Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Harness

After about a month-long break, the PGA Tour was back in the swing of things on Thursday.

This week, Silverado Resort and Spa is holding its first tour event since 1980, when it hosted the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic, and the event itself has its most notable field in quite some time.

In addition to defending champ and U.S Ryder Cup participant Jimmy Walker, but other recognizable names in this year’s event include former FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker as well as Ryder Cup players Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar and Lee Westwood.

Making his PGA Tour debut this week is Max Homa, who played his collegiate Golf at Cal and spent last season on the Web.com Tour, which is considered to be the minor leagues of the PGA Tour. Another Cal grad in this week’s field is James Hahn, who is best known for his “Gangnam Style” dance following a birdie in the 2013 Phoenix Open.

So far, though, there are no big names on the leaderboard after the tournament’s first day, but there was plenty of good golf to be seen.

Andres Gonzalez and Sang-Moon Bae currently share the first-round lead by going six under par.

Meanwhile, Martin Laird is in third place all by himself after carding a five-under 67, while Brooks Koepka, who held the 54-hole lead in last year’s Open before falling to Walker, is tied for fourth with eight others with a score of four under.

Walker, on the other hand, had quite a rough opening round, as he finished Thursday with a three-over 75 and certainly has a lot of work to do if he hopes to make the cut and earn the right to play into the weekend.

He parred the first 13 holes of the opening round, but then he ended up three of the last five holes to find himself outside of the projected cut line.

Hahn is in the same category, as he struggled mightily on Thursday with a five-over round of 77.

By Jeremy Harness

When you talk to any PGA Tour player, you will inevitably come across a story of adversity that has caused them to dig down deep and decide if playing professional golf is really worth the grind.

Of those stories that will make their way into the mainstream, few are as compelling as the ones of Jarrod Lyle and Erik Compton, both of whom are in the field for this week’s Frys.com Open. Playing on the tour is certainly a grind, as maddening as at is rewarding, but it is undoubtedly a cakewalk in comparison with the journeys of these two men.

When he was nine, Compton was diagnosed with a condition called cardiomyopathy, where the heart muscle is inflamed and cannot pump as hard as it should. As a result, he has had to undergo two heart transplants, the first one at age 12 and the second procedure coming in 2008.

Compton has not only survived on the PGA Tour, but particularly based on his 2013-14 season, he has thrived. After playing mini-tours, as well as on the NGA Hooters Tour over the years, he won the Mexico Open on the Nationwide (now the Web.com) Tour in 2012 to win his first major tour event.

He made 16 of 26 cuts on the PGA Tour in 2012 before getting his first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in the 2013 Honda Classic, and then finished tied for second in last year’s U.S Open, considered the tour’s most difficult major.

“Last year was an awesome year,” said the 34-year-old Compton, who tees it up with Tim Wilkinson and Ben Martin on Thursday at 1:05 pm PST and on Friday at 8:05 am PST. “They’re doing great things with transplants (now), and today, I watched someone who just reached their 30 years after their first transplant.

“This is a special week to be here.”

Lyle hopes to mimic Compton’s success on the course, but he has already shown as much courage off of it. Lyle, who qualified for this week’s event on Monday with a round of 66, was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at age 17 and then suffered a recurrence of the disease in 2012.

Having that kind of condition can easily get one’s spirits considerably down, but Lyle does not show any of that, especially these days.

“In all honesty, I think the two times that I’ve had it, I don’t think I’ve ever said ‘why me,’” Lyle, 33, said. “It’s something that makes me very proud, that I’ve never sort of backed away from the fire. I’ve sort of come straight up to it.

“I’m not going to let it beat me because I’ve had things I’ve wanted to achieve.”

Lyle, who is grouped with Heath Slocum and Tom Gillis and tees it up Thursday at 7:15am PST and on Friday at 12:15pm PST, has certainly caught the admiration of Compton.

“He’s a hero to many people,” Compton said of Lyle. “What a strong individual he is for what he’s been through.”

By: Joe Lami

The San Jose Earthquakes were shutout by the Portland Timbers on Wednesday evening by the final score of 3-0. The Earthquakes were only able to dress 16 men due to injuries, suspensions and players loaned to their international squad, leaving them very short-handed. Earthquakes’ striker, Adam Jahn, was called up from Sacramento Republic FC to get his first MLS start of the season in the match, as well.

The Timbers got on the board first, in the 41^st minute of play, when Rodney Wallace was able to beat Quakes’ goalie, Jon Busch, on a tight angled shot. It would be the only goal of the first half.

