Author: Sports Radio Service

Kings drop fourth straight this time to Jazz 128-112

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There’s no denying Utah Jazz guard Donavon Mitchell driving to the basket against the Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield on Sat Apr 10, 2021 in Salt Lake City (AP News photo)

The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Saturday night. The Kings played in Utah against the Jazz in a game that was sure to challenge the Kings. In the Kings previous game, they took on the Detroit Pistons. On Saturday, the Kings weren’t able to pull off the victory losing by the final of 128-112.

Thursday flashback: The Kings welcomed in the Detroit Pistons on Thursday in a game they Kings had circled as an easy win. However, it wouldn’t go as the Kings hoped. The Kings were embarrassingly defeated by the final of 113-101 in one of the lesser teams in the league. The Kings would need to get back on track against the Jazz to stop the bleeding.

Saturday night recap: The Kings were set to take on the Utah Jazz in Utah at 5PM PST.

In the first half, the Kings and Jazz traded buckets for the most part. In the first quarter, the Kings were out scored by the Jazz 34-31 as neither team played any defense. In the second quarter, the script was flipped. The Kings managed to outscore the Jazz 34-25. Going into halftime, the Kings took a 65-59 lead looking to get back into the win column.

In the second half, the Kings melted down. The third quarter saw the Kings be outscored 36-24 as the defense continued to be the Kings greatest weakness. The Kings would need a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter to get the win. However, they weren’t able to mount a comeback.

The Kings were also out scored 33-23 in the final quarter to lose the game 128-112. The Kings are struggling mightily as of now and need to get back on track as soon as possible. Leading the way for the Kings in defeat was De’Aaron Fox who scored 30 points. In victory, Utah was led by Donovan Mitchell who finished with 42 points.

Up Next: The Kings will take on the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday in New Orleans at 6 PM PST.

Condors rush pass Barracuda in 4-1 victory

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Bakersfield Condors right winger Tyler Benson (left) is pinned on the boards by the San Jose defenceman Barracuda Brinson Pasichnuk (right) on Sat Apr 10, 2021 at Mechanics Bank in Bakersfield (@sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

BAKERSFIELD, Calif—The Bakersfield Condors scored four unanswered goals en route to a 4-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.

The Condors have won two games in a row and have 29 points, good for third place in the Pacific Division. San Jose has lost two of its past three games and are in fourth place with 22 points.

San Jose (8-8-4-2) drew first blood halfway through the first period. Robbie Russo found Evan Weinger along the left boards. Weinger threaded a cross ice pass between two Condors defenders over to a wide open Maxim Letunov and he buried the puck into an empty net past Condors goalie Stuart Skinner for his sixth goal of the season at the 10:07 mark.

Letunov now has three goals in his two games fore the ‘Cuda.

San Jose controlled the pace of play in the opening 20 minutes as they outshot Bakersfield 9-6.

It was all Bakersfield (14-9-0-1) from the second period on as they scored two goals in the first six minutes of the middle frame.

Adam Cracknell beat Ryan Merkley to a rebound off the boards and quickly centered a backhand pass over to Seth Griffith who snapped home a wrist shot past ‘Cuda goalie Sam Harvey for his fourth goal of the season at the 2:30 mark.

Less than four minutes later the Condors gained its first lead of the game and never looked back. Luke Esposito gained the puck at the ‘Cuda blueline. He found Joe Gambardella with a backdoor feed and the veteran forward tipped home the puck between his legs past Harvey for his sixth goal of the season at the 6:13 mark.

The Condors had the ice tilted in its favor in the middle frame as they outshot the Barracuda 17-6.

Bakersfield scored an insurance goal insurance goal halfway through the third period. James Hamblin was able to skate around Branson Pasichnuk down the left wing and created a two-on-zero opportunity. Hamblin centered the puck back to Jakob Stukel who beat Harvey with a wrist shot for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:08 mark.

Cooper Marody put the game on ice for the Condors with an empty net goal with 1:52 left in the game. Tyler Benson received the only assist on Marody’s 16th goal of the season.

Skinner finished the evening stopping 21 of the 22 shots he faced to earn the victory. Harvey made 27 saves on 30 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0-for-4 on the power play. Bakersfield went 0-for-3.

‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar was called up to the San Jose Sharks earlier in the afternoon as the Sharks traded Devan Dubnyk to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth round draft pick. The NHL trading deadline is on Monday.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Gambardella 2) Griffith 3) Stukel

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Ontario Reign on Sunday 4/11 at 3:00pm at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: SJ are back in Bakersfield to face tough Condors tonight; Korenar recalled by Sharks to replace Dubnyk

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San Jose Barracuda defenseman Nick DeSimone (57) congratulates goaltender Josef Korenar (32) on Wed Apr 7, 2021 after defeating the Henderson Silver Knights in San Jose (@sjbarracuda photo)

#1 It was another come back game for the San Jose Barracuda (8-7-4-2) last Wednesday night when the Barracuda hosted the Henderson Silver Knights (18-5-0-0) at Solar4America Ice down two goals to win it 4-2.

#2 The win against the Knights was a valuable one as it was San Jose’s first win in eight games against the Knights who are another battling team.

#3 Josef Korenar the Barracuda goaltender stopped 20 of 22 shots in the Wednesday win and now won five games against one. Korenar was recalled by the San Jose Sharks on Saturday afternoon after the Sharks traded goalie Devan Dubnyk to the Colorado Avalanche.

#4 Maxim Letunov scored his fourth and fifth goals of 2021 against the Knights on Wednesday which were key goals in the first win of 2021 against the Knights.

#5 The Barracuda return to action tonight against the Bakersfield Condors (12-9-0-1) the last time the two teams met on Tue Mar 30th the Condors lost their first game to the Barracuda 4-3. Face off tonight at 6pm in Bakersfield.

Join Marko for Barracuda hockey podcasts each Saturday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Matt Harrington: Sharks deal Dubnyk to Colroado; Get 5-2 win over Kings on Friday

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Former San Jose Sharks goalie Devan Dubnyk has been traded to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft. Dubnyk is seen here defending the net on Mar 15, 2021 in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights (AP file photo)

On the podcast with Matt:

#1 Up 3-2 with just over three minutes left the San Jose Sharks (18-17-4) picked up two insurance goals in the third period and got a three goal victory over the Los Angeles Kings (15-18-6) at SAP Center in San Jose on Friday night 5-2.

#2 After the Sharks had some inconsistencies before getting on this run what would you attribute to head coach Bob Boughner and the recent turn around of the club?

#3 One of the improved things about the Sharks is the improved play of goaltender Martin Jones on Friday night against the Kings Jones made 32 out of 34 saves to hold the Kings to a three goal loss.

#4 Matt, talk about the Sharks getting goal help from Tomas Hertl, Patrick Marleau, Rudolfs Balcers, and Kevin LaBanc and Dylan Gambrell.

#5 The Kings and Sharks go at it again in their last five meetings the Sharks have won all five games against the Kings and they both meet again tonight at SAP Center for a 7:30p face off tell how you see this upcoming game tonight. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk was traded to the Colorado Avalanche Saturday. Dubnyk was the back up goalie for Jones and most likely will be the back up goalie for Phillip Grubauer.

Join Matt for the Sharks podcasts each Saturday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Takes Series From the Astros 7-3

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Oakland A’s hitter Ramon Laureano (right) is greeted at the plate by teammate Mark Canha (left) after hitting a two run homer in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Sat Apr 10, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

After yesterday’s game against the Houston Astros, the Oakland A’s reclaimed the form that we have grown to expect. The form that has taken them into the post-season for quite a few years now. Beating the Astros 6-2 was a real boost for the A’s and also gave them the opportunity to win the series should they win todays game.

Oakland certainly came out in this game full of confidence and once again it was the fourth inning when the A’s began to make some noice. Ramon Laureano and Jed Lowrie scored giving the A’s a 2-0 lead. The Astros would come up empty in the fourth inning and so trailed by the score of 2-0.

The fifth inning was also a good one for the A’s extending their lead to 4-0. Laureano homered scoring Mark Canha who was on base. Frankie Montas was having a great outing through seven innings. Pitching for the A’s was starting to turn around, something that we all knew was just a matter of time.

Oakland would strike again in the seventh inning. Lowrie would hit a single and Mark Canha and Ka’ai Tom would score and the A’s were looking at a 6-0 score in the middle of the seventh. The Astros would get on the scoreboard when Kyle Tucker homered to right giving Houston their first run of the game. Houston was not done scoring two more runs. Myles Straw and Jose Altuve crossed home plate and just like that the Astros were well within striking distance. You can never count the Astros out regardless of the score.

