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NHL Stanley Cup playoffs/San Jose Sharks podcast with Matt Harrington: Sharks look like a different team at the start of postseason play

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@SanJoseSharks photo: Game one stats the power play was in effect for the Sharks at the Honda Center on Thursday night as the Ducks look to even the score and the Sharks hope to take two back to San Jose tonight

On the NHL Stanley Cup/SJ Sharks podcast with Matt:

#1 How different do the Sharks look coming out of the gate during Game 1 of the playoffs in Anaheim as opposed to the way they finished up the regular season?

#2 How much has Evander Kane got this team fired up? He had them fired up when he first got to San Jose and he’s got them fired in his very first career playoff game.

#3 Scoring two goals in a game one on Anaheim ice in a series where the Ducks have home ice, Kane didn’t look intimidated whatsoever.

#4 If San Jose can come away with a win on Saturday night’s game two, do you see them finishing the job in games three and four?

#5 The Sharks really have many weapons on this team besides Kane with Brent Burns, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski.

Matt Harrington is covering the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs and is the beat writer for the San Jose Sharks listen to his podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

East Bay native Tyson Ross, Padres rout the Giants 5-1

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Photo credit: @SFGiantsFans

By Jeremy Kahn

Tyson Ross did all the damage by himself, both on the mound and the plate for the San Diego Padres.

Ross, who grew up in Oakland and went to Bishop O’Dowd High School hit an RBI single to snap a scoreless single in the bottom of the fifth inning and the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-1 at Petco Park Friday night.

The right-hander also pitched six strong innings, as the Padres snapped a 10-inning hitless streak.

Prior to an Austin Hedges hit in the fateful fifth inning, that saw the Padres score the only run that they would need, their last hit came in the bottom of the third inning by pitcher Clayton Richard, who came on as a pinch hitter for Bryan Mitchell, who pitched just three innings in a 7-0 Giants win.

Jose Priela added a RBI single in the fifth, and then the Padres added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end Ty Blach’s night.

The Richard hit off of Chris Stratton was the only hit that Stratton and Derek Law would allow in the game.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Richard became the first pitcher that did not start a game to get the lone hit in the game since June 28, 1935, when reliever Mace Brown of the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up a hit against the Chicago Cubs.

Ross gave up an unearned run in six innings on seven hits, walked one and struck out one and won for the second time this season.

Joe Panik drove in the only Giants run on the evening in the top of the seventh inning that led to the end of Ross’ evening.

Ross allowed a single, then a fielding error by Freddy Galvis and then Panik singled to end Ross’ night on the mound.

Franchy Cordero hit his second home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Padres.

Brandon Crawford picked up three hits for the Giants.

Blach went six innings, allowing four runs, three of them earned, and seven hits. He also walked just one and struck out three.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Charlie O. Finley Was Controversial and Innovative

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Photo credit: launiusr.wordpress.com

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

When Charlie O. Finley, the controversial but successful businessman and owner of the Oakland Athletics, told me in 1977: “Yes, you can broadcast in Mexican,” little could he have envisioned that Hispanics would be the largest minority in California and in the United States some 40 years later.

I never really knew if Finley believed Mexican was an actual language when in fact it’s a nationality. Today, there are 33 different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean–most of them with Spanish as their main language. In Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, Portuguese is the official language. So, regardless of what Finley believed, the fact remains that he was an old school baseball owner who was much involved with his team as he had a passion of the game. He could talk baseball with the best of them. He was an insurance magnate, and when he became involved with baseball as owner, he challenged tradition and changed the game in many ways, especially the marketing with his loco promotions. By the way, the classic A’s Front Office was just a handful of folks–mostly his relatives–who actually used the three World Series trophies to file the mail.

This is what Glenn Dickey wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle about Finley in 1996: “The irony of Charlie Finley’s life was that everybody seemed to focus on what he did poorly and ignore what he did well. His promotions were farcical, often disastrous, but the man put together a baseball team that was the only non-Yankee team to win three straight World Series for the American League.”

But among his many crazy promotions–like the live mascot, a mule called Charlie-O–my all-time favorite was Harvey the Rabbit. And this season, the A’s brought the rabbit back. We now see this mechanical rabbit prior to each game at the Coliseum.

