Author: Sports Radio Service

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants take two out of three from Padres; MadBum says he wants to stay in S.F.

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Photo credit @hardball247: Madison Bumgarner San Francisco pitcher has lost some off his fast ball and velocity but wants to continue with the Giants for the 2019 season

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The Giants took the first two games of the series against the San Diego Padres, but dropped game three on Thursday with a 8-4 loss. Starter Chris Stratton dropped his record to 10-10.

#2 The Giants are looking at some of their young prospects to fill in potential open positions when spring training begins. There will most likely be new faces in the Giants’ lineup.

#3 Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner says he wants to stay in San Francisco. He’s in the last year of his six-year, $35 million deal.

#4 Giants first baseman Brandon Belt will have knee surgery and is done for 2018. Belt was hitting over .300 before he had to have appendectomy surgery on June 1st.

#5 The Giants open up a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards are chasing for the top spot in the National League Wild Card. The top three teams in the NL Central–Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, and the Cards–are all vying for the NL Division title.

Michael does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Lami: 49ers will be facing a strong, prepared Chiefs offense this Sunday

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Photo credit: @Rob_Lowder

On the 49ers podcast with Joe:

#1 The San Francisco 49ers got a big break on a holding call that stopped the visiting Detroit Lions from spotting the ball on the 49ers’ seven-yard line after an interception.

#2 The hold call helped 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to his first win of 2018. He threw 18-26 for 206 yards.

#3 Despite throwing well, Garoppolo got sacked six times. Where was the offensive line and protection for Jimmy G?

#4 Does it look like Josh Gordon at wide receiver for the 49ers will be a regular?

#5 The 49ers’ next opponent is the Kansas City Chiefs. This team is not the Detroit Lions. The Chiefs are a very prepared and strong offensive team. The 49ers will have to key in on the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.

Joe Lami does the 49ers podcast each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: No mercy rule as A’s circle the bases all afternoon against Angels

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 There’s no mercy rule and the Los Angeles Angels badly needed it during this series with the Oakland A’s. On Wednesday, the A’s treated the Angels like it was some kind of sandlot game with a 10-0 win. The next day, Thursday, the A’s wore out the Angels 21-3.

#2 Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who is rumored to be close to announcing his retirement, had to wish that would come sooner after the A’s wasted no time scoring runs, five in the third, seven in the fourth inning, six in the sixth, and three more in the seventh.

#3 The Angels’ only bright spot was a home run in the sixth by Mike Trout off A’s pitcher Edwin Jackson, but that was a blip on the Angels’ scoring radar.

#4 The A’s lost four of the last five games before the series with the Angels. The A’s showed us in the last two games that they can break out the bats giving the A’s that confidence again.

#5 The A’s host the Twins for three. The Twins are second in the AL Central, but not in the Wild Card hunt.

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

Despite obvious flaws, Shohei Ohtani continues to shine for the Angels

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Photo credit: @AngelsRadioKLAA

By Mizhuo Takagi

OAKLAND — Despite him missing 2/3rds of the season as a pitcher and the Los Angeles Angels having a losing season, two-way phenomenon Shohei Ohitani has proven his abilities and remains a candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Ichiro Suzuki was the sensation when he made his Major League debut with the Mariners in 2001, and the high-volume contact hitter not only won the AL Rookie of the Year, but also the AL MVP. 17 years later Ohtani crossed the ocean from Japan, but he is totally different. He is a slugger and a pitcher who can throw the ball over 100 miles per hour.

Ohtani made his debut as DH on March 29, and as a pitcher on April 1. Both debuts occurred in Oakland and the lucky fans in the Bay Area got to watch him hit and pitch.

Ohtani’s two-way endeavor brought excitement to both sides of the Pacific. In fact, there were approximately 200 Japanese reporters and crew members on Opening Day and 100 to 150 through the season when he plays at home.

Ohtani was met with skepticism, but he was named AL Player of the Week on April 8, and later AL Rookie of the Month for April.

When Ohtani’s right elbow injury was reported in June, disappointment spread. It was like, “the dream is over!” But he came back after missing six weeks with the injury and one of the two dreams is still alive. He continues to hit homers and contribute to production.

On September 2, Ohtani became the first player to hit 15 homers and pitch 50 innings since Babe Ruth. Now, he has extended the number of HRs to 20. He received his second career Player of the Week honor on September 10.

Ohtani played DH during three-game series against the A’s from September 18 to 20, and there were Ohtani fans all the way from Japan who stopped by Oakland just to watch him play.

Osamu and Noriko Suzuki, who used to live in Menlo Park in 2001, visited the Bay Area to watch Ohtani play. His first season in the MLB may be a let down, but they felt relieved rather than disappointed.

