San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana Kieu: Quakes are back on track

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Photo credit: sjearthquakes.com

On the San Jose Earthquakes podcast with Ana:

1. The Earthquakes defeated Sporting KC 4-1 at Avaya Stadium last Saturday.

2. What were your three takeaways from the Quakes vs. Sporting KC match?

3. The Quakes will be in Seattle to take on the Sounders on Wednesday. What does SJ need to do in order to win?

4. What was the Quakes’ baby shark celebration all about?

5. What’s your prediction on Quakes at FC Dallas on Saturday?

Ana does the San Jose Earthquakes podcasts each week for SportsRadioService.com

Groundbreaking Ceremony Set for San Jose State Football Operations Center

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State University and its Division of Intercollegiate Athletics will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the future construction of a new Football Operations Center on the east side of CEFCU Stadium, Home of the Spartans. The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday morning, June 5 at 11:00 am inside CEFCU Stadium.

Conceived in 2016 as a centerpiece in the development of the university’s 62 acres of land at the South Campus, the Football Operations Center will be a multi-story structure centralizing all of Spartan Football’s needs into one state-of-the-art building. The new facility will enhance all facets of football operations and provide a first-class environment for our student-athletes to succeed in the classroom, in competition, and in life.

“The Football Operations Center will provide our football team, athletics department and the entire university state-of-the-art spaces to compete and learn. This critical project will provide much needed services for our football program and will be utilized by other sport teams and campus divisions. The center will provide enhanced game-day experiences for our fans,” said Marie Tuite, SJSU’s director of athletics.

“This project is a crucial footprint to the overall renovation and enhancement of facilities on South Campus. Although our football program will be the main tenants, building multi-use facilities is always our objective.”

The new operations center will include locker rooms, an auditorium, offices, spectator seating on the 50-yard line and a Hall of Champions event space. The total project would be a rebuild on the stadium’s east side and also provide support to the Spartans’ men’s and women’s soccer programs.

Currently, the project budget is listed at $40-million. To date, $24.7 million has been raised for the Football Operations Center.

The work slated to take place during the summer includes removing bleacher sections along the stadium’s east side and landscape in order to set the foundation for building. During this time, SJSU will initiate a formal bidding process to determine both construction and architecture firms.

After the 2019 football season, the next phase of work will include moving the hill and relocating the scoreboard including lighting currently located along the east side — all required preparation for the physical construction of the center.

When the Football Operations Center is completed, the Spartan football program would move out of the Simpkins Stadium Center, opened in 1993 on the 7th Street side of CEFCU Stadium, to the opposite side of the stadium.

“The Football Operations Center will be a game-changer for San Jose State University. We are building a winning program here and our new home will provide our players, coaches, and staff the opportunities to succeed on the field, academically, and through our Beyond Football program,” said SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan.

“It will show future Spartans that we have a vision and a plan for a winning football program that goes to bowl games and competes for conference championships.”

The groundbreaking ceremony is open to the public. Parking will be available in the Park & Ride Lot, located across the street from the 7th Street side of CEFCU Stadium.

To learn how you can support Spartan football, please visit sjsufootball.com or contact Josh Thiel, deputy athletics director for athletics advancement, at (408) 924-1697 or joshua.thiel@sjsu.edu.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Will Posey’s HR mean more to come?; Posey was hitting just over .200

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@SFGiants photo: Buster Posey swings for the fences, ending his 191 at-bats drought without a home run, against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh off Pirates starter Chris Archer.

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey hit a three-run homer off Pittsburgh Pirates starter Chris Archer to help San Francisco hang onto a 3-2 win on Sunday.

#2 The Giants were in need of some offense and just a little helped them on Sunday.

#3 For Posey, it was the longest drought going without a home run. Sometimes, it takes something like this to spark a team.

#4 It was Posey’s first home run in 191 at-bats, which includes playoffs and regular season games against the Pirates. The Bucs were the only National League team that Posey had not homered off of.

#5 The Giants have the day off Monday before opening up a two-game series in Toronto Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, who are coming off a three-game sweep of the A’s over the weekend.

Morris does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Force Game 7 With 2-1 Win Over Golden Knights in 2OT

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won 2-1 in the second overtime of Game 6 of their playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday. Martin Jones was hands down the star of the game, making 58 saves to Marc-Andre Fleury’s 27. Those 58 saves set a record for Jones and also the franchise. Regulation goals came from Logan Couture for the Sharks and Jonathan Marchessault for the Golden Knights. The teams will return to San Jose for Game 7 on Tuesday.

