San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Giants may be out, but haven’t given up; Get swept in St. Louis; Get ready for San Diego tonight

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@SFGiants file photo: Hunter Pence (left) sits with former coach Tim Flannery at Dodger Stadium during Flannery’s time with the team. Pence is expected to finish his tenure with the Giants this week.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 The Giants went through the motions in St. Louis and lost their 50th game on the road in a three-game sweep with the Cards.

#2 Manager Bruce Bochy said that St. Louis is a really balanced ball club with a tough lineup.

#3 The Cards executed all the reasons why they’re a wild card competitor. With what Bochy said, they have power, speed, and are good athletes.

#4 The 50-game road loss was a five-game improvement over last year’s loss total of 55.

#5 The Giants open a three-game series tonight against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park. This most likely will be the final curtain for Giants’ Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco as members of the team.

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

 

A’s run out of gas, fail to clinch playoff spot in 5-1 loss to the Twins

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — The A’s put together a pair of impressive, come-from-behind wins on Friday and Saturday. Based on their quiet performance on Sunday, those loud wins may have drained the club still battling for home field advantage in the October 3 wild card playoff.

The Twins got a majestic, first inning home run from Jake Cave, and Kyle Gibson shut down the A’s into the eighth inning and the Twins avoided a three-game sweep at the Coliseum. In the process, all the preparation for an A’s postgame celebration was rendered meaningless.

“Somebody mentioned the last couple years we’ve seen other teams celebrate while we were in town,” Gibson said. “So to be able to finish out the season without having to see any celebration is kind of nice.”

The Twins came to Oakland intent on impacting the AL playoff picture, but instead they got saddled with two, draining losses. But that process may have impacted Sunday’s result in which the A’s appeared flat even with everything to play for, and knowing the Yankees had lost minutes earlier.

“We didn’t play our best and we faced a guy who really pitched well,” Matt Chapman opined. “We just got out-played today.”

The A’s sliced the Twins early 2-0 lead in half with Matt Olson’s second inning home run. But that shot didn’t signal the A’s arrival, instead that was the moment of Gibson’s takeover. The Twins starter allowed just three singles after Olson’s blow leading to his departure with one out in the eighth inning. When trouble appeared to be brewing, Minnesota’s defense provided support. Former Giant Ehire Adrianza started an inning-ending double play with a snag of Chapman’s hard hit smash in the fifth.

“You can’t start talking about anything I did without talking about the defense,” Gibson said. “It was an incredible display.”

Trevor Cahill got roughed up, departing in the fourth with the Twins leading 4-1 and poised to score again. Melvin still felt Cahill acquitted himself decently following his previous, lackluster start. Cahill hadn’t pitched since September 9 when he experienced forearm strain. The loss was Cahill’s first this season at home after building a 5-0 record.

“All things considered, I think it was a step in the right direction for him,” Melvin said of Cahill.

The A’s remain 6 1/2 games ahead of the Rays giving additional importance to Tampa Bay’s home game Monday against the Yankees. If the Rays win, the A’s will move within a game of New York for the lead wild card spot. If the Rays lose, the A’s will clinch a tie for the second wild card spot.

The loss likely ended the A’s quest for a division crown with the Astros increasing their AL West lead to 4 1/2 games. The A’s finish the regular season with road games at Seattle and Anaheim beginning Tuesday.

Michelle Richardson’s Final Thoughts Commentary: Cuban needs to step away from the limelight; Meyer should have been fired from Ohio State

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ESPN still: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban answers questions about sexual harassment in the Mavericks front office being interviewed by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols

On Michelle’s Final Thoughts Commentary:

The independent report came out about the Dallas Mavericks and work place culture and the article came out in the expose in Sports Illustrated about the Mavericks organization that it was a hostile work environment of sexual harassment and domestic violence and it was just an old boys club.

Women were just victimized and treated just horribly and Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban appeared on ESPN with Rachel Nichols and I’m going to applaud Rachel she did not let him off the hook she really pressed Cuban. I’ve never seen Mark Cuban without words and he couldn’t say anything. Cuban stuttered and stammered in the interview.

Listen to Michelle’s Finals Thought Commentary weekly on the NCAAFB podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NCAAFB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Old Dominion shocked No. 13 Virginia Tech 49-35; Michigan walk-ons carved out own niches; Some teams honored late loved ones

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Photo credit: @oxygencdcom

On the NCAAFB podcast with Michelle:

1. The Old Dominion Monarchs shocked the visiting No. 13 Virginia Tech with a 49-35 upset. Old Dominion quarterback Blake LaRussa came off the bench to throw for 495 yards and four touchdowns.

