A’s, Treinen swept and embarrassed in Toronto by the Blue Jays

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By Morris Phillips

Last season, the A’s couldn’t get enough of the Blue Jays. This season? They would prefer to forget they ever took the field with those guys.

The A’s suffered a 5-4, 11-inning loss on Sunday, the culmination of being swept in consecutive weekends by Toronto (0-6), the ultimate getback after the A’s went 7-0 against the Blue Jay’s in 2018. What’s worse, the A’s blew a 4-1 lead in the 11th as closer Blake Treinen couldn’t close the door.

Brandon Drury’s three-run homer wiped out the A’s lead, and four batters later, Justin Smoak’s RBI single scoring Freddy Galvez ended it.

“Falling behind guys and giving up soft contact like that is just embarrassing on my end,” Treinen said. “The team scraps as well as it did to get runs late and then they put their faith in me to go out there and get three outs. I mean a leadoff hit is whatever, a guy goes across the plate it doesn’t matter, but then I just didn’t execute pitches and fell behind and lost some feel and it sucks. It really sucks.”

The A’s fell to 14-16 with the loss, four games off the pace of the division-leading Astros, who won 4-1 over the Indians Sunday night.

Chris Bassitt was impressive–and more expressive–in his second start, allowing a run in seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. With all the upheaval and inconsistency in the rotation, Bassitt appears to be stability after two, superior starts.

With his energy on the mound, along with the quality pitches, Bassitt carried the A’s for seven innings. J.B. Wendelken picked Bassitt up with a brisk eighth, and Joakim Soria gave up a couple of hits, but kept the game 1-1 in the ninth.

A weird vibe persisted because of the A’s aversion to being swept and their lack of offense–two singles and an Khris Davis double–through nine innings. Bassitt did his best to explain the team’s malaise that preceded the game’s unusual conclusion in the 10th and 11th.

“It was just we were all kind of sleepwalking a little bit,” Bassitt opined. “It happens. Everyone goes through this, but we obviously have to snap out of it.”

 

Avalanche Tie Series with 4-3 Win Over Sharks

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The Colorado Avalanche edged the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 with a 4-3 win at SAP Center Sunday, tying the second round playoff series at one apiece. Avs’ goals came from Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie, Matt Nieto and Nathan MacKinnon. Sharks’ goals came from Evander Kane and Brent Burns (2). Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves for Colorado, while Martin Jones made 28 saves on 31 shots for San Jose.

After the game, Sharks forward Evander Kane said: “I thought we did a good job early on, we just let them hang around too long.”

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson elaborated on the same theme:

I think that we played well, we did a lot of good things out there. Just couldn’t find a way to score goals and got a little frustrated as the game went along and started doing our own thing a little too much. We know that doesn’t work in here and you know we should have learned by now but we didn’t. They capitalized on the chances they got and made us play from behind.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer pointed to the Sharks’ net-front presence as an issue: “I thought it was a pretty even game. I thought we didn’t get to their net enough. We had some real good looks where he made a couple big saves but I thought we could have made it a little tougher on him traffic-wise on our point shots. And I thought we could have done a better job in front of Jonesy, you know, on their point shots.”

Evander Kane started the scoring at 7:57 of the first. Kane was in front of the net and got behind Cale Makar as a blueline shot from Brent Burns came in. With a couple of strong moves, he fended off Makar and put the puck past Grubauer. Assists went to Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl. It was Kane’s second of the playoffs.

Colorado tied it up at 8:21. Tyson Barrie took a shot from the blue line into traffic and it went off of Gabriel Landeskog right on the edge of the blue paint. It was Landeskog’s second of the playoffs. Assists went to Barrie and Nathan MacKinnon.

The Avalanche got a lead on a goal from Tyson Barrie at 16:31. The play could have easily been called an icing, as Marc-Edouard Vlasic was the first to the hash marks, but the officials did not call it and play continued on.

After the game, Vlasic said “I’ll take the high road and wait for the League’s apology tomorrow.”

Barrie’s shot came from above the face-off circle when the puck emerged from a battle by the other side of the net. Jones was coming across from that and could not stop Barrie’s shot. Assists went to Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen.

Colorado’s lead expanded at 10:10 of the third. Martin Jones looked like he thought he had the puck frozen under him but it was slowly moving behind him. Brenden Dillon got his stick in there to push it away from the goal line but he hit it a little too hard and it bounced off of Jones back into the net. The goal went to Matt Nieto, his third of the playoffs. Assists went to Matt Calvert and Barrie.

