Category: San Francisco Giants

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Playoff fever is here as Giants and A’s battle for top spot in wild card

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–Right now the A’s are trying to win one of the two wild cards competing with the Royals but Seattle and Kansas City are not too far behind. There’s a total of six games left in the season and with just two wild cards left. The rotation for this series reads like a playoff series for Los Angeles CJ Wilson and for Oakland Jeff Samardzija, for Tuesday the Angels start Wade LeBlanc (0-1 ERA 5.24) and for the A’s Sonny Gray (13-9 ERA 3.28) and on Wednesday for LA Hector Santiago (5-9 ERA 3.13) for Oakland Jon Lester (16-10 ERA 2.41).

This is an unpredictable series and it’s baseball anything can happen and the Angles swept the A’s not too long ago. The A’s got swept recently by Texas so anything can happen but this first game is the best chance for the Angels. On Tuesday Gray is the favorite although Gray in the second half of the season and has not been winning and his ERA has been raised but the Angels LeBlanc is a guy from the bullpen.

The Angels have two pitchers out hurt Matt Shoemaker a right handed pitcher is out and of course they lost Garrett Richards so their having problems with injuries in the rotation but the A’s on Tuesday will have the upperhand. Jon Lester is going for Oakland on Wednesday night and he’s the best pitcher the A’s have (16-10 ERA 2.41) he wasn’t with Oakland in the first half of the season and it was a controversal trade sending the A’s Yoenis Cespedes to Boston for Lester.

I would have to say the A’s would be favored as Lester should win the game on Wednesday just on Lester’s pitching. Angels starter Hector Santiago who is up and down he was actually suppose to be the third starter for the Angels and didn’t amount to much. He went to the bull pen because the Angels needed him to shore up his pitching. This is a critical series for the A’s but it should be one for the ages playing against the Angels in a crunch time situation like this.

San Francisco Giants update: The Giants who started out Monday tied for first place in the National League wild card.Giant pitcher Jake Peavy matched up against the LA Dodgers Dan Haren. The rest of the series rotation for the Giants on Tuesday Madison Baumgarner (18-9) vs. the Dodgers Zack Grenike (15-8)and on Thursday the Giants started Tim Hudson (9-12) vs. the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw (20-3).

For the Giants going into this series it’s going to be a lot of work to get this one and they have alot riding on this one. Peavy was a good acquisition it was a very good move for Giants General Manager Brian Sabean. The three games at Dodgers Stadium are sold out. The Giants are in rough waters they’re going to have to win, their going to have to win two out of three they just got swept by the San Diego Padres so it’s going to be very tough for them these last few days.

In the National League West if you don’t beat the Padres or the Rockies then your going to have to beat a team like the Dodgers who are very tough. Look at Kershaw he’s going to be the Cy Young winner he’s already going to be the MVP also. He going to win his fourth ERA in a row. It’s a tough postion for the Giants it looks like their running out of gas we’ll have to see how they fair in this series in Los Angeles.

The Giants will really depend on Giants slugger Buster Posey hitting .309 with 21 homers, and 86 RBIs, Pablo Sandoval is very inconsistent, Joe Panik has done a good job at second base but still without Angel Pagan they don’t have that dynomo that spark plug but Posey is the team’s superstar.

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

 

A’s and Giants Commentary: A’s need to take the Phillies in this series to stay on top; Romo adjusting to set up role

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by Michael Duca

Oakland A’s update: The Philadelphia Phillies starter David Buchanan on Friday gave up several seeing eye hits to A’s hitters and the A’s parlayed that into three runs and the A’s managed to make that into a 3-1 victory to open the series last night at the Oakland Coliseum which they desperately needed. The A’s during the Rangers series looked like they lost track of how many outs there were.

The A’s used to be able to beat up on the Rangers they were the worst team in baseball and you got to remember their former manager Ron Washington who resigned about 10-12 days ago. So the Rangers have a new manager Tim Bogar in there and the players will try to figure him out as well as Bogar trying to figure out the players and try to get guys some playing time before this season winds down, you never know what motivates the team.

