Category: Uncategorized

[ Oakland A's, SF Giants, MLB ]

by Jerry Feitelberg

Thoughts on the Bay Bridge Series

The San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s play the next four games against each other in inter-league play. The two teams started playing against each other way back in 1997 when inter-league started and they played six games a year but that changed last year when Houston came into the American League and each league now had fifteen teams. The first two games of the series are to be played in Oakland and then the A’s travel to San Francisco for the last two games.

The neat thing about the series is that the fans are usually passionate about their team and most fans do not like the opposing team. There is no reason not to be a fan of each time as they are in different leagues but this year may be different as both the A’s and the Giants may be in the playoffs and it would be fantastic if they were to meet in the World Series as this year is the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Bay Bridge World Series.

It was interesting to watch the fans in action prior to tonight’s game as the A’s fans were actually booing the Giants as they were walking off the field after they finished batting practice while the Giants fans, and they’re not hard to spot as they are usually wearing the Giants’ orange and black colors, were

trying try drown out the booing by cheering as loudly as they could.

The players on each team may not feel the same intensity as a Dodger-Giant series or a Yankee-Red Sox contest but each player wants to perform at the highest level and wants his team to prevail. The booing and cheering continued as A’s public address announcer, Dick Callahan, read the starting lineups. Perhaps, the reason for the passion of the A’s fans is the fact that the A’s are treated as second class citizens in the SF Bay Area. Forget the fact that the A’s have won six American League pennants

and four World Series crowns during their forty-six years in Oakland while the Giants have won four pennants and two World Series titles in fifty-six years. A’s fans feel that the media always seems to lead off the sports reports with stories about the Giants and the A’s are just an after thought. One local radio station is all Giants all the time while the A’s have had to scramble to find a station that would air their

games. A’s fans probably feel that the A’s owners have disrespected them as the owners wanted to move the A’s to San Jose for a new stadium while the Giants have played in a world class facility the last fifteen seasons.

The game has started and the O.co Coliseum is a sellout with 36,067 in attendance. Let’s see what happens between Monday and Thursday.

By Jeremy Kahn

Tim Lincecum is slowly returning to his old form, and he must thank the San Diego Padres for being so nice.

Lincecum, who threw a no-hitter against the Padres on June 25, following that up by 6.1 innings pitched, allowing one run on three hits, walking four and striking out six and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Padres 5-3 at Petco Park.

It was the eighth win of the season for Lincecum, and his third against the Padres, raising his lifetime against them to 16-6 since joining the Giants in May of 2007.

Lincecum saw his scoreless inning streak end at 23.1 innings, when Brooks Conrad hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning that ended Lincecum’s afternoon.

Brandon Belt drove in two runs, while Hunter Pence extended his hitting streak to 11 games, as he picked up three hits on the same day he was named as a reserve for the National League All-Star team for the third time in his career.

Joe Panik and Michael Morse each drove in a run for the Giants, who took two out of three from the Padres.

Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla combined with Lincecum on a four-hitter, with Casilla picking up his third save of the season.

By Jeremy Kahn

What a great way for Brandon Belt to get back into the hitting stroke after missing 50 games with a broken wrist.

Belt hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 5-3 at Petco Park.

In just his second game back, Belt hit a Dale Thayer offering into the right field seats to give the Giants the lead for good.

Hunter Pence doubled to lead off the 10th inning for the a Giants, and then Belt hit his 10th home run of the season.

Michael Morse sent the game into extra innings, as he hit a Huston Street offering into the seats to tie up the game.

According to Fox Sports, this was the first time that the Giants hit home runs in the ninth and tenth innings in the same game since August 9,1986, when Mike Aldrete and Candy Maldonado went deep against the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

This was the first blown save of the season for Street, after he converted his first 23 saves of the season for the Padres, the longest such streak in the major leagues.

The last time Street blew a save was on September 29, 2013 against the Giants at AT&T Park, on the last day of the season.

Sergio Romo got out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth inning to pickup his fourth win of the season.

Santiago Casilla came on in the bottom of the 10th inning and retired the Padres to notch his second save of the season.

Tim Hudson pitched six strong innings, allowing just one run on three hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.

Odrisamwer Despaigne also pitched six innings for the Padres, allowing one run on two hits, but walked four and struck out two.

By Jeremy Kahn

Even with Brandon Belt back in the lineup, the San Francisco Giants still are unable to break out of this rut that now sees them in second place in the National League West.

