Category: MLB

MLB The Show Postseason 2019 podcast with Matt Harrington: Yankees-Astros could be a seven-game series; Nats’ Sanchez near no-hitter; plus more

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Photo credit: houstonchronicle.com

On the MLB The Show Postseason 2019 podcast with Matt:

#1 Yankees and Astros the long awaited battle for the ALCS will start tonight in Houston with the Astros having the home field advantage. Tell us whats to be expected in this first game.

#2 This actually is a good matchup and the American League’s elite teams, the Astros and Yankees, have one of the most potent rotations. How many games does Matt see this series going?

#3 Tampa Bay almost caught the Astros coming back from two games down to tie the series in the ALDS before the Astros won game five.

#4 The big question in the National League: Will the Los Angeles Dodgers keep or let go of manager Dave Roberts after the tough elimination to the Washington Nats?

#5 The St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals played on Friday night for game one of the NLCS. The two teams meet again on Saturday. The Nats’ Anibal Sanchez was dominating against the Cardinals on Friday night throwing a near no hitter.

Matt does the MLB podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: China pulled out of NBA over Rockets GM tweet; A’s consider getting rooted in Vegas

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file photo from Washingtonpost.com: In this April 19, 2011, file photo, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey discusses the direction of the team with the media during a basketball news conference, in Houston, after the decision to part ways with NBA basketball head coach Rick Adelman. Morey tried Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019 to defuse the rapidly growing fallout over his deleted tweet that showed support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters, saying he did not intend to offend any of the team’s Chinese fans or sponsors.

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

China’s mad over tweet by Rockets GM: A political triangle has the NBA’s Houston Rockets apologizing over a tweet by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” as soon as that tweet was known China ended its relationship with the Houston Rockets and sponsors pulled out of all radio advertising in China.

The Rockets are the most popular team in China because of its relationship with former NBA player Yao Ming. The Rockets’ James Harden and Russell Westbrook quickly tried to go into damage control.

“We apologize, we love China. We love playing there. Both of us, we go there once or twice a year. They show us most support so we appreciate them,” said Harden.

The Chinese response was too late for the Rockets as a Chinese statement read, “Deeply disappointed by the inappropriate remarks.” Hong Kong has been protesting for the last four months about China having the ability to use extradition any Hong Kong citizen if they are wanted for any crime, espionage, or whenever deemed necessary to extradite a Hong Kong citizen when necessary.

Texas representative and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has said that the apology from the Rockets and the NBA is an embarrassment. That the NBA and the Rockets should stand pat on Hong Kong standing up to China and protesting extradition of any Hong Kong citizen and not to cave to China.

The Rockets and the NBA are in panic mode now as the league could face losing millions of dollars in revenue in NBA properties, NBA paraphernalia, and NBA branding not to mention their broadcast rights in China. The NBA and the Rockets have apologized but it may be a little too late as the Hong Kong issue is an extremely sensitive issue to China.

Oakland A’s consider getting rooted in Las Vegas: Sources say that baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is getting tired of the situation that’s gone back and forth between the city of Oakland and the A’s  There has been a lot of posturing between the A’s and the city regarding how to get started on working the land at Jack London Square the A’s were in discussion with the City Manager on Tuesday the day before the A’s wild card game with Tampa Bay. 90 minutes after the meeting with the city manager, Kaval found out the city was suing the A’s to stop them from developing at the Coliseum.

When the city handed the A’s a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop the team from developing on the Oakland Coliseum site, it baffled A’s team president David Kaval, who has been very guarded with his statements about the lawsuit. Kaval has been the spearhead of the new stadium for the A’s and for a brief moment it looked like the A’s were going to work something out with the city, but the city council are split on the A’s getting a downtown stadium. To clarify, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff and City Council president Rebecca Kaplan are both not on board with suing the A’s.

Because of the lawsuit, Kaval and the A’s are regrouping and considering something they never thought they would and that’s moving the A’s out of town to Las Vegas. Fighting the city of Oakland is not on the A’s radar and it will be a sad day when the A’s make the official announcement that it’s over in Oakland. The A’s triple-A team, Las Vegas Aviators, are playing near the Vegas strip.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio talent for the Oakland A’s on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and on http://www.sportsradioservice.com for News and Commentary.

