Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Kahn

Matt Kemp did something against Matt Cain in the series finale between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants he last did during the 2012 season.

Kemp hit his first home run at Dodger Stadium since September 30, 2012, when he hit one off of Jorge De La Rosa of the Colorado Rockies, a span of 140 at-bats.

Behind Kemp , who added another home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Hanley Ramirez, who also hit two home runs, as the Dodgers were able to salvage the series finale, defeating the Giants 6-2.

Kemp planted a Matt Cain pitch into left field pavilion in the bottom of the second, as Cain gave up his first home run of the season after giving up a career-high 23 last season.

In his next at-bat, Kemp hit a two-run home run following a double by Adrian Gonzalez, giving the slugger his first multi-home run game since September 29, 2012, also against the Rockies.

It was the sixth multi-home run game of Kemp’s career.

Ramirez got into the act in the bottom of the fourth, a home run that was measured at 425 feet that landed in the left field pavilion, just like Kemp’s second inning blast.

The shortstop completed his 15th multi-home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he connected off of Giants reliever David Huff.

Cain, who lost for the first time this season, pitched six innings, allowing five runs and six hits, striking out three and not allowing a walk.

The Giants got on the board in the top of the sixth inning, as Brandon Belt hit his fourth home run of the young season and then Hunter Pence hit a solo home run of his own.

{Giants} {MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

Yes, the San Francisco Giants hit three home runs in the same game for the first time on the young season, but once again it was their pitching that came up huge in the long run.

Madison Bumgarner pitched into the seventh inning, allowing two runs on eight hits and the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 at Dodger Stadium.

In his last five starts at Dodger Stadium, Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 1.53 earned run average.

It was the fifth win in six games for the Giants over their division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, where they won three out of four at Chase Field and now the first two games of this series over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Pablo Sandoval hit a three-run home run off of Paul Maholm in the top of the fifth inning that not only gave the Giants a 5-1 lead, but ended Maholm’s first start as a member of the Dodgers.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly replaced Maholm with Jose Dominguez, and the first batter Dominguez faced was Buster Posey and hit planted a Dominguez offering into the left field seats to give the Giants a 6-1 lead.

Michael Morse gave the Giants 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning, as he took a Maholm pitch and put it into the left field pavilion.

It was the first home run of the season for Morse, who is in his first season for the Giants and is playing for his fourth team in the last three years.

{GIANTS} [MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

It was a first inning that the San Francisco Giants last saw on June 2, 2008 when they scored the same six runs in the opening frame against the New York Mets.

Newcomer Michael Morse came up with a huge hit, as he hit a two-run single in that first inning and the Giants would go on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 at Dodger Stadium.

Another newcomer to the Giants, David Huff pitched 1.2 innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out three, as the Giants improve to 4-1 on the young season.

Things began to unravel for Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu after he retired the first two batters of the game, and then gave up six hits, including four in a row and the Giants batted around.

By the second inning, Ryu was out of the game, as the Giants tacked on two more runs, and the Giants led 8-0 at the end of 1.5 innings.

It was the shortest outing of the lefthanders’ career, as he gave up eight runs (six of them earned) walking three and striking out two.

Ryu retired Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence, but then Pablo Sandoval walked, Buster Posey singled and then Morse drove them both in with a single. Morse then advanced to second on the play after centerfielder Matt Kemp bobbled the ball for an error. Brandon Belt then made the score 3-0, as he singled in Morse.

It was the first game of the season for Kemp, who was activated from the disabled list prior to the game and then inserted into the lineup after Yasiel Puig was scratched by Dodgers manager Don Mattingly due to arriving at Dodger Stadium late.

Ryan Vogelsong helped out his own cause, as he singled in Belt and Brandon Hicks after an intentional walk to second baseman Joaquin Arias.

Pagan then got in on the act, as he singled in the final run of the inning.

Hicks drove in a run with a RBI double and then Arias drove in a run with a single of his own to give the Giants a 8-0 over their archrivals from Southern California.

Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier got the Dodgers on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, as they hit back-to-back home runs to get the Dodgers within six runs.

Vogelsong lasted four innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out four; however he did not fare in the decision.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, April 3, 2014

PHOENIX – San Francisco survived a bumble bee scare before Thursday afternoon’s getaway contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks, then erupted for a five-run rally in the eighth inning for an 8-5 win.

The Giants took three out of four games in the season-opening set at Chase Field.

With the roof open, there was plenty of firepower displayed by both clubs. Paul Goldschmidt and Martin Prado each homered for Arizona, while Brandon Belt, Brandon Hicks and Angel Pagan each clubbed round-trippers for San Francisco.

