Category: Uncategorized

by Tony Renteria

The battle for last place in the Pacific Division continued Wednesday night at Sleep Train Arena as the Sacramento KIngs(26-48) took a nice second half lead and held on in the fourth quarter to beat the Los Angles Lakers(25-49) 107-102.

The Kings win their second game in a row by some high scoring by forward Rudy Gay, Gay finished with 31 points in just under 43  minutes.  Gay has be averaging 20.2 ppg since his arrival in Sacramento.   DeMarcus Cousins chipped in with 20 points and ten rebounds.

The Lakers are already looking forward to next season with star Kobi Bryant out with injury.  The Lakers were led by guard Jodie Meeks with 21 points.  The Lakers had beaten the Kings all three times they had faced this season before tonight.  

The Lakers head to Dallas on Friday while the Kings host Golden State on the same day.

 

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, April 1, 2014

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Welcome to Major League Baseball’s new age of replay reviews on close calls. And it was a rousing success Tuesday night at Chase Field, depending on what side of the fence you’re sitting on.

The San Francisco Giants gave the new replay option a try in the fourth inning of their 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and came up empty. The Snakes wound up the beneficiaries.

In the Arizona fourth, A.J. Pollock singled with one out and, after a pickoff throw by Giants starter Matt Cain to first baseman Brandon Belt was ruled in favor of Pollock, Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged the ruling on Belt’s tag.

No sooner was the challenge denied that Pollock moved from first to third on a double by Gerrardo Parra. With Aaron Hill at the plate, catcher Buster Posey allowed a Cain pitch to skip away for a passed ball. With Cain covering the plate, Posey’s throw appeared to be in time, but home plate umpire Eric Cooper ruled that Pollock avoided the tag.

The play at the plate appeared to be another perfect scenario for the Giants to ask for a replay ruling, except you only get one challenge per game. Bochy explained after the game that “if there’s a situation where we feel a challenge is necessary, we’re going to use it.”

“Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to get overturned if the play is not conclusive enough in their eyes, “ Bochy continued. “In our eyes, it looked like (Pollock) was out. What else are you going to do if you don’t think they got the call right? Unfortunately, they’re not all going to go your way and get overturned. That’s the gamble you take.

“Sure, there could be another play (to review), but you don’t know that.”

Television replays showed that Cain made the tag before Pollock reached the plate, cutting the San Francisco lead to 4-3.

“At that point, you just hang with it,” Bochy said. “You’ve lost your challenge, and this is how the system works. You just don’t know if your going to get a different call that you wish you could challenge.

“That replay took a long time (over three minutes to review), and it probably could have gone either way,” he added. “This is going to change the strategy in the game and how to manage a game.”

“It’s tough to come back and pitch after a long delay, but (the umpires) are just trying to get the play right,” Cain said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

The Giants’ righthander saw it that way as well, adding that he “crossed Buster up” on the pitch.

“He was out,” Cain said without hesitation. “I had him. I saw what Cooper saw as (Pollock) went over the plate. He kind of went through the top of my glove to go over it. But it was a bang-bang play, and Pollock did a good job of trying to avoid the tag.”

Cain worked five innings, threw 99 pitches and wound up with a no-decision. He gave up seven hits, struck out two, walked two and was charged with two earned runs.

“I just wasn’t getting ahead of guys at the beginning,” Cain said. “That hurt to give up a couple of runs after the guys scored four for me. That’s not what you want to do. After the first, I just wanted to throw good strikes and not be too fine. Sometimes you try to make perfect pitches, so I tried to get their guys to put the ball in play and let my stuff work.”

“Matt was fine. His pitches were up a little bit, but he settled down after the first inning,” Bochy said. “He threw the ball fairly well.”

D-Backs starter Wade Miley (1-1) gave up four runs in the first inning – the key blow was a three-run blast by Belt, his second of the season. But Miley settled into a groove and shut the Giants out over the next six innings to earn his first win of the season. Miley struck out five, walked one, and gave up only two hits after the first inning.

