Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Kahn

Entering the playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons, the San Francisco Giants are facing an opponent that they last faced in 1971.

Coming off their first division championship since division play began just two years earlier, the Giants faced the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were in the midst of three straight National Eastern Division Championships from 1970-1972 under Danny Murtaugh.

Led by Roberto Clemente, former Encinal (Alameda) High School star Willie Stargell, the Pirates advanced to their first World Series since 1960 after defeating the Giants three games to one.

Over the past 43 seasons, there are many links between these two teams; however just one comes to the mind of both Pirates and Giants fans.

After helping lead the Pirates to three straight division championships under Jim Leyland, the most highly anticipated free agent of the 1992 class left Pittsburgh and returned to the place that his father and godfather played and that free agent’s name was Barry Bonds.

While in Pittsburgh, the talented leftfielder won two National League Most Valuable Player Awards, and along with Bobby Bonilla, Jose Lind, Andy Van Slyke and the pitching arm of Doug Drabek, the Pirates advanced to the National League Championship Series from 1990-1992.

Unfortunately, the Pirates season would end with heartbreak in each of those years, as the Cincinnati Reds defeated them in six games in the 1990 NLCS and to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1976.

In that World Series, they would sweep the heavily favored Oakland A’s in four straight games for their first World Series Championship since the days of the Big Red Machine of 1976.

The following season, the Pirates would face the upstart Atlanta Braves, who finished last in the National League Western Division in 1990 and became the first National League team to ever go from worst to first in one season.

That Braves team led by David Justice, Chipper Jones, David Justice and the arms of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, the Braves defeated the Pirates in a thrilling seven game series.

In would be in the next NLCS that would be a classic of all ages, as the Braves came back from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Pirates 3-2, when former Pirates first baseman Sid Bream slid under the tag of Mike LaValliere to beat the throw from Bonds and send the Braves for the second straight year.

Following that series, Bonds left Pittsburgh for the Giants and the Pirates failed to make the postseason until 2013, a span of 21 seasons.

On the other hand, the Giants with Bonds in the lineup, made the playoffs three times, including a trip to the 2002 World Series, where they lost to the Anaheim Angels in seven games.

Between 2003 and 2013, the Giants returned to the postseason on two different occasions, where they won the World Series both 2010 and 2012, their first World Championships since moving to San Francisco in 1958.

By George Devine, Sr.
After a double-overtime win over Colorado, 59-56, last Saturday in Strawberry Canyon, the Bears have found the final piece of this season’s puzzle: endurance. That game marked the second time in a row, and the second game in four, that Cal went beyond regulation. The first time was a heartbreaking loss at Arizona, and the win over the Buffaloes showed that the blue and gold can hang in there for the win in nail-biters like this. Now 3-1, the Bears go to Washington State (2-3) for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, October 4.
The Cougs’ chief weapon will be Connor Halliday, who passed for 417 yards against Utah in a dramatic 28-27 win over the weekend. This was a come-from-behind triumph for WSU, after being down by 17 points at halftime. The Cal secondary will be on the alert for receiver Vince Mayle, who had 8 catches for 120 yards.
Remaining games in the season are:
Saturday, October 11: Washington, TBA

Saturday, October 18: UCLA, TBA

Friday, October 24: Oregon, at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 1: @ Oregon State, TBA

Thursday, November 13: @ USC, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 22: Stanford, TBA

Saturday, November 29: Brigham Young, TBA

By Jeremy Kahn

After three straight losses in the United States to open the 2014 season, the Oakland Raiders traveled to London and suffered the same results.

Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdowns, as the Miami Dolphins defeated the Raiders 38-14 at Wembley Stadium.

On the afternoon, Tannehill went 23-for-32 for 278 yards and those two touchdowns passes against a Raiders defense besieged by injuries.

Tannehill found Mike Wallace for a 13-yard touchdown pass, and also found Dion Sims for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Lamar Miller scored two rushing touchdowns, and cornerback Cortland Finnegan returned a Raiders fumble 50 yards for another touchdown.

With both Sio Moore and Nick Roach out with injuries, the Raiders sent Kaluka Maiava; however he was injured on the Dolphins first series of the game.

Derek Carr drove the Raiders down the field on their initial series, as he found James Jones for a 30-yard pass play.

Just plays after the Carr to Jones pass play, Carr found Brian Leonhardt for a three-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a quick 7-0 lead.

