Category: San Francisco Giants

Giants no better in return to AT&T Park, shutout by the Mets, 3-0

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Casilla hit

By Morris Phillips

The rumblings have grown louder over the recent weeks.  And on Monday night with the game on the line, the evidence was there for everyone to see.

The Giants’ bullpen, so good in both of their most recent World titles, has slipped from its lofty status among the game’s best pens.  While the faces may be familiar and trusted, the relievers’ performances are not.

Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla both allowed a pair of hits in a three-run, ninth inning rally that carried the Mets past the Giants, 3-0.  The Giants long day that started with a cross-country flight ended with a seventh consecutive loss on the heels of a winless road trip.

In the Giants’ case, symmetry isn’t pretty.  The loss dropped the team back to .500 (42-42) with identical 21-21 records home and away.  After moving to a season-best 30-20 record on May 29, the Giants have slumped badly, losing 22 of 34.

“This offense right now, we’re sputtering,” manager Bruce Bochy admitted.  “We had five runs last series, and got shutout today.  That’s not going to work.”

Chris Heston no-hit the Mets on June 9 in New York, and he was almost as good Monday, pitching into the eighth inning, allowing no runs, three hits and navigating through traffic off his making on the base paths with four walks issued and an errant pick-off throw that allowed Curtis Granderson to take second base in the third inning.  In five starts since the no-no, Heston has thrown himself into the Rookie of the Year conversation, posting an ERA of 3.23 while throwing a quality start each time.

“He did all he could and a really, really great effort by him, had great stuff again,” Bochy said of Heston.  “They saw him not too long ago and he still pitched quite well against them.”

As good as Heston has been, his efforts since the no-hitter have only amounted to a 2-2 record.  Every major leaguer needs some pick-me-up from his teammates, and Heston’s guys were apparently too jet lagged to do their part on Monday. Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik were named All-Star reserves on Monday, and Bochy elected to give his double play guys a day off.  Angel Pagan’s been scuffling, but he landed in the five-hole on Monday, and Gregor Blanco, Ehire Adrianza, Joaquin Arias got spot starts.

In the end the bullpen let the club down.  Romo came on with runners at second and third in the eighth, and got Mets’ slugger Wilmer Flores to ground out to end the inning.  But the ninth was different story.  Romo allowed a single to Michael Cuddyer, then with Kurt Nieuwenhuis hitting .098 (6 for 61) and down 0-2, the reliever delivered three straight balls to take the count full where Nieuwenhuis doubled down the right field line.  Inexplicably, Cuddyer didn’t score on the play, which put the next pitcher, Casilla, in the pickle of assuming two baserunners with no one out.

Casilla threw a pair of strikes to his first batter, Johnny Monell, the Mets’ backup catcher who started his big league career with the Giants, playing in eight late-season games in 2013.  But like Romo, three consecutive balls brought the count full where Monell doubled in a pair of runs.  After pinch hitter Lucas Duda struck out, Juan Lagares singled home Monell, and the Giants’ closer who earlier this week allowed a three-run, ninth inning homer, taking a loss against the Marlins, was done.

Already, the Giants have seen Jeremy Affeldt’s struggles land him on the disabled list when he likely would have been demoted if healthy.  Now Romo and Casilla, the current set up man and closer, are showing signs of wear and tear.

Romo has allowed seven runs in his last 11 appearances, and Casilla was returning from a tired arm that took him out of the mix for the remainder of road trip after his meltdown in Miami.

Is the bullpen a concern?  As much as Bochy would admit publicly, it is.

On Tuesday, the home fans get to see Matt Cain in his second start after his return from injury and rehab, in a matchup with New York’s Bartolo Colon, who has nine wins.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Duffy has all the stuff of an MVP or Rookie of the Year yet it’s still early to say that

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants (42-36) who are in Miami for this week’s three game series with the Marlins (32-46), theoretically Ginancarlo Stanton who is out on the disabled list the team’s home run hitter is out with injury and it gives the Giants have a slight advantage in the series. Almost since he Marlins inception the Giants have matched up well against the Marlins. The Giants took a loss in the first game of their series on Tuesday night 5-3.

Casey McGehee who was designated for assignment just before Tuesday night’s game got his stroke back after the first designated assignment back on May 24th. He came back and sat on the bench and lost his timing after sitting for two weeks. That’s a recipe for hitting disaster for McGehee.

