Author: Sports Radio Service

Giants unable to hold lead; lose to Mets 6-3

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Chris Stratton was cruising, but then the seventh inning came and the New York Mets tied up the game with the help from a former San Francisco Giants outfielder.

Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly to score Jeff McNeill, who went 4-for-4 on the night, and then Austin Jackson tied up the game with a single to score Wilmer Flores. The Mets then added four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to even up the four-game series with a 6-3 victory over the Giants at Citi Field on Tuesday night.

McNeil picked up his fourth hit of the night to score Jose Reyes to give the Mets the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Two batters later, Conforto launched a three-run home run to put the final runs on the board for the Mets.

Evan Longoria hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the Giants a 2-0 lead, and it looked like it would hold up until Stratton got into trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Stratton, who was recalled from Double-A Richmond earlier in the day, and Derek Law was optioned to Sacramento to make room for Stratton. In all, Stratton went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, not walking a batter and struck out four.

Tony Watson got into trouble in the bottom of the eighth inning, and was unable to keep the Mets off the board in the fateful frame, as he went one inning, allowing four runs on three hits, walking one and striking out one and fell to 4-5 on the season.

McNeill equaled his career-high with those four hits that included that double in the bottom of the eighth inning.

This was the second time since he was recalled that McNeill picked up four hits in the same game.

McNeill was not the only Mets player to have a big game, as Conforto hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs on the night.

The rookie picked up singles in his first three at-bats, and scored the Mets’ first run of the game on Conforto’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Longoria’s home run off of Steven Matz in the top of the first inning was the first home run by the Giants since Andrew McCutchen hit one on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

It looked like Matz was in line for a loss, but ended up with a no-decision, as he went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits in his second start since returning from a strained pitching forearm.

Hunter Pence made the defensive play of the night, as he made an over-the-shoulder basket catch with his back to the field, a la Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series not too far from Citi Field at the Polo Grounds, which happened to the Mets first home in their first two seasons of 1962-1963 before moving into Shea Stadium in 1964.

Austin Slater drove in the Giants final run of the evening, as he singled in the top of the ninth inning in the top of the ninth inning.

NOTES: Buster Posey sat out the game, and according to reports, Posey may hip surgery that would end his season. Dereck Rodriguez, who is currently on the 10-day disabled list with hamstring issues ran prior to the game, and will go through pitcher’s drill tomorrow. Rodriguez is set to be activated from the disabled list on Friday, and scheduled to start that night against the Texas Rangers in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Mets will meet again Wednesday at 4:10 pm PDT.

Casey Kelly will make his second start of the season in the third game against the Mets in place of Rodriguez. Kelly went 4.1 innings on Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds, while the Mets will send Noah Syndergaard to the mound, who went 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with David Zizmor: 49ers GM Lynch says team is deeper and with game changers this season

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On the 49ers podcast with David:

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said he feels a lot better than last year saying the team is a lot deeper than last year and that their looking for game changers. Expectations are high for 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo going into the season. For game 3 in Indianapolis this Saturday, David takes a look what to expect in a game where the starters get more time on the field.

Denver Broncos’ general manager John Elway tipped the scales of the Colin Kapernick collusion case. Elway said that he offered the former 49ers quarterback Kaepernick a $7 million deal, but Kapernick–who was making $11 million on his last deal–declined. The NFL is looking into a gag order violation involving any discussions regarding bringing Kaepernick back in the NFL.

David Zizmor does the 49ers podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Davis getting close to setting some home run records

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Photo credit: @numberFire

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 The Oakland A’s Khris Davis hit two home runs on Sunday and both of them coming off Houston Astros’ starter Justin Verlander. Davis needs five more to break Mark McGwire’s record for home runs in three consecutive seasons at 125 through 1995-97.

#2 Davis is also in position to join former Philadelphia Athletic Jimmie Foxx (1932-34) to hit 40 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. Davis needs four more home runs to achieve that status.

