Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Returning to the Oakland Coliseum to face his former team probably put a smile on the face of Carson Palmer, but the outcome was even better.

Palmer threw for 253 yards and threw two touchdowns, as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Oakland Raiders 24-13.

Former Stanford star Stepfan Taylor caught one touchdown and added one on the ground, while Taylor’s backfield mate, Andre Ellington picked up a combined 160 yards on the ground and thru air and the Cardinals raise their record to 5-1, their best start since 1976.

It was another tough loss for the Raiders, who fall to 0-6 on the season, their worst start since 1962.

Palmer found Michael Floyd for a 33-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Raiders came all the way to narrow the lead down to 14-13 early in the third quarter.

Taylor gave the Cardinals an eight-point lead in the third quarter after Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 53-yard field goal.

Rookie Chandler Catanzaro clinched the game with 29 seconds remaining, as he kicked a 41-yard field goal.

The Catanzaro field goal was the 15th straight to start a career, tying Greg Zuerlein of the St. Louis Rams, who set the record in 2012.

Derek Carr went 16-for-28 for 173 yards with no touchdowns, just one week after throwing four in a 31-28 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

Darren McFadden scored the only touchdown for the Raiders, as he scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter.

by George Devine, Sr.

After a frustrating 36-34 loss to UCLA last Saturday, Cal goes on to face Oregon in a special Friday night game (7 p,m.) at Levi’s Stadium. The weaknesses exposed against the Bruins will be no surprise for the Ducks.

Oregon, who beat Washington 42-20, did so with Marcus Mariota throwing for a pair of touchdowns and a total of 336 yards. Cal has yet to show that they have the sort of defense that can beat him….or freshman Royce Freeman who racked up four TDs and 169 yards on the ground. Cal’s D gave up 569 yards to the Bruins on Saturday, and missed so many tackles that the Bears began squibbing punts and kickoffs to compensate for this defensive flaw. There’s a lot to be worked on before Friday night in Santa Clara.

Remaining games are:

at Oregon State, Saturday, November 1, TBD

at USC, November 13, 6 p.m.

BIG GAME vs. Stanford, November 22, TBD

vs. BYU, November 29, TBD

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, October 18, 2014

TEMPE, Arizona – Arizona State used an aggressive defense and a big offensive first half Saturday to knock off Stanford 26-10 in Pac-12 football on a hot and humid evening before 59,012 sweltering fans at Sun Devil Stadium.

The win helped avenge ASU’s humiliating 38-14 loss to Stanford in last season’s Pac-12 championship game, also played in Tempe.

The Sun Devils (5-1 overall, 3-1 in the Pac-12 South) kept Stanford (4-3 overall, from sustaining a consistent offensive drive for most of the 82-degree, 30 percent humidity night. ASU held the Cardinal to 288 yards in total offense and recovered two of Stanford’s four fumbles.

Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici completed 23 of 33 passes for 245 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. D.J. Foster paced the Sun Devil ball carriers with 59 rushing yards on 24 carries and a touchdown, and caught seven passes for 92 yards.

ASU finished with 356 yards in total offense, and picked up 23 first downs to Stanford’s 14. Sun Devils kicker Zane Gonzalez booted four second-half field goals to help keep the Cardinal at bay while ASU’s inspired defense did the rest.

Kevin Hogan provided most of the offense for Stanford, completing 19 of 29 passes for 212 yards, but was sacked twice. The Cardinal totaled 76 yards on the ground, with Remound Wright topping Stanford with 40 yards on nine attempts.

Outside linebacker Kevin Anderson led the Cardinal with 10 tackles. Anderson, Blake Martinez and James Vaughters each registered one sack. Going into Saturday’s game, Stanford had held its opponents to under 20 points in 13 straight regular season games.

The first scoring opportunity for either team came with 5:04 left in the first quarter, when the Sun Devils’ Zane Gonzalez missed a field goal attempt from 48 yards out.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Sun Devils broke through with 8:28 left in the first half. A 1-yard dive by Foster capped an 81-yard drive on 13 plays, giving ASU a 7-0 lead.

Arizona State’s defense hounded Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan all night. Sun Devil cornerback Lloyd Carrington sacked Hogan on a third-down blitz with five minutes to play in the second quarter.

The Sun Devils’ ensuing drive stalled at its own 20, but Stanford’s Ty Montgomery muffed Matt Haack’s 54-yard punt, which was recovered by ASU’s Damarious Randall at the Cardinal 12.

Five plays later, with 1:58 left in the half, ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici found Jaelen Strong open on a post route in the end zone for a 3-yard TD pass.

Stanford and Arizona State swapped field goals in the third quarter. Jordan Williamson connected from 40 yards out at 9:31 to put the Cardinal on the board, and, with 5:37 remaining in the quarter, the Sun Devils responded with a 25-yard field goal by Gonzalez, putting ASU up 17-3.

ASU drove to the Cardinal 15 in the opening drive in the fourth quarter, but safety Jordan Richards’ sack of Bercovici moved the Devils back to the 25. From there, Gonzalez made it 20-3 when he nailed a 47-yard field goal with 12:50 to play.

