Author: lleonardbw

Kings arena downtown: Kings have the jack hammers going as Downtown Plaza block is shutdown for construction

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–Downtown plaza the future home of the Sacramento Kings new arena has the L Street mall shutdown for construction. Most of the plaza stores in the mid part of the mall are shut down. Plans for L Street include buildings that will be office occupied and retail that will serve the nearby arena. One buyer in the neighborhood Trinity Pacific Partners bought 555 Capital Mall an entire city block a 380,000 foot space that has two connected offices that is 14 stories that already has retail and stores on the street level.

The block also has parking that is right across the street that features 791 spaces for parking. The ideal situation when the Kings start play at the arena for the fall of 2016. Currently the building has a 60 percent occupation rate that contains law and accounting firms. Trinity is invloved with business partners Buzz Oates LLC, AM Investors and Rubicon Partners as a group they remodled the Forum building at Ninth and K Streets and the Citizen Hotel at 10th and J Streets.

Purchase price was not available through public records, Trinity has plans for the towers to fill the empty office space and they most likely will succeed when the new arena is up and running and downtown office space will be at a premium with many companies ready to rent the space that would attract businesses who will come down to see the newly refurbished neighborhood.

With Downtown Plaza demoed there are already takers waiting to move into the new buildings in anticipation of the Kings new arena, Kipp Blewett from the firm Ribicon Partners plan to operate and lease the building and there are big plans with retail and businesses already lining up to move in.

The mere excitment of the Kings moving downtown has the locals excited to get business going and there will be a lot of improvements and new looks to downtown the these buildings being remodeled will according to Blewett have more boutique firms. Michael Ault of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership said the new arena will bring economic benefits “everything that we had talked about in the way of momentum from the arena project is starting to come together.”

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

NCAA Football commentary: Powerful earthquake rocks Bay Area, multiple injuries one week before college football starts

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by Michelle Richardson

We say our prayers to anyone who was effected by Sunday morning’s 6.1 magnitude earthquake which shook the Bay Area at 3:20AM hoping that you didn’t suffer anything more than rattled nerves. Muliple injuries were reported out of Napa and the Sonoma Valley which includes the epicenter American Canyon, Suisun, Fairfield, and Vallejo.For others from other parts of the country they think it’s just the earth shaking and things falling but an earthquake can be as dangerous as a hurricane, tornado or storm.

When it happens in the middle of the night a building that is not retrofitted that could be a problem like it was for some of the older buildings that were damaged in the North Bay. Sesmically it was reported that the quake should not have too much effect for college football next Saturday as most of the damage was done in the Napa Valley. That would be more like Homboldt State or Somona State somewhere like that could be effected.

You will think about that because you have a lot of kids who are returning to college in the Bay Area who grew up in those areas. That will be ever present on the athletes young men and women who grew up in the Napa Valley and the NCAA will be thinking about their families and hoping that everybody is safe and had no harm done to them.

Alabama vs. West Virgina: I don’t understand how Alabama not being the reigning NCAA Champion is holding onto the number one spot and I’ve always said “it’s your title until they take it and the winner should start the year as number one” that’s just how I feel about it. This is a good match up coming this Saturday definitely I’ll go with Alabama the Crimson Tide just retooled and retooled and it just seems like their never out of stock of young talent.

In the last three years the Crimson Tide have lost a lot of veteran talent they’ve either graduated or went to the NFL. Especially losing a quarterback who won three national championships, it could be a very big learning curve in Alabama and there is a bit of quarterback controversy with Jake Coker, David Cornwell, and Cooper Bateman.

When you have a transfer from Florida State and you have a quarterback whose been the cornerstone of the team and someone is coming in as a transfer and now there is a bit of a controversy and someone who didn’t even start from another school and they come to take your place at Alabama that could raise some hackles. Knowing head coach Nick Saban he has a way to make it work. All I can say it’s going to be an interesting year at Alabama.

Clemson vs. Georgia: The Clemson Tigers lost last year in the championship to Florida State and the Tigers lost a lot of players and they lost their starting quarterback. The AP Poll rated the Tigers number two but polls are about as useful as socks with holes in them. Clemson is going to struggle this year they open up against Georgia on Saturday.

