Category: San Francisco Giants

Reds Steal One From San Francisco; Giants’ Woes Continue

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By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–The Cincinnati Reds stole a game from the San Francisco Giants on Saturday Night at AT&T, as they beat the Giants 7-2 in 11innings.  Cincinnati was trailing 1-0 going into the ninth inning, when Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homerun to put the Reds ahead.  A Giants rally capped off by a RBI double from Buster Posey in the ninth would force extra innings, but the Reds were too strong in the 11th for the Giants to come back.

The Giants continue to slump, as they are now 4-14 in the last 18 games.  The Giants have had one bright spot in that span, with Tim Lincecum’s No Hitter this past Wednesday against the Padres, but before then the Giants haven’t won a game at home since June 12, where they hammered the Nationals 7-1.

San Francisco was led by a strong pitching performance from Matt Cain, who hasn’t been himself this season going into Saturday.  Cain entered Saturday with a 1-6 record and a 4.82 ERA in 12 games.  Cain looked like the pitcher we have known though on Saturday, as he pitched seven scoreless innings, while giving up six hits, two walks and striking out four.  Saturday also marks the first time since September 26, 2012 in which Cain pitched at least seven scoreless innings.  However, the great performance goes for not, as Cain is given the no decision.

“It was a tough one, Cain pitched his heart out,” said Giants’ Skipper, Bruce Bochy after game.

Alfredo Simon was great on the other side as he surrendered one run on three hits.  Simon has been stellar for the Reds on the season boasting a 10-3 record with a 2.92 ERA, heading into Saturday night, and it continued to show, as he getsa no decision.

The Giants started the night with a bang, as Gregor Blanco led off with a base hit.  However, the Giants would have to wait until the fifth inning, until they got their next one.  The only Giant to get on base between the first and fifth inning was Pablo Sandoval in the fourth inning, when he hit a grounder and it was misplayed by Zack Cozart for an error.  Brandon Crawford recorded the second hit of the evening on his bobblehead night with a single.  Adam Duvall followed up by doubling into the left field corner sending Crawford to third.  With one out in the inning, it sent Joe Panik up to the plate.  Panik would knock in the only run for the Giants of the night, as he hammered one right up the middle but, it was knocked down by Simon and Brandon Phillips made the throw to first.  Matt Cain ended the fifth on a bunt for hit attempt to get the second run in, by he was thrown out at first.

San Francisco led the game into the top of the ninth, when Sergio Romo came into the game.  Romo started the shaky inning with a walk to Joey Votto, bringing Phillips up to the plate.  Phillips entered the at bat 0 for 3 on the evening, but made the difference in the ninth when he shot a hanging a slider deep into left field to give the Reds the 2-1 lead.  Romo was forced to finish the inning, but had trouble doing it as both Devin Mesoraco and Ryan Ludwick would hit it to the warning track before being gloved down by Juan Perez.

The Reds entered the ninth inning with the lead and one of the most dangerous closers in the game coming in, Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman entered the game 16 for 16 in saves situations, and pitching his fourth day straight.  The Giants would be the first team to break Chapman on the season as they started the ninth inning with a Hunter Pence single to right.  The turning point was an amazing ten-pitch walk forced by Sandoval putting runners on first and second.  Buster Posey was the pinch hitter and drove a 101 MPH fastball to left to bring home the tying run on the no-out double.  Runners were at second and third with no outs, and the Giants looked like they had the win in the bag, however Chapman buckled down and forced two ground outs and then struck out Duvall to end the ninth.

The Reds would strike again in the 11th inning scoring two runs off of Cozart single, that brought in Votto; who doubled to start the inning, and Phillips who was intentionally walked to set up the double play ball.  Cincinnati would put the nail in the coffin when Chris Heisey knocked two more in with a triple to right to put the Reds up 6-2.  The bleeding would continue for the Giants when Billy Hamiliton doubled to right to bring in Heisey to make it 7-2.  The Giants would get one back in the bottom half to make it 7-3.

Jonathan Broxton earns the win for Cincinnati to up his record to 3-0.  Javy Lopez gets the loss, dropping his record to 1-1. The Reds take a 3-0 series advantage this weekend, as they will go for the sweep tomorrow with a pitching matchup of Homer Bailey vs. Tim Hudson.

