Category: MLB

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Could the A’s Win Their Fifth World Series?

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By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

This Saturday, the Oakland Athletics will conclude their crucial nine-game homestand hosting the San Francisco Giants for the last two games this year against their Bay Area rivals. The A’s won three of four against the Astros and swept the Yankees in three games. Those are the best two teams in the American League this season. So, with the thought in mind, could the A’s shock the baseball world and win the World Series?

Beginning tomorrow against the Giants, the A’s have 35 games left this season — 15 at home and 20 on the road.

Included in those 15 at the Coliseum, they still have to play a game suspended in May while at Comerica Park in Detroit, which began at the bottom of the seventh inning with the A’s ahead 5-3. It will be resumed when the Tigers visits Oakland on September 6, prior to that night’s scheduled game at 7:07 p.m.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The A’s have to play these teams during the remaining of their schedule:

The Good
Yankees and Astros

The Bad
Giants, Angels and Rangers

The Ugly
Tigers, Royals and Mariners

The beauty of this game is that at any given moment a last place team at anytime at the end of the season can beat a good team like the A’s. Some of these teams with no chance are like the house party with one guy you invited that spoils the whole thing. Therefore, do not trash Detroit, Kansas City or Seattle, but keep in mind those three teams combined are on their way to losing more than 250 games.

The wild card situation looks good for the A’s, and as of now, Tampa Bay and Cleveland are the competitors. The A’s are a good bet to make it as a wild card, but after that, all bets are off. Last year, the A’s won 97 games and lost the whole season in 3.25 hours on October 3 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. There is a chance if they win the wild card game this October, they will have to play the Yanks again, but in the best of five divisional series. The way they have played the Yanks would not be bad, but there is one exception: Playoff baseball is a total different animal that regular season.

The A’s last World Series title was 30 years ago. That was one of the best A’s teams ever during a stretch of three consecutive trips to the October Classic. One of my favorite quotes about the World Series comes from Bay Area native Dennis Eckersley after the A’s defeated the Giants in 1989.

“But more important than personal awards is winning the World Series. That’s the max that anyone could ask for. Let alone to have the ball in your in your glove for the final out of the World Series. That was the ultimate.” — Dennis Eckersley

Giants have rare Friday night off

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By Jeremy Kahn

With the San Francisco Giants being off on a Friday night, it is a rare sight for the Orange and Black.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, this first time that the Giants have been scheduled for a Friday night since April 9, 2004.

Just one night prior to the last Friday off, the Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 4-3 in 10 innings in the first ever game at Petco Park and the manager for the Padres on that night is current Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

That season, Barry Bonds won his fourth consecutive National League Most Valuable Player and seventh overall.

Bonds won the Batting title that season, as he batted .362, hit 45 home runs and drove in 120 runs. He also walked a major- league record 232 times, including a record 120 times intentionally.

In the Giants home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 12, 2004, Bonds tied his godfather Willie Mays for third place on the all-time home run with 660. The next night, Bonds passed his godfather with home run 661.

Five months later, on September 17, 2004, Bonds became the third player ever to hit 700 home runs, as he hit off of Padres pitcher Jake Peavy in a 4-1 Giants victory at SBC Park.

Pedro Feliz and Marquis Grissom each hit 22 home runs, while Ray Durham hit 17, Michael Tucker hit 13, while J.T. Snow hit 12 and Edgardo Alfonzo and A.J. Pierzynski added 11, as the Giants ended up with a grand total of 183 home runs on the season.

Jason Schmidt led the pitching staff with 18 wins, and current bullpen coach Matt Herges led the team with 23 saves.

The Giants season came to an unfortunate end, when Steve Finley hit a dramatic grand slam off of Wayne Franklin in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers the National League Western Division Championship with a 7-3 victory at Dodger Stadium.