Diego Valeri, of the Portland Timbers, who added their two other goals, owned the Second Half. The first one, came off of penalty kick in the 51^st minute. The penalty was set up when San Jose defender, Jason Hernandez, fouled inside his own box. Valeri added his second goal of the half just 20 minutes later, when he tapped in a rebound past Busch. Busch made the initial save on a shot from Wallace, but it left Valeri wide open for the easy tally.

San Jose’s best chance came late in the game, when Jahn found the crossbar on a beautiful feed from Sam Cronin. The second year striker added, “I hit it hard and high. A few inches lower would have been nice, but that’s how it goes sometimes”.

Busch is coming close to a record he does not want to see, as his seven saves on Wednesday bring him within ten of the season-high save record that Joe Cannon set in 2000. Busch commented on the style of play he saw from Portland, “They possess the ball. They create opportunities. They’re a very dynamic team going forward offensively. We knew we would have our hands full and they’ve got some attacking weapons, and they looked good tonight”.

Of course, Quakes’ head coach, Mark Waston, was not pleased with being shutout 3-0 on Wednesday night, but brought some positive out of the game, “Our guys kept fighting until the end. It’s a tough spot to be in.   They didn’t stop fighting and that’s a good quality.”

By: Phillip Torres

SANTA CLARA- The San Francisco 49ers (3-2) are set to face the ST. Louis Rams (1-3) on Monday Night Football in ST. Louis. San Francisco is coming off of a big 22-17 victory against Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara. The St. Louis Rams on the other hand are coming off of a 34-28 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Philly.

San Francisco is looking to get their first division victory of the season against the woeful Rams. The 49ers have only played one game in the division so far this season and they were defeated by the Arizona Cardinals 23-14 in the desert. The game on Sunday is a huge game as they will look to go 4-2 before traveling to Denver to face the AFC Champion Denver Broncos.

After the week seven showdown between two Superbowl favorites the 49ers will head into their bye week. But before these two weeks comes the Rams who are without their number one overall pick from a few years ago, Sam Bradford. The Rams are clearly not the same team without their franchise quarterback, who was lost for the season due to a torn ACL in game three of the preseason.

The 49ers will look to keep pace with the Seattle Seahawks and Cardinals for first place in the division. San Francisco is winners of two in a row and will look to keep that going as their next two games are on National Television. The defense will look to stay hot as they have played extremely well these past two games. One of the key contributors has been cornerback Parish Cox.

Cox has stepped up and has been starting in place of the injured Tramaine Brock. Brock, who has only played in the week one victory over the Dallas Cowboys was supposed to be the number one corner for San Francisco. But, Cox has been playing well enough to take over that role for the 49ers defense. Cox had the game clinching interception of former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith in the fourth quarter during the game on Sunday.

San Francisco will look to keep the offense going as they put up over 360 yards of total offense against Kansas City. One thing they will try to improve on is punching the ball into the end zone. Kicker Phil Dawson kicked five field goals for the Red and Gold in Sunday’s victory.

By Morris Phillips

Ryan Vogelsong doesn’t have a winning record in 2014, nor does he have a winning record in his nine-year, big league career filled with peaks and valleys.

His September audition for a critical post-season didn’t go well.  The 37-year old veteran made five starts and lost four of them, giving him a career-worst 13 losses in 2014.  Vogelsong simply didn’t make pitches in critical spots.  If he did make those pitches, his teammates didn’t support him with any offense.

And he wasn’t a winning pitcher in his career at AT&T Park heading into Tuesday’s critical Game 4 with a 20-21mark.  Against the Nationals his numbers were bloated with an ERA over six in nine lifetime appearances.

But given all that, and despite having credible options like Game 1 starter Jake Peavy or two-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum, manager Bruce Bochy handed Vogelsong the ball with a trip to the NLCS on the line.

“You know, Vogey, I think there’s a reason why he was out there tonight,” Bochy said.  “I told him that.”

“I’m proud of him, I really am, because he’s had some tough luck.  We’ve had one pitcher in this rotation that’s had some tough luck, whether it’s run support or what could go wrong went wrong   for him at times with bad hops or bloopers, errors, whatever.”

On Tuesday, Vogelsong didn’t have to worry about any of that stuff.  From his initial pitches in the first inning his velocity was up and his command was sharp.  In his five plus innings of work, he shut down the Nationals on two hits.  The electric atmosphere in the crowd provided a lift but Vogelsong did the rest starting with all the side work beginning after his final regular season start on September 26.

“You never know what you’re going to have until you go out there in the first inning, and the first couple came out of my hand pretty good.  You know, the crowd’s into us, the adrenaline’s running.  And I was really trying to make some mechanical adjustments over the last five or six days when I wasn’t pitching and I was just really focused on what I was doing with my lower half.

Just helped me get some velocity and make my pitches better, and was just trying to focus on that,” Vogelsong said.