The Sharks had some good luck in the form of Alexander Kerfoot’s broken skate, which left Brent Burns free to move and shoot without Kerfoot getting in his way. Burns did just that and brought the Sharks within one at 15:26. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Marcus Sorensen.

That Sharks momentum was shattered when, moments later, Timo Meier allowed his stick to get into Nathan MacKinnon’s skate and that put the Avalanche on a power play. The Sharks killed off the penalty, but had little time to get the tying goal. With just over a minute to go, they pulled their goaltender for the extra skater. Nathan MacKinnon got control of the puck and put it in the empty net at 18:58. Assists went to Calvert and Philipp Grubauer.

The Sharks did get that third goal, in a 17-second power play at the end of the game. Four skaters battled for puck in the slot, but Tomas Hertl got to it first and tapped it ahead to Burns, who was moving through the outside of the face-off circle. He had a clear shot and he took it. Assists went to Hertl and Kane. That left the Sharks 10 more seconds to tie it with a fourth but they couldn’t get that done.

Melker Karlsson left the game late in the third period after being crushed against the glass by Derick Brassard.

Game 3 will be Tuesday at the Pepsi Center in Denver at 7:00 PM PT.

Warriors get past Rockets 104-100 in Game 1

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Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

There was no rest for the weary Golden State Warriors, whose second round opponent was the Houston Rockets, who reportedly arrived to San Francisco early. The Warriors, however, were determined to defeat the Rockets — and they did just that in Game 1 at Oracle Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Warriors’ starting five was Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Curry (right ankle sprain) and Thompson (right ankle sprain) were available to play Sunday.

The Warriors got their game faces on and headed out onto the hardwood to shoot some hoops. There was a scoreless tie up until 11:47 of the first quarter. Andre Iguodala made a pass to Draymond Green, who made the first bucket of the game.

Kevin Durant made a field goal midway through the first quarter. With the field goal, Durant (1,248 points) passed Wilt Chamberlain (1,246) for fifth place on the Warriors’ all-time postseason scoring list.

Draymond Green drove inside and got the ball into the net to extend the Warriors’ lead to 14-9 with 6:13 left in the first quarter. Kevin Durant joined the three-pointer party by hitting a 3 for a 28-19 lead with just five seconds left in the first. The Warriors led 28-19 at the end of the first.

The Warriors had a slim, four-point lead late in the second quarter. But Steph Curry changed that with a 3 to extend the Warriors’ lead to 43-36 with 5:25 left in the second. Draymond Green and Kevin Durant teamed up to add some buckets into the mix. The Warriors took a 53-53 tie to the locker room at the break.

Kevin Durant displayed his tremendous defensive skills in the third quarter. Durant knocked the ball out of the air as soon as James Harden tried to put it into the net. That was quite a way for Durant to say “no.”

Also, plenty of ball movement led to buckets for the Warriors. The Warriors led 83-76 at the end of the third.

The Warriors were “locked in” in the fourth quarter. Despite being outscored 24-21, Golden State had winning on their minds. Steph Curry made a pass to Kevin Durant, who made a one-footer that was good and put the Warriors up 94-91 with 4:36 left in the fourth. With the point, Durant passed Larry Bird (3,897) for 11th on the NBA Playoffs’ all-time career scoring list.

The Warriors trailed by two late in the fourth quarter. However, Steph Curry made it 103-98 in favor of the Warriors with a three with 24.4 seconds left in the fourth. That was quite a bang that got Curry fired up. The Warriors won Game 1 by a final score of 104-101.

Draymond Green stuffed the Warriors’ stat sheets with 14 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and was 7-9 FG. The Warriors’ Statline of the Game was presented by Zoom.

The Warriors (1-0) and Rockets (0-1) face each other in Game 2 on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm PT.

Voit continues hot streak as Yankees sweep Giants with 11-5 win

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Luke Voit turned Oracle Park into his own batting cage this weekend for the New York Yankees.

Thru his at-bats in the three-game series, Voit went 6-for-12, including going 3-for-4 in the finale and the Yankees completed the three-game series with a 11-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 34,540 at Oracle Park.

This was the first time this season that the Giants have been on the other end of a series sweep, and have lost their last four home games.