The eighth inning was a highlight for Oakland DH Seth Brown who hit his first homer of the season giving the A’s a 7-3 lead.

It was a quiet ninth inning as the Oakland A’s took the series from the Houston Astros. The Oakland A’s have their rhythm back and now we can all look forward to some high-powered Green and Gold baseball.

Oakland will have the day off on Sunday and will be back on the field on Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks for a two game series. First pitch is at 6:40 PM.

Crawford’s heroics on stage once again; Giants edge Rockies 4-3

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San Francisco Giants hitter Brandon Crawford launches a three run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning at Oracle Park against the Colorado Rockies on Sat Apr 10, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Brandon Crawford seems to have found his hitting stroke through the first two games of the home stand.

Crawford hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, helping the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies before a crowd of 6,176 at Oracle Park. This was the Giants third win in a row and have also won four out of their last five games.

It was the second game in a row that the veteran shortstop gave the Giants the lead that they refused to give up.

Alex Dickerson led off the inning with a walk, and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores walked; however, Evan Longoria popped out for the first out and then Crawford launched a Ben Bowden pitch onto the right field arcade to give the Giants the lead for good.

Logan Webb started for the second time this season, and pitched five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out six. Webb also gave up a two-run home run to Ryan McMahon that gave the Rockies a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

Webb, who went those five innings did not fare in the decision. The same goes for Rockies starter Chi Chi Gonzalez, who also went five innings, allowing just one run, scattering four hits, walking three and striking out one and did not fare in the decision.

The Giants got to Gonzalez in the bottom of the third inning, as Tommy La Stella doubled to lead off the inning, then C.J. Cron made a great stab at first base to get Mike Yastrzemski and then Dickerson singled in La Stella.

Cron also made a great play in the bottom of the first inning, as robbed Dickerson of a base hit that would have given the Giants a lead early against Gonzalez.

The Rockies got to Webb in the top of the fifth inning, as Gonzalez helped out his own cause by singling off of Webb, then after Garrett Hampson struck out for the second out of the inning, McMahon gave the Rockies the lead when his two-run home run landed in the Rockies bullpen.

This was the second inning in a row that the Rockies scored, as they got on the board in the top of the fourth inning, Raimel Tapia singled to center field to score Charlie Blackmon from second base, as he doubled with one out in the inning.

The bullpen was huge in relief of Webb, as Caleb Baragar, Reyes Moronta, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee combined to throw four innings, allowing no runs on just one hit, walking just one and striking out five.

Baragar gave up a walk and struck out a batter in his lone inning of work to pick up his second win of the 2021 season.

McGee pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out one on his way to picking up his second save in as many days and his fourth save of the season.

NOTES: Donovan Solano was presented with the 2020 Silver Slugger award prior to the game, as he was presented the Silver Slugger award by Hitting Coaches Donnie Ecker and Justin Viele along with Director of Hitting/Assistant Hitting Coach Dustin Lind.

UP NEXT: Anthony DeScalafini make his Oracle Park debut for the Giants, as he looks for his first win for the first win of the season, while the Rockies will send German Marquez will take the mound for the Rockies, as he also goes for his first win of the season.

Oakland Hits 3 Home Runs To Beat Houston 6-2

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Oakland A’s hitter Matt Olson (right) celebrates with Mark Canha (left) after hitting a three home run in the eighth inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Field on Fri Apr 9, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Saturday evening the Oakland A’s took on the Houston Astros in Game two of their three game series. It has been a rough start for Oakland this year. They lost a four game series against the Astros to start the season. The A’s then went on to play the defending champs the Los Angeles Dodgers losing two out of three games. It was game seven for the A’s that broke the six game losing streak. They beat the Dodgers 4-3 in ten innings. This year has been their worst start for Oakland since 1916.

Now the A’s are once again tangling with the Houston Astros who seem to have their number. In Game 1, the Astros won handily 6-2 and now the A’s have to suffer through two more games against Houston. In game two loss against the Dodgers, the Oakland club looked far better than they had looked all season. They began hitting and their defense was solid. The bottom line is that this team is far better than they are currently showing. The A’s got a 6-2 win over the Astros on Friday night at Minute Maid Field.

