Author: Sports Radio Service

Gulls beat Barracuda 5-2 to win series 3-1

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Despite the best regular season start in the four years in Silicon Valley, the San Jose Barracuda weren’t able to do enough to force a Game 5 as their season came to an end in a 5-2 loss to the San Diego Gulls in Game 4 of their best of five series on Wednesday evening at SAP Center.

A couple of bad turnovers resulted in San Diego capitalizing on their chances and were the difference in the game. San Diego awaits the winner of the Bakersfield-Colorado series while San Jose will have time to think about failing to get out of the first round, despite being the number two seed.

San Jose (1-3) got off to the quick start they desired 50 seconds into the game. Lukas Radil brought the puck into the Gulls zone and gave it off to Alexander True. The Danish forward skated around to the left circle and fired a wrist shot that sneaked under the five-hole of Gulls goalie Jeff Glass (3-1) for his first goal of the playoffs.

“I’ve been more comfortable this year going into my second year,” said True. “Everybody in the organization, all my teammates, everyone around here has done a good job letting me develop and I can’t thank everyone around here enough for that.”

San Diego (3-1) scored the equalizer late in the opening 20 minutes. Corey Tropp picked up a loose puck behind the net and quickly centered a pass out in front to a wide-open Sam Carrick, who one-timed the puck past Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (1-3) in a bang-bang play for his second goal of the playoffs at 15:46 mark.

San Jose had the ice tilted in their favor for the first 15 minutes as they had a 10-1 shot advantage at one point. However, San Diego gained momentum in the final five minutes and closed the gap to 11-10 heading into the first intermission.

The Gulls gained their first lead early on in the second period while on the power play. Sam Steel fed a pass over to Kalle Kossila, who found Andy Welinsky at the left point and fired a slap shot past the short side of Korenar for his first goal of the playoffs at the 3:43 mark.

San Diego extended their lead to 3-1 after a failed clearing attempt by San Jose. Steel happened to be in the right place at the right time when Max Jones deflected the puck right to Steel in the middle of the circles and wired a wrist shot into the top left corner for his third goal of the playoffs at the 6:43 mark.

“It’s disappointing,” said Cuda captain John McCarthy on the early playoff exit. “I think it’s important to remember how this feels. To have the regular season like we had and then to fade in the playoff is disappointing for sure.”

San Jose cut the deficit to one goal on the power play. Dylan Gambrell back-handed a pass over to the left point where Nick DeSmone was waiting. DeSimone skated into the middle and fired a laser past Glass for his first goal of the playoffs at the 13:39 mark. McCarthy received the secondary assist.

San Diego controlled the play for most of the middle frame out shooting San Jose 13-9.

The Gulls opened the third period by doubling their lead thanks to another failed clearing attempt by the Cuda. Jack Kopacka intercepted a pass at the blue line, skated down the left wing and sent a cross-ice pass over to Matt Berry. Berry then sent a pass in front of the net that Adam Cracknell tipped in past Korenar for his second goal of the playoffs at the 5:12 mark.

“Had a really good regular season,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “I thought we were solid, did a lot of good things. And then in the playoffs I didn’t think we had enough (to advance).”

Chase De Leo iced the game and the series for San Diego with an empty-net goal with 1:53 left in the game.

Glass made 30 saves on 32 shots to earn his 4th win of the series. Korenar finished with 25 saves on 29 shots in suffering the defeat in what was a stellar rookie season.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/2 on the power play. San Diego was 1/3.

San Diego’s Max Jones suffered a lower body injury when with 2:39 left in the second period when he received a hard hit along the boards in front of his team’s bench.

The announced attendance was 3,175.

Warriors lose to Clippers 129-121 in Game 5

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Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

The Golden State Warriors held a 3-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs. It was clear the Warriors didn’t want to blow a 3-1 lead like they did to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid recently joked about the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead in a postgame press conference. Warriors big man Andrew Bogut, who was part of the Warrior squad who lost to the Cavs in 2016, responded to Embiid’s joke in his column for Yahoo Sports Australia.

“Joel Embiid saying the 76ers don’t want to do what we did in the 2016 Finals is just Joel being Joel — he’s a bit of a larrikin,” Bogut wrote. “But they have to get to a Finals series first before they can even think about doing that.”

“It’s been a funny talking point for a lot of people in the league. But we haven’t taken any notice of it and it’s not something that’s been mentioned in the locker room.”