On Friday night with Josh Reddick out of the line up they had to juggle the line up putting Sam Fuld in rightfield and it worked out as the A’s rallied in the second inning with three runs to put some runs up. The A’s left a runner on third who got thrown out and they had a couple of opportunities to score more runs and failed to do so.

San Francisco Giants update: For the Giants seven of their final ten games are against the Padres and no matter where the Padres play they always play the Giants straight up and very well. The biggest concern for Giants starter Tim Hudson it was his third consecutive game where he struggled this time in a 5-0 loss at Petco Park on Friday night.

Hudson has had hip problems from what he gets periodically and throughout his career and if Hudson is not available to go to the playoffs that might put a real serious threat to the Giants possibilities going forward. They don’t have Matt Cain and they don’t have Tim Lincecum in the starting rotation. If they don’t have Hudson there’s not a lot of depenable starters that have that post game experience on the staff.

Sergio Romo who is now the set up man and no longer the closer and he understands his new role. Romo is a team guy, he’s well loved in that clubhouse and he’s an important cog in that wheel in the Giants drive for number three. Santiago Casilla is closing now and manager Bruce Bochy made the decision to switch roles around for Romo and Casilla, “You have to look at the job Casilla is doing and the job Romo is doing, Romo, to his credit, set aside his ego. He’s done what we’ve asked. That’s the only way it’ll work. I compliment him for that. The eighth inning is a huge inning.” said Bochy.

Michael Duca does A’s and Giants commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants still have a shot at NL West crown

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PHOENIX, AZ - SEPTEMBER 17: Andrew Susac #34 of the San Francisco Giants reacts in the dugout after scoring a second inning run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the MLB game at Chase Field on September 17, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ – SEPTEMBER 17: Andrew Susac #34 of the San Francisco Giants reacts in the dugout after scoring a second inning run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the MLB game at Chase Field on September 17, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

By Jeremy Harness

Sure, the Giants have a very good hold on one of the wild-card spots in the National League, but there is one more goal out there that seemed less than attainable as recent as a few weeks ago.

That’s because the NL West title is still within striking distance, as the Giants only sit 2½ games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers at press time, with the Giants having a favorable schedule heading down the stretch.

The Giants will head to San Diego to face the Padres, who are nowhere near the playoff race and are playing for next season at this point of the season.

There is a slight issue, however. Right-hander Tim Hudson (9-11, 3.41 ERA) is set to kick off the three-game series at Petco Park opposite San Diego’s Odrisamer Despaigne (3-7, 3.63 ERA), but he will need a huge bounce-back from his previous start.

Really, it couldn’t get much worse for Hudson last Saturday, as he lasted only one inning against the Dodgers and was ripped for six runs on eight hits in a 17-0 Giants loss that paved the way for the team down south to take the three-game series and distance themselves a little bit.

Meanwhile, Despaigne isn’t exactly on a roll himself. The right-hander was beaten by the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team which the Giants swept this week, in his last start. He gave up five runs – three earned – on six hits over 5 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks and was blitzed by the Dodgers in his preceding outing in surrendering seven runs – six earned – on eight hits over only 4 1/3 innings.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are currently in a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs, who are in last place in the National League Central and do not seem to offer them much resistance. That, and the fact that Clayton Kershaw is taking the ball Friday night against the Cubs, which is as close to a guaranteed win as you will find.

The series to look for, obviously, is the last series between the Giants and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, which starts Monday night and is now expected to determine who wins the West.

Sacramento River Cats say good-bye to the A’s and hello to the Giants

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river cats

By Charlie O. Mallonee

After 15 seasons of being the Triple-A affiliate for the Oakland Athletics, the Sacramento River Cats will become the Triple-A home for the San Francisco Giants. The Sacramento Bee reports that the official announcement of the Giants and River Cats affiliation will be made on Friday.

