Category: San Francisco Giants

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–In Friday’s 1-0 shutout there were a lot of pitches that were spoiled that weren’t hit like 70 of them, seven-zero, a few of those pitches could have landed in the stands and could have been hit off the great pitching of Royals starter Jeremy Gutherie. A’s starter Sonny Grey pitched well enough to win but your never going to win a game if your team can’t score.

The A’s will miss Yoenis Cepedes because when he would run into a ball it would turn into instant runs, the truth is if you look at Cepedes’ numbers the best year he had was his rookie season his offensive production was on a steady decline since his first year, his on base percentage was below average this season, and that’s not a Billy Beane (A’s general manager) type player.

Beane wants guys who will work the count, take some pitches, and someone who can make the opposing bullpen work hard to try and get someone out, Beane’s idea of game success is not a 1-0 three hour loss. The A’s would like to win these games but that doesn’t always happen. The long at bat usually don’t go in the hitters favor it goes in the pitchers favor.

It seems to be more physcological than actual and Cepedes doesn’t seem like he can give you 150 games per year, the team is going to get some injuries and it’s questionable if he was producing (.256, 17 homers, 67 RBIs) in games rather than home run derbys at the level that people think he was and at the level the A’s were paying him.

SF Giants update: Regarding pitcher Matt Cain’s bone chip surgery is relatively benign if you remember correctly former Giants infielder Rich Aurilla was out after surgery for six week. Obviously each player reacts differently according to each surgery and this isn’t something you take in a cavilier fashion. All things being equal when your big horse is down which Cain is with the elbow the last thing you want to hear is surgery.

When you do hear the word surgery and you hear it’s bone chips you could recover from it, it’s not a one year rehab like Tommy John surgery is. Having bone chips is not going to cause permanent damage to the elbow. So if he guts out the pain and misses some of the season he will rest and come back in September and get him a roster spot and stretch him out a little.

Cain could get six or seven days spot starting him and have him available to a post season spot if the Giants make it that far. On the other hand what it should do everybody is looking at this thing saying “oh my God” the Giants opening day starter for a number of years has gone down with an elbow injury “oh dear oh dear whatever will we do.”

Cain is out but it’s not like he died he’s still a presence in the Giants clubhouse, he’s there he’s in the clubhouse he’s around the team, you can find him, but whatever he’s a non physical presence in the rotation. In terms of the rotation they only missed him for only one turn, he’s done a credible job in the one turn that he pitched and then they replaced him with Jake Peavy whose able as Cain and is a disciplined pitcher.

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

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–The Houston Astros who are in Oakland this week have been playing better as of late and after getting the number one draft pick three years in a row although it didn’t seem to help them much in this third year they were unable to sign their number one pick in the draft. Having won one two years in a row is only going to help turn this franchise around.

The Astros are a solid up and coming team with a pretty good farm system right now on Tuesday night if you were a baseball fan that had to be your favorite night of the year between the Giants and the A’s they gave you 26 innings of baseball where San Francisco played 14 and the A’s went 12.

The Astros L.J. Hoes gave A’s pitcher Francisco Abad the game loss with Hoes third homer of the year in the 12th inning for the 3-2 win. The game didn’t end the way manager Bob Melvin and the A’s wanted it to end. Hoes decided that he saw enough of his share of 14 inning baseball as the Astros went 14 in New York, Philadelphia, and in Oakland he decided that he wanted to go home a little earlier.

This is a franchise that wants to snap the habit of being a losing team, the Astros are 19.5 games out of first place and occupy fourth place in the American League West. The time that a young franchise has it’s best opportunity really gains some confidence and right now their going against the best team in the Majors. Right now it’s a real dogfight Between the A’s and Angels just like in the National League West with the dogfight between the Giants and the Dodgers.

San Francisco Giants update: Thats one way to celebrate as the Giants took starting pitcher Tim Lincecum in a laundry hamper and doused him with beer on Tuesday night after he chalked up a save for the Giants over the Philadelphia Phillies in a 9-6 win in the closing role. This was Lincecum’s first ever save and this really tells you about the team. Manger Bruce Bochy’s bullpen would have neither been in this one yesterday or today and he decided to push it back on Tuesday just in case they needed Timmy in the 14th inning and they did.

Had the Giants not taken the lead then you would have seen something really mind boggling you would have seen outfielder Tyler Colvin in relief and pitcher Ryan Voglesong was ready to go out to rightfield in Colvin’s spot while switching between right and pitching. It’s an interesting situation for Lincecum usually finding his rythm and throwing strikes in the first inning, he’s given up more first inning runs than any other inning this year.