#3 Verlander pitching against the A’s got the win (12-8) going five plus innings, seven hits, four earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts. We ask Amaury was it a matter of Verlander being dominate or were the A’s hitters just a little off on Sunday.

#4 It’s an A’s lineup that has everybody doing something: Nick Martini .300, Matt Chapman .276, Jed Lowrie .270, and Khris Davis .259.

#5 The A’s will start pitcher Mike Fiers (8-6) to open the three-game series against the Texas Rangers tonight at the Coliseum.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio play-by-play and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Cracks showing as the Giants fall eight off the pace with a dimming postseason

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On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris:

The last time the Giants used a position player to pitch was 27 years ago. Utility man Chase d’Arnaud pitched a scoreless eighth. The Reds, who swept the series, started three pitchers with 4.46, 5.19. 5.04 ERAs and the Giants could only get four runs to the Reds’ 11.

The Giants’ Joe Panik, who has six hits in two games, is one of the few Giants hitting. The Giants open a four-game series against the Mets Monday night at Citi Field. The Mets are 14 1/2 out of first in the NL East. The Giants are now eight games out of first and their chances are sinking for their playoff hopes.

Morris Phillips does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: This Week in 1980, Charlie O. Finley Sold the A’s for $12.7 Million

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By: Amaury Pi-González

On August 21, 1980, Athletics owner Charlie Finley announced at a news conference that he has sold his A’s to Walter A. Haas, Jr., the chairman of the board of the Levi Strauss clothing empire, Haas’s son Walter Jr., and son-in-law Roy Eisenhardt for $12.7 million.

In 1980, Finley agreed in principle to sell to businessman Marvin Davis, who was planning to move the A’s to Denver, but before that, Finley and Davis were to sign a contract, as the NFL’s Oakland Raiders announced they were moving to Los Angeles in 1982. The City of Oakland and Alameda County officials didn’t wanted to be held responsible for losing Oakland status as a big league city and refused to let the A’s out of their lease with the Coliseum. So the A’s were sold and stayed.

Although they have changed ownership a few times since, today’s A’s are in solid ground to continue playing in Oakland. These days, the last thing in mind for the A’s is to move out of Oakland, because soon they will be the only professional team left, after the Warriors move to San Francisco and the Raiders to Las Vegas. That is the good news. Plus, MLB commissioner Robert Manfred has said it all along, “the Bay Area is a two-team market.”

However, there is presently a group called Protect Oakland’s Shoreline Economy that is questioning the A’s proposed move to their favorite location of the Howard Terminal near Jack London Square. Here in the greater Bay Area, there is never a shortage of groups that oppose construction of sports facilities. and this one is the most recent. This is the second chapter of this novela. In December of last year, the A’s plans to build a 35,000 seat ballpark near Lake Merritt was stopped cold, when the community college refused to start negotiations about the proposed park.

All these recent concerns have been rather silenced by the A’s current play on the field, as they have been shocking the baseball world. They just took two out of three from the Mariners and two out of three from the Astros–two of their biggest rivals. This Monday, the Rangers open a three-game series at the Coliseum and then the A’s go on a six-game road-trip to Minnesota and Houston. They return the 30th of this month to say adios to August and welcome September with a four-game series against the M’s, three against the contending Yankees and the Rangers again. I do not believe the A’s bandwagon is close to capacity yet, as there are still a lot of folks who are not 100 percent certain they are going to see postseason play at the Coliseum. But I think they will.

By then, we will see how are the Atléticos de Oakland doing, with two very possible scenarios: 1) winning the division or 2) advancing as one of the two Wild Card teams.

Listen to the A’s games in Spanish on KIQI 1010am/990am, covering the Bay Area, Sacramento, Stockton and the Valley, and on the SAP Channel on NBC Sports California.

Reds rout Giants 11-4 to break out brooms at home

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Photo credit: @Reds

By Jeremy Kahn

After losing the first two of the series, the San Francisco Giants were looking to the salvage the finale against the Cincinnati Reds with rookie Andrew Suarez on the mound.

