Author: Sports Radio Service

Syndergaard throws a gem in Mets’ 4-1 win over Giants

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Photo credit: @genymets

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — With the exception of two bad pitches in the second inning, it was a spectacular pitching performance for Chris Stratton.

Michael Conforto hit a two-run home run on the first pitch he saw from Stratton in the top of the second inning, helping the New York Mets to a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 39,692 at AT&T Park on Sunday afternoon.

Just one pitch prior to Conforto’s 20th home run of the season, Todd Frazier lined a double to left field.

Noah Syndergaard was outstanding for the Mets, as he threw his first career complete game, allowing just one run on just two hits, walking just one and striking out a season-high tying 11 and won for the 10th time on the season.

This was just the second complete game against the Giants this season, joining Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who tossed one on April 17.

Syndergaard’s lone mistake of the afternoon, was when Alen Hanson hit a triple just out of the reach of a diving Brandon Nimmo in right field and then Stratton got the Giants on the board with a sacrifice fly to Nimmo that easily scored Hanson from third base,

Stratton went six innings, allowing two runs on three hits, not allowing a walk and striking out two.

Following the Hanson triple and subsequent sacrifice fly by Stratton, Syndergaard only allowed two more baserunners to reach base, as Evan Longoria singled in the bottom of the fourth inning and then Brandon Belt reached on a throwing error by Jay Bruce.

Despite the loss, the Giants made some great plays on defense, especially three by Hanson and one by Gregor Blanco, who robbed former teammate Austin Jackson of extra bases, as he made a diving catch of a Jackson hit in the top of the fifth inning. Austin Slater made a great defensive to end the top of the ninth inning, as he robbed Tomas Nido of extra bases with Nimmo on first base after a walk with one out in the frame.

Jeff McNeill continues his hot hitting against the Giants, as he picked up two more hits on the afternoon, including a two-run single in the top of the eighth inning that stretched the Mets lead up to 4-1.

In seven games versus the Giants since being recalled from the Las Vegas 51s, McNeil is batting .500 against the Giants, as he is 9-for-18 in seven games.

NOTES: Kelby Tomlinson was recalled from Sacramento prior to the game. The Giants now have 27 players on their roster.

Brandon Crawford sat out the weekend series against the Mets due to soreness in his left knee, and will be re-evaluated by the doctors over the next few days.

Steven Duggar will have season-ending shoulder injury sometime this week, might be Tuesday.

UP NEXT: Madison Bumgarner opens the Giants two-city six-game road trip with a start against the Colorado Rockies on Monday afternoon, as he faces Tyler Anderson for the Rockies at Coors Field. Game time is set for 12:10 pm PDT.

Following the three-game series in Denver, and an off day, the Giants make their only trip to Milwaukee, where they will face the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend at Miller Park.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Discussions on this week’s trades; A’s make final push for postseason; Umpire catches pitcher cheating; plus more

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Photo credit: @nypost

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Highlights of the postseason-eligible trade deadline: Andrew McCutchen to Yankees, Josh Donaldson to Cleveland, Gio Gonzalez to Brewers, and more.

2 A’s make final roster moves for playoff push on August 31.

3 Umpire confiscates cheat sheet from Phillies pitcher.

4 Padres forced to cancel beach hat giveaway due to beetle infestation.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com also Daniel is a Stanford Cardinal football beat writer

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Khris “Krush” Davis joins Jimmie Foxx in three straight years of hitting 40 home runs or more

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photo from athleticsnation.com file: Oakland A’s slugger Khris Davis (2) joins former A’s slugger Jimmie Foxx for hitting at least 40 or more home runs per season for three consecutive years

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND — On Saturday September 1, 2018, Oakland Athletics’ designated hitter Khris Davis hit his 40th home run at the Oakland Coliseum against Seattle reliever Alex Colomé. Davis joined Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (1932-34) of the Philadelphia Athletics as the only two players in three consecutive years to have 40 home run seasons in the A’s franchise. Khris Davis came to the A’s in 2016–that season he ended with 42 home runs and 102 runs batted in, 2017–43 home runs and 110 runs batted in, and as of the conclusion of Sept. 1–40 home runs and 105 runs batted in. Originally a left fielder, he is the A’s everyday DH. A quiet player that goes on with his business. Davis is a 30-year-old, Lakewood, Calif. native. His mother was born in Guadalajara, México. He has played on a “year to year” contract since he arrived with the A’s, making $10.5 million this season.

