Photo credit: @NBCSWarriors
On the Warriors podcast with David:
#1 What does it mean for Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors to be battling the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lilliard and his brother Seth in the Western Conference Finals?
#2 The Warriors are without Kevin Durant, whose situation is game to game during this series. What is the extent of his pain and injury to his calf?
David does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: nbcsports.com
On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:
#1 Was the decision to designate Kendrys Morales for assignment the right thing to do. Morales joined the A’s after Matt Olson broke a bone in his right hand, Morales but ended up hitting .204, one homer and seven RBIs.
#2 Pitcher Edwin Jackson has been on 14 different major league teams, and this week, the Oakland A’s dealt him to that 14th team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Jackson is expected to get a start this week and he’ll join the Jays in San Francisco as Toronto is in San Francisco for a two game series. Jackson is 6-3, 3.33 ERA.
#3 Ironically, Mark Canha has come full circle after Morales replaced him on the roster. Canha now replaces Morales. Canha homered in his first game with the A’s on Monday night and Charlie talks about what it means to have Canha back in the lineup again.
#4 It’s a while, but Khris Davis slugged two home runs at Safeco Field on Monday night for his 11th and 12th homers of the season. Davis looks like he’s got that old swing back again.
#5 Taking a look at Tuesday night’s pitchers at Safeco, the Oakland A’s will be starting with Brett Anderson (4-2, 4.19 ERA) for the Seattle Mariners Mike Leake (2-4, 4.37 ERA).
Charlie O does the A’s podcasts each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
nbcsports.com file photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner gets ready to deliver, Bumgarner has been the talk of trade rumors which includes going to the Boston Red Sox.
By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
Sometimes you can tell how a baseball season might end after one-quarter of the season already is in the books. That might very well be the case this 2019 season. Some teams are so bad, that you really do not need two to four months to evaluate (find out their identity) because you know they just do not have it. It is simple as that. In the A’s case, we knew their identity of this young team last year, and the question was can they duplicate that success? In the Giants’ case, we knew they were not going to be in the picture, and during Spring Training, the big interest was to trade Madison Bumgarner.
The Houston Astros are ruling the American League West and the Los Angeles Dodgers the National League West. These two teams have an excellent possibility of facing each other in the World Series. This is not a prediction, but a good possibility, and not because they are on top as of today, but because they have the players and depth. It didn’t matter that the Seattle Mariners had their best start for season since 1977 in their inaugural season or that the Diamondbacks, who are almost like the M’s, trade a lot of their key players in the off-season and nobody expected them to be playing this well.
Of course, let’s get to our two Bay Area teams.
The A’s who surprised the world and won 97 games last year and made it to the postseason, did not have a set rotation from the offset of Spring Training. Hopefully, their #1 starter Shawn Manaea will be back soon to anchor their hurting pitching staff. Some injuries have hurt the A’s, who basically had the same team as last year, with some exceptions like Jurickson Profar at second-base, taking the place of the reliable veteran All Star Jed Lowrie, who went to the Mets, but has not played yet and is recovering from an injury in Syracuse, N.Y.
For the Giants, the time is getting close for trading Bumgarner with a high probability of trade before the July 31 deadline. It is all a matter of whether they can get a couple of young prospects for the future — nothing more, nothing less — rebuilding is in the air at Oracle. But there is a chance the Giants roster might look very different soon. Although their problem is that they are stuck with older players with large contracts.
For the A’s, the most important news is not on the field, but that they have cleared the way to eventually build their new ballpark. What location remains the big question. The chances of the A’s making it to the postseason again are as good as ever inside a weak division. They look like a Wild Card team.
Outside baseball, the Sharks and Warriors are in the middle of their respective playoff series, and that is nothing new.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez writes That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary and Barbara Mason does That’s Amaury’s podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
dallasnews.com photo: Starting pitcher Derek Holland #45 of the San Francisco Giants throws in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on May 8, 2019 in Denver, Colorado.