The River Cats filed paperwork to be able to change team affiliation earlier this week.

The Oakland Athletics announced today that they have reached agreement with the Nashville Sounds to be their new Triple-A affiliate beginning in 2015. It is a four-year agreement that runs through the 2018 season.

The Sounds will open the 2015 season in a brand new 10,000 seat stadium that was built by the City of Nashville. The Sounds have entered into a 30-year lease with the city for use of the stadium.

There had been speculation that Oakland and San Francisco might trade affiliates with the A’s going to Fresno and the Giants moving to Sacramento. However, the A’s appear to have been very impressed with the Nashville organization and its new stadium despite the added distance from the parent club.

Fresno is now the odd-man out in this situation. The Grizzlies will now have to find a new Major League organization to play in Fresno. According to the Fresno Bee, the Grizzlies will become the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.

This is not the first time the Giants have jilted the city of Fresno. Fresno was the long time home of the Giants Class A farm team until the affiliation was moved to San Jose in the late 80’s. The city was without a minor league team until the Triple-A Grizzlies began play 18 years ago.Now the Giants have left Fresno for Sacramento.

Reportedly the River Cats believe that the Player Development Agreement with San Francisco will be more lucrative because of the large Giants fan base in the Sacramento area.

A’s and Giants commentary: Giants in laughers and skids but maintain tie for wild card; A’s in need of some big offense in Ranger series

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–In the San Francisco-Los Angeles series there was a laugher on both sides with the Giants taking the first game on Friday night 9-0 and L.A. with their laugher 17-0 on Saturday. The first game was everything that the Giants could have asked for as the team that leads baseball in runs scored, they lead baseball in batting average and with runners in scoring position since the All-Star break.

The Giants also went out and extended their home winning streak to ten games, all was right with the world it was happy everything looked glorious, they were getting ready to come back on Saturday and watch the Giants catch the Dodgers instead the Giants apparently caught Ebola getting blasted 17-0.

In the case of the win-loss laughers for the Giants like I told my wife “some days your the mosquito and some day your the windshield” and the Giants were the windshield on Friday and showed up as a mosquito on Saturday. That was just as bad as you could lose a game the good news is, 1-0, 17-0, it all counts as a loss and you just move onto the next day.

The next day was a pretty good game a 4-2 , no blow out here and Giant pitcher Yusmeiro Petit is the fifth starter in the rotation and has the major league record in consecutive innings pitched without a run by a pitcher. Regarding the 17-0 whipping the Giants got on Saturday it illustrates a lot of things about baseball, the Dodgers lost the night before 9-0 and it didn’t seem to put them in a terrible funk and the Dodgers came out and racked up 17 runs.

The Giants have now lost three straight and have two more left with Arizona and are tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for first in the N.L. wild card.

Oakland A’s update: Until last Saturday it was looking pretty grim for the Oakland A’s since they won back to back games and it’s been almost 40 games since Brandon Moss hit a home run. Look how rapidly things changed they always do well against Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez they usually lose against him they did well against Hernandez. Saturday the A’s did well and they won 3-2 and you could imagine what kind of effect that had in the A’s clubhouse.

They came out and pitched well on Sunday and wound up taking that series as they got the rubber game shutting out the M’s 4-0. The back to back wins solidified themselves in the wild card as the A’s are with the Kansas City Royals. If the A’s lose that series there’s a good chance the A’s don’t make the playoffs.

It was looking that ugly and until Sunday the A’s won back to back games and they hadn’t done that in more than three weeks. You can’t limp along to the finish line win one, lose one, win one, lose two, that’s not going to get you there. The M’s have been closing ground rapidly on the A’s. Their in a situation where either Detroit or Kansas City is going to be one of the wild cards and if the A’s are going to be one of the other wild cards they have to hold off the Mariners.