Here is the all-time list of players who have accomplished this feat: Babe Ruth, NYY 1926-32, Alex Rodriguez, 1998-2003, Sammy Sosa (1998-2003), Ken Griffey Jr. (1996-2000), Ralph Kiner (1947-1951), Ryan Howard (2006-09), Albert Pujols (2003-06), Jim Thome (2001-04), Mark McGwire (1996-99), Ernie Banks (1957-1960), Duke Snider (1953-56), David Ortiz (2004-06), Barry Bonds (2000-02), Vinny Castilla (1996-98), Andres Galarraga (1996-98), Juan Gonzalez (1996-98), Jay Buhner (1995-97), Frank Howard (1968-1970), Ted Kluszewski (1953-55), Eddie Mathews (1953-55), and of course, Jimmie Foxx (1932-34).

Listen to the A’s games on KIQI 1010AM/990AM in San Francisco, Oakland, San José, Sacramento, Stockton and the Valley. Also, on the SAP line on A’s television.

Road woes: Earthquakes lose to WhiteCaps 2-1 at BC Place

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Marq

The San Jose Earthquakes took a trip to the Great White North and were welcomed by the eighth-seeded Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place on Saturday night. It would prove to be physically challenging match for San Jose as they drew 22 fouls from Vancouver.

The opening score came from WhiteCaps midfielder Alphonso Davies at the 22nd minute. The Quakes remained off-balance, despite controlling the possession for the majority of the game, as well as passing with 82% accuracy for the match.

San Jose found themselves in themselves in the scoring third often enough, with 11 shots taken. However, as it has been all season, opportunities continue to slip through the Quakes’ fingers. Only 2 of 11 shots required goalie intervention.

The WhiteCaps found more success, and founds that they could work the opposing keeper more often, with 5 of 16 shots on target. In the 78th minute, Vancouver’s Nicolas Mezquida effectively shut the door on the Quakes’ hopes of winning the match, when he scored to make it a 2-0 game.

These two teams played a full 90 minutes of soccer plus three minutes of stoppage time. Vako helped the Quakes avoid getting shutout by the WhiteCaps by scoring his ninth goal of the season at the 90th minute.

The WhiteCaps defeated the Quakes 2-1.

Since it’s late in the season and with a negative cellar-dweller image in place, San Jose needs to reevaluate for the team’s future. If they can’t find a way to build a more consistent team with better chemistry, they will be bottom feeders again next year.

The Quakes return home to Avaya Stadium, where they’ll host Sporting KC on Saturday, September 19 at 7:30 pm PDT.

Giants fall to Mets 2-1 in 11 innings

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants were looking to defeat the New York Mets again in game two of the three-game series at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon. The Giants welcomed former shortstop Johnnie LeMaster, who enjoyed the ballgame after catching a flight from Kentucky to California.

Via twitter.com

Saturday afternoon was similar to Friday night, as the Giants and Mets were in a scoreless deadlock for three complete innings. Evan Longoria hit a solo home run to put the Giants on the board 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

However, it didn’t take long for the Mets to even the score at one apiece, as Tomas Nido doubled on a line drive to Austin Slater. Nido’s double brought home Brandon Nimmo in the top of the fifth inning.

Giants’ left-handed starter and switch-hitter Derek Holland put in a day’s work on the mound. Holland’s line was six innings pitched, four hits, one earned run, three walks and three strikeouts.

Fans in attendance got the chance to watch some free baseball, as the game went into extra innings following a 1-1 tie after nine complete innings.

The Mets took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 11th inning. Todd Frazier went out on a sacrifice fly to Hunter Pence. Wilmer Scores scored on Frazier’s sacrifice fly.

The Giants had hoped to mount a comeback or at least even the score to force a 12th inning, but that didn’t happen. The Giants lost to the Mets 2-1 in 11 innings.

Mets’ Jerry Blevins was the winning pitcher. Giants’ Hunter Strickland took the loss.

Notes
Giants’ starting lineup: Hernandez (CF), Slater (RF), Longoria (3B), Hundley (C), Belt (1B), Pence (LF), Hanson (SS), Panik (2B) and Holland (P).

Giants catcher Buster Posey underwent hip surgery on Monday, but was in San Francisco for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Day. Posey is a class act and that’s why young kids adore and admire him.

Saturday’s attendance was 38,875.

Saturday’s game lasted for two hours and 56 minutes.

