Category: That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast with Barbara Mason: Do the Giants have a shot at being viable this season?; Puig tries to take on the whole Pirates team in brawl; plus more

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Photo credit: @BruceBochy

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 It’s early in the season, but do the San Francisco Giants (4-8) have the players it takes to get out of the cellar and make this a viable season?

#2 The Cincinnati Reds’ Yasiel Puig wasted no time making things happen between himself and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. After Chris Archer Pirates pitcher hit the Reds’ Derek Dietrich in the backside, Dietrich took exception to getting hit and started jawing at Archer at that point both benches emptied and Reds star Yasiel Puig tried to take on the entire Pirates team.

#3 Talk about the Kyrie Irving-Kevin Durant paring at the New York Knicks for next season. How will this important would a tandem like this be for the Knicks and how will it impact Golden State?

#4 The Oakland A’s, who won three of four from the Boston Red Sox, went out on the road and got swept in three games from the Houston Astros. The A’s still made the third game competitive with a one run loss. The Astros played catch up ball in order to win. The A’s lost the first game 12-4 of the four game series in Baltimore. In game two the A’s got a 13-2 win on Tuesday night.

#5 Oracle Arena is the home of many memories for fans, reporters, players and coaches Sunday. Was the last regular season game for Golden State what did you take away from 47 years of sports events at the arena in Oakland?

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez, who does News and Commentary podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: US Government cancels MLB deal with Cuba

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Photo credit: seattletimes.com

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The Trump administration on Monday declared a December deal between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation illegal. That would have allowed Cuban athletes to play in this country without having to defect the island. This was intended to prevent Cuban players from risky escapes. Kendrys Morales, now playing with the A’s, unsuccessfully tried for nine times before he finally could escape to the US. Cuban players are sometimes with paid smugglers, and at other times on their own in home-made crafts. The deal was similar to those countries in the Major Leagues with foreign players, like Japan and other countries. The American baseball clubs would pay to those countries for the rights to acquire their players.

I believe this was the right decision because the Cuban government was trying to make money using their players as chips in a country with no freedom of movement. This deal would have only benefited the Cuban government, who for over half century has ruled the Cuban people, under a dictatorship. It was Cuba who abolished professional sports, including baseball, in 1961 when communist dictator Fidel Castro gave the order.

To this day, the average Cuban citizen still risk their life to defect the island. The deal that was abolished gave preference just to Cuban baseball players and not the regular non-baseball Cuban citizen. This is the hypocrisy of the Cuban dictatorship that was willing to use Cuban players to leave the island legally while making money from MLB, while the average Cuban citizen could not take advantage of such a thing. The difference here is that although the US has similar deals with Japan and other baseball-playing countries, these are all countries with friendly relations and commerce with the US. Cuba does not. The Cuban government still maintain the line of the old Russian/Soviet Union communist system of hostility towards the US.

As recently as late last year, US diplomats at the US Embassy in Havana were mysteriously getting sick — at least 25 of them were ill. I do not believe that government should interfere with sports, but in the case of what Cuba has been trying to do with their baseball players, I agree with the new policy. I am sure that Cuban baseball players will continue arriving in the US, because like any pro baseball player, their goal and dream is to make it to the MLB.

I never forgot the last time I sat and talk with Cuban baseball star Orestes “Minnie” Minoso in Chicago in 2007. He sat with me on the radio broadcast, as I was doing the LA Angels’ play-by-play in Spanish and when I asked him about the first time he arrived from Cuba to play in the MLB, he told me: “When I first arrived in the US in 1949 I would have played for free just for the privilege to be in the Major Leagues” Years later(in the 1950’s) Minoso signed a $25,000 contract with the Chicago White Sox, at that time one of the most lucrative contracts for a Hispanic player in baseball.

Note: In 1958 the average salary in the US was $10,000 per year, a new car $1,900 to $3,000, gas was .24 cents per gallon, bread was 0.19 cents a loaf, and a first-class postage stamp was 0.4 cents.

The dream of all Cuban baseball players is that someday their country can truly be free and allow their people to travel freely in and out of the island — therefore, giving them the opportunity to come to the US to play baseball. Minoso and many others had that opportunity, but today, Cuban players have been denied the freedom of travel since 1960. That was a law established by the Cuban dictatorship and not by an US administration.

For most of us who are spoiled with technology, it was until 2018 that the Cuban government allowed internet access via cell phones to their 11.2 million citizens.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Exhausted, old, and living in the past, the Giants better get used to last place

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photo from nbcbayareasports.com: San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy doffs his cap to the fans at the introduction of the Giants at the home opener at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Friday afternoon vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

There is no guarantee sellout at SBC, Pac Bell, AT&T or Oracle Park anymore for San Francisco Giants fans and the dream of another World Series trophy in the near future is just that — a dream.

