Category: San Francisco Giants

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Will A’s be one and done again? Can they advance this time after wild card losses last two times?

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On Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Will it be a one and done performance or an advance to the ALDS second round for the Oakland A’s? You’ve seen it before when you went to New York last season the A’s were one and done.

#2 A’s pitcher Sean Manaea he’s 4-0, 1.21 ERA. He was out for most of the season and came back and pitched some shutout ball and was impressive. How does he match up against the Rays?

#3 What kind of sendoff was it last Sunday for the San Francisco Giants’ Bruce Bochy, Pablo Sandoval and Madison Bumgarner. People we won’t see in a Giants uniform again. Maybe Bum.

#4 The Oakland Raiders just got by the Indianapolis Colts, but the win was crucial. The Raiders already have had a couple of tough games, one at home against the Kansas City Chiefs and another on the road to start this six-game out of town schedule with a loss to Minnesota, but they got a big win against the Colts Sunday.

#5 The San Jose Sharks open up their regular season against the Vegas Golden Knights Wednesday night. The Sharks will have their top featured player Erik Karlsson, who signed on for over $90 million for eight years.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s on KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Why Omar Vizquel would be a great pick for Giants managerial job

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By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO — Omar Vizquel was one of the best ever defensive shortstops in major league baseball history,winning 11 Gold Gloves(second most in history to Ozzie Smith’s 13) during a 24-year career with Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco 2005-2008,Texas, Chicago White Sox and Toronto.

Vizquel ended with a solid .272 batting average in 2,968 games with 2,877 hits. From 2014 to 2017, he was the Detroit Tigers first-base infield and base-running coach. Vizquel was the Captain of the Venezuelan World Baseball Classic Team in 2016 and a member of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame. He is 52 years old and bilingual in English and Spanish. He is a very smart baseball man who told me in the past his post-retirement goal was to manage in the major leagues.

The Giants will pick somebody to succeed Bruce Bochy, a future Hall of Fame manager that brought three World Series to San Francisco, a franchise that won their first World Series in 2010, the first for the club in 52 years since moving from New York. One of only 10 managers that have won three World Series, a sure thing for Cooperstown.

Vizquel received 182 votes in the 2019 ballot for the Hall of Fame, falling short of the 75% required for election, as he got 42.8 percent. His chances are good for membership in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown in the next few years.

Vizquel is a good teacher and excellent communicator in two languages (Spanish, the second language in baseball), and there is little doubt in my mind that he will get a chance to manager in the major leagues. Maybe the Giants would give him the opportunity, among the many candidates that they will interview, if not, he will manage someplace, sooner than later. He was at the Bruce Bochy reunion this Sunday at Oracle Park. He loves the Bay Area and would be thrilled to be back here. He could be competing with another ex-player and also bilingual baseball man in Raúl Ibañez.

Amaury Pi-González is a pioneer in establishing baseball radio broadcast in Spanish in the Bay Area with the Oakland A’s since the the 1970’s and a longtime contributor to Sports Radio Service.

Dodgers spoil Bochy’s going away party with a 9-0 shutout win

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Photo credit: @Dodgers

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — On what was the last game of Bruce Bochys 25-year managerial career, it was not much of a game.

The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped a five spot in the first inning on their way to a 9-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout of 41,909 at Oracle Park.

Dereck Rodriguez got the first out of the inning, but then the wheels fell off the wagon and Rodriguez, who gave up those five runs.

Max Muncy got the rally started, as he walked then A.J. Pollock and Cody Bellinger each singled and then Corey Seager cleared the bases with a double down the right field line. Will Smith then unloaded his 15th home run of the season and the game was pretty much over by then.

Rodriguez lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits, walking two and striking out two before giving way to Sam Selman.

The Giants as an offense could only three hits during the entire game, as Buster Posey singled in the bottom of the first inning and the Giants did not get a hit until Jaylin Davis singled in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mike Yastrzemski got the Giants last hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out.

On this day, the longtime rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers was put aside, as Madison Bumgarner came out to pinch hit for Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the fifth inning and longtime rival Clayton Kershaw was on the mound in relief for the Dodgers.

In what could be his last at-bat as a Giant, Bumgarner was given a standing ovation by the sellout crowd.

Crawford told Bumgarner to hit a homer for him, but unfortunately there was no joy in San Francisco, as Bumgarner lined out to Jedd Gyorko for the final out.

