Author: smallforce

Keane’s hat trick the difference

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Photo credit: (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The San Jose Earthquakes ended their scoring drought, but extended their winless drought, as the Los Angeles Galaxy won the second matchup of the California Clasico with exclamation points, 5-2 Friday.

Robbie Keane scored the first of Los Angeles’ five straight goals. Two of his goals were penalty kicks, and it was his second straight MLS game with a hat trick, which he last accomplished on July 4th.

San Jose’s scoring drought ended in the 22nd minute, but they have now lost three straight MLS games, four including their ICC match.

San Jose got off to a promising start. Every time Los Angeles was close, the Quakes would knock the ball away with stout defense.

Quincy Amarikwa may have missed his first opportunity in the 12th minute, but he did not miss his next two for San Jose.

Off a free kick, Amarikwa ended the Quakes’ drought with his first goal since rejoining the team.  Sanna Nyassi crossed the ball and Amarikwa received it at the top of the box as the ball slid past goalie Brian Rowe.

Amarikwa’s brace goal came in the 25th minute, two goals in his second game of his second stint with San Jose. Clarence Goodson gave the assist.

Going by the crowd, there were two plays they felt should have been called, one being the Quakes rolling over a Los Angeles player and another play at the endline.

The Galaxy eventually got a penalty kick as Tommy Thompson was called for a penalty against Steven Gerrard, who made his MLS debut until the 87th minute.

Keane cut the lead in half, shooting past goalie David Bingham.

Gerrard then scored his first MLS goal in the 37th minute, as the ball eventually found its way to him from the other side. That resulted in two goals for each team in an active first half.

In the second half however, momentum went mostly to Los Angeles, as they scored three more goals. San Jose went without a shot on goal in the second half while the Galaxy kept making breakways toward goal. Gerrard first had a run. On the second one, the pass from Keane went to Sebastian Lletget, whose shot hit the crossbar and went out.

Los Angeles had more similar close calls later.

Shea Salinas drew a yellow card against Gerrard in the 55th minute. The Quakes had three yellows in the second half.

Keane and Gerrard connected on a free kick in the 64th minute for Keane’s middle goal

In the waning minutes, Bingham made a save, then in going for the loose ball, ended up knocking Bagio Husidic to the ground for Keane’s second penalty goal. Gerrard had scored right before the penalty made it null.

Lletget capped the game off in the 92nd minute. Robbie Rogers got the assist. Los Angeles has scored at least five goals in three of their last five games.

Game notes: Before the game, it was announced that San Jose had signed Marc Pelos,i Bay Area native, from the youth national team. Both teams were missing a player, the Galaxy Omar Gonzalez and the Quakes Chris Wondolowski, due to Gold Cup action.  The Quakes face the Vancouver Whitecaps in their next MLS action on July 26 at 4pm.

Quakes break winless streak

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The San Jose Earthquakes beat the top MLS team, the Seattle Sounders, in a 2-0 Saturday matchup.

It was San Jose’s first win since May 16, when they won by the same score, their second consecutive win over the Sounders this season, David Bingham’s second consecutive clean sheet and the Quakes’ second shutout on the road.

Seattle was without Clint Dempsey, who was serving the first of this three-game suspension from the US Open Cup.

It was the Sounders’ second scoreless game at home and their second shutout in the last three games.

Quakes’ head coach Dominic Kinnear said, “If you looked at the standings before the game, we were kind of on the outside looking in, so for us to get this win will help us catch up to some teams.”

Former Seattle-ite Sanna Nyassi gave the Quakes their first goal. San Jose was able to get the ball back before it crossed midfield, through fancy footwork as they jostled against along the sidelines. The ball went from Shea Salinas to Matias Perez Garcia to a wide open Nyassi to make it 1-0. Nyassi also had another goal during the game. He last scored on April 11.