Giants mix and match lineup no test for Leake and the Reds

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By Morris Phillips

The Giants looked like an exciting young club on Thursday.  A couple of promising new faces and dependable holdovers weren’t quite good enough to beat the hot Reds, but they looked like a team that could win consistently in due time.

The problem is the Giants aren’t trying to be young and promising.  All of sudden there’s a hot, divisional playoff race against the talent-laden Dodgers and this isn’t the seasoned look they envisioned they’d need.

A day after no-hit nirvana, the Giants fell to Cincinnati, 3-1.  In Los Angeles, that same one run stood up for the Dodgers in a Beckett-Wainwright matchup.  Now only two games separate the two rivals in the NL West.  On June 7—just 19 days previous—the Giants led by 9 ½ games.

“We have to get some other guys going,” manager Bruce Bochy said.  “We’re a little cold right now.

Rubbing ice across the Giants’ bats was Mike Leake, who no doubt had his rocky outing in the 2012 NLDS on the back of his mind Thursday.  In that one, Leake saw Angel Pagan homer on the second pitch of the game, and then couldn’t escape the fifth inning as the Giants tied the series and went on to win Game 5 as well in Cincinnati.  The Reds needed Leake to step it up in place of their injured ace Johnny Cueto, and the young pitcher couldn’t get it done.

This time, Leake didn’t have to face Pagan, who was put on the disabled list on Wednesday, and he had his way with a Giants’ lineup with backups and rookies mixed in.  The 26-year old went eight strong innings and allowed just four hits and a run.  His 12 strikeouts were a career best, and a definite sign that Leake had committed to getting stronger in the off-season to his less than optimum size (5’11, 190 lbs.) as a starter at the big league level.

“You go out there and try to battle your butt off each time.,” Leake said.  “And you’re not going to be able to.  And sometimes you’re going to have your best stuff.  So it’s trying to be as consistent as you can and basically give the team a chance to win every time.”

While Leake cruised, Ryan Vogelsong did not.   The Giants’ starter was proficient, allowing five hits and a run, but when trouble surfaced in the fifth inning, Vogelsong couldn’t stem the tide.  Instead of what Leake faced, Vogelsong saw the now-healthy Joey Votto, red-hot Devin Mesoraco and the just activated Brandon Phillips.

In that fifth, Jay Bruce singled with one out, and after Vogelsong struck out Ryan Ludwick, Jay Bruce put the Reds ahead with an RBI double.

Phillips struck in the seventh when he greeted reliever Jean Machi with a home run on his first pitch of the night.  Machi hadn’t allowed a run in more than 25 consecutive innings, but his elevated offering to Phillips changed all that.  The Reds would tack one more on when Ludwick singled home Bruce later in the inning.

The Giants only fireworks came courtesy of Adam Duvall homered in his first major league appearance.  Duvall replaced Pagan on the active roster Wednesday and started at first base against the Reds.  The 25-year old had been tearing it up in Fresno where he hit .297 with 23 home runs and 67 RBI in just 67 games.

With the loss, the Giants have dropped 12 of 16 to allow the Dodgers to creep closer.  The Reds are having the best stretch of their season, and have won 10 of 14.

Things get really pitcherish on Friday night when Cueto faces the red-hot Madison Bumgarner at 7:15pm.

No-No Timmy fleeces the Padres again: Lincecum’s second no-hitter within a year comes against San Diego

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By Morris Phillips

This time, Tim Lincecum pitched his way to a no-hitter.  He really pitched and looked good doing it.

Earlier this season, manager Bruce Bochy had to come get Lincecum after five innings even as the Freak held the Cubs hitless and scoreless.  But he threw 32 pitches in a Houdini-like first inning and 96 pitches in total.  Like a lot of Lincecum’s starts over the last three seasons, the outing was a struggle.

“He worked so hard out there,” Bochy said in why he decided to pull Timmy.  “It was time.”

Last year in San Diego when Lincecum pitched his first no-no, he needed 148 pitches.  The whole Giants’ organization feared the marathon outing that night would led to injury, ineffectiveness or both.  Most of the baseball pundits weighed in too.  Lincecum lost his next start after the All-Star break and went on to lose 14 games versus 10 wins.  The no-no didn’t kill Lincecum, but it didn’t reverse his trend of good and bad, always with slightly more bad, either.

