Author: Sports Radio Service

After day off, Giants head east to face Marlins, Phillies

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San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto left the game complaining of pain in his pitching arm sharp lat tightness in the top of the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Apr 15, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, April 15, 2021

After a successful homestand, the San Francisco Giants take Thursday off before embarking on an eastern road trip to Miami and Philadelphia.

The Giants went 5-1 by sweeping Colorado in three games and taking two of three from Cincinnati. On Wednesday, Johnny Cueto picked up his second win while lowering his ERA to 1.80, and Jake McGee earned his sixth save, as San Francisco pulled into second place in the National League West, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games.

San Francisco is 7-3 in its last 10 games, while the Marlins (5-6) are 5-5 in their last 10 outings, including a three-game sweep of Atlanta, and are in third place in the NL East.

Probable starters for the Giants in the Miami series are Anthony DeSclafani (1-0, 0.82) on Friday, Aaron Sanchez (0-1, 2.70) on Saturday and Alex Wood (0-0, 0.00) makes his first start of the season on Sunday after being activated off the injured list (lower back stiffness).

Pitching is getting the job done for San Francisco – the Giants have the second-best earned run average in MLB (2.78) and sixth in WHIP (1.07). Donovan Solano leads the Giants with a .353 average, Evan Longoria is hitting .316 with four home runs, Longoria and Brandon Crawford each have eight runs batted in.

Presently, the Giants have two players on the 10-day IL – LaMonte Wade Jr. (strained left oblique) and Reyes Moronta (strained right flexor mass).

Start times (Pacific Daylight Time) for the Miami series are 4:10 p.m. on Friday, 3:10 p.m. on Saturday and 10:10 a.m. on Sunday.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Tony Renteria: How bad does it have to get Kings drop 8 straight

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The Sacramento Kings center Hassan Whiteside (20) feels the pain after being fouled by the Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook (4) at Golden One Center on Wed Apr 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Tony R:

#1 The Sacramento Kings are having a bad go of it dropping their eighth straight game to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at Golden One Center in Sacramento and it wasn’t even close 123-111.

#2 Tony, this is a different Kings team that you might remember beat a team like Golden State 141-119 at Golden One back on Mar 25th and the Lakers 123-120 back on Mar 3rd. The Kings have evolved but in the wrong direction.

#3 The Kings last night just couldn’t contain the Wizards top scorer Bradley Beal who finished with 31 points and the Kings defense just couldn’t stop the Wizard offense losing by 12 points.

#4 Once again the Kings De’Aaron Fox did a lot of the heavy lifting leading the Kings scoring with 33 points. The Kings actually need another player with Fox’s caliber to balance out the offense.

#5 The Kings are on back to back nights and play their second game in as many nights tonight against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns are on a three game win streak and defeated the Miami Heat on Tuesday night in Phoenix 106-86. Set the stage for tonight’s game in the Valley of the Sun.

Join Tony R every Thursday for Kings basketball podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s open up four game series against Tigers

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Oakland A’s lefthander Sean Manaea will start against the Detroit Tigers tonight to begin the first of a four game series at the Oakland Coliseum is seen here pitching to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sep 23, 2020 (AP file photo)

#1 Jerry, How much of a concern should the A’s (5-7) have right now about starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, Luzardo went 2.2 innings giving up six hits and five runs before being lifted in the third against the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-8) on Tuesday night.

#2 After Luzardo was lifted the A’s bullpen came through six pitchers powered through the D-Backs line up and held Arizona to just two runs from the third inning going forward for the win.

#3 Jed Lowrie was the number one star on Tuesday night after hitting a three run home run to tie the ball game up in the top of the seventh 5-5.

#4 The A’s picked up go ahead runs in the eighth and ninth innings and came away with a 7-5 win their offense has also bailed them out of some close games.

#5 The A’s had the day off on Wednesday and are back to work tonight to open a four game series with the Detroit Tigers (6-6). The Tigers are coming off a four game losing streak which included getting swept by Cleveland and have turned it around with a three game win streak against the Houston Astros. The Tigers will start LHP Tarik Skubal (0-1 ERA 7.71) he’ll be matched up against the A’s Sean Manaea (0-1 ERA 5.06) at the Coliseum tonight at 6:40p.

