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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Monday, April 6, 2015

PHOENIX, Arizona – Madison Bumgarner won’t come right out and admit it, but on Monday, he seemed to pick up right where he left off after nailing down Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.

“I’m just trying to get better, always,” Bumgarner said. “I’m not worried about what happened six months ago or three months ago or what happened last week. I prepared for today, now I’ll prepare for my next start. That’s how I like to go about my business.”

It’s an approach that served San Francisco’s ace left-hander well on Opening Day. He threw seven strong innings in the Giants’ 5-4 Opening Day win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bumgarner (1-0) scattered six hits, gave up one earned run, struck out three and walked one. He threw 93 pitches.

“Mostly, it was getting ahead of guys, making pitches, the defense was great behind me and picked me up multiple times,” Bumgarner said, adding that he feels “no pressure” in being the ace of the staff. “It’s just about competing, and that’s it. You go out there and compete as hard as you can, and be pleased with whatever the result is.”

Bruce Bochy, Giants manager, said of Bumgarner, “I’m not sure what’s left to say about him. You look at what he did for us in the (2014) postseason, won 18 games last year. This guy is special. He throws a terrific game in his first start. He gave us what we needed against a tough lineup.”

The top third of the Giants’ order – Nori Aoki, Joe Panik and Angel Pagan – went 8-for-14 collectively and accounted for four of the five San Francisco runs.

“Those guys really did a nice job of getting on base and put together a really nice game,” Bochy said. “They put a lot of pressure on the pitcher, kept grinding out AB’s to get good pitches to hit.”

“They swung the bat great,” Bumgarner said. “It was a good, all-around team effort by everybody. We played the kind of baseball we need to play to win games.”

The Giants rocked Arizona starter and losing pitcher Josh Collmenter (0-1) for all five of their runs – all earned – on 10 hits. Collmenter struck out four and walked on in 4 2/3 innings.

“Collmenter has always been tough on us,” Bochy said. “This was our best game against him.”

The Giants scored the first run of the game off Collmenter in the third inning. With one out, Aoki singled and advanced to third on Panik’s double, but was caught in a rundown at the plate after making a wide turn at third. Panik, who advanced to third on the rundown, scored on a base hit by Pagan.

Arizona tied the game in the bottom of the third when Ender Inciarte singled and scored on Mark Trumbo’s two-out triple off the overhang in right-center field.

San Francisco surged ahead 5-1 with four runs in the fifth. After Aoki and Panik led off with back-to-back singles, Pagan drove in Aoki with a double, and Buster Posey’s sacrifice fly to left scored Panik. Belt grounded out, and a walk to Casey McGehee chased Collmenter.

Brandon Crawford greeted Arizona reliever Andrew Chafin with a two-RBI double that was mishandled in right by Trumbo. Pagan and McGehee scored on the play.

The Diamondbacks roughed up the San Francisco bullpen in the bottom of the eighth, scoring three runs on a bases-loaded, three-RBI pinch-hit double by Jake Lamb. Inciarte led off with a single off Javier Lopez and moved to second on a wild pitch by Jean Machi, who then completed a walk to Paul Goldschmidt. Two batters later, Aaron Hill singled to load the bases, and Sergio Romo replaced Machi.

Lamb greeted Romo with a drive high off the wall in right-center that cleared the bases and pulled the Diamondbacks to within 5-4. Romo struck out Tuffy Gosewisch, but walked pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington. Jeremy Affeldt replaced Romo and struck out pinch-hitter David Peralta to snuff out the rally.

Sergio Casilla tossed a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Goldschmidt to nail down his first save of the season.

“A lot of good things happened today,” Bochy said. “We had some good at-bats, it’s good to get those runs and we had just enough. Give (Arizona) credit – they battled back.

“It was a good ballgame. A good start.”