If you were to take Giants third baseman Matt Duffy’s season statistical line and lay it out directly next to ex Giant third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s season statistical line including errors you would find that Duffy was equal or slightly better than Panda in every single category and he makes a dollar for every 33 that Pablo makes.

Duffy and catcher Buster Posey were the entire offense against the Colorado Rockies in the series at AT&T last weekend to win two out of three. Buster is finishing the best RBI month of his career and Duffy is too, although Duffy’s career is a little shorter. Duffy’s count success is 12-15 hitting .377, 7-13 with seven runs over the weekend against Colorado.

Also Duffy has gone.424 on first pitches,.553 on 0-1 counts, .462 on 1-0 counts. If I was pitching him I would spot Duffy with a 2-0 count and start pitching from there because I would have a fighting chance then. Buster the same and I get the feeling Buster has taken Duffy aside already a couple times this year particularly after he’s moved up to the three hole and he kept pressing a little bit in more than what he needed to do.

Michael Duca does Giants commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Giants don’t figure to stand pat, or be too attached to established faces with the playoffs on the line

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By Morris Phillips

The flipside to the Giants regaining their health with the impending returns of Hunter Pence, Matt Cain and Jake Peavy is that the team is likely to part ways with two or more significant faces.

And from all appearances, those decisions won’t be popular or based on sentiment.

The rotation comes first and has the most moving parts.  But, solidifying the starting rotation could be the difference in whether the Giants miss the playoffs entirely, or overtake the Dodgers and win the NL West.

As it stands the Giants have seven candidates for five spots.  And given that Ryan Vogelsong’s performances out of the bullpen early in the season weren’t encouraging, none of the seven would appear to have much value as anything other than starters.

General manager Bobby Evans had discounted the possibility of a trade for another starter, saying the team needs to see what it has on hand first before venturing outside the organization for rotation depth. Given that, it appears that faltering Tim Lincecum—who’s headed to the disabled list—could be a non-factor for the remainder of the season not unlike Barry Zito was banished in 2010.

Could the Freak be traded?  Doubtful, given his prodigious contract and the fact that the contract extends to next season.

So that would leave six candidates for the five spots, and in that scenario, either Vogelsong or Peavy would be the likely odd men out, especially if Cain returns healthy regardless of whether he struggles or excels in the short run.

Could the 37-year old Vogelsong be released or traded?  With his affordable contract–$4 million for just this season–either would be a possibility.  The team wouldn’t flinch if it forfeited the remainder of the money or hesitate if Vogelsong could be attractive in a trade that would undoubtedly net the team another starter or an upgrade in the bullpen.

Vogelsong could be an option as the team’s long reliever if the plug is pulled on the incumbent at that position, Yusmeiro Petit.  Petit played a significant role in the 2014 postseason, but he hasn’t looked like the same guy this season in limited work. Once again, Vogelsong nor Petit have hefty contracts, so either guy could be expendable.  And maybe both if the five, veteran starters click, clearing a spot for Chris Heston to be the long man.

In the bullpen, Jean Machi could be let go, especially with the emergence of George Kontos.  In spring training, all signs pointed toward the Giants parting with either Machi or Kontos, since there didn’t appear to be spots for both.  Injuries sorted that one out at the beginning of the season, but at this stage of the season, only the real contributors are essential, and that could cost Machi.

Offensively, don’t expect the Giants to make many changes.  Andrew Susac, Joe Panik and Matt Duffy are establishing themselves as high-level major leaguers and the team will afford them every opportunity to explore the limits of their ability.  Also, Nori Aoki has proven himself as a leadoff man on a team that appears to no longer have Angel Pagan as a viable option in the role.

Given all the players entrenched in their roles in the Giants’ lineup, the only possible subtractions would be Travis Ishikawa, Casey McGehee (for a second time) or in a surprise, Justin Maxwell, who was a revelation in April and May, but far less in June.

And one other thing: if the Giants don’t find suitable candidates for their rotation spots then all bets are off, and several players could be traded to bring back a front line starter.

On Tuesday, the Giants begin a stretch of 12 consecutive games against four NL East opponents, starting with a trip to Miami to face the Marlins minus major league home run leader Giancarlo Stanton.  Vogelsong faces Mat Latos in the series opener at 4:05pm.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Jeremy Kahn: The rivalry brewing up again as Giants close in on the Dodgers one game lead

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by Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants in the month of June are just a game out of first place behind first place Los Angeles in the National League West. Heading for the first week of July if the Giants stay healthy they can make a run at the Dodgers. It’s a two team race it’s almost like the 50s when these two teams kept it up in the race for the best in the National League when they played in Brooklyn and Polo Grounds.