Join Jerry for the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings game wrap: Kings drop eighth straight game to Wizards 123-111

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It’s one on one as the Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (5) defends against the Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook (4) on Wed Apr 14, 2021 at the Golden One Center in Sacramento (AP News photo)

The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Wednesday night. The Kings last played on Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Kings had a day off on Tuesday before taking on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. The Wizards, one of the worst teams in the NBA came into Sacramento and beat the Kings 123-111.

Flashback Monday: On Monday, the Kings took on the New Orleans Pelicans. The game didn’t go well for the Kings. The Kings weren’t able to keep up with the Pelicans on Monday as they lost by the final 117-110. The story of the Kings which is usually the defense again played a critical role.

Wednesday night recap: The Kings were set to welcome in the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at 7 PM PST in Sacramento.

In the first half, the Kings defense was atrocious. Unfortunately, Kings fans have become accustomed to my last sentence. The Kings defense has been historically bad this year.

That historical failure was on full display in the first quarter. The Kings allowed the Wizards to score 42 points in the first quarter as the Kings were only able to put up 31 points. In the second quarter, the Kings managed to outscore the Wizards but only 29-28 and would enter halftime down 70-60. The Kings appeared on the same track as many games where they got in an early hole and were unable to dig themselves out of it.

Unfortunately, that was also true in the second half. The Kings and Wizards traded baskets in the second quarter as each team scored 23 points. It was a marked improvement for the Kings on defense but would prove to be too little too late for this team. In the fourth quarter, the Wizards outscored the Kings 30-28 and downed the Kings 123-111 on the road.

It was another disappointing game for the Kings. They have now dropped eight straight games and will need to get up for Thursday for the second of back-to-back games this time in Arizona against the Phoenix Suns. De’Aaron Fox led the way for the Kings scoring 33 points. For the Wizards, Bradley Beal led the way in points with 31 and Russell Westbrook finished with 25 points, 11 Assists, and 15 Rebounds.

Up Next: The Kings fly to Arizona to take on the Pheonix Suns on Thursday at 7 PM PST.

Barracuda even up series with 4-2 win over Stars

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The San Jose Barracuda left winger Joachim Blichfeld (86) winds up for a shot against the Texas Stars goaltender Adam Scheel (31) at Solar4America Ice in San Jose on Wed Apr 14, 2021 (@ sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif-Maxim Letunov scored two goals, including the eventual game winner halfway through the third period as the San Jose Barracuda beat the Texas Stars 4-2 on Wednesday evening at Solar4America Ice.

Despite the game being in Silicon Valley, the Barracuda were the away team as this was the makeup game from 2/16/21 that was postponed due to the huge snow storm the region suffered through. San Jose now has 26 points but currently sit in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a winning percentage of .520. Colorado is just three-hundredth of percentage points ahead in fourth place at .523.

Texas (12-13-2-0) drew first blood under a minute left in the first period. Seconds after the penalty to Alex True for cross-checking ended, Adam Mashcherin sent a cross ice pass over to Jerad Rosburg who fired a wrist shot into the top corner short-side beating ‘Cuda goalie Sam Harvey for his first goal of the season at the 19:38 mark.

It was Rosburg’s second career AHL Goal as the Stars outshot the ‘Cuda 14-9 after the opening 20 minutes.

San Jose (10-9-4-2) scored the equalizer near the halfway mark of the second period seconds after their power play had just ended. Brandon Coe found an open Ivan Chekhovich in the left slot and the Russian sniper buried a wrist shot past Stars goalie Adam Scheel for his first goal of the season since coming back from the KHL to play for the ‘Cuda at the 9:05 mark.

It was Chekhovich’s first goal since March 10, 2020 against the Stockton Heat. That game was the last game played before the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled the rest of the AHL season.

The Barracuda gained its first lead of the game just over two minutes later. Sasha Chmelevski sent a backhand pass out of his own zone that got behind Stars defenseman Dawson Barteaux and sprung Joachim Blichfeld on a breakaway. Blichfeld skated in and beat Scheel with a wrist shot to the far side for his 11th goal of the season at the 11:25 mark.

Blichfeld snapped a seven-game goalless draught.

Texas tied up the game on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity late in the middle frame. Anthony Louis found Ben Gleason down in the right slot. Gleason paused and then lasered a wrist shot top-shelf into the right corner for his second goal of the season at the 16:27 mark.