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Video replay of whether or not a pitch from Affeldt hit pinch-hitter David Peralta took 1:54. The call on the field, a foul ball, was upheld. … Ryan Vogelsong will start Tuesday night’s game for San Francisco, facing Rubby De La Rosa of Arizona. The Giants are waiting to name a starter for Wednesday’s contest. … Snakes RHP Daniel Hudson made a positive step in his comeback bid. Hudson, returning to the mound after recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, faced five batters in a scoreless eighth inning. Hudson threw one inning against San Diego last September. … The announced sell-out crowd of 49,043 was the fourth largest Opening Day in Diamondbacks’ history, and the eighth-largest regular season crowd at Chase Field overall. … Even with the new rules for speeding up the pace of the game, Monday’s contest took 3:18 to play.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, April 4, 2015

GLENDALE, Arizona – It’s been 22 years since the San Jose Sharks missed the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. With three games remaining in a logjammed Western Conference race, that streak of consistency is in danger of coming to a halt.

On a Saturday night in the Valley of the Sun, Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored two goals, Shane Doan added a goal and two assists, goaltender Mike Smith stopped one shot after another, and the Arizona Coyotes dealt a critical blow to the Sharks’ playoff hopes with a 5-3 victory before 14,752 at Gila River Arena.

“It’s not what we didn’t get, it’s what we gave up,” Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said. “When you give up four goals to any team in the league, you’re not going to win. Even when you throw the empty netter out, it’s too much to ask to score five on any given night to win.

“We started out desperate and got into some penalty trouble,” McLellan continued. “They scored a couple early and that put us on our heels. The penalty kill let us down, we had a couple of breakdowns in our zone, we went up against a hot goaltender at the other end, and that was the difference.”

It was the second part of a two-game back-to-back series against Arizona. The Sharks won 3-1 Friday in San Jose.

“The big difference was we didn’t give up those two goals early,” Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi said, adding that the scheduling wasn’t a factor. “Tonight, (Arizona) got those two goals early and never gave up the lead.”

The Sharks have not missed the playoffs since 2003, and came into Saturday’s game trailing Winnipeg and Los Angeles in the NHL West Wild Card standings. Earlier in the evening, Winnipeg defeated Vancouver 5-4, giving the Jets 92 points and a tie with the Kings, who beat Colorado 3-1. Calgary, meanwhile, blanked Edmonton 4-0.

Minnesota, which lost in overtime to Detroit, leads the West Wild Card race with 96 points, followed by the Jets with 92 and Calgary with 91. The Sharks are four points back.

San Jose (39-31-9, 87 points) has three games remaining – Monday’s home finale against Dallas, Thursday at Edmonton and next Saturday at Los Angeles. In the meantime, the Sharks need to run the table and hope for outside help to reach the playoffs.

“We’ve got six points that are available to us. We’re going to try and get them all and see what happens,” McLellan said.

The Coyotes (23-47-8, 54) won despite being outshot 45-33 by San Jose. Smith made 42 saves, while Neimi stopped 28 shots for the Sharks.

“We had a lot of really good looks at the net tonight,” Sharks left wing Patrick Marleau said. “The pucks just didn’t go where they’re supposed to.”

Arizona opened the scoring with a power play goal at 11:53 of the first period. With San Jose defenseman Karl Stollery in the box for hooking, Ekman-Larsson fired a low shot from outside the right circle off a clean cross-ice feed from Mark Arcobello, beating Niemi low to the stick side.

Five minutes later, San Jose used its own power play to tie the game at 1-1. Tomas Hertl coverted a rebound off the initial shot from the point by Taylor Fedun. A sprawling Smith had no chance to make a play.

Moments later, the Coyotes regained the lead at 2-1, again on the power play. After Michael Stone fired a shot from the right point, Shane Doan was in position to poke the rebound between Niemi’s legs for his 14th goal of the season.

“They (the Coyotes) have a good power play,” Sharks center Joe Pavelski said. “We haven’t been as sharp on the power play lately, and it cost us there. But we responded with two power play goals. At the end of the night, we had our chances to score, and if we defend well enough, we’re going to get those opportunities.”