The Suzukis said, “We were worried about his injury, but he is hitting well and even a Rookie of the Year candidate. It could have been a better season, but I think he has a great season and we are happy for him.”

Japanese college student, Taku Shibata, and his three friends were all decked out in Ohtani t-shirts in Oakland.

Shibata said, “I hope he will continue to play two-way as long as he can. It would have been awesome if I could watch him pitch too, but I will definitely come and watch him when he recovers from injury. He is truly a star for my generation.”

If Ohtani undergoes Tommy John surgery, he will likely not return to the mound until 2020. It has been reported that he has not made any decision yet and is trying to look at other options. So many pitchers have gone through Tommy John surgery, but there is no example nor two-way player like him.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: Angels Manager Mike Scioscia Likely to Say Goodbye

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Photo credit: sbnation.com

By: Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND, Calif. — Chances are very good that this week was the last time we will see Angels manager Mike Scioscia as manager with the Angels at the Oakland Coliseum. During their last home stand of the season and during the penultimate game at Angel Stadium on Saturday, September 29, the Angels will give everybody in attendance a Mike Scioscia bobblehead, a sellout of 45,000 is expected.

As a manager, Scioscia led the Angels to their only World Series championship on 2002 against the San Francisco Giants.

Scioscia is the all-time managerial leader in wins, games managed and division titles. He also was honored as the American League Manager of the Year Award in 2002 and 2009.

I have very good memories and experiences with Scioscia. Not only did I have the privilege of calling the 2002 World Series for the Giants, but during the past eight seasons, I traveled to Anaheim to do the Spanish play-by-play for the Angels at Fox Sports Network with my good friend José Mota, who does commentary. Mota is bilingual and as qualified as anybody I have ever met in baseball.Although this season the Spanish Fox Sports West production of the Angels ceased to exist due to a business decision by Disney, who acquired a ton of regional sports networks, including Fox Sports West. Anyhow, you can still see Mota during pre and post games for the English Fox Sports and sometimes on Angels’ radio and other MLB outlets.

There were many times where I have interviewed Scioscia in Spanish (Scioscia speaks conversational Spanish) for the Fox Sports’ Angels pregame in Anaheim. He was always available to talk baseball. A man that was in the Los Angeles area was always thought to be the perfect manager for the rival Dodgers, a team he played for 13 seasons from 1980-1992. He was arguably one of the best defensive catchers of any generation. To try to score on a close play at the plate against Scioscia was a tough thing to do, he was Fernando Valenzuela’s first and foremost catcher. Fernando has always told me great things on how Scioscia guided him when he was a Dodgers rookie. Preston Gómez, a great pioneer manager and lifetime baseball man, once told me: “Scioscia era el hombre que los Dodgers debían de haber firmando de manager.” Translation: “Sciosica was the man that the Dodgers should have signed as their manager.”

On March 29th when the Angels played the A’s at the home opener in Oakland, Scioscia told me this: “I really like my ballclub this year.” Unfortunately, injuries to his pitching staff, many Tommy John surgeries–all while the news broke that Japanese rookie sensation Shohei Othani, who could be the Rookie of the Year in the AL, was also told he had to submit to the surgery.

The Angels’ best player in the game is Mike Trout. Scioscia and Trout have the ultimate respect for each other. They are both huge fans of the Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles. Trout was born and raised in southern New Jersey and Mike Scioscia hails from Pennsylvania. Obviously, Scioscia’s team was not the one that was going to chase the Houston Astros or even contend for a Wild Card spot.

Scioscia could write his own ticket. I do not know what he will choose to do after his managerial life, but whatever he does, he will be just as good as he has been as the Angels manager for the last 19 seasons–the longest tenured manager in the MLB. He could possibly take an advisory position and assistant to Angels owner Arturo “Arte” Moreno. I can easily see that.

Listen to A’s home games in Spanish on KIQI 1010AM/990AM in San Francisco/Oakland/San José/Sacramento/Stockton.

Oakland Raiders podcast with Tony Renteria: Raiders couldn’t seal the deal in Denver Sunday; look to Miami for first road win

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Photo credit: @Raiders

On the Oakland Raiders podcast with Tony:

#1 For the last six seconds of Sunday’s game in Oakland, the Oakland Raiders looked as if they had game in hand with a 19-17 lead, but Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus kicked a 36-yard field goal for the 20-19 win at Sports Authority Field.

#2 The Broncos led by quarterback Casey Kennum led the Broncos down the field with just 1:58 left in the game, Kennum threw to Tom Patrick for 26 yards in the closing moments of the game to get the ball and McManus into field goal range for the winning score.

#3 Tony talks about some of the numbers starting for Raiders quarterback Derek Carr going 29-32 for 288 yards, one touchdown and one sack. Impressive outing for Carr who did all he could do to win in the Raiders’ first road game.