Jean Machi (2-0) was the winning pitcher in relief for the Giants. Santiago Casilla struck out two in 1 2/3 innings, and Sergio Romo came on with two out in the ninth, retired pinch-hitter Eric Chavez in the non-save situation to end the game.

Will Harris surrendered all five Giants runs in the eighth and took the loss.

The Giants were trailing 5-3 after seven innings. In the San Francisco eighth, Hunter Pence was issued a one-out walk and scored on a double by Hector Sanchez, who leaves for pinch-runner Juan Perez. After Brandon Crawford flied out to center, pinch-hitter Buster Posey was intentionally walked. Pinch-hitter Michael Morse singles in Perez, setting up Pagan’s three-run blast to right-center.

Goldschmidt’s solo home run in the first inning off Giants starter Tim Lincecum extended his hitting streak to 25 games, second-longest in D-Backs history.

Lincecum gave up four earned runs and eight hits in six innings, struck out seven and walked two.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, April 2, 2014

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Tim Hudson looked like his old self on Wednesday night, the one that anchored a pitching staff on the East Bay years ago.

The 38-year-old San Francisco righthander handcuffed Arizona batters for nearly eight innings as the Giants blanked the Diamondbacks 2-0.

“It was just one of those nights where everything fell into place,” Hudson said. “I was able to make some good pitches, kept my pitch count down and threw a lot of strikes. If you can do that, you can go deep into games.”

Hudson (1-0), who signed a two-year contract with San Francisco after leaving the Atlanta Braves via free agency, scattered three hits, struck out seven and issued no walks in 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

“Before the game? No! I didn’t expect to go that far,” said the former Oakland A’s ace. “I don’t think I’d pitched past the sixth inning yet this spring. But you know what? It was a fun night. I controlled the bottom of the strike zone, made some pitches, guys made some great plays behind me, Buster (Posey) called a great game.”

Giants manager Bruce Bochy couldn’t have been happier to see Hudson work into the eighth in his first start of the season.

“That, and to have that good of command of the strike zone, that was impressive,” Bochy said. “He pitched very efficiently, had all four pitches going and did a great job of pitching.”

Hudson said he felt “pretty good” in the pregame bullpen session. “Obviously, you never know what will happen, but I felt good early and I was able to get into a groove.”

If there was any nervousness after not pitching in a regular season game since last July 24, Hudson didn’t let it show.

“You get anxious, I don’t know if you’d call it butterflies,” Hudson said. “You get anxious to get back out there. I was just happy to get out there and compete again. It’s been a little bit of a long road to get here, but it felt nice to be back out there and get a chance to win.”

On pitching at Chase Field, Hudson said, “For a lot of sinkerballers, this is a park where you can have some success. It’s a great hitters park, so it’s very important to keep the ball down and try to own the bottom of the strike zone here. If not, some crooked numbers can show up on the board.”

Last season, while pitching for the Braves, Hudson was covering first base when Eric Young Jr. of the New York Mets accidentally stepped on his leg above the ankle trying to beat out a throw. Hudson wound up with a fractured fibula and torn deltoid ligament – both surgically repaired last July – forcing him the miss the remainder of the season.

During his rehabilitation process, Hudson became a free agent and signed a two-year contract with the Giants. And if there were any lingering after effects from the broken ankle, it didn’t show. Hudson retired the first nine hitters he faced until Gerrardo Parra singled to open the D-Backs fourth inning. He left with two out in the eighth after throwing 103 pitches.

“After my surgery, I realized that coming back was a strong possibility,” Hudson said. “I started feeling better, feeling like I could do it, and here I am.

“It’s exciting. You never know how things work out and what opportunities are going to represent themselves.”

San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Ehire Adrianza walked, was sacrificed to second by Hudson and scored on a single by Angel Pagan. The Giants made it 2-0 in the sixth on a RBI double by Michael Morse, scoring Hunter Pence, who reached on a fielder’s choice.

After Javier Lopez snuffed out a potential Snakes rally in the eighth, Sergio Romo threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning – including a strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt – to earn his second save in three games.

Pagan and Posey each had two hits for the Giants.

Trevor Cahill (0-2) went six innings and gave up both San Francisco runs on four hits. Parra had two of the three hits off Hudson.

Goldschmidt led off the seventh inning with a double, extending his hitting streak to 24 games. The streak began on Sept. 13, 2013.

In Thursday’s getaway game, the Giants go with Tim Lincecum against Arizona’s Brandon Arroyo in a battle of righthanders. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 Arizona/Pacific Time.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Tim Hudson,Sports Radio Service,Arizona Diamondbacks)

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.