Author: Sports Radio Service

Cal Bears Men’s Basketball Podcast with Michael and Morris: Takes you on a tour of Cal’s road trip and review Bears trip to UW and WSU

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

On the Cal Bears Men’s Basketball Podcast with Michael and Morris:

Cal drops game two of road trip to Wahzoo: After trailing 30-25 at halftime, Cal simply let this one get away. The Cougars outscored Cal by 20 in the second half and they registered an easy 78-53 win, WSU’s first in conference play after starting 0-4.

Meanwhile, Cal’s dropped four straight, all by double-digits, erasing any momentum built in their stirring comeback win at Stanford in the Pac-12 opener. The Bears scored just 53 points while totaling just six assists, both season lows.

In game one last Thursday in Seattle Cal had a shot at beating the Huskies at UW but couldn’t seal the deal: Thursday night in blustery Seattle, the Bears started fast, suffered a mental gaffe right before the half, surrendered the first couple of baskets after the break, and fell to Washington, 66-56 at Alaska Airlines Arena. Cal dropped its third in a row after winning at Stanford in the conference opener, scoring a season-low 56 points. While spotty offense was the headline for what ailed the Bears, it was just part of the story along with the visitors’ issues at the foul line, and the sudden disqualification of leading scorer Don Coleman with more than 12 minutes remaining.

Join Michael Duca and Morris Phillips each Tuesday for the Cal Bears Men’s Basketball Podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NFL Playoff Podcast with David Zizmor: NFC/AFC Championship Games for all the marbles

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On the NFL Playoff Podcast with David:

Takes a review and a look at the following NFL Playoff games:

NFC Sat Jan 13

Philadelphia 15

Atlanta 10

NFC Sun Jan 14

New Orleans 24

Minnesota 29

AFC Sat Jan 13

Tennessee 14

New England 35

AFC Sun Jan 14

Jacksonville 45

Pittsburgh 42

Upcoming NFL Championship games

AFC Sun Jan 21

Jacksonville @ New England

NFC Sun Jan 21

Minnesota @ Philadelphia

David does the NFL Podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: McCutchen expected to play right field; brought in to provide punch in the lineup

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Photo credit: @TheCUTCH22

On Amaury’s Podcast:

Andrew McCutchen comes to the San Francisco Giants after hitting .279, 27 home runs, 88 RBIs, in 156 games last season.

The Giants settled their third base issues with acquiring Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays. Now McCutchen will play right field for the Giants. McCutchen’s age 31 might be a reason that he will won’t play center his old position and that playing right will allow him to cover less ground in the outfield than center field in a larger landscape like AT&T Park.

McCutchen was sent from Pittsburgh his contract ends at the end of the 2018 season. Giants Executive vice president Brian Sabean said that the Giants were looking to bring someone on board with a good track record McCutchen who has start status could bring that hope for San Francisco.

McCutchen’s contract was worth $51.5 million. He was the Pirates’ key player. Why would the Bucs let someone like that go?

Amaury’s podcast bonus: Former Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Tony Taylor is 82 years old hit .261, 2007 hits, 75 home runs, and 598 RBIs career from 1958-1976. Born in Central Alava Cuba.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does the News and Commentary Podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Warriors pick up third straight road win with 118-108 victory over Cavaliers

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Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

The Golden State Warriors continued their road trip with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday.

The Warriors’ starters consisted of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Jordan Bell, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry.

Thompson got things going in Cleveland with a catch and shoot early in the first quarter. He got a total of 11 points in his speedy run.

However, the Cavs went toe-to-toe with the Warriors and they were up 25-23 with 4:14 left in the first. Golden State then tied the game at 25 on a commanding two-point shot by Durant.

The Warriors trailed the Cavs 37-35 at the end of the first.

Curry, Durant and Shaun Livingston made the necessary shots in the second quarter, but the Warriors continued to trail the Cavs 64-57 at halftime.

Here are the Warriors’ halftime stats:

Durant and Green weren’t having it in the third quarter. Curry dunked like it was nothing. Curry also took a pass from Durant and attacked the rim with a two-handed jam. In addition, Curry hit quite a few 3-pointers.

But the Warriors had to settle for a two-point lead, 93-91, over the Cavs at the end of the third. Golden State had hoped for a strong finish in a tough matchup against Cleveland.

The Warriors got their largest lead of the game in the fourth quarter. Nick Young made a jumper to give his team a 10-point lead with 5:08 left in regulation. Green had a perfect vision to Andre Iguodala.

The Warriors finished off the Cavs to win the game 118-108 for their third straight road win.

Here are the Warriors’ final stats:

Notes
Warriors’ injury update: Omri Casspi (low back soreness), Andre Iguodala (hip flexor strain) and Shaun Livingston is (left shin contusion) are available to play.

Cavs’ injury update: Derrick Rose (left ankle sprain) and Iman Shumpert (left knee effusion) are out.