The Quakes’ second goal was Matias Perez Garcia’s first goal of the season. It started with a clearance. Cordell Cato then got it when it was still in Seattle’s end and eventually passed it to Perez Garcia. Garcia then worked the ball around several defenders before scoring on goalie Stefan Frei in the 73rd minute. Garcia celebrated by kissing his wrists and kneeling while shooting the air with both hands.

On the goal, Cato said, “We were defending and the ball came out to Matias and I saw that there was open space and he got the ball to me. I made a long run and then I held up for him to catch up. He was asking for the ball and I made the pass and it was magic. He did the rest.”

Game notes: It was San Jose’s Marvell Wynne’s 250th regular season appearance. The Sounders’ Marco Pappa and the Quakes’ Chris Wondolowski were tied with four shots apiece. Changes from the last time San Jose faced Seattle were instead of Paulo Renato, Shaun Francis, JJ Koval and Innocent Emeghara, Clarence Goodson, Jordan Stewart, Shea Salinas and Adam Jahn. Changes from last game were Adam Jahn and Nyassi instead of Mark Sherrod and Cato. Now when getting the first goal and leading at the half, San Jose is  4-0-1 and 4-0-2 respectively in 2015. The Quakes next host the annual California Clasico against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Stanford Stadium June 27 at 7:30pm.

Oakland’s Championship turn: highlighted recap

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Photo credit: (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ June 19, 2015

OAKLAND– Around 500,000 fans repping the blue and gold with different slogans, signs and jerseys, showed up for the Golden State Warriors’ first championship in 40 years, with a parade, followed by a rally.

It has been four and a half years since the Bay Area had a similar championship void filled, that being the San Francisco Giants. Mentioning the Warriors’ past woes, co-owner Joe Lacob said,”I’m not sure many people can say they’ve been booed by 20,000 people and cheered by millions.”

At 10am, the San Jose Mercury News reported, the top Bart station of entry so far was Fremont with 9,717 entries. The Fremont Bart line for tickets wrapped around the parking lot before it split into two, some people waiting an hour. Then suddenly, without notice, fans were allowed to pass through the without a ticket, as people scrambled excitedly to get on their way to Oakland.

Chants of “Warriors!” were interspersed throughout the day.

During the parade, which began at 12th and Broadway, signs with names were put on the different modes of transportation, as blue and gold confetti filled the air. For the players, that included their number and their Twitter account names. It was usually two players, one in the front and one in the back of the open-air high-rise vehicles. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but David Lee and Shaun Livingston were sitting opposite their names. Adonal Foyle was also there. Stephen Curry, accompanied with daughter Riley and wife Ayesha among others, entered to the chants of “MVP!” and “Curry!” repeatedly.

Non-Warriors notable appearances were MC Hammer on Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s famous fire-breathing snail car and Marshawn Lynch rolling with Draymond Green on his float.

After the parade, fans made the at least 2 mile trek to the rally, according to a newscast, because of road closures. Musical performances could be heard alongside car honk cheering and sausages, some covered with bacon, looked like the popular choice for hungry fans.

The rally was held at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center next to Lake Merritt, where an audible splash was heard.

Big screens were put up showing interviews being given before the rally, which started at 12pm, fans impatient for it to start.

At 12:11pm, there was a shooting incident blocks away where three people were hurt.

Mayor Schaaf gave the team a key to the city made at the Crucible, a nonprofit industrial arts school.

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty lauded the Warriors style, “work hard, be humble and get the job done.”

Coach Steve Kerr started talking at about 1pm and traded jokes with Draymond Green. “I had to teach Draymond in nine months to become confident, rational, talk trash to the other team, his coach, his mother, to be a general pain in the butt…Sorry, I got carried away.”

Green said, “Every time I take a shot, Steve Kerr complains. Every time I make a shot I look at him. Twenty-four percent, but I got a ring.”

Andre Iguodala was not too behind with the levity. “What an amazing experience. I canceled my tee time this morning, so it must have been something important for me to cancel my tee time.

Riley made an indistinguishable sound at the podium and Curry said, “We’re going to suit up in three more months and try to do it again.”