2. So far, 18 walk-ons have taken Michigan in the first two games of the season. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been pleased with the walk-ons. After all, these guys took the toughest path possible for life-changing opportunities.

3. Once again, college football has proved that it’s more than a game. Iowa State honored the late female golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena (1996-2018) before their game versus Akron, who they defeated 26-13. Also, University of Maryland sported special helmet decals to honor the late offensive lineman Jordan McNair, who was 19 years old and reportedly didn’t get the best care for his heat stroke over the offseason. In addition, four BYU players had jerseys with the last name Kaufusi to honor their paternal grandfather, Petelo Kaufusi, who passed away last week at the age of 79. Seven of Kaufusi’s eight children played college football for BYU or Utah.

Michelle does the NCAAFB podcasts each Sunday for SportsRadioService.com!

Cardinals break out the brooms following 9-2 rout of the Giants

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Photo credit: @Cardinals

By Jeremy Kahn

After starting the final road trip of the 2018 season with consecutive victories, the road trip ended up being a nightmare for the San Francisco Giants. In particular, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yairo Munoz drove in the only run that Miles Mikolas would need with a single that scored Jedd Gyorko, as the Cardinals completed a three-sweep with a 9-2 victory over the Giants at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

Mikolas, who won for the 17th time on the season against just four losses, went seven innings, allowing just one run, walking a batter and striking out eight, as the Cards keep pace for the second Wild Card spot in the National League behind their division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Not only did Mikolas come up big on the mound, but he helped himself out with a single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Harrison Bader.

The Cards broke the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth inning, as they scored five runs that got started when Bader hit into a fielders’ choice that scored Patrick Wisdom.

Munoz drove in his second run of the afternoon, as he singled to score Yadier Molina and then Andrew Suarez’s day ended and was replaced by Pierce Johnson, Jose Martinez doubled to score Bader and Munoz. Paul DeJong put the capper on the inning, as he singled to score Tyler O’Neill.

Brandon Crawford drove in the lone runs for the Giants in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit a two-run home run that also scored Evan Longoria.

Matt Carpenter hit a two-run home run for the Cards in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the finishing touches on the scoring.

Suarez went five innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking one and struck out five and saw his record fall to 7-12 in his rookie season.

NOTES: Over their last 12 road games of the season, the Giants went 2-10, that included an 0-6 road trip when the Giants were swept by the Colorado Rockies and the Milwaukee Brewers.

In the month of September, the Giants are 4-16 in their 20 games during the month.

UP NEXT: The Giants return to AT&T Park to host the Padres for a three-game series starting Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Derek Holland begins the Giants’ final homestand on Monday night, as he looks for his eighth win for the season, while the Padres will send Bryan Mitchell to the hill, as he searches for his second win of the season.

Raiders’ halftime lead disappears once again in 28-20 loss to Dolphins

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Photo credit: @Raiders

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that the Oakland Raiders just like playing in the first half and not in the second half of games…even when they knew about the Miami Dolphins in advance.

Once again, the Raiders went into the locker room at the end of the first half with the lead; however, the lead slipped away again for the third straight game.

Wide receiver Albert Wilson threw a 52-yard touchdown pass, and sealed the game with a 74-yard touchdown catch and the Dolphins came back from a 17-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Raiders 28-20 at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

With the victory, the Dolphins improved to 3-0 for only the third time since the 1998 season and the Raiders are 0-3 out of the gate for the first time since the 2014 season, when they started the season 0-10.

Xavien Howard picked off two Derek Carr passes in Dolphins’ territory, who also came up with a huge goal line stop on fourth down that kept the Raiders out of the end zone in the second quarter.

Carr ended the day going 27-for-39 for 345 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Jordy Nelson was the top wide receiver for Carr on the afternoon, as he caught six passes for 173 yards and a touchdown.

Through the first 10 minutes of the game, Nelson caught three passes for 139 yards, but could only catch four passes for 34 yards over the final 50 minutes.

Ryan Tannehill went 17-for-23 for 289 yards and three touchdowns and no turnovers for the undefeated Dolphins.

Tannehill also carried the ball three times for 26 yards, while former San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore was held to just 12 yards on six carries, as the Raiders rush defense held the Dolphins to just 41 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Marshawn Lynch led the Raiders in rushing with 64 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown, as he scored from one yard out to give the Raiders a 17-7 with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter

On their ensuing possession, the Dolphins drove right down the field and scored when Jakeem Grant caught a 18-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to cut the Raiders lead down to three at the end of the third quarter.

Wilson gave the Dolphins the lead for good with 7:18 remaining in the game, as he took a toss from Gore, who got the ball from Tannehill and Wilson thru the ball to a wide-open Grant.