Domingo German pitched six strong innings, as he allowed four runs on five hits, walking one and striking out five on his way to his fifth win of the season.

The Yankees got the scoreboard rolling in the first inning, as Gary Sanchez reached on a fielders choice that scored DJ LeMahieu and Brandon Crawford committed a fielding error.

After the Crawford fielding error, Gleyber Torres grounded into a double play that scored Voit from third base.

Once again, it was that man Voit again, as he hit a two-run single in the top of the second inning that scored Gio Urshela and Tyler Wade.

Torres got in on the act in the top of the third, as he launched a two-run home run over the left-center wall.

After giving back-to-back singles to start the top of the fourth inning, that was the end of the afternoon for Dereck Rodriguez, who went just three innings, allowing six runs (four earned), on seven hits, walking four and striking out three, as he saw his record fall to 3-3 on the season.

The three-innings pitched by Rodriguez matched his second-shortest start of his major league career. Rodriguez allowed tied his career high in hit allowed with seven (fifth time) and walks with four, also the six runs allowed were a career high.

Nick Vincent came on to replace Rodriguez, and was cruising until Sanchez launched a two-run home run that landed deep into the left field bleachers. It was the second home run in as many days for Sanchez, who hit his first career grand slam in Saturdays 6-4 victory.

The Giants literally cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth inning, as they scored four runs off of German.

Joe Panik drove in the first run of the game for the Giants, as he drove in Tyler Austin, who walked while pinch-hitting for Vincent.

Pablo Sandoval doubled to center field that scored Yangervis Solarte, who reached on a fielders choice, then after a Brandon Belt single, Pablo Sandoval doubled in Solarte, Crawford lined out to Torres for the second out, but then Kevin Pillar, singled in Belt and Sandoval.

The Yankees tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth inning, as Cameron Maybin singled in Torres and then Tyler Wade drove in Mike Tauchman and Maybin, who advanced on the throw home.

Pillar led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run, his fifth of the season and it was his 18th run batted in of the season, tying his career for most RBIs in one month. He previously drove in 18 runs in June of 2015.

NOTES: Voit extended his on-base streak up to 39 games when he walked in the first inning, as it is the second longest streak by a Yankees player, trailing Mark Teixeiras 42-game streak in 2005. Also, it is the longest current on-base streak in the major leagues.

LeMahieu was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the third inning with inflammation in his right knee, and x-rays were negative.

Urshela left the game in the fourth inning after he was hit by a pitch on his left hand, and x-rays were negative.

The 11 runs scored by the Yankees were the most given by the Giants in any game this season, and as a team, the Yankees outscored the Giants 24-12 in the three-game sweep.

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija takes the mound on Monday, as the two-time defending National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers head to the Bay Area for a three-game series. Kenta Maeda will take the mound for the Dodgers, who are coming off a three-game series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium.

Raiders’ 2019 NFL Draft: Newest members of the Silver and Black

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Photo credit: @Raiders

By Jeremy Kahn

In what could be the final NFL Draft as the Oakland Raiders, they added nine new players to the Silver and Black in the annual NFL Draft.

Mike Mayocks first pick as the General Manager, was a shock to some; however, as Mayock drafted Clelin Ferrell, a defensive end from the 2018 National Champion Clemson Tigers.

While at Clemson, Ferrell won the Ted Hendricks Award that is awarded to the nations top defensive end. Ferrell also sacked the quarterback 27 times while at Clemson.

Twenty picks later, Mayock drafted running back Josh Jacobs, who played at Alabama and faced Ferrell and the Tigers in the National Championship Game held at Levis Stadium on January 7.

During the 2018 season, Jacobs totaled 1,315 yards in total offense for the Crimson Tide, as they made it to three straight National Championship and winning the 2018 NCG over the Georgia Buldogs at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Mayock then returned to defense with his number 27, as he drafted Safety Johnathan Abram out of Mississippi State.

With his only pick in the second and third rounds, Mayock drafted Ferrells college teammate Trayvon Mullen, who played cornerback for Dabo Swinneys Tigers, who became the first team to go 15-0 since the 1897 Penn Quakers.

Once again, Mayock went defense with his pick in the fourth round, as defensive end Maxx Crosby out of Eastern Michigan became a Raider at pick number 106.

While playing for the Eagles in the Mid-Amercian Conference, Crosby complied 20 sacks and 41 tackles for loss.

