Category: Uncategorized

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.

By Jeremy Kahn

After seeing his team fall to 0-4 on the young season, Oakland Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie decided it was time for a change.

McKenzie fired Dennis Allen, who was in his third year as the head coach of the Raiders; however after a 38-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium, it was decided that there was going to be a change.

Allen was out as head coach, and was replaced on an interim basis by Assistant Head Coach Tony Sparano.

With the bye week come and gone, the Raiders will return to the practice field in preparation for their home game against the San Diego Chargers.

Following the Chargers, the Arizona Cardinals and former teammate Carson Palmer makes his first appearance at the Coliseum since leaving the team after the 2012 season.

After back-to-back road games against the Cleveland Browns and the defending World Champion Seattle Seahawks, the Raiders return to the Coliseum to face longtime rival Denver Broncos.

By Jeremy Kahn

With the National League Championship Series within reach, the San Francisco Giants will send their ace to the mound.

Madison Bumgarner, who at just the age of 24 is looking for what could be his third World Series ring in his career.

Bumgarner, who joined the Giants during the 2009 season helped lead the Giants to their first World Series championship since 1954 when he won the pivotal Game Four of the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark of Arlington.

After the Giants returned to the World Series in 2012, where they faced the Detroit Tigers, Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing just two hits and the Giants won Game Two by the final of 2-0.

Bumgarner’s opponent that night was current Washington Nationals pitcher Doug Fister, who as fate would have it stands in the Giants way of advancing to the NLCS for the third time in the last five years.

If the Giants do advance to the NLCS, it could be a rematch of the 2012 NLCS, as they could face the St. Louis Cardinals or they could face their longtime rivals in the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team they have never faced in the postseason.

By George Devine, Sr.

After beating Washington State, 60-59 in a wild road game, the Golden Bears return home to host Washington at 3 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 11. Both teams are 4-1. Cal is beginning to receive votes in national polls for the first time since the penultimate year of the Jeff Tedford era in 2011.

The key to Cal’s offense, of course, is QB Jared Goff, who has been helped by the offensive line to have time to find and reach his receivers. The Washington defense would like to have something to say about that. The secondary will be of particular importance given the length of Goff’s passes. His longest against the Cougs was 55 yards and his total on the day was 527.

In their only loss, last weekend to Stanford (20-13), the Huskies showed unusually strong defense. Key players for UDub are OLB Shaq Thompson, who returned a Cardinal fumble for a TD, and CB Marcus Peters, in addition to DE Hau’oli Kikaha.

Cal’s remaining games will be:

Saturday, 10.18 vs. UCLA, time TBD

Thursday, 10.24 vs. Oregon, 7 p.m., at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara

Saturday, 11.1 @ Oregon State, TBD

Thursday, 11.13 @ USC, TBD

Saturday, 11.22, BIG GAME vs. Stanford, TBD

Saturday 11.29 vs. BYU, TBD

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, October 4, 2014

Everett Golson’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Ben Koyack with 1 minute and 9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, gave Notre Dame a stunning 17-14 come-from-behind football victory over Stanford on a rainy Saturday afternoon at South Bend, Indiana.

Two minutes earlier, the Cardinal (No. 14, 3-1 overall) had regained the lead on an 11-yard touchdown run up the middle by Raymound Wright that put Stanford up 14-10.

The two teams were scoreless for a nearly 20-minute stretch until Fighting Irish kicker Kyle Brindza booted a 45-yard field goal at 8:45 of the fourth quarter, giving Notre Dame (No. 9, 4-0) a 10-7 lead.

After a pass interference penalty set up the Fighting Irish’s go-ahead touchdown, Stanford moved to ball to mid-field, but Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan was flagged for intentional grounding as time expired. Since it was an offensive penalty, the game ended.

Stanford took the first lead of the game when Hogan ran 10 yards for a Cardinal touchdown with 4:18 left in the first quarter. The Cardinal held that lead until a Golson touchdown pass of 17 yards to Chris Brown at 3:20 of the third quarter tied the game at 7-7.

Golson completed 20 of 43 passes for 240 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Hogan finished the day 18 of 36 for 158 yards and was picked off twice.