#4 Wide receiver Amari Cooper tallied up some yards with 10 receptions for 116 yards. Although Cooper didn’t get a touchdown, he averaged 11 yards and topped the team for total yards.

#5 The Raiders get set for their next meeting against the Miami Dolphins, the Dolphins are 2-0 and have Ryan Tannehill, who’s averaging 199 yards with four touchdowns on the year. Tannehill and the Dolphins have been fierce. Will the Raiders defense have their hands full this Sunday? Tony takes a look.

Tony does the Oakland Raiders podcasts each Thursday and is a beat writer for the Sacramento Kings at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s need every win they can get as Angels open series with comeback win on Tuesday

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry:

#1 Stranger things have happened in baseball, but a fan interfered with the bags juiced in the sixth inning on Tuesday night. The A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty chased the Angels’ Andrelton Simmons fly ball in the corner at the high wall near the warning track a fan reached over with her glove and deflected the ball the ruling was no fan interference, which at that point going forward, the A’s could not score a run with the Angels leading 7-4.

#2 Talk about that top half of the sixth where the Angels rallied from being down 4-1 adding six runs to catch the A’s and score three runs and two hits off reliever Lou Trivino for a blown save for Trivino.

#3 Despite the Angels not being in the postseason and needing possible surgery for the throwing arm, the Angels’  Shohei Ohtani in DH hit one for two with a run scored and a .291 average and will be on the DH for the rest of the season.

#4 The A’s, who have been depending on the bullpenning, had some great outings from the staff before the six Angel runs in the sixth from Liam Hendriks, Daniel Mengden, Sean Kelly, and Ryan Butcher.

#5 The A’s have lost four of their last five games setting them back behind the AL Wild Card first place team the New York Yankees. The A’s coming into Wednesday night’s game is at a three-game losing steak.

Jerry Feitelberg does the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsrasdioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: Belt sent back to S.F.–done for season as knee surgery needed; Giants headed for St. Louis

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

The Giants, at the rate that they’re playing, would settle for 81-81 right now and that’s who they are right now, but what people forget is they lost 98 games last year. Even if they wind up losing 84 this year, that’s a 14-game improvement, and if you project that forward, if they can do that again next year, they can get 92 wins.

It’s interesting the Giants were looking for a lot of improvement that was the whole impetus of keeping the whole ball club together and of course they come up 14, 15 games better, which is what most teams will do, but it’s not going to get them in the playoffs.

The Giants kept the folder of contracts together. The team was never together. They had their projected starting eight-plus their Opening Day starter for one game all year this year. It just never pulled together, as health was an issue.

The Giants announced that the first baseman Brandon Belt is done for the season and is headed back to San Francisco from San Diego and that’s from the knee that’s going to require surgery in the offseason. The Giants hope to play spoiler in St. Louis starting with a Friday night game to open a three-game series with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Michael and Morris perform their broadcast duties on the Giants podcasts last one of the season coming next week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Atlanta United came back from 2-goal deficit to top Earthquakes 4-3

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — New coach, same result. The Steve Ralston era opened up with what has been a familiar theme for the San Jose Earthquakes (4-17-8) this season. Atlanta United (18-5-6) came back from a two-goal deficit and scored late in stoppage time to defeat the Quakes 4-3 at Avaya Stadium on Wednesday evening.

This was the first game the Quakes have played since they fired head coach Mikael Stahre on Monday and replaced him with interim head coach Ralston. Ralston, a former U.S. national team player, previously served as an assistant coach at the start of the season.

“Right now I’m disappointed,” said Ralston. “(I have) a lot of different emotions to be honest. Nerves, excitement. Not knowing what to expect. To have face this team, in your first game with one day (to prepare), it’s not an easy one.”

Josef Martinez scored the game-winning goal four minutes into stoppage time, thanks to a great set up by Miguel Almiron. Almiron sent in a centering pass into the middle that Martinez was able to head in past JT Marcinkowski into the left corner of the goal for his second goal of the night and league leading 30th MLS goal.

Marcinkowski was making his first MLS start in the San Jose net. He was tested early on by Atlanta FC, making three saves in the first 25 minutes of action.

“You always want to touch the ball early, make a clean save, make a clean pass (to) get your feed under you,” said Marcinkowski. “They’re a high scoring offense, they’re powerful, (at the) top of the league.”

San Jose would draw first blood in the 13th minute when Shea Salinas received the ball from Magnus Eriksson near the left wing. He sent over a crossing pass to an unchecked Nick Lima, who one-timed a header past Atlanta United goalie Brad Guzan into the far left corner of the net for his second goal of the season.

