Category: San Francisco Giants

Giants homer four times, but lose to the Braves, 9-8 in 12 innings

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By Morris Phillips

6-0 lead in the sixth?  Squandered.  7-5 lead in the bottom of the ninth?  Disappeared with one swing of the bat.

And after the Giants broke through in the top of the 12th, their 8-7 lead disappeared at well.

In what would undoubtedly qualify as the toughest loss of the season, the Giants were defeated 9-8 by the Braves on Monday despite leading by six runs at one point and slugging four home runs in the process.

The Giants have lost two in a row for the first time in nearly a month, and now find themselves three games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

“It didn’t play out well, and it looked like it might even when they came back,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Brandon Crawford homered in each of his first two at-bats, the second of which put the Giants up 6-0 in the fourth, but the shortstop’s throwing error in the 12th inning, allowing the tying run to reach base, had a bigger impact on the outcome.  Three pitches after Jace Peterson reached on Crawford’s error, Adonis Garcia homered off Ryan Vogelsong to give the Braves the win.

“We just weren’t putting together the same at-bats we were earlier in the game,” Crawford said.  “Give credit to their bullpen, I guess.”

The game lasted nearly four hours in muggy, 90 degree heat and featured numerous swings in momentum.  Six double plays were turned by the two teams, and after the Giants hit their four homers, the Braves came back with four home runs of their own.

Matt Cain got the start and was in line for the win when he ran into trouble in the sixth.  The first four Braves’ batters reached in that inning, and Cain was lifted having allowed three runs and Garcia planted at second base.  George Kontos came on in relief, and before he could get out of Cain’s jam, the reliever allowed Nick Markakis to single in Garcia to make the score 6-4.

The Giants appeared to have the insurance run they needed in the ninth when Nori Aoki single home Ehire Adrianza to make it 7-5.  But with a chance to close the door, Santiago Casilla allowed three hits and a walk, including the game-tying, two-run homer to A.J. Pierzynski.

In the 12th, the Giants reclaimed the lead when Kelby Tomlinson singled and Buster Posey singled him home two batters later.  Tomlinson picked up his first major league hit on the day he was called up from AAA Sacramento to replace Joe Panik, who landed on the 15-day disabled list due to a lingering back issue.

In addition to Panik, Angel Pagan was a late scratch Monday with knee soreness.

On Tuesday, the Giants turn to arguably their hottest starting pitcher, Jake Peavy in a matchup with Shelby Miller.  Miller hasn’t won a game since May 19, losing his last six decisions.

Giants endure disappointing loss

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(AP Photo/John Amis)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The eighth home run of the game ended up being the game winner, as the Atlanta Braves came back from a 6-0 hole to outmatch San Francisco Monday, 9-8.

After what looked like could be a redeeming win from a newcomer and Georgia native, things broke down for the Giants a second time, in the bottom of the twelfth. Braves’ rookie Adonis Garcia responded after the Giants went ahead. The pitch to Garcia was a 3-1 pitch, with Jace Peterson on base due to an error by Brandon Crawford. Garcia’s walk off was his third home run in 11 games.

For the Braves, who had their second straight game with at least 11 hits, it was their first winning streak since July 6-7. Inversely, San Francisco had their first losing streak since July 6.

Both starting pitchers struggled, but it was the first time Giants pitcher Matt Cain had two poor outings since mid-late March.

San Francisco built their 6-0 lead on four home runs sprinkled through the second through fourth innings. Crawford had half of those home runs. Brandon Belt and Buster Posey accounted for the other half. It was Posey’s second home run in his second game against starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz.

Atlanta then started making their way back in the sixth inning, while the Giants went scoreless until the ninth. The Braves had four runs in the sixth, due to Peterson hitting a three-run home run and Nick Markakis singling in Garcia. It was Peterson’s second straight game with a home run, three hits and three RBIs.

Chris Johnson made it 6-5 in the seventh with a home run on an 0-2 count.

San Francisco got an insurance run in the top of the ninth, but it was not enough. A.J. Pierzynski, in the midst of a nine-game hitting streak, hit a two-out two-run home run in the bottom, to bring the game to extra innings. Pierzynski ended up 4 for 6 for the night.

The Giants had chances in the tenth and eleventh. Both innings they had a leadoff man on base, but also fell into double plays. In the eleventh, they got two men on due to walks, but the inning ended with Pierzynski nabbing Ehire Adrianza on a stolen base attempt.