A win over the Astros would be a real confidence builder, especially since the Astros have looked unbeatable. Their current record is 6-1 while the A’s have a 1-7 record. Houston is on a real roll and it will be tough to stop them.

At the end of five innings the game was tied 1-1. Both of the runs in the game were scored in the fourth inning. Jed Lowrie hit a 374 feet homer and Yuli Gurriel scored for the Astros.

The game remained quiet until the eighth inning when both Mark Canha and Jed Lowrie had hits and the A’s had a chance to break the tie. Oakland did exactly that when Matt Olson hit a 414 ft homer scoring three runs and taking the lead 4-1.

The A’s were not finished with the Astros. In the top of the ninth Mark Canha hit a two run homer scoring Elvis Andrus for a 6-1 lead.

This was a great game for the Oakland A’s with 3 homers, Lowrie, Olson and Canha each hit one looking like the team that we have seen for the past few years. It sure was a lot of fun seeing the A’s playing such great baseball. We had to wait a bit but it sure worth the wait. Game three of this series will be played Saturday with first pitch at 1:05.

Cueto throws a gem in the home opener for 3-1 win

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San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto throws to the Colorado Rockies line up on Fri Apr 9, 2021 at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

With the pomp and circumstance of Opening Day and the return of the fans to Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants did not disappoint their throng of fans.

Johnny Cueto came within one out of a complete game, as he went 8.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking one and striking out seven and the Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 3-1 at Oracle Park.

After not being allowed into the ballpark during the Covid-19 shortened season, the Giants played before 7,390 fans in the 22-year old yard for the first time since Bruce Bochys last game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 28, 2019.

Brandon Crawford drove in two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he doubled with the bases loaded to score Darin Ruf and Buster Posey with the only runs that the Giants would need.

Alex Dickerson added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he singled to right field to score Brandon Belt.

The Rockies tried to get back into the game in the top of the ninth inning, as Garrett Hampson hit a sacrifice fly that scored Micah Owings with the lone run for the Rockies on the afternoon.

Cueto was masterful on the afternoon, as he did not allow a hit until there was one out in the top of the fifth inning when Raimel Tapia singled to left field. The Giants were able to get out of the inning, as they turned an inning-ending double play to keep the Rockies off the board.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler came out to the mound following Owings triple and Hampsons sacrifice fly; however, Cueto stayed in the game. After he allowed a single to Rockies shortstop Trevor Story that brought the tying run to the plate, that was the end of the line for Cueto and he was replaced by Jake McGee, who closed out the game for his third save of the season.

Rockies starter Austin Gomber was cruising into the fifth inning with no hits allowed; however, Posey put an end to that with one out, as he singled.

Gomber went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs, on just one hit, walking four and striking out five, as he lost for the second time in as many starts.

NOTES: Bryan Stow threw out the ceremonial first pitch just over 10 years after he was brutally beaten at Dodger Stadium. Stow, who spent nearly nine months in a medically induced coma threw the first pitch to Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken.

Evan Longoria sat out the home opener after feeling side effects from taking the one-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine on Thursday. Something was seen on the Giants home uniforms for the first time since they moved into Oracle Park, names on the back of their home jerseys.

UP NEXT: Logan Webb takes the mound on Saturday afternoon for the Giants, while Chi Chi Gonzalez will take the mound for the Rockies.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Athletics Sabermetrics and Closer

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Former San Diego Padre pitcher and current Oakland A’s pitcher Trevor Rosenthal seen in this Sep 26, 2020 photo is congratulated by catcher Austin Nola after pitching against the San Francisco Giants. Rosenthal will be out for approximately four months after having arm surgery (Bay Area News Group file photo)

Athletics: Sabermetrics and Closer

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Perhaps the worse news for the Oakland A’s 1-7 start to the 2021 season is that they will be without Trevor Rosenthal, signed to a 1-year deal for $11 million contract to take the place of Liam Hendricks, who is now the closer with the Chicago White Sox. Rosenthal had surgery Thursday.

An issue affected his pitching arm (he threw 100 mph) this surgery required removing his first rib releasing the pectoralis minor muscle of his chest-wall. It is called Thoracic Surgery. Matt Harvey had same surgery a couple of years ago when he was pitching for the Cincinnati Reds; today he is pitching with the Baltimore Orioles.