When the holiday became nationally recognized in 1986, Cleveland has played on MLK Day 16 times (9-7 record). Today was the 11th time the Cavs will play on the holiday at home and will just be the fifth time the Cavs have played on MLK Day at Quicken Loans Arena (2002 vs. Heat, 2014 vs. Mavs, 2015 vs. Bulls, 2016 vs. Warriors).

Up Next
The Warriors take on the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday at 7 pm CT.

Andrew McCutchen gets traded to the Giants

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

After a disastrous 2017 season that saw the San Francisco Giants finish with a record of 64-98, they needed to reload and they have done just that.

The Giants settled up their third base dilemma, as they acquired perennial All-Star Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays and they now have a new centerfielder and it is 2013 National League Most Valuable Player Andrew McCutchen, who was acquired by the team from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

McCutchen, who will be a free agent at the end of the 2018 season, was sent to the Giants in exchange for right-handed pitcher Kyle Crick, minor league outfielder Bryan Reynolds and $500,000 in international signing bonus allocation.

“It’s no secret that we were looking to further add run production to our lineup,” said Brian Sabean, Giants executive vice president of baseball operations. “Anytime you have the opportunity to bring aboard someone with such a track record, you have to jump on it.”

During the 2017 season, McCutchen batted .279 with 27 home runs and 88 runs batted in 156 games.

“Andrew is a dynamic player on the field and will be a leader in our clubhouse,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s always been a threat at the plate and he’s a guy you don’t ever want to deal with whether he’s at the plate or on the bases. He’s going to make something happen.

McCutchen is in the final year of a six-year $51.5 million contract that he signed in March of 2012 and following that signing, the Pirates began their resurgence that led them to the postseason in 2014 for the first time since Barry Bonds roamed the outfield for the Pirates in 1992.

Cal Bears Basketball Podcast with Morris Phillips: No point guard, no offensive passing; Cal tries to figure out how to snap losing skid Wednesday vs. Arizona

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

On the Cal Bears Basketball Podcast with Morris:

1) Cal dropped it’s fourth straight game on Saturday to Washington State 78-53 and the second half of the game for WSU in scoring was led by Robert Franks

2) In the last 20 minutes of the second half Cal’s effort was lacklustered which led to demise in the loss

3) Cal head coach Wyking Jones said he’s not sure what team will show up. The team that comes out plays decent offense and keeps up with the opposition or the team that falls apart and loses the game

4) The Bears loses have come in double digits in their last four games

5) With the home floor on Wednesday night against the Arizona Wildcats the Bears will be looking to snap it’s skid at Haas Pavilion

Morris Phillips does the Cal Podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Nick DeSimone gets late goal in overtime to give Barracuda a 3-2 win over Condors

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By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Nick DeSimone scored the game-winning goal with five seconds left in overtime to give the San Jose Barracuda (17-15-0-2) a 3-2 victory over the Bakersfield Condors (16-15-6-0) in a Monday matinee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the SAP Center.

DeSimone was able to punch home his own rebound when his one-timer was initially stopped by Condors goalie Laurent Brossoit (2-2-0), but couldn’t freeze the puck as it trickled to the right of the crease and DeSimone didn’t waste his second chance.

“I kinda saw that he (Brossoit) didn’t know where the puck was,” said DeSimone on recounting his game winning goal. “I figured to just check behind him, and it was just sitting there. (I was) lucky enough to put it home.”

San Jose jumped out to a quick start drawing first blood as defenseman Jacob Middleton fired a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Emerson Clark at the right slot and he buried the puck past Condors backup goalie Laurent Brossoit (2-1-0) for his third goal of the season at the 2:01 mark of the first period. Adam Helewka would also pick up an assist on the play.

The Condors came back to tie up the game at the 6:12 mark of the first period when Patrick Russell was able to race past two Barracuda defensemen to the front of the net and tip in a shot past Antoine Bibeau (10-7-0) from Caleb Jones along the left boards. It was Russell’s seventh goal of the season.

The Barracuda had a chance to take the lead late in the first period when the No. 1 line of Danny O-Regan, Marcus Sorensen and Rudolfs Balcers put on a flurry of shots against Brossoit, only to come up empty-handed.

There was no scoring, but plenty of action in the second period. Thanks to some brilliant goaltending by both goalies, the score remained tied at 1 heading into the second intermission. Bibeau made a couple of point blank saves on separate shots by Ty Rattie and Iiro Pakarinen. Bibeau also came up with a huge save late in the second frame when Ryan Mantha created a turnover in the San Jose zone but Bibeau was able to glove his wrist shot. Brossoit was able to stone a Balcers point blank attempt right in front of the crease.

Jon Martin and Ryan Stanton got involved with some extracurricular activity in front of the Condors net after Brossoit froze the puck after a good scoring chance by the Barracuda. Martin received a double minor for roughing, but Bakersfield wasn’t able to take advantage on the power play.

Brad Malone broke the deadlock early in the third period with his 10th goal of the season. After taking a pass from Ryan Hamilton, he was able to dipsy-do his way to the front of the net and back handed a shot through the five-hole of Bibeau at the 4:40 mark.