Mayock continued pick defensive players, as 23 picks after Crosby joined the team, Isaiah Johnson, a cornerback from the University of Houston joined the Silver and Black.

Eight picks later, Mayock went with LSU tight end Foster Moreau, who started in 26 games and caught 52 passes in his career for the Tigers for 629 yards and six touchdowns.

Hunter Renfrow, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass from DeShaun Watson in the 2017 National Championship Game against Alabama, was drafted with pick number 149 of the fifth round.

Renfrow is the third member of the 2018 National Champion Tigers team to be drafted by the team.

With their final pick of the draft, the Raiders went with the nephew of a former Raiders running back, as they went with Prairie View defensive end Quinton Bell, whose Uncle Nick, played for the Raiders from 1991-1993 and carried the ball 226 times for 853 yards and seven touchdowns.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s just can’t do anything with Jays on the verge of getting swept

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sfexaminer.com file photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels on June 15, 2018. He will be the starting pitcher against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman:

#1 After the Toronto Blue Jays were swept in a brief two-game series by the visiting San Francisco Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Oakland A’s came into Rogers Centre and are on the cusp of getting swept in a three-game series.

#2 The A’s faced the Jays starter Aaron Sanchez on Saturday and the A’s, who have a lot of pop in their lineup, were lucky to even get a pop up off Sanchez, who gave up only a run in five innings against the A’s.

#3 The A’s have a 6-12 record against right-handed pitching as opposed to 8-3 against lefties. This is something no doubt that the Jays have studied film on and have dominated the A’s in their meetings this season.

#4 Former Oakland A’s Eric Sogard scored a run after hitting a double on Saturday and has hit safely in all nine games he has played for the Jays. Sogard is hitting .400, three doubles and two home runs.

#5 It’s the A’s last chance to snap the Jays’ five-game winning streak against them as they will start pitcher Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79 ERA) for Toronto.

Joey does the A’s podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Daniel Dullum: NHL apologizes for officiating blunder; Second round off to roaring start; plus more

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azcentral.com photo: San Jose Sharks’ Joe Pavelski gets help from his teammates in Game 7 on Tuesday, April 23rd at SAP Center in San Jose after getting crossed-checked in the chest, not in the head as ruled by the officials by Cody Eakin of the Vegas Golden Knights. Eakin was called for a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a cross-check to the head. The NHL has since apologized for the mistaken call.

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 Golden Knights GM says NHL apologized for officiating blunder in Game 7

2 Second round off to a roaring start — Blue Jackets and Bruins tied at 1-1, same for Blues and Stars, Hurricanes take game one from Islanders

3 Sharks up 1-0 over Avalanche

4 Name on the back now matters: NHL decides to start marketing its stars

Catch Daniel each Sunday for the NHL Playoff podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The A’s want out of Canada as the Blue Jays win again on Saturday 7-1

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Tor 4-27
Graphic: @BlueJays

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics have played five games against the Toronto Blue Jays over the past nine days. The Blue Jays have defeated the A’s in all five of those games. They did it again on Saturday afternoon in Toronto by downing Oakland 7-1.

This is just the complete flipside of what happened between the teams in 2018. Last season the A’s won all seven games they played with the Blue Jays.

One of the biggest problems for the A’s on Saturday was Blue Jays starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez who is a right-hander. The Oakland lineup is loaded with right-handed batters, and they have struggled versus right-handed pitching. The Athletics are 6-12 versus right-handed starting pitchers so far this season. They are 8-3 when facing left-handed starters.

Tor Sanchez TSN
Aaron Sanchez Photo: @TSN

Aaron Sanchez made the start for Toronto and worked 5.0 innings in recording his third win of the year. He gave up one run (unearned) on just two hits. Sanchez walked four and struck out four. With his strong performance against the A’s, Sanchez lowered his ERA to 2.32.

Toronto Focus

  • Former Oakland Athletic Eric Sogard scored the first run of the game after he doubled to lead off the game. Sogard has hit safely in all nine of the games he has played for the Blue Jays this season. He is currently batting .400 with three doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI.
  • Brandon Drury went 3-for-3 on Saturday just as he did last Saturday in Oakland. He hit two singles, a double, walked, and scored a run.
  • Randal Grichuk hit two singles, doubled, and drove in two runs as he went 3-for-5 on Saturday afternoon.
  • Catcher Danny Jansen doubled and added an RBI on a Sacrifice Fly.