Unfortunately, the rookie could not get of the third inning, as the Reds scored seven runs in the inning on their way to a 11-4 win over the Giants at Great American Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run home run helping the Reds to their second consecutive sweep over the Giants in the City of Cincinnati.

Jose Peraza added a two-run run home run for the Reds, who took the season series 4-2 over the Giants, who have lost four in a row.

The seven runs allowed by the Giants were the most they gave up in an inning this season. During the 2017 season, the Giants gave up seven or more runs in an inning on five different occasions.

Over the final two games of the series, the Reds outscored the Giants 18-5 after the Reds defeated the Giants 2-1 in 10 innings in the opener on Friday night.

Suarez ended up going a season-low 2.2 innings, allowing seven runs (five earned), and seven hits.

Scooter Gennett continued his hot hitting, as he hit a two-run triple in that fateful third inning that also saw Suarez hit his career-high 27thhome run of the season.

Curt Casali also picked up two hits and drove in two runs in that third inning.

Luis Castillo went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs and six hits, while striking out nine, as he won for the seventh time on the season.

Brandon Belt hit leadoff for the Giants, as it was the first time that a first baseman hit leadoff since David Bell did so on July 6, 2002 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at then Bank One Ballpark.

The last left-handed first baseman to hit leadoff was Mike Aldrete against the Atlanta Braves on May 4, 1987 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Will Clark leads all Giants first baseman with 28 starts from the leadoff position.

Chase d’Arnaud pitched the bottom of the eighth inning for the Giants, becoming the second Giants position player to pitch this season. Pablo Sandoval pitched the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on April 28.

d’Arnaud is just the fifth Giants position player to pitch since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. He joins Sandoval, Greg Litton, Dave Kingman and Matty Alou.

Despite allowing a hit in the bottom of the eighth inning, d’Arnaud is the third to not allow any runs, joining Alou and Sandoval.

UP NEXT: The Giants take on the New York Mets for a four-game series starting Monday at 4:10 pm PDT.

Derek Holland looks to get the Giants back into the win column on Monday, as he makes just his second ever start against the Mets, who will send Zach Wheeler to the mound.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Braves and Phillies battling in NL East, Cardinals and Brewers battling in NL Central ; A’s can move into first today…if they can beat Houston

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Photo credit: @Cardinals

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Pennant race deck getting shuffled–Braves, Cardinals making a move in NL, Houston trying to hang on in AL.

2 Swingin’ A’s tied for first in AL West, take first two of weekend series against Astros.

3 Tigers add Nolan Blackwood as player to be named later in deal with A’s for Mike Fiers.

4 Matt Harvey takes no-hitter into the sixth, Reds beat Bumgarner, Giants 7-1.

5 Indians retire Jim Thome’s #25.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Wondo’s sub heroics help Earthquakes earn draw against Toronto FC 1-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic and Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Just when the San Jose Earthquakes (3-13-8) were left for dead, the heroics of their captain Chris Wondolowski, who came off the bench as a sub rescued his team and prevented another home loss in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC (6-12-6) at Avaya Stadium on Saturday evening. San Jose still only has one win at home on the season.

The first half would go scoreless. However, the Quakes had three great chances to break open the deadlock. In the 22nd minute, Vako dribbled between three defenders inside the box only to have his right foot shot blocked away by Toronto FC goalie Alex Bono.

Vako would create another chance three minutes later when he dribbled in to the right of the box, back flipped the ball to defenseman Joel Quiberg, who made a perfect cross over to Eriksson, whose rocket of a shot was thwarted by Bono.

“Feels like those chances reflect on (how) our season (has gone) so far,” said Eriksson. “We are playing better as a team, creating chances. But we still missed the three points, especially (here) at home.”

