe that he’s all of sudden going to snap out of it soon and transform into the guy he was three or four years ago.

David Zizmor does 49ers and Raiders commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s and Giants commentary: Brew Crew can give Giants the business this series; A’s need to get some hitting in Angels series

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants have had much success from the last series winning three out of the last four games on this homestand over the Colorado Rockies. The Giants opened up a three game series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. The Brewers are in second in the National League Central and likewise the Giants another second place team in the N.L. West behind the league leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Brewers remind me of the 2010 Giants they could have that kind of come back potential and the Brewers have a lot of pitching that nobody seems to believe in and a lot of pitching that nobody thought they had. Commissioner Bud Selig and the Brewers former owner wanted to install a team when he owned the Brewers that gave hope to the fan in Milwaukee in July and August and low and behold the Brewers have a shot at this.

The Brewers have a good of a shot at winning this as anyone, the St.Louis Cardinals who are right behind the Brew Crew and don’t ever count them out they have a potent line up and experience in the post season. The Cardinals have some big boppers starting with Matt Adams hitting .303 leading the club in hitting, Jhonny Peralta leading the Cards with 18 homers and Matt Holliday 68 RBIs.

Giants starter Yusmiero Petit is a phenom he’s 4-3 with an ERA of 3.44, he set the Major League record retiring the first eight batters he faced against the Rockies and extended his streak to 46 consecutive batters an MLB record. I said this week in this space that Petit is a throwing machine with 96 strikeouts he’s walked only 17 batters and he’s on track to taking pitcher Tim Lincecum’s spot in the rotation at the rate he’s going.

Oakland A’s update: The A’s who lost the first game of the four game series in Anaheim 4-3 to the Angels and are two games back but one game does not make a four game series. You can’t put too much stock right now into this race as the A’s seem to be doing more with pitching than they are with hitting. The A’s aren’t manufacturing a lot of runs and the team offensively seemed to hit a funk since the Yoenis Cespedes trade to Boston.

I don’t know what to tell you, you have guys who pitched for the A’s who got sent down to the minor leagues who probably would be number three or number four pitchers in the Angels rotation and the Angels would love to have a pitcher like a Drew Pomeranz who had his emotions get the best of him back in June when he lost a ball game against the Texas Rangers and punched a chair breaking his hand. Pomeranz is a talent the Angels would like to have.

The Angels have had injuries, they have had poor performances and once they get the injury bug like the Angels you feel it up and down the line up. Angels pitcher Garrett Richards just rejoined the team on crutches as he’s out with a season ending knee injury. The loss of Richards has put the hurt on the Angels rotation, the Angels demoted pitcher Wade LaBlanc, he was designated for assignment and replaced with Trevor Cahill.

The Angels Mike Trout is a guy who’s tearing it up and the only way you can pitch a guy like that is you pitch him inside, he’s hitting .291 with 30 homers, and 94 RBIs. There is not much you could do with a guy like Trout because the Angels are going to make you adjust when he’s at the plate. Trout can do it all he’s now got two 30 home run seasons.

Michael Duca does Giants and A’s commentary weekly for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s and Giants commentary: Giants Fans anticipating Mad Bum’s next outing; A’s counting on O’Flaherty out of the pen

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–Giants starter Madison Baumgarner who nearly tossed himself a perfect game on Tuesday night had all his stuff working for him and if you look at the first inning of that game you would never in a million years have predicted that he was going to be working on a no hitter in the seventh or eighth innings. They teed off on him in the first inning Gregor Blanco had to pull a ball back in that was going to go over the fence and there was another ball that was absolutely scalded in that inning.

That first inning the Colorado Rockies were roping the ball and it didn’t even look like he was going to last three innings then all of a sudden the Rockies remembered who they were and Baumgarner remembered who he was and he 15 0-2 counts and three three ball counts. Everybody says the best pitch in baseball is strike one but I beg to differ with them I say it’s strike two.

Strike two always makes the hitter defensive and he had them in a defensive posture most of the night. That’s not a comfortable way to hit against a guy who drops down, who comes side arm, who hides the ball well, doesn’t show you his release point, those were rough at bats. Baumgarner’s performance was not too surprising for example my son who is a full grown adult and a Seattle Mariners fan texted me after Tim Lincecum’s last no hitter and he said “Mad Bum’s turn next” he was almost pretty passioned there.