Sure, Philadelphia eliminated the Brooklyn Nets 3-1, but the Sixers are a long ways away from the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy. We’ll see how things go in the City of Brotherly Love.

In the meantime, Golden State was more than ready to go for Game 5 at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night. Before the game, Draymond Green said: “We just got to come out with the mindset that it’s 48 minutes. Stay the course, no matter what.”

The Warriors’ starting five featured Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Bogut is open to another Australia-NBA season. Bogut has a verbal agreement to play for the 2019-20 Sydney Kings, and if given the opportunity to return to the NBA, he’d do so after honoring his commitment.

The first quarter remained in close scores, but the Warriors had something to smile about. Kevin Durant poured in the points, recorded his 3,776th career playoff point and passed John Havlicek for 12th on the NBA Playoffs’ all-time career scoring list.

Kevin Durant had back-to-back buckets along with 12 points in the first quarter. But Durant’s performance wasn’t the only highlight in the first quarter. Steph Curry found Andre Iguodala, who passed the ball to Alfonzo McKinnie, who hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer beater to extend the Warriors’ lead to 41-37 to wrap up the first quarter.

Patrick Beverley led the Clippers in points, rebounds and assists in the first. Beverley, Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell kept things up in the second quarter to give the Warriors fits. The Warriors trailed 71-63 at the end of the first half.

Kevin Durant continued to hammer it home in the third quarter. Also, Steph Curry hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 87-78 with 6:25 left in the third quarter. But the Clippers built up a 10-point lead and wrapped up the third quarter with a 104-94 lead, so the Warriors had some work to do in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors were off to a good start to open the fourth quarter.

Check out the Warriors’ 4-point play:

The Warriors were down by 6 with 5:58 left in the fourth quarter. However, Steph Curry helped the Warriors out of the flop with a 2-point bucket to cut the deficit to 114-110 with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant knocked down a few jumpers. The Warriors tied the game 116-116 with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter. But the Clippers weren’t ready to back down just yet. Golden State got their first lead of the game since the first half, but LA regained the lead 125-118 with 1:29 left in the fourth quarter.

Steph Curry hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 125-121 with 20.6 seconds, but Danilo Gallinari made a pair of free throws to cap off the scoring. The Warriors (3-2) lost to the Clippers (2-3) by a final score of 129-121.

Despite the Warriors’ loss, Steph Curry became the only player in NBA history knock down 400 career playoff 3s.

Check out the Warriors’ final stats:

Game 6 will be played at the Staples Center on Friday, April 26. The time has yet to be determined. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, NSBA and FSPT.

Earthquakes settle for 2-2 draw against Sounders

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose Earthquakes traveled to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Sounders, the third best team in the Western Conference, inside CenturyLink Field on Wednesday night.

The Quakes had hoped for a quick turnaround against the Sounders. Before the much-anticipated kick-off, Nick Lima said: “We have to continue to build.”

Check out the Quakes’ starting lineup:

Paul Marie played his first MLS game last week. Fast forward to this week as Marie made his first MLS start tonight. Congratulations to the French defender and midfielder!

The majority of the fans sported Sounder Blue, Rave Green and Cascade Shale, but there were some Quakes fans who rocked the Black and Blue. That, my friends, was true loyalty to a MLS team.

The game got underway in Seattle. Both teams brought their A-game to the field. But it was the Quakes who wrote the first statement of the night. Daniel Vega came up big with a noteworthy save to fend off a potential Sounders goal in the 10th minute. The Quakes then created a promising buildup between Shea Salinas and Nick Lima in the 19th minute.

Jackson Yueill showed off some slick moves in the 30th minute. After that, San Jose got on the board, thanks to Shea Salinas’ goal, which gave the Quakes a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. Salinas’ third goal of the season also tied his career-high.

The Quakes led 1-0 at the end of the first half.

Shea Salinas extended his steak with a brace to make it 2-0 Quakes in the 53rd minute. With the goal, Salinas now has four goals on the season.

However, Seattle rained on San Jose’s parade with not only one, but two goals in the second half. Kelvin Leerdam ended the Quakes’ chances of a shutout with a goal in the 65th minute. Harry Shipp followed up with a game-tying goal for a 2-2 tie in the 67th minute.

Daniel Vega wowed the crowd with another notable save in the 73rd minute. Vega knocked the ball out of the net to prevent what could’ve been the Sounders’ third goal of the game.