Looking at the National League West, there is little doubt that even the Padres have much more life, youth and talent than the aging Giants. You want a good surgeon,with lots of experience to operate on you, but in today’s baseball, youth is what is driving the game, not experience. Giants tried to sign Bryce Harper to a short two-year deal, but truth be said,why would he play in San Francisco, in a ballpark that is anything but a hitting paradise, when he could and did, wound up signing a lifelong contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, who play in a park that is truly a power-hitters dream.

Most teams are getting younger and younger, but the Giants obviously never got the memo, they live on days past,not on the present. Giants are anything but exciting. Their hitting is pathetic, they have no speed, and although their pitching is not bad, they feel a tremendous amount of pressure because when they are down early in a game, they can’t come back.

The most exciting player for the Giants is a guy who is getting paid by the Red Sox. Yes, Pablo Sandoval, who has been relegated to the most difficult job in the game, a pinch-hitter, and he seems to deliver, energize and excite the fans. Sandoval has all the passion that this team lacks.

The Giants made lots of mistakes giving huge contracts to players, whose best years were in the past: Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto Jeff Samardzija, and Evan Longoria. There lies most of the big money on their payroll. They did this to please their fanbase. Loyalty might be very important in politics, when when it comes to baseball? Winning three World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 recruited thousands of new Giants fans, but this is the Bay Area, and unless you are the Warriors, who just win, there comes a time where you cannot please your fans.

The Giants have a great propaganda machine in the Bay Area. When the Oakland A’s were winning titles and the Giants were not, the Giants were the favorite team to cover for the media, but I also remember when I could not give away free tickets for the Giants at Candlestick Park.

I was there to call the first ever game at what is today Oracle Park, back in the year 2000. The park was the talk of town, people were going to see the beautiful new facility, and even people that have never seen a baseball game, I remember a tourist family in SF from Italy that I met as they were walking to the park, just to be there. 10 years later, the people were going to see a championship team. The park is already 19 years old.

I looked at all the rosters in the NL West, and I just could not find a team inferior to the Giants starting this 2019 season.

It is early, yes, and although it might seem like a pessimistic look at these Giants, I am truly a realist, I like to look at the half of the glass that is full, rather than the half that is empty, but at this time, the Giants are empty. The Dodgers will win the division again, and it should not be even close, but the most interesting team in the NL West are the Padres, not only they signed Manny Machado, but Fernando Tatis Jr., the youngest player in the MLB, is truly an exciting player with great talent, an All-Star shortstop in the making. The Padres have lots of young and up and coming players, and I do not think they are a last place team anymore.

The Giants better get used to last place.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast with Barbara Mason: Final Four–Who’s going to win it all?; Stanford eliminated by Norte Dame women; plus more

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Photo credit: @SInow

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 The Final Four is amongst us and taking a look at each game this coming Sunday. Taking a look at Auburn-Virginia, Auburn has been the surprise — do you see this game being a real contest?

#2 Texas Tech-Michigan State is the next game on Sunday. The Red Raiders gave it their all when they beat Gonzaga last Sunday and the Spartans are one the winningest and high-ranking teams in the Tournament.

#3 The Stanford Women (31-5) and Notre Dame (34-3) battled it out, but after giving it their all all season long, the Cardinal could not withstand and lost to the Fighting Irish 84-68.

#4 The Oakland A’s started the 2019 season with two loses in Tokyo to the Seattle Mariners. Since that trip, it looks like the A’s have shaken off the jet lag and have been on track winning taking three of four from the Angels since coming back to Oakland and a win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night to open another four-game series.

#5 The San Jose Sharks’ troubles continue after they dropped their eighth loss in nine games to the Western Conference first place Calgary Flames on Sunday. The win secures the Flames for first place and what was worse was that it was done on the Sharks’ home ice.

Barbara Mason does That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast with Barbara Mason: Durant has some defensive skills; Will charges get dropped for Kraft?; plus more

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Photo credit: @basketballboom

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 Golden State’s Kevin Durant gets lots of credit for his work shooting the basketball, but his defensive prowess also is something that he should take a lot of credit for as well.

#2 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s solicitation charge is something that some have said shouldn’t even be that big of deal. Some say this is human trafficking. How deep is Kraft in and could he work things out with the justice system in Florida where this took place?

#3 How possible is it that the San Francisco 49ers could obtain the services of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Antonio Brown and the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr, who are noted two of the best wide receivers in the NFL?

#4 Oakland Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock is at the controls as the Raiders, who are about to get three first round picks for the 2019 NFL draft.

#5 The Oakland A’s are taking a close look at pitcher Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada as opening day starters. Fiers joined the A’s in August (5-2, 3.74 ERA) could be the most likely starter for opening day.