Cam McDaniel was Notre Dame’s top rusher, gaining 42 yards on 15 carries. Wright led the Cardinal with 28 rushing yards on eight attempts.

Notre Dame had the edge in total yards, 370 to 204.

Next Saturday, Stanford returns home to Pac-12 play, hosting Washington State. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

By Jeremy Kahn

When Brandon Belt came to the plate in the top of the 18th inning, he just wanted to reach base in any way.

Belt did better than that, as he hit a solo home run leading off the top of the 18th inning and the San Francisco Giants came from behind to take a 2-0 lead in the National League Division Series with a 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

With the victory, the Giants move within one victory from advancing to their third National League Championship in the past five years.

Belt took a Tanner Roark pitch and put into the first deck of the right field seats to stun the Nationals fans, but sent the Giants dugout and allegiances of fans into hysteria.

The six hour and 23 minute game broke the record for longest game in postseason history, and tied the record for most innings.

This was the Giants 10th consecutive victory of the postseason, extending their National League record and are now three wins behind the New York Yankees for most consecutive postseason victories with 13.

Yusmeiro Petit, who came on in the bottom of the 12th inning for the Giants was lights out, as he went six strong innings, allowing just one hit, walking three and struck out seven and took the win.

The Giants were down to their final out against Jordan Zimmerman, who was lights out for the Nationals, as he retired 20 in a row before allowing a walk to Joe Panik in the top of the ninth inning.

That walk allowed by Zimmerman brought out Nationals manager Matt Williams, who brought on his closer Drew Storen to face Buster Posey for the potential final out of the game.

Posey did not oblige, as on the first pitch he saw from Storen, he hit into left field, advancing Panik to second base to bring up the hot hitting Pablo Sandoval, whose 12-game postseason hitting streak was on the line.

Sandoval took a Storen offering and put it down the left field line, and into the corner to easily score Panik from second base. Posey came around third base, and Bryce Harper threw a great relay to Ian Desmond, who in turn threw to Wilson Ramos, who tagged Posey out at the plate.

Bruce Bochy challenged the call, and after a two and a half minute review, the play stood and the inning was over.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Asdrubal Cabrera was called out looking at strike three and after throwing his helmet and bat to the ground, he was ejected by home plate umpire Vic Carapazza. Williams came out to defend Cabrera; however he was then kicked out of the game by Carapazza.

Tim Hudson went seven and two-thirds for the Giants, as he allowed one run on seven hits, walking no one and striking out eight.

Zimmerman went eight and two-thirds for the Nationals, allowing one run on just three hits, walking one and striking out six.

Anthony Rendon drove in the Nationals only run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a ball that scooted just under the glove of a diving Brandon Crawford.

By: Phillip Torres

SANTA CLARA- The San Francisco 49ers (2-2) will host Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs (2-2) on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. Both teams are coming off of big wins against big name teams in week four of the NFL season.

The 49ers handed the Philadelphia Eagles their first of the season with a come from behind, 26-21 victory for the first regular season win at Levi’s Stadium. The defense played spectacular against a high powered Eagles offense. 2013 rushing king Lesean McCoy was held in check as the running game was close to nothing for Philly.

The Chiefs are coming off a major upset victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Kansas City blew out the Pats 41-14 in a game where Tom Brady was eventually benched.

The biggest storyline for the game on Sunday afternoon is the return of for 49ers number one overall pick Alex Smith. Although Smith took six years to finally turn things around, the quarterback out of the University of Utah helped turn the 49ers into the powerhouse team that they are today.

Smith lead San Francisco to the NFC Championship game in 2011 and was off to a fantastic start in 2012 before suffering a concussion that opened the door for Colin Kaepernick to take over as the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

A lot of critics say that Alex Smith was unfairly taken from his job, but Kaepernick’s play spoke for its self. The dual threat quarterback from the University of Nevada took the 49ers to within one completes pass of winning the franchise’s sixth Lombardi trophy.

Coach Jim Harbaugh continuously stated, “We’re going with the quarterback with the hot hand right now.”

Kaepernick stayed hot all season after his dominance of the Chicago Bears on Monday football in his first career start in 2012. He has started evrr game for the Red and Gold ever since.

Expect to see a lot of questions about Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick, and vice versa on Sunday night after the ball game. The two quarterbacks will forever be compared to one another.