Things started looking up for good for San Francisco in the twelfth. Kelby Tomlinson, who was called from Triple-A earlier in the day, had his first Major League hit.  Gregor Blanco was then hit by Detwiler. Vizcaino came in to get another out, but Georgia native Posey then gave Tomlinson his first Major League run as well, to make it 8-7.

Game notes: When scoring at least four runs, the Giants had won those last twelve games. San Francisco’s Joe Panik was placed on the 15-day DL before the game. Johnson replaced Freddie Freeman, who had to leave before the fifth inning. The Braves were without Andrelton Simmons again. The Giants continue the series Tuesday at 4:10pm.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Mad Bum done with all the bat flipping

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–After the bat flipping by the Texas Rangers Delino DeShields that lit Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner’s fire. For Bumgarner it was more disrespect of the game than it was showing the Mad Bum up. DeShields should have known better he’s a second generation player his father played many years in Los Angeles and Montreal for Jr. not to know better.

DeShields grounded out on a play on Friday night at the Ball Park in Arlington and flipped his bat in the air which tells the pitcher that he’s got nothing and DeShields is saying “I failed because I didn’t take you deeper and I didn’t hit that ball really hard.” Until you’ve actually done something in your career you really don’t have any room to show that kind of disgust and your failure to conquer the pitcher who is out on the mound.

Particularly when the pitcher on the mound has done things that people haven’t his own age has EVER done in baseball. Bumgarner has done enough to earn the respect of young players in the game. He will also tell you if you ask him it wasn’t even about him it was about the game itself. You have to respect the game in order to respect your choice of ways of making a living. Not to go out there and take action and make it seem like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.

The Dodgers Yesiel Puig bat flip from last season that set off Bumgarner was part of that long revered rivalry. They both approach the game in different ways Puig is Latin, Caribbean, happy go lucky, a very outgoing personality and shows his feelings and how he feels at all times. Bumgarner is an old school rural agrian Southern close to it to his chest. Don’t let it anybody know what your thinking, don’t show any change in emotion on the field. Their just completely opposites of playing styles and personalities their both supremely skilled and from a baseball standpoint their fun to watch.

The Giants and Rangers series was a tight competitive series: Sunday’s game if your old enough to remember the 1962 World Series holding the runner in a situation where he could have scored. Maybe in 1962 the Yankees Roger Maris certainly would have scored but we know for a certainty that the Giants Nori Akoi would have scored if he had been sent.

On the other hand you got Giants manager Bruce Bochy’s reasoning and you got to like Roberto Kelly’s reasoning on what they did. You had one run in, you had the bases loaded, you were in the middle of a rally. There was no reason that was going to stop you and your most clutch hitter at the plate in terms of being Hunter Pence with the bases loaded. The chance of Pence hitting a fly ball to sac a run in you would have bet your house on it.

Michael Duca does commentary each week on the San Francisco Giants podcast for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Others trade, but the Giants just continue to win, shutout the Brewers to cap 5-1 homestand

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Giant win

By Morris Phillips

The Dodgers got a deal done, and Cole Hamels is off the market.  So what did the Giants do?

They just kept on winning with the guys they got.

Fans inside sold-out AT&T Park had to sit patiently for more than two hours after first pitch, but then right on cue, the Giants responded with a five-run explosion for all the measurable offense in their 5-0 win over the Brewers.  Winners of 13 of 15, the Giants have caught the Dodgers in the NL West with 61 games remaining to play.

So is it deal or no deal for the defending World champs?

“We have a team that we’re proud of,” Giants GM Bobby Evans said when asked if the team would deal before the game.  “I think not making a deal is an option.  But if you can make a deal that make sense, you’ll do it.”

If they do deal, the Giants will likely splurge on a starting pitcher that would put them more in line with the Nationals and Dodgers in terms of rotation quality.  If so, they would appear to be down to Jeff Samardzija and David Price on the high end, San Diego’s James Shields and other lesser names could be possibilities as well.

Andrew Susac and highly-regarded, first round pick Tyler Beede could be among those players that would move to complete such a deal and therein lies the rub.  All of sudden the Giants are seeing big benefits from keeping their prospects like Matt Duffy, Chris Heston and Joe Panik were before they literally overnight became indispensable for the Giants at big-league level.

If standing pat feels like the smarter play, then Jake Peavy sure did look good on Wednesday.  The 34-year old veteran frustrated the Brewers for six inning in his best outing of the season.  Peavy’s only had seven starts but this was the best of the bunch with four hits and no walks allowed.  In the sixth, and facing Ryan Braun for the third time, Peavy had enough in the tank to strike out the slugger.