That night Timmy threw a whopping 54 balls.  He struck out 13 Padres, but it was no masterpiece.  He walked four and once again… those 148 pitches.  What pitcher throws that many pitches and accomplishes anything meaningful?

This time, Lincecum was good from the start.  Bochy says he saw it immediately.

“It was just the way he was locked in,” Bochy said of Lincecum’s early pitches Wednesday.  “He looked more compact, putting less effort in it, and hitting his spots.  Sometimes he makes it a little too hard out there.”

Rarely did Lincecum throw fastballs.  Nothing new there.  In receiving his new, bonus baby contract that pays him $17 million this season, he obviously had already convinced the Giants that he could remake himself.  Along with his durability and competitive makeup, GM Brian Sabean, Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti were convinced Lincecum could get it done without his blazing fastball of yesteryear.

And he was that guy on Wednesday: great command, downward action on all of his breaking pitches and changeups while facing a lineup prone to getting itself out.  So without pause, that’s what transpired.

“Today I just tried to be more efficient, take what they gave me,” Lincecum said.  “They were giving me a lot of ground balls and fly balls.  I just tried to get the first out (inning after inning) and go from there.”

So where does the Franchise go from here?  Hopefully to a winning record for the first time since 2010.  He’s 6-5 after beating San Diego with a 4.42 ERA.  Prior to the historic second no-hitter against the same opponent–a feat accomplished only by Hall of Famer Addie Joss in 1910—Lincecum ranked among the bottom five NL starters in ERA through 15 starts.  In 2012, his ERA topped five (5.18), 2013 was incrementally better (4.42), so Timmy still got some work to do if he’s to complete his transformation.

“Sometimes less is more, and that’s what I think if anything, hopefully he learned today,” Bochy said when asked about Lincecum’s new ways.

One thing’s for sure: Lincecum’s in the right place.  AT&T Park roared with excitement in anticipation and then completion of the feat in the ninth inning.  The outs the Padres made were free of drama, but that did little to temper the building excitement in the stands.  His Giants’ teammates played their roles astutely in between innings: short bursts of encouragement, nothing different than normal even down to some playful banter with Tim Hudson.  When it was over, the embraces from his teammates were genuine and powerful.

In the clubhouse, Bochy made sure to thank his pitcher for putting a halt to a seriously horrid stretch. The Giants avoided a sixth-straight home loss for the first time since 2008.  In going 4-11 in their last 15 games, the big NL West lead the club enjoyed has evaporated.  Even with the no-no and the win, the Dodgers remain just three games back in the division.

“This club needed something because they’ve gone through some tough times,” Bochy said.

The axiom never rang more true; coming to the ballpark, you never know what you’re going to get.  In that respect, the Giants and Tim Lincecum are a lot alike.

The Giants were the team with the best start to a season by any team since 2005.  Then they went feeble against some of the least imposing competition out there.  Against the Padres, it took three days for them to figure out San Diego’s struggling.  After the loss, the Padres are hitting .182 in June, and you could have seen leadoff hitter Will Venable’s 0 for 4 afternoon before your ticket was scanned at one of the stadium gates.  Venable led off for the Padres Wednesday despite a season batting average that now sits at .199.

But those last-place guys wore down Matt Cain on Monday, and smashed Tim Hudson on Tuesday.

Lincecum’s season been up and down similar to the last three seasons.  He lost his previous start in Arizona by allowing four runs and seven hits while striking out just one guy. From start to start, he’s an asset or a liability, but in total, he’s all history.

With the no-hitter, Lincecum joins Sandy Koufax, Roy Halladay and Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to have multiple Cy Young awards and multiple no-no’s.  He’s one of only four active pitchers to have thrown multiple no-hitters (Mark Buehrle, Homer Bailey and Justin Verlander) and Bailey, Nolan Ryan and Koufax are the only other guys to throw two no-hitters within a 12-month period.

How about two no-hitters, two Cy Young’s and two World Series titles?  Only Lincecum and Koufax on that list.

On Thursday, the Giants welcome the Reds with Ryan Vogelsong facing Cincinnati’s Mike Leake at 7:15pm.

