MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Ex-D-Back helps Braves to defeat old mates; New hero every day for Oakland A’s–Olson helps beat Rangers; plus more

Photo credit: theathletic.com

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Beware of the boomerang! Ex-D-Back helps Braves defeat Arizona and its imploding bullpen.

2 Matt Olson, playing off the bench, helps A’s beat Texas.

3 Top White Sox pitching prospect Michael Kopech has UCL tear, likely candidate for Tommy John surgery.

4 Tigers announcers suspended after brawl; fight started over a chair and ended with a chokehold.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose State gets blanked 31-0 by Washington State

Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

Following a depressing 44-38 loss to the UC Davis Aggies, the San Jose State Spartans were looking to flip the script at Martin Stadium against the Washington State Cougars on Saturday night.

The Spartans traveled to the Pacific Northwest in Blue and Gold gear. According to @SJSUSpartanFB, there was only one thing on the Spartans’ minds Saturday and that was to beat WSU. Most things, if not everything, had to go right for SJSU tonight.

Unfortunately, WSU got on the board first. Tay Martin scored a 15-yard passing touchdown off a throw by Gardner Minshew. Blake Mazza’s PAT kick was good. The Cougars led 7-0 at the 12:55 mark of the first quarter.

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Martin scored his second touchdown of the game–a 36-yard passing touchdown off a throw by Minshew–and Mazza’s PAT kick was good. The Cougars led 14-0 with 5:45 left in the first quarter.

The Cougars continued to get it their way, as Mazza’s 36-yard field goal kick put themselves ahead 17-0 with 5:48 left in the second quarter.

The Cougars got a down-to-the-wire touchdown–a 1-year rushing touchdown by Minshew–and Mazza’s PAT kick was good. WSU took a 24-0 lead to the locker room at the end of the first half. While the Spartans’ offense was nonexistent, the Spartans’ defense was a bright spot, as Jesse Osuna led with 7 tackles and 1 interception at the half.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Cougars capped off the scoring with a late touchdown with 4:39 left in the fourth quarter. James Williams caught a 3-yard passing touchdown off a throw by Minshew and then Mazza worked his magic one last time with a successful PAT kick. The Cougars blanked the Spartans 31-0.

Notes
Prior to the kickoff, the Cougars led the series with the Spartans 7-4-1. These two teams met for the first time since 1996, where the Cougars routed the Spartans 52-16 behind four touchdown passes from Ryan Leaf, who currently works as a program ambassador for the Transcend Recovery Community, a group of sober living homes in Los Angeles, Houston and New York. The Spartans won the previous meeting 20-13 over the Cougars in 1986.

Cougars head coach Mike Leake is in his seventh season at WSU, while Spartans head coach Brent Brennan is just in his second season at SJSU. Despite the wide gap in experience, both head coaches did whatever they could to make things interesting for their respective fanbases.

Up Next 
The Spartans head to Autzen Stadium to take on the No. 23 Oregon Ducks on Saturday, September 15 at 2:00 pm PDT on the Pac-12 Network.

Stanford routed USC 17-3 at Stanford Stadium on Saturday night

Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By: Ana Kieu

STANFORD, Calif. — The No. 10 Stanford Cardinal invited the No. 17 USC Trojans to Stanford Stadium for a Pac-12 showdown on Saturday night. The two teams were certainly ready to go head-to-head, but only one team managed to prevail in the end.

Like most other rivalries, the Stanford vs. USC rivalry is quite a ferocious battle. Seven of the past 12 meetings have been decided by eight points or less. Moreover, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman showed some love to his alma mater, Stanford University, on Twitter. Sherman is a Compton, Calif. native who played college football at Stanford from 2006-2010. Sherman also graduated with a degree in communications in 2010.

USC won the coin toss and deferred for the second half. The Trojans kicked the ball to start the first half.

The Cardinal got on the board first, thanks to Bryce Love’s 6-yard rushing touchdown. Jet Toner’s kick for the extra point was good. Stanford took a 7-0 lead at the 10:26 mark of the first quarter.

The Cardinal led the Trojans 7-0 after the first quarter.