The Quakes made their first substitution in the 75th minute. Vako entered the game for Magnus Eriksson.

The Quakes made their second substitution in the 79th minute. Luis Felipe entered the game for Judson.

The Quakes made their third (and final) substitution in the 86th minute. Chris Wondolowski entered the game for Danny Hoesen.

Both teams played six minutes of stoppage time after a full 90 minutes of soccer. Both teams settled for a 2-2 draw, but at least the Quakes got a hard-fought point.

The Quakes take on FC Dallas inside Toyota Stadium on Saturday, April 27 at 12:30 pm PT.

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Kings staying with Walton until evidence proves otherwise; Do you believe in miracles? Could Sharks pull off a second round win?

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Photo credit: @NBCSKings

On the Headline Sports podcast with London:

#1 Kelli Tennant says that she is not seeking jail time or a certain amount of money from the lawsuit she filed against Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton, but wanted to share what had been weighing on her mind since she said that Walton sexually assaulted her in April 2015 when he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors.

#2 Tennant spoke to the media in a press conference on Tuesday to tell her side of the story that Walton had invited her to his hotel room to read over some material from the book “The Transition: Every Athlete’s Guide to Life After Sports”. It was in his room she said she was sexually assaulted. In the press conference and after listening to what Tennant said about the assault, will this change the way people view Luke Walton now?

#3 The San Jose Sharks, who were down 3-1 in their last series with the Vegas Golden Knights, found a way to get off the mat and win three straight to advance to the second round.

#4 The Sharks had to come back with four goals in the third goal just to tie the game up, which they did 4-4, but they also had to skate an extra overtime stanza to score a winning goal to win the game so that’s virtually four unanswered goals to come back and win Game 7.

#5 Coming off a dramatic win like the first round the Sharks now open up the second round against the Colorado Avalanche, do you see them coming in with a lot momentum and having a great chance to even win the next round?

London Marq does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Do or die situation for Barracuda tonight; Cuda must take advantage of home ice in Game 4

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

On the San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic:

#1 The pressure’s on the Barracuda, who lost a tough 4-2 game three on Monday night. To stay alive in the series, they have to win Game 4 tonight at SAP Center.

#2 The Barracuda’s Matt Fonteyne took three on two pass and fed it to the Jon Martin, who took a wrist shot for a five-hole goal past the Gulls goalie Jeff Glass for the game’s first goal.

#3 The Gulls got back with the two Sams, Sam Carrick fed a centering pass to Sam Steel, who shot a one timer in the top left corner to tie it at 19:29 in the first period

#4 Ben Street and Chase De Leo each scored a goal to make it 3-1 and the Gulls never looked back eventually getting a two-goal win.

#5 The Barracuda are going for all the marbles tonight. After watching how the Gulls operate in these first three games, how do you see head coach Roy Sommer preparing the club for tonight?

Marko Ukalovic does the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: Break out the bats, Giants starting to find their offensive mojo

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

The San Francisco Giants season at best has been difficult and sometimes hard to watch. The Giants finally find their power stroke on the road. Giants catcher Buster Posey awakens from nine months of hibernation to go deep in Pittsburgh and steal a come from behind victory there. Then, they go to Toronto and hit four home runs in one game.

They were the least home run hitting team in the majors and then they hit four home runs in a game and of course two of those home runs are from guys who are hitting their first home runs of the season. It looks as if the Giants have a new weapon. It’s interesting that their doing this on the road we know that Oracle Park is a pitcher’s park and we know it suppresses home runs but they haven’t been hitting any on the road either.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips does the Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s mess with Texas 11-5

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Lewis Rubman
SRS Contributor
April 23, 2019

TEXAS: 5 | 14 | 1

OAKLAND: 11 | 14 | 1

Tonight’s match-up between the Rangers’ Lance Lynn and the A’s Frankie Montás had a chance to be a pitchers’ duel. Lynn, in spite of his less than mediocre 4.44 ERA, had allowed only five runs in his last 18-22/3 innings pitched, while Montás took the mound at 3-1, 2.70 ERA. It didn’t turn out that way.

The Rangers drew first blood in the opening frame when Elvis Andrus hit a two-out broken bat single to center. Nomar Mazara drove him home with a double off the left center-field wall. Montás pitched out of the jam by getting the powerful Joey Gallo to swing and miss on a 2-2 split-fingered fastball.

Matt Chapman promptly tied it up with a home run that landed just inside the left-field foul pole with two out in the bottom of the first.