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: Anticipation building for what could be U.S.’ biggest soccer game in history

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–The U.S. in the World Cup gets an opportunity to try and move up to the next level on Thursday with Germany. They got some competition against Germany and the U.S. has played very well. They played Portuagal to a 2-2 loss on Sunday but they have a opportunity to be the best team in the history of the United States as a soccer team as we know it today.

With the U.S. not considered a soccer country that’s changing as the U.S. team is now playing with the best of them in Brazil’s house. There are many power house teams here and the ratings for ESPN for the World Cup has been huge. Eventually the U.S. can be the team to beat someday and it’s going to be a battle for the U.S. on Thursday and it’ll be fun for the fans watching.

The Brazilians are so far the favorite and they beat Cameroon convincingly 4-1 and they’re picked to finish on top. Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico those are powerhouses and when we mention Brazil there’s no doubt that the critics know what they can do. I was at the World Cup in 1994 and it was one of the highlights of my career so when you talk about Brazil that’s the ultimate soccer country of the world.

SF Giants and their struggles: The Giants do have a good nucleolus of pitching but their pitching is not what it was earlier this season. They have a lot of problems and their on a slide right now losing ten of their last 13 games. The Dodgers are going to go heavy and get some help be it pitching or in the line up and close the gap on the Giants.

Needless to say the Giants have hit a really rough patch and they have a number of injured players and the pitching is suspect and the hitting at times is non existent. The Giants are really having some problems and Giant pitcher Matt Cain got shelled on Monday night by the lackluster Padres offense in a 6-0 loss to drop his record to 1-6.

Cain’s problems are a combination of factors, he said after the game on Monday night that he feels fine but the losses mount, Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is having his own struggles at 5-5 with an ERA of 4.90 Lincecum has lost two of his last four games.

Giants rookie second baseman Joe Panik who debuted on Sunday in Arizona with two hits is impressing the club with his glove and his keystone partner at shortstop Brandon Crawford says he’s got some fine tuning needed but he’s going to do just fine, “There may have been a few things he needed to work on, but he’s a good athlete. He adjusted pretty quickly.”

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

Tony Gwynn Remembered Before Giants vs Padres Game

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San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, left, shakes hands with San Diego Padres manager Bud Black, left, as he offers his a baseball plate in memory of former San Diego Padres baseball player Tony Gwynn before the start of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, June 23, 2014. Gwynn died of cancer at the age of 54. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, left, shakes hands with San Diego Padres manager Bud Black, left, as he offers his a baseball plate in memory of former San Diego Padres baseball player Tony Gwynn before the start of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, June 23, 2014. Gwynn died of cancer at the age of 54. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

By Peter Qaqundah

On the first night back in AT&T Park since the tragic loss of MLB Hall of Famer and lifetime Padre Tony Gwynn, the Giants paid tribute to the legend in fitting fashion. Before the contest with Gwynn’s former team, the San Diego Padres, Bruce Bochy presented Padres manager Bud Black with a base from Gwynn’s final game played in San Francisco. In addition, Bochy hailed Gwynn as the greatest player he had the privilege to play with, coach, and manage.

Among the Giants legends who paid respects to Gwynn was Will Clark, saying “Tony and I got to be real good friends because he was always at first base–we couldn’t get him out…he was the best hitter of our era.”

Gwynn’s legacy far exceeded the game of baseball, as shown by the outpouring of admiration from members of all communities in the Bay Area. 49er great, Roger Craig encapsulated Tony Gwynn’s life and spirit perfectly: “You could go on and on about his baseball career, but he was even better as a man, husband, father and so humble…he never talked about himself and was embarrassed if you did…I loved his famous giggle…yes, he touched all the bases–in baseball and his life.”

The Padres paid tribute to Gwynn their own way, topping the Giants 6-0 behind a strong outing from Odrisamer Despaigne, who pitched 7 scoreless innings in his Major League debut.

Giants humbled by the Padres and Cuban export pitcher in his major league-debut

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By Morris Phillips

In a battle of the frustrated and the really frustrated, the really frustrated Padres were runaway winners on Monday.

The really frustrated Padres–who announced after Sunday’s game that GM Josh Byrne had been fired, the result of two losing seasons and the Padres headed inextricably toward a third—got a stellar, major league-debut from starter Odrisamer Despaigne and shutout the Giants, 6-0.  San Diego still trails the Giants by 12 ½ games, but their professional integrity can’t be questioned in this situation which a lot of times isn’t the case.