Up Next
The Giants wrap up their series versus the Mets with a finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Despite recent losses in Posey and Duggar, Giants keep the wins coming; A’s catching up to Astros in AL West; plus more

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 Just when you thought that the Giants would start sinking, they plugged the holes up, got some strong bullpen help and after losing Buster Posey and Steven Duggar to injuries. The Giants are also getting help from their young players, including Aramis Garcia, who hit his first big league home run on Friday night for a 7-0 win over the New York Mets.

#2 The Oakland A’s are closing in the AL West with a win over the Seattle Mariners. The A’s in second now are just 1 1/2 games behind first place Houston.

#3 Frustration in New York. The New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected from Friday’s night game for arguing balls and strikes and demonstrating by posing as the catcher in a squat where the strike zone is. The Yanks did win 7-5, but are battling with the A’s and Mariners for the wild card spot.

#4 The Chicago Cubs, who hold a 3 1/2 game lead in the NL Central over the second place St. Louis Cardinals, took a tough loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night 2-1. Asdrubal Cabrera went deep for a solo shot in the 10th that helped the Phils gain a one-run win.

#5 You can’t win them all…with the Yankees winning the Boston Red Sox set their sights for the Chicago White Sox, but took a five-run loss 6-1. Red Sox starter Nathan Evaldi pitched two innings and gave up three runs and the Red Sox didn’t get much help from their lineup either–scoring just a run in the top of the eighth.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Raiders report: Raiders trade Mack to Bears

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photo from bearswire.com: Former Oakland Raider Khalil Mack (52) has been dealt to the Chicago Bears as of Saturday morning. Mack came to the Raiders out of the NFL draft in 2014.

By Jeremy Kahn

If you thought that LeBron James going to the Los Angeles Lakers, DeMarcus Cousins going to the Golden State Warriors, or Kwahi Leonard going to the Toronto Raptors was big for the NBA, what would the impact of Khalil Mack going to the Chicago Bears do for the NFL.

According to multiple reports, the Oakland Raiders will trade the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year to the Bears.

Mack missed all of training camp, he also did not appear at the Raiders voluntary off season program and missed the mandatory three-day minicamp in June. Also, since he was hired as the Raiders head coach on January 8, Jon Gruden and Mack have yet to speak to one another.

During the summer of 2017, the Raiders exercised the fifth-year option on Mack’s contract that is $13.846 million. If Mack was to play for the Raiders in 2018, the Raiders could put the franchise tag on the linebacker out of the University of Buffalo, barring an impasse.

In 2015, Mack became the first player in NFL history to be named All-Pro as an Outside Linebacker and a Defensive End. Mack was named the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and last year, Mack finished with 10.5 sacks, his fewest since his rookie year.

Oh yeah, and the Bears come to the Bay Area to face the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on December 23.

Part deux of Giants and Mets: Rookie power shows flashes in SF’s 7-0 shutout over NYM

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

This Friday night marked the start of part deux of the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets series. This time around, these two teams met inside AT&T Park instead of Citi Field.

In case you missed it, SF flew out of NYC with a 3-1 win to salvage a split of the four-game split. That wasn’t what the Giants wanted, but it’s better than getting swept on the road.

The Giants got things rolling with Andrew Suarez (5-9, 4.42 ERA) on the mound, and the Mets countered with Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.46 ERA).

The Giants also got a good glimpse at the future of the franchise, as the Chris Shaw era began on Friday night, but it was Andrew Shaw who helped the Giants roll over the Mets 7-0 at AT&T Park.

After six scoreless innings, Shaw’s sacrifice fly to Austin Jackson allowed Brandon Belt to score to give the Giants a 1-0 lead at the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Giants continued to pour in the runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Aramis Garcia on a fly ball to left field for a 2-0 lead. Belt tripled on a sharp fly ball to Jay Bruce, which allowed Gregor Blanco and Evan Longoria to both score for a 4-0 lead. Austin Slater singled on a line drive to Bruce, which allowed Belt to score for a 5-0 lead. Gorkys Hernandez singled on a ground ball to Bruce, which allowed Slater to score for a 6-0 lead and moved Hunter Pence to third base. Garcia capped off the Giants’ scoring with a single on a fly ball to Jackson, which allowed Pence to score for a 7-0 lead and moved Hernandez to third base.

The Mets were unable to recuperate, and the Giants won 7-0 in a laugher.

Notes
Chris Shaw was called up to SF from the Sacramento River Cats.

Andrew McCutchen tweeted out a shoutout to the Giants and thanked them for the love and support they gave to him and his family. McCutchen also gave a shoutout to the fans and added that he got chills every time he saw his banner outside of AT&T Park.