The Giants and the Dodgers look at these standings it’s the Giants and the Dodgers all over again. The fans at Dodgers Stadium are sick of the Giants winning championships every other year and their sick and tired of the Giants coming to Dodgers Stadium and beat LA and that’s what the Giants have done all season.

The Dodgers haven’t scored since April on the Giants at AT&T Park and they got shutout in all three games and then the Giants this past week went to LA and won two out of three and won the first two games the Giants nailed them by scores of 9-5 and 6-2. It’s a series like this that Giants fans love and the Dodgers fans despise.

The San Padres found out about the bats of Angel Pagan, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford this past series at ATz&T and if Posey can get a good pitch to hit there’s telling what he can do. He’s a Mike Trout or a Miguel Cabrera type hitter he could get it going and it’ll be off to the races with Buster. Tuesday night Madison Bumgarner pitcher brilliantly only to lose 3-2 in 11 innings in the one loss to the Pads in this series.

It’s like after Mad Bum threw for 14 strikeouts and lost you have to ask “what’s going on here?” It’s a question now what the Giants are going to do in their rotation when starting pitcher Jake Peavy gets back. Ryann Vogelsong pitched himself a ball game on Wednesday night for the win and now with Nori Aoki out with the fractured fibula the Giants will be counting on the line up to keep getting the base knocks to keep them in ball games.

It’s very tight in the outfield right now it’s so strange that the first two guys they brought in are now being depended on because of all the injuries that the Giants have right now. The Giants are looking to Travis Ishikawa and Brandon Crawford for some extra hits in the long run Ishikawa has some great experience.

Jeremy Kahn is a San Francisco Giants beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Giants need late burst to put the Padres away in 13-8 win

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Scoring runs

By Morris Phillips

In splitting their first 38 home games, the Giants have been all over the place in terms of their play: just as often brilliant as they’ve been just been bad.

On Wednesday afternoon, they squeezed the whole gamut into one ballgame.

The Giants cruised through the first seven innings, leading 9-2 behind starting pitcher Chris Heston and an impressive offensive display.  But the Padres mounted in a huge rally in the eighth to climb within 9-8, only to see the Giants rally back in the bottom of that inning to finish off a 13-8 win.

How up and down have the Giants been at home?  The matinee win against the Padres marked the first time the Giants have won back-to-back home games in almost a month, last accomplishing the trick on May 29 with consecutive wins against the Braves.

“Obviously we would have like not to make it interesting, but it was good to counter-punch,” Joe Panik said of the Giants’ topsy-turvy afternoon.

The Giants racked up a season-best 13 runs and 19 hits, but it wasn’t easy street until they added on the final six hits and four runs in the eighth, to answer the Padres’ big rally.  In a ballgame featuring 31 hits, the fans were treated to an offensive display by both teams that’s been rare along McCovey Cove this season for sure, but in previous seasons as well.

Even rarer were the Giants’ four triples, a feat the team hadn’t accomplished since 1960 when Willie Mays accounted for three of the four three-baggers all by himself.  This time, Brandon Belt had a pair of triples, and that had him all fired up describing the thrill of baseball’s rarest type of hit.

“When I can sniff a triple, I’m going to turn it on.  I will do whatever I have to do–use my giraffe strides—to get to third base,” Belt said.

Heston did his best to take advantage of all the offensive support.  The rookie pitched well again, throwing seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits, while walking one and striking out six. All indications are that Heston will retain his spot in the rotation when Matt Cain and Jake Peavy return from the disabled list, and he showed why again on Wednesday.

Heston won his eighth game against five defeats to maintain his stature as one of the most impressive rookies on any team this season.  Again, Heston showed great command of all four of his pitches and kept the Padres at bay.

But when Jeremy Affeldt relieved Heston, things got interesting.  Affeldt allowed two doubles and a Matt Kemp two-run homer before manager Bruce Bochy could make a change.  But Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo had issues as well, allowing a combined four hits before Romo got Clint Barmes to pop out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Giants bounced right back.  Mat Duffy and Belt came up with RBI singles and Buster Posey knocked in a couple of runs with a double.

