Giants fall to Mets 2-1 in 11 innings

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants were looking to defeat the New York Mets again in game two of the three-game series at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon. The Giants welcomed former shortstop Johnnie LeMaster, who enjoyed the ballgame after catching a flight from Kentucky to California.

Via twitter.com

Saturday afternoon was similar to Friday night, as the Giants and Mets were in a scoreless deadlock for three complete innings. Evan Longoria hit a solo home run to put the Giants on the board 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

However, it didn’t take long for the Mets to even the score at one apiece, as Tomas Nido doubled on a line drive to Austin Slater. Nido’s double brought home Brandon Nimmo in the top of the fifth inning.

Giants’ left-handed starter and switch-hitter Derek Holland put in a day’s work on the mound. Holland’s line was six innings pitched, four hits, one earned run, three walks and three strikeouts.

Fans in attendance got the chance to watch some free baseball, as the game went into extra innings following a 1-1 tie after nine complete innings.

The Mets took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 11th inning. Todd Frazier went out on a sacrifice fly to Hunter Pence. Wilmer Scores scored on Frazier’s sacrifice fly.

The Giants had hoped to mount a comeback or at least even the score to force a 12th inning, but that didn’t happen. The Giants lost to the Mets 2-1 in 11 innings.

Mets’ Jerry Blevins was the winning pitcher. Giants’ Hunter Strickland took the loss.

Notes
Giants’ starting lineup: Hernandez (CF), Slater (RF), Longoria (3B), Hundley (C), Belt (1B), Pence (LF), Hanson (SS), Panik (2B) and Holland (P).

Giants catcher Buster Posey underwent hip surgery on Monday, but was in San Francisco for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Day. Posey is a class act and that’s why young kids adore and admire him.

Saturday’s attendance was 38,875.

Saturday’s game lasted for two hours and 56 minutes.

Up Next
The Giants wrap up their series versus the Mets with a finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Despite recent losses in Posey and Duggar, Giants keep the wins coming; A’s catching up to Astros in AL West; plus more

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 Just when you thought that the Giants would start sinking, they plugged the holes up, got some strong bullpen help and after losing Buster Posey and Steven Duggar to injuries. The Giants are also getting help from their young players, including Aramis Garcia, who hit his first big league home run on Friday night for a 7-0 win over the New York Mets.

#2 The Oakland A’s are closing in the AL West with a win over the Seattle Mariners. The A’s in second now are just 1 1/2 games behind first place Houston.

#3 Frustration in New York. The New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected from Friday’s night game for arguing balls and strikes and demonstrating by posing as the catcher in a squat where the strike zone is. The Yanks did win 7-5, but are battling with the A’s and Mariners for the wild card spot.

#4 The Chicago Cubs, who hold a 3 1/2 game lead in the NL Central over the second place St. Louis Cardinals, took a tough loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night 2-1. Asdrubal Cabrera went deep for a solo shot in the 10th that helped the Phils gain a one-run win.

#5 You can’t win them all…with the Yankees winning the Boston Red Sox set their sights for the Chicago White Sox, but took a five-run loss 6-1. Red Sox starter Nathan Evaldi pitched two innings and gave up three runs and the Red Sox didn’t get much help from their lineup either–scoring just a run in the top of the eighth.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Raiders report: Raiders trade Mack to Bears

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photo from bearswire.com: Former Oakland Raider Khalil Mack (52) has been dealt to the Chicago Bears as of Saturday morning. Mack came to the Raiders out of the NFL draft in 2014.

By Jeremy Kahn

If you thought that LeBron James going to the Los Angeles Lakers, DeMarcus Cousins going to the Golden State Warriors, or Kwahi Leonard going to the Toronto Raptors was big for the NBA, what would the impact of Khalil Mack going to the Chicago Bears do for the NFL.

According to multiple reports, the Oakland Raiders will trade the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year to the Bears.

Mack missed all of training camp, he also did not appear at the Raiders voluntary off season program and missed the mandatory three-day minicamp in June. Also, since he was hired as the Raiders head coach on January 8, Jon Gruden and Mack have yet to speak to one another.

During the summer of 2017, the Raiders exercised the fifth-year option on Mack’s contract that is $13.846 million. If Mack was to play for the Raiders in 2018, the Raiders could put the franchise tag on the linebacker out of the University of Buffalo, barring an impasse.

In 2015, Mack became the first player in NFL history to be named All-Pro as an Outside Linebacker and a Defensive End. Mack was named the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and last year, Mack finished with 10.5 sacks, his fewest since his rookie year.

Oh yeah, and the Bears come to the Bay Area to face the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on December 23.

It’s the bullpen to the rescue! A’s beat the Mariners 7-5 on Friday night

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Final SEA FRI
Photo: @NBCSCA

By Charlie O. Mallonee

OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics scored five runs off five hits in the bottom of the first inning to take a 5-0 lead on the Seattle Mariners. Matt Chapman hit his 22nd home run of the season off of M’s starter Mike Leake. Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run home run (19) off Leake. Matt Olson and Marcus Semien each hit an RBI double. Everyone in the Coliseum knew that this game was going into the “W” column for the A’s.