The loss stopped the Giants streak of making the postseason at two, as they made the postseason three times in the first four years after the opening of their sparkling new home, then known as SBC Park. That was the first year that the ballpark at 24 Willie Mays Plaza was known at SBC Park after being named Pacific Bell Park.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants get swept by Cubs, head to Oakland for two-game weekend series

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On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The Giants were swept in three games in Chicago two of them were loses by just one run. Do you view the Giants as a formidable opponent in their wild card chances seeing how they played against a competitive team like the Cubs? Dropping 14 of their last 17 games at Wrigley.

#2 Thursday’s game at Wrigley proved to be one for the books. Despite the loss, the Giants and Cubs played to a 1-0 final and former Cub starter Jeff Samardjiza went seven innings with two hits and one run.

#3 For Samardjiza, was this an advantage pitching in a park where he played part of career and that he was familiar with?

#4 The Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks got the call as the starter and didn’t disappoint going seven innings pitching a three hit shutout. He had good movement on his pitches on Thursday.

#5 The Giants have a rare Friday off before playing at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. Going for the Giants, Madison Bumgarner (8-8, 3.72 ERA), and for the A’s, Chris Bassitt (9-5, 3.61 ERA).

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

Shark is sharp, but Cubs sweep Giants with 1-0 win

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By Jeremy Harness

For the past couple of years, the jury has been out on Jeff Samardzija. However, on Thursday afternoon, it was the offense that let him down, less than 24 hour after scoring 11 runs.

Samardzija clearly pitched well enough to beat the Chicago Cubs and salvage a game from the three-game series, but the Giants could not bring a single run across, and that resulted in a hard-luck 1-0 loss at Wrigley Field.

As a result, they were swept right out of Chicago, in a series that would have gone a long way in continuing their push for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

The right-hander, who started his pro baseball career with the Cubs after starring in baseball as well as football for Notre Dame, went seven strong innings and gave up only a run on two hits, walking one and striking out four.

Meanwhile, the Giants had all kinds of trouble with Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks, who threw seven shutout innings at them, giving up only three hits – one of those coming off the bat of his pitching counterpart, Samardzija – and striking out seven and not walking anybody.

From there, the Giants managed only one hit off the Cubs’ relievers, as they flew away from Wrigley Field two games under .500. As expected, the National League as a whole has improved since the All-Star break, as the second wild-card spot holder, the St. Louis Cardinals, have a 68-58 mark at press time.

The Giants are now a full six games out of the wild card, and they clearly have a ton of work to do in this next month if they are going to have a chance to make a serious run at the postseason.

The Giants head to RingCentral Coliseum to take on the A’s for a two-game weekend series starting Saturday night at 6:07 p.m.

A’s beat Yankees 5-3, earn three-game sweep

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By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s beat the New York Yankees Thursday night 5-3 to sweep the three-game series. The A’s have now won seven of the last nine games. They took three out of four from the Astros and split the two-game series in San Francisco with the Giants.

A’s starter Tanner Roark won his eighth game of the year. Roark is now 2-1 with the A’s since coming here at the trade deadline. He went 6 1/3 innings allowing two runs and seven hits. Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka took the loss. Tanaka’s record drops to 9-7. His line was six innings pitched, eight hits, and five runs.

The A’s put three on the board in the bottom of the first. Marcus Semien led off with a double to right to start the rally. Tanaka walked Robbie Grossman and Matt Chapman to load the bases with no out. A’s first baseman Matt Olson reached on a fielder’s choice. Semien scored on the play, and Grossman advanced to third. Olson went to second on a wild pitch. Mark Canha singled to drive in Grossman and Olson to give the A’s a 3-0 lead.

Robbie Grossman led off the third with a triple to left field. He scored on Matt Chapman’s single. Chapman went to second on Matt Olson’s single. Canha reached on a fielder’s choice. Chapman went to third. Olson was out at second. Stephen Piscotty reached on a fielder’s choice. Chapman scored to give the A’s a 5-0 lead.

The Yankees scored their first run of the game in the fifth. With one out, Gleyber Torres doubled. He scored on Mike Tauchman’s single. Roark retired the next two hitters. The A’s lead 5-1 midway through the fifth.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Yankees’ second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a 400-foot home run over the wall in left center field. It was Torres’ 30th of the year. A’s manager Bob Melvin removed Roark from the game. Jake Diekman was the new A’s pitcher, and he retired both hitters he faced to end the inning. The A’s led 5-2 halfway through the seventh.