“That kind of did us in,” Bochy said. “We put up a crooked number in the first inning and couldn’t score again. Going eight innings in this ballpark without getting another run came back to haunt us.”

Arizona surged ahead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning off reliever Juan Gutierrez (0-1). With one out, Chris Owings singled, stole second and scored on Pollock’s ground-rule double to left-center field. Pollock moved to third on an opposite field single by the left-handed hitting Miley and scored on Parra’s sacrifice fly to left – sliding in just ahead of a strong throw by Juan Perez.

The Diamondbacks’ maligned bullpen (29 blown saves in 2013) came through on a 74-degree evening with the roof open. Will Harris and Addison Reed combined for four strikeouts and a walk in the last two innings. Reed notched his first save.

Pollock was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Parra, Owings and Paul Goldschmidt each collected two hits in the Diamondbacks’ 11-hit attack. Goldschmidt’s RBI double in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 23 games.

Wednesday night, veteran righthander Tim Hudson makes his regular-season debut for the Giants, facing Arizona righthander Trevor Cahill.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Buster Posey’s home run on Monday night was given an official measurement of 453 feet, the longest of his career. His previous longest tape-measure job was 443 feet on July 13, 2012, vs. Houston at AT&T Park. … According to Stats, Inc., the last time the Giants won on Opening Day after trailing by four-plus runs was on April 10, 1968, at Candlestick Park; the Giants trailed the New York Mets 4-0 and won 5-4. The last time the Giants accomplished the same feat on the road was on April 15, 1941 at Ebbets Field; the New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-0 and won 6-4.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Arizona Diamondbacks,replay)

by Michelle Richardson

Stanford 82 Penn St 57: The Penn State Lady Lions came into came into this match number three and the Stanford Cardinal came in number two so I expected this match up to go back and forth at Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Also I expected this to be a ground to pound type of a game.

There were a lot of shooters and a lot of bangers underneath in the paint, Penn St came in 24-7 and the Cardinal came in this one 31-3. Stanford were a little bit higher with their game points average and they were undefeated at home and they were playing this one at home at Maples Pavilion.

With the home fans and playing on the home court it was noisy and the Cardinal left little doubt about dominance in this game. Top four scorers for Stanford Chiney Ogwunmike 29, Amber Orrange 18, Mikaela Ruef and Lili Thompson both finished with 11 points.

For Pen State, Ariel Edwards with 22, Dara Taylor 11, and Talia East 10, the Cardinal fans showed up and supported them well as the Cardinal continued their home perfect record and their road record is not so bad at 11-2.

Minnesota head coach Pam Borton was fired last Saturday after the game against South Dakota State 70-62 in the NITs. Borton had been with the program for 12 seasons and for the fifth consecutive year she had missed making the NCAA Tournament.

This game is about wins and loses and Minnesota went 16-9 overall and in non conference play they were successful at 10-3 but in Big Ten play then went 6-6 and missing the Tournament was the deciding factor for Borton.

Borton was grateful for her time at Minnesota who said, “I am grateful for the 12 seasons at the University of Minnesota. This is a great state and university and I have enjoyed becoming a part of this community. I want to thank my players and staff over the years.”

Arizona riots: Arizona University fans made a name for themselves in the post game riots on Saturday night in downtown Tucson after the Wild Cats loss to Wisconsin 64-63 in the West Region in Anaheim. It’s not often you seen any kind of riot crowds after an elimination loss but this one conjured up a wild riot after the Wild Cats were eliminated.

The student body took to the streets in Tucson and decided to start rioting because the Wild Cats were out of the Tournament. Really guys that is one of the the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Anytime something like this happens it’s stupid, it’s just a game. Police showed up in riot gear and there was pepper spray and lot of disbursing.