Matt McGloin was forced to come into the game in the third quarter, as Carr was forced to leave the game with injuries to both his left ankle and left knee.

McGloin was the backup; because Matt Schaub did not make the trip to London after the birth of his child.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, September 27, 2014

Stanford overcame problems in the red zone, took advantage of a botched fake punt, and squeezed out a 20-13 Pac-12 football victory over Washington Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan’s 5-yard touchdown run with 4:59 left in the fourth quarter broke a 13-13 deadlock. Stanford (3-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) drove inside the Husky 30 six times and came up empty – including a missed field goal and a fumble by Hogan – until Hogan’s go-ahead score.

On 4th-and-9 on their own 47-yard line, Washington (4-1, 0-1) tried a fake punt that was stuffed by the Cardinal defense, setting up Stanford’s winning touchdown.

Stanford committed three turnovers. One of them was a fumble by Remound Wright that the Huskies’ Shaq Thompson returned 32 yards for a game-tying touchdown late in the second quarter.

Hogan wound up 17-for-26 passing for 178 yards, along with 53 rushing yards. Ty Montgomery opened the game with a 62-yard kickoff return, and later caught a 17-yard scoring pass from Hogan.

Washington was held to 179 total yards, including 98 passing. Huskies quarterback Cyler Miles threw a 25-yard scoring pass to Jaydon Mickens, but finished 15-of-29 passing and was sacked four times.

After Stanford surged ahead, the Huskies had one final possession, getting the ball on their own 48 with 1:49 to play and no time outs. Miles, after three incompletions, connected with DiAndre Campbell for an 11-yard play and a first down on the Cardinal 41.

Miles ran for another first down to the Cardinal 28, but was later penalized for intentional grounding. On the Huskies’ final play, Miles was forced to scramble on 4th-and-18 and tackled after a 5-yard gain.

Next week, the Cardinal travel to South Bend, Indiana, to face Notre Dame. Game time is 12:30 p.m. PDT.

By Morris Phillips

The reactions after Cal’s first Pac-12 conference win in over a year were priceless, and you didn’t have to talk to James Langford-who kicked the game-winning field goal in double overtime—to term them as such.

ESPN’s SportsCenter jumped all over it, opening their show with the emotional Bears gathered around their bear claw logo in their locker room chanting “This is Bear Territory!” The segment went near 30 seconds, an eternity on a highlight show recapping another busy Saturday of wall-to-wall sports activity.

Langford didn’t even try to recount the events directly after his kick sailed through the uprights. The Cal Poly transfer said he never looks up after a kick and wasn’t sure who was grabbing him in the aftermath.

“All the noise confirmed that it was good,” Langford remembered. “I didn’t really have to see it.”

The Cal kicker was actually run over by a Colorado defender on the play which drew a flag that was quickly announced as declined in the moments after the kick. But afterwards, Langford didn’t seem to remember that either.

“Being around your best friends and teammates for one of the best moments of your life is just totally priceless,” Langford said. “My cheeks kind of hurt from smiling so much.”

With the win, the Bears ended a streak of conference futility that saw them lose all nine conference games in 2013. Cal hadn’t won a conference home opener since 2010, and second-year coach Sonny Dykes hadn’t experienced a conference win since he was coaching Louisiana Tech in 2012.

“If there has ever been a team that knows about perseverance and sticking together, it’s these guys,” Dykes said. “They did a great job of finding a way to win the football game.”

Almost lost in all the hoopla was Cal’s devastating loss in Arizona last week on a last-second Wildcats’ Hail Mary pass that was the team melt down in muggy, desert heat after leading for almost the entire ballgame. The loss stands as the only blemish in what would have been a 4-0 start to this season, one year after the team finished 1-11.

The Bears seemingly fought uphill the entire afternoon, allowing the Buffs to score 21 points in the first quarter as the defense couldn’t catch its rhythm to counteract Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau. In a game in which the Buffs would run 110 offensive plays, Liufau put up Arena-like numbers with 46 of 67 attempted passes for 449 yards and seven touchdowns.

But in a game of back and forth, Jared Goff may have been less accurate, but more deadly, also throwing for 449 yards and seven touchdowns on just 23 completed passes. It was Goff’s beautifully-thrown, 40-yard touchdown pass to Chris Harper that had the Bears near victory, leading 49-42 with 2:24 remaining in regulation.