The Yankees got their third run of the game in the top of the ninth. Joakim Soria was in to close out the game for Oakland. He retired the first two hitters. The next hitter, Gleyber Torres, blasted his second home run of the night to make it 5-3. It was Torres’ 31st homer of the year. Soria struck out Mike Tauchman to end the game. The A’s swept the Yankees.

Game Notes: The A’s used four pitchers to subdue the Yankees. Jake Diekman, Lou Trivino, and Joakim Soria followed Roark to the mound Thursday night. In four starts with the A’s Roark has struck out 7+ hitters twice, He threw a wild pitch in the second inning. It was his first wild pitch in 129.0 innings. The last one occurred on July 3rd, 2018, against Boston.

The A’s won their fourth game of the year in which they did not hit a home run. Mark Canha led the A’s offense with two hits and two runs batted in.  Canha extended his hitting streak to seven games. He is hitting .354 (23-for-65) with two home runs, 12 RBI, and eight walks in 17 games in August.  He is hitting .429 (12-for-28) during his hitting streak and .458 (11-for-24) this homestand. Robbie Grossman also had two hits for Oakland.

The Yankees’ attack was led by Gleyber Torres. Torres had four hits. He had a single, double, and two home runs. The A’s held the other Yankee hitters under control.

The A’s improve to 74-53. They are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the first Wild Card. The Indians lost again to the New York Mets, and they trail both teams by 1/2 game.

Time of game was two hours and 51 minutes. 24,750 fans were on hand to watch the A’s complete the sweep.

Up Next: The A’s are off on Friday. They host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday and Sunday. Chris Bassitt (9-5, 3.61 ERA) will pitch for Oakland. The Giants will send Madison Bumgarner (8-8, 3.72 ERA) to the hill. Bumgarner beat the A’s last week in San Francisco.

Headline Sports podcast with Tony Renteria: Kings to open preseason in India Oct. 4th; Yanks-A’s series could be a maker-breaker for A’s in wild card; plus more

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On Headline Sports podcast with Tony Renteria:

#1 The Sacramento Kings will be opening up their first preseason game on October 4th and you will be joining your broadcast colleagues for Kings coverage Jeremiah Salmonson, London Marq, Morris Phillips and Jeremy Harness for complete coverage of Kings basketball.

#2 That October 4th game will be played in Mumbai, India. It will be the Kings’ first preseason game in India and has to be very special for Kings managing partner Vivek Ranadive.

#3 The Oakland A’s have played some very exciting ball. They took three out of four from the Houston Astros and took the first two games from the New York Yankees at the Oakland Coliseum. This has turned out to be a very interesting series.

#4 The Oakland Raiders have won two of their first two preseason games and head coach Jon Gruden said this team will deliver “you can bet on that” The Raiders play preseason week three in Winnipeg against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football.

#5 The talking head, the critics, and talk show hosts have said the 49ers offense is struggling and they showed signs of that against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football this week. 49ers starter Jimmy Garoppolo had three on completed passes out of six and zero yards. Was this a matter of Jimmy G just not prepared or just rusty coming off the knee injury?

Tony does Headline Sports each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s go for it tonight as there’s a chance to sweep Yanks at Coliseum

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On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:

#1 With the Oakland Raiders playing just one preseason game in the Oakland Coliseum surface, the outfield always gets scuffed up. How much of a role does that play in the A’s injuries?

#2 The A’s have three players that were out due to injuries that are back in the lineup: First baseman Matt Olson (hand), DH Khris Davis (oblique), right fielder Stephen Piscotty (knee), and center-fielder Ramon Laureano (shin). Laureano was not in the lineup on Wednesday night against the New York Yankees.

#3 The A’s starting pitcher from Wednesday night Mike Fiers has one of the best records in the American League and pitched against the Yankees. Tell us about how Fiers does it all season long.