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez for News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Hall of Famer Frank Robinson Dead at 83

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Photo credit: @957thegame

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

One of the great players of his generation passed away today. Robinson, the only player to win the MVP in both leagues, fell 57 hits shy of 3,000 hits and hit 586 home runs. He was also the first African-American manager in the Major Leagues. He won the Triple Crown twice, one of only two players since then, as Carl Yastremski and Miguel Cabrera won it twice in either league. He was a member of the Hall of Fame after playing baseball for 21 years.

When you watched him play, you saw a big guy with speed, power and tremendous ability. Seeing Robinson running the bases was truly a spectacle. With his long legs, he seemed to get from the plate to second with fewer strides than most other hitters of his time. To this day, I remember the trade that took him from Cincinnati to the Baltimore Orioles in 1965 for pitcher Milt Pappas. His number 20 was retired by the Orioles, Indians and Reds.

As a manager for 16 years with four different teams, we had him here as the skipper of the San Francisco Giants (more on that to follow!). He began his managerial career with the Cleveland Indians during his last two years as a player, then managed the Giants, Orioles and Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals.

I covered him during Robinson’s managing years with the Giants from 1981-1984. Those were under .500 teams most of the time. He was not an easy guy to play for. Back then, I talked to some players (who I shall not name) who told me that. He was a disciplinarian, a Billy Martin type with a lot of character and will tell if your question was a good or stupid one.

Robinson could not manage today in this “politically correct” culture because he would offend somebody. He will tell you what he thought without much hesitation and without a filter. I cannot remember the year,but it was a night game at Candlestick Park and the Giants lost (nothing rare those years) and we went down to speak to him, who was a vintage Frank Robinson. One of the reporters asked him a question and he went totally off with a bunch of expletives which nobody could run then on the air and left his office and didn’t say a word, meaning the “press conference” ended. For the younger readers, those days the manager did not speak live on television after each game, as they do today. It was a bunch of writers, radio reporters and on occasion, local television stations taping for later use. He did not enjoyed those managerial days in San Francisco. He was very frustrated in San Francisco because those teams were not winning and he demanded better play. To be fair to Robinson(and like I always say), the best jockey in the world cannot win a race if he doesn’t have a good horse.

Another player from the Bay Area, Robinson went to McClymonds High School in Oakland, which was his birthplace. I will always remember him as one of the best players I ever saw. When he went to the Orioles, he joined another Robinson (Brooks), who was one of the best third basemen ever. To see Brooks and Frank in the same lineup with the Orioles, it was truly a pleasure as a fan.

Robinson also worked for the Commissioner, he was the ultimate baseball lifer and he had quite a life, may I say.

Rest in Peace.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: A Talk With A’s Top Prospect Jesus Luzardo

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Photo credit: sportingnews.com

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Jack London Square where the 2019 Oakland A’s Fanfest took place, dozens of thousands of A’S and baseball fans in general tasting one of the appetizers of the 2019 season, the Fanfest, and in a couple of weeks, Spring Training, and the start of the season not far behind either.

The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame had the kiosk closer to Scott’s Seafood Restaurant, fans stopped by to talk baseball. Others got information on the museum and this year’s new A’s stars. La Pedrique, the A’s first base coach first stopped y to sign and meet the public, then later talented 21-year-old prospect, Jesus Luzardo.

Luzardo is a 21 years old and extremely personable with a big smile. He truly enjoyed meeting A’S fan for the first time. I talked to him in Spanish. A Miami, Florida resident, he is totally bilingual. He was born in Lima, Peru, but most of his family is from Venezuela and he identifies himself as a Venezuelan.

While Luzardo signed autographs and posed for photo with A’s fans, I learned a lot about this young prospect. Of the top 100 MLB prospects, he comes in as #7.

When I asked him about the feeling of wearing the A’s uniform, he responded: “It is great, it is tough to make it to this level, and I am very happy today.” Originally from the Washington Nationals organization, the rookie lefty told me he is good friends with ex-A’s lefty Gio Gonzalez, as they both live in the Miami area.

He told me “Gio helped me the time we spend together.”

I asked him about what type of pitcher he considers himself to be in power and in control. He told me “Everything, I can throw the fastball also a breaking pitch and I can be funky also.”

Luzardo is currently single, but told me he has a girlfriend with a huge smile. Al Pedrique, the A’s first base coach, is also from Venezuela, and prior to Luzardo, he came over to our kiosk to sign autographs. Pedrique believes this kid is “the real thing.”

When I asked Luzardo, who will report to Mesa, Arizona, for Spring Training, about making the rotation this season, he responded “We will see, but I am ready for Spring Training.”

According to scouts, Luzardo throws around 98 miles per hour and other secondary pitches. For his age, I found him to be very confident and very smart,when it comes to baseball. He told me he had been playing all his life and to be here is truly a dream come true. Many fans already have known about him and were excited to meet him, wished him good luck. One guy said to him that he will be in the A’s pitching rotation this year.