“He had really good stuff, he really kept it down.  He’s been throwing the ball really well since he came back,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Peavy.

Milwaukee’s Mike Fiers wasn’t bad either, thus the long wait for any offense on Wednesday.  Fiers allowed just two hits in the first six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Matt Duffy opened the seventh with a single, and the next batter, Hunter Pence doubled home Duffy and the Giants had a lead.  Brewers’ manager Craig Counsel then lifted Fiers, but reliever Will Smith let three of the four batters he faced reach, and the Giants extended the lead to 4-0.

Jonathon Broxton was the third Milwaukee pitcher of the inning, and he allowed a sacrifice fly to Gregor Blanco that chased home Ehire Adrianza to cap the scoring.

Hunter Strickland needed 11 pitches to record an out, and 20 to get the Giants out of the seventh, but he succeeded, which gave him the win, not Peavy.  Strickland hadn’t won a major league game since September 2014.

Sergio Romo pitched the eighth and Javier Lopez had a hitless ninth to close it out.  Pence was the only Giant to rack up a pair of hits, and Adrianza’s two-run single put the Giants up 4-0.

The Dodgers acquired Mat Latos and Michael Morse from the Marlins in exchange for a trio of minor leaguers, none of which are considered to be highly regarded.  Morse helped the Giants win the title last season only to sign with Miami in the winter.  The Dodger also picked up Jim Johnson, Alex Wood and Luis Avilan in exchange for Dodgers’ prospect Hector Olivera and two other minor leaguers.

The Rangers ponied up the preferred package for Hamels on Wednesday, sending six prospects to the Philadelphia in exchange for the 31-year former All-Star.  Hamels pitched a no-hitter over the weekend no doubt enhancing his trade value.  Were the Giants as willing as Texas was to add Hamels?

Probably not, but stay tuned until Friday afternoon.  This situation remain fluid.

The Dodgers rallied Wednesday night from a 6-3 deficit in the seventh to beat the A’s 10-7 at Dodgers Stadium.  The win allowed Los Angeles to regain their half-game lead over the Giants in NL West.

On Friday night, Madison Bumgarner gets the nod in the heat of Rangers Park in Arlington.  Bumgarner will opposed by Texas’ Nick Martinez.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca Mon Jul 24, 2015

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants coming off a five game win streak and a three game sweep of the A’s over the weekend are looking to get on a successful track for the second half of the season. They played some heroic baseball against some of the good teams in the first half and it’s good to see them do some of the things their suppose to do and handle the clubs that are struggling too.

The Giants got to beat on some of the teams that are in disarray too and the A’s qualify and they’ve been expecting it to be raining shoes in that clubhouse. The A’s losing Scott Kazmir to the Houston Astros and that might have thrown them for a loop just as much as last season where they saw some huge deals go down at the trade deadline including Yoenis Cespedes who was dealt to the Red Sox not mention A’s general manager Billy Beane is getting in trade mode as A’s pitcher Tyler Clippard was dealt to the New York Mets on Monday night.

There’s a good shot for the Giants to reside in first place as they are just a game behind the Dodgers for first in the National League West. For the capture of first place for San Francisco it’s going to take a few weeks. They’ve been gaining ground steadily for the last two weeks ever since they bottomed out at 43-43. This might be a case of making hay while the sunshines because the G Men have a pretty rough August coming up.

On the August schedule the Giants face a number of first or second place clubs or ones that are in the thick of competing for post season, Texas, Houston, Washington, St.Louis, Pittsburgh, and yes St.Louis again but at AT&T. They have to face a bunch of teams in the mid west, the east in the saturated heat facing pitching staffs that are kind of older than the usual pitching staffs.The Giants have to be a little concerned about that and the Giants want to get as many in the win column as long as your here in the month of July and playing in cooler weather in the Bay Area the Giants want to take advantage of that.

Tim Hudson could have made it a lot easier on himself by hitting that double with the bases loaded instead of waiting with the bases empty the next time up. That would have cracked that thing wide open and Hudson could have cruised for five or six innings and he could have felt a little better about himself and that game was real close at 4-3 and it was a scuffle for the last four to five innings. He’s pretty pleased to be the 16th pitcher to beat all 30 teams in his career and ironically the 30th team in Sunday’s win was his first team when he broke into the big leagues with the Oakland A’s.You would hate to be Tim Hudson and retire and being one team shy of Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse.

When Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow said everybody on the Giants can be traded before the deadline except for pitcher Madison Bumgarner and I was asked if that meant catcher Buster Posey could be trade bait and I said no and I meant it. The Giants would no more trade Buster Posey than they would lease this ball park out to the A’s.

Michael Duca does the SF Giants podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com take a listen below

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Angels pushing to the limit, plus more sports updates

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–Mike Trout went 4 for 4, hit a Grand Slam and drove in five runs(he also walked once, so he was on base five times) and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 13-7 and left town on their way to Houston in first place one game over the Astros. Another “day at the office”:for the best player in the game. I had a chance to speak with him right after the game and after Fox English did their postgame interview: Q: How do you feel today? Trout: “Great, I was happy to help the team, we are heading into August and this is what we need” Q: You have been hitting the ball more to right and right-center field recently, both of your home runs today went that way…” Trout: “Yes, well they are pitching me low and outside and I do not try to do much with those pitches, just try to put a good swing…and the ball left, I was sure about the first home runs but the second one with the bases loaded I wasn’t too sure, but I am glad it went over”. Q: the trip to Houston now, how important is it? Trout: “Well –like I said we are going now into the most difficult part of the season, our pitching has been terrific and we seem to get the hits when we need them, these guys are good” Q: This long homestand for you guys ended with seven wins and three loses, talk about that. Trout: It was good man, we put some good numbers on the board, we have to keep doing that…. this is going to be a great race”.
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Texas’ Josh Hamilton returned to Anaheim and it was brutal. Booed during the pregame lineup introductions, booed during each of every at bat, booed when he made a play in the outfield. Josh smiled every time and seemed to take it in stride. After all Josh Hamilton is no a bad guy, he is a guy with a lot of bad habits and that has spilled onto the field and hurt his career. He definitely is not the player he was when he won the 2010 American League MVP for the Texas Rangers. But he seems to be happy now back at home with the Rangers in Texas, prior to the first game of this three game weekend series at Angel Stadium and during practice on the field, he spoke with Angels first baseman Albert Pujols and other Angels, all is forgotten. It is baseball after all, and his life is more important. I hope the best is store in the future for Josh Hamilton, the short time he was here he was always courteous to the fans and the media and he seems to be a good teammate on the Angels squad.
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Will not mention his name here, he is not worthy of any recognition. The ESPN coleague who made those remarks about Dominican Players is not anymore working for ESPN, it never ceases to amaze me how some people are so ignorant and stupid when they open their mouth.
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Copperstown, July 26, 2015. For the first time in history three pitchers were in the 2015 class inducted to the cream of the crop of the game. Former Giant pitcher Randy Johnson, with over 300 victories and second in history in strikeouts, Cy Young, World Series, All Star a super pitcher from the Bay Area, Livermore and Walnut Creek. Former Brave Jon Smoltz a guy that was a unique type of pitcher, won as a starter and also was a closer, the great Dominican former Red Sox Pedro Martinez a guy not that big in stature, but with lots of guts. control and perseverance won over 200 games and became the second Dominican born(Juan Marichal 1983)inducted to the Hall.

And the versatile Craig Biggio, over 3,000 hits, and a brilliant 20 year career. Johnson went as a Diamondback, Smoltz as a Brave, Martinez as a Red Sox and Biggio as an Astro. Love the long speech by Pedro, half in Spanish. 83 players today are from the Dominican Republic among all 30 teams. Next from that country in a couple of years will be Vladimir Guerrero.I started a campaign in San Francisco in 1982 where I was the Sports Director for KIQI 1010AM radio, trying to get Juan into the Hall of Fame, he was not elected the first time, but yes the second time. I still have that Award of Merit given to me by the then Mayor of the City,the Honorable Dianne Feinstein, now a US Senator for the State of California. At Cooperstown yesterday,Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez posed for photos with the Dominican flag, one word I always have reserved for Juan is, class.
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John Edward “Jed” York and Steve Kerr.. Maybe the owner of the 49ers should concentrate on Football and leave the Warriors alone, different game, different owners, different cities. Why bother? Anyway, here are my two cents on what York said. Jim Tomsula the ex-defensive line coach of the Niners is now the new 49ers coach, he seems to agree with York a lot. Is that why he got the job? On the other hand: Jim Harbaugh was a proven winner, but he didn’t agree much with York’s regime and way of doing things. We all know what happened. It is not a change of culture — like Jed York says about comparing Tomsula to Steve Kerr coach of the Warriors—. It was a change that York just wanted to do, he owns this decision win or lose with the new coach, who according to York will bring a “change of culture”to the Niners.
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Finally: I heard a great quote this weekend, which I have not heard in a long time. “A man that loves his job is always on vacation”.