Stanford cut ASU’s lead in half with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by fullback Patrick Skov with 11:23 remaining in the fourth quarter. The key play in the drive was a 31-yard scramble by Hogan.

The Sun Devils increased their lead to 23-10 when Gonzalez tacked on a 25-yard field goal with 4:07 to play. The 29-yard drive was set up by Ben Rhyne’s 36-yard punt out of the end zone.

The Cardinal’s Christian McCaffrey returned the ensuing kickoff by Alex Garoutte out of the end zone to the Stanford 19 where his fumble – forced by ASU’s Deandre Scott and recovered by Ezekiel Bishop – gave Sun Devils the ball at the Stanford 22. This quickly led to another Gonzalez field goal, a 31-yarder with 3:29 left that extended ASU’s lead to the final count of 26-10.

Next week, Stanford hosts Oregon State for its annual “Reunion/Homecoming” contest at Stanford Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. PDT.

CARDINAL NOTES: ASU leads the series 17-13. … Stanford was shut out in the first half for the first time in 87 games. Last time that happened was in 2007 against Washington State. … This was the fifth time since 2008 that Stanford faced a higher ranked Pac-12 opponent on the road. It happened twice in 2009 and 2012. … Saturday’s win over Stanford completed a three-game stretch in which Arizona State faced an AP Top 25 team, something the program has never previously experienced. The Sun Devils followed a 62-27 loss to UCLA with a 38-34 win over USC.

By Jeremy Kahn

When the 2014 season very few people thought that this version of the San Francisco Giants would make another run towards the postseason.

Obviously, people forgot that this is an even year and in the past two even years, the Giants made a great run to two World Series titles in 2010 and 2012.

Well, this is an even year and once again, the Giants are on their way back to the World Series for the third time in the past five years.

Awaiting the Giants in the World Series is the Kansas City Royals, a team that returned to the postseason for the first time since 1985.

These two teams faced each other back in the second weekend in August, and the Giants left Missouri’s largest city with three consecutive losses after being swept by the upstart Royals.
Despite opening with a 42-21 record, and a nine and a half game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers early in the season, the Giants faltered and slipped into the Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Behind a Brandon Crawford grand slam, the Giants shutout the Pirates 8-0 to move on to the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, the best team in the National League in 2024.

The Giants could have cared less the Nationals were the best team in the NL, as they defeated them in four games, including a 18-inning thriller that saw Brandon Belt hit a solo home run to give them a 2-1 victory.

Moving onto the NLCS for the third time in five years, the Giants would be an underdog against the St. Louis Cardinals in a rematch from the 2012 NLCS that saw the Giants comeback from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Cardinals in seven games.

Once again, the Giants came up with some heroics, as they won Game Three on a walk-off throwing error by Michael Wacha and then clinched the pennant on a walk-off three-run home run by Travis Ishikawa.

The World Series begins on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, and will continue there on Wednesday before heading to the Bay Area over the weekend.

By Jeremy Kahn

The last time the Kansas City Royals were in the World Series, there were only 26 teams in the major leagues and there were no teams in Colorado, Arizona and Florida.

Fast forward 29 years, and the Royals not only returned to the playoffs for the first time since defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in a thrilling seven-game series, but now they are just four wins away from winning the World Series for the second time in team history.

The Royals’ opponent in the World Series is the San Francisco Giants, a team that is making their third World Series appearance in the past five years.

Things were looking bleak for the Royals, as they fell to 48-50 on July 21; however from the next day until August 19, the Royals won 22 out of their next 27 games , including passing the three-time defending Central Division Detroit Tigers on August 11, the latest that the Royals were in first place since August 29, 2003.

Ned Yost’s team was in first place until September 12, when the Tigers passed them to take the Central for the fourth consecutive season.

The Royals finished the season with a record of 89-73, the most for the team since 1989, and clinched their first ever wild card appearance.

In the wild card game, the Royals defeated the Oakland A’s 9-8, when catcher Salvador Perez hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning.

The Royals trailed the A’s 7-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

After defeating the A’s in the wild card game, the Royals swept the American League Western Division Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in three games, moving on to the American League Championship Series for the first time in 29 years.

Awaiting the Royals in the ALCS was the AL Eastern Division Champion Baltimore Orioles, who swept the Royals division rivals, the Tigers.

In the ALCS, the Royals turned the same trick that they did against the Angels and swept the Orioles in four games to clinch their first AL pennant in 29 years.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Travis Ishikawa was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates when the 2014 season began and now with one swing of the bat, he helped the San Francisco Giants obtain their goal.

Ishikawa hit a three-run walk-off home run off of Michael Wacha in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Giants defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 to win their third National League Championship in the past five years.

He is the fourth player in major league history and first in NL history to hit a walk-off home run to send his team to the World Series.

Magglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers did it in 2006 against Huston Street of the Oakland A’s, three years earlier, Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees did it against the Boston Red Sox and Chris Chambliss did it for the New York Yankees off of Mark Littell of the Kansas City Royals in 1976.