On the way back walking to the Bart, a balloon simply expressing ‘Thank You’ could be seen and a guy announced, “when I say Dub, you say nation, Dub, nation!”

Hahn hands Padres loss

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ In the Oakland Athletics’ first interleague game this season, Jesse Hahn held San Diego at bay, for a 9-1 win Monday.

Hahn won the battle of both pitchers facing their former teams for the first time. He went 6.2 innings, gave up three hits, tying a season-low, one run and two walks while striking out four.

Padres’ starter Tyson Ross only had one clean inning, though the second was pretty close. He went five innings, tying a season-high with four runs and five walks, as he struck out six and gave up seven hits.

The last time the two teams faced each other at Petco Park was in 2009.

Runwise, the A’s and their opponents are respectively 17-2. Oakland’s Stephen Vogt hit a two out, first pitch grand slam in the top of the eighth. He also had two hits and another RBI. Brett Lawrie went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Ben Zobrist walked a career-high four times with a hit and three runs scored.

San Diego has only scored four runs their past three games.

Both teams put up runs in the third inning, one run for each coming off a walk.

Singles surrounded the A’s walk. Eric Sogard had a one out single, then stole second, Josh Reddick singled him in, Zobrist walked, Vogt singled in Reddick and Lawrie brought Zobrist home with an infield single to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the third, Alexi Amarista led off with a walk, Tyson Ross sacrificed and Will Venable doubled in Amarista to make it 3-1.

With one out in the top of the fifth, Zobrist walked and Vogt singled to put runners at the corners. This resulted in a mound meeting, after which Lawrie made it 4-1 and the bullpen started warming up.

San Diego started the top of the sixth with pitcher Nick Vincent on the mound.

The Padres threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Yangervis Solarte almost had a two-run home run. With two outs and runners on the corner, Oakland brought in Drew Pomeranz to pitch. Upton Jr. stole second, but Pomeranz eventually got Venable to ground out.

The A’s did not let up in the top of the eighth. They had no outs and runners on the corner, due to a lead off walk by Marcus Semien and a pinch-hit single by Billy Butler. Burns then made it 5-1 on a single before Vogt’s slam later.

Game notes: Long-time San Diego manager Bud Black was fired before the game, and replaced by Bench Coach Dave Roberts. The Padres are now in the hunt for a 2015 Interim Manager. Game two of this four-game series kicks off at 12:40pm Tuesday.

Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers players battle for a rebound

Iggy ignites Warriors to even Finals

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Photo credit: (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Andre Iguodala made his first start with a season-high of 22, as Golden State did what they did in Memphis, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday in Game Four, 103-82.

Iguodala started instead of Andrew Bogut, as the Warriors came back from a 2-1 series deficit on the road.

Cleveland’s Timothy Mozgov led all with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Lebron James had a double-double as well, below his usual performance though, with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Golden State’s Stephen Curry had 22 points.

The Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt replied during the postgame conference that he did think his team was tired. They disappeared in the fourth quarter.

Iguodala after the game, said, “It’s hard to keep up with us, and we’re going to try to keep it going.”

The game started out with more Cleveland momentum, though, as they got off to a 7-0 lead.

The Warriors responded quickly after the timeout.

Later, Golden State’s Draymond Green made an aggressive jumper, resulting in a foul shot. That foul shot tied the game at 20 with 4:29 left to go.

The following possession, Klay Thompson gave Warriors their first and final lead.

Golden State’s David Lee came into the game early, with 3:57 left in the first..

With 2:13 left, the Cavs’ missed four straight shots, while the Warriors made three, Iguodala with two of those baskets for a nine-point lead and coincidentally, a game-high nine points in the first for him.

Green had a game-tying 13 points at the end of the first half with Mozgov. Green got six of those starting with 6:51 left in the second, scoring three of the four plays that led to the Golden State’s largest lead of the first half with 4:25 left, 48-33. All of them were different types of shots, including one from the foul line and one beyond the arc. After the latter, Green could be seen saying, “I’m back.”