The Sharks got off to a fast start in the game, taking a significant lead in shots until the middle of the period. That was the last such lead they would have in the game. In the first period, they fell behind by one shot, 10-9. In the second period, Las Vegas outshot them 17-7 and in the third period the Golden Knights won the shot contest by a whopping 17-4. On top of that, the Sharks blocked 34 more shots. This was the onslaught that Sharks goaltender Martin Jones faced Sunday.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:

Yeah, we knew Joner was on, you could feel it, for sure. You know, you’re looking at the scoreboard and the shots are saying what they are. But the way Joner was moving, seeing the puck, you know, it wasn’t two-on-ones, breakaways, guys weren’t getting behind us. It was still a pretty tight-knit group out there and guys were blocking some shots and hanging in there.

Martin Jones said “It was a good game, obviously. We stuck with it the whole night. Give our guys a lot of credit, some huge penalty kills in overtime and the third. Yeah, everybody chipped in with stuff today.”

The officials seemed to have put their whistles away for overtime, ignoring some fairly obvious penalties from tripping to holding on both sides. They ignored it all until Barclay Goodrow slashed the stick out of Brayden McNabb’s hands at 10:46 of the second overtime. The Sharks still had no shots on goal in the period.

The penalty appeared to be the death knell for the Sharks. Instead, Marc-Edouard Vlasic cleared the puck from the front of the net up to Tomas Hertl in the middle of the blue line. Hertl took off as fast as skaters are able to halfway through the fifth period. He barely stayed ahead of Shea Theodore, then slowed and took a shot from inside the face-off circle. Fleury couldn’t stop it. The Sharks won the game short-handed with their first shot of the period.

The first goal of the game did not come until the final 10 seconds of the first period. While Timo Meier fought Deryk Engelland for the puck in the neutral zone, Logan Couture skated up and plucked the puck away from them. He kept skating into the slot and veered away into the face-off circle while taking a shot that got by Marc-Andre Fleury. Timo Meier got the assist. It was Couture’s fourth of the playoffs.

The Sharks had one power play in the first period, a penalty to Shea Theodore for tripping Tomas Hertl. They had just one shot in that power play.

The second goal of the game came in the middle of the second period, from Joathan Marchessault for the Golden Knights. Shea Theodore took a shot from the blue line into some traffic and Jones stopped that one, but there was a small rebound that Marchessault got to. He pulled it around the prone goalie and put it in the net. It was Marchessault’s third of the playoffs. Assists went to Shea Theodore and William Karlsson.

Each team had a power play in the second period. Las Vegas had a power play at 14:26 after Timo Meier was called for tripping William Karlsson. Las Vegas had no shots on that power play.

The Sharks had one shot on their second period power play, the result of a penalty to Marchessault for slashing Logan Couture.

In the scoreless third period, the Golden Knights had the only power play, due to a goaltender interference penalty to Melker Karlsson. They had one shot on that power play.

Labanc and Thornton had a good chance near the middle of the first OT period, and Labanc’s shot may have gone under Fleury and back out just on the outside of the net.

With about three minutes to go, the teams exchanged wild scrambles at the net, with defensemen piled up, at Fleury’s end, he had two of his own defensemen spreadeagled on top of of each other in the blue paint after a puck got by Fleury. It was so close to the line that the NHL reviewed the video.

By the 10-minute mark of the first OT, the teams were tied with two shots each. Then the NHL changed that to a 3-1 lead for the Golden Knights. Eventually, it evened out to 7-6 for the Golden Knights in the first OT.

Approaching the midpoint of the second OT, the Golden Knights had seven shots and the Sharks had none on the books. And then Hertl scored.

The Sharks played more than two periods with only five defensemen. Joakim Ryan did not skate after the second period.

A’s swept by the Blue Jays at the Coliseum, Anderson hurt in 5-4 loss

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — A rare and surprising weekend at the Coliseum ended with the tying and winning runs on base, and the A’s failing to push the runners across in their disappointing, final two at-bats.

The A’s fell 5-4, officially ending the most impressive run of success in their home ballpark in their 40 plus years in Oakland.

The A’s were swept at home by Toronto for the first time since 1993. The sweep ended an unprecedented run which saw the team win 15 of its previous 18 series at the Coliseum, tie three and lose none dating back to June 2018.

“We have to give it to them,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We didn’t expect that. Hopefully it just inspires us for the next series to start playing better because it didn’t feel good getting swept.”