Their not going to be as good as everybody might think their going to be. Their going to struggle with a new quarterback and whoever that’s going to be. There’s a whole cavalcade of quarterbacks trying out for the Tigers, Chad Kelly, Austin McCaskill, Dave Olson, Nick Schuessler, Cole Stoudt, and Deshaun Watson. There are a lot of players gone from last season.

I’m not necessarily saying that Clemson will be in the hunt for the national championship but I don’t see it happening they might make a bowl game but there not going to get into the national championship. I’ve been around before, I’m crazy like that.

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

Indy Car race: 6.1 magnitude quake and fire in Napa causes major damage but race still on

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by Jerry Feitelberg

NAPA–The greater Napa Valley was hit by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake at 3:20 AM on Sunday morning in this town which is the trainning camp home to the Oakland Raiders and to Indy Car’s Sonoma’s raceway. The Raiders who are done with the property for the year and are entering their fourth pre season game. But for the tens of thousands of fans, media, and raceway officials one of the Napa Valley’s biggest events the Sonoma Raceway which started on Friday and ends Sunday will continue despite damage in the local town.

The raceway which is located in the southeast part of Sonoma County did not suffer any structural damage according to Indy Car officials who checked the building and stands as tens of thousands will pour into the raceway for the 1:45pm start. Officials did state that the surrounding roadways getting to the raceway could be effected.

The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma is one of the biggest draws of the year for the Napa Valley which brings in more people than a Super Bowl game. Possible significant damage to roadways are still be being inspected by Caltrans sesmic engineers. According to CBS 5 TV on Sunday morning parts of Highway 37 will be effected by the quake and some parts of the freeway will be inspected and that traffic delays during the inspection could be expected.

Downtown Napa where most of the race car drivers are staying is located ten miles north of the epicenter American Canyon and downtown Napa suffered significant damage and particpant race car drivers for Sunday’s Indy race no doubt felt every bit of the 6.1 trembler, “mirrors breaking in the bathroom, you hear the alarms, pipes (breaking) and not a single picture moved” Verizon Indycar series driver Helio Castroneves told USA Today, Castroneves who is from Brazil “I want the guy who put the nails in (the hotel) to come to my house” said Castroneves who currently lives in Fort Lauderdale never feels earthquakes there.

The hotel where Castroneves was staying was evacuated and he later met with Team Penske teammate Will Power and company president Tim Cindric. Not a very likely meeting between the three at that time of the hour but under the circumstances necessary. Once outside on the sidewalk Castroneves could see significant damage, bricks, glass and debris, “Will thought it was the end of the world, I thought it was a plane crash, it was a rumbling noise, and it completely trashed the bathroom. It was like a movie and I was in it. A very scary moment and I’m still shaking” said Castroneves.

Part of the older buildings in downtown have damage where some of the roofs either fell over or collapse inside. There was no reports of anyone killed but mulitple injuries were reported. According to Indy’s car president of competition and operations Derrick Walker he said that he felt the race could continue, “we don’t feel under the circumstances as they stand now that the race is in jeopardy, we’re obviously keeping a watchful eye on what happens. If other events happen we’ll respond to them.” said Walker

Jerry Feitelberg is a Sports talk show host for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

49ers and Raiders commentary:Levis sod squad does quick repairs true test is on Sunday;Raiders taking serious look at corners this week

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The landscape issue at Levis Stadium for Sunday’s game replanting of the sod is more of a gardening issue than a game day issue. The bottom line is you want the turf to be as perfect as possible but you don’t want it to come up in chunks and there some value on how you can cut back and forth when your a player running your routes.

You don’t want any inuries so it’s good for the 49ers now as their taking action, it’s hopeful that the field will be nice and ready for the exhibition game against the Chargers on Sunday. It certainly should be open for the home opener for the regular season on September 14th in about three weeks. They have the best people in to fix the problem, it’s grass it’ll grow they’ll just have to tend to it and hope they don’t make the same mistake twice.

One thing that head coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t want is to worry about is things like this when he’s got a game to prepare for and the field certainly qualifies. He shouldn’t have to think about the field at all that should be something that you don’t worry about in any way shape or form. In this game coming up against the San Diego Chargers they have to look like their ready.