Meanwhile, during and after, James went 1-of-4 from the free throw line. With 4:43 left in the second, he was fouled by Andrew Bogut, lost his balance and hit his head on one of the cameras, causing bleeding cuts, but did not leave the game.

In the first half, Cleveland’s Matthew Dellavedova was 0 of 5 from beyond the arc with only one basket. In fact, the team missed 11 straight threes.

Both teams traded off quarters in the second half.

Iguodala made a three to start the third and make it a 15 point lead again. However, Dellavedova then made two straight threes, assisted by James. James also made both of his free throws, had an assist and two consecutive baskets, to make it 62-65 with 5:11 left. After 9:46 left, the Warriors had no non-foul shots until 4:54 left in the quarter.

Dellavedova had to leave the game temporarily due to cramping.

In the fourth, Curry and Iguodala had one and two threes respectively. The Cavs only scored 12 points. J.R. Smith was the only player other than Mozgov in the quarter, to score a non-foul shot. The other five of Mozgov’s seven points came from free throws. Golden State’s largest lead became 23 with 1:17 left.

Game notes: With the series now even at 2-2, the teams travel back to Oakland to face off Sunday at 5pm.

Quakes’ defense unsolid

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Sebastian Giovinco was the talk of the match without scoring, as San Jose’s five-game unbeaten streak fell to Toronto FC Saturday, 3-1, after a rain delay.

The Quakes gave up three goals for the first time this season as they outshot Toronto, but on goal, Toronto outshot San Jose 8-2.

Giovinco was named Man of the Match as he had two assists for the first time this season. He also clanged the bar twice, early and late in the game, as Toronto has now won two straight at home.

The last time the Quakes gave up multiple goals coincided with the game before the start of their unbeaten streak, April 17. In turn, San Jose has only scored multiple goals three times this season.

Former San Jose defender Justin Morrow gave Toronto the first goal with a header  in the 22nd minute. It was his first goal of the season as Giovinco and Jonathan Osorio gave the assists.

Two minutes later, a Toronto Ashton Morgan handball set up a Chris Wondolowski penalty kick. Wondolowski replicated the location of his 100th goal, with his 101th goal, which was a penalty shot too, in the lower left of the net. This makes four straight goals for Wondolowski, the first time since 2012.

This would not be enough for the Quakes this time, however.

The game winning goal was set up when Sanna Nyassi failed to clear the ball when Giovinco got the ball from him. Nyasia went down afterwards. The ball then went to Luke Moore, who kicked the ball to Warren Creavalle. Creavalle rocketed the ball forward from beyond the penalty box, to make it 2-1 in the 33rd minute. It was also his first goal of the season.

Moore gave Toronto an added boost with hi first goal of the season as well in the 71st minute. Toronto kicked the ball forward from midfield to Giovinco. Giovinco then kicked the ball sideways to Moore who came in to the play late, but was able to knock the ball into the net. Bingham touched the ball, but the kick was too strong.

Game notes: For San Jose, JJ Koval made his first start in awhile, Mark Sherrod saw his first action of the season and the team was without Fatai Alashe, Tommy Thompson and Matias Perez Garcia. Coach Dominic Kinnear said Perez Garcia “still has a bit of a groin problem.” The Quakes will look to preserve their unbeaten streak at home now when they host FC Dallas at 4pm June 7.

Bingham’s blocks not enough

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ James Riley rescued the Colorado Rapids with just his third career goal, in a 1-1 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes Friday, in an on and off rainy match.

Quakes ‘ goalie David Bingham was performing as one of the heroes, parrying and blocking shots, as he frustrated Colorado players.

Even as the Rapids increased their possession percentage in the second half though, the Quakes largely remained defensive as Colorado outshot San Jose 13-3. The five minutes of stoppage time may have pushed Bingham and San Jose to the edge.