James Shields got the start for San Diego, and he ended up no happier than he was in a pair of World Series matchups with Madison Bumgarner last fall.  The former Royals starter was lifted Wednesday after allowing seven runs and nine hits in only four innings of work.

The Giants look to move their home record above .500 on Friday night when Colorado comes to town.  Tim Hudson and the Rockies’ Chad Bettis are scheduled for the series opener at 7:15pm.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Exclusive interview with LA Angels Albert Pujols

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Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Angel Stadium, Anaheim.

During night games, usually around 4PM every afternoon here in Anaheim, when the Angels are playing at home, manager Mike Scioscia speaks to the media, and around that same time Albert Pujols and other Angels players also come out to the field for practice.

Albert Pujols is leading the American League with 23 Homeruns, and currently is #16 in the All-Time Homerun list with 543 Homeruns. This interview took place around 4:30PM, prior to the game on Wednesday night that took 13 innings and the Angels won 2-1 over the first place Houston Astros. The Angels won the 3-game series and now are 4.5 games behind the Astros.

Sat in the corner of the Angel dugout with Albert Pujols.

Q: What you have been doing these past two weeks is really remarkable, and especially during this month of June, you have been hitting Homeruns with great frequency.

Pujols: I do not think much of that, I just want to help this team win, that has been my mission which I have been focused since I signed with the team four years ago.

Q: I see you always hanging with shortstop Erick Aybar(also Dominican like you) and you are always talking with him. What do you guys talk about?

Pujols: Everything…but mostly baseball all the time, we are always talking about the game that day, what do we see in a particular, the pitcher we are facing, some other times we just talk about our approach at the plate, Erick is a great competitor and he always gives this team a great at bat.

Q: What is your best advice for a young hitter?

Albert: If he is lucky to make it to this level, he has to keep working all the time, stay in good shape(I have been hurt in the past here in Anaheim, but the trainers here do a sensational job)and I have been blessed to have the good people around me. But basically you need to play the game correctly and always have a good approach and work very hard to accomplish what you want for you and for your team.

Q; You have seen for the first time in this series the young Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, (born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, same town as Orlando Cepeda)the #1 pick of the draft, he has been here just for a couple of weeks, and he has impressed everybody. What can you tell me about him?

Pujols: He is already a very good player and at his age of 20 years, he looks like a guy that is going to be here for a long long time, I like the way he swings the bat and his approach at the plate, he is a great young talent.

Q: You have 543 Homeruns as of today, this season you have passed a bunch o great sluggers, guys like Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Mickey Mantle and others, and today you are just a handful of Homeruns behind Mike Schmidt for the 15th place on the All Time Homerun list. Can you talk about that?

Pujols: I really do not like to talk about that. When I am finished and I retired we can talk about that, but not now, I really do not follow that stuff, I try to play and approach every game the same way…I will talk about that when I am done playing.

Q: Tony LaRussa was here last homestand with the Arizona Diamondbacks, you once said you have a special place for Tony in your life. Can you expand on that?

Pujols: He has been my favorite manager, he was like a father to me in St Louis, I was very happy last year when he went into the Hall of Fame, everytime I see him we talk about the times there and also about our families and all that, Tony is a special person for me.

Q: Your young 14-year old son A.J sits with us in the Fox Sports Spanish TV booth here at Anaheim, and we see him before the games shagging balls in the outfield during batting practice. Do you want him to follow your steps?

Pujols: He knows that as long as he does well in school, he can come here, and sometimes he travels with me, but it all depends on his grades in school. If he wants to be a player, I would help him and always be there for him, but whatever he wants to do in life, I will support him.

Albert Pujols is the ultimate professional, usually if somebody wants to interview him, you would have to ask the media relations person for the team, and usually if you ask in advance you can get an interview. Here in Anaheim Mike Trout is the player(reigning MVP)that gets more demands for interviews, and we have talked before prior to our telecast in the past, but during the past few weeks, Albert Pujols, whose 23 Homeruns to lead the league, prior to the All Star Game is the most he ever had since the 2009 season in St Louis when he won that year the MVP.He is getting a lot of attention, even from reporters that are coming from out of the area. Pujols has done it all, MVP, Gold Gloves, hitting records, All Star games, World Series and he shall be someday after he retires(5 years after he retires)a unanimous choice for Cooperstown.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the Angels have the day off, and Friday they will host the first of a three game series against division rival Seattle Mariners.