Carr then began to drive the Raiders down the field on what could have the game-winning drive, but Carr’s pass into the end zone was intercepted by Howard and then the Dolphins clinched the game with Wilson’s 74-yard touchdown reception that saw him and Grant high five each other down the sidelines on their way to the end zone.

NOTES: Donald Penn was forced to leave the game in the first half after suffering a concussion, and Karl Joseph missed the second half with a lower leg injury.

UP NEXT: After a two-road trip, the Raiders return to the Coliseum, where they will face the Cleveland Browns and former head coach Hue Jackson on September 30 at 1:05 pm PDT. The Browns are coming off their first win in 635 days after a 21-17 victory over the New York Jets on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Garoppolo Suffers Serious Injury in 49ers’ 38-27 Loss to Chiefs

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By Joe Lami

Unfortunately, the 38-27 beatdown to the Chiefs isn’t the biggest loss the 49ers took on Sunday, as Jimmy Garoppolo went down with what could be a season-ending knee injury.

Driving late in the fourth quarter, down by 35-24 and inside the red zone, Garoppolo cut his right near the sideline attempting to make more out of a scramble before his left knee buckled. Garoppolo made a collision with Chiefs’ corner, Steven Nelson on the play before he hobbled off the field.

The fear is that he suffered a torn left ACL. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

Garoppolo would exit the game on a crucial 4th and goal, leaving backup C.J. Beathard to make an incredible connection with George Kittle, only to be taken away by the team’s 13th penalty of the day. San Francisco would have to settle for a field goal while a cart rushed the 49ers’ franchise quarterback to the locker room.

The injury to Garoppolo came during a late comeback for the Niners. After going down 35-7 in the first half, where penalties, amazing plays by Patrick Mahomes, and a sluggish offense cost the Niners, San Francisco was pushing right back.

It was an abysmal first half of football for the Niners, in which they surrendered 35 points for just the eighth time in franchise history. Mahomes threw all three of his touchdowns in the first, pushing his season total to 13, while the 49ers nine penalties for 109 yards just added fuel to the fire for the first-year starter. The Chiefs finished the half with 22 first downs on their way to scoring a TD on all five drives.

The Niners lone first-half touchdown came on a beautiful play-action pass, where Garoppolo connected with Kyle Juszczyk on a wide-open play that would get the 49ers’ offense going.

Jimmy G continued the pushback in the second half finding Goodwin for his first touchdown of the season. Alfred Morris found paydirt on a three-yard scamper, bringing the Niners within 11.

All was going well for the Niners in the second half until Garoppolo went down. Early reports suggest it’s dire, making Sunday’s nightmare turn into San Francisco’s doomsday.

To make matters worse, Richard Sherman also went down on Sunday with a calf injury in the second quarter. He was listed as questionable to return, but the hobbling Sherman never got off the sideline.

The season is now in the balance for San Francisco and what was supposed to be a building year for the Niners may have ended before it ever really got going as the 49ers’ rebuild may have just been reset to zero.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: A’s pennant plans for today; M’s again erased from postseason; Tribe pitchers combine for 200 K’s in a season; plus more

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Photo credit: @offclockpodcast

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Pennant race status as of Sunday. The A’s magic number is 1

2 Mariners extend longest postseason drought in major North American sports to 17 years.

3 Indians’ first time in MLB to have four pitchers with 200 strikeouts in a single season.

4 Giants celebrate National Singles Day by hitting 10 singles.

Daniel does the MLB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks fall to Golden Knights 5-4 in a shootout

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks were back to business at the SAP Center versus the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night. In case you need a refresher, San Jose was knocked out by Vegas in the second round of the 2018 NHL Playoffs after sweeping the Ducks in the first round that postseason.

The official introduction of star defenseman Erik Karlsson broke the internet this week. The Karlsson trade changed the Sharks’ defensive pairings, as Karlsson will likely join a fifth in 2018. Karlsson also made headlines for not speaking to the Ottawa Senators’ management since last November when they asked for his no-trade clause. And, of course, the fact the CBA could derail Karlsson’s future in San Jose.

But, let’s focus on what happened on Saturday night inside the SAP Center.

Both teams picked up where they left off. The Sharks and Golden Knights played with a lot of grit, and at times, physicality. Vegas drew first blood as Max Pacioretty scored the opening goal just 43 seconds into the first period. Assists were handed to Erik Haula and Paul Statsny. San Jose, however, tied the score 1-1 just 40 seconds later. Brent Burns scored the game-tying goal. Assists were handed to Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier.

The Sharks took a 2-1 lead with 5:45 left in the first period. Meier’s goal helped put the Sharks in front. A lone assist was handed to Hertl.