Bobby Okereke was a bad man during the second quarter. Okereke helped the Cardinal’s defense spin around and forced a punt. Also, Trenton Irwin made his third catch of the night–the 100th of his career–and kept doing his thing.

Things got interesting late in the second quarter. K.J. Costello threw a pass to Colby Parkinson, who scored what looked like a 9-yard passing touchdown. The Trojans challenged the Cardinal’s play, but the call on the field stood. Toner kicked in the extra point. Stanford took a 14-0 lead with just 34 seconds left in the quarter.

The Cardinal led the Trojans 14-0 at the end of the first half. This was the first time Stanford pitched a first half shutout since Aug. 26, 2017 against Rice in Sydney, Australia. Moreover, Stanford allowed just 82 combined passing yards in the first half this season.

The Trojans finally got on the board early in the second half. Chase McGrath kicked in a 35-yard field goal to reduce the Cardinal’s lead to 14-3 at the 11:24 mark of the third quarter. Stanford threatened USC in the redzone prior to that eye-opening play.

Thanks to Toner’s 30-yard field goal, Stanford extended its lead to 17-3 with 6:04 left in the quarter.

The Cardinal’s strong safety, Ben Edwards, went down due to an apparent trip, but managed to get up off the ground. The game resumed its regular action after a delay that lasted for a couple of minutes.

The Cardinal defeated the Trojans by a final score of 17-3. Stanford has now won 19 of its last 22 games when scoring first. In addition, Stanford improved to 15-5 in games in which Love found the end zone.

Notes
On the Cardinal’s offensive line, A.T. Hall made his 27th career start and Nate Herbig made his 21st career start.

Red shirts were handed out to all fans in attendance, courtesy of Stanford Medicine.

Kailee Wong served as the Cardinal’s honorary captain for #BeatSC week. Wong was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame Friday night.

JJ Arcega-Whiteside, the third-best receiving game in Cardinal history, shared his Stanford story for the masses on Labor Day.

Up Next 
The Cardinal host the UC Davis Aggies on Saturday, September 15 at 11:00 am PDT on the Pac-12 Network.

After 4-3 loss in Milwaukee, Giants’ losing streak now stands at seven

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that this nightmare of a road trip will never come to a close for the San Francisco Giants.

Gio Gonzalez made his debut with the Milwaukee Brewers a memorable one, as he received a standing ovation, as he allowed an unearned run on just three hits in 5.2 innings of work and the Brewers defeated the Giants 4-3 at Miller Park on Saturday.

Gonzalez, who was making his Brewers debut after being acquired from the Washington Nationals on August 31, also retired 16 of the 21 batters he faced.

The Brewers now lead the National League Wild Card by 2.5 games over the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost 4-3 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Christian Yelich hit his 28th home run of the season, his first season with the Brewers after beginning his career with the Miami Marlins.

Travis Shaw also hit his 28th home run of the season, as he got the Brewers on the board in the bottom of the first off of eventual losing pitcher Chris Stratton.

The Brewers also got RBIs from Mike Moustakas, who drove in a run with a double and Orlando Arcia drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Austin Slater drove in the Giants first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning, as he hit a line out to Yelich, to score Chase d’Arnaud, who was originally called out by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi; however, after a review, d’Arnaud was called safe for the Giants first run of the evening.

Ryder Jones got the Giants within one run in the top of the eighth inning, as he hit a two-run pinch hit home run.

Stratton went just five innings, allowing four runs on four hits, walking three and striking out six, as his record fell to 9-9 on the season and the Giants have now lost seven games in a row.

NOTES: Brandon Crawford was not in the lineup again, but did make a pinch-hit appearance in the top of the eighth inning, where he walked. Brandon Belt was a late scratch at first base, as d’Arnaud started at first in his place.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Brewers conclude their series with a Sunday finale at 11:10 am PDT.