The original Harvey the Rabbit was something special. He was a mechanical rabbit who rose from the grassy ground behind home plate near the umpire with a basket full of baseballs for the umpire to put in play.

Among Finley’s promotions
  • Orange baseballs: Tried in a few exhibition games, but hitters found it too hard to pick up the spin.
  • Hired Stanley Burrell (who would later gain worldwide fame as rapper MC Hammer) as Executive Vice President when he was just a teenager to be his “eyes and ears.” Burrell would called Finley on the telephone to give him exclusive updates of what was happening in the game. Sometimes, Burrell will bring us coffee or soda to our broadcasting booth. Burrell was a great kid.
  • Offered players $300 bonuses to grow mustaches during the championships. For star Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers, the handlebar mustaches he grew for Finley became a trademark.

Finley lived in Chicago, where he died in 1996. He was a great salesman who made a fortune. His flamboyant marketing revolutionized baseball. He changed the traditional uniforms that were white and gray with black shoes and dressed his A’s with Green and Gold uniforms with white shoes, allowed facial hair, which has been making a comeback in baseball in recent years.

Finley owned and operated the Kansas City and Oakland A’s for 20 years. He would come to Oakland for a series of games, sit behind the A’s dugout many times wearing a green blazer and waving an A’s pennant on his right hand. He was passionate and involved like George Steinbrenner was with the New York Yankees years later.

More often than not, Finley would be in his “owners box” at the Coliseum. You could see his reactions to the game. When the team lost, he would not be happy and depending. When they lost, he would be furious. I remember him walking by the press box many times with Sarge (bodyguard) and his friends and/or associates screaming and complaining about a play, an umpire or even his own manager.

Finley was not what they call “politically correct” today. He said what he had in mind. After winning three consecutive World Series, he refused to pay his players millions of dollars to stay with the A’s. So one by one, Catfish, Reggie, Campy and others said “adios” to Oakland.

Finley was the A’s owner as well as their Numero Uno fan. Seldom an owner dominates such way that becomes the face of a franchise, but he was that man.

The only owner today among professional sports that reminds me of Finley is Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner Mark Cuban, but aside from Cuban, who also appears on TV on Shark Tank, most baseball owners today are not like Finley. Depending on what you like, that could be good or bad for the game of baseball.

Different times, different baseball…

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Joe Lami: After having a rough ending, Sharks look like a different team in Game 1 of playoffs

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Joe:

#1 After having a rough ending to their regular season, the San Jose Sharks forgot all about that once the puck dropped for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Honda Center in Anaheim Thursday night in their 3-0 win.

#2 The Sharks’ Evander Kane played in his first playoff game, but got adjusted to the Stanley Cup postseason environment real fast after waiting over 574 regular season games before he got to play in his first Stanley Cup Playoff game, scoring twice to help lead San Jose to victory.

#3 Kane was a lighting rod for San Jose as soon as he came to the team he played in 17 regular games for the Sharks and scored 14 points for them in the closing weeks of the season.

#4 A look how head coach Peter DeBoer made Kane a big piece of the Sharks’ offense.

#5 Game 2 in Anaheim on Saturday this Saturday. If San Jose can grab the brass right they can go back to SJ 2-0 if they can pull off another win past the Ducks again.

Joe Lami does the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

49ers LB Reuben Foster not only hurts girlfriend, but also the team’s image

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Photo credit: @barstoolsports

By: Ana Kieu

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster has been charged with three felonies, but he’s still with the team. The former 2016 Butkus Award winner was drafted 31st overall by the 49ers at the 2017 NFL Draft. He was previously a consensus High School All-American and often regarded as the No. 1 inside linebacker prospect of that class.

Those charges of domestic violence include inflicting great bodily harm, forcefully attempting to prevent a victim from reporting a crime, possession of an assault weapon, respectively. Foster appeared in court Thursday. His bail remains at $75,000. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim, which is his live-in girlfriend. Also, a plea hearing was set for April 30. If convicted, he could face more than 11 years in prison.