“That’s one of the things we talked about, getting our penalty kill going,” Marleau said. “Unfortunately, they have a pretty good power play and got some second chances. We still felt like we were in it, though.”

On giving up two early power play goals, Niemi said, “That happens sometimes in games like this.”

The Coyotes extened their lead to 3-1 at 17:46 of the second period, when Ekman-Larsson scored his second goal of the game. The All-Star defenseman picked up a loose rebound to the left of the crease and flipped a wrister that caromed inside the crossbar, over Niemi’s left shoulder.

With his two goals, Ekman-Larsson tied a Coyotes franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman. Phil Housley tallied 23 in 1990-91 and 1991-92 during the club’s initial days in Winnipeg.

Nineteen seconds later, Joe Thornton scored his 15th goal of the season from the left circle, catching the inside post on Smith’s left, cutting Arizona’s lead to 3-2.

Five and one-half minutes into the third period, Arcobello scored his 17th goal of the season – from Doan and Tobias Reider) to give Arizona a 4-2 lead. San Jose answered at 6:48 when Chris Tierney redirected a blast from the right point by Matt Irwin with the Coyotes’ Mike Stone serving a hooking minor, pulling the Sharks to within 4-3.

“(Arizona) has a proud team and they played a hell of a game tonight,” McLellan said. “They did a lot of good things, like their special teams getting them two on the power play, and (Smith) playing as well as he did and he gave them a chance to win.

“We knew going in that this wasn’t going to be an easy weekend,” he continued. “(The Coyotes) have good structure and they’re well coached. And they still play real hard.”

“We fought and came back, but the end was very disappointing,” Pavelski said. “We had our chances, and it was one of those games where you feel better than what the final result is.”

With Niemi pulled for a sixth attacker, Sam Gagner added an empty net goal at 19:49, sending a dejected Sharks squad back to the Bay Area looking for a glimmer of hope to extend their season.

“We need the points from each and every game left. They’re critical,” Marleau said. “This situation is disappointing because we’ve grown accustomed to being in the playoffs. This is different territory for us.”

TAGS: San Jose Sharks, NHL, Arizona Coyotes, Sports Radio Service, Daniel Dullum

By: Joe Lami

Newly acquired defenseman, Karl Stollery, made his San Jose Sharks debut Friday night against the Arizona Coyotes.  Stollery had been playing in the Sharks’ American League affiliate, Worcester, since the trade deadline, but was recalled on Thursday to suit up for Friday nights’s game.  The Sharks’ acquired the 27-year old defenseman from Colorado for forward, Freddie Hamilton.  Hamilton had been in the Sharks system since he was drafted in 2010, but only managed to play in 12 games for San Jose.

In his short stint in Worcester, Stollery put up nice numbers, recording five points (2g, 3a) in just 12 games.  He also earned +3, while serving eight penalty minutes.

On Friday, Stollery, known as a puck moving defenseman was paired with Brent Burns, which is a bit of a stretch for a guy getting his feet wet in San Jose, as Burns leads the team in turnovers.  However, Stollery stood tall and played well, finishing with 16:49 minutes on the ice.

Karl replaced Scott Hannan, as Hannan was a healthy scratch Friday night.  While doing so, he earned time on the second unit penalty kill, which he was very impressive.  Especially with getting in the passing lane and taking away could be chances for the Coyotes.

He had three shots, the best chance came in the first period in a transition play.  Joe Thronton had the puck in the right circle and passed it back to Stollery who caught the puck at the left point.  The left-handed slap shot was a bullet right into the chest of Arizona goalie, Louis Domingue.

Stollery finished a minus-1, as he was on the ice for the only Sharks’ goal against in their 3-1 win.  The goal came off Burns’ stick, as the cross crease pass from Coyotes’ forward Mark Arcobello found it’s way pass San Jose net minder Antti Niemi.