It’s been Josh Donaldson and the seven dwarfs for the last few weeks and the role of Snow White doesn’t fit him that well. The A’s are in need of some help in that line up so getting contribution from Moss and Adam Dunn certainly don’t hurt but the truth is as Coco (Crisp) goes so goes the A’s.

Michael Duca does A’s and Giants commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants sweep D’Backs, ready for critical showdown with the Dodgers Friday night

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By Morris Phillips

In normal times, a 10-game win streak doesn’t carry that much more cache than a 9-game win streak.

But these aren’t normal times.  The Giants’ hot streak that continued in their 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks Thursday afternoon has them not only poised to make a third post-season appearance in five years, but achieve that distinction at the expense of the hated Dodgers.

While both teams appear headed to the playoffs, the battle for the coveted NL West title hits the critical stage Friday night in the opener of a three-game series between the two rivals at AT&T Park.

If the Giants win behind 17-game winner Madison Bumgarner, they put the pressure on the Dodgers–who have held first place for more than two months—by reducing their lead to just one game.

If the Dodgers win, the lead goes back to three games with 15 games remaining.  And the specter of having certain Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw on the mound Sunday means Los Angeles could sweep the series and end all the suspense this weekend.

The Giants and Jake Peavy are well aware of what’s at stake.  Peavy proved that by throwing 5 2/3 innings on Thursday in the win over the Diamondbacks, gaining a win in his third consecutive start.  Peavy’s well aware of how intense things can get in the NL West in September.  He helped lead the Padres in that memorable race between the Giants and San Diego in 2010 that went to the Giants on their way to their first World Series title.

Now Peavy’s in San Francisco’s clubhouse and he and new Giants’ teammates know what momentum means during this time of the year.

“There’s nobody in this clubhouse who believes we can’t get it done,” Peavy said.  “There’s a championship pedigree around here.”

On Thursday, the Giants were doing things that had to remind some of their runs in 2010 and 2012.  For example, Hunter Pence pulled out his magic bat and singled in the first run of the game by—get this—throwing his bat at a pitch and delivering an RBI-single through the infield to give the Giants a first-inning lead.

“You don’t see that every time,” Juan Perez said of Pence’s feat.

The play was reminiscent of Pence’s three-touch RBI single in the 2012 World Series where his bat actually struck a ball three times, creating a crazy spin that caused the ball to veer away from Tigers’ infielders and into centerfield for a critical RBI hit.

Series hero’s Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey got involved Thursday as well.  Sandoval’s single in the second put the Giants up 2-0.  Posey had three hits, but his single in the Giants’ three-run sixth, put them up 5-1.

Also reminiscent of post-season was the length of the nine-inning game—3 hours 28 minutes—as Peavy was followed by five relievers who allowed just three hits and kept the Diamondbacks at bay.  Arizona starter Randall Delgado lasted just four inning, allowing seven hits and three runs.  Four Diamondbacks’ relievers followed, but they didn’t fare as well as the Giants’ bullpen as reliever Matt Stites allowed three hits and three runs in the Giants’ sixth.

The Giants swept the D’Backs at home for the first time since 2011.  Arizona lost its’ six-straight game and fell into a last-place tie with Colorado, 24 games behind the Dodgers.

On Friday night, Bumgarner will be opposed by the Dodgers’ 14-game winner Hyun-Jin Ryu.  Giants’ outfielder Michael Morse is not expected to return from injury for the three-game set as manager Bruce Bochy stated that he thinks Morse is still three-to-five days away from fully recovering from an oblique strain.

Selig farewell tour: MLB Commissioner can’t remember last time a domestic case took place

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by Jeremy Harness and Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig can’t remember the last time a domestic violence issue ever happened with anyone involved in baseball. Selig is making his rounds throughout the Major League parks in his farewell tour and with the huge media coverage regarding domestic violence in pro football Selig was asked about it happening in baseball.