MLB The Show 2019 Postseason podcast with Daniel Dullum: Cole enjoys what could be his last days in Houston; Yanks in front of Twins with 2-0 lead; plus more

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photo from latimes.com: The Astros’ Gerrit Cole struck out 15 in 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rays in Game 2 the ALDS.

On the MLB The Show 2019 Postseason podcast with Daniel:

1 Astros’ Gerrit Cole making the most of what might be his last days in Houston

2 Yankees in the driver’s seat with 2-0 lead over Minnesota in ALDS

3 NLDS – Braves, Cards even at 1-1, Nats unsure if Max Scherzer will start game 3 vs. Dodgers

4 A’s Bob Melvin, Billy Beane believe Khris Davis will bounce back

5 Giants working to get GM in place while searching for manager

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Oakland A’s after 2019

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photo from bleacherreport.com: Oakland A’s manager Bob Melvin says a game could go right down to a home run or a strikeout.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

There are basically four ways of building a championship team:
1. Farms system
2. Free Agent signings
3. MLB Draft
4. Trade of players

Of course not one is always the easiest, but instead, a combination of all four.

“The focus next year will be winning more games and trying to win our division,” said manager Bob Melvin after the A’s lost the Wild Card game to the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum.

For the second year in a row, the A’s ended 97-65 in second place behind the Houston Astros. The last game of the season this year at the Coliseum had a record 54,005 attendance, a record for a Wild Card game in all of baseball. Unfortunately, the same results for the Green and Gold dating back to 2000. The A’s have lost nine consecutive winner-take all games. We have to go back to the team of the 1973 World Series’ Game 7 against the New York Mets. That was the last time the A’s won a do or die game.

In today’s baseball, things are much different. We are now in a game where is down to “home-run” or “strikeout” — both keep going up each season. For the record, winning the division is important, like Melvin mentioned, but let’s not forget that in 2005 the Atlanta Braves won the Division championship for the 14th consecutive year (1991-2005). That is the current MLB record for winning consecutive division titles. However, during that record-setting streak the Braves, under manager Bobby Cox, only won one World Series in 1995 over the Cleveland Indians. In 2014, Cox was elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager by the veterans committee.

Under the current system, it is much difficult to make it all the way to the October Classic — especially for a wild card team — with the goal of winning 12 games in the postseason to bring home the hardware.Winning your division is definitely a better way of going into the postseason for obvious reasons. A one-game Wild Card playoff is basically a “coin flip” on who is going to win. In the case of the game against Tampa Bay, I did agree with starting Sean Manaea, who was pitching great after his return, but we also have to respect Rays pitcher Charlie Morton, an established mainstay in their rotation with experience, a guy that made the last out of the World Series giving the Astros the title two years ago.

The last handful of games during the regular season the A’s were not hitting, scoring one to three runs per game and unfortunately that carried into the October 2 Wild Card game against the Rays in a 5-1 loss. The future is bright for the young A’s who are getting younger in their rotation for 2020 with Luzardo. Montas. AJ Puk joining Sean Manaea and Mike Fiers. Minus a couple of relievers and possibly Jurickson Profar the A’s position players will be mostly the same as this year. They will not need the services of veteran pitcher rentals Homer Bailey and Roark. Piscotty and Ramon Laureano now could be joined in left field by Seth Brown a young player with talent who hits left-handed. Khris Davis could use this off season to clear his mind and work toward adjusting his batting so he can have a new approach to hitting and be the Khris Davis that we all know.

Do not expect the A’s to be actively trading this winter because they do not need to They still have the core of the young players under contract. In my opinion, Marcus Semien — the team’s MVP this season — should win in arbitration.