So Lincecum not only came into the 14th inning Tuesday night cold but he came in the game with runners in scoring position and talk about adapting to the closers mentality Lincecum was irriated with himself and he inherited a runner to score. When you got a four run lead and two guys on your more than happy to trade an out for a run all day because the Phils can’t score enough runs then they can make outs.

By the 14th inning on Tuesday Giants pitcher Madison Baumgarner had his spikes on and he was ready to hit and Vogelsong had his spikes on and he was ready to go out and play in the outfield. Pitcher Tim Hudson had gone in with his spikes and he was ready to hit and do whatever he could. There’s one of the thing about a game like this, to get a game like this with all 25 guys contributing they need to contribute actively, they need to contribute by getting the team ready. It helps the team bond.

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

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–Basically when you look at the National League West that is a weak division. You have the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the Central and Eastern division of the N.L. the Giants and Dodgers are stronger. There is talk that the wild card is going to come from the Central or the East in other words for the Giants to advance their going to have to win that division.

The Dodgers who have more talent and the Dodgers should win that division but the Giants are still there. One day one team is first place and the next team is taking turns with first place. This is going to be a battle that’s going to be decided head to head. When the Dodgers come to Dodgers Stadium and they go to AT&T Park it’s going to be decided that way.

The Dodgers have the best pitcher in baseball Clayton Kernshaw and Zack Grienke is having a great year. The Giants are a bit disorganized they were having trouble at second base, you don’t know what third baseman Pablo Sandoval is going to do, pitcher Tim Lincecum throws a no hitter than his next turn he blew it and he blew it in Miami on Sunday with a loss 3-2.

Lincecum can not pitch in hot weather and he even admits it and everytime he pitches in Miami he loses and he’s still human. The Giants present a little more difficult analysis than the A’s. The A’s are in the playoffs unless they suffer a collapse, the team is in first place and the Angels are only a game and half behind Oakland.

The A’s will definitely make it into the playoffs and they might win the division and then they might not. The A.L. West right now is the toughest division and the Seattle Mariners who are nine games out from Oakland. Oakland is first, Los Angeles Angels are second, Mariners are nine games out.

If the M’s were the Dodgers they would be right there and the M’s are nine games out in the A.L. West what does that tell you? The A.L. West is the toughest division in baseball and the three teams here are going to the playoffs. Whoever wins it will be second and third in the wild card.

The Angels are playing terrific ball, they really are. They have not lost two games in a row since June 15th and 16th. The Angels have played two extra inning games last Friday they went 16 innings and we were on the air for six hours and the Angels won 3-2. Saturday the Angels played 12 innings another four hour special and the Mariners who have the best pitching won 3-2.

The American League West can very well go right down to the end of the season.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–Former Athletic Mark McGwire missed out on the 1989 A’s reunion as he was coaching the hitting of the Los Angeles Dodgers who lost 3-2 to McGwire’s other former team the St.Louis Cardinals. McGwire’s former A’s Bash Brother Jose Canseco was at the Coliseum on Friday night and said he regretted writing his books about steriods which told of McGwire and other players who were involved in steroid use. The book helped indict some of the players who were at the Congressional hearings.

Canseco has a engaging and charming personality that he might be able to get away with it and he’s like Jim Bouton the former Yankees pitcher who wrote the book Ball Four who talked about his years with the Yankees, Pilots, Braves and Astros. Canseco committed the cardinal sin he told the truth. The book was a marketing fantasy and people were paying a lot of money which is taken away from the everyday world and put into a place where they have modern day gladiators going into this sort of combat and coming out with sort of a victory.

If you go back to the curtain you’ll see that the wizard has worts and thists and if your the wizard that’s real unpopular. So I don’t know how successful Canseco is going to be at getting accepted into the fold. It took Bouton a long, long time. Jose shouldn’t regret writing the book the book told the truth, and there might have been some issues of choice or style that he could have been made in the book that he might regret but the writing of the itself was the tipping point in getting baseball to a place where it decided that it had a real problem.

A’s Josh Donalson launching some gamers: I have had the privledge of being down on the field right behind the backstop when the A’s Josh Donaldson hit his prior game winning shot back in the month of May and it was pretty majestic and your first thought was are they going to be able to rule this fair as it was about ready to go over the foul pole. Major Leauge Baseball has a system that can measure the flight of the ball and in a couple of years they will have the ability to tell how far a ball is hit and how far it took someone to get it.