Vogelsong re-signed with the Giants for one year in the off-season after a rough 2013 made him expendable.  The negotiations were arduous and the final contract numbers weren’t in favor of the pitcher but he never wavered in his belief of the organization or himself.

“You know this place is special, and especially for me being drafted by these guys and going on this long journey and being able to come back here and have success here.

This place is very special in my heart.  So to have another chance to pitch here tonight in front of these fans was amazing.”

And from the first pitches of the evening it showed.  Vogelsong started it, the fans picked up on it almost immediately, and the Nationals, who would hit just .188 as a team in the series were powerless to stop it.

And the unassuming pitcher with the underwhelming peripherals transformed.  Despite all the negative career numbers, Vogelsong performs in October: after Tuesday he’s 3-0 in five starts and the Giants have gone on to win all five.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-All year long, the San Francisco Giants have overcome adversity and in the end their season continues.

Joe Panik scored on an Aaron Barrett wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 43,464 at AT&TPark.

With the victory, the Giants advance to their third National League Championship Series in the past five years, where they will face the St. Louis Cardinals beginning on Saturday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

This will be a rematch of the 2012 NLCS that saw the Giants comeback from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Cardinals and advance to the World Series, where they would sweep the Detroit Tigers for their second World Series in three years.

By defeating the Nationals and moving on to the NLCS, the Giants have won their last seven postseason series in a row, with their last postseason series loss coming against the Florida Marlins in the 2003 National League Division Series.

Once again, the Giants starting rotation was lights out, as Ryan Vogelsong went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on just two hits, while walking two and striking out four.

Vogelsong is the first pitcher in Major League postseason history to allow one run or fewer in each of his first five career postseason starts, John Odom and Christy Mathewson each did it in their first four starts.

In the series, the Giants starting rotation went 2-1 with a minuscule 1.04 earned run average, walking just seven and striking out 31 in 34.2 innings.

Pablo Sandoval saw his Giants record14-game hitting streak snapped, as he went hitless in four at-bats.

Panik, who scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, snapped a 0-for-13, as he singled in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Giants got on board in the board of the second inning, as Gregor Blanco walked with the bases loaded to score Brandon Crawford, who singled to lead off the inning.

Following the Crawford single, Juan Perez reached on a Gio Gonzalez fielding error and Vogelsong dropped a perfect bunt that he beat out to load the bases for Blanco, who walked to force in the first run of the game.

Panik drove in the second run of the game, as he hit a groundball to Adam LaRoche at first and with Gonzalez covering, Perez scored from third base.

Bryce Harper drove in both of the Nationals runs, as he doubled in the top of the fifth inning to score Ian Desmond.

Harper then tied up the game in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit a Hunter Strickland and planted it into McCovey Cove.

It was the 104th Splash Hit since AT&TPark opened in 2000, the third in postseason play and the second by an opposing player.

Harper ended up driving in four of the Nationals nine runs in the series.

With his home run off of Strickland, Harper joins Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones as only players to hit four postseason home runs before turning the age of 22.

Harper also joins Cabrera as the only players under the age of 21 or younger to have three home runs in the same series.

Cabrera turned the trick in 2003, as he helped the Florida Marlins onto a victory over the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Hunter Pence made a fantastic leaping catch in the top of the sixth inning, as he leaped into the fencing to make the catch off a ball hit by Jayson Werth.

In the end, Strickland who gave up the home run to Harper ended up getting the victory and Thornton took the loss.

Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla combined to retire the final six batters, as the Giants to move on to the next round.

By Jeremy Harness

Unlike most other professional sports such as football, baseball, basketball and hockey, golf season really never ends.

As proof of that, the 2014-15 PGA Tour season kicks off on Thursday at Silverado Resort and Spa’s North Course, only four weeks after Billy Horschel claimed the season-ending Tour Championship that earned him the FedEx Cup trophy and a healthy $10 million prize for doing so.

Horschel is not in the field this week, but defending champ Jimmy Walker, fresh off his first-ever appearance in the Ryder Cup, is.

In an otherwise-subpar performance for the U.S team in a 16.5-11.5 drubbing at the hands of the European squad, the third straight time that the Americans have fallen to Europe, team captain Tom Watson called Walker one of the few bright spots of that weekend.

The 35-year-old from Boerne, Tex., earned 2 ½ points for Team USA, including a half-point in Friday afternoon’s play while securing a tie with teammate Rickie Fowler against Europe’s vaunted duo, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy, the only points that the Americans earned in that particular session that saw the cup begin to slip away from them.

He finished his Ryder Cup on Sunday with a 3&2 (led by three holes with two to play) win over Lee Westwood, a veteran of this competition who was a part of each of the past three Europe victories.