Everybody in the Coliseum knew that the game belonged to the A’s except the 25 guys in blue uniforms from Seattle. The M’s put up a run in the top of the second inning and then came back for more in the top of the fourth inning. Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz hit back-to-back home runs off A’s starter Mike Fiers who did have his best stuff on Friday night. Then, Ryon Healy–the former Athletic–hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 5-5. Everything changed.

The A’s bullpen took over for Fiers and gave their team a chance to get it together.

HR vs SEA
Chapman rounds third after hitting his 22nd HR of the year Photo: @Athletics

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Oakland retook the lead when rookie outfielder Ramon Laureano delivered a sacrifice fly that allowed Matt Olson to score the go-ahead run. The A’s then added some cushion when Jed Lowrie hit a one-out double and then scored on a Khris Davis RBI single.

The bullpen held on to that 7-5 lead to get the A’s (81-55) the win.

This critical four-game AL West series is now tied at one game apiece.

The win was awarded to Yusmeiro Petit (6-3) who relieved Fiers and was the pitcher of record when Olson scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Blake Treinen picked up his 34th save of the season. Treinen now sports a 0.94 ERA.

Mike Leake (8-9) was hung with the loss for Seattle (75-60).

This is how the A’s pitching line is going to look the rest of the season
Mike Fiers only lasted 3.2 innings in his start on Friday night. A’s manager Bob Melvin certainly wants his starting pitchers to go at least five innings per start, but five innings are all that may be required from the starters for the A’s to be successful. The 2018 A’s are all about the bullpen.

In the win 7-5 win over Seattle on Friday night, Oakland used 5 relief pitchers. It was a parade of fresh arms stepping up on the rubber to deliver a devastating variety of pitches designed to stop opposing hitters in their tracks.

Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney, Jeurys Familia and Blake Treinen combined to pitch 5.1 innings of shutout baseball. They allowed the M’s just two hits while walking just two batters and striking out seven. They slammed the door on the Seattle offense to give their A’s the chance to win the game, which they did 7-5.

Every game will not feature five relievers, but you can expect to see games that feature three men out of the bullpen on a regular basis. The help that is coming with the expanded September rosters is going to be most welcome.

The standings are shaken up again
This A’s win really changed the standings in the AL West. The Astros lost, the A’s won and the M’s lost. Oakland is now just 1.5 games behind Houston for first place in the West. Seattle falls 5.5 games back of the A’s in the West and 7.0 games behind Houston.

By losing, the M’s also are now 5.5 games down to the A’s in the Wild Card race. These head-to-head division matchups are critical to a team’s standing when fighting for a post-season slot.

Food for your brain

  • Matt Chapman hit a home run and a double to give him a major league leading 22 extra-base hits in August. Those 22 extra-base hits also tied a franchise record.
  • Stephen Piscotty’s home run was just his fourth round-tripper hit in Oakland this season. He has hit 19.
  • Mike Fiers worked only 3.2 innings which was his shortest outing for the A’s.
  • Khris Davis ended a 0-for-19 streak with his RBI-single in the sixth inning.
  • The A’s are 57-0 when leading after seven innings.
  • The M’s Mike Leake has not won a game since June 23rd in Boston.
  • Nelson Cruz hit his 16th career home run at the Coliseum on Friday night which is the most among active players.
  • Dee Gordon now leads the American League with 30 stolen bases.
Ramon vs Sea
Laureano scores in the 1st inning vs Seattle Photo: @Athletics

 Up Next
The A’s and Mariners will play game three of this crucial four-game series on Saturday night at 6:05 PM PDT.

The M’s will send LHP James Paxton to the mound. Paxton is 10-5 on the season and will be making his 25th start of the year. He has a 3.68 ERA.

The A’s will counter with RHP Daniel Mengden, who was recalled from Triple-A Nashville last Monday. This is Mengden’s second tour of duty with the big club. Mengden has a 6-6 record on the year with a 4.28 ERA.

Part deux of Giants and Mets: Rookie power shows flashes in SF’s 7-0 shutout over NYM

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

This Friday night marked the start of part deux of the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets series. This time around, these two teams met inside AT&T Park instead of Citi Field.

In case you missed it, SF flew out of NYC with a 3-1 win to salvage a split of the four-game split. That wasn’t what the Giants wanted, but it’s better than getting swept on the road.

The Giants got things rolling with Andrew Suarez (5-9, 4.42 ERA) on the mound, and the Mets countered with Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.46 ERA).

The Giants also got a good glimpse at the future of the franchise, as the Chris Shaw era began on Friday night, but it was Andrew Shaw who helped the Giants roll over the Mets 7-0 at AT&T Park.

After six scoreless innings, Shaw’s sacrifice fly to Austin Jackson allowed Brandon Belt to score to give the Giants a 1-0 lead at the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Giants continued to pour in the runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Aramis Garcia on a fly ball to left field for a 2-0 lead. Belt tripled on a sharp fly ball to Jay Bruce, which allowed Gregor Blanco and Evan Longoria to both score for a 4-0 lead. Austin Slater singled on a line drive to Bruce, which allowed Belt to score for a 5-0 lead. Gorkys Hernandez singled on a ground ball to Bruce, which allowed Slater to score for a 6-0 lead and moved Hunter Pence to third base. Garcia capped off the Giants’ scoring with a single on a fly ball to Jackson, which allowed Pence to score for a 7-0 lead and moved Hernandez to third base.