Adding injury to insult, starting pitcher Brett Anderson was removed in the third inning after he sprained his ankle attempting to field Randall Grichuk’s ground ball. Afterwards Anderson offered insight that incorporated his health, the current state of the rotation and the ballclub in one brief statement.

“Do some treatment and see how it feels tomorrow. It’s day to day. It’s annoying, a series that wasn’t very conducive to the health and success of the starting pitchers,” Anderson said.

Simply, the A’s have posted results all over the spectrum in their first 24 ballgames (11-13). But one denominator has remained consistent: if the A’s starters have dealt, they’ve won. If not, they’ve lost. Oakland starters went 6-1 in the team’s 6-4 start. They’ve won four times in 14 games since, only once in the last seven.

The A’s have lost five of six, and nine of 14 as their rotation has become unsettled with the injuries to Anderson and Marco Estrada.

Ramon Laureano was worth the price of admission all by himself by jumping up to rob Teoscar Hernandez of a home run in the second inning. Of course, the defensive whiz who has established himself as one of the game’s most prolific outfield assist guys since his promotion from the minors last season didn’t stop there. Laureano immediately unleashed a throw in excess of 400 feet that flew past first base in a failed attempt to double up baserunner Justin Smoak retreating to first base.

That’s actually when the play took on a unique life of its own, courtesy of Smoak and catcher Brett Hundley. Smoak, who should have been shocked and left motionless by the length of Laureano’s throw, instead turned opportunistic and tried to take second base. But Hundley, running well over 100 feet into foul ground, fielded the throw and tossed out Smoak at second base.

And the obvious question after the zany play: how do you throw a baseball that far?

“I threw without thinking. That happens sometimes,” Laureano explained.

Warriors defeat Clippers 113-105 for back-to-back road wins

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Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

The Golden State Warriors had hoped to take a 3-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center Sunday. The Warriors didn’t want to repeat their blowing of a 31-point lead in Game 2 at Oracle Arena last Monday.

The Warriors were ready for the game. Golden State’s starting five featured Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Bogut.

Klay Thompson got the party started with a pump fake at the 10:55 mark of the first quarter. Thompson made seven straight buckets, too. Kevin Durant continued making his buckets, which gave him the nickname “Buckets” — but most, if not all, of us would mind if he went by that nickname. Durant and Draymond Green played a major role in the Warrior defense. The Warriors led 33-22 at the end of the first.

Steph Curry rang in the second quarter with a three-pointer off a pass from Kevon Looney. Kevin Durant and Danilo Gallinari had a conversation, and although it was unclear what the two were discussing, Gallinari made a pair of free throws, so I doubt it had anything to do with the Warriors. However, Durant did pass Hakeem Olajuwon for 13th place on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list with 3,756 points.

The shot clock expired with 1:05 left in the second, and the Clippers reduced their deficit by six, trailing 58-52 with one minute left. Los Angeles added two points to make it 58-54, but Golden State added four points for a 62-54 lead to close out the first half.

The Clippers not only reduced their deficit in the third quarter, they also got past the Warriors 82-77 for their largest lead of the game with 3:57 left in the third. But the Warriors tied the game 82-82 at the two-minute warning. Steph Curry hit a three to make it 85-82 with less than two minutes remaining. LA made it a one-point game, but that was short-lived as Golden State added two points for a 87-84 lead at the end of the third.

After a short break, Golden State returned to the court ready to take over. Andrew Bogut made a pass to Andre Iguodala, who threw the shot down the rim for a 94-88 lead with 9:012 left in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson proved to be money, and as expected, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant teamed up to create assists and points, respectively. The Warriors (3-1) won the game 113-105 for back-to-back road wins over the Clippers (1-3).

Check out the Warriors’ final stats below:

The series shifts to Oracle Arena for Game 5 Wednesday. Game time to be announced later on.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Who are the Giants fooling?

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The San Francisco Giants front office fear the word “rebuilding”. Maybe they really believed the propaganda that they were going to win a World Series every two years from 2010-14 forever and ever. There is an old saying, “you can’t be half pregnant” and the Giants do not want to say they’re rebuilding and they are talking about trading some players to make the team better this year, but the fans are usually smarter than the front offices.

Take a look at the attendance so far at Oracle Park. People realize the party is over, and the casual fans that were there “for the party, dude!” have disappeared and are now more interested in watching Game of Thrones than Giants baseball. At the end, the fans always have the last word, they pay for the tickets to into the park, pay $12 for a beer, pay $14 for nachos with cheese (and those are cheap snacks!), and not to mention, the souvenirs.