But instead, things were just getting started.

Liufau and Colorado responded in the final minute with a 30-yard touchdown pass that went to Bryce Bobo with 21 seconds remaining. That tied the score at 49 and put the proceedings into overtime.

On Cal’s third play of the extra session, Goff found Bryce Treggs streaking across the back of the end zone for a 56-49 Cal lead. But Colorado struck right back, needing just one play for Luifau to find Nelson Spruce from 25 yards out.

In the second overtime, the Buffs marched to Cal’s two-yard line then saw the Bears muster some resistance in a goal-line stand that saw the throwing Buffaloes decide to run. On fourth down, miscommunication cost Colorado as Liufau was thrown for a three-yard loss.

Surprisingly, after seven touchdown passes, the Buffs opted for run plays on each of their last four shots to take the lead. And the Bears defense that was on the field for 114 plays in Arizona and allowed 49 points, and 110 plays allowing 56 points on Saturday, found a way to make a play.

“Throughout the whole week, throughout the whole camp, spring ball, Coach (Art) Kaufman has always talked about, ‘play the next play,’ so whatever happened the play before that, forget it, wipe it clean, you have one more play to play,” Nickerson recounted.

The Bears look to carry their momentum into next Saturday’s trip to Pullman to face Washington State at 7:30pm.

 

 

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Going into the last two days of the regular season, Bruce Bochy decided to change up the lineup and rest his regulars.

Brandon Crawford hit a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning to score Matt Duffy and Brandon Belt, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 3-1 before 41,157, the 326th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&T Park.

Hunter Strickland pitched a perfect eighth inning to pickup his first major league win, while Santiago Casilla pitched a perfect ninth inning to pickup his 19th save of the season.

Crawford’s heroics came with the bases loaded, after rookie Gary Brown led off the inning and picked up his second hit of his career.

Duffy and Brandon Belt scored the two final runs for the Giants on the afternoon.

Jake Peavy went five innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking three and striking three; however he did not fare in the decision.

Eric Stults pitched just as good as Peavy, if not better, as he went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Peavy, along with Joaquin Arias, Belt, Crawford and Juan Perez were the only players in the starting lineup with major league experience prior to this season.

In place of the regulars, Bochy started rookies Gary Brown, Duffy, Andrew Susac and Chris Dominguez in place of regulars Gregor Blanco, fellow rookie Joe Panik, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, who did not start his first game since being acquired by the team from the Philadelphia Phillies in July of 2012.

Brown reached on a bunt single in the bottom of the third inning for his first hit as a major leaguer.

Belt drove in Duffy for the first Giants run of the afternoon, as the first baseman doubled off of Stults in the bottom of the first inning.

The Padres tied up the game in the top of the fifth inning, as Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly to score Wil Venable.

Pence did make a pinch hitting appearance in the bottom of the seventh inning; however he flew out to left field to end the inning.

Another regular, Pablo Sandoval came off the bench in the bottom of the eighth inning with the bases loaded; however he struck out for the second out of the inning.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-With the wild card already clinched, the San Francisco Giants were attempting to hold onto the slim chance of them hosting the wild card game.

Unfortunately, that will not happen, as the San Diego Padres scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to chase Ryan Vogelsong and defeated the Giants by the final score of 4-1 before 41,927, the 325th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&TPark.

With the loss, the Giants will play the Wild Card game on Wednesday either at PNCPark in Pittsburgh against the Pittsburgh Pirates, or at Busch Stadium in St. Louis against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Either way, the second place finisher in the National League Central will host the game with the Giants being the road team.

Seth Smith drove in what turned out to be the winning run, as he doubled off the garage on the top of the arcade in right field to score Jedd Gyorko, who doubled to left field and send Yasmani Grandal, who walked following Gyorko’s double went to third base.

Rene Rivera then singled to centerfield, as his broken bat landed in the seats behind the Giants dugout to score Grandal and Smith and Rivera took third on the throw to the plate.

That was the end of the evening for Vogelsong, as he went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned), allowing six hits, walking two and striking out five.

Vogelsong ended the 2014 season with an earned run average of 3.996 (which rounds up to 4.00-thank you Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle for the tidbit), after last year’s 5.73 earned run average.

George Kontos came onto replace Vogelsong, and struck out Alexei Amarista, then after an intentional walk to Rymer Liriano, Kontos was able to retire his counterpart Ian Kennedy on a groundball to Brandon Crawford.