The allegations against Foster are horrific. Yeah, the obvious disclaimer is that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty, but there’s virtually nothing that could compel a judge to let him be a free man…unless if that judge doesn’t know what they’re doing. There should be no excuse to defend a male who has ruptured a female’s eardrum nor should there be another excuse when it comes to punching a woman in the head eight to 10 times. Even if there were such excuses for malicious behavior, the 49ers would escape from trouble, but head coach Kyle Shanahan would basically contradict what he said at his introductory press conference on February 9, 2017, at Levi’s Stadium.

I was in attendance for the conference and I can remember a part of Shanahan’s opening statement.

Shanahan said: “There’s really two things that are important to me and that’s my family and that’s football and that’s really all the things I think about. As sad as that is, it’s true. That’s all you guys will get from me. You don’t always make the right decisions, but I can promise you guys we’re going to do everything we can to do that. We’re going to hold people accountable. We’re going to do it the right way. Everybody who’s in this from the top to the bottom will be going in one direction. What does it take to win now and what does it take to consistently win over the long haul. We will be committed to that 100 percent.”

Apparently, the words “accountable” and “responsible” were just corporate buzz words used by the 49ers coaching staff. Now, I know there are other things that the team needs to work on, but repeating those words isn’t going to help anyone. It’s a shame that Foster has the world in his hands, but is seemingly throwing it all away. I hope the victim will recover and the defendant will get all 11 years of that possible sentence.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Stratton’s gem helps SF get the shutout and get to .500

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Chris Stratton #34 of the San Francisco Giants pitches during the third inning of a game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on April 12, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 It wasn’t quite a nail-biter as Giants starter Chris Stratton lost his no hit bid early in the ball game the third inning to pitcher and pinch-hitter Clayton Richard on a base hit, but Stratton didn’t allow another hit over the seven total innings. He pitched in the Giants’ 7-0 win at Petco Park in San Diego on Thursday night.

#2 Stratton surrendered only three walks and threw for four strikeouts. He’s one of the key pitchers that have help San Francisco improve not only their rotation, but kept the club in their games.

#3 Giants manager Bruce Bochy said that Stratton looks to have worked his way to the No. 1 position in the rotation.

#4 The Giants start Ty Blach tonight at Petco Park. who had a good outing. Michael takes a look at his body of work going into tonight’s game.

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

Giants blank Padres 7-0; Stratton gets a one-hitter

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Joey Friedman
Sports Radio Service

In their first meeting of the season, the San Francisco Giants shutout the San Diego Padres by a score of 7-0 at Petco Park Thursday night on the backs of pitchers Chris Statton and Derek Law. Hunter Pence and Buster Posey would each collect two RBIs in the win. San Diego position players were held hitless tonight.

In the Giants’ half of the first, they mounted an attack with a Joe Panik walk, an Andrew McCutchen single, a Buster Posey walk, and an Evan Longoria fielder’s choice ground ball to San Diego shortstop Freddy Galvis on the first pitch which turned in a run as Longoria reached first when Galvis took the out at second in Posey. After Brandon Crawford walked to load the bases again, Hunter Pence pushed everybody up 90 feet with a broken-bat RBI bloop single to right.

San Diego’s sparkling defensive play came in the third inning when Gregor Blanco hit with runners on the corners, the Giants up 3-0 with one out and a 0-1 count. Blanco popped up a bunt in foul ground that held in the air just long enough for Padre catcher Austin Hedges to make a diving grab halfway to the backstop. He would throw to first to double off the runner Crawford and end the threat.

The only hit in the game for the Padres came from 34-year-old LHP Clayton Richard who pinch hit for starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell before Mitchell could get his first at-bat of the night. Through 289 career at-bats, Richard carried a .118 batting average. The line drive to right came off starting pitcher Chris Stratton of the Giants in the third inning.

The Giants’ next big inning came in the 6th when the Giants loaded the bases with two out. Andrew McCutchen grounded the ball to third baseman Christian Villanueva, who through the ball in the dirt to Gold Glove first baseman Eric Hosmer who could not dig it out. The ball bounced into the seats, sending McCutchen to second, scoring two. Before the inning was over, the next batter, Buster Posey, would hit a ball on the ground down the left field line, scoring two more, and sending Posey to second. The Giants would load the bases once again before Hunter Pence would fly out to right to end an inning in which the Giants scored four runs on four hits and an error, leaving three on base.