The Rangers came roaring back in the next inning with a lead off double to left-center, following by Astrúbal Cabrera’s ringing RBI single to left. Cabrera made it to second on a wild pitch, but was left stranded on third after Montás got Logan Forsythe and Isiah Kiner-Falefa out on infield grounders.

The A’s didn’t wait long to tie the score again. Stephen Piscotty opened their half of the frame with a triple high off the right center-field wall, and Kendrys Morales drove him home with a ground out to deep second base.

Montás finally notched a scoreless inning in the third with the help of a nifty 6-4-3 double play, Semien to Pinder to Morales. Lynn returned the favor in the bottom half top of the next inning but without requiring help from the pitcher’s best friend.

The top of the fourth tested Montás’s meddle. Gallo led off with a four pitch walk. Pence just barely beat out Chapman’s throw to first for an infield single. The Cabrera hit a nubbler down to Morales at first, who tossed the ball to Montás, who dropped it. Forsythe followed with the first well-hit ball of the inning, a bouncer to Chapman, who threw to Phegley at home for the force. Pheglely then fired the ball to Morales to complete the 5-2-3 double play. Montás ended the threat by inducing Kiner-Falefa to ground out to Pinder at second.

Oakland blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Piscotty opened the frame with a line drive single to left center. He advanced to second on Morales’s line single to left. Piscotty made it to third, and Morales was forced out at second on Pinder’s grounder to Forsythe. Laureano drove in Piscotty and advanced Pinder to second on a single to center. Phegley drove in the two runners with a Mark Ellis double down the third base line. Robbie Grossman drove him in with a single to right. Semien brought him home on the next pitch with a double to left, After Semien advanced to third on a wild pitch, he scored on Davis’ single to left. At that point, Wei-Chieh Huang, called up from Double A Midland this afternoon, made his MLB debut in relief of Lynn. He escaped the inning by retireing Piscotty and Morales on deep fly balls, the former’s to the center field wall.

The rookie wasn’t so lucky in the fifth, surrendering two runs on a single by Pinder, a double by Laureano and a throwing error by second sacker Danny Santana.

Huang lasted another two-thirds of an inning, leaving two men on base in the sixth when he gave way to Jeffrey Springs with two men on base. Springs left them there and finished up the game for the Rangers, but not before surrendering a tally in the eighth when Pinder singled Piscotty–who had his second four-hit game of the season– home from second.

The game was over when Texas picked up a run on Forsythe’s sac fly in the top of the sixth. After Montás walked the next batter, Kiner-Falefa, Melvin brought in Yusmeiro Petit, who disposed Shin-Soo Choo with a called third strike on a full count with two outs and a man on first.

Montás’ line wasn’t impressive. Three runs earned on nine hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 5 2/3 innings. The bright spots were his six strikeouts and his ability to keep bad situations from becoming worse.

Ryan Dull came in for Oakland in the eighth. He got through that frame unscathed, but allowed a two-run homer to Danny Santana in the ninth. After the one-out dinger, Dull retired Andrus, but a single and double by Mazara and Gallo, stirred up the A’s bullpen. Dull prevailed with a called third strike on Pence.

Montás got the win, Lynn took the loss.

Left-hander Drew Smyly (0-2, 7.80 ERA) had been announced to start tomorrow afternoon’s game for the Rangers, but he’s been placed on 10-day injured list with left mid-arm tightness. Wei-Chieh Huang, who got his baptism of fire at the Coliseum tonight, took his place.

Texas has not yet named a starter for Wednesday. Whoever he is, he’ll face right handed Aaron Brooks (2-2, 5.32 ERA), who held the Red Sox scoreless on two hits over six innings on April 1, but has been struggling to regain the same form.

First pitch is scheduled for 12:37 pm.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary with Barbara Mason: It’s a miracle, Sharks back home for Game 7; LA Clippers on brink, face Warriors for Game 5; plus more

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Photo credit: @mercnews

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi-Gonzalez on That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 It’s a miraculous comeback playoff for the San Jose Sharks, who were down 3-1 in the series with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sharks won games 5 and 6 by scores of 5-2 and 2-1 to force a Game 7 and not much thought they would get this far. Faceoff is on Tuesday night in San Jose for Game 7.

#2 After that horrific 31-point lead they had in Game 2 that got erased, the Golden State Warriors have now been cruising on the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors now have a 3-1 series lead and are just about ready to put the final touches in the elimination game on Wednesday night in Oakland in Game 5.