I picked the Houston Astros to win the World Series before the season began. After they picked up starter Zack Greinke on July 31, my opinion became much more easy to make.  But it is baseball, and it is not perfect science. I remember the 1988 World Series all too well, when the A’s lost to the Dodgers. I worked that series, and after that series, I learned that anything is possible in baseball so the main thing is to make it to the World Series and bring home the trophy. That should be every team’s goal. Postseasons are nice, the fans love it and get into it, but sometimes you have to deliver and go much deeper into October.

As for the A’s, they will have to wait another year for that chance and hopefully in 2020 they could be playing at the end of October.

Amaury Pi-González is the pioneer in establishing Spanish radio play-by-play broadcasts in the Bay Area since the middle of the 1970’s with the Oakland Athletics. He has been a longtime contributor to sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show 2019 Postseason podcast with Matt Harrington: Verlander throws Hall of Fame stuff as Astros take Game 1; Yankees, Braves and Nats win

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sfgate.com photo: The Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander, who struck out eight Tampa Bay Rays hitters on Friday night in Houston, picked up his first win in the ALDS.

On the MLB The Show 2019 Postseason podcast with Matt Harrington:

#1 Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander is doing his Dizzy Dean or Hall of Fame best as he shuts the door on the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. Verlander has a career 14-7 record in postseason play.

#2 Verlander threw for seven solid innings, giving up only one hit and eight strikeouts. He looked like he could have pitched well enough to complete the game.

#3 Verlander got some run support a home run from Jose Altuve and the Astros scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to add onto their run production.

#4 Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz threw shutout ball for seven innings giving up three hits, and seven strikeouts. He looked good enough to complete the game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

#5 After the Dodgers shutout the Washington Nationals on Thursday night, the Nats came right back and defeated Los Angeles by two runs 4-2 to tie the series at 1-1. Strasburg, who started for the Nats, pitched six, for three hits, one run, and 10 strikeouts.

#6 The New York Yankees win with a defeat over the Minnesota Twins 10-4 on Friday. The Yankees’ DJ Le Mahieu drove in four runs and hit a home run to provide some offense.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Diaz home run disaster strikes twice, Oakland lawsuit could force A’s to leave Oakland

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tampabaytimes.com file photo: Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Tommy Pham (29), right, is congratulate by Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Willy Adames (1), center, and Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz (2), left, after Pham hit a solo homer in the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019 in Oakland.

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:

#1 The Tampa Bay Rays’ leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz got a jump on A’s pitcher Sean Manaea. Did that sort of shake up Manaea’s confidence to start the game?

#2 Then, in the top of the second, the Rays right fielder Avisail Garcia took one deep center just under the Holy Toledo sign for a two-run home run to put the Rays on top 3-0.

#3 In the top third, Diaz did it again with his second home run and the Rays go up 4-1 and Sean Manaea was lifted and charged for all four runs. The Rays’ Tommy Pham took A’s reliever Yusmeiro Petit deep and put the Rays up 5-1.

#4 The City of Oakland has filed a lawsuit against the Oakland A’s to stop the A’s partial purchase of Oakland Coliseum. The lawsuit was filed in Alameda Superior Court on Tuesday and it certainly broadsided A’s team president David Kaval, who just with the City’s lead negotiator Betsy Lake, discussed regarding building the new stadium Jack London Square.

#5 Going forward after the loss in the wild card to the Rays, now Kaval has to deal with not only trying to get an idea when the A’s can start building at Jack London Square, but also dealing with the lawsuit filed by the city of Oakland.

Jerry did the 2019 Oakland A’s podcasts on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

How it ended: A’s season ends with a thud fall to the Rays 5-1

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sfgate.com photo: After surrendering three home runs Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea heads for the A’s dugout as the Tampa Bay Rays win the AL Wild Card game at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday night 5-1

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND- The Tampa Bay Rays won the Wild Card game and advanced to the ALDS against the Houston Astros. The Rays, with the second-best road record in baseball, scored all of their runs on the strength of four home runs. They sent A’s starter Sean Manaea to an early exit as he gave up three bombs in two-plus innings of work. The A’s could do nothing against Charlie Morton and the Rays’ bullpen.