Calvan Fitzgerald tied it back up after just coming onto the ice during a line change. O’Reagan found him with a wide-open pass as he skated down the middle of the ice where he was able to rifle in his third goal of the season past Brossoit a little over half way through the third period.

“It’s something we’ve been harpin on them to get up in the play,” said head coach Roy Sommer about his defensemen scoring goals as of late. “They gotta be apart of offense because we’re not scoring a lot up front.”

Bibeau earned the victory stopping 26 of 28 shots from the Condors. Brossoit took the defeat on 28 of 31 on the afternoon.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was able to keep Barracuda killer Josh Currie off the score sheet. Currie has scored 10 goals against the Cuda in his career. Both teams were both 0/1 on their only power play opportunity. The attendance of 5,218 was one of the biggest crowds of the season for the Barracuda.

UP NEXT: San Jose finishes up their four-game home stand when they take on the Stockton Heat on Wednesday evening at 7 pm PT at the SAP Center.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Ex-Athletics player elected to Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

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Photo credit: @theScore

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

OAKLAND — Although Hideki Matsui played most of his Major League career with the New York Yankees, he also made a brief stop in the Bay Area for the Oakland Athletics. His name was on the ballot for this 2018 MLB Hall of Fame election. He will not make it to Cooperstown, New York, but at least he is in the Hall of Fame of his native Japan. He was recently inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Also known as “Godzilla,” Matsui is a legend in Japan. He won the People’s Honor Award, three Central League MVPs, and was an All-Star in nine of his 10 seasons. His most memorable award in the major leagues was in 2009 as he won the MVP in the World Series. He became the first and only Japanese-born player to win this award, and he did it with sensational numbers. As a designated hitter during the 2009 World Series, he hit .610 with three home runs and eight runs batted in.
The most impact a DH had on a World Series game came in the Game 6 of the 2009 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Yankees’ DH, Hideki Matsui, contributed to six of the seven runs his team had in the game. Matsui batted .600, the highest average for a DH in a World Series, and was also the first DH to win the World Series MVP Award.
Hideki Matsui played for 10 years from 2003 to 2012 with the Yankees, Angels, Athletics and Rays. In 2011 with the A’s, he played in 141 games and hit  .251 with 12 home runs and 72 runs batted in. During his Major League career, he finished with a respectable .282 average 175 home runs and 760 RBI.
In Japan, Matsui was one of the most popular players ever. Extremely marketable, his face appeared in tea cups and even on the fuselage of a 747 plane. During his brilliant Hall of Fame career in Japan, he compiled a .309 batting average, 332 home runs and 889 RBI in a total of 1,268 games played.

There are some among the United States baseball media members that said while he was playing in the states, he was the first Japanese player to reach 500 home runs, which was correct.

However, there is one caveat, you have to add the 332 home runs in Japan to the 175 here in the big leagues, to reach that number. Many also had similar combined numbers when it came to hits for another great Japanese player, Ichiro Suzuki, who will be someday the first ever Japanese player inducted to Cooperstown.

One interesting note about these two players: While Matsui was popular in Japan and in the U.S., Suzuki is not as popular. It has to do with two totally different personalities. Not to take anything away from Suzuki, who is the best Japan-born player that I have seen here in the major leagues, but he was never as well-liked in Japan as Matsui. That is what my Japanese colleagues have told me for years.

In the 2011 season that Hideki Matsui played for the A’s, he was well-liked by his teammates, fans and media members in the Bay Area. He was a soft-spoken young man with a strong presence along with excellent professionalism and skills.
Congratulations to Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui!

NHL Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Tampa Bay’s Hedman out with lower body injury; Islanders’ Barzal gets five-point game; Plus more NHL updates

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On the NHL Podcast with Daniel:

1 Lightning’s Victor Hedman out three to six weeks with a lower-body injury

2 Islanders’ Mathew Barzal enjoys five-point game vs. Rangers

3 Coyotes busy during bye week, dealing Duclair–who Sharks could have used

4 US Army challenging nickname of Vegas Golden Knights

Daniel Dullum does the NHL Podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

NCAA Basketball Podcast with Michelle Richardson: Michigan State’s Wagner leads the way with 27 points; North Arkansas racist fans put school on the basketball map

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On the NCAA Basketball Podcast with Michelle:

1) Michigan State is hitting a wall again in a 16 point loss to Michigan 82-72. Michigan State didn’t do too much on defense as the Wolverines’ Moe Wagner scored a game-high 27 points.

2) LaBette’s Community College Men’s and Women’s basketball teams were hit with racial taunts that made national news. The LaBette teams were showered with cat calls of monkey noises, and when shooting on the foul line, crow caws referred to Jim Crow. North Arkansas schools president Randy Esters and director bobby Howard both declined comment on this story to media.

3) Michelle’s final thoughts

Michelle does the NCAA Basketball Podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com