Up Next
The Giants and Mets meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT. The matinee will feature a pitching matchup of SF’s Derek Holland (7-8, 3.65 ERA) and NY’s Steven Matz (5-11, 4.36 ERA).

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: After dropping three of their last four, A’s looking to regroup against Mariners tonight

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Joey:

The A’s have lost three of their last four games. They played a challenging Houston team with a couple of one run games in the series and dropped the opening game of the current four-game series to the Seattle Mariners 7-1. A’s starter Frankie Montas got shelled on Thursday, surrendering five runs in the first inning. Montas left pitching six innnings, seven runs and eight hits.

The Mariners’ starter Wade LeBlanc pitched seven innings, holding the A’s to one run and three hits. The A’s were never a threat. The A’s only run accounted for a Jed Lowrie single in the eighth that scored Marcus Semien from second to break up LeBlanc’s shutout.

The Mike and Mike show: The A’s try it again tonight at the Oakland Coliseum. For Seattle, Mike Leake (8-8 ERA 4.03), and for Oakland, Mike Fiers (10-6 ERA 3.15) a 7:15 pm PDT first pitch.

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

Three takeaways from SJSU’s home opener vs. UC Davis

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Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In case you missed it, the San Jose State Spartans welcomed the UC Davis Aggies to its home turf inside CEFCU Stadium on Thursday night.

As you should already know, SJSU went 2-11 (1-7) last year under first-year head coach Brent Brennan, who’s now in his second year as the Spartans’ head coach. And, of course, there are a lot of folks–mostly non-Spartan fans–who doubt that the 2018 Spartans will be an improved team, but that’s fine. It’s still too early to throw in the towel.

Here are three takeaways from SJSU’s home opener vs. UC Davis.

3. Tyler Nevens is in our thoughts and prayers 
The Spartans’ 2018 season is off to a rough start. Tyler Nevens, who’s arguably the Spartans’ top wide running back, suffered a serious injury following a head-to-head collision. Nevens was on the field for nearly 20 minutes before being taken off the field on a stretcher for an evaluation at a local hospital. Nevens was released late Thursday night and has been resting since then.

Many people sent their thoughts and prayers to Nevens, who scored two touchdowns prior to his injury, and it appears to be working wonders on the Spartan star. While it’s unclear if Nevens will be cleared to play in next Saturday’s game at Washington State, Spartans’ head coach Brent Brennan said that Nevens’ replacement at running back would be DeJon Packer, Jamar Williams or Brenden Manigo.

2. Montel Aaron is more confident this year
Spartans’ quarterback Montel Aaron, who’s now a sophomore, told the local media that he felt more confident this year compared to last year.

The only issue is that Aaron hasn’t had much experience last year, so he has a lot of things to learn and a lot of strides to make, but it’s a process, so he’d say that it’s all about mental techniques, so he has to have the required confidence regardless of who’s starting the game or what they’ve done in the offseason, as you’ll have to go after what you want to achieve.

1. Where’s the Spartan defense?
If you listened to the radio broadcast and/or followed live updates on Twitter, you’d notice that the Spartan defense was pretty much non-existent during the SJSU vs. UC Davis home opener at CEFCU Stadium. The Spartan offense, however, was a force that just happened to be reckoned with.

The Aggies are far from a good college football team in the Big Sky Conference, but they were able to hold off the Spartans, who are in the Mountain West Conference, for a 44-38 win in San Jose, Calif. Ulonzo Gilliam became the ninth Aggie to score three touchdowns in a single game in UC Davis’ Big Sky history, and the second to do so against an FBS opponent.

That being said, the Spartan defense has to show up sooner than later if the Spartans want to win games this season. The Spartans’ defensive lineup of Bryson Bridges, Owen “Boogie” Roberts, Sailosi Latu, Jesse Osuna, Tysyn Parker, Ethan Aguayo, Jamal Scott, John Touissaint, Tre Webb, Jay Lenard and Dakari Monroe looks pretty darn good on paper, but in the game versus UC Davis, SJSU’s defense allowed an FCS quarterback to pass for 446 yards and three touchdowns and an FCS running back to rush for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The Spartan defense clearly got destroyed by the Aggies in 2018’s first-ever FCS over FBS upset, which was extremely disappointing.

Up Next
SJSU heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington State at Martin Stadium on Saturday, September 8th at 8 pm PDT on PACN.