The A’s had opportunities, but they failed to cash in, and that cost them the game. The A’s have made the playoffs five times in the Bob Melvin era. They failed to advance in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, and now in 2019. Billy Beane and David Forst have to make some moves to improve the team over the winter.

Let’s see what happens. The Rays took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. With the count 3-1, Yandy Diaz homered to right field. Sean Manaea settled down and struck out the next three hitters. The Rays lead 1-0 with the A’s coming to the plate. The A’s were able to load the bases as Marcus Semien led off with a single. The Rays’ starter Charlie Morton struggled with his command as he walked two hitters to load the bases.

He got Jurickson Profar to fly out to right to end the threat. The Rays put two more on the board in the second. Former San Francisco Giant Matt Duffy led off with an infield single. The next hitter, Avasail Garcia, hit a blast that went about 420 feet over the centerfield fence to give Tampa a 3-0 advantage.

In the top of the third, Yandy Diaz hammered his second homer of the night to make it 4-0. A’s manager Bob Melvin, decided to remove Manaea from the game. Yusmeiro petit came in and was able to stop the damage. Manaea’s line was two innings pitched, four hits, and four runs. The Rays tagged him for three big flys.

The A’s put their first run on the board in the bottom of the third. Marcus Semien reached third on a throwing error by Rays’ third baseman Mike Brosseau. Semien scored on a Ramon Laureano’s sacrifice fly to right. With two out in the fifth, the Rays continued to send the ball out of the park. Rays’ DH Tommy Pham hit the Rays’ fourth home run of the night over the center-field wall to put the Rays in the drivers’ seat 5-1.

The A’s bullpen shut down the Rays the rest of the way. The Rays’ bullpen stifled the A’s offense to secure the win. The Rays travel to Houston to play the Astros in the American League Division Series. Game notes- The winning pitcher was Charlie Morton, and Sean Manaea took the loss. There was some controversy about Bob Melvin’s choice of Manaea over Mike Fiers. Fiers led the team with a 15-4 record this season.

He was the A’s best pitcher, and many people were surprised by Melvin’s choice. Melvin said Manaea pitched very well when he returned from the IL and was 4-0 in five starts before the Wild Card game. Manaea gave up three home runs and four runs in two-plus innings of work. The bullpen gave up just one run in the last seven innings of the game. The A’s offense went to sleep Wednesday night.

The only run they scored was unearned in the third inning. The A’s managed eight hits, all singles. The Rays had seven hits, but four were home runs, and that was the difference in the game. There were 54,005 fans at the park Wednesday night and that set a record for a Wild Card game. The time of the game was three hours and eighteen minutes. The A’s season ended sadly, but they have an excellent young team, and they will be back next year.

At Home. Home Runs? A’s simply out of character in Wild Card game loss to the Rays

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — Seven A’s homered at least 20 times this season. Manager Bob Melvin’s wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel in advance of the win-or-swim Wild Card game: he penciled all seven into his lineup on Wednesday against the Rays.

What happened next wasn’t what anyone in Oakland was expecting. One of the most prolific power hitting teams in the history of Major League baseball whiffed. The A’s hit 257 home runs this season, 315 doubles or triples, and none of that carried over to the disappointing Wild Card loss, 5-1 to the Rays.

The A’s managed just eight singles across nine innings, and even those weren’t struck with much authority. Charlie Morton and three relievers shut the A’s down without allowing even as much as rallying moment.

The Rays? They smashed four home runs in the first five innings, including the first courtesy of Yandy Diaz on the game’s fifth pitch. In the season of the home run, the Rays got the directive. What happened to the A’s?

“We couldn’t string anything together tonight,” Melvin said. “They kind of beat us with our game. We’re normally a home run-hitting team,”

“Get into this Wild Card game and a lot of times it comes down to pitching and timely hitting.  They got us on the run early in the game, and we really couldn’t answer.”

Home runs don’t always decide baseball games, and they haven’t traditionally played a major factor in postseason games, but times are changing. The 2017 World Series between the Astros and Dodgers was supercharged, and this postseason could be similarly built. But if one club belts four, and the other swings and misses, that’s always been decisive, playoff game or not.