“Our guys play,” manager Bud Black said of his Padres.  “They come to play every night, and we’re proud of that.”

The merely frustrated Giants and cornerstone pitcher Matt Cain took the loss.  The Giants are 3-10 in their last 13 games, and Cain’s 1-6 on the season with an ERA way too close to 5.00 at 4.82.  Frustrating evening, but the first place Giants saw the Dodgers lose in Kansas City on Monday and their four game lead in the NL West was preserved.

The Giants hodge-podge lineup minus leadoff hitter Angel Pagan, Brandon Hicks and the disabled Brandon Belt flopped again with a double and three singles on the night. The current string of poor play has the Giants looking like old June Swoon crews from Candlestick days past, or at least looking like a team in desperate need of a trade-deadline pickup to help on offense, in this case, way before the July 31 deadline grows near.

Regarding who could help the Giants most immediately, Pagan missed his eighth straight game on Monday with an ailing back, but remains on the active roster with no decision on a trip to the disabled list.  Marco Scutaro has intensified his workouts but still has no announced date for his 2014 debut.

Cain pitched well on Monday with the exception of the fourth inning when he allowed three runs on four hits.  The big blow in the inning saw Yasmani Grandal hit a ball into Triples Alley that was helped into the seats by a fan who reached over the brick wall to catch the ball.  The umpires initially ruled the drive a home run, but the MLB instant replay crew in New York correctly reversed the call, giving Grandal a double, but with two runners on base, they ordered trail runner Seth Smith back to third base.

“There’s no way Smitty doesn’t score on that play,” Black said.  The San Diego manager left with no one to complain to—as dictated by the new replay rules–complained anyway and was tossed by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson.  Hard to argue with Black on this one: the play came with two outs and on a 2-2 pitch with Smith obviously running on contact.

The Padres added three more runs in the eighth on another four hits and a costly Giants’ error.  Cain was still around in the eighth–attempting to make soup with no hot water—but was relieved by Bruce Bochy after Everth Cabrera’s RBI single and Hunter Pence’s throwing error on the play allowed a second run to score.  Smith greeted reliever Javier Lopez with a run-scoring double to complete the scoring on the evening.

But the real story was Despaigne, the Cuban export at age 27 making his big league debut in his first year in the Padres organization.  Not the big name that Yoenis Cespedes and Yasiel Puig have become, but plenty competent, Despaigne showed great versatility and control in his pitches and was never seriously challenged in seven innings of work.

“Pitched great, didn’t he?” Black gushed.  “(Padres’ minor league brass) said that there was enough flashes through these minor league outings that this guy knows what he’s doing.  And that’s what he did today.”

Despaigne threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 24 batters he faced and needed just 86 pitches to get through seven innings.  Cain, for that matter, threw first-pitch strikes to 24 of the 29 batters he faced and only walked one guy.  The Giants’ preferred staff anchor threw 102 pitches on the evening and looked far better than he did in Chicago last week where the White Sox touched him for eight runs on 10 hits. 

On Tuesday, the Giants turn to Tim Hudson who will face the Padres’ Jesse Hahn at 7:15pm.

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants: No quit A’s keep rolling against some of baseball’s best;Everytime Mad Bum comes out he brings that no hitter feel

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by Michael Duca

Oakland A’s update: The Oakland A’s relief pitching was really solid all the way through the entire series against the Boston Red Sox over the weekend. As A’s manager Bob Melvin said before Sunday’s game the players don’t quit and if their seemingly out of a game and their down 6-1 in the eighth inning they still don’t think their out of the game and Sunday they weren’t.

Major League players, coaches and managers would never admit to being blown away even if they are, this season still has 100 games to run almost 90 games to run anyway. They are impressed with the way the A’s play, they’ve got a bunch of guys that aren’t well known outside of Oakland.

The A’s seem to perform in a variety of circumstances, Sunday in the tenth inning they had to give up the designated hitter because one of their catchers took another knock to the noggin on a back swing. Sooner or later their going to have to take a hard look at whether or not they have to start telling players to limit their back swings because a 360 degree back swing is just flat out dangerous and it doesn’t accomplish anything but it certainly endangers catchers.