The Wild Cats had a good run, they got to the Sweet 16, and they lost to a very good team. I get so tired seeing this whole character don’t blame it on the game. The blame goes on the students for being drunk, being stupid, but the students shouldn’t blame it on the fact that the Wild Cats lost a game or the referee made a bad call.

These fans need to blame it on themselves for being young, drunk and stupid. There was a picture of a young man standing by himself and the police were coming and it was like “look at him he’s so chilling” no he’s an idiot. He’s not standing in front of a tank at Tiananmen Square freedom fighting.

He’s a drunk frat boy who doesn’t know what’s going to happen when the cops are about to start shooting bean bags into the crowd.

Michelle Richardson is covering the Final Four next week for Sportstalk radio

{General}

By Jeremy Kahn

After witnessing the postponment of the Spring Training finale between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, I began to think about the fans.

It was announced by A’s Public Address Announcer Dick Callahan that the game was postponed after a delay lasting over an hour, and the fans began to boo and yell obscenities throughout the Coliseum.

According to sources, the A’s sold approximately 33,000 tickets for the game between the Bay Area rivals, in what was the finale of the Spring Training schedule.

The A’s offered the fans of the A’s and the Giants vouchers for a future game, but that is not the point, the fans wanted to see a game.

These people spent their hard earned money to bring themselves, their families and their friends to a game that was not even played and were offered a voucher for a future game?

Okay, I get the point that the two teams did not want their players to get hurt in the finale of the Spring schedule; however you could have lowered the price of the tickets to the game.

These fans paid regular season prices for a practice game, and this is absolutely ridiculous that they pay full price for this.

It is not just in Major League Baseball, but also in the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

I for one, have attended games in the preseason as a fan and was appalled that the teams charge full price for tickets to a glorified practice game that I could have watched from the luxury of my own apartment for free.

The teams across the four major sports make millions, if not billions of dollars from the fans and they spend all this money.

To me, the teams should not charge a regular season price for an exhibition game that you see the regulars play a few innings, a few series in football and/or little in a NBA or NHL game.

{Giants} {MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-With the end of the 2014 Spring Training, coming this weekend, there are 25 players wearing the Orange and Black that are happy that the Spring Training is over and the regular season will now begin.

Over their last 21 games, the San Francisco Giants have been on the winning end of 12 of them, and overall they are 17-12-1 during the 2014 exhibition season.

The Giants won nine out of their 15 games at Scottsdale Stadium, 8-4-1 on the road and 0-2 in what is usually the friendly confines of AT&T Park.

Against National League opponents during the Cactus League play in the State of Arizona, the Giants went 10-2, a winning percentage of .833.

Over the Giants winning percentage of .586 was the fourth highest in the Cactus League behind the Seattle Mariners (.621), the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (.621) and the Cleveland Indians (.714).

After the game today, the Giants will take Sunday off and fly back to Arizona, where they will open their 132nd season on Monday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Madison Bumgarner will take the ball for Bruce Bochy in the opener, while Kirk Gibson will send former Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy.

Matt Cain will head to the mound on Tuesday for the Giants, while Wade Miley will take the ball for Gainbosn’s ballclub.

The newest Giants pitcher, Tim Hudson will make his Giants debut on Wednesday, as the former A’s pitcher will face another former A’s pitcher in Trevor Cahill.

As of now, Tim Lincecum is set to pitch in the finale of the series, but that could be up in the air after the right-hander took a line drive off the left knee in Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the A’s at AT&T Park.

Lincecum was hit on the knee off a batted ball hit by A’s first baseman Daric Barton in the top of the fourth inning and left the game immediately.

X-Rays on Lincecum’s knee were negative and he was diagnosed with a contusion on the left knee.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, March 27, 2014

In a pitching matchup involving reclamation projects, Oakland came out on top over San Francisco 4-0 Thursday in exhibition baseball at AT&T Park.

Scott Kazmir scattered two hits over five-plus innings for the A’s, while the Giants’ Tim Hudson had a tough go as he continues his comeback from a severely broken ankle suffered last season while pitching for Atlanta.