#4 We’ve talked about Chad Pinder has just about done it all covering for open positions and has pulled it off. Talk about how valuable Pinder has been for Oakland.

#5 The starters for Thursday for the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka (9-6, 4.56 ERA) for the Oakland A’s Tanner Roark (7-8, 4.01 ERA) to conclude the series in Oakland.

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

Giants fall in wild shootout against Cubs, 12-11

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By Jeremy Harness

The Giants’ bats, which had been clearly identified as a problem for most of this year, was definitely not an issue Wednesday against the Cubs.

Their ability to get the Cubs out on a regular basis was.

As a result, despite a comeback in the late innings, the Giants fell to the Cubs, 12-11, at Wrigley Field, despite pounding out 13 hits, including four home runs.

The Giants trailed 6-2 after four innings, but they mounted a stellar comeback that saw them take the lead in the seventh inning, 11-10. However, reliever Reyes Moronta gave up a two-run homer to Kris Bryant, his 26th of the season, to put Chicago back on top in the bottom of the eighth.

From there, the Giants could not get anything going against Chicago closer Craig Kimbrel, who tossed a perfect ninth to nail down his 11th save of the year, after spending half of this 2019 campaign as an unclaimed free agent.

Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez had an outing to forget on Wednesday. After a stellar start in Arizona over the weekend, Rodriguez was shelled by the vaunted Cubs lineup, surrendering six runs on six hits over only four innings, including a pair of homers.

Yu Darvish, the Cubs’ starter, didn’t fare much better. He gave up seven runs and lasted only 5 1/3 innings, and four of his pitches left the ballpark.

Mike Yastrzemski continues to tear up major-league pitching. He has three hits on Wednesday, which included his 17th homer of the 2019 season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that cut Chicago’s lead to 6-4.

Stephen Vogt, Alex Dickerson and Evan Longoria each had a pair of hots for the Giants.

A’s win a thriller vs. Yankees 6-4

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By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s won a thriller Wednesday night as they beat the New York Yankees for the second night in a row by a score of 6-4.

The Yankees, with a lineup of power hitters, made a run late in the game. The A’s have power hitters, too and Khris Davis, Marcus Semien, and Stephen Piscotty all went deep. The A’s bullpen met the challenge as they did the job and recorded the win for the A’s.

Mike Fiers started for Oakland, Fiers went 5 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and two runs. He was credited with the win, and he is now 12-3 for the year. The Yankees left, J.A. Happ, took the loss and he is now 10-8.

The Yankees jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Yanks shortstop Didi Gregorius led off with a double. Fiers retired Gleyber Torres for the first out. Mike Tauchman, player center-field for the Yanks, singled to drive in Gregorius. Fiers retired the next two hitters to end the threat. The A’s, as they did Tuesday night, scored twice in their half of the second. Stephen Piscotty led off with a single. A’s DH Khris Davis, who has been mired in a horrible slump, hit his 18th of the year over the fence in right field to give the A’s a 2-1 advantage.

The A’s put two more on the board in the third. Josh Phegley walked to start the inning. A’s shortstop Marcus Semien blasted his 22nd home run of the year to put the A’s up 4-1 after three complete.

The A’s sent Happ to the showers in the fifth. Jurickson Profar led off with a double. Happ hit Phegley with a pitch to put two men on with no out. Happ walked Semien to load the bases. Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone decided to make a pitching change. He brought in righty Chad Green to pitch. Green got Matt Chapman and Matt Olson to foul out. Mark Canha reached on an infield single to drive in Profar with the fifth run of the game for Oakland. Green retired Chad Pinder on a ground out to short.

The Yankees added a run in the sixth. Fiers struck out the first hitter, Gary Sanchez. The next three hitters Gio Urshela, Didi Gregorius, and Gleyber Torres all singled to load the bases. A’s manager Bob Melvin went to his bullpen and brought in lefty Jake Diekman to face the left-handed hitter Mike Tauchman. Diekman got Tauchman to fly out to left. Urshela scored on the play. Melvin removed Diekman, and Yusmeiro Petit was brought in to face Cameron Maybin. Petit struck out Maybin for the final out. The A’s upped the lead to four in their half of the sixth. Stephen Piscotty led off with an opposite field solo homer that barely made it over the wall in right field. It was Piscotty’s 13 th big fly of the season. The A’s lead 6-2 after six.