Despite San Jose having a huge shot advantage over Texas in the middle frame (21-9), they headed into the second intermission deadlocked at 2-2.

Letunov scored his eighth goal of the season, which proved to be the game winner when Chekhovich found Letunov open in between the faceoff circles. Letunov one-timed a wrist shot past Scheel at the 10:48 mark.

Letunov iced the game for the ‘Cuda with 20 seconds left in the game with an empty netter. He intercepted a pass by Gleason and fired it down the ice from his own zone for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season. He has three goals in his last two games.

Harvey finished the game stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced to earn the victory. Scheel made 36 saves on 40 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-4 on the power play. Texas was 1-for-6.

Texas is now 6-1-1 after leading after the first period.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Blichfeld 2) Chekhovich 3) Scheel

UP NEXT: Both teams continue its four-game series on Friday 4/16 at 6:00pm at Solar4America Ice.

A’s to face Tigers, Twins in upcoming homestead

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Oakland A’s starter Jesus Luzardo throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of Tue Apr 13, 2021 game at Chase Field in Phoenix (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, April 14, 2021

The Oakland Athletics have the day off on Wednesday, following a successful two-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in an interleague series in Phoenix.

Starting Thursday, the A’s begin a seven-game homestand at the Coliseum, hosting the Detroit Tigers (April 15-18) and the Minnesota Twins (April 19-21).

In the Tigers series, Oakland will start Sean Manaea (0-1, 5.06) on Thursday, followed by Frankie Montas (1-1, 8,31), Cole Irvin (0-2, 7.45) and Chris Bassitt (1-2, 4.96).

After a rough start, Oakland has improved to 5-7 overall, trailing the Los Angeles Angels by two games in the American League West. Their overall numbers – 27th in MLB in team batting average (.211), 16th in runs (48), 30th in team ERA (6.00), and 29th in WHIP (1.56).

On the injured list, the A’s have five on the 10-day list – LHP Reymin Guduan (sprained left thumb), LHP A.J. Puk (strained left biceps), INF-OF Chad Pinder (sprained left knee), RHP Burch Smith (strained right groin), and RHP Mike Fiers (lumbar strain).

On Thursday, the Athletics will join other MLB teams in honoring Jackie Robinson Day by having all players wear No. 42. The A’s, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, will give away co-branded masks to early arriving fans on Saturday and Sunday. Game time for the weekend games is 1:07 p.m

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: What would Jackie Robinson say today? -About Baseball

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Jackie Robinson Day will acknowledge the Brooklyn Dodgers pioneer who broke the color line in Major League Baseball in 1947 (image by the Philadelphia Tribune)

What would Jackie Robinson say today? -About Baseball

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

April 15, 2021 will be the 74th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color-barrier and playing with the major league Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. But what would Robinson say today, about today’s game? His answers, I would leave to your imagination.

1-For starters, Jackie Robinson stole home 19 times. That is not taking into consideration that in the first game of the 1955 World Series, Sept. 27, 1955 against the Yankees, he stole home. Today a straight steal of home is not what you will see in any game. Maybe your chances of winning the Lotto are greater than witnessing the daring play, in person, listening to radio or watching television.

2-Jackie Robinson ended his 10-year major league career with a combined .311 average. We all know that the batting average is not the thing now in the game of baseball. It is all about Launch Angle, which is the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat, after it is hit. You will need to find a professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), to explain that in more detail.

3-During his ten year career Robinson earned a total of $296,000 in salary. In today’s game that is around $3 million. At the start of this 2021 a rookie salary in the major leagues is $570,500. Let’s take it to the extreme. In March 2019, LA Angels Mike Trout signed a contract extension for $426.5 million dollars and for 30 years.

This year Trout makes $36 million, the equivalent of $222.222 per game, that means in one (1) game Trout makes almost as much as Jackie Robinson made in his 10-year career in salary. However, some perspective about entertaining, and baseball is part of that, also in television where Judy (Judge Judy) Sheindlin makes $47 million every year in just 52 days of taping her shows. In 2016 Daniel Craig aka James Bond was given $150 million to film two more Bond movies.