On the Giants podcast with Morris:
#1 Giants pitcher Derek Holland said he faked an injury, which the Giants countered by saying Holland had a left bruised index finger. The Giants say medical records back up the injury while Holland was listed as injured and demoted from a starter to the bullpen.
#2 Holland was listed with the injured bruised finger and sat last month, Holland has insisted he was not injured and the Giants general manager Farhan Zaidi said, “The guy gets hit by a truck, he can’t walk out on the field. That I guess an unequivocal injury, but there’s a lot of gray area beyond that.”
#3 Holland, no doubt, was disappointed that he was forced to sit for the April 29th injury, and said there was nothing wrong with him and he really wanted to pitch.
#4 Holland says the front office doesn’t know what their doing with the exception for Giants manager Bruce Bochy. Holland said, “I did fake an injury. I’m not happy about that. But at the end of the day I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do.”
#5 Morris has the Giants day off report tonight. On Tuesday, the Giants host the Toronto Blue Jays for two games. The Jays will start Trent Thornton (0-4, 5.06 ERA) and the Giants will start Tyler Beede (0-1,18.69 ERA). Both pitchers are looking for their first win of the season.
Morris does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By: Lewis Rubman
San Francisco Giants: 6 | 10 | 2
Cincinnati Reds: 5 | 11 | 0
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants sent Madison Bumgarner (2-4, 3.99) to the mound this afternoon, hoping to salvage one victory in this week end’s series against the resurgent Reds. The Redlegs, after saving their honor by beating the A’s in the series finale at the Coliseum, enjoyed a three game winning streak, started Tyler Mahle (0-5, 3.69 ERA). San Francisco went into contest sitting at the bottom of the NL West standings with a three-game losing streak, the last two losses coming against Cincinnati, and a won-lost record of 16-23. In spite of their recent success on both sides of the bay, the Redlegs woke up this morning as the NL Central’s cellar dweller at 16-22.
In the opening frame, the Giants’ defense was as shaky as 5.9 on the Richter scale. Catcher’s interference by Erik Katz allowed lead off batter Nick Senzel to reach first base. He advanced to second on Katz’s subsequent passed ball. Senzel stopped at third after Eugenio Suárez singled to left, which he followed up with an uncontested steal of second. Both men scored on José Iglesias’s single to left center, where Kevin Pillar bobbled the ball for an error that allowed the runner to advance to second. He tried to score on Kyle Farmer’s single to center, but Pillar redeemed himself by throwing the Reds’ shortstop out at home.
The Giants evened the score on Pablo Sandoval’s homer to left in the second. The Panda’s blast came with Steven Duggar on second, which he had reached on a double to right center.
Doubles were Bumgarner’s undoing in the top of the second. José Peraza and Nick Senzel hit back to back two baggers with two outs to put the Rhinelanders back in the lead, 3-2. Bumgarner limited the damage by striking out Joey Votto for the second time in as many innings. It was Bumgarner’s fourth of the game.
Yasiel Puig, relentlessly booed by the Giants’ faithful all series long, gave them another reason to voice their displeasure by leading off Cincinnati’s sixth with a first pitch homer to left, his seventh round tripper of the campaign. The Reds were up 4-2.
That inning was Bumgarner’s last. He left after throwing 107 pitches, 71 of them strikes. Two of the four runs he allowed were earned. He gave up eight hits and four walks. His strikeout total was seven. Sam Dyson replaced him.
Bumgarner got a no decision because Brandon Belt’s second career pinch hit home came in the bottom of the seventh with Brandon Crawford on base, knotting the game up at four. That was the last pitch for Mahle, who also left the game with a no decision. All four of the runs scored against him were earned, and he struck out eight Giants, while walking only one. He threw 93 pitches, 61 of them strikes. His replacement was Zach Duke.
