That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Bill Buckner Played 22 Years, but Remembered for One Miscue

Photo credit: @BostonGlobe

Bill Buckner was a very good baseball player. Born in Vallejo, California on December 14, 1949. He died after a battle with dementia on May 27,2019 in Boise, Idaho. Buckner played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, California Angels (now Los Angeles Angels) and Kansas City Royals.

After 22 years in the Major Leagues, the first baseman ended with a solid .289 batting average. Buckner played in 2,517 games and collected 2,715 hits. Buckner also won the 1980 batting title in the National League with the Chicago Cubs batting .324.

Unfortunately, Buckner was always remembered for the costly error during the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. I happened to be broadcasting for the old CBS Hispanic Radio Network over 200 Spanish format stations in the US and Latin America alongside veterans Juan Vene and Billy Berroa and international producer Armando Talavera. It was Game 6 at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York at the bottom of the 10th inning when the Mets’ Mookie Wilson hit a grounder that went through Bill Buckner’s legs, allowing Ray Knight scoring from second with the winning run for a Mets’ 6-5 win. The next day, in Game 7 game, the Mets beat the Red Sox 8-5 to win the series. The key play was the one that turned around the series — Buckner’s error.

Baseball is a wonderful game. However, moments, good or bad, will be remembered for many years. After that error, Buckner was not welcome in Boston, home of one of the most passionate fanbases in baseball. There were death threats, and he was persona non grata for many years in that great city.

Although I vividly remember that moment of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Red Sox fans that were at Shea Stadium crying, while Mets fans could not be any more pleased, I personally remember Buckner as a very good dependable professional MLB player for over two decades.

You cannot judge a career for one play, however, it unfortunately happens. Remember when Jose Canseco played right field for the Texas Rangers on May 26, 1993 and let a ball hit him in the head and rebounded over the fence for a home run? Yes, that happened, but people should also remember in 1988, Canseco was with the Oakland Athletics and was the first ever 40-40 man when he hit 42 home runs and stole 40 bases en route to the American League MVP. Canseco had a 17-year career with 462 home runs.

However, the Canseco play was during a regular season, Buckner’s play was during a World Series. Though I remember the infamous play, I moreso remember Buckner as a very productive MLB player.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s get the long ball from Chapman and Canha

photo from sfgate.com: Oakland Athletics’ Matt Chapman, right, is congratulated by Robbie Grossman (8) after hitting a two-run home run off Seattle Mariners pitcher Mike Leake in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Oakland, Calif.

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

#1 How annoying in the A’s win streak was that game that was canceled on the count of no rain in Detroit two Sundays ago that very well could have been win number 4 and the A’s could have 11 straight on Monday?

#2 During the Mariners series in Oakland, there was little doubt that the struggle they had with them in Seattle to start the road trip last week was on their minds.

#3 The A’s got off to a shaky start after opening up their season in Tokyo. To go from a regular season line up with a 15-hour time difference and then revert to the preseason. Was that all part of their rough start?

#4 Charlie O, you said this was going to be a good A’s team at sometime this season with all the talent they have here with Canha, Semien, Chapman, Olson, Profar, Laureano, and Phegley, that they were eventually were go to break out the bats.

#5 Mariners manager Scott Servais got tossed for arguing a challenge call in the bottom of the seventh inning that saw Canha slide into second that he felt was an out. Later, the A’s got two runs on M’s shortstop Roenis Elias’ error and Profar later hit a groundout RBI. A’s manager Bob Melvin said he would have argued the umpiring crew waited to long to make a decision on the play.

Charlie O does the A’s podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Welcome back Amaury after two months off from surgery; Amaury talks about A’s win streak

twitter.com file photo: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez (left) with broadcast partner Manolo Hernandez Douen (right) prepare to call another Oakland Athletics game in Spanish at the Oakland Coliseum.

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Amaury you were out for some two months after one of the longest layoffs in your broadcast career. What was that like being away from the mic?

#2 The A’s are currently on one of the longest streaks they’ve had in recent memory. It’s early, but folks have been talking about that 2002 season when they won 20 straight games

#3 In order to put together a win steak like that, you have to have a lot of things working for you and they’ve been getting timely hitting and long ball help from Mark Canha in place of injured Khris Davis.