The Giants are not going to contend this season. They should start trading the players that still might have some value like Madison Bumgarner, which I believe will be gone by the trading deadline on July 31. Gut the whole thing, They are not fooling anybody — maybe they’re fooling themselves. They have no power and little speed. They depend exclusively on their pitching. If their pitching gives up four runs, they will lose the game. They are not an exciting team.

As of the conclusion of action Sunday, the Giants have yet to score a run in the first inning during any of their first 23 games of the season. They are 9-14 and heading to Toronto, who are a typical American League East team that can score runs in bunches. There are teams that also have losing records like the Kansas City Royals, but that is a very exciting team with lots of speed and some power.

Still, there are some 140 games for most teams as there is a season still ahead, but the way it is going for the Giants, the next six months might look like six years.

Posey launches a three-run home run in Giants’ 3-2 win over Pirates

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Photo credit: @sfchronicle

By Jeremy Kahn

Buster Posey came up with the biggest hit of the weekend at the most opportune time in the game for the San Francisco Giants.

Posey launched a three-run home run off of Chris Archer in the top of the fifth inning, as the Giants hung onto the last batter to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 at PNC Park.

It was the first career home run of Poseys career against the Pirates, and it helped the Giants avoid the three-game sweep against the Pirates.

When Posey got back to the dugout, he was mobbed by his teammates and you could a smile on his face as well.

Just in front of Posey to scorewas Dereck Rodriguez, who singled to lead off the inning and then Steven Duggar singled.

Things got dicey for the Giants in the bottom of the ninth inning, as former Giants farmhand Bryan Reynolds hit a double into the right-field corner that kicked around to Duggar, who threw to Joe Panik, who in turn, threw to Posey to get Jung Ho Kang at the plate to end the game.

Closer Will Smith walked Francisco Cervelli with one out, and then Kang grounded into a force out that saw Brandon Crawford unable to turn the double play; however, they were able to get Cervelli at second base for the second out and then the game came to an end, when Kang was thrown at the plate.

Rodriguez made one mistake, but other than that, the right-hander was on point for the Giants.

Rodriguez gave up a two-run home run to Josh Bell in the bottom of the fourth inning, but was solid before and after that home run by Bell.

He went 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking just one and striking out four, as he improved to 3-2 on the season.

After not pitching yesterday, the Giants bullpen was well rested, as the trio of Reyes Moronta, Tony Watson and Smith went a combined 3.1 innings, allowing two hits, walking two and striking out three and it ended with Smith picking up his fifth save of the season.

Archer went five innings, giving up three runs on six hits, walking two and striking out two; however, that one-pitch to Posey sent to his first loss of 2019 against one win.

NOTES: Posey last hit a home run on June 19, 2018 off of Dan Straily of the Miami Marlins, a span of 237 at-bats. The Pirates were the last team that Posey never hit a home run against in his career, a total of 49 games.

UP NEXT: After an off-day on Monday, the Giants begin a brief two-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Jeff Samardzija will take the mound against the Blue Jays, as he wants to bounce back from his last start, where he went five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking two and striking out seven, as he lost to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

Samardzija will face Trent Thornton, who is 0-2 with a 5.40 earned run average for the Blue Jays under first year manager Charlie Montoyo.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Daniel Dullum: Sharks-Knights draw down in Game 6; Av’s and CBJ’s upsets to advance; plus more

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Photo credit: @newsvire1

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Daniel:

1 Sharks stay alive; series shifts to Las Vegas for Game 6

2 First round upsets: Blue Jackets stun Lightning; Av’s oust Flames, Stars stun Preds in Nashville

3 Blues eliminate Jets in six; Caps rout Carolina, Islanders waiting for second round

4 Leafs try to close out Bruins

5 Todd McLellan finds work, hired by LA Kings; Yzerman heads home to take over Red Wings

Daniel does the NHL podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s looking at getting swept by Jays, having lost four of last five

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On the A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 It was Oakland A’s Matt Chapman bobblehead day alright, and the A’s did just that on Saturday, bobbled the game away to the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 in a no mercy rule game.

#2 The Jays’ first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit for his fourth homer and got a double as part of the Jays offense was hitting .191.

#3 The Jays’ Brandon Drury hitting .147 went 3-4 and hit for two RBIs and two runs scored.

#4 The A’s rough day continued after using six relievers they called on their first baseman Kendrys Morales as a closer in the ninth inning.

#5 The A’s and Jays conclude the series today at the Coliseum with the Jays Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.86 ERA) and the A’s Brett Anderson (3-0, 2.63 ERA).

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