#3 After going through a 191 at-bats against the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey finally broke out and got a home run, which proved to be the game-winner on Sunday. The Pirates were the only National League team that Posey had not hit a home run off of.

#4 The Oakland A’s not only got swept by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. A’s pitcher Brett Anderson rolled his ankle coming off the mound to field a grounder hit by the Jays’ Randal Grichuk in the top of the third inning and had to leave the game. Anderson is hopeful for his next scheduled start on Saturday in Toronto.

#5 With the loss on Sunday to Toronto, the A’s have lost four straight in Saturday’s 10-1 loss. A’s manager Bob Melvin was upset up about the lack of hitting. The A’s pitching staff was exhausted using six pitchers, including first baseman Kendrys Morales as a ninth inning reliever.

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi-Gonzalez for That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants hit four home runs in narrow 7-6 victory over Jays

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Maybe a trip outside of the United States would help the San Francisco Giants, and find their hitting stride.

Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-4, including his first home run of the season and the Giants staved off a late rally to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 at Rogers Centre.

Sandoval was one of four Giants to hit home runs, as Evan Longoria launched a solo home run over the center field wall and Joe Panik and Brandon Belt each hit home runs for the Giants, who have won two in a row after losing four in a row against the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was the first home run game for the Giants since they accomplished the feat on July 4, 2018 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In his first appearance, back in Toronto since being traded to the Giants for Alen Hanson and Derek Law, Kevin Pillar received a rousing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd.

Pillar drove in the first run of the game for the Giants, as he drove in Pablo Sandoval against the team that he played for a seven-year period.

Jeff Samardzija continues to look sharp in the early going of the season, as he gave up two earned runs in five and one-thirds inning of work. Samardzija gave up five hits, walked one and struck out four, as he improved to 3-0 in his big-league career against the Blue Jays.

Trent Thornton made his fifth start of his career, as he went five innings, allowing four earned runs, six hits and struck out five, as he fell to 0-3 on the season.

Things were going smooth for the Giants until the bottom of the eighth inning, as they led 7-2; however, Northern California native Rowdy Tellez launched a grand slam off of Tony Watson to cut the lead down to 7-6. Despite allowing the grand slam, Watson was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

Former Oakland As infielder Eric Sogard got the eighth inning rally started, as he singled off of Sam Dyson, then Richard Urena, but then Russell Grichuk singled off the right field wall that confused Urena, who stopped at second base and Sogard ended up at third.

Justin Smoak then struck out for the first out of the inning, and then Watson got the first two strikes against Tellez; however, on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Tellez launched a 432-foot grand slam.

Will Smith struck out two of the three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning, as he picked up his sixth save of the season.

NOTES: Once again, the Giants failed to score in the first inning and the streak now stands at 24 games, a National League record and four away from breaking the dubious record, held by the 1948 Chicago White Sox, who failed to score in 28 consecutive first innings.

This was just the ninth game that the Giants played at Rogers Centre, and their first trip to the Country since the 2013 season. Overall, the Giants are now 4-5 at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays home since June of 1989.

UP NEXT: Drew Pomeranz closes out the road trip, as he looks for his first win of the season, while the Blue Jays will send Clay Buchholz to the hill, as Buchholz also looks for his first win of the season.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s should sign Gio Gonzalez

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Photo credit: @BrewCrewBall

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The New York Yankees released Gio Gonzalez from their minor league system and Gonzalez is looking for a new team. The perfect fit for Gonzalez is the Oakland Athletics. The way the weak A’s rotation is these days, Gonzalez would be a welcome addition back in Oakland, and he will probably be their #1 starter as of right now. Some of the injured pitchers will be returning starting with Sean Manea, who is the legitimate #1 starter for the team. But regardless if Manaea returns soon, Gonzalez would fit perfectly on the A’s rotation.

We all know that it all comes down to money, personality and politics of baseball. But Gio loved it in the Bay Area. Gonzalez was the most popular A’s on the A’s Amigos program, talking to young bilingual students as soon as they came to the Oakland Coliseum. There will be absolutely nothing wrong for the A’s to take a flyer and give Gonzalez a one-year deal in Oakland. He is a total asset to the A’s.

If the A’s do not pick him up, he will be picked up very soon by one of the other 29 teams in the majors. Gonzalez will likely be signed within the next 48 hours. I hope the A’s will be that team.