Athletics Spotlight

Tor Anderson
Brett Anderson Photo: @Athletics
  • Starting pitcher Brett Anderson allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in his 4.1 innings of work. He walked two and struck out two Blue Jays.
  • Ramon Laureano had his sixth multi-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled against Toronto on Saturday.
  • Matt Chapman hit a double in the eighth inning of the game. Chapman entered the game tied for 10th in the American League with 13 extra-base hits.

Up Next

The Oakland A’s will try to keep the Blue Jays from completing the season sweep on Sunday by sending RHP Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to face RHP Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 10:07 PDT.

Kaden Smith drafted by the San Francisco 49ers

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

Kaden Smith was selected in the sixth round with the 176th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft on Saturday by the San Francisco 49ers. A tight end from Flower Mound, Texas, Smith is the sixth Cardinal tight end drafted since 2012.

“Kaden is a very versatile tight end,” Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw said. “His size and strength give him the ability to be an every down blocker in the NFL and his athleticism will give him the opportunity to be a very good pass catcher as well. Kaden has a knack for making contested catches down the field and tight ends that work the seams in the NFL play for a long time.”

A 2018 Mackey Award finalist, Smith was named All-Pac 12 second team a season ago. He finished his career with 70 receptions for 1,049 yards and seven touchdowns in 25 career games. He also earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention two times.

“Kaden is the most complete tight end coming out in this year’s class,” Cardinal tight ends coach Morgan Turner said. “His ability to make tough catches is rivaled by very few. He also wants to be part of the run game, which very few guys want to do these days. You can put him at the point of attack and trust him in the run game. Kaden really embraced that and did a great job with it.”

Smith shined in 2018, playing in 11 games with 10 starts. He totaled 47 catches for 635 yards and two touchdowns. He was named Mackey Award Player of the Week following an eight-catch, 107-yard, one-touchdown performance against Washington. As a sophomore in 2017, he played in 14 games and totaled 23 catches for 414 yards and five touchdowns.

Jake Bailey drafted by the New England Patriots

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

Jake Bailey was selected in the fifth round with the 163rd overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft on Saturday by the New England Patriots. A punter from Solana Beach, Calif., Bailey is the first Cardinal selected by the Patriots since 2015.

Jake Bailey has been a weapon for us for years,” Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw said. “He has the strong leg to be a very good kickoff specialist that pins the opponent’s offense back to start their drives. Jake also has the ability not only to boot long punts that change field position, but also to pin the opponent back inside their 20-yard-line, sometimes inside the 10. That is a skill that is very coveted by NFL teams and the Patriots are getting a good one.”

Bailey was named All-Pac-12 three times during his career with the Cardinal and finished as Stanford’s all-time leader in career punting average (43.81). His 185 punts are sixth-most in school history as are his 8,105 career punt yards. He totaled just 17 touchbacks with 51 fair catches, 76 inside the 20, and 54 punts of 50+ yards in 52 career games. Bailey also totaled 291 kickoffs for 18,428 yards (63.3 avg) and 173 touchbacks.

“Jake has an ability to directional punt,” Cardinal special teams coordinator Pete Alamar said. “He can put the ball into tight spaces which helps your coverage unit. He’s a high ball hitter–he’s not a guy that drives the ball. He has a great relationship between the distance and the hang time to allow his coverage unit to get down the field. The Patriots are also going to like him because of his kickoff ability. He takes the returner out of the game in that aspect.”

Bailey totaled 86 punts for 2,996 yards (44.06 avg) in 2018, playing in all 13 games. His 68 punts were the seventh-most in school history while his 2,996 yards were the fourth-most. He had 20 punts of 50+ yards and 24 punts inside the 20. He also kicked off for the Cardinal, with 60 touchbacks as a senior. He punctuated his career with a school-record 84-yard punt against Cal.

As a junior in 2017, Bailey earned All-Pac-12 honors after punting 57 times for an average of 45.5 yards. He had touchbacks on 58 of 83 kickoffs. As a sophomore in 2016, he punted 50 times for 2,176 yards with 13 punts over 50 yards and 22 inside the 20. He had 44 touchbacks on 71 kickoffs. He was the Cardinal kickoff specialist as a freshman in 2015 and also punted 10 times situationally.