“We have’nt had any cases for a long, long time. I can’t remember when the last time was. I’m grateful for that. But we deal with situations as they occur. The only thing I want to say and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we are a social institution and I’m proud of our record in dealing with a Myriad of subjects, and we deal with them, I think quite effectively.” said Selig before Thursday’s Arizona-San Francisco match at AT&T Park.

The Commissioner said he had no comment regarding the NFL’s case regarding the Baltimore Raven’s Ray Rice and if there should be a partial investigation. Selig who leaves office on January 25th and will be succeeded by Rob Manfred. Selig said he never had to deal with sonething like this in baseball and couldn’t image how he would have to handle a situation like this likewise but said that baseball does handle all issues “yes it has been discussed, because we’re sensative to all issues. But I’m not going to sit here and guess.Fortunately we don’t have that issue in front of us. But we deal with all issues.” said Selig

Selig whose second in command Manfred won last month’s election for baseball commissioner was slightly worried although he won’t admit it now, that he would not win the election particularily with the issue of Biogenesis CEO Tony Bosch being arrested for illegal substance distribution. Biogenesis is accused of distributing illegal substances to former and current Major League players which include the Mets Bartolo Colon, the Blue Jays Milky Cabrera, and the Yankees Alex Rodriguez whose currently suspended for the rest of this season.

The issue of Biogenesis never played a part in the election as Manfred won rather quite handedly, although it’s the one issue that baseball wish would go away. Bosch was in Federal Court last month and agreed to testify in his role of distribution to Rodriguez in exchange for financing his court defense against prosecution from federal authorities.

Jeremy Harness and Morris Phillips cover the San Francisco Giants for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cabrera Prevents a Giant Sweep, Tigers Beat San Francisco 6-1

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By: Joe Lami

The San Francisco Giants attempt at sweeping, the AL Central leading, Detroit Tigers came up short Sunday Evening, losing 6-1. Reigning American League Most Valuable Player, Miguel Cabrera lead the Tiger offensively with 3 RBI. Two of which came off a home run in the third inning on a ball hit to deep left center for the slugger’s 22nd long fly of the season, and his third in the last two games.

The Giants only run came off the bat of Angel Pagan in the fifth inning bringing in Gregor Blanco. Pagan’s RBI was his only hit of the game, as he struggled from the lead-off spot batting one for five in Sunday’s contest. He wasn’t the only Giant who struggled, as the team was able to only mustard up one hit with runners in scoring position, as they hit a dreaded one for eight.

Most of this was due part to young left-handed pitcher, Kyle Lobstein. Lobstein earned his third start of the season and his best start since. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up one run on four hits, while striking out three in the process, earning his first win of the season.

Tim Hudson was handed his tenth loss of the season, as his record drops to 9-10. In the losing effort, the right-hander threw six innings, allowing eight hits for three runs and only striking out one.

The relievers didn’t do much better, as it took three different pitchers to get through the Tiger three run seventh. After Alex Avila started the inning with a strikeout, the Tigers were able to string some hits together. Andrew Romaine started things off with a single and a stolen base. Ian Kinsler would follow that up with an RBI double. Cabrera would earn his third RBI of the game and 100th on the season with a single to left, bringing in Kinsler. Finally, Cabrera scored on a Victor Martinez double.

Sunday was a bad day to lose for the Giants’, as it doesn’t help their playoffs chances, with wins from Los Angeles, and Atlanta. All of which are vying for playoff positioning. The Giants fall to three games back behind the Dodgers in the NL West, while still holding onto the top Wild Card spot only three and half games up on Pittsburg. Atlanta and Milwaukee are on the heels of Pittsburg as well at a half game back.

Giants and A’s commentary: Carter tees off on old mates like a bad habit; Peavy holds up in all sorts of weather

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–The Houston Astros Chris Carter is the reason why the A’s didn’t want Yoeneis Cespedes and maybe why they should have got rid of him earlier and kept Carter in left field. Carter a former Athletic has beaten up on his old club pretty good. He’s swinging .234 right now so basically he’s like former Giant Rob Deer all over again. It’s not that Carter’s familiar with his former Oakland A’s pitching teammates.