The opportunity is there for Luzardo. We all know the A’s have a very good young talented lineup, so pitching will be the main focus, especially starting pitchers and aside from Frankie Montas, Luzardo is one of the other young arms that could definitely win a position in the A’S 2019 starting rotation. He came to the A’s from Washington in a trade with closer Blake Treinien, and he could be the missing link for what could turn out to be a great trade for the A’s.

Buena suerte a Jesus Luzardo, muchacho con mucho talento y personalidad.

Translation: Good Luck to Jesus Luzardo, a kid with a lot of talent and personality.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s Fanfest at Jack London Square This Saturday

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Baseball fans will be delighted when the Oakland Athletics’ Fanfest takes place this Saturday, January 26 at Oakland’s Jack London Square.

The Fiesta begins at 9:30 in the morning and ends at 2:30 in the afternoon. A’s players will sign autographs. There will be questions and answer sessions, giveaways, fun for the kids and the whole family as this event is the first to celebrate the return of the baseball season. In less than a month, the managers, coaches and players will report to Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona.

The weather is expected to be spectacular for this Fanfest (not far from where the A’S are planning to build their new ballpark). All kinds of foods will be available and live music for all to enjoy. After the off-season, fans are ready to return and support the A’s fter a very successful 2018 season.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Barry Bonds Snubbed by Cooperstown Again

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–In case anybody has forgotten, Barry Bonds still holds the record for the all-time home run leader with 762 over his career. Since he arrived from Pittsburgh in the early 1990’s, I traveled on the road with the Giants and Bonds under manager Dusty Baker and I called many of his home runs specially at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) by the McCovey Cove in San Francisco. The reason he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame is not because of his on-the field performance. Similar to pitcher Roger Clemens, who also had the same results this time.

Barry Bonds received 59.1 percent of the vote. You need 75% to get in. So the question is: Will he ever be inducted, and if so, when? I really cannot answer those questions because humans vote, and where there are committees and humans vote for these things, we never know what’s going to happen.

What we know is that in 2015 players were no longer on the Hall of Fame ballot for a maximum of 15 years. Now, it’s 10 years. So my educated prediction would be that he will make it during the next three years, and if not then it is up to the Veterans Committee. A player of Bonds’ caliber you would think is not looking forward to that committee, but maybe that is the best he could do. Giants great Orlando Cepeda was inducted by the vote of a Veterans Committee.

In baseball, like in politics and many other things, everybody has an opinion. As a player, Bonds belongs in Cooperstown. His accusations of steroids use obviously is keeping him out, there is nothing else stopping him from Cooperstown. When he went to court in San Francisco, all the public heard was Balco Laboratories and all the terminology for the steroids he allegedly used. He and the Giants didn’t enjoy very good publicity during that ordeal. And it was a circus as other players and even Mike Murphy, the longtime Giants equipment manager, had to testify that the size of his head got bigger through the years.

In conclusion, to get elected to any Hall of Fame, you need friends. And, to be honest, Bonds has a shortage of those, as of today; but like anything in life, things can change.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: A’s Radio History, Can It Repeat Itself in 2019?

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Photo credit: sportsradiopd.com

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

In 1978, A’s owner Charlie O Finley gave the broadcast rights for free to the UC Berkeley campus radio station, KALX 90.7 FM, with Larry Baer and Bob Kozberg at the microphone, calling the action. That same season I was calling the weekend games in Spanish for the old KBRG 105.3 FM San Francisco, with studios in the Merchandise Mart in Market Street. Carl Finley asked me to give the score every half inning in English because our signal was covering the Bay Area and the UC Berkeley campus station could not be heard at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot. By the way, if the name Larry Baer sounds familiar; yes, he is the same Larry Baer running the San Francisco Giants today.

The A’s ended their partnership in 2018 with 95.7 FM The Game, and as of today, there’s less than one month until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Arizona, and the team has not signed a new flagship station. Could it be that the A’s will not have a radio station to carry their games? How can they find sponsors if they might just go into Spring Training with no radio signal? They could even be broadcasting the games on the A’s website, but no commercial over-the-air radio station? Can history repeat itself from 1978?

Of course, the A’s will have full coverage of all their games on television, but if they cannot secure a local radio signal, that would be news that they are not looking forward to announce. At this time last year, the A’s were already advertising their Fanfest at Jack London Square. But today just a week and days away (their Fanfest is on January 26th at Jack London Square) and that fan favorite is not advertised on a their radio station because they simply do not have a carrier.

Unfortunately, it’s embarrassing and ridiculous, but these are the times we are living these days, radio is not the medium that it once was back in the day. With the advent of social media (Facebook has done live MLB games in recent years) and local team television, the absence of local radio in 2019 is very possible. The A’s have their network station aligned, but no local flagship station to provide the coverage

Welcome to 2019!