#4 The Oakland A’s story has almost overshadowed the Golden State Warriors and their NBA Finals appearance starting in Toronto on Thursday night

#5 Amaury, you covered the Stanley Cup Final three years ago when the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins teed it up, This year, San Jose missed the finals by this much and now it’s going to be the St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins. What was it like to be there at a very electric Stanley Cup Final when you got to cover it three years ago?

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball on KIQI 1010 San Francisco, the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Bochy says it’s the worst season he’s seen in awhile

@BruceBochy file photo: San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy says this has been the worst season in awhile for the struggling Giants, who are on a five-game losing streak.

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the San Francisco Giants. The basics: no hitting and no pitching. Manager Bruce Bochy says its the worst season he’s seen in awhile.

#2 Up and down the lineup, they’re just not getting the hitting or run support from Joe Panik .245, Steve Duggar .242, Buster Posey .252,Brandon Belt .229, Evan Longoria .225, and Brandon Crawford .200.

#3 The Giants have also been lacking in their pitching help. For example, starters Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Suarez, and Shaun Anderson have pitched 11 2/3 innings and allowed 20 runs

#4 One item that has been discussed is local businesses have struggled near the ballpark. Merchants have said business has been down by half or worse and some say no one is coming into their business.

#5 Giants have a much-needed day off before heading to Florida. Starting for SF, Jeff Samardzija (2-3, 3.27 ERA) vs. the Marlins Trevor Richards (1-5, 4.14 ERA).

Morris does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Wondo surpasses expectations in Earthquakes’ 2-1 win over Toronto FC

Photo credit: @NBCSAuthentic

By: Ana Kieu

Chris Wondolowski passed Landon Donovan for most career goals last week. Fast forward to this week and Wondo surpassed the expectations in the San Jose Earthquakes’ 2-1 win over Toronto FC at BMO Field on Sunday night.

Check out the Quakes’ starting lineup below.

Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

Sure, Toronto FC got on the board first, but that was their lone goal of the game. Richie Laryea, a Toronto native, notched his first goal in his hometown in the 28th minute.

The officials handed Tommy Thompson a yellow card in the 34th minute, but that didn’t get in the way of the Quakes’ success on the road.

Wondo tied the game 1-1 in the 37th minute. As a result, Wondo recorded his 149th career goal and the Quakes’ social media staff reportedly needed a new hashtag for the goal king.

The game was tied 1-1 at the end of the first half. San Jose settled for the draw, despite the fact Cristian Espinoza almost scored the go-ahead goal, but it went just wide of the net.

The second half featured a lot of yellow cards. Liam Fraser received a yellow card for his hard tackle on Tommy Thompson in the 61st minute. Then, back-to-back yellow cards were handed to Cristian Espinoza and Magnus Eriksson in a five-minute span.

The Quakes’ first substitution of the game occurred in the 73rd minute as Danny Hoesen replaced Magnus Eriksson.

Wondo scored the go-ahead goal for a 2-1 lead in the 81st minute. As a result, Wondo recorded his 150th career goal and the Quakes’ social media staff reminded the blue and black fanbase that they weren’t dreaming. Wondo now stands as the all-time MLS leader in game-winning goals with 42.

The Quakes won 2-1. With the win, San Jose has a two-game winning streak.

The Quakes take on DC United at Audi Field on Saturday, June 1 at 5:00 pm PT.

D-Backs break out broom on Giants

Photo credit: @carskelly

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — This will be a series that the San Francisco Giants will want to put behind them, and look forward to hitting the road.

Ketel Marte hit a solo home run off of Shaun Anderson in the top of the first, and then Eduardo Escobar scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones and the Arizona Diamondbacks swept the Giants after a 6-2 victory before a crowd of 37,017 at Oracle Park.

This was the first sweep by the Diamondbacks over the Giants in San Francisco since June 12-14, 2015.

In the three-game series, the Giants were outscored by the Diamondbacks 34-8.