After the line out to Gyorko, Bumgarner stood at the plate and admired the crowd one last time during the 2019 season.

In an act of total sportsmanship and respect, Kershaw then tipped his cap towards Bochy, who reciprocated in doing the same towards Kershaw.

He is a class act, said Posey about Kershaw.

Gavin Lux drove in the Dodgers sixth run of the game in the top of the seventh, as he walked with the bases loaded to score Matt Beaty.

The Dodgers added three runs in the top of the eighth inning to put the final touches on their team record 106th victory of the season.

UP NEXT: There will be a new manager in 2020 for the Giants when the team begins Spring Training in February.

Ryu helps out own cause in Dodgers’ 2-0 win

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Photo credit: ktla.com

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Hyun-Jin Ryu helped out his own cause with just one swing of the bat when it was needed the most.

Ryu hit a single by Evan Longoria to score Gavin Lux form third base in the top of the fifth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the San Francisco Giants 2-0 before a crowd of 37,518 at Oracle Park.

Max Muncy extended the Dodgers lead up to 2-0, as he deposited a Logan Webb pitch onto the arcade over the right-center field wall in the top of the sixth inning.

It was the 35th home run of the season for Muncy, tying his career-high that was set just last season.

This was the 16th time this season that the Giants have been shutout and the seventh time at home. It is the most that the Giants have been shutout in a season snice they were also shutout 16 times during their first World Championship season of 2010.

On the other hand, the Dodgers picked up their 17th shutout of the season and fourth versus the Giants.

The 105 win by the Dodgers tied the 1953 Dodgers for the most wins in team history. That season, the Dodgers made it to the World Series, but lost to the New York Yankees in ix games, as the Yankees won their fifth straight World Series.

Ryu, who is getting ready for the playoffs, went seven innings, allowing zero runs on five hits, walking no one and striking out seven on his way to his 14th win of the season for the National League Western Division Champion Dodgers.

Webb was the unfortunate hard luck losing pitcher in his last start of the season, as he went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six and his finished the season with a 2-3 record.

The rookie got his first major league hit in the bottom of the fifth inning, but was nearly thrown out at first base by Joc Pederson for what would have been the third out of the inning.

Over his last two starts to end the season, Webb posted an earned run average of 2.25, as he allowed just three earned runs in 12 innings of work. Webb also struck out 12 times in those two starts.

Tyler Rogers struck out the side in the top of the ninth inning, as his earned run average since he made his debut on August 27 is the fifth lowest amongst National League relievers.

NOTES: Mike Yastrzemski saw his 18-game on-base streak end, as he went 0-for-1 after he flew out in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Bruce Bochy managed his 4,031st game of his career, passing Sparky Anderson for seventh-most in major league history.

UP NEXT: Dereck Rodriguez takes the mound in the season finale on Sunday afternoon for the Giants, while Rich Hill will close out the regular season for the Dodgers, who will open up defense of their back-to-back National League Championships on Thursday at Dodger Stadium versus the winner of the Wild Card game.

Giants fall victim to Dodgers in 9-2 loss

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Photo credit: sfchronicle.com

By Lewis Rubman

Los Angeles: 9 | 9 | 2

San Francisco: 2 | 8 | 0

SAN FRANCISCO — The first order of business for the Giants this evening was the presentation of the Willie Mac Award to Kevin Pillar as the Giants player who best exemplifies the inspiration, character, and leadership that characterized Willie McCovey. It was the first time since his death that the award that honors his legacy had been bestowed. It’s not a stretch to say that his absence added a large dose of poignancy to the ceremony.

This was the third time that the Dodgers sent Walker Buehler (13-4, 3.25 ERA) to the mound against the Giants this season. He was the winner of a 10-3 thrashing of San Francisco at Oracle Park on April 30, giving up all of the Giants’ runs in his five and a third innings of work. He returned to McCovey Cove on June 9 to shut the Giants down without a run over seven innings on the way to a 1-0 white wash of the home team.

Johnny Cueto, the Giants’ starter, was facing the Dodgers for the first time this season, but it was the 21st time he pitched against them over his 13-year major league career. In his three starts since coming off the injured list on September 10, he had gone 1-1, 2.57 ERA. He looked good but hadn’t gone over four innings in any of those starts. He didn’t make it past two tonight.