Quakes defender Guram Gashia kept Atlanta United from getting the equalizer at the 26 minute mark when he was able to block an on coming strike from Atlanta United midfielder Julian Gressel.

Quakes forward Danny Hoesen was injured in a collision with Atlanta United midfielder Jeff Larentowicz at the 18-minute mark. The result was a yellow card issued to Larentowicz. Hoesen remained in the game.

Hoesen then doubled the Quakes’ lead in the 43rd minute after Nick Lima sent in a long ball right in front of the defense box. Hoesen won the one-on-one battle against Atlanta United defender Michael Parkhurst and his initial shot was saved by Guzan. Hoesen then collected his own rebound and bent in a chip shot into the upper right corner of the goal for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

Atlanta United’s Hector Villalba cut the lead in half two minutes before the end of the first half with a fantastic one-time strike from 20 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal that Marcinkowski and the Quakes could only admire from afar. Gressel sent a cross-field pass over to the left wing, where Villalba’s rocket of a shot was good for his sixth goal of the season.

Vako turned in the play of the game, and quite arguably the goal of the year, giving the San Jose a 3-1 lead in the 58th minute when he was able to take possession of the ball inside the right slot in the defense box. He dribbled around Atlanta United’s Chris McCann toward the middle, out-deked Gressel and fired a left-footed shot that curled in past Guzan for his 10th goal of the season.

In a weird turn of events the Quakes thought they had a 4-1 lead when captain Chris Wondolowski fired home a goal after receiving a wide-open pass from Anibal Godoy. However, after video review, it was determined there was a hand ball called on Eriksson inside their defense box that resulted in a penalty shot for Atlanta United. Martinez tapped in the penalty for his first goal on the night–and his 29th of the season–in the 70th minute.

With the Quakes’ heads still spinning from the goal that wasn’t, Almiron tied the match just three minutes later in the 73rd minute when Martinez dribbled inside the defense box and was tackled. No call was made on the tackled by referee Fotis Bazakos, who had a rough night on the pitch to put it lightly, and the rebound laid open where Almiron buried it into the left corner of the net for his 12th goal of the season.

In the 90th minute, Vako sent in a shot toward the goal that hit the elbow of Leandro Gonzalez Pirez that Bazakos apparently didn’t see, nor did the VAR decide it was worth replaying. That had San Jose scratching their heads in frustration.

“We’ve had this referee before,” said Wondo. “He’s had pivotal calls that’s come against us many times. To be honest I felt (we were) a little cheated by the refs (tonight).”

GAME NOTES: This was the second meeting all-time between the two clubs. Atlanta United won the first ever meeting back on July 4th, 2017 4-2.

Quakes defender Shae Salians was issued a yellow card in the 53rd minute when he slid in late on a tackle attempt on Villalba.

The announced attendance was 15,948.

The match was part of Mexican Heritage night at Avaya Stadium.

UP NEXT: The Quakes travel to Los Angeles to take on the LAFC on Saturday, September 22 at 5:30 pm PDT at Banc of California Stadium.

A’s finally complete the Mike Fiers trade

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Photo credit: @AthleticsPR

By: Ana Kieu

OAKLAND, Calif. — Last month, the Oakland Athletics acquired starter Mike Fiers from the Detroit Tigers. Fiers had a brief stint with the Tigers this year. Prior to his departure, Fiers posted a 7-6 record and a 3.48 ERA in 21 starts in Detroit.

In exchange, the A’s were going to receive two prospects or a considerable amount of cash. The A’s received two unknowns–the first of those two was reliever Nolan Blackwood and the second was starter Logan Shore. Shore was initially an A’s second-round draft pick in 2016, but his MLB career hasn’t panned out the way he wanted. Shore was described as a “fast track candidate” out of the University of Florida, but injuries hampered his early progress in both the minor and major leagues.

Shore’s line in Double-A in 2018 features a 5.50 ERA, 68 2/3 innings pitched, 49 strikeouts, 19 walks, 7 home runs and 4.27 fielding independent pitcher.

Shore’s most recent injury was a ulnar nerve irritation, which forced him to finish the 2018 season on the DL.

I accept the final result of this specific trade. At 33 years old, Fiers is on the older side, but he has been dominating in Oakland thus far. Fiers currently has a 5-1 record with a 3.09 ERA since August 6th. Moreover, Fiers remains under the A’s control, as he’s eligible for arbitration.

If healthy, Shore will be a solid prospect for the Tigers’ roster. Shore just has a slightly lackluster arm, so he has to put in a little bit more effort to work his way into the Tigers’ pitching rotation.

As for Blackwood, the 23-year-old was ranked 30th on this year’s list of A’s prospects on MLB Pipeline. Blackwood has a deceptive bullpen arm, but could use some other deceptive bullpen arms to complement him on the mound.