Kennedy went seven innings, allowing one run (not earned) on four hits, walking two and striking out six, as he ends the 2014 season with a record of 13-13.

Grandal drove in the Padres first run of the game in the top of the first inning, as he singled in Wil Venable, who singled and then went to second on an Andrew Susac passed ball.

Brandon Crawford tied up the game in the bottom of the second inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Brandon Belt, with what to be proved the only Giants run of the evening against the Padres pitching staff.

Since this is the final Friday night game of the season, the annual Willie MAC award was given out and the recipient of the award is Pitcher Madison Bumgarner, who ended the season with a record of 18-10 and an earned run average of 2.98.

Past winners such as Larry Herndon, Darrell Evans, Bob Brenly, Mike Krukow, Chris Speier, Dave Dravecky, Robby Thompson, Mike Felder, Shawon Dunston, J.T. Snow, Jeff Kent, Marvin Benard, Mark Gardner, Marquis Grissom and Andres Torres were in attendance.

Joining the former Giants on the field were current Giants players Matt Cain, Vogelsong, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence were also included in the award presentation.

Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his 11th save of the season.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, September 25, 2014

Oakland suffered another setback in its quest to return to the American League playoffs on Thursday, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Rangers at Texas. Adran Beltre’s walk-off solo home run did the trick, and the A’s missed an opportunity to clinch a berth in the AL’s one-game play-in.

It was the Rangers’ 12th win in their last 13 games, while the A’s magic number to reach the postseason remains at two.

Oakland still has a chance at the single-game playoff, most likely against Kansas City or Detroit, while the Seattle Mariners have been fading of late.

What is yet to be decided is the American League Central Division championship. The Tigers and Royals have clinched a postseason berth, but the division race has yet to be decided. Meanwhile the A’s and Mariners will slug it out this weekend to complete the playoff picture.

Scott Kasmir is on the mound for Oakland Friday against the Rangers’ Nick Tepesch (5-10). The Mariners, meanwhile, host a Los Angeles Angels team that has already clinched the AL West.

Off the field, the Athletics announced a two-year extension of their player development agreement with Beloit (Wisconsin) of the Class A Midwest League through the 2016 season. The Beloit Snappers have served as Oakland’s Single-A affiliate since 2013.

“We are pleased to continue our working relationship with Beloit,” said A’s Vice President and General Manager Billy Beane in a statement. “Dennis Conerton and his staff have done an outstanding job during the two seasons we have spent with the Snappers. It continues to be a mutually beneficial affiliation, and we look forward to growing this partnership in the years to come.”

Besides Beloit, the other A’s 2015 minor league affiliates are Triple-A Nashville (Pacific Coast League), Double-A Midland (Texas League), Single-A Stockton (California League), Short-Season A Vermont (New York-Penn League) and Rookie League Arizona (Arizona League).

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Oakland Athletics have Thursday off, and prepare for a final weekend series at Texas, starting Friday night. Oakland still has a chance at the single-game playoff, most likely against Kansas City or Detroit, while the Seattle Mariners have been fading of late.

What is yet to be decided is the American League Central Division championship. The Tigers and Royals have clinched a postseason berth, but the division race has yet to be decided. Meanwhile the A’s and Rangers will slug it out this weekend – along with the Mariners vs. Angels – to complete the playoff picture.

Scott Kasmir is on the mound for Oakland Friday against the Rangers’ Nick Tepesch (5-10). The Mariners, meanwhile, host a Los Angeles Angels team that has already clinched the AL West.

Off the field, the Athletics announced a two-year extension of their player development agreement with Beloit (Wisconsin) of the Class A Midwest League through the 2016 season. The Beloit Snappers have served as Oakland’s Single-A affiliate since 2013.

“We are pleased to continue our working relationship with Beloit,” said A’s Vice President and General Manager Billy Beane in a statement. “Dennis Conerton and his staff have done an outstanding job during the two seasons we have spent with the Snappers. It continues to be a mutually beneficial affiliation, and we look forward to growing this partnership in the years to come.”

Besides Beloit, the other A’s 2015 minor league affiliates are Triple-A Nashville (Pacific Coast League), Double-A Midland (Texas League), Single-A Stockton (California League), Short-Season A Vermont (New York-Penn League) and Rookie League Arizona (Arizona League).