The first two games of the pre season they looked out of sync, like they were going through the motions sometimes it’s tough to really get motivated in pre sesaon especially when there’s several injuries on the team. The 49ers have hardly scored at all this pre season and they got blanked last week by the Denver Broncos 34-0. The lost in week one of the pre season to the Baltimore Ravens 23-3.

Oakland Raiders update: The cornerback situation for the Raiders is shakey, Tarrell Brown is not a bad corner so there’s a question of what the problem is, it might just be that Brown is trying to get used to a new defense it’s always something to keep in mind. Just because your a decent cornerback in one place doesn’t mean moving to a different team your going to carry that along.

Brown used to play for the 49ers and was decent but he also had a lot of good players around him to help out. Sometimes if you have the supporting cast that makes you look even better. Brown moves to Oakland and that’s a very young and inexperienced defense and Brown is suppose to be proping everyone else up. Maybe he’s not quite as good without those supporting players.

We saw this with former Raider Nnamdi Asomugha who looked great with the Raiders, he was an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler each and every year and the he goes over to the Philadelphia Eagles with a comepletly different defensive system and Asomugha just couldn’t cut it. He completely fell off the planet and now he’s pretty much out of football.

That’s part of the problem with the Raiders corners and here again, this is a very inexperienced defense. LaMarr Woodley and Justin Tuck two free agents who signed are guys who are talented but their past defined. They can give a little confidence and they can relay sone of their experiences to the younger guys but but their not exactly at the top of their game either.

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

A’s and Giants commentary: Gentry making great comeback after broken hand injury;Castillo was the Cuban player too expensive for Giant’s taste

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s 5-3 victory over the L.A. Angels on Friday night was a great game and it got a little too exciting there, there was one out and A’s pitcher Sonny Gray had left a man on base and it’s the ninth inning and Sean Doolittle came in to relieve Gray. It took 30 pitches for Doolittle to get two outs and win the ball game. Doolittle might be limited on when he can relieve next it’s questionable if he’s going to have to come out in all three game of this series against the Angels if needed.

Craig Gentry has returned as of Friday and he’s rehabbed well over the last few weeks and went one for three and that’s pretty impressive coming off a broken hand injury. That was a good opportunity for Gentry and that gives you an opportunity for you to get in the game and be yourself. He’s recovering the hand and unless he starts walking on the hand he should heal just fine and once Gentry gets on base he’s a disturbing subject for the opposing pitcher to keep an eye on.

San Francisco Giants update: Joe Panik has had himself a week he’s had multi hit games the last several days. He’s gone 15-27 during that time period and he’s close to .600 hitting. He’s another in a line of Giants infielders whose picked up former Giant Rich Aurillia’s mantle pretty well. He’s done pretty well defensively and now he’s been quite a distributor on offense.

They say the best trades are the ones that you don’t make sometimes and there’s no doubt about it in this case the Giants probably got the best second baseman available in the Major Leagues. They got him before the trade deadline and they got him out of their own organization.

The Giants were looking at getting Cuban player 27 year old Rusney Castillo but that winning bid went to the Boston Red Sox who got him for $72.5 million for seven years. The Giants how serious they were on the deal is in question but the were alledgedly in on the deal supposedly he was going to play centerfield and another thing is with Cuban players your not really sure how old they really are.

Castillo is a solid centerfielder and a lead off hitter and the Giants already have that in Jose Pagan. Castillo could have ended up being a development player and would have been playing out of positon and the next position for him to play is shortstop. The Giants are tied up at the position too, what they might have done next is make someone like him a corner outfielder.

I’m not sure if I believe this notion that Castillo is too expensive for the Giants $72.5 million for seven years for the Giants to compete for a potential impact player. Then there is the contract of Pablo Sandoval whose seeking Hunter Pence type money so will the Giants be able to free up some money and bring back the Panda for next season?

When they sell out every single night when the streak is close to 400 games you have to consider these things when big name players come out on the market. It’s a little bit surprising that people would say the reason why they didn’t go after Castillo was he’s too expensive. It’s hard for me the imagine the Giants management group not willing.