Madison Bumgarner looks to stop the losing streak on Sunday, as he takes the mound for the Giants. Zach Davies looks for his third win of the season, as the Brewers goes for the series sweep.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Tigers’ announcers–will they be through after brawling?; Angels’ Ohtani and his Tommy John case; plus more

Photo credit Detroit Free Press: Rod Allen, left, and Mario Impemba in the Fox Sports Detroit studio in 2006.(Photo: David P. Gilkey, DFP)

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 On Tuesday night, Detroit Tigers broadcasters Rod Allen and Mario Impemba got into a physical altercation in the broadcast booth in Chicago. The argument was over a chair. Both broadcasters have been suspended for the rest of the month.

#2 The Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani can still swing the bats with no problem it’s that he can’t pitch and it’s looking pretty apparent that Ohtani will have Tommy John surgery. Ohtani is making good contact as a hitter, but the surgery will certainly set him back.

#3 Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia won’t return for 2018 because of discomfort from surgery from last year with a cartilage replacement in the left knee. The Sox have been using Ian Kinsler for second base.

#4 How big is it to get Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who will be activated from the DL Tuesday, against the Toronto Blue Jays? Sale is on tap to be used for openers for the rest of the way.

#5 The San Francisco Giants are playing the Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants are 10 games out of first place and have lost six straight. For the Giants, will we see them using the call up or will they be trying to be spoilers in Milwaukee?

Matt does the MLB The Show each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Jesus Aguilar sends the Giants to their sixth straight loss 4-2

Photo credit: @INDeporteVE

By Jeremy Kahn

Jesus Aguilar usually hits the ball very far, but the Milwaukee Brewers power hitter kept the ball in the ballpark and it helped his team in a huge way.

Aguilar hit a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning off of Tony Watson, as the Brewers defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-2 at Miller Park on Friday night.

Losing pitcher Hunter Strickland started the seventh inning, but after walking back-to-back pinch hitters in, Curtis Granderson and Eric Thames, Strickland was replaced by Watson, who gave up the eventual game-winning double to Aguilar.

With the victory, the Brewers increased their lead in the wild card race to a 1.5 games over the charging St. Louis Cardinals, who lost to the Detroit Tigers on a walk-off home run by Jose Castellanos in the bottom of the ninth inning at Comerica Park, by the final score of 5-3.

On the other side of things, it could not have gotten any worse for the Giants, who have lost six games in a row and are now a season-high six games under .500.

Josh Hader pitched two strong innings to pick-up his fifth win of the season, Joakim Soria got through the Giants in the top of the eighth and then Jeremy Jeffress closed it out to notch his ninth save of the season.

Bruce Bochy was not around to see the end of the game, as the Giants manager was ejected in the top of the ninth inning after arguing the strike zone with home plate umpire Adam Hamari. Bochy was ejected from the game after Nick Hundley was called out on a low strike call, and then Bochy came out to add his two cents before he got the heave-ho from Hamari.

Derek Holland once again pitched a great game, as he went six innings, allowing two runs on just two hits, walking five and striking out a season-high tying eight. It was the fourth time this season that Holland notched eight strikeouts in a game.

The Brewers got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when they got their only hits off of Holland, as Lorenzo Cain singled and then after then two outs later, Ryan Braun hit his 15th home run of the season.

Chris Shaw got the Giants on the board in the top of the fourth inning, as his groundout scored Evan Longoria, who hit back-to-back singles with Brandon Belt and the two advanced an additional 90 feet on a Chase Anderson wild pitch and then Longoria scored the first run of the night on the Shaw groundout.

Alen Hanson tied up the game, as he led off the top of the fifth inning with his eighth home run of the season off of Anderson, who gave up his National League leading 29th home run of the season. Anderson, who like Holland, did not fare in the decision, went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking one and striking out five.

NOTES: Once again, Brandon Crawford was out of the starting lineup for the Giants, but he was available to pinch-hit for the Giants. Crawford last started for the Giants on Monday after missing the previous three games with a sore left knee. Crawford last played on Tuesday, but sat out Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field and with the off-day on Thursday, Bochy said that he is listed as day-to-day.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Brewers play in game two of the series on Saturday at 4:10 pm PDT.