Wacha cane on for the first time in the postseason, and promptly gave up a single to Pablo Sandoval, and then retired Hunter Pence on a fly out, then walked Brandon Belt and then Ishikawa hit one into the right field seats.

Michael Morse was the hero just one inning earlier, as he hit a game-tying solo home run off of Pat Neshek that sent the sellout crowd of 43,217 into an absolute frenzy.

After Morse hit the home run that tied up the game, Bruce Bochy brought in Santiago Casilla; however he gave up a single and two walks to load the bases and Bochy went to the bullpen again.

Bochy brought on veteran Jeremy Affeldt, and he faced just batter and he retired Oscar Taveras on a ground ball back to Affeldt, who ran to the base for the final out of the inning.

Madison Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out five as he did not fare in the decision.

Adam Wainwright, who dropped the opener of the NLCS at Busch Stadium went seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while walking two and striking out seven, as he did not fare in the decision.

Jon Jay gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, as he hit a scorching double over the head of Travis Ishikawa to score Tony Cruz from second base.

Cruz led off the frame with a walk against Bumgarner, then advanced to second base on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Adam Wainwright and then after Matt Carpenter walked, Jay picked up his second hit of the night.

Joe Panik gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning, as he hit a two-run home run onto the arcade in right field.

Gregor Blanco got the rally started in the inning, as he singled with two outs and then Panik hit his first ever home run at AT&T Park.

The Panik home run was the first by a Giants player since Brandon Belt hit a solo home run in the top of the 18th inning in Game Two of the National League Division Series on October 4 at Nationals Park.

Just one-half inning following the Panik two-run home run, Matt Adams hit his third home run of the postseason and then two batters later, Tony Cruz hit his first home run of the postseason to give the lead back to the Cardinals.

Adams helped the Cardinals advance to their fourth NLCS in a row, as he hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off of Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cardinals became the first team since the 1998-2001 New York Yankees to advance to four consecutive championship series.

Bumgarner looked shaky in the early going, as he gave up back-to-back singles to Jay and Matt Holliday in the first inning; however he was able to get out of the jam, as Jhonny Peralta lined out to Pablo Sandoval, who quickly threw to Panik to get Jay for the final out of the inning.

Wainwright got off to a tough start as well, as he allowed a leadoff single to Blanco in the bottom of the first inning, but was then able to get Panik to fly out to Jay in center field, then Buster Posey grounded out to shortstop for the second out and then Wainwright got out of the jam, as he got Pablo Sandoval to groundout to Kolten Wong at second base to end the inning.

The Giants blew up a big opportunity in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Sandoval doubled to leadoff the inning, Hunter Pence then walked, but then Brandon Belt lined out into a double play and after a Ishikawa walk, Brandon Crawford struck out to end the inning.

Following the Ishikawa walk in the bottom of the fourth inning and subsequent strikeout of Crawford, Wainwright did not allow another base runner.

On the other side of things, Bumgarner did not allow anyone to reach base following the Cruz home run before being pulled.

By: Phillip Torres

SANTA CLARA- The San Francisco 49ers (4-2) are set to face the AFC Champion Denver Broncos (4-1) in Denver on Sunday Night Football. In a matchup that has two of the powerhouse teams in the NFL, the game is more than deserving to be on National Television.

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is coming off of perhaps his best game of the season as he threw for 343 yards and three touchdowns against the St. Louis Rams. San Francisco beat the Rams 31-17 in a dominant victory on Monday Night Football. After a slow start on offense the 49ers stepped on the gas peddle and never looked back. It started with an 80 yard touchdown pass from Kap to Brandon Lloyd. The score came right before the end of the second quarter.

The Broncos are coming off of a 31-17 road victory over the New York Jets as well. The victory for Denver improved their record to 4-1 and keeps them just one game back of the San Diego Chargers. Peyton Manning remains a top quarterback in this league as he is still playing extremely well for a man his age.

San Francisco will enter the game on a three game winning streak. An impressive streak that holds victories against the 5-1 Philadelphia Eagles, Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs, and a dominant victory in ST. Louis. the winning streak has the 49ers at 4-2 and in a great position to be sitting at 5-2 going into their bye week after a victory in the Mile High City.

The task will not be easy, as Denver is still trying to prove that they are the team to beat in the AFC. The Broncos would hold a wild card spot of the season ended today, and they feel like they are a better team that that. Denver’s receiving core will be a tough task to handle for the 49ers secondary, but Perish Cox, the NFL’s interception leader will not back down from the challenge. Cox has played exceptional since taking over for the injured Tramaine Brock as the number one starting corner. Cox currently leads the NFL with three interceptions.

A victory in Denver is crucial for a few reasons. One being that the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks have easy opponents. The Seahawks will be at St. Louis and the Cardinals will be hosted by the 0-5 Oakland Raiders. If things works out the way they should, the Cardnials will be 5-1 and Seattle will be 4-2. So, a victory to put San Francisco at 5-2 is very important.