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

Warriors arena at Mission Bay: While Piers 30-32 is falling into the Bay Warriors get set up at Mission Bay site

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO–Guess what Piers 30-32 the former planned arena location for the Golden State Warriors is all about? It’s about to fall into San Francisco Bay unless someone comes forward with $87 million to prevent the foundation of the pier from an eventual collapse and do a nice fixer upper for the project. Proposition B which passed this past June eliminated any hope for the Warriors to build a new state of the art arena at the piers.

The measure makes it clear that any new buildings built along the waterfront must be done with San Francisco voters approval. The measure restricts height limits and that pretty much forced the Warriors at the time to find other digs which will be at Mission Bay a good mile from where they wanted to play hoops. The Warriors who met with Mission Bay residents last Thursday unveiled a illustrated look of the arena.

Getting to the new arena will take a little longer at the current stage unless as San Francisco Muni plans to get light rail from the Warriors arena connected on the same line with the Powell Street Metro station.Public transit plays a big role in the Warriors new arena thinking. The City has taken on a lot of sports failures losing the Warriors at Piers 30-32 and losing the San Francisco 49ers to Santa Clara and losing out on Pier 30-32 has not resonated well with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s office.

Lee’s office while all behind Prop B and matter of fact ready to take on the the California State Commission who plans to take the measure to court arguing that the city doesn’t have jurisdiction over the waterfront port not to mention the commission has former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom now California Lt.Governor planning to fight the city.

Lee initially said that if the Warriors build at Piers 30-32 it would be his legacy but the legs of that thought was quickly squashed when Lee saw the number of ballots going to the voters registar’s office to get proposition B on the ballot.

After realizing that Piers 30-32 wasn’t going to work Lee was relieved that the Warriors planned to purchase land and move to Mission Bay. The disscussion is still about Prop B even though the Warriors arena location issue has been resolved. Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison wants to build at the waterfront and at Piers 30-32 hotels and condominums. The Warriors wanted to do that too with the new arena at that location. Lee and City Attorney Dennis Herrera are prepared to fight Newsom and the State Commission on jurisdiction over the port and Herrera has said the city voters have a say about height limits at the Embarcadero.

As Ellison and company knows that won’t happen without voter approval and that’s very unlikely given the waterfront neighborhood already had rejected the arena idea there. The Warriors wanted to build a hotel and condo across the street from the arena. While Piers 30-32 are an ideal location in conjunction with the Embarcadero and nearby Market Street transit. Mission Bay will prove ideal once the light rail hook up is good to go in 2019 the Warriors plan to open their new digs in the 2018 season.

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Donations hope to dump an ice bucket on ALS Lou Gehrig’s disease

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–There is hope in finding the cure for ALS Lou Gehrig’s disease since the former Yankee great past away in 1942 and as you know the medical profession has been fighting cancer and heart desease for decades. So it’s hope the campaign to get donations to find a cure works, there is one thing that Major League Baseball does a great job with and that’s getting it’s players, community, and charity organizations together for a drive of this magnitude and raising funds for these deseases and it’s a good idea.

ALS is a terrible desease it’s a debilitating of the muscles and effects the motor skills of a person, it effects you mechanics and how you move. It starts in the brain, I hope they can do something about this and MLB is involved in doing these fund raisers. As recently as Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander had a ice water bucket dumped on him for the donation drive and Verlander is a good spokesman so the league is in good hands.

Lou Gehrig played in a era where their was no use of helmets required in the 1920s and 1930s, it was said that Gerhig had been hit in the head by pitches and other concussion related incidents which led to his getting ALS. The Giants Brandon Belt who is out with a concussion and had to drop out of a series in Milwaukee when he struck out four times after previously getting hit in the head during fielding practice.

You never know what the results are going to be when you get hit in the head especially by a thrown or hit ball, if you are a catcher like former Giant Mike Matheny he had to retire from playing after getting hit in the head by foul tips in the helmet. He’s now managing in St.Louis. He would have continued to play but the concussion forced him out.

I’ve seen a lot of teams do the ice bucket campaign and it’s caught on and it’s been successful, people have suffered with this disease long enough and now it’s time to find a cure. This is a very rich country and folks can donate $1 to $1,000 it would be worth while.

A’s sharing a roughed up field with Raiders: The A’s have ten games left in the month of August and majority of those game are here at the Coliseum starting this weekend. The Angels are here for three games and the Halos are in first place by a half game over Oakland. It could be a race to the end and it could come down to the last game of the season.