Hasta la Vista.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez will be behind the microphone for Spanish radio coverage of the A’s and Cleveland starting this Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca Tue Jul 21, 2015

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by Michael Duca

Quick Candlestick memories: I remember a game in 1960 which is the first major league game I ever attended and sat in lower reserve section 12 with my dad and watched Juan Marichal beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. Probably the most anticipated game that I ever went to was one whose radio call and it was “27 years of waiting has come to an end” by Giant broadcaster Hank Greenwald.

On a play that the Chicago Cubs Ryne Sandberg hit for a jelly leg on a curve ball grounder that Giants second baseman Robby Thomson fielded for the final out in the NLCS for the Giants first bid since moving to San Francisco to get into the World Series in 1989. The best moment that I will ever remember was former Giant pitcher Dave Dravecky making his comeback.

Can the Giants close the gap on the Dodgers in the second half of the campaign? Of course they can, that doesn’t mean they will but they certainly can. They’ve got enough games left with the Dodgers and that alone can close the gap. Every year it’s where the Giants end up in the post season somewhere around July late June we write them off.

Then Giants vice president of operations Brian Sabean would work his magic and sprinkle his powers on Harry Potter’s magic wand and away we go with somebody showing up with an array of former Giant saviors Kenny Lofton (2002 team), Cody Ross, Pat Burell, or whoever shows up and provides a spark and turns things around. Sometimes it’s Giants pitcher Javier Lopez.

The Giants who are coming off a six game winning streak before dropping a tough 4-2 loss in San Diego Monday night. They have to be a little bit concerned about pitcher Tim Hudson and he did not pitch particularly well on Monday night he struggled all night and to be honest with you the Giants need to be a little concerned about their ace Madison Bumgarner.

Bumgarner has not been as crisp as were used to seeing him and as dominant as were used to seeing him he’s required a lot of pitches to get through a lot of innings. That’s going to get costly as time goes by if your rotation horses not assuming seven innings every time out, then your going to the well a little too much in the bullpen and you may not have what you need.

Kemp goes deep, Hudson struggles in Giants’ 4-2 loss to the Padres

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Kemp victorious

By Morris Phillips

40-year old Tim Hudson had a lot on his plate Monday night.

In his return from the disabled list after nearly a month of rehab and inactivity, the veteran pitcher was asked to subdue the suddenly-hot Padres in their ballpark and do so with the limited number of bullets in his arm due to all the time off.

Throw in the difficulties the entire Giants team has had in the venue—losing 13 of their last 18 games at Petco Park—and the stingy reputation of Hudson’s pitching counterpart Ian Kennedy, the veteran pitcher knew he needed to be effective and efficient from the start.

But Hudson appeared shaky from the start, escaping any damage in the first inning but throwing 28 pitches in the process as his pitch command was an issue from the beginning.  Not surprisingly, Hudson didn’t last long—pitching four innings allowing three runs—in the Giants 4-2 loss.

The Dodgers also fell, 7-5 in Atlanta, so the Giants remain 3 ½ games behind the division leaders in the NL West, and one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the second wild-card spot the Giants captured last season.

The loss ended the Giants’ six-game win streak and increased the Padres’ streak to five straight wins, a season best run for them.  With San Diego and slugger Matt Kemp heating up, the Giants have to now gear up for the next two days against their closest pursuer in the still wide-open NL West.

Kemp homered over the center field fence off Hudson in the third inning to give the Padres a 2-1 lead in the third.  The Padres’ high-profile acquisition in the off-season struggled in May and June as his team faltered, prompting the firing of manager Bud Black.  But now, the slugger is heating up as Kemp has homered four times in the team’s last seven games, after going deep only six times in the team’s first 86 games.

“That’s probably one of my better swings of this year,” Kemp said.  “It’s a tough place to hit a home run, right center.”

Hudson loaded the bases in the fifth without retiring a batter, and manager Bruce Bochy opted for Yusmeiro Petit, who escaped the damage only allowing an RBI sacrifice fly that gave San Diego a 3-2 lead.