Eric Stults pitched seven strong innings, as he he and two other relievers combined on a four-hit shutout and the San Diego Padres defeated the Giants 2-0 in the opener of their three-game series at Petco Park.

Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth inning, and then closer Huston Street hit the final three outs for his 23rd save of the season.

It was the first win for Stults in his last nine starts, as he snapped a six-start losing streak and for the first time in two months.

Belt went 0-for-4 including a strikeout in his first game since breaking his wrist earlier this season, as the Giants dropped their third straight game and are now one and one-half games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National a League West.

Once again, it was a tough night for Matt Cain, who lost for the fourth straight time and saw his record for the season fall to 1-7.

Cain allowed two runs on seven hits in six and one-thirds innings, as he is now winless in seven straight starts.

Alexei Amarista hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning, and then Chase Headley drove in Seth Smith with a single later in the inning for the only runs allowed by Cain and the Giants pitching staff on the afternoon.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, July 3, 2014

Sonny Gray scattered four hits over seven innings for Oakland Thursday, as the Athletics defeated Toronto 4-1 Thursday night at the Coliseum.

With the loss, the Blue Jays gave up sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time since May 21. Toronto dropped into a first-place tie with Baltimore. The Athletics, meanwhile, continue to lead the AL West.

Gray (8-3) walked three and struck out five, while the A’s defense turned three double plays.

Dan Otero held the lead in the eighth and Sean Doolittle pitched the ninth, picking up his 12th save.

Gray might have had a shutout if it weren’t for a disputed play in the second inning that went to replay.

After the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out, Anthony Gose hit a grounder to first baseman Nate Freiman, who appeared to tag Munenori Kawasaki as he ran to second base. Umpire Vic Carapazza ruled that Freiman missed the tag, and Kawasaki was safe.

Freiman then threw home to catcher Stephen Vogt, who stepped on home plate for a force out on runner Edwin Encarnacion. Toronto manager John Gibbons requested the video review, claiming that Kawasaki was out and Encarnacion should have been allowed to score because the force at home should have been nullified.

After 4 minutes and 27 seconds the call was overturned, and Toronto was awarded a 1-0 lead. The A’s played the game under protest, but that became a moot point.

In the bottom of the second, Freiman drove in Brandon Moss with a double, and Vogt scored on a passed ball, giving Oakland a 2-1 lead.

Six innings later, Oakland extended its lead to 4-1. Craig Gentry singled off losing pitcher R.A. Dickey (6-8) and scored on a double by John Jaso. The fourth A’s run came on a sacrifice fly by Alberto Callaspo.

The four-game series continues Friday, when Oakland left-hander Tommy Milone (6-3) faces Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (4-2).

A’S ACORNS: Oakland OF Yoenis Cespedes went 0-for-4, snapping a 15-game hitting streak. … The Athletics activated LHP Eric O’Flaherty from the 60-day disabled list and designated LHP Jeff Francis for assignment. O’Flaherty was recovering from Tommy John surgery and hadn’t pitched in the majors since May 17 of last year. Francis was 0-1 with one save and a 6.08 ERA after he was picked up on waivers from Cincinnati. … The Athletics made their 10-year lease extension at the Coliseum official. As part of the agreement, the A’s will pay $10 million for upgrades that include two new video scoreboards. The Coliseum Authority will pay for any necessary structural work.

[Baseball, Oakland A's]
[MLB]

by Jerry Feitelberg

The All-American game on America’s Birthday

This 4th of July America will be celebrating her 238th birthday. Still a young country compared

to China or many countries in Europe such as England and France. Without a doubt, baseball

is the most quintessential of all American sports and was the first professional sport in the Unites States. The first professional team was started in Cincinnati and the National League was established in 1876. The second Major League was created in 1901 when Ban Johnson created the new American League.

Hockey and football created pro leagues in the 1920’s and basketball came of age in the 40’s but baseball is the DNA of the American people. No other sport has the history of baseball and the stats that players put up are followed by the fans of today and they can compare them against the numbers put up by the greats of the past and argue about whether or not the players of yesteryear were better than today’s players.

All of this brings us to baseball and the 4th of July. What could be better than to go to a ballgame on the 4th? Not everyone lives in a city where Major League baseball is played but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a barbecue and then watch the hot dog eating contest from Coney Island and then watch a game or two or three on TV. However, it’s better if you can go to the game in your city and record the hot dog eating contest for viewing later then have a hot dog or two and maybe a beer at the park and watch your favorite team play and hope that your team wins. It’s so much better when that happens. You will be in a good mood for the second cookout of the day and more hot dogs and apple pie, of course for dessert, perhaps with some ice cream added. An All-American holiday menu on America’s birthday.