The Mets were unable to recuperate, and the Giants won 7-0 in a laugher.

Notes
Chris Shaw was called up to SF from the Sacramento River Cats.

Andrew McCutchen tweeted out a shoutout to the Giants and thanked them for the love and support they gave to him and his family. McCutchen also gave a shoutout to the fans and added that he got chills every time he saw his banner outside of AT&T Park.

Up Next
The Giants and Mets meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT. The matinee will feature a pitching matchup of SF’s Derek Holland (7-8, 3.65 ERA) and NY’s Steven Matz (5-11, 4.36 ERA).

2018 season off to a good start as the Cardinal rout the SDSU Aztecs 31-10

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By Jerry Feitelberg

STANFORD — The Stanford Cardinal avenged the stunning upset loss to the San Diego State Aztecs last year. The Cardinal offense had trouble getting going in the first half. The Aztec defense shut down the Cardinal’s running game as they held Bryce Love in check. K.J. Costello did not get the passing game going until late in the first half. The Cardinal led 9-7 at the half, and the Aztecs knew they had a chance to pull off another upset. That did not happen as the Cardinal offense came to life in the second half and the best the Aztec offense could do against the Cardinal defense was a field goal. The Cardinal won the game 31-10 at Stanford Stadium on Friday night.

On the opening drive, the Cardinal took the ball down to the Aztec 20-yard line. The key play on the drive was a 21-yard pass play from Costello to JJ Arcega-Whiteside. The drive stalled at the 20 and Jet Toner was asked to kick a 38-yard field goal. The usually reliable Toner’s attempt went wide and the Cardinal came up empty.

The Cardinal defense appeared to have the Aztecs pinned in their end of the field. However, Aztec QB Christian Chapman Completed an 8-yard pass to Parker Houston for a first down. Running back Juwan Washington ripped off runs of 22, 10, and 40 yards to get SDSU down to the Cardinal’s 4-yard line. Washington ran the ball into the end zone for the first score of the game. The extra point was good, and the Aztecs were ahead 7-0 with 2:38 left in the first quarter. The Aztecs went on an 8-play, 92-yard drive that took 4:14 off the clock.

In the second period, the Cardinal defense stiffened and forced the Aztecs to punt. The 50-yard punt was fielded by Connor Wedington. He returned the punt 12 years but appeared to fumble the ball on Stanford’s 35-yard line. The call was challenged, and it was reversed when the review showed the ground caused the fumble. Stanford retained possession. There were 11 minutes left in the first half. The Aztecs defense forced Stanford to punt. Jake Bailey’s 63-yard punt went out of bounds at the Aztec one-yard line. It was third down and six from the Aztec 5-yard line. The Cardinal defense pressured Chapman to run into the end zone. ILB Bobby Okereke tackled Chapman for a safety. The Cardinal trailed 7-2 and will get possession of the ball. The Aztec defense stymied the Cardinal once again, and they had to punt the ball away with 6:02 left in the second quarter. The Cardinal finally scored a touchdown with just 27 seconds left in the half. The Cardinal went on a 3-play, 54-yard drive. The key play was a 38-yard pass from Costello to Arcega-Whiteside for the score. The extra point was good, and the Cardinal has the 9-7 advantage. The stats showed the Cardinal were not able to get the running game going. They rushed for a total of just 15 yards Heisman Trophy candidate Bryce Love had 10 carries for seven yards. Costello completed 12 passes in 19 attempts good for 141 yards. SDSU’s Juwan Washington carried the ball 17 times for 114 yards and one touchdown.

The Cardinal kicked off to the Aztecs to start the third quarter. The Stanford defense stopped the Aztec offense and forced them to kick. The Cardinal received the ball on the Aztec 49-yard-line. Costello engineered a 49-yard drive in 4 plays that culminated with a 19-yard strike to JJ Arcega-Whiteside in the end zone for the touchdown. Toner converted the extra point. Stanford leads 16-7 with 11:02 left to play in the third period. Stanford’s kickoff went out of the end zone for a touchback. The Aztecs then went on a 62-yard drive from their own 25-yard line. The drive stalled on Stanford’s 11-yard line. The Aztecs made a 30-yard field goal to tail the Cardinal 16-10 with 6:49 left in the quarter. Stanford was at its own 20-yard line and having trouble moving the ball. The Aztec defense was putting pressure on Costello, but he eluded the pass rush and found Arcega-Whiteside streaking down the far sideline. The Aztec defender fell down, and Arcega-Whiteside has his third touchdown of the night. The Cardinal converted the two-point conversion (Costello to Arcega-Whiteside again) to increase the lead to 24-10.

The Cardinal scored with 10:54 left in the game to take a 31-10 lead. Stanford went on a 68-yard drive in