Bingham punched the ball to Riley and his looping header went into goal in the 93rd minute. It prevented the Quakes’ first consecutive road wins in nearly two years.

It was another tight matchup for the Quakes’ road trip finale. The teams have now drawn in their last four games and Colorado did the same. San Jose hasn’t scored multiple goals since March 22 and the Rapids have scored only one goal in each of their last five games.

The Rapids still set a MLS record, 11 games without a home win. The Quakes still haven’t lost in 11 games to Colorado.

San Jose started off with two quick corners.

The rain started about 5 1/2 minutes into the game.

Chris Wondolowski gave the Quakes a first half lead for the second time in the last three games. Both came in the 19th minute. The play started with a corner kick by Shea Salinas. Eventually, Sanna Nyassi sent a header to a wide open Wondo on the right side of the pitch. Wondo touched the ball as goalie Clint Irwin jumped and then fell before Wondo touched the ball again, blowing on his hands after scoring.

San Jose’s Tommy Thompson started for the first time this season and almost had a goal in the 30th minute.

Wondo had another opportunity in the 37th minute. After a cross by Marvell Wynne, Wondolowski’s shot was saved directly in front. It led to opposing coach Pablo Mastroeni coming off the bench and yelling.

The Rapids was able to break through the Quakes’ defense a bit near the end of the first half. Nyassi’s pass went to Powers and in the 43rd minute Gabriel Torres, one-on-one, kicked the ball right to Bingham, who was in an offensive position. That was San Jose’s only shot on goal in the first half.

In the 45th minute, Dillon Powers missed the pass by Torres to him up front.

Torres was in scoring position in the 53rd minute, but got the ball offsides.

In the 86th minute, Colorado’s Charles Eloundu skied the ball over Bingham and the net. Eloundu reacted and so did his coach, Eloundu with both hands over his head

In the 94th minute, Powers nearly made it 2-1 and after a corner kick, teammate Lucas Pittinari’s shot hit the post.

Game notes:. Quakes’ Paulo Renato started for the first time since March 14. San Jose broke Gabriel Torres’ two game goal streak. The Quakes’ Matias Perez didn’t start for the first time this season. The Quakes finished the road trip 1-1-2. They return home to face Columbus May 16 at 7:30 PM.

Jahn’s header gets Quakes three points

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ San Jose’s Adam Jahn scored his first goal in almost 2 years to the date, as the Quakes held on for a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo Tuesday.

One minute after Jahn had a deflected shot, he got another chance with an immediate backwards header off Matias Perez-Garcia’s free kick in the 54th minute. Jahn said, “It’s a numbers game; just keep knocking on the door.”

The Quakes have gone without multiple goals since March 22, but all they needed was Jahn. It San Jose moved up to fourth place in the Western Conference

Houston shored up their defense, though not enough. It was a vast improvement from the previous two games.

San Jose’s Fatai Alashe was knocked out of the game in the 26th minute with a yellow card against his opponent, Ricardo Clark. Alashe was kneed in the back by Clark.

The Quakes looked like they had the possibility of making it three straight games with no shots on goal from Western conference opponents after the first half.

However, Clark spoiled that with a shot on goal in the 46th minute.  It was the first given up by San Jose in 135 minutes.

The Dynamo looked like they would tie the game after Quakes’ goalie David Bingham was called for a penalty in the 57th minute, as Boniek Garcia was trying to get to the net.

Giles Barnes took the penalty kick and Bingham rectified the penalty with a save in his first penalty kick. It would have been Barnes’ fifth goal in as many games.

Game notes: San Jose is now 3-0-1 when scoring first in 2015. The Quakes’ Jordan Stewart played for the first time since October 26, 2014. San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski had five shots, none on net and still has not scored against his former team. It was Quakes’ head coach Dominic Kinnear’s first game versus his former team and he is now 24-1-7 with San Jose. The Quakes finish their four-game road trip at Colorado when they face the Rapids at 7pm.