Josh Reddick belted a two-run homer, and Josh Donaldson doubled, tripled and drove in the other two Oakland runs.

This is the third time in Hudson’s last four spring starts that the veteran had a tough outing. He allowed all four A’s runs over six innings.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: On March 24, The Sacramento Bee’s Victor Contreras reported if the 10-year lease extension that the A’s desire is granted, “it (the City of Oakland and Alameda County) will be turning its back on the NFL Raiders.

Bob Rose, Athletics director of public relations, issued this response: “For the record, the A’s request is not dependent on dislocation of the Raiders.”

FAREWELL TO PHOENIX MUNI: On Wednesday, the Athletics completed their final Cactus League season of spring training at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Next year, the A’s move into renovated HoHoKam Stadium in Mesa, the previous longtime spring home of the Chicago Cubs.

Arizona State’s baseball program will move to Phoenix Muni next year, and Packard Stadium, the on-campus home to Sun Devils baseball since 1974, will be “redeveloped“ to help finance the renovation of Sun Devil Stadium. ASU signed a 25-year lease to play its home games at Phoenix Muni, located 2 ½ miles from the school’s Tempe campus.

Built in 1964, Phoenix Muni was home to the PCL’s Phoenix Giants/Firebirds, and has served as the Athletics’ spring base since 1982.

A plaque near the press box entrance denotes the relocation and installation of the light standards from the Polo Grounds in New York. The Giants moved the lighting system here in 1964 shortly after the legendary stadium was razed.

HoHoKam Stadium was built in 1997 on the site of HoHoKam Park, where the Cubs played its Cactus League games from 1979 through 2013. The A’s previously trained in Mesa from 1969 through 1978 at old Rendezvous Park.

By Jeremy Harness

Those who have watched Stanford’s basketball team throughout the season did not see this coming. Sure, they would have some notable wins early on, such as the road win at Connecticut, but the Cardinal surely would have just fallen back into the middle of the pack and not be heard from again for the rest of the year.

Then came the magical run through the NCAA Tournament, during which Stanford upended heavily-favored Kansas in the second round to get to the Sweet 16. However, Dayton put the brakes on the Cardinal on Thursday night, 82-72, in Memphis’ FedEx Forum.

Even though Stanford was not able to maintain its NCAA run, it most likely saved its basketball coach’s job. At the start of this season, many believed that Johnny Dawkins was on the hot seat and was in possible danger of being relieved of his duties.

However, that has all seemed to change.

Dayton, meanwhile, is moving on and will take on Florida in the Elite Eight. The Flyers did it by wearing down the Cardinal, using 12 players in the first half to set the tone for what was to come.

Stanford got quality play from their starters – Chasson Randle scored 21 points to lead the Cardinal while Dwight Powell had 17 and Stefan Nastic added 15. Problem was, Stanford could not stay out of foul trouble, as Nastic actually fouled out with more than five minutes remaining in the game.

The other issue was that Stanford got next to nothing from its bench. Dayton’s bench outscored Stanford’s by a 34-2 margin.

By Tony Renteria

The New York Knicks(30-42) came into Sacramento to play the home town Kings(25-46) on a storming Wednesday night and brought a storm of their own as they handled the Kings in route into a 107-99 road win.

Near the end of the 2014 season the Kings still need to find a way to put away teams at there level at home.   They are up and down all season but at home where they are suppose to find some balance, they still struggle. 

The Knicks were lead by Carmelo Anthony and his 36 points and held off a rally near the end by the Kings, but as this season has proven the Kings are still trying to learn how to play NBA basketball.

DeMarcus Cousins is still improving as he had 32 points and 15 rebounds.  

The Knicks close to securing a playoff berth played well coming off a loss down south the Lakers in the previous game.   The Kings head to Oklahoma City to play the Thundar on Friday night.