Carter tagged A’s pitcher Jeff Samardzija on Friday and it might be a tad more motiviation. On Friday the Astros scored more runs while producing a total of seven baserunners in the game. The A’s scored three runs while producing a total of 12 base runners in the game. You have to begin looking at the A’s and not Carter who drove in three of the four Astro runs for the win in the first game of this three game series.

He did have the big home run, the A’s have had multiple opportunities to score behind bases loaded and nobody out, they managed to make two outs behind home plate on four pitches in that circumstance. Carter gives the offense on the Astros a little creditabilty. The Astros have had like every other team in baseball the number of good young players that haven’t been able to play.The Stros are an up and coming ball club, their going to be a force in that division in another year or two.

San Francisco Giants update: The Giants were coming off nearly a three hour wait from Friday night’s rain delay to resume the game which they won 8-2 at Detroit. Jake Peavy waited through 2 hours and 45 minutes of the rain delay and took a 6-0 lead into the delay and came back and pitched three innings and got the win for his fourth win of the season he’s now 4-4 ERA 2.36.

“He’s a competitor and he fired me up, fired up the guys up, just seeing him want to go out there and finish what he started. It definitely gave the guys behind him a little extra juice.” said Giants second baseman Joe Panik. The Giants Gregor Blanco lost his 306 game streak without commmittting an error an impressive streak. A streak always comes to an end one way or another.

300 games is a long time particularily especially for Blanco who’s not a regular player who played with three different teams without an error. Blanco is a bit player and he comes in as a replacement late in games. The thing about Blanco is you don’t see him playing to extend that streak, he makes a serious effort to go out and get every ball.

He made a brilliant play earlier this year during Peavy’s attempt at a perfect game, he made a game saving catch in Matt Cain’s perfect game. That was during the streak, you can’t say too much about having a guy available on your bench who can come in and hide the defensive short comings of a player like a Michael Morse. Morse could use his bat in the first seven innings of a game and then the Giants later could protect the lead with a player like Blanco with a glove that he has.

Michael Duca does A’s and Giants commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com and audio from this interview is included below.

Giants Wed report: Giants fall, but still keep pace

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by Jeremy Harness

DENVER–You can look at Wednesday’s events in two different ways: You can view it as a blown opportunity for the Giants, who fell 9-2 to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, a place where the Giants have had more than their share of issues in recent years.

Or you can see it as the Giants dodging a bullet. After that game finished, the Washington Nationals helped the Giants keep pace in the National League West, as they overcame surrendering a late lead and downed the Los Angeles Dodgers in 14 innings.

Either way you choose to see this thing, the Giants are only two games behind the Dodgers in the division race while keeping their spot as one of the NL’s wild cards for the time being, and it could have been a whole lot worse.

At the same time, it could have been a bit better, as the Giants had a chance to close to within one game of the division lead with one of their best starters on the mound.

However, Ryan Vogelsong was quickly reminded of what it’s like to pitch in the launching pad that is otherwise called Coors Field.

The right-hander surrendered a career-worst four home runs on Wednesday, two of which would have been regular fly balls just short of the warning track in any other major-league ballpark. When it was all said and done, he was tagged for eight earned runs on 10 hits, walking two and striking out five.

On the bright side, Hunter Pence was able to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, while Buster Posey and Gregor Blanco each had two hits, with Posey driving in both of the Giants’ runs. The last RBI came in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

The lead was short-lived, as the Rockies dropped back-to-back four-run innings on Vogelsong to render Posey’s efforts meaningless.

The Giants will not have it easy this weekend, either, as they are slated to head to Comerica Park to visit the Detroit Tigers, who are in a tooth-and-nail battle in their own division race, the American League Central.

Jeremy Harness covers San Francisco Giants baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com