Chris Stratton will go for his 10th win for the Giants, while the Brewers will send Gio Gonzalez to the mound. This will be the first start as a member of the Brewers for Gonzalez, who was acquired from the Washington Nationals on August 31.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s need every win in this Rangers series starting tonight

Photo credit: @Athletics

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 The Houston Astros never quit. They’re just 3 1/2 games ahead of the A’s with five straight wins and a convincing win over the Minnesota Twins 9-1 on Wednesday at Minute Maid Field.

#2 Alex Bergman hit for five RBIs on Wednesday as the Astros have some different player to come through every other day and they manage to stay ahead of the A’s in what can be called a real race in the AL West.

#3 The A’s meanwhile beat the New York Yankees two out of three and they out foxed and outbombed the Bronx Bombers’ best pitcher Luis Severino 8-2 with some early hitting.

#4 The A’s go up against the Texas Rangers tonight. The Rangers are 26 games out of first place. The season is finished for the Rangers, but as they say in the show, anything can happen on any given day and the A’s need every game of this series.

#5 The A’s need this series if they want to continue to chip away at the Astros. It starts Friday night at the Coliseum, the Rangers will start Yovani Gallardo (8-3) and the A’s will start Chris Bassitt (2-3).

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

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants expecting big things from new second baseman Abiatal Avelino

Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 In the Andrew McCutchen deal that sent him to the New York Yankees, it gave the Giants a young prospect that’s maybe the key to this deal in acquiring Abiatal Avelino a promising second baseman.

#2 Avelino thought that when he got the call to go the show. He thought he was going to New York to replace injured second baseman Greyber Torres, but he found out he was being traded to San Francisco for Andrew McCutchen.

#3 Avelino wasn’t disappointed about coming to SF realizing he’ll have a better chance at starting in the Giants’ rebuild. Also, what does that mean for second baseman Joe Panik’s future with the Giants?

#4 The Giants take a five-game losing streak into Milwaukee tonight. The Brewers are in the hunt. Is this going to be a series on what the call ups can do or can they get up for this game and take it to the Brew Crew and play spoilers?

#5 Also, talk about the Rockies’ Trevor Story, who hit three home runs Wednesday night and 31 for the year, and how Giants pitcher Andrew Suarez just couldn’t contain him.

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

Oakland Raiders podcast with Joe Hawkes Beamon: Raiders on primetime show on Monday Night, but will it be all about Mack?

Photo credit: @Raiders

On the Oakland Raiders podcast with Joe:

#1 Regular season kicks off on primetime TV in Oakland. The Los Angeles Rams pay a visit to the Oakland Raiders the prelude to this game. Is the anticipation of the deal to send Khalil Mack to Chicago and much discussion expected on national TV?

#2 You try and watch the opener on Monday Night Football, but not only Mack dominates the telecast, but also the discussion. How it might turn on how the Raiders made a mistake on dealing Mack and how the Raiders very well might not make postseason without their superstar player?

#3 Mack amassed 40.5 sacks, but the Raiders still finished 24th in the league in defense. Will the Raiders sink further now without Mack?

#4 What about the fans? Raider Nation isn’t taking this well at all. Has the Raiders’ front office been hit with emails, comments and messages since the deal went down?

#5 Can this team focus and can they get their best player out of their head on Monday Night Football?

Joe Hawkes Beamon writes a weekly preview on Raiders football each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Lami: Will the pressure be on Garoppolo to repeat last season’s performance on opening day Sunday?

Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the 49ers podcast with Joe:

#1 How much anticipation rides on this Sunday’s game on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and his getting the 49ers off to a great start on opening day?

#2 Garoppolo won five straight games the last five games of the 2017 season. Knowing what you know going into this season what you saw of him in camp, how ready is Jimmy G to pick up where he left off?

#3 The 49ers suffered a huge setback with the injury of running back Jerrick McKinnon with a torn ACL in on contact practice. How will this injury impact the team?

#4 Other running backs Matt Bredia and Alfred Morris are expected to help carry the ball for SF with McKinnon’s absence.

#5 The Nike decision to run former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the face of their ad campaign has been embraced favorably by most of the players. Do you see the NFL taking the next step and allowing Kaepernick back into the league after making the statement regarding acceptance?

Joe Lami does the 49ers podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsrasdioservice.com