4-During World War II in 1942, Robinson was drafted into the US Army and assigned to a segregated cavalry unit. In 1973 the draft ended and since then it is an all-volunteer force. Players do not have to worry about that anymore. Among those who volunteered to fight in WW II was Yogi Berra who saw action on the assault on Normandy on D-Day and Bob Feller who left a six-figure contract to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor.

5-Jackie Robinson like Roberto Clemente is revered in Latin America. Robinson Canó born in the Dominican Republic got his name because of his father José, who played briefly in the majors in 1989 and named his son Robinson name which is known thorough the world as a historical figure as well as a baseball icon.

On this anniversary of Jackie Robinson playing in the major leagues, now more than ever, we should teach our youth the importance of this iconic figure in American and world sports history. Playing baseball and reaching the major leagues is never easy and even harder back in 1947 when there were a total of 16 teams (eight in each league). Number 42 was a great baseball player, but most important, a great man and a great American.

Join Amaury PI Gonzalez the lead play by play announcer for the Oakland A’s on the Spanish radio network and on flagship station 1010 KIQI LaGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Schneider promoted to W’s CEO; Warriors in OKC tonight

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Golden State Warriors team president and CEO Brandon Schneider takes over for former team president Rick Welts who will retire at the end of this season (file photo thesponsershipspace.com)

#1 Dave the Warriors promoting Brandon Schneider to team president and CEO after Rick Welts current president and CEO will retire at the end of this season. Schneider has worked 19 years with the team, and the last four as team chief revenue officer amongst his accomplishments he established innovative ticket sales which involved a luxury suite resale exchange, and was involved with naming rights for the Chase Center to name a few.

#2 David, talk about Stephen Curry’s accomplishment as the highest scorer in Golden State history surpassing Wilt Chamberlain on Monday night scoring 53 points against the Nuggets passing Chamberlain with 17,818 points to Chamberlain’s 17,783 points. Chamberlain left the Warriors in 1964 a scoring record that held for 57 years.

#3 The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently on a seven game losing streak as they host Golden State tonight. The Thunder in recent years have struggled and have not been the same since the days of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The Thunder coming into tonight’s game 13th in the Western Conference and 20-33 they have their work cut out for them and it doesn’t get any easier with the Warriors coming in and coming off that big win against Denver and a two game win streak. This being the first of five road games for Golden State.

Join David for the Warriors podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor Wed Apr 14, 2021 by Sports Radio Service | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Offense comes though in a big way to give Giants a huge win 7-6

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San Francisco Giants Wilmer Flores right who hit a sacrifice fly to score Donavon Solano (left) for a run in the bottom of the seventh inning that stood up as the Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds by a run at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Apr 13, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

After seeing their four-game winning streak come to an end in the opener, the San Francisco Giants wanted to get off to a fast start; however, it was the Cincinnati Reds who did that.

The Reds scored four runs in the first inning, but the Giants came back with four of their own in the bottom half and finally took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on their way to a 7-6 victory at Oracle Park.

There was history made in the first inning, as it was the first time in the 22-year history of Oracle Park that there were four home runs in the first inning.

Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas each two-run home runs in the top of the first off of Kevin Gausman, but the Giants got a pair of two-run home runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, as Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford each slammed two run home runs to knot up the game.

That would be the lead for a half-inning, as Nick Castellanos doubled to left field off of Gausman to score Jesse Winker and that could have been the end of the night for Gausman; however, he stayed in the game.

Evan Longoria continued his hot start to the 2021 season, as he tied up the game with one swing of the bat, as he hit his fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning. Austin Slater then gave the Giants their first lead of the game, as he tripled to center field to score Buster Posey.

Unfortunately for the Giants, the Reds tied it up, as Alex Blandino singled off of Crawfords glove to score Jonathan India.

Wilmer Flores gave the Giants the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Donovan Solano.

Once again, the Giants got solid starting pitching from their starter, as Gausman ended up going six strong innings, allowing five runs on four hits, walking two and striking out seven before giving way to the strong Giants bullpen.

Even though Gausman went six innings, but the streak of starters allowing three runs or less ended at 10 games, as Gausman gave up five runs. The 10-game streak tied for the second longest in team history, tying the 1937 team and two shy of the 2002 team, oh yeah, both of those went on to win the National League pennant.