After the game, attendance at a fireworks show is mandatory and then conclude the day with a good night’s sleep and have fond memories of a day well spent with family and friends as you celebrate the freedoms that we have living in the United States. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-It is hard to believe that 25 years ago this October, the Oakland A’s and the Toronto Blue Jays were on top of the baseball world.

Behind great pitching by Dave Stewart, Mike Moore and Bob Welch made it two consecutive American League Championships for the Green and Gold, as the A’s defeated the Blue Jays four games to one.

After taking the first two games at the Coliseum, the series switched to newly opened Skydome and despite the fact that the Blue Jays took game three from the reigning American League Champions, the A’s came back in the final two games to take the American League Flag for the second consecutive season.

It was in the fourth game of that series that two of the biggest home runs of the A’s eventual World Championship season by two legendary A’s players.

Oakland native Rickey Henderson hit a solo home run to deep center field, and later that inning, 1988 Most Valuable Player Jose Canseco hit a mammoth blast that landed in the fifth deck of the left field seats at the Blue Jays new home that opened on June 5, 1989 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Stewart won game one at the Coliseum, as he defeated Dave Stieb by the final score of 7-3 before a sellout crowd of 49,435.

The next night, Mike Moore took to the Coliseum mound and left with a 6-3 victory, as Dennis Eckersley saved his first game of the series.

With the series moving to The Great White North for just the second time in American League history, Jimmy Key got the Blue Jays within one game of a tied series after the Blue Jays defeated the A’s 7-3 before a crowd of 50,268 at Skydome.

Welch got the A’s within one of their fifth American League pennant since moving to the West Coast in 1968, as he along with Rick Honeycutt and Eckersley defeated the Blue Jays 6-5.

Just one day later, the A’s took home the pennant, as they defeated the Blue Jays 4-3 behind stellar by another Oakland native in Dave Stewart, who went eight innings before giving way to Eckersley, who is also a Bay Area native (Growing up in Fremont) and picked up his third save of the ALCS.

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – When your team gets shut out, as this one did Wednesday night, you ask whether the offense was lousy or if the pitcher was just really good. In this particular case, it was clearly the latter.

The Giants got stifled by a stellar Adam Wainwright, who kept the Giants off-balance for most of the night and forcing them into mostly weak groundouts, as the Giants suffered a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park. They were shut out for the seventh time this season, twice by the Cardinals.

Despite the setback, however, the Giants remain atop the National League West, at least for one more day. The

The Giants knew that they were in for a battle against Wainwright, though, since the right-hander had given up only two runs over his previous three starts, during which he pitched 23 innings. He didn’t miss a beat on Wednesday, as he went 7 2/3 innings and gave up only four hits, walking two and striking out one in keeping the Giants from crossing the plate.

In the process, Wainwright now owns the lowest ERA in the majors, surpassing Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto (1.99) with a mark of 1.89.

Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong ripped through the first two innings on Wednesday but ran into big trouble in the third, during which the Cardinals scored a pair of runs. Oscar Taveras led off with a double down the right-field line, and Mark Ellis followed that with a single before Matt Carpenter singled to bring in Taveras.

Matt Holliday then singled in Ellis and gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead and, although Vogelsong settled down very nicely to go seven innings and surrender only one more hit the rest of the way.

Unfortunately for him, Vogelsong has started to get used to this. He has not gotten any run support for the second straight start, as he surrendered only three runs in 13 innings while allowing only one walk while striking out 15 batters in those two starts, both losses.

Meanwhile, the Giants were only able to mount a pair of scoring threats against Wainwright. Oddly enough, both of those rallies were started by a rookie and not considered a big star by any stretch.

Rookie second baseman Joe Panik led off the sixth with a single before Vogelsong put down a nice sac bunt to get him over to second while Gregor Blanco almost beat out a grounder but nonetheless moved Panik to third.

However, Hunter Pence could not bring him in, as his bouncer to short ended the inning and kept the Giants off the scoreboard.

The Giants put together a two-out rally against Wainwright, as Panik and Hector Sanchez strung together back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners as well as get Wainwright out of the game. However, after working the count full, Blanco, who has not given the Giants very much at the plate at all this season, popped out to end the inning and keep the shutout intact.