Playing at home normally provides an advantage as well. The Oakland crowd, better than 54,000, setting a new Wild Card attendance record, did their part. But the A’s couldn’t follow suit, another anomaly given their 52-29 record at the Coliseum this season.

Starting Sean Manaea seemed like a smart move as well. Tampa Bay didn’t hit left-handed pitching that well this season, ranking in the lower third in most categories. But it mattered little. Diaz, fresh off the disabled list, and seeing his first big league game action since July 22, made Rays manager Kevin Cash seem like a genius. The hard swinging Diaz homered opposite field in each of his first two at-bats.

Manaea lasted just two plus innings, but he wasn’t awful. The A’s ace struck out five, didn’t walk any, and allowed just four hits. But three of those four left the park.

“I just was trying to get good pitches to hit and luckily they went out,” Diaz said.

And one more home run related note: The A’s hit the fourth most home runs among AL clubs this season, but those 257 home runs ranks them eight best all-time as home run records fell like confetti in 2019.

And the Rays? The were a bit of an afterthought in terms of power hitting with 217 home runs, 15 fewer than the American League average this season. But the Rays were number one by allowing 181 homers, the fewest in all of baseball.

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: This one’s for all the marbles, Rays-A’s, expect a good pitching match

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yahoo.sports.com file photo: Oakland left handed pitcher Sean Manaea will start for the A’s in Wednesday’s AL wildcard game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

On Headline Sports podcast with London:

#1 The American League Wild Card game between Tampa Bay and Oakland is a one and done series. London tells us what’s on the line as the Rays’ Charlie Morton matches up against Oakland’s Sean Manaea.

#2 The A’s have had a key player throughout the regular season. Whether it’s Jurickson Profar, Sean Murphy, Ramon Laureano, Matt Olson or Matt Chapman, someone is always digging in at the plate.

#3 The Rays are a good road team they are 49-37, which is the second-best record in MLB. They can really make a game of it against the A’s tonight.

#4 It just seems like A’s manager Bob Melvin has been able to position and place hitters and pitchers in the right spots to get the best out of them and it’s paid off and it’s what’s in them the home field in these wild card games.

#5 It’s all on the line, it’s a one and done series. Does the one-game format of the wild card rob a team’s dream working 162 games to get here and then to be eliminated or is that the best part of the wild card format to keep teams on edge?

London Marq does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Countdown to the AL Wild Card Game

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1-Coliseum

By Charlie O. Mallonee

In just over 19 hours, Sean Manaea is going to throw the first pitch in the 2019 American League Wild Card game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics. In just over three hours (after all, it is an American League game) one team will be leaving for Houston and the other team will heading home to pack up their lockers.

Manaea gets the call

The A’s had to decide between using Mike Fiers and Sean Manaea as the starter on Wednesday night. Fiers has been “the ace” of the staff with 33 starts, a 15-4 record, a 3.90 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.19. In two starts versus the Rays, he gave up just three total runs.

Manaea was activated off the Injured List on September 1st and made five starts in the final month of the season. He posted a 4-0 record with a 1.21 ERA and a WHIP of 0.78. Manaea has always been the heir apparent to the number starter’s role for Oakland.

Jon Morosi was a guest today on the Damon, Ratto, and Kolsky Show. Morosi — who is a reporter for the MLB Network and Fox Sports — said he feels that using Manaea as the starter on Wednesday is the perfect choice between the two pitchers.

Morton is the man for Tampa

Charlie Morton will take the hill for the Rays. He posted a record of 16-6 with 3.05 ERA for the season. After the Rays made “the opener” famous last year, Morton — a classic starter — became their star this season. Morton will use his curveball 37-percent of the time in the game on Wednesday night.

The A’s love the Coliseum

The Athletics record at home this season was 52-29 (.642). You would have to think that the A’s will feel more confident playing on their home field.

The A’s and Rays this season

The two teams played seven games this season. The A’s won four games and the Rays won three. Oakland won 2-of-3 in Tampa Bay and the teams split a four-game series in Oakland.

The odds

The A’s are the favorites on the money line -125. The projected run total is 7.5.