If Cueto sparkled in his 1-2-3 first, he lost all of his luster in the second. Cody Bellinger and Corey Seger hit back to back homers to right center to open the frame. The Dodger bats paused for a moment while Will Smith walked, but he broke into a full-fledged run scoring on Gavin Lux’s triple off the right field fence. Cueto fanned Kike Hernández and Buehler, but Joc Pederson socked another dinger into the upper rows of the right center field seats for Los Angeles’s fourth and fifth tallies of the inning. You needn’t bother to look for Cueto’s line for the night; this paragraph tells you all you need to know about his performance.

The Giants got one run back in the bottom of the second. Pillar walked and advanced to third on Alex Dickerson’s single to center. Crawford’s sac fly to left drove him in, and when Dubón singled to right, it looked like the Giants might make a serious comeback. But Chris Shaw, batting for Cueto, and then Mike Yaztremski struck out.

Wandy Peralta took over for Cueto to start the third. With a little help from a pitcher’s best friend he held the visitors to one infield hit in that frame. He would pitch a 1-2-3 fourth before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of that inning.

Meanwhile, the Giants had drawn closer in the bottom of the third. Another sacrifice fly, Pillar’s shot to right, enabled Brandon Belt, who had walked and reached third on Vogt’s double to right, to score the Giants’ second run, getting home before catcher Will Smith could tag him out. Pederson’s throw was right on the money, but a mite too slow in arriving.

Peralta held Los Angeles through fourth, giving way to a pinch-hitter in the bottom half of that inning and being followed on the rubber by Sam Selman, another southpaw.

Buehler pitcched in and out of trouble until the Giants’ sixth, when he was relieved by Dylan Floro, who got Dubón out on a fly to right before yielding to Caleb Ferguson. Ferguson struck out the pinch hitting Cristhian Adames before surrendering a two out double to left to Yaztremski. He went to three and two on Belt before walking him. That was it for Ferguson, and it was up to Yimi García to face Evan Longoria, who represented the tying run. He got the Giants’ third baseman to ground to Muncy at first but then dropped the throw that would have ended the inning. Now Garcia had to face Stephen Vogt with the bases loaded. Vogt flew out to right.

Buehler’s line was two runs, both earned, on five hits and four walks. He struck out eight in his five innings of work, in which he threw 104 pitches, 67 of them strikes.

Kyle Barraclough, San Francisco’s newest entry in tonight’s mound sweepstakes, struck out Hernández and walked Edwin Ríos, batting for García. In came Andrew Suárez to pitcher for San Francisco. In came David Freese to bat for Pederson. He hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but the Giants still trailed 5-2.

Casey Sadler was the next in the long line of Dodger relievers. He, too, dodged a bullet when Lux made a leaping catch of a liner hit into the shift by Jaylin Davis, pinch hitting (naturally) with two outs and two on in the seventh.

The Giants’ bullpen had held Los Angeles scoreless for five innings when, with Shaun Anderson on the mound, a double by Chris Taylor, a conceded walk to Bellinger, and a fielder’s choice on a grounder by Seager into the shift to Crawford, whose behind the back flip to Dubón went astray loaded the bases with one out. Will Smith’s single to left center then drove in Taylor and Bellinger, to up the Angelinos’ advantage to 7-2. Hernández drove in Seager and Smith. It was now 9-2 and all over but the shouting.

The Giants made a quixotic attempt to make a game of it in the eighth, loading the bases with two out, but Tony Gonsolin got Dickerson to fly out to center.

The Giants used seven pitchers in their vain attempt to stifle the Dodgers’ offense. Los Angeles also used seven but to much better effect.

Buehler got the win; Cueto, the loss. There was no save. The Giants left 17 men on base.

It will be Hyun-Jin Ryu against Logan Webb tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. and Rich Hill facing Madison Bumgarner at 12:05 p.m. to finish the season on Sunday. After that game, there will be a major celebration to honor Bruce Bochy on his retirement.

New Gen Giants load up on the Rockies, win 8-3 in series finale

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Anyway you dissect it, this is a week of permanent transition for the Giants with the retirement of manager Bruce Bochy looming on Sunday.

But that’s not all the change. The Giants offered an interesting lineup on Thursday for the finale of the series with the Rockies without Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Buster Posey or Pablo Sandoval and Joe Panik for that matter.⁹⁷

With the exception of Evan Longoria, Bochy went with the new and the young to tangle with Colorado’s Kyle Freeland and the five relievers that followed him. And that group acquitted themselves quite well, racking up 12 hits (at least one hit against each of the six pitchers they saw) and eight runs in a 8-3 win that was a close game into the eighth inning.