Belt had pinch hit for Dyson, so Reyes Moronta took the mound for San Francisco in the top of the eighth. Cincinnati loaded the bases on him with a single that ended a 12 pitch at-bat by Suárez, a walk to Puig, and a single by Iglesias. Dyson rose to the occasion by striking out Kyle Farmer. When switch-hitting catcher Tucker Barnhart was announced as a pinch hitter for Curt Casali, Bochy countered by calling on lefty Tony Watson to relieve the right-handed Moronta. Watson walked Barnhart, and the Reds went ahead, 5-4. But Watson got Jesse Winker, pinch-hitting for Duke, to force Puig out at home, Watson to Vogt, who had replaced Kratz behind the plate. Crawford made a nice catch on Peraza’s hard line drive to end the troubles, but Cincinnati led 5-4.
The worm turned in the bottom of the eighth, with David Hernández now on the mound for the Reds. Evan Longoria led of with a single to left and advanced to third on Sandoval’s double to right center. Both runners stayed put when Mac Williamson grounded out to short. Then Crawford struck out, and it looked like another disappointing loss was in store of San Francisco. But Kevin Pilllar singled to center. Longoria scored easily, and the panda capped his day by sliding home with the leading run.
Wil Smith closed it out for the Giants with a 1-2-3 ninth, including two strike outs.
The win went to Watson, now 2-0. The save went to Smith, his 10th. The loss went to Hernández, now 0-2 with a blown save.
The wind played havoc with fly balls most of the afternoon, but what else is new? This is, after all, San Francisco.
Tomorrow will be a day off for the Giants. They’ll host the Blue Jays in San Francisco on Tuesday at 6:45 pm.
photo from nbcsports.com: The San Jose Sharks’ Timo Meier can’t contain the thrill of scoring one of his two goals in the Sharks win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday in game 1 at SAP Center in San Jose.
On the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals podcast with Daniel:
1 Timo Meier scores twice, Sharks rout St. Louis in Game 1 of Western Conference Finals
2 Sharks’ Brent Burns has played much more than anyone in this year’s Cup playoffs
3 NHL Odds: Sharks given worst chance among remaining teams to win Stanley Cup
4 NHL explains controversial overturn of goal in San Jose-Colorado Game 7
5 Edmonton fires Ken Hitchcock, names Holland GM
Daniel does the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
photo from mercurynews.com: Oakland Athletics reliever Liam Hendriks (16) throws in the ninth inning of their MLB game against the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 4, 2019.
On the A’s podcast with Joey:
#1 The Oakland A’s came away on Saturday with their second straight walkoff win over Cleveland in a narrow 2-1 win. In baseball, the critics once said signs of a good club is one that can come back from behind.
#2 The A’s have improved their home record to 14-9 at the Coliseum and have taken the first two games of this current series with Cleveland.
#3 The Oakland A’s Liam Hendricks, who started the ballgame as an opener, succeeded in striking out a batter, surrendering one hit and pitching one inning the opener concept in this one worked out.
#4 The A’s reliever Aaron Brooks came in the second inning and pitched four innings giving up four hits and striking out four and his game plan worked out in setting the Cleveland order down.
#5 The A’s and Cleveland conclude this three-game series at the Coliseum. Jefry Rodriguez (0-2, 2.41 ERA) he’ll counter against newly recalled Daniel Mengden (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who was just recalled from the A’s triple A affiliate Las Vegas.
Joey does the A’s podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @Reds
By: Lewis Rubman
Cincinnati: 5 | 10 | 1
San Francisco: 4 | 9 | 0
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO — Taking the mound against Cincinnati this evening, Jeff Samardzija had, at 3.16, the lowest ERA of any starter on the Giants’ staff. His opponent, Anthony DeScalafani, checked in with a 3.65 ERA. The two right-handed hurlers had identical won-lost records of 2-1. They hadn’t gone up against each other before today, but each had faced the other’s team once this season. On May 5, The Shark gave up five runs in as many innings in a no-decision against the Rhinelanders. The next day, DeScalafani pitched six innings and surrendered six tallies to earn a win over San Francisco.