If you’re going to look now (on Memorial Day weekend), now’s the time. That’s the worst series of the year. I can’t remember one where we had three consecutive games with that kind of baseball we just played. Starters had a hard time getting the ball where they wanted. Anderson (pitch location) was up early, he finally made an adjustment. But along with the hits, the mistakes he made. Now you throw in bad defense and that’s a recipe for what happened today. You know that’s three games where we just played our worst ball, said Bruce Bochy.

Escobar singled following the Marte home run, advanced to second on an Anderson wild pitch and then scored on the Jones sacrifice fly.

Buster Posey got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the first inning, as he doubled in Joe Panik, who led off the inning with a double that came up feet short of Paniks third home run of the season.

Nick Ahmed started off the second inning by singling, stole second and went to third, when Andersons pitch got by Posey. After a Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Ahmed, when Anderson failed to look Ahmed back to third base.

Jarrod Dyson got in on the act, as he singled in Kelly. Following the Dyson single, Marte drove in his second run of the game, as he singled, went to second on the throw and when the throw hit the third base bag, Dyson scored easily from third base.

Weaver picked up his fourth win of the season, as he went five innings, allowing one run on six hits, walking two and striking out six, before leaving the game with tightness in his right arm.

Anderson went five innings, as he gave up six runs (four of them earned) on nine hits, walking one and striking out one and lost for the first time in his major-league career.

It was a huge day at the plate for rookie Mike Yastrzemski, who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored; however, he will be best remembered for what happened on his first major league hit. Yastrzemski wandered too far off of first base, and as he attempted to get back to first base, he was thrown out by left fielder Blake Swihart.

In comparison, it took Yastrzemskis grandfather, Hall of Famer Carl, 10 games to notch his first three-hit game in the majors. The 21-year old Yastrzemski picked up his first three-hit game on April 29, 1961 for the Boston Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium.

Sam Coonrod made his major-league debut, as he pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

NOTES: With the 34 runs scored in the series, the Diamondbacks broke their team record of 32 for most runs in a three-game series on the road. The previous record was set from June 3-5, 2014 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

The 34 runs tied a team record that was set at Chase Field from September 12-14, 2016 against the Rockies.

This was the second time this season that the Giants have been swept at home, as the New York Yankees swept the Giants from April 26-28.

Overall, the Giants have lost 14 out of their last 20 games at Oracle Park.

To make room for Coonrod on the roster, the Giants optioned Saturdays starter, Andrew Suarez to Triple-A Sacramento.

Posey picked up his 13th double of the season, giving him 259 in his career, which is fourth all-time in SF history. The late Willie McCovey is third all-time with 308 doubles during his two stints with the Giants.

UP NEXT: After an off-day on Monday, the Giants begin a three-city, nine-day road trip on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park.

Jeff Samardzija will take the mound for the Giants, while Trevor Richards will open the series for the Marlins.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s take 8-game win streak into series finale with M’s today

Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 The Oakland A’s won their eighth straight game defeating the Seattle Mariners by a run 5-4 on Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum. With the win, the A’s move into second place trailing first place Houston by 7 1/2 games.

#2 The A’s have won five of their last six series and have swept series in Detroit and Cincinnati. They’ve been very focused on the road during this streak as well.

#3 They have been getting timely hitting from designated hitter Mark Canha whose been filling in for the injured Khris Davis.

#4 The A’s, with the win on Saturday, also move into a tie for second in the Wild Card race proving winning a whole bunch and having some success on the road can move you up in the standings.

#5 A’s and Mariners wrap it up today at the Coliseum. For Seattle, Mike Leake (3-5, 4.73 ERA) vs. Oakland’s Brett Anderson (5-3, 4.14 ERA).

Joey does the A’s podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast with Daniel Dullum: Sharks’ Karlsson tweet sounds more like a farewell; Blues-Bruins update from the Finals; plus more

nbcsports.com file photo: San Jose Sharks Erik Karlsson acknowledges the San Jose crowd at SAP Center in San Jose during the third round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues.