For the Giants, Chris Stratton would pitch seven innings of one-hit ball on 101 pitches. He walked three and struck out four. He would improve to a 1-1 record. Reliever Derek Law came in to finish the game in the eighth, going two innings and striking out a pair. No one could cross the plate tonight for San Diego.

Bryan Mitchell of the Padres got the tough loss after going for three innings of four-hit, five-walk, and two strikeout baseball. All three runs he allowed were earned. His record is now 0-2. Nice relieving appearances for Jordan Lyles and Robbie Erlin were belittled by the four unearned runs that Colten Brewer gave up due to the Villanueva error.

The Giants saw a multi-hit night from Longoria, Pence, and Blanco. Almost everyone who picked up a bat got a hit tonight with the exception of Brandon Belt (who went 0-2 with two walks), Nick Hundley (0-1 in a pinch-hitting role), and Chris Stratton (0-3).

What’s Next?
Ty Blach (1-1, 4.11 ERA) will be on the hill for the Giants in the second game of the series opposed by Tyson Ross (1-1, 5.25 ERA) of the Padres. They will be making their fourth and third starts, respectively at 7:10 pm PT tomorrow night.

 

 

Barracuda defeat Condors 4-3 for fifth straight win; stay alive for AHL playoffs

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda (33-26-4-4) are doing their part to keep their post season aspirations alive with another thrilling one-goal victory. They swept the home-and-home series against the Bakersfield Condors (30-27-9-1) with their 4-3 win on Thursday evening at SAP Center. They are currently on a five-game winning streak.

On Fan Appreciate Night and final home game of the regular season, the Cuda gave their fans some hope and a reason to pay attention to the season finale on Saturday by scoring two-third period goals and holding off the Condors’ threat late in the game. They now have to play the waiting game to see what the outcome of the San Diego Gulls at Tuscon Roadrunners game tomorrow night. If the Gulls get a point, San Jose is eliminated from the playoff contention.

“We put ourselves in this hole,” head coach Roy Sommer said about his team not controlling their own fate. “We just kinda have to live with it. You can’t say anybody has thrown in the towel here. I’m really proud of the way they’ve been playing.”

Bakersfield drew first blood in the first period. Tyler Benson fed a pass over to Kyle Platzer who fired a shot top-shelf past Cuda goalie Stephon Williams (3-1-0) for his eighth goal of the season at the 8:45 mark. Dmitri Samorukov received the secondary assist.

San Jose would stay red-hot on the power play as the were able to get the equalizer goal when Emerson Clark fed a cross-ice pass over to Manny Wiederer, who came crashing in from the right slot and one-timed a shot top-shelf past Condors goalie Nick Ellis (9-10-2) for his ninth goal of the season at the 16:43 mark of the first period. Radim Simek received the secondary assist. It was the 10th consecutive game the Cuda converted on the man advantage.

“That (goal) kinda got us jump started,” said Sommer. “The power play has scored in 10 straight games. A lot of good things are happening for us right now. I just hope it’s enough (to make the playoffs).”

The Cuda would gain the lead in the second period when Rourke Chartier fed a pass at the blue line up to Rudolfs Balcers that led to a 2-on-1 with Ivan Chekhovich. Balcers fed a perfect pass over to Chekhovich and he buried the puck past Ellis for his third goal in five games for the Cuda at the 7:46 mark.

Bakersfield would tied the game on the power play when Cooper Marody pinched in from the point to punch home a rebound that pinballed off David Gust to the left side of the crease where Marody was set up. Marody’s first professional goal of his career came at the 13:48 mark of the second period.

San Jose would go up 3-2 in the third period after a wild play in front of Ellis. Maintaining pressure inside the Condor zone, Colby McAuley put on a shot on net that created a mad scramble in front of the net with four Barracuda players that swarmed in front of the net. In a sea of madness, Radim Simek was able to poke home the puck past Ellis for his seventh goal on the season at the 6:43 mark. Alex True received the primary assist.