The best opportunity for the Quakes came at the 35th minute when Danny Hoesen received a ball from 12 yards out and centered a ball off the hands of Bono that trickled out to the middle of box where Eriksson had a wide-open net to shoot at. His attempt was deflected over the net on a desperation tackle by Justin Morrow.

“From my perspective, it was the best 45 minutes of the season,” said head coach Mikael Stahre. “We created five really big chances in the first half. If we score in the first half, we would win the game.”

Toronto FC’s best chance in the first half came when Marco Delgado centered ball into the middle of the box where Jordan Hamilton was one-on-one with Quakes goalie Andrew Tarbell, but Hamilton was whistled offside at the 17th minute.

Lukas Janson, who made his debut for the defending MLS champions, drew first blood for Toronto FC in the 59th minute after taking a pretty centering feed from Gregory van der Wiel, who came in as a substitution for Ashtone Morgan a minute earlier. Janson tapped the ball into an empty net for his first career MLS goal.

Wondolowski’s equalizer for the Quakes in the 77th minute came on his own rebound. His initial shot from eight yards out was stopped by Bono, but he was not able to hold on to the rebound. Wondolowski crashed the net and kicked the ball into an empty net for his seventh goal on the season.

“You want to prove that you deserve time out there,” said Wondolowski. “Earn minutes anyway you can. I try to make any impact I can. I do like starting though. But I don’t mind coming off the bench.”

San Jose had one last chance to escape with a win late in the match, but Kashia’s header off a Chris Wehan free kick in the second minute of stoppage time sailed wide of the net.

GAME NOTES: Defenseman Shea Salinas had to sit out the game due to a red card he received last week against the Colorado Rapids. Toronto FC was without forward Jozy Altidore and defenseman Chris Mavinga, who were both suspended.

WONDO COUNTDOWN! Wondolowski is now four goals away from the all-time lead in MLS history with 141 goals. Former Quake Landon Donovon is the leader with 145 goals.

Dominic Oduro made his debut for the quakes as a substitute for Eriksson in the 89th minute. Oduro was acquired in a trade on August 8th that sent Quincy Amarikwa to the Montreal Impact.

Guram Kashia received a yellow card in the 52 minute of the match when dragged down Janson.

The Earthquakes are in the midst of a 10-game home winless run (0-5-5), tied for their longest such streak in club history, June–August 2000.

Tarbell has conceded 10 goals from outside the box this season. Since 2010, only one keeper has allowed more such goals in a single season.

Toronto FC has one win in their last seven-league away games (0-3-3), allowing 2+ goals in five of the seven matches.

The overall series is now 5-5-5.

UP NEXT: The Quakes take on the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, August 25 at Avaya Stadium at 7 pm PDT.

Pride and persistence in San Jose State scrimmage

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Photo credit: @AnaKieu

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — While the Mountain West Conference continues to innovate by combining modern music and high-end technology, the San Jose State Spartans are simply looking to pick up more than two wins in 2018.

Like I’ve mentioned many times before, San Jose State has no choice but to Spartan up and give it all they’ve got to prepare for this coming season. SJSU held their second (and final) scrimmage of this year’s Fall Camp at CEFCU Stadium, and although there wasn’t a sold out crowd, there were plenty of positive things to say about the current Spartans’ roster.

College football is just around the corner, and the Spartans embodied the City of San Jose’s character and temperament with their grit and toughness. The best is yet to come for the generally young Spartans, who hope to prove the know-it-alls wrong.

Both the Spartan offense and defense looked pretty good on the field. The offensive line moved the ball in an exceptional manner, while the defensive line did a decent job in stopping the runs, going after opponents and coming up with turnovers.

Here are the post-scrimmage questions I asked Spartans head coach Brent Brennan after the scrimmage.

1. The Spartans have a lot of cornerbacks, but do they have starting-caliber cornerbacks?
I think that group is coming along. I think they’ve been doing some work. Obviously, Dakari (Monroe) is a good player and he’ll continue to show great leadership and great play. He didn’t play today, but the other guys that are starting to come along in that group like Zamore Zigler, who has made some plays, but I think some of this is going to have to be battle-tested before we know who the other cornerback is. But those guys are ready.