This Angels homestand is the last one prior to the All Star Break, and the team will finish the first half of the season on a roadtrip to Texas, Colorado and Seattle.

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

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San Francisco Giants podcast with Jeremy Harness: Mad Bum misses a win in tough loss, Machi needs to make the diff, Akoi out with fracture

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by Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO–The loss by San Francisco Giant pitcher Madison Bumgarner in Tuesday’s 3-2 decision to the San Diego Padres in 11 innings was almost like his loss to the Seattle Mariners and pitcher King Felix Hernandez who threw a great game and only gave up no runs, struck out eight hitters, and walked only two against the Mariners.

The problem was Bumgarner gave up two runs, the difference was the Mariners scored the two runs off Mad Bum and the Giants couldn’t do anything off King Felix. There aren’t a lot of teams who get many runs off Hernandez anyways, every now and then Hernandez would have a blip or a bump in the road. Otherwise Bumgarner is as dominate as any pitcher there is in the big leagues.

Bumgarner on Tuesday threw and got 14 strikeouts but suffered that tough luck extra inning loss no doubt he had his stuff going. He threw a lot of pitches and he had a lot of his good stuff going. It’s always encouraging when you have that kind of arsenal. It’s kind of a funny thing with pitchers and the way you get outs is that you get strikeouts their flashy and they definitely look good on a stat sheet but what saves a pitcher’s bacon is getting a lot of ground outs.

The ground out is handy because it gets the fielders the ball and it gets your fielders involved in the game. In the movie Bull Durham Crash Davis said, “strikeouts are boring plus their fascist throw some more ground balls it’s a little more democratic.” Also with Giants right handed relief pitcher Jean Machi returning off the 15 day DL it’s also a relief for the Giants bullpen. The Giants not only for their left hand pitchers but the right hand core has to be relieved to have Machi back.

Machi needs to get things going coming back with a record of 1-0 ERS 5.47 he was great last year for the Giants in his current role. In the post season Machi completely went into the tank and they weren’t able to use him on a regular basis. He needs to do some things to get back on track and now is the time to do it if your Machi.

Nori Akoi who is on the 15 day DL with a fractured right fibula has had such an amazing season, hitting .317 two home runs, 33 runs, 83 hits, and 19 RBIs. He has better than average speed as scouts have reported and he puts the ball on the ground in a ball park that he calls home at AT&T. This ball park is not made for home runs. The only guy that the Giants had picked up that hit home runs on a regular basis at AT&T was former outfielder Barry Bonds and that’s pretty self explanatory.

Jeremy Harness is a San Francisco Giants beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Giants hold some distinct advantages over the Dodgers in the race for the NL West

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By Morris Phillips

After a Dodgers’ loss in Chicago against the Cubs Monday night, one game separates the Giants from their heated rival in the NL West.  But make no mistake, this divisional race is beginning to take shape.

The Dodgers continue to struggle, losing three of four, and 22 of their last 39 after beginning the season with wins in 22 of their first 32 games.   Staff ace Clayton Kershaw hasn’t been anywhere near the lights out performer he was last season, losing Monday to even his record at 5-5.  No. 2 guy Zack Greinke has been on top of his game, but doesn’t have the results to show for it.  Greinke hasn’t won since May 5, despite an ERA of 1.99 in the eight starts since.

So with starters Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy already on the shelf and expected to miss the rest of the season, the Dodgers are likely to hit the trade market in search of another starter or two.  Given their resources, the likelihood that the Dodgers come up with a Scott Kazmir, Chris Sale or Cole Hamels are high.  But that acquisition could cost the team someone like Andre Eithier and impact their ability to acquire another bat, which would qualify as their second priority for the trade deadline.

The Giants, of course, are interested observers.  The reigning World Champs have survived an eight-game losing streak and a more recent eight straight losses at home to pull virtually even with the division leaders.  The Giants offensive lineup has gotten a nice boost from their young infielders Joe Panik and Matt Duffy, not to mention Brandon Crawford, who is on pace to have his best offensive season to date.  The Giants could hit the trade market too, but the Giants figure to get a boost to their rotation from within with the imminent returns of Matt Cain and Jake Peavy.