It didn’t take long for the Reds to get to Samardzja. Nick Senzel led off with a five pitch walk and two pitches later rode home on the slumping Joey Votto’s triple to center field. It looked as though the Giants´ hurler
Would escape further damage when he struck out Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker swinging. But then the also slumping Yasiel Puig lined a home run into the left field bleachers and the Redlegs were up 3-0.
The Giants fought back in the bottom of the first with a two out home run to center by Evan Longoria. They threatened further on a two strike single to left center by Pablo Sandoval, the bobblehead honoree of the day. Mac Willliamson moved the Panda up a base with a single to left. But Brandon Crawford grounded out, DeScalafani to Votto at first, to end the inning.
Each pitcher got a hit his first time at bat, DeScalafani, batting in the number eight slot, got a single in the second; his grounder to third killed a bases loaded, two out threat the next inning. Samardzja also got his in the second inning, a single to center that set up a two on, one out chance for the Giants to tie the game, but Panik flew out to right and Vogt grounded out to second.
The Giants did even the score in their half the fourth when, after Crawford and Pillar had singled, Puig tried to make a diving catch of Steven Duggar’s sinking liner to right. The ball rolled towards the fence, and Crawford and Pillar raced home. After Samardzja struck out, Joe Panik’s sac fly to center broke the tie and gave the Giants a 4-3 lead.
Bochy decided that 85 pitches and a one run lead was enough for his starting pitcher, and so he brought in Trevor Gott to take over mound duty at the start of the visitors’ fifth. Eugenio Suárez’s definitive line drive home run to left immediately retied the score.
In keeping with the game’s see-saw nature, manager Dave Bell lifted DeScalafani in favor of Robert Stephenson, who kept San Francisco off the boarded until Josh VanMeter pinch hit for him an inning later. By then, Mark Melançon was on the bump for the Giants.
The pitchers’ parade continued. Amir Garret for Cincy in the sixth. Reyes Moronta for San Francisco in the seventh. He surrendered a tie-breaking Texas League single to Derek Dietrich that brought Suárez home from third, which he’d reached on a double and a passed ball. David Hernández for the Reds in the seventh, when he struck out the side on 15 pitches, and the eighth, when he also retired the side in order, but fanning only two. Tony Watson for the Giants in the eighth and Wil Smith, who closed the proverbial barn door in the ninth. Raisel Iglesias closed out the contest for Cincinnati with a 1-2-3 ninth, culminating with the strike out of a pinching hitting Brandon Belt.
The evening’s work left Cincinnati with a record of 18-22 and San Francisco with a balance of 16-23. The win went to Amir Garrett (now 2-1) , while the loss was hung on Reyes Moronta (1-3). Raisel Iglesias got the save, his eighth.
The series finale is scheduled for 1:05 pm tomorrow afternoon. Right-hander Tyler Mahle (0-5, 3.69 ERA) will start for Cincinnati. He lost to the A’s on May 7 in spite of having given up only one run in 6 1/3 innings of work because Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter. Madison Bumgarner (2-4, 3.99 ERA) will take the mound for the Giants.
Photo credit: athleticsnation.com
By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
On Saturday, the Oakland Athletics against the visiting Cleveland Indians, started a game with Liam Hendriks, as an “opener” for the first time since October 3, 2018 at Yankee Stadium for the one-game Wild Card elimination game, which the Yankees won 7-2. After Hendriks was slated to open the game and pitch only the first inning, he allowed no runs, walked one and struck out one. A’s manager Bob Melvin followed with a parade of pitchers: Aaron Brooks, Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen, who was accredited with the A’s 3-2 win over the Indians.
Thirty years ago, there were 622 complete games in MLB. Last season, just a total of 42 and just 13 pitchers threw for 200-plus innings. That was the way pitching has gone, and with just about every team hitting lots of home runs so far this season, with the exceptions of the Marlins and Giants, pitching is so deluded now, that I would not be surprised “openers” are here to stay.