They wound up giving up the DH and the pitchers spot was going to hit in the tenth inning and the A’s went to Sean Doolittle as their hitter and he made the last out of the game and Doolittle is a guy who as recently as four years ago counting A ball and fall league had impressive seasons. The A’s have versatility almost everywhere you look.

San Francisco Giants update: Giants pitcher Madison Baumgarner is the staff ace you aticipate him having no hit stuff everytime he goes out to the mound. His only rival is a left handed starter in the National League and that’s the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw. Baumgarner and Kernshaw are similar guys, they’re country kids with probably not the prettiest beards in the world. Their hard throwing lefties that can easily strike out ten, 12, or 13 guys on any given night he’s been absolutely rock steady and that’s what you expect from your staff ace.Baumgarner is working hard, he works quickly he throws to contact, he’s willing to trust his defense because he works quickly his defense is trustworthy.

The Giants Joe Panik had two hits in his first Major League start Sunday night at Chase Field and also did a fine job with the glove in his debut. Panik is a nice looking young player but people shouldn’t put too many expectations on him. I don’t want him to get too tied up in the structure in the pressure of this pennant race.

If Panik is able to do what a rookie is able to do which is play within his self and do what he was doing at the previous level that’s good enough. You can find somebody to play second base on a everyday level who’s a solid fielder and who can bring a .850 OPS to bear on the game that’s absolutely all you could ask for. Panik doesn’t need to try and be better now that he’s a Major Leaguer he doesn’t need to push himself.

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

Thats Amaury’s News and Commentary: U.S. Men trying to get the mind set not to lose to Germany on Thursday at game’s end

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by Daniel Dullum for Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX–The U.S. Men’s team is still alive in this set of matches in Brazil. Who saw this coming with a 2-2 loss and a draw on Sunday night against Portugal. The U.S. is playing remarkably well and generally the U.S. doesn’t qualify for the World Cup to begin with and to see them enjoy this kind of success it’s a shame they lost.

Its a shame they lost the game in extra minutes but their not a favorite to begin with and to make it to that round 16 would be awesome. It’s very exciting especially for generations who have grown up playing soccer in the U.S. even causal fans are paying attention now and a lot more people are familiar with the game and as a result fans are pretty jazzed about what is going on.

Giants are back on track: After losing last Friday night for their sixth consecutive loss San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy remarked saying “that’s baseball that happens all the time. It happens to every team good and bad, your going to go through a stretch where you lose five or six. Just like you can win five or six.”

For Bochy and the Giants clubhouse there was no sense of panic at at all and sure enough Saturday and Sunday the Giants were back on track. They got good starting pitching and it starts there. The key hitting fell into place accordingly.

The one Panic that the Giants don’t seem to mind on their team is rookie Joe Panik who made his big league debut on Sunday with some great defense and his first two hits in the show to take two souvenirs home. Panik has some flashy plays over at second base and if he was a nervous rookie he certainly didn’t act like one. Panik seemed very poised and it energizes a team a little bit when you call somebody up and they come up and get you going and it’s all positive.

Finally as far as pitcher Matt Cain in concerned he will get back on track eventually he had these stretches too where for some reason he can’t seem to get his pitches over the plate and that gets him in trouble and you’ll see him in the second half for the All-Star break straighten out.

NFL Cheerleaders starting to make some noise about getting paid: Cheerleaders in the NFL goes back to the 1970s when the Dallas Cowboys got it started off and for the most part over the years these ladies have taken these jobs knowing that they weren’t going to get paid very much.

These jobs were more for the status, more for getting their modeling or show business career going. Whatever that motivation is, should they be making a little more? Probably, the NFL is like a money printing machine and there is no reason why the cheerleaders can’t be compensated properly.

They make a lot of public appearances aside from games that people don’t know about. They definitely shoud be paid and there is no reason not to.

Daniel Dullum is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez who is taking the day off, Daniel files A’s game reports for http://www.sportsradioservice.com every Thursday

Giants need to regroup

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By Jeremy Harness

The Giants had a day off Thursday, which means one thing: they didn’t lose a game that particular day. That isn’t something that they’ve been able to claim for quite a while.

Hey, they say there’s a silver lining to everything, right?