The Giants would appear to be better situated in terms of schedule as well with 46 home games remaining compared to the Dodgers 41.  And while both teams have similar schedules in terms of opponents, the Dodgers have a 10-game roadie in July along with the 10-game trip they’re on currently.  Meanwhile, the Giants can look forward to a closing stretch in which they play 19 of their final 22 games without leaving the Bay Area (three games in Oakland September 25-27).

So do the Giants have the edge on the Dodgers in the race for the division title?  Yes, but only if they get hot and take advantage of downtrodden opponents with a heavy dose of NL East teams in July that represents the best opportunity to win games in bunches.

The Giants open a six-game homestand on Tuesday night with the Padres in town.  Madison Bumgarner faces the Padres’ Odrisamer Despaigne in the opener at 7:15pm.

San Francisco Giants commentary with Michael Duca: Darryl Hamilton was a father, friend, teammate, and co-worker

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Giant centerfielder Darryl Hamilton. (photo: Tom Gallagher 3/28/98 Review Sports)
Giant centerfielder Darryl Hamilton. (photo: Tom Gallagher 3/28/98 Review Sports)

by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–Former San Francisco Giant outfielder Darryl Hamilton 50 was shot and killed by his girlfriend Monica Jordan 44 on Monday in a murder suicide at their Pearland Texas home. Their 14 month old child was found in the home unhurt. According to authorities at the scene Hamilton was shot inside the front door area of the home. Questions to whether Hamilton was trying to get away from Jordan and escape through the front door is still not known.

“At this point there does not appear to be a struggle the incident took place inside the front door” said police Lieutenant Onesimo Lopez who spoke to reporters at the Hamilton home.

Hamilton was an MLB Network analyst he played 13 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and New York Mets. Hamilton was close to the his teammates when he with the Giants and he was admired for his hard work and what he brought to the clubhouse and the team by Giants manager Dusty Baker.

Hamilton finished his career with a .291 average, 1333 hits, 707 runs scored, 454 RBIs, Hamilton was relentlessly positive as a person and his getting killed and shot like this was a waste and it leaves several children without a father. It leaves one child without a mother and it proves like every other murder-suicide in history the shooter got the order wrong.If you want to do something like this do it yourself but leave the rest of us alone.

Hamilton was always smiling, always thoughtful, and most of what I knew of the personal side of Darryl he was involved in his church, he was a father to his kids, he was available for appearances, he was available for fundraising, he would bid out prices and would buy up some of the auction items to help out with causes. He was generous to a fault. Right now I’m just consumed with rage over this.

Hamilton was one of the rare guys whose talents on the field and ended up talking about the game on radio, TV and the MLB Network. Given a fair opportunity he would have developed into a better analyst than he was player. Hamilton was part of a long line of veteran outfielders that former Giants manager Dusty Baker brought in with the likes of Ellis Burks and Eric Davis there was a long, long, list guys who brought character to the clubhouse.

Michael Duca is a San Francisco Giants analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: There’s no hacking in baseball? (photo of John Mozeliak GM Cardinals)

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Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–We all remember the popular line by actor Tom Hanks in the movie “A League of their Own”, when he said: “there is no crying in baseball”! Well, there might be no crying today with all the money thrown around players and organizations making big profits, but it seems that there is some hacking in baseball going on. The St Louis Cardinals are been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI)for hacking into the Houston Astros.

It was then the New York Times who first broke the news, that St Louis Cardinals employees were stealing information as they hacked the database of the Houston Astros. It is not yet fully known how many times this did happened, the FBI said they will soon finish their investigation in this very particular case.

Now, it’s one thing for a manager or player to steal the signal of the other team during a game, and another thing is to deliberately hack another team and get information about scouting, personnel, team planning, prospects they are seeking, and other stuff that should not be taken by illegal means.

It appears that the St Louis Cardinals might have been doing this to the Houston Astros for years.
My question is, why the Astros?. Nobody hacked their computers when they were finishing last, or maybe that is why they have finished last, because the other teams(in this case)the Cardinals had all their private information.

Whatever it is,we shall know very soon. No doubt that for the new baseball Commissioner, Rob Manfred, this will be his first big task. Manfred visited the Oakland A’s prior to the game this Saturday at the Coliseum, and among the very interesting things he said, is that he believes that the Athletics and the Raiders cannot(repeat cannot)co-exist in the OCO.

Previous Commissioner Bud Selig,presided over the steroids era and scandals, maybe Fred Manfred will have to battle social media, hacking and all this technology stuff. He better be ready, Manfred is the Social Media Commissioner.

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