“The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I wouldn’t change anything that happened that week,” he said. “I think once you play in one, you really don’t want to miss it again.”

To help him get to this point, Walker jump-started his 2013-14 season by winning last year’s Frys.com Open at CordeValle with a 17-under total score of 267. Heading into the final round of the event, he trailed Brooks Koepka by three strokes.

Using a classic example of the saying “drive for show, putt for dough,” Walker used a deft putting stroke to eventually overtake Koepka with a five-under 66 to claim the title.

He sure didn’t do it with his driving accuracy. For the week, he hit just over 39 percent of his fairways, making him only the fourth tour player since 1983 to win a four-round event after hitting fewer than 40 percent.

But he certainly made up for it where it really counts: on the green. He led the entire field by an entire stroke per round in strokes gained while making a total of 446 feet of putts, including 24 putts longer than 10 feet, which is certainly a recipe for winning on the PGA Tour and has proven time and again to be the difference between a winner and the average player.

He used that momentum to catapult him to two more victories last season, the Sony Open in Hawaii in January as well as February’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

A relative unknown going to last season, he said that he has experienced a difference in not only his game, but also his appearance off the course.

“It’s funny, you get recognized more, especially after the year we had,” said Walker, who held the No.1 spot in the FedEx Cup for 36 of the 37 weeks last season, which includes a tour-record 30 consecutive weeks in the top spot, a streak that began with his win at the Sony. “But nothing has really changed for me as far as going about doing the things that I do, golf, how I do it, how I practice.

“I feel like I’ve got a good formula going, but I’m always continuing to try to get better, (and) still always trying to keep the pedal down and look down the road.”

Walker, along with Ryder Cup teammates Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar, is scheduled to tee off at 7:45am PST on Thursday and 12:45pm PST on Friday.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-With the National League Championship Series in their sights, the game slipped away from the San Francisco Giants on one play.

Wilson Ramos laid a bunt down the third base line in the top of the seventh inning, and Madison Bumgarner picked it up and threw it wide of third base, allowing Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper to score the first two runs on the Bumgarner throwing error and the Washington Nationals would go on to defeat the Giants 4-1 before a sellout crowd of 43,627 at AT&T Park.

The loss by the Giants ended their 10-game postseason winning streak, a National League record.

It was the first loss by the Giants in the postseason since losing Game Four of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals on October 18, 2012 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

“To be honest, I was hoping we would get an out there. He tried to do a little too much there on the bunt. You know, take the out. He tried to rush it. He threw it away. He threw it away well,” said Bruce Bochy.

Asdrubal Cabrera added a run-scoring single after the Ramos sacrifice bunt attempt and subsequent throwing error by Bumgarner to score Ramos to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

With the runs coming against Bumgarner, the left-hander saw his scoreless inning streak of 22 innings come to an end.

The streak by Bumgarner now owns the second longest scoreless streak in Giants history; Christy Mathewson owns the longest such streak at 28.0 innings that went from October 9, 1905 until October 14, 1911.

Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six.

Doug Fister, Bumgarner’s opponent on the mound, also went seven innings, allowing just four hits, while walking three and striking out three.

This was Fister’s first start in the postseason since Game Two of the 2012 World Series while pitching for the Detroit Tigers and against Bumgarner.

It was in that game that Fister took a ball of his head which led to the Giants scoring their only runs of the game, as the Giants took Game Two by the final of 2-0 on their way to their second World Series Championship in three years.

“But Doug pitched great. He was in command all day with everything. You know, he just continues to compete for us. And we were able to manufacture something there. Both sides of the diamond, the offense wasn’t there today, but we were able to get a couple guys on and lay down a bunt and that was the difference,” said Nationals manager Matt Williams.

Pablo Sandoval extended his postseason hitting streak up to 14 games, moving within one of tying former Giants centerfielder Marquis Grissom for the longest streak in National League history.

Grissom hit in 15 consecutive games for the Atlanta Braves in 1995-1996, and the postseason record is 17, held by Hank Bauer of the New York Yankees from 1956-1958, the recently retired Derek Jeter also for the Yankees in 1998-1999 and Manny Ramirez for the Boston Red Sox in 2003-2004.

Anthony Rendon continues his hot hitting, as he went 2-for-4 on the afternoon, raising his average to .467 (7-for-15), with all seven of his hits being singles.

The remaining seven players in the Nationals regular starting lineup are a combined 13-for-96, a .135 batting average.

Harper extended the Nationals lead to 4-0 in the top of the eighth inning, as he took a Jean Machi onto the Arcade in right field for his second home run of the series.

It was the third career postseason home run for Harper, and according to Baseball Reference, Harper is only the fourth player before the age of 22 with three or more home runs in the postseason.

Harper joins Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones, who all hit four postseason home runs before they turned 22.