Rosenthal will be out a few months, maybe back in July or August, if everything goes very well during his rehab. About the Rosenthal surgery, manager Bob Melvin said; “I had a feeling that was going to happen,” Melvin said before Thursday’s game against the Astros. “Everything went well. I don’t really have a timetable or anything like that.”

Without a legitimate experienced closer, the team is left with these potential replacements for that position: Jake Diekman, Lou Trivino, J.B. Wendelken or Jordan Weems. Some suggested that young A.J Puk was given a shot, but he was recently placed on the Injured List as they called up Deolis Guerra.

The closer has become one of the most specialized and important jobs for a pitcher in baseball, it’s a given, that nobody can win without a star closer. We do not know, if the A’s would make a trade to acquire somebody to take their closer spot, nobody knows.

You really never know who is going to become a great closer. In 1987 I remember when Dennis Eckersley came to the A’s from the Chicago Cubs (already a 13-year veteran and 20-game winner in 1978 with Boston) Eckersley started two games with the A’s before an injury to then closer Jay Howell.

That opened the door for Eckersley as pitching coach Dave Duncan and manager Tony LaRussa gave him the ball to move into the closer’s role. That year Eck saved 16 games, next year 1988 he saved a league-leading 45 games helped the A’s win the pennant and went to the World Series, and the rest is history.

He was a dominant closer with the Athletics until 1995, then ended with St Louis and finally back to Boston for his last season in 1998. Dennis Eckersley pitched for 24 years ended with 390 games saved. In 2004 he was elected with an A’s uniform to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York.

I will never forgot one of my interviews with him while playing here in Oakland. I asked him what makes him that sharp (I nicknamed him, “La Cuchilla”- “The Knife”) he responded “I am afraid of failure and that keeps me motivated.”

He was as automatic as any closer during those years in baseball. The Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are the sabermetics darlings of Major League Baseball. They have not spend a lot but they have gotten very good return on their investment, the A’s won the Western Division last season, the Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant and lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.

Both clubs are similar in their approach to player’s salaries and they have worked the Sabermetrics very well. The world (everybody not only baseball people) was made aware of Sabermetrics by the movie Moneyball in 2011. “Baseball is like a poker game, nobody wants to quit when he’s loosing; nobody wants you to quit when you are ahead” -Jackie Robinson.

Stay well and stay tuned

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

Sacramento Kings game wrap: Kings loss streak climbs to five; Joseph leads Pistons with 24 pts in 113-101 win

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The Detroit Pistons guard Corey Joseph drives against the Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield on Thu Apr 8, 2021 at Golden One Center in Sacramento (AP News photo)

The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Thursday night after two days off. The Detroit Pistons were in town to take on the Kings who were looking to get back on track. The Kings played their last game on Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On Thursday, the Kings fell to the Detroit Pistons at home by a final of 113-101.

Flashback Monday: The Kings were struggling going into Monday night’s game. Against the Timberwolves on Monday night, the Kings fell 116-106 to one of the worst teams in the league. The Kings defense and offense weren’t up to the task and they didn’t play a particularly competitive game.

Thursday game recap: The Kings were set to take on the Detroit Pistons on Thursday at 7 PM PST in Sacramento.

In the first half, the Kings struggled in a major way. The Kings allowed the Pistons to score 27 points in the first quarter compared to their 24 points. However, that wasn’t the worst of it. In the second quarter, the Kings were blown out with the Pistons scoring 35 points compared to the Kings 21.

It was an embarrassing half for the Kings. It is worth noting that the Kings were also without Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee. The Kings defense was atrocious as they would need a massive second half to form a comeback. The Kings went into halftime down 62-44.

In the second half, the Kings played better but it wasn’t nearly enough to win the game. The Kings outscored the Pistons 30-27 in the third quarter. The Kings would need a massive fourth quarter to have a prayer in the game. In the fourth quarter, the Kings outscored the Pistons 27-24 as the Kings defense tightened up.

However, the Kings still fell to the Pistons 113-101. It was an embarrassing defeat for the Kings who fell to 22-30 in the standings. The Kings were led by De’Aaron Fox in the loss who scored 23 points. In the win, the Pistons were led by former King Corey Joseph who scored a season-high 24 points. The Kings will look to their next game to get back on track.

Up Next: The Kings will take on the Utah Jazz on Saturday night in Utah at 5 PM PST.