Mike Yasztremski homered in the fourth–his 21st–and Mauricio Dubon in the seventh to support Tyler Beede and a host of relievers. Beede was dominant into the fourth inning where he left abruptly with an oblique injury while facing Ryan McMahon, the first batter of the inning.

At that point, Beede had struck out seven, while allowing no hits or walks. Afterwards, Bochy tried to make light of what was shaping up to be the best start of the rookie righthander’s season.

“I was kidding him, it probably wasn’t good timing, ‘But you know you’ve got a no-hitter going here, you want me to take you out?'” Bochy recounted.

Butch Smith followed Beede out of the bullpen and got through the fourth, but allowed the Rockies a game-tying run in the fifth.

Davis Goes Deep, Extras Go Away: Giants get it done in nine this time, beat Rockies 2-1

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants haven’t been winners at home. The Rockies have struggled on the road. And rookie Jaylin Davis hasn’t exactly tore it up since he received his well-deserved major league promotion.

Something had to give.

It turned out that something was the centerfield fence where Davis’ shot flew past on its way to deciding Wednesday’s Rockies-Giants game for the home team, 2-1. The Giants got an important 34th win at home, making it much less likely that they will finish the season with the worst home mark in franchise history.

And Davis became the third major leaguer this season to homer for the first time in a career in a walk-off situation. To say Davis was warmly greeted by his teammates at home plate would be an overstatement. The greeting too heavily leaned on ice cold Gatorade for that. But it was warm in the sense that no one wanted to go extra innings after Tuesday’s 16-inning marathon. Davis took care of that with one swing.

“It couldn’t come at a better time his first home run,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Davis. “I’m sure the team was gassed after last night, and here we’re looking at extra innings and going through the pitching again. So great timing.”

The Giants and Rockies have spent the last two nights reminding themselves and the fans of their struggles one last time before the season concludes. On Tuesday, they played 16 innings with just one hit with runners in scoring position between the two clubs. Wednesday wasn’t much better as the two clubs went 1 for 19 with runners in scoring position.

Both starting pitchers impressed, but both would admit they’ve done things in a smoother fashion. Colorado starter Tim Melville allowed four hits and a walk, but he couldn’t locate the strike zone, elevating his pitch count with 29 balls among his 75 pitches.

Jeff Samardzija had a bounce back season, but Wednesday he had issues locating the strike zone as well. And after six innings and 111 pitches, the veteran right-hander was lifted, one inning prior to the Rockies wiping out Samardzija’s razor thin, 1-0 lead.

Two errors on the same play–Brandon Crawford’s throwing error, then Brandon Belt’s inability to corral the ball–allowed Josh Fuentes to race home from third base, tying the game in the seventh. That play also prevented Samardzija from going for a career-best tying 12th win.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants will be looking at prospects for the future and who they may deal in the offseason

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On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 The Giants conclude their regular season at home with the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers. What are some of the things that manager Bruce Bochy will be looking for to close out the season?

#2 It will be someone else’s team next season. Will the feel and direction of the club be completely different?

#3 From what you’ve heard, do you see a new manager coming within the organization or a total new face from the  outside who will want to build from the bottom up?

#4 Just reminiscing about some of the Giants from this season, Pablo Sandoval talk about what he meant to the club.

#5 Madison Bumgarner pitched to a 9-9 record and a respectable ERA at 3.86. Do you see him coming back or choosing to go to another club?

Michael Duca has done the SF Giants podcasts each week during the 2019 season and will join us for Cal Bears basketball at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Harper, Phils call it a season, eliminated at Nats Park; Giants finish up their regular season; plus more

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On Headline Sports with London:

#1 How ironic is it that last meeting between Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies in Washington against the Nationals turned out to be a loss that mathematically eliminated the Phillies in Washington DC? The Nats fans found that to be poetic justice.

#2 The San Francisco Giants end their 2019 homestand and regular season this week as they opened a three-game series with Colorado. The Giants have some young prospects and veteran players who are looking to come back next season so everyone will play hard to the final game on Sunday.

#3 The Giants’ Bruce Bochy set to retire, Pablo Sandoval out with an injury for the rest of the season and Madison Bumgarner may not be back all have been a direct force in the Giants’ more successful days.