2. How are the Spartans going to replace the position and leadership of Frank Ginda last year?
Ethan Aguayo was off to a great start and I think the senior class is really taking the respective leadership and they’re the ones that are really driving the team right now, which is the way it needs to be. They’re the ones that are playing the games, and anytime you get great leadership from your senior class–and the guys that have been here the longest and invested the most–it gives you a great chance.

3. What’s the thought process on kickoffs right now?
Well, the new rule…I think it’s going to change the way people return kicks and kick the ball. It’ll be interesting to see what people say about that. You know, there’s all kinds of schools of thought out there, so everyone is going to have their own theory on it. But it’s definitely an interesting rule because now you can fair catch the ball anywhere inside the 25 and you get the ball on the 25. So if you have a strong-legged kicker, you can still kick it out of the end zone, and if you don’t, you can try kicking it for some time, and hopefully a fair catch.

Notes
The male and female Spartans spent some time Friday voluntarily helping out students with moving into their dorms on the San Jose State campus.

33 youth football teams held their under-18 scrimmages prior to the Spartans’ scrimmage of the offseason at 5 pm PDT.

Senior cornerback Dakari Monroe celebrated his birthday Saturday.

Up Next
San Jose State has two much-needed day offs on Sunday, August 19 and Thursday, August 23. SJSU has practices from August 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29. SJSU will kick off the 2018 season with a home opener versus UC Davis on August 30 at 7 pm PDT.

Bumgarner, Giants shelled in embarrassing 7-1 loss to Reds

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Photo credit: @SanDiegoGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

When this key road trip began, thing were looking good for the San Francisco Giants; however, by the end of the week, it is a totally different story with the Cincinnati Reds.

Matt Harvey took a no-hitter into the top of the sixth inning, while Jose Peraza and Dilson Herrera each hit home runs and the Reds defeated the Giants 7-1 at Great American Ballpark on Saturday.

One night after picking up three hits in the opener of the three-game series, Scooter Gennett did it again and scored three runs, sending the Giants to their third straight loss after winning three straight.

Madison Bumgarner did not pitch well at all, as he gave up a season-high six runs and eight hits in six innings.

Things were going good until the bottom of the fourth inning, and that is when the Reds scored the only runs that they would need off of Bumgarner.

Peraza led off the inning with a home run into the left field seats, and then Brandon Dixon completed the scoring in the inning, as he hit a two-run double.

It got even worse in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Friday’s hero Phillip Ervin hit a sacrifice fly that scored Peraza from third base and then Eugenio Suarez scored on a throwing error by Steven Duggar to extend the lead.

Herrera launched a 419-foot home run into the center field seats that gave the Reds a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Suarez rounded out the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning, as his single to center field scored Gennett.

The Giants scored their only run of the evening in the top of the eighth inning, as Evan Longoria grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Andrew McCutchen from third base.

Harvey did not give up a hit until there were two outs in the top of the sixth inning, as Joe Panik beat out an infield roller that was snared by Peraza and Panik just beat out the throw from Peraza.

NOTES: Hunter Strickland made his return to the active after being out since June 10 when the team leader in saves with 13 was placed on the disabled list with a fractured right hand. To make room for Strickland on the 40-man roster, Pablo Sandoval was transferred to the 60-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring and is out for the rest of the season.

Strickland pitched one inning, allowing one run on two hits after replacing Bumgarner in the bottom of the seventh inning.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Reds will wrap up their series on Sunday at 10:10 am PDT.

Andrew Suarez looks to get the Giants back into the win column on Sunday, as he takes the mound at Great American Ballpark for the first time in his major-league career. Suarez faced the Reds on May 16 at AT&T Park, and lost to the Reds 6-3.

The Reds will send Luis Castillo to the mound, as they look for the sweep.