Both teams played fairly rough, but the Sharks led the Golden Knights 2-1 after 20 minutes of play. Shots were tied 10-10. But the score wasn’t the only positive for San Jose, who got their first in-game sighting of Karlsson, who spoke to in-game host Jon Root for an entertaining interview.

Sharks fans gave a standing ovation as soon as Joe Thornton made his first appearance since January 23rd to open the second period. Thornton was happy to be back on the rink.

Barclay Goodrow scored a penalty shot goal to extend the Sharks’ lead to 3-1 at the 13:27 mark of the second period. The Golden Knights quickly made it a one-goal game as Oscar Lindberg made a top corner shot. A lone assist was handed to Alex Tuch.

Sharks goalie Martin Jones made a noteworthy glove save to fend off a potential Golden Knights goal with 2:11 left in the second period.

The Golden Knights’ Erik Brannstrom was called for holding, and as a result, the Sharks went on the power play. Logan Couture then worked his magic with a short-handed goal with just 58 seconds left in the second period. A lone assist was handed to Hertl.

The Sharks carried a 4-2 lead to the locker room after 40 minutes of play. Shots were 18-16 in favor of San Jose.

The remaining 17 seconds of Joe Pavelski’s slashing penalty was carried over into the third period. The Sharks killed off their captain’s penalty, but the Golden Knights gave the home team a hard time as they pulled within one again. Lindberg earned credit for the goal, which was his second of the night, 5:05 into the third period.

The Golden Knights weren’t far from quitters, as Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored a short-handed, game-tying goal to tie the score 4-4 (and his team killed their penalty, too) with less than two minutes left in the third period.

The score remained in a 4-4 tie, and both teams went to overtime for the first time this preseason.

Neither team was able to score in overtime, so the game had to be decided by a shootout.

In round one, Pavelski was the first shooter, but Golden Knights goalie Maxime Lagace made a notable save to prevent a potential Sharks point. In round two, both Couture and Tuch scored. In round three, neither Pacioretty or Evander Kane scored. In round four, neither Hertl or Brandon Pirri scored. In round five, neither Burns or Lindberg scored. In round six, Thornton missed his shot, while Brannstorm scored the shootout winner to lift the Golden Knights to a 5-4 win over the Sharks.

Notes
Sharks’ starters: Brenden Dillon, Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane, Joe Thornton and Justin Braun.

Sharks’ scratches: Ryan Merkley and Sasha Chmelevski.

Tonight’s featured player was Logan Couture.

Tonight’s attendance was 15,496.

Sharks Fan Fest will be held on Sunday, September 23 from 1-7 pm PDT. More information can be found at sjsharks.com/fanfest.

The San Jose Barracuda will begin the 2018-19 AHL season on Friday, October 5. More information can be found at www.sjbarracuda.com/news/detail/barracuda-home-opener-two-weeks-away-oct-5.

Up Next 
The Sharks head to Calgary to take on the Flames in a preseason tilt on Tuesday, September 25 at 6:00 pm PDT.

Cardinal pull off come-from-behind win 38-31 to knock off Oregon

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, September 22, 2018

The No. 7 Stanford Cardinal used a dramatic, late comeback Saturday to upend the No. 20 Oregon Ducks 38-31 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. The Cardinal overcame a 17-point deficit in the second half.

Colby Parkinson hauled in what became the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime, beating numerous Duck defenders to tip a 23-yard scoring pass to himself from K.J. Costello at the goal line.

On fourth-and-goal to send the game into a second overtime, a pass by Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert was tipped and intercepted by Lameen Murphy in the end zone to wrap up the Cardinal’s victory.

After Stanford recovered a fumble on its own 43-yard line with 51 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Jet Toner connected on a 32-yard field goal as time expired in regulation play, sending the game into overtime.

Costello threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns for the Cardinal (4-0).

It was Oregon’s first loss after three victories.

Oregon jumped to a 24-7 lead, but the momentum shifted when the Cardinal’s Joey Alfieri returned a fumble 80 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Bryce Love, who sat out last week’s game against UC-Davis to convalesce, ran for 89 yards and a 22-yard touchdown late in the third quarter that cut the Ducks’ lead to 24-21.

Cyrus Habibi-Likio’s 1-yard touchdown run extended the Ducks’ lead to 31-21 with 4:39 to play. Stanford then answered with a 15-yard TD pass from Costello to JJ Arcega-Whiteside making it 31-28 before Sean Barton’s fumble recovery set up the game-tying field goal.

No. 7 Stanford visits No. 8 Notre Dame next Saturday at 4:30 pm PDT.