But with Kennedy dealing, and the Padres’ bullpen in support, the Giants were stymied the rest of the way with setup man Joaquin Benoit and closer Craig Kimbrell shutting the door in the eighth and ninth innings.

Gregor Blanco homered in the third inning to give the Giants their only lead.  It was Blanco’s third home run of the season.

On Monday, the Giants announced that Tim Lincecum has a degenerative hip issue that will continue to leave him unavailable to the club for the forseeable future.  Also, as Hudson was activated, long-time reliever Jean Machi was designated for assignment.

As much as Hudson remains a hero in San Francisco for his contributions to the team’s 2014 World Championship run, he still figures to be scrutinized as closely in the coming weeks as he has at any part of the career.  Having just turned 40 during his period of inactivity, the veteran knows that his 5-8 record and ERA near five won’t cut it for a team with post-season hopes.  The trade deadline will determine how much the team values Hudson going forward.

Bochy refused to speculate on Hudson’s fate after the game when asked by local reporters.

On Tuesday, the Giants turn to rookie Chris Heston in a matchup with the Padres’ Odrisamer Despaigne at 7:05pm.  Despaigne has pitched well against the Giants but has gone seven starts without a victory dating back to May 31.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Trade deadline approaching what Giants and A’s need

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Less than two weeks for the July 31 trade deadline, and there are a bunch of big name players that could be traded, like pitchers Cole Hamels(Phillies) and Johnny Cueto(Reds) those two of the most mentioned names available for the right deal. Philadelphia is where the teams can go shopping these next eleven days.

For the Oakland Athletics it looks like they will be sellers, and the two main names on tap are lefthanded pitcher Scott Kazmir and versatile player Ben Zobrist, those are the two proven players most marketable, that the A’s could send them packing for the right players in return, however nobody really knows what Billy Beane will do. In this same division the Los Angeles Angels will be looking for a left handed bat, outfielder, since the Matt Joyce acquisition during the off season from Tampa Bay did not bring the results they were expecting, that would be the main target for Mike Scioscia’s team who survived lots of turmoil during the first half, Josh Hamilton, now back with Texas and the departure of General Manager Jerry DiPoto. The Angels have also put their eyes on Jay Bruce and even Brandon Phillips, although Phillips could be very expensive.

The Texas Rangers are also looking at starting pitching and they could be in the hunt for a guy like Cole Hamels, the Seattle Mariners, who have played better lately, are stuck in a situation of winning now, and I do not expect them to make any big deals. The Houston Astros are very much in this picture for a playoff this season especially since they do have the very good young players than the other teams in this division (since they were not expecting to really compete this season) will they be willing to part ways with some of their young talent in return for a quick “fixer-upper” or are they going to stay with their original plan, that of winning in 2016.

For the San Francisco Giants another arm in the bullpen is not a bad thing at this time, and for them the race takes a different path, since it is looking more and more than in the NL western division only one team will advance(the one that wins the division)and aside from the Dodgers and the Giants the rest there are playing for 2016. But I believe the Dodgers are going to bring another starter to go with the best one-two of Kershaw and Greinke. The Dodgers are set with hitting, they lead the NL in home runs and their lineup, specially with the breakout year for Grandal is set up for the remainder of the season. Jonathan Papelbon is an interesting name that somebody will pick up as veteran bullpen help.

But there are always big surprises this time of the year, hold on, things could get very interesting. The A’s always keep trading, that is never a surprise, for the Giants to win again a World Series this year, that would be a surprise, after all they only win it every two years.

Happy trading!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the Spanish radio voice for Angels TV and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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George Devine Sr’s last podcast from Swiss Louis Restaurant March 6, 2014

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This was George Sr’s last podcast with Sportstalk before he had to leave to take care of his brother Peter after his accident. George Sr hosted the program with Stefani Rebekah Black, Matt Harrington, Jeremy Harness,Peter Qaqundah, Morris Phillips, Kahlil Najar, and Lee Leonard (producer).

George Sr was the host on this night. George thought fondly on Stefani for her hard work in her coverage of the Oakland Raiders and her passion of covering the team they worked together for years from their days from covering the Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum.

It was a great night with seafood and lots of favorites on the menu at Swiss Louis on Pier 39. It rained that night and George Sr took the F line back downtown in order to get back home. It’s one of the few recordings we have left of George Sr. please enjoy the podcast.

https://sportsradioservice2013.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/live-from-swiss-louis-restaurant-on-pier-39-in-san-francisco/