I know it is the wrong sport, but the great Al Davis used to say “just win baby” and the same thing applies in baseball. Use whatever formula works. Soon the National League will adopt the DH rule. It is inevitable, you know it and everybody knows it. So there are some general changes and regulations that MLB will establish, but there are others that just happen and the “opener” is one of those.
Pitching is becoming a commodity as hard to find as diamonds, the hardest mineral to find on earth. Not many years ago, pitching coaches will tell their starters on the rotation “give me six good innings”. Today, that is for the “opener” give me one good inning — three outs in the first inning and your are out of the game.
I am not the one who likes to predict the future, but I predict one record that will never be broken is that of Cy Young, who pitched 7,356 innings in 22 seasons. Of course, different eras. Back then, the only count was that of the attendance, but no count of pitches thrown. But that was then and it’s something that we will never see again.
Bob Melvin is one of the best managers in the game. In a perfect world, he would have had at least a semi-set rotation and would have never used the “opener”, but it is not easy to win a game in the majors.
After he retired and did TV commentary, I once asked my all-time favorite manager Sparky Anderson: “In your opinion how many games does a manager win during a season using pure strategy?” He told me: “Maybe 10 to 15 games.” Sparky and many others never had to manage “openers” because a pitcher that begins a game, if not abused in the first inning, is expected to go a long way.
The defensive shift, is slowly changing as hitters are adjusting. but you better get used to the “opener”, and if it becomes a common thing, there will also be a stats for openers and their success. Why not? Baseball is filled with changes. Remember there was no RBI recorded until 1920.
So, the tale of the story, you better get use to “openers”, because they could be as valuable as closers.
Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes
By: Ana Kieu
The San Jose Earthquakes looked to make it two wins in a row in Gillette Stadium against the New England Revolution on Saturday.
The Quakes’ starting lineup featured Daniel Vega, Nick Lima, Florian Jungwirth, Harold Cummings, Tommy Thompson, Anibal Godoy, Jackson Yueill, Eric Calvillo, Magnus Eriksson, Shea Salinas, and Danny Hoesen.
Shea Salinas made his 250th Quakes appearance. Salinas currently serves as the Quakes captain. Former Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski, one of the Quakes’ highest-paid players, was benched in favor of Salinas.
The Revolution got on the board first. Juan Agudelo scored the game’s first goal in the 18th minute.
The Revolution doubled their lead in the 29th minute. Cristian Penilla struck the game’s second goal from the spot.
Shortly after, the officials called a penalty on Harold Cummings, who allegedly grabbed Teal Bunbury by his upper body, including his head and neck area to hold him. The penalty went to video review and the call stood.
The Quakes trailed 2-0 at the end of the first half. The Quakes were well-aware that they had a lot of work to do in the second half.
The Quakes’ first substitution occurred in the 46th minute. Vako entered the game to replace Eric Calvillo.
The Quakes’ second substitution occurred in the 61st minute. Chris Wondolowski entered the game to replace Harold Cummings. As a result, Wondolowski made his 300th career appearance and opened up the Wondo Watch.
Siad Haji made his first ever Quakes appearance in the 67th minute. However, the Quakes’ decision to put the Somali American midfielder, who was born in Kakuma, Kenya, into the game failed to produce results as the Revolution tripled their lead in the 68th minute. Carles Gil scored the game’s third goal.
The Quakes scored a late goal in the 88th minute. Vako recorded the game’s fourth goal to end a possible shutout by the Revolution. Moreover, Vako put together a classy finish to represent San Jose in a positive manner.
It wasn’t the Quakes’ night in New England. San Jose lost by a final of 3-1.
The Quakes return home to host the Chicago Fire for Quakes Hall of Fame Night on Saturday, May 18 at 12:30 pm.