After going six strong with Gausman, Gabe Kapler went to the bullpen; however, Wandy Peralta was unable to hold the lead, as he committed a balk, one run on two hits, including that game-tying single to Blandino; however, the Solano sacrifice fly ended up giving Peralta his second win of the season.

Tyler Rogers pitched a perfect eighth inning, as he struck out the side before giving way to closer Jake McGee in the top of the ninth inning.

McGee got Nick Senzel to fly out for the first out of the inning, but then walked India and then bounced back to get Aristides Aquino and Tyler Stevenson out on called strike threes to notch his fifth save of the season.

NOTES: After a terrible start to the season in 2020 on defense, the Giants once did not commit an error and thru the 11 games of the season, they have committed only two errors. Thru the first 11 games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the defense committed 11 errors.

UP NEXT: Johnny Cueto closes out the home stand on Wednesday afternoon, as he takes the mound, while the Reds will send Tyler Mahle to the hill.

Stars route Barracuda 7-2; Fourth loss in six games

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The San Jose Barracuda forward Jacob McGrew tries to stay ahead in the chase for the puck at Solar4America Ice in San Jose against the Texas Stars on Tue Apr 13, 2021 (@ sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- The Texas Stars scored four goals in the first period as they dominated the San Jose Barracuda in a 7-2 victory on Tuesday evening at Solar4America Ice as the teams began a four-game series.

The Stars are currently 2-4 on their eight-game roadtrip. San Jose has lost seven of its past 10 games.

Texas (12-12-2-0) opened up the scoring halfway through the opening 20 minutes. Riley Damiani skated out from behind the net and centered a backdoor pass out to Nick Baptisite who tapped home the puck right in front of the crease past ‘Cuda goalie Alexei Melnichuk for his 11th goal of the season at the 10:50 mark.

The Stars doubled its lead five minutes later. A turnover at the red line led to Cole Schneider centering a pass to a trailing Anthony Louis who buried a wrist shot past Melnichuk for his seventh goal of the season at the 15:51 mark.

Texas poured on the gas with two goals in 29 seconds late in the first period. First, a battle along the right boards led to the puck leaking out to the middle where Ben Gleason fired a wrist shot off of Melnichuk as the puck rolled into the back of the net for a power play goal, Gleason’s second goal of the season at the 18:37 mark.

The Stars capitalized on another ‘Cuda turnover for its fourth goal of the period. Jake Slaker came in on a two-on-one odd man rush and sent a rink wide pass over to Riley Tufte who finished off the play with third goal of the season at the 19:06 mark.

San Jose (9-9-4-2) regrouped and took advantage of a five-on-three power play opportunity in the first two and a half minutes of the second period.

A shot from the right wing by Joachim Blichfeld caromed off the back boards to the left slot where Robbie Russo quickly fired the puck past Stars’ goalie Adam Scheel for his second goal of the season at the 2:52 mark.

The Barracuda struck again on the power play just under two minute later to cut the Stars lead in half. Alex True centered a pass from behind the Stars net out to the right slot where Maxim Letunov’s one-timer trickled past Scheel for his seventh goal of the season at the 4:11 mark.

Texas regained a three-goal lead with its second power play goal of the game. Slaker made a back pass over to Louis and he sent a cross ice pass over to Adam Mashcherin who fired a shot off the near post and into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season at the 9:35 mark.

The Stars went back up by a four-goal cushion as Baptiste drew three ‘Cuda defenders as he entered San Jose’s zone. The puck squirted out to a trailing Josh Melnick who skated in and beat Melnichuk with a backhander for his sixth goal of the season at the 17:07 mark.

Mashcherin closed out the scoring with his second goal of the game on the power play. Thomas Harley sent a pass over tp Mashcherin and he snapped home a wrist shot past Melnichuk for his 15th goal of the season at the 18:02 mark.

Mashcherin is second in the AHL goals, one behind Bakersfield’s Cooper Marody.

Scheel finished the game with 30 saves on 32 shots to earn the victory. Melnichuk made 20 saves on 27 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 2-for-3 on the power play. Texas was 3-for-4. They entered the game with only one power play goal in their last 36 chances.

The loss was the first for the Barracuda in regulation at home this season. The loss also snapped a seven-game point streak at home.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Mashcherin 2) Louis 3) Slaker

UP NEXT: The same two teams go back at on Wednesday 4/14 at 5:00pm at Solar4America Ice.