Yankees DH Mike Ford led off the seventh with his 5th round-tripper of the year to make it 6-3. The Yanks plated another run to make it 6-4. With two out, Gary Sanchez singled. He went to third on Urshela’s single to right. Didi Gregorius doubled to drive in Sanchez. Blake Treinen was able to get Gleyber Torres to ground out for the final out.

The Yankees threatened in the top of the eighth. Bob Melvin brought in rookie A.J.Puk to make his major league debut. Puk, who can hit 100 miles per hour on the speed gun, walked Mike Tauchman to start the inning. Jurickson Profar made a sensational catch on a bloop hit off Cameron Maybin’s bat for the first out. Puk, facing lefty Mike Ford, gave up a single. Tauchman went to third when right fielder Chad Pinder misplayed the ball. Melvin brought in his closer Liam Hendriks to get the A’s out of the jam. Hendriks did his job as he struck out DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge to end the threat. Hendriks retired the Yankees in order in the ninth to preserve the win for Oakland. The A’s won 6-4.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 73-53. They remain tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the second Wild Card. They did, however, pick up a game on the Cleveland Indians in the race for the first Wild Card.  The Indians lost to the New York Mets for the second night in a row. The Rays and A’s are both just 1/2 game behind the Indians.

The A’s A.J. Puk made his Major League debut in the eighth inning. The fans gave him a tremendous ovation as he entered from the bullpen. Puk went 1/3 of an inning and gave up a walk and a hit.

A’s manager Bob Melvin hit a new milestone in his managerial career. With the win. Melvin recorded his 1200th win as a big league manager. Quite an achievement.

Liam Hendriks was credited with his 15th save of the year. Hendriks retired all five hitters he faced.

The A’s line score was six, runs, six hits and one error. The A’s left three on base.

The Yankees’ line was four runs, 11 hits and no errors. 10 men were stranded on base.

Time of game was three hours and two minutes. Most of the 22,017 people in the stands were A’s fans who went home happy. Meanwhile, the Yankee fans went home wondering what hit them.

Up Next: Game three of the series will be played Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s will have Tann Roark doing the pitching. Roark is 7-8 with an ERA of 4.01. He will be opposed by the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka is 9-6, and his ERA is 4.56. Game time will be at 6:07 pm.

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Jimmy G says don’t worry, he’ll get it together; Raiders head to Canada undefeated for Thursday Night Football; plus more

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On Headline Sports with London:

#1 San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said he was a bit rusty after recovering from last season’s knee surgery then saw no play until camp opened up in July, and in his first preseason game, struggled against the Denver Broncos going 1-6 and zero yards.

#2 The Oakland Raiders are coming off two wins in preseason and play this Thursday night in Winnipeg against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. According to head coach Jon Gruden, Raiders quarterbacks have been on schedule with accomplishing what needs to be done — Derek Carr, Mike Glennon and Nathan Peterman.

#3 The San Francisco Giants are on a current road trip in Wrigley Field in Chicago, which they opened up on Tuesday night. Wednesday night the Giants are starting Derek Rodriguez (5-6, 4.79 ERA), and for the Cubs, Yu Darvish (4-6, 4.21 ERA). The Giants are 3.5 games out of first for the wild card.

#4 The Oakland A’s are just one game out of first place for their wild card spot. The A’s host a very tough customer, the New York Yankees, at the Oakland Coliseum. Starting pitchers for Wednesday night: For the Yanks, JA Happ (10-7, 5.40 ERA), and for the A’s, Mike Fiers (11-3, 3.46 ERA).

#5 The San Jose Earthquakes playing their third road trip game tonight in Los Angeles at LAFC. The Quakes have not won in their last three games, which includes a tie. LAFC is in first in the MLS Western Conference at 18-4-3 and are expected to be a very tough customer against the Quakes tonight.

Join London for Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com