For manager Bruce Bochy and thoughts of getting in a good position in the National League West things are different now than a few years ago but my recollection is right, about this point in August of 2010 the Giants were five games back of the San Diego Padres and then there was the miracle comeback when the team put together a over ten game win streak to catch the Padres in September. Not by way of predicting that’s going to happen again there’s still a lot of baseball left ask the 2010 Red Sox or the 2010 Braves how rapidly you can collapse in the month of September.

Giant starter Yumeiro Petit: He’s a strike thrower that’s what I like about his game as a pitcher he’ll go out and challenge guys in a strike zone he’ll say “here it comes hit it” it’s tough to have a better performance than he did for the resmumption for the suspended game in Chicago. Petit struck out six batters, he struck out the first five and another ball was hit right back to him. Someone said it was like watching Eddie Feigner in his King and the Court days.

Oakland A’s update: The race in the American Leauge West is turning into a war of attrition, don’t discount the Seattle Mariners because they are playing the best baseball in the American Leauge right now along with the Kansas City Royals and the M’s are not that much further out right now than the Giants so to consider the Giants to be in the race you have to consider the Mariners to reach for the division title.

On the other hand the A’s have suffered some injuries that have given them some grief and the Angels have lost Garrett Richards who’s their best pitcher. The first guy the Angels brought up to fill that spot was Wade LaBlance but that assignment didn’t work out too well. That puts a real hitch in your giddy up when you lose your lead horse.

The four games with the Angels in Anaheim which started on Thursday night are most likely going to be split. A’s manager Bob Melvin is going to rely on one of his pitchers for the missing Sean Doolittle out with an injury for the next two weeks and that’s Eric O’Flaherty. O’Flaherty is probably going to get the bulk if not all the save opportunities.

O’Flaherty regularly throws 96-97 MPH and is just one of those kind of insurance policies of the future that General Manager Billy Beane likes to go out and purchase. He picked up O’Flaherty and signed him to a contract when he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and got him at a bargain rate because he was going to be able to play at half a season.

Michael Duca does A’s and Giants commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s finding out that winning the west might go down to the wire

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–The Houston Astros managed by Bo Porter will not finish last their going to finish next to last, their not going to lose 100 games. Porter is doing a great job and Chris Carter hit a home run on Tuesday night against the Oakland A’s a three run shot that helped beat the A’s 4-2 at Minute Maid Field.

Carter a Redwood City native and designated hitter for Houston has 32 homers and 77 RBIs and is one of the best sluggers in baseball. The A’s are having problems, they lost pitcher Sean Doolittle and he’s out for two weeks. Now their going to have to find someone solid like Doolittle closing games.

On Tuesday it was Gregorson who gave up the three run homer, the A’s also have catcher John Jaso whose out with a concussion indefinitely and the club has some injury problems. This is like I said before a race for the finish line. The L.A. Angels keep winning and they hold first place over the A’s and the Angels host the A’s starting this Thursday that will be a test for the A’s.

The Angels have the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night at the Big A and this will be the last time the Halos play a National League team and the then the A’s are in Anaheim for a four game series which is crucial for both teams here in August.

The A’s and Angels are both grasping for the brass ring as the pennant race is razor thin right now. One of these teams are vying for the division and if they make it fine but everybody is trying to get into the division. Because you win the division you win the best of five and if you win the wild card you play one elimination game that’s a big difference.

I subscribe to the theory of former A’s manager Tony LaRussa the most difficult thing to do is to win your division. You play 162 games and you try and win your division. Once you win your division then your in decent shape but we’ll have to see what happens. Both of these teams are probably going to make it to the playoffs.

However aside for the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Angels let us not forget about the Seattle Mariners their six games out and in first place in the wild card and they still have a bunch of games left with the A’s and Angels and if the M’s can keep winning they’ll keep rising to the top.

So this very well could be a three team race for the division with a few days left, most teams have to win between 28-38 games after tonight. Now is when the rubber hits the road and were going to see what teams are contenders and what teams are pretenders.

Amaruy Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com each week