Sasha Chmelevski gave the Cuda what proved to be the game-winning goal when he was able to anticipate a clearing attempt in the Condor zone. He was able to strip the puck off the Condor defenseman, skate toward the middle of the ice and from the right slot lasered the puck in the upper left hand corner of the net for his third goal in five games at the 12:50 mark.

“The D was coming right at me, so I made a move around them,” said Chmelevski after the game. “Shot across the grain, it was a good shot. Anytime I like to cut across the ice, I feel more comfortable doing it. It’s more instinct than anything.”

Bakersfield wouldn’t go away quietly. Joey Leleggia cut the lead to the one when he scored his 14th goal on the season. Zach O’Brien skated into the Cuda zone, passed it over to Benson, who one-timed a pass over to Leleggia. With Noah Rod draped all over him, Leleggia snapped a shot past Williams with exactly five minutes left in the period.

Williams made 15 saves on 18 shots to earn the victory. Ellis made 30 saves on 34 shots in valiant effort in the defeat.

“The beautiful thing about hockey is, it’s not always perfect,” said Williams. “It’s about the team who buys in the most and wants it. I think it showed in the final scoreboard.”

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/4 on the power play. Bakersfield scored on their only power play opportunity.

All-Star goalie Antoine Bibeau was called up to the San Jose Sharks for their first round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks. Nick Cafrelli served as the backup goaltender.

Balcers’ four-game goal streak was snapped.

The announced crowd for the final regular season home game was 6,250.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel up to Stockton for the final game of the regular season against the Heat on Saturday, April 14 at 7 pm PT.

Sports Headlines with Tony Renteria: Rockets a favorite to represent Western Conference; Warriors will be at full strength once playoffs start

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Photo credit: nba.com

On the Sports Headlines podcast with Tony:

#1 You’ve got all kinds of choices in the NBA Playoffs, but focusing on the Western Conference, who does Tony like amongst Houston, Golden State, Utah, Portland, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans?

#2 Houston has had such a good year led by James Harden, whose been a workhorse and put out an all effort to help lead the Rockets this season.

#3 Golden State kind of got the injury epidemic all at once when the “Big Four” of Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all went down. With Green, Durant, Thompson they ended their season losing by 40 to Utah on Tuesday night, 119-79, is this a prelude to the playoffs or expect for them to break out once the playoffs start?

#4 Turning to baseball, the Oakland A’s suffered some tough loses Tuesday night was no exception with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0. The A’s simply couldn’t do anything with Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who helped shutout Oakland, going six innings and giving up only one hit.

#5 The San Francisco Giants just put Johnny Cueto on the DL. Cueto spent a great deal of time on the DL last season. Cueto is being shelved and is at a 70% performance level because of coming off he mound to field on a bunt and had to cover first base. Cueto turned the other ankle on the ensuing play and manager Bruce Bochy said Cueto could return on Tuesday.

Tony does the Sports headline podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Big break out night for A’s after hitting struggles in the Southland

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Photo credit @OAKA’S: The Oakland A’s Matt Chapman (26) welcomes Jonathan Lucroy (8) home after smashing a homer at Dodgers Stadium on Wednesday night

On the Oakland A’s Podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:

#1 The A’s on the current road trip started out with the Anaheim Angels and on Sunday faced almost perfect pitching against Shohei Ohtani, who nearly threw a perfect game against the A’s. The A’s on Tuesday had to face the Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who nearly no hit the A’s, but things on Wednesday turned around as the A’s hit for 16 runs and 22 hits.

#2 The A’s, who had seen some good pitching, got to get a jump on Dodger starter Alex Wood, scoring two runs in the top of first to get their offense started early in Wednesday’s contest.

#3 In the middle innings, the A’s jumped on the Dodgers for five runs in the fourth and then again two runs in the sixth.

#4 The A’s open a three-game series starting Friday night in Seattle. Are the Mariners a team still trying to figure it out or do they have a shot at making things interesting this season? However, former Athletic third baseman Ryon Healy is on the disabled list.

#5 The A’s are encouraged by home runs from Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, and Jed Lowrie in Wednesday’s game.

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