It’s a shame that the A’s have to share the same stadium as the Oakland Raiders but that’s the way it is until the two teams can get their stadium issues resolved. Centerfield is not looking too bad yet but wait until the end of next month then it’ll be tough as the Raiders would have had two months worth of football on the field. There is going to be baseball here no matter what so this could go onto October. The A’s will make post season the only question is are they going to win the division or are they going to be the wild card winner.

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

Raiders and 49ers commentary: Schaub and quarterbacking looking much better;49ers fans still slogging into Levis

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders looked a lot better in last Friday’s game against the Detroit Lions in the the 27-26 close shave win at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders had a little bit of a wobble earlier on when quarterback Matt Schaub threw an interception. You don’t have to worry about that with Schaub remember last season Schaub he had six interceptions returned for touchdowns it just became one of the things that snowballed.

Schaub last season just lost his confidence because the interceptions kept coming while interceptions are bad the quarterback surely has something to do with it there’s also a bit of luck involved in it. Sometimes Schaub throws an interception it’s just weird tips, sometimes it’s from receivers running the wrong routes there were a lot of different things coming.

That really ruined Schaub’s season last year, if you see similar interceptions again you can pause, you don’t want to see it, you don’t want to see it coming. Schaub threw that early interception he recovered he came back and played pretty well and he played a couple more series and that’s all he played. Then quarterback Derek Carr came in and he look really good until he got knocked out of the game with a rib injury.

Some of the reporters and players were saying based on what they have seen from Carr and several of his series and a couple of his scoring series, Carr could be the quarterback by the middle of the season. I don’t know about that, that’s anybody’s guess and it all depends on how everyone plays. The Raiders picked Carr with the idea that he would compete for that starting job at some point and the earlier the better.

Traffic still about the same for the 49ers at Levis Stadium: The San Jose Earthquakes earlier this month had a regulation game against the Seattle Sounders at Levis Stadium and it was a test on what it would be like with a lot less fans attending an event at Levis then when the 49ers opened up Levis on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Fans waited and waited for hours to get in and out of Levis for that match and VTA had lines that lasted one and half hours long.

Traffic again was tied up getting to the park, some fans arrived as early as 6:30 AM to line up for parking, at this stage the city of Santa Clara and the 49ers are working out the kinks and it’s hopeful by the regular season on September 14th the 49ers have it all worked out or most it. Expect this season to be a whole work in progress getting people in and out of that stadium.

As we all know Candlestick Park ran for more than 50 years and they never figured how to get people in there and you hope that’s not the problem with Levis. It’s going to be tough, at this point in the year August, Great America is still open so that the Great America parking lot is off of the table as far as parking options are concerned.

Once Great America closes in September those parking lots will open up for the fans and getting in and out will become a lot more easier just because of the size of those lots and the fact that their already set up for big crowds that should help. Part of the problem you have tens of thousands of people coming in and without that Great America parking lot they flow out on all these other side streets and company lots in the neighboring areas.

It’s just a mess, once Great America is closed that parking lot becomes fair game and that should be easier and they definitely have to work out the issues with the VTA because that’s the big connector to Caltrain. The best option is to figure your public transportation to get to the ball park and go from there. The VTA had it’s issues during the Earthquakes match and part of it was people were litterally crossing in front of the train. Let’s see how it goes for the home opener on September 14th.

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Why I never liked the Cespedes for Lester trade

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–Right after the Oakland Athletics traded outfielder and clean up hitter Yoenis Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox, for pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes, I made it known why I did not like such deal. I said it on A’s Spanish radio and also on Fox Sports West TV in Anaheim with Angels. So this is not a reaction to today’s standings where the A’s who not very long ago had a 6 game lead and looked like the best team in the world are today percentage points in first place behind the LA Angels.

Yes, Céspedes was inconsistent, but he was still the SOUL of that Athletics lineup. Billy Beane was tired of losing game 5 vs.Tigers, but this year (the way things are going) the Tigers might be the last thing the Oakland team has to worry about. I also wrote about it right after the deal was made, here in this site.