Giants versus Angels Preview

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The San Francisco Giants (9-13) will now face the other “Los Angeles” (11-11) team for the first time this season. It will also be the Angels’ first interleague series of the season. The teams will start off May with a three game weekend series in San Francisco.

“I think it was a pretty successful April, given the circumstances,” Los Angeles’s right fielder Kole Calhoun said. “It’s nice to be .500.”

Each played a home game in spring training and the Giants lost both games 3-2.

Both teams are 6-4 in their last ten games.

San Francisco will be coming off an off day after playing the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games. The Giants will be coming off a 7-3 loss in which the long ball hurt them.

The Angels will be coming off a narrow 6-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics on the other side of the Bay. The hero of the game, Mike Trout, will bring two multi-hit games into the matchup against San Francisco. He went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a walk in his last two games. The first game Trout also had three runs batted in and the second game an additional walk. Los Angeles has won their last two games, scoring six runs in each.

The Giants are 4 and a half games and the Angels four games behind their respective division leaders, but San Francisco is at the bottom of their division and Los Angeles in second place in the American League.

The Angels are tied for 17th in the league in runs scored with 89 and San Francisco 28th in the league with 66. For pitching, Los Angeles is 12th in the league with a 3.83 earned run average and the Giants 16th in the league with a 3.93 earned run average. San Francisco tops the Angels in fielding, 7th with a .986 fielding percentage and 20th with a .981 fielding percentage respectively.

Los Angeles’s first baseman Albert Pujols, who is day-to-day, hopes to participate in the series after injuring his left hamstring Wednesday.

The projected starters for the three games are  for the Angels, C.J. Wilson, Hector Santiago, Jered Weaver and Chris Heston, Tim Hudson and Tim Lincecum for the Giants, respectively. Wilson started the last game the two teams played in the Cactus League. Weaver and Hudson will be looking for their first wins of the season.

May 1 will be a 7:15pm start and the games on Saturday and Sunday will start at 1:05pm.

Greinke gets Giants

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Zach Greinke remained perfect against the San Francisco, in April and the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Giants, 7-3 Wednesday.

With Los Angeles, Greinke is now 6-0, 10-0 and 4-0 respectively as the Dodgers have now beat San Francisco twice in the past three games, both wins by similar scores.

The game was not looking like a sure win from the beginning. Both pitchers got off to a rocky start, Ryan Vogelsong’s more than Greinke’s.

The Giants’ best inning was the top of the fourth, but that was when Greinke started settling down.

For the rest of the game, Greinke only issued a walk and the bullpen only had a runner on base due to an error.

Vogelsong pitched three innings, giving up five hits and six runs.

Greinke pitched six innings, giving up seven hits and three runs while striking out six.

Greinke struck out three batters in the top of the first but San Francisco struck first. Nori Aoki led with a single and then with two outs, Buster Posey and Brandon Belt singled to bring Aoki in for the early 1-0 lead.

Vogelsong was victimized by the solo home runs again as he gave up two on early counts in the bottom of the inning. Joc Pederson led off with a homer, then Adrian Gonzalez homered with two outs and after a four pitch walk, Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer to make it 4-1.

Vogelsong retired the side in the second but then Jimmy Rollins led off with a homer on another early count in the third. The Giants exited the inning behind 6–1.

San Francisco then got on the home run board in the fourth. Casey McGehee led off with a double and then Crawford homered to cut the lead in half, 6–3. Greinke made three straight outs after.

The Giants took another step back as things did not start out well for relief pitcher George Kontos either in the fifth.  Grandal led off with a walk, Uribe doubled and Greinke had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning. Kontos narrowly escaped without further damage, as he gave up another walk after and was falling behind to Rollins.

Game notes: Posey has still hit in every game versus Los Angeles so far, a six-game hitting streak. San Francisco’s Angel Pagan’s five-game hitting streak ended. The Giants will next host the Los Angeles Angels, starting on May Day at 7:15 PM.