On the NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast with Daniel:

1 Blues reach the Stanley Cup finals after mid-season turnaround

2 Sharks fans are worried about cryptic Karlsson tweet

3 Report: Penguins, Wild discussing trade involving Phil Kessel

4 Recent trend: NHL execs returning to familiar franchises

5 Modano returns to NHL roots; joins Wild as an advisor

Catch Daniel right here throughout the NHL Finals at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Final podcast with Matt Harrington: Bruins pack em in the Garden just for a morning skate; B’s fans just can’t get enough

photo from boston.com: Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie Coyle of the Boston Bruins take in a morning skate on Friday at TD Waterhouse Garden in preparation of Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final series starting on Monday night in Boston.

On the Stanley Cup Final with Matt:

#1 What is it like for the Boston Bruins to come off a 10-day layoff and open the series at home on Monday night against the St. Louis Blues?

#2 During the layoff, the Bruins had their morning skates at TD Waterhouse Garden, and despite no numbers on the practice jerseys, the fans packed the entire arena and as Matt always says everyone loves a winner.

#3 Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said, “Guys seemed to be huffing and puffing when they came out. I think once you go 10 days no playing, I think it’s good to get a little action in, get used to that pace. I think that’s what we wanted to accomplish, and it looked good.”

#4 What’s it like for the Blues that the media is lending all it’s attention on the Bruins for the upcoming series? They know with all the B’s hype, they’re the underdogs in this one.

#5 Blues right winger Vladimir Tarasenko is having a great run in the playoffs, leading the Blues in points in the last series against San Jose and the Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington with a 1000% save percentage, a combination like that spells trouble for their opponents during the postseason.

Matt Harrington does the NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

D-Backs drop a 10 spot on the Giants

Photo credit: @Dbacks

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — If you thought the Arizona Diamondbacks scored enough to score to be all scored out, you are watching the wrong game.

Ildemaro Vargas reached on a fielding error by Pablo Sandoval that allowed Ketel Marte to score from third base, and then Kevin Cron hit a sacrifice fly to Kevin Pillar that saw Pillar fly in the air like Superman, got up and threw to Joe Panik, who in turn threw to Brandon Belt for the double play; however, Vargas was originally as no across the plate in time. Torey Lovullo challenged the call and it was reserved, as that would be all the runs that the D-Backs would need on their way to 10-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 31,531 at Oracle Park.

“It’s bad baseball, there’s no getting around it,” said Bruce Bochy.

This was the first time that the D-backs scored at least 10 or more runs in back-to-back games since September 20, 2017 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, and then two days later against the Miami Marlins on September 22 at Chase Field.

As for the Giants, it was not as long, as they gave 10 or more runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 29 and 30 of 2018.

Andrew Suarez helped out his cause in the bottom of the second inning, as he legged out an infield single that allowed Brandon Belt to score from third base. That run batted in by Suarez would account for the Giants only run on the afternoon until Evan Longoria walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored Mike Yastrzemski, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.

Yastrzemski, who is the grandson of Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame left fielder Carl Yastrzemski was recalled from Sacramento and to make room for Yastrzemski, the Giants designated Mac Williamson for assignment.

In his debut, Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a hit by a pitch, as he started in left field before moving to center field in the top of the eighth inning.

Things went from bad to worse for the Giants, as the D-Backs scored eight runs between the third and fifth innings to blow the game wide open.

It was a tough day for Suarez, who went four innings, allowing nine runs (seven of them earned), walked three and struck out four, also threw two wild pitches and allowed a home run and fell to 0-2 on the season.

The nine runs allowed by Suarez were a career-high, breaking the previous mark of eight that was set on August 4, 2018 against the D-Backs at Chase Field.

Tyler Clarke went 6.1 innings for the D-Backs, allowing three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out one, as he picked up his first major league win.

Marte hit a home run for the second time in as many games, as it was the second time in his career that he hit home runs in back-to-back games.

NOTES: On the double play that ended the first inning, that was the 16th outfield assist for the Giants this season, which leads the major leagues. The Miami Marlins are second in assists with 12.

Cron picked up his first major league hit and run batted in, as his father Chris Cron, who is the manager of the D-Dbacks Triple-A farm club, Reno Aces, looked on from the crowd.

UP NEXT: Shaun Anderson continues to look for that elusive first major league win, as the former Florida Gators pitcher faces Luke Weaver, who pitched for the Gators rival, the Florida State Seminoles and is looking for fourth win of the season for the D-Backs.