With Yoenis Céspedes the A’s have won two Western Divisions, he was the most popular player on the Athletics, he can do it all, offensively and defensively, he made the other hitters in that lineup much better, fans would love to watch Céspedes at the plate. If he is healthy, he will thrive in the AL East, where he would play most of his games not only at Fenway but also in Baltimore, New York and parks much more hitter friendly than the Oakland Coliseum, Safeco Field, Angel Stadium and others.

Lucky for Yoenis, now his mentor in Boston is none but El Papi Grande Ortiz. A potential Hall of Fame player that also speaks Yoenis’ language. He doesn’t need Ariel Prieto to translate anymore, but most important, with Papi his “language”is more about hitting, and that my friends, is a tremendous advantage for Yoenis.

Billy Beane loves numbers, he still employs Daric Barton (who is in AAA Sacramento) because of his On-Base-Percentage, Barton is a first-baseman that walks a lot but doesn’t have much power. But anybody that knows anything about the game, knows that Barton is not a Major League player. I do predict he will come up again to Oakland, during the September call-ups. Beane loves Lester and his ability to win in the postseason, and that is fine, I do understand that.

World of Money Ball: Beane is not a genius in my book, he would be if he had won a couple of World Series for the Athletics, but many consider him such because with a $75-80 million payroll he can compete with teams that have twice that in players salaries. Economy wise, he is a genius to the owners, saves them money, and the team makes a profit, but as far as winning a championship, he still far from it.

Fans could care less about the economics of the game, the pay $10 for a beer and much more for tickets they want to see a championship team in Oakland, something that happened back in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake, when they swept the San Francisco Giants.

Yoenis always told me he was happy in Oakland, and that he would not mind staying here, because he appreciates the opportunity (his first since defecting from Cuba) into the Major Leagues. Yoenis Céspedes is a baseball player and he loves to play the game like most Cubans, but with the A’s he will never win a World Series.

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

A’s and Giants commentary: Panda picks up the pace with improved average but may not be back next year

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–It’s unlikely that we will see Pablo Sandoval back in a Giants uniform not becuase they don’t want him back next season but because they will choose not to pay market rates for him. Giants general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy are satisfied with what they see in Sandoval he hit.185 in the first five weeks of the season and has hit .320 since then how can you not be satisfied with that?

In spite of all that the Giants would like to have him but they can’t afford Sandoval, here’s what it comes down to he was asking for three years for $40 million which is $14 million a year that’s not terribly dis-similar from the numbers that were being thrown around from Hunter Pence’s numbers from the beginning of last year.

Pence closed with an explosion in September wound up getting a deal worth $18 million a year that’s five years for $90 million. Pence has played himself into that territory even though five years is a gamble with his size and that’s not to demean his condition and his weight we’re just talking about his body type. He has a shorter squatty body, he may lose his ability to react to the ball.

There is no question about it Bochy said the first three months of the season Panda was gone as soon as he was hitting in games in the seventh inning or later. He replaced Joauquin Arias at third base for defense, now I don’t think there is anybody in the National League you would use to replace him and the Panda is as good a defender as anyone out there.

Oakland A’s update: The Braves are becoming another team that’s an anigma with the highest runs scored in baseball. They traded away one player that wasn’t having that good of a year he was having his worst year in a Brave uniform and suddenly you have a team that can’t score runs. The Angels have been giving the A’s an opportunity to pull away their not taking advantage of it as they lost to Braves on Friday.

The A’s lost three out of four in Kansas City and now their in Atlanta facing a team that has to put out an all points bulletin to find out anything about them. Nobody knows anything about the Braves because they looked like they moved out of Turner Stadium. The A’s come to town and the Braves are below .500 and yet they got blown out on Friday night 7-2.

The Braves haven’t scored seven runs in a game in a week or two, the Braves have Justin Upton .210, Freddie Freeman.294, and Jason Heywood is swinging .269. You could have six guys in a row hitting .279 and how did they score on the A’s? On a single, walk, and a run. They didn’t score putting together rallies they put together hits when they needed to.

The Braves got some big contributions or they get nothing at all, the other six guys in that line up including the pitcher have to hit in order for that line up to win. The Washington Nationals are the class of the NL East and the Nats are going to end up running away with that division. and they’ll win it by double digits by the end of the season.

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