This technology has the ability to measure some of these balls and Donaldson has hit some balls that have gone 100 feet high that’s just astonishing, Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow’s phrase is it’s trying to leave earth and if you could get a baseball 150 feet up in the air that is almost like being able to start a cloud burst and shows that Donaldson has the ability to hit one deep.

Giants update: The Miami Marlins have two players who must have some the longest names in baseball maybe standing next to the A’s pitcher Jeff Samrdzija, the equipment manager of the Marlins would have to put some work in stitching the names of the Marlins Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Adeiny Hechavarria who are two key players in the Marlins line up. They certainly will take up the equipment manager’s vowel supply.

Hechavarria is going to help the Marlins and he’s a good enough shortstop who is good enough to be the answer to Hanley Ramirez. The Marlins are looking for great things from Hechavarria. In the meantime great things have stopped happening for the Marlins for this series with the Giants, as Buster Posey is hiting the ball well, he awoke from his three week slumber with a grand slam on Sunday against the Diamondbacks at AT&T.

Buster’s shot ended a 2-2 deadlock that ended the first half of the season at the 90th game of the season. Posey picked up right off where he left off and had three big hits on Friday night in Miami and scored two runs and had a couple of RBIs. If Posey heats up look out. His platooning at first base is something that manager Bruce Bochy is doing to keep him rested a game or two but Posey doesn’t want to do anything else but catch.

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

By Morris Phillips

MINNEAPOLIS–Derek Jeter and Mike Trout—a top of the order pair for the ages—led the American League past the National League, 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Jeter made a diving stop on the game’s initial play, became the oldest All-Star to collect a pair of hits, and a scored a run before exiting to an extended standing ovation in the fourth inning. And Trout—considered the game’s current best all-around player—tripled off the right field wall, doubled down the left field line and collected the game’s MVP trophy.

The mid-summer showcase–held in the Twins’ $545 million outdoor ballpark built in 2010—lived up to the hype this time with its explosive offense early and dominating pitching late. The American League won for the 13th time in the last 17 All-Star games and captured the home field advantage in this fall’s World Series.

After the game, the game’s two stars—18 years apart in age—expressed their mutual admiration.

“He’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Jeter said of the 22-year old Trout. “I don’t know how much better he can get, but if he consistently does what he’s doing, then he will be here for a long time.”

“Growing up I was setting goals to myself that when I get—if I ever get the chance—to the big leagues, that’s how I want to play,” Trout said of Jeter’s all out style of play. “The way he carries himself on and off the field, how he respects the game—always hustling—it doesn’t matter what the score is.”

Trout’s triple in the first inning scored Jeter and ignited a three-run outburst for the AL against NL starter Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals’ pitcher, having maybe his finest season in a stellar career, struggled, allowing three hits, including a two-run homer to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, in his only inning of work.

Cabrera homered for the first time in his All-Star career, showing off his quick hands that adjusted to Wainwright’s inside fastball, pulling it down the line with a shot that got into the first couple of rows of left field bleacher seats. The Detroit star’s homer came on a 0-1 pitch and it took just 15 Wainwright pitches for the National League to establish a 3-0 lead.

The National League answered back in the second inning with a pair of runs off Boston’s Jon Lester. The Phillies’ Chase Utley doubled home Aramis Ramirez, and Ramirez’ Milwaukee teammate Jonathan Lucroy followed with a RBI double that scored Utley.

In the fourth, Lucroy struck again, doubling home the Dodgers’ Dee Gordon and the game was tied. Lucroy’s smash came off the White Sox’s Chris Sale who was a revelation in his one inning of work in 2013 All-Star game in New York. This time Sale hit Utley with a pitch, who was then taken out for pitch runner Gordon. The speedy Dodger then raced around the bases on Lucroy’s smash which came on a 3-1 pitch from Sale.

Trout gave the American League the lead for good with his RBI double in the fifth that scored Oakland’s Derek Norris. Houston’s Jose Altuve followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Alexei Ramirez who singled after Norris reached.

With the late Northern sunset still minutes away after 9pm, Jeter exited the game in the fourth inning to a standing ovation when he took his position at shortstop and was replaced by Ramirez of the White Sox. Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” played throughout the stadium as the crowd cheered the Yankee captain’s exit.

‘I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Jeter confessed. “My back was turned, and I heard (former Yankee teammate Robinson) Cano yelling. Usually when he yells, I ignore him. And then I saw Ramirez come out. So it was a wonderful moment that I am always going to remember.”