OK, we may be going a little overboard here, but if you’re a Giants fan, there is definitely a cause for concern.

Here are the facts: the Giants have lost eight of their last nine games, including dropping their last five contests after getting swept in three games by the National League West rival Colorado Rockies and then falling twice in a row to the Chicago White Sox.

The Giants (43-29) are still four games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West, but if they don’t get it together quickly, starting with a three-game series that begins Friday night in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, things can get quite interesting in a hurry, especially considering the fact that the Dodgers have won each of their past three games.

On the other hand, this slide may be exactly what the Giants needed, a reality check to let them know that it is not going to be smooth sailing throughout the season, as it was until the losing streak began two weeks ago.

Tim Lincecum can get the Giants back on the right track Friday night, as he takes the ball against Arizona’s Josh Collmenter, who began this season in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.

However, to say the Lincecum has not fared well against Arizona is a bit of an understatement. The right-hander is 1-7 with a 6.79 ERA in his last 10 starts against the Diamondbacks.

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants commentary: A’s Norris seeing everything at the plate;Giants Cain struggling and not focusing

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–Before we get started for those of you who didn’t know Sam Goldman, Sam was a college Sports Information Director and worked the Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T before the game moved to Levis Stadium in Santa Clara. Sam also worked San Francisco Giants baseball in the information department and was a big asset to information for players, coaches, and managers whether it be in baseball and football.

Sam Goldman passed away Tuesday night at the age of 87 our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. Sam was more than an ikon he was a pioneer, Sam was the first to make that job truly a professional job he’s in the SID Hall of Fame.

Oakland A’s update: Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish got lit up by the A’s which is rare for Darvish who surrendered five hits, three runs all earned and walked five on Tuesday night. No doubt the A’s are in his head. Darvish beat the A’s the very first time he faced them and hasn’t beat them since. They are paitent they wait out his pitches that are out of the zone and when he’s required to throw strikes based on the count they seemed to know where it’s going to be.

Lots of offense in this series with Texas Monday night the Rangers took the series opener 14-8, Tuesday the A’s went to work and won 10-6 and when the weather warms up the A’s get their hitting shoes on. It’s just hasn’t been that way in this series. It was during the Yankees series there was a 10-5 (A’s win) and 7-0 (Yanks win) game the Coliseum is a hitters ball park when it’s warm.

A’s catcher Derek Norris has been seeing the ball hitting .359 going into Wednesday afternoon’s game and Norris hit a three run homer in his first at bat on Sunday on Father’s day against the Yankees, he hit a three run home run against the Rangers on Tuesday night and the way rest of the game went it must have been Wicked Step Mother’s day.

Also on the Texas Rangers I’m amazed that Rangers manager Ron Washington is managing this team you would think at this point in the season think Alan Alda would be needed to start a regular M*A*S*H unit for these injured players. It’s a wonder how the Rangers hang in there and it’s wonder how Wash has done it, it’s one of the greatest managing jobs that’s ever been seen how he’s able to keep this team on an even keel and keep them competitive.

Giants update: Matt Cain’s struggles in his last outing on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Cain pitched five innings, gave up ten hits, eight runs, seven of them was earned. The Giants lost that one by six runs 8-2. That game was an absolute puzzlement. They went through the first two innings on 22 pitches and retired the first two guys in the third inning and then he gave up a scratch single to the White Sox Adam Eaton.

In a nine pitch at bat the Sox Gordon Beckham hits the ball out of the ball park for his fifth homer of the year and Cain gets away from the fast ball and starts throwing the slider, he’s not throwing strikes and the hitters wait him out and it just snowballs on Cain. His pitches were sharp his command and his control was good as they’ve been at anytime in the last several years to the first eight hitters and then everything deserted him.

Eventually his fielding deserted him, everything deserted him, the Giants Gregor Blanco made a couple of questionable plays and some misjudged balls. To Blanco’s credit it was twilight time based on the swings the guys took their first steps back and it was wrong and it was both times.

That sort of stuff seems to snowball when your winning two out every three games, everything you do like tag up and take third on a play when the Giants played the New York Mets on the last homestand on Sunday and then all of a sudden you stop doing that for awhile and some how the other team seems to be doing everything right and your whole game goes to hell in a hand basket.

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