Stollery could have a bright future in San Jose and will continue to play for the injured Scott Hannan, who was hit in the face with the puck on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche.  It should be a confidence builder for him to play this late into the season.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, April 2, 2015

Chasson Randle sank a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds left in overtime, giving Stanford a 66-64 victory over Miami (Florida) in the National Invitation Tournament’ championship game at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Randle, who scored a game-high 25 points, finished his Stanford career with 2,375 points. He was also selected as the NIT’s most outstanding player.

Anthony Brown pulled down 12 boards for the Cardinal.

Sheldon McClellan led the Hurricanes with 17 points, hitting 5 of 16 from the floor and 6 of 7 from the foul line. Devon Reed added16 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.

The Hurricanes had one last possession after Randle’s free throws. McClellan attempted a 3-pointer that missed the mark as time expired.

Miami (25-13) rallied from a 13-point deficit to force the extra session and had a 64-61 lead with under one minute remaining in overtime. Randle sank four straight free throws to seal the win.

Stanford (24-13) put the experimental 30-second shot clock to good use after Randle’s free throws pulled the Cardinal to within 64-63 with just under 39 seconds remaining.

If the regular 35-second clock had been in use, Stanford likely would have had to foul to ensure another possession. Instead, the Cardinal dug in and played defense, forcing Miami’s Deandrfe Burnett to miss a 3-point attempt. On the ensuing possession, Randle leaned into Reed to draw a foul.

After Randle’s two free throws with 3.4 seconds left, the Hurricanes turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound. Anthony Brown sank a free throw to make it 66-64 with 3.1 seconds left. Miami appeared to throw away the inbound pass again, but a replay review showed Stanford touched the ball.

Miami had one last chance with 1.8 seconds to play, but McClellan’s missed 3-point attempt ended the game.

It was the Cardinal’s second NIT championship in four years. Stanford won the 2012 NIT title.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Chasson Randle enjoyed a big night in the Big Apple on Tuesday.

Randle became Stanford’s all-time men’s basketball scoring leader in the Cardinal’s 67-60 win over Old Dominion in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

With a free throw late in the first half, Randle passed Todd Lichti on Stanford’s all-time scoring list. Randle finished the game with 24 points, giving him 2,350 for his career. He needed 11 points going into the game to pass Lichti.

Stefan Nastic added 17 points for Stanford.

The Cardinal (23-13) blew a 21-point halftime lead, but managed to hold off the Monarchs. Stanford opened the game with a 15-0 run before Old Dominion scored its first points.

But the Monarchs (27-8) overcame a 25-4 deficit, forced 10 Stanford turnovers, and a Richard Ross dunk with six seconds left in the half pulled ODU to within six points at the break.

With just over 11 minutes to play in the second half, a Ross layup gave Old Dominion a brief lead. The Cardinal responded three minutes later with a transition steal and dunk by Marcus Allen, two 3-pointers by Randle, and Stanford surged ahead for good.

In the final minute, ODU made one last charge. After Trey Freeman missed a 3-point attempt, Randle sank a floater to put the Cardinal up 63-59. Randle later sank a pair of free throws to increase Stanford’s lead to six.

Reserve Ambrose Mosley led ODU with 16 points, while Ross added 15 points off the bench, hitting 7 of 7 shots. The Monarchs’ starters combined for a total of 20 points. Freeman finished with 13 points on 6-of-24 shooting.

Stanford faces Miami in Thursday night’s NIT championship game at the Garden.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, March 30, 2015

The San Jose SaberCats spoiled the return of Las Vegas to the Arena Football League Monday night, rolling up a 59-41 win over the newly-minted Outlaws in a season-opening contest in Las Vegas.

Quarterback Erik Meyer threw touchdown passes of 32, 29, 46 and 33 yards in the first half, hooking up with receivers Adron Tennell and Ben Nelson for two first-half TD receptions each.

Meyer finished with 18 of 29 passes completed for 294 yards and six touchdowns.

The SaberCats’ top receiver for the night was Reggie Gray with seven catches for 89 yards and a TD. Tennell wound up with 84 yards on five receptions.

On Saturday, the SaberCats entertain the Los Angeles KISS in their home opener. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.