Jeter’s exit rivaled former teammate Mariano Rivera’s entrance at last year’s All-Star game. The all-time saves leader was feted at New York’s Citi Field in his final All-Star appearance as his AL teammates allowed him to take the field by himself to extended cheers before he pitched the eighth inning that night.

The 40-year old Jeter’s innate ability to stay calm in big moments was again on display Tuesday. Through his diving stop in the first inning to his two hits, the superstar remained in the moment, focused on the task at hand. This was Jeter’s 14th All-Star appearance and he finished with the second highest batting average in the game’s history (.481, 14 for 27) for hitters with more than 20 at-bats.

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–There is only one division in baseball with two teams playing over .600 ball. The American League West, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels. As the pre-All Star Game part of the season just ended, the Athletics lost two out of three in Seattle to the Mariners but still have the best record in baseball with 59-36.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, swept a four-game series against the Rangers in Texas and are in second place with 57-37 just 1 1/2 games behind the A’s, the Angels have won ten of their last 11 games and have the best record at home in baseball with 32-15 at The Big A, at Anaheim. The Seattle Mariners with 51-44 occupy third place playing .537 ball.

To put this division into perspective, the Mariners with this record could be one game difference between the first place Dodgers and the second place Giants in the other Western Division. And the Mariners are in third place eight full games behind the Athletics.The American League West could easily post three teams in the postseason, the division winner and two wild cards. The Athletics still have 10 games against the Angels; 6 at Oakland and four in Anaheim. The Athletics have six against the Mariners, three at home and three in Seattle. This triangulation could be as exciting race as any in baseball post All-Star Game.

Nobody finished the first half, hotter than the Los Angeles Angels, who lead all Major Leagues with 478 runs scored. Easy to see why, with Mike Trout hitting second with an over .300 average 22 home runs and 73 runs batted in,considered the best player in the game, a healthy Albert Pujols hitting third with 20 home runs and 63 runs batted in, and a healthy Josh Hamilton, who was hurt great part of the first half now producing at an over .300 clip at the plate.

There are few (if any team in baseball) with a more scary middle of the order lineup: Trout-Pujols-Hamilton. The Angles offense has another key element, in Gold Glove winner shorstop Erick Aybar, with 50 runs batted in, enjoying his best season to date. Mike Scioscia’s team (longest tenure manager in baseball today) also shines with a double play combination of Aybar at shortstop and Howie Kendrick at second base; one of the best. They have been together for nine years. The only longer combination of shortstop and second base today in baseball is that of the Philadelphia Phillies. Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and Chase Utley at second base have been playing for ten seasons on that team.

The Angels bullpen has healed, specially after they traded closer Ernesto Frieri to the Pittsburgh Pirates, for their closer Jason Grilli. Frieri was not doing his lob, Now Joe Smith, who began the season as the set up man to Frieri, is the closer and since July 1st has retired 26 of 27 batters in relief, walking just one and allowing no hits in 10 consecutive games. He has now 15 games saved. Jerry Dipoto the General Manager says they are still trying to improve their bullpen. If the Angels bullpen continues to be good, they could overtake the A’s and take over first place.

The Mariners still have one of the most formidable number one and two starters in baseball, with Félix(El Rey)Hernández and Hisashi Iwakuma, a solid bullpen, but their hitting is not there with the A’s or Angels. In a way the Mariners remind me a lof of the San Francisco Giants, they going to go as far as their pitching, aside from Robinson Canó, the Mariners has been sputtering the whole first half of the season, but they could be a very interesting team, specially if they pick up that right handed batter they are looking for, and still might get.

The Oakland Athletics have been the class again of this division. Yoenis Céspedes played in 85 of the 89 games in the first half, and is hitting ,.249 with 14 home runs and 56 runs batted in, while leading the world in assists from left field and runners thrown at the plate. He is under-performing. I believe Céspedes is a ,.280 to .300 hitter and should have at least 20 home runs and 65 to 70 runs batted in.

Josh Donaldson average has gone down, but still has the numbers, Derek Norris has been one of the greatest revelations on this team, Bob Melvin has been a master using his three catchers. Second base has been the achilles heel for this team, now with Alberto Callaspo out in the DL for the next two weeks, they could improve this position with a trade. Aside from that, I would not make any more changes on this team.The second half should be a barn burner in the best division in baseball.

Amaury Pi-González is the play by play voice in Spanish for the Oakland A’s on the radio, and the LA Angels/Fox Deportes voice on television in Los Angeles and does News and Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com