#4 The Oakland A’s are holding a 1/2 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL wild card race. The A’s are finishing up their regular season on the road against the Angels and Mariners. Can they pull it off?

#5 The San Jose Earthquakes, who won two out of their last seven games, faceoff against Philadelphia on Wednesday night, and on Friday, they host the Seattle Sounders. This is their best chance to put together a couple wins at home.

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

Blackmon, Rockies win it in the 16th with a three-run home run 8-5

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photo from sfgate.com: Colorado Rockies’ Jeff Hoffman leaves a baseball game on a cart with a leg injury after being hit by a ball batted by San Francisco Giants’ Alex Dickerson during the fourth inning Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019, in San Francisco.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Charlie Blackmon ended this long game with one swing of the bat.

Blackmon hit a three-run home run in the top of the 16th inning, helping the Colorado Rockies to an 8-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 27,870 at Oracle Park.

The Blackmon home run was the latest by a Rockies player since Nolan Arenado hit a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the top of the 16th inning at Dodger Stadium on September 15, 2015.

Dereck Rodriguez was able to get Trevor Story to strikeout for the first out of the inning, but then Garrett Hampson and Arenado each singled prior to the Blackmon three-run home run.

Longoria tied up the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he took a Carlos Estevez pitch and hit it into the netting over the center field wall.

It was the 20th home run of the season, and his first 20 home run as a member of the Giants and first since the 2017 season, when he 20 in his last season with the Tampa Bay Rays.

While with the Rays, Longoria hit 20 or more home runs nine times out of his 10 years there. Longoria hit a career-high 33 home runs in 2009.

Garrett Hampson gave the Rockies a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighth inning, as he took a Jandel Gustave over the wall. It was the second home run of the game for Hampson, who also hit a solo home run off of Giants starter Madison Bumgarner in the top of the first inning.

It was the first multi-home run game of Hampsons big league career.

Buster Posey gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the first inning as he hit just his seventh home run of the season and first at Oracle Park. Mike Yastrzemski walked to lead off to the inning for the Giants.

Bumgarner helped out his own cause in the bottom of the third inning, as he hit his second home run of the season.

This was the first time since June 2, 2016 that Bumgarner and Posey each hit home runs in the same game. It was the third time that the two have hit home runs in the same game.

Ian Desmond tied up the game in the top of the fourth inning, as he smashed a Bumgarner offering and put into the netting over The Garden in right-center field.

There was a scary moment in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Alex Dickerson smashed a line drive up the middle off of Rockies starter Jeff Hoffmans leg.

Hoffman, who attempted to walk around eventually fell to the ground, where both the training staff and manager Bud Black came out to check on the right-hander, who was eventually carted off the field.

The right-hander left the game with a right knee contusion.

The right-hander went 3.1 innings, allowing three run on three hits, walking three and striking out three.

Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking two and striking out nine.

The Rockies retook the lead in the top of the fifth inning, as Trevor Story his 34th home run of the season.

Story has homered in a record six consecutive games vs. the Giants, setting the mark with a solo shot in the fifth inning. He surpassed Mike Schmidt (1979) and Rogers Hornsby (1922), who both homered in five straight vs. the Giants.

Evan Longoria tied up the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, as his sacrifice fly scored Posey from third base.

Posey singled with one out and then advanced to third on a Brandon Belt, and then scored on the Longoria sacrifice fly, as the throw by Desmond was cut off by Nolan Arenado at third base.

NOTES: Yastrzemski is only the fifth rookie in Giants history to have a 20 home run, 20 double season and the first since Orlando Cepeda in 1958.

He joins Bobby Thomson (26 2B, 29 HR) in 1947, Willie Mays (22 2B, 20 HR) in 1951, Bill White (23 2B, 22 HR) in 1956, Cepeda and Yastrzemski.

The two teams combined to use a major-league record 25 players, breaking the record of 24 set by the Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 16, 2015, also a 16-inning game.

Both teams combined for eight home runs to break an Oracle Park record. There were four games of seven home runs, September 5, 2000 versus Philadelphia, June 18, 2004 versus Boston, June 15, 2009 versus Los Angeles (AL) and August 24, 2010 versus Cincinnati.

As a team, the Giants used a team record 29 players, breaking their record of 25 that set on September 17, 2019 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija will make his final start of the 2019 season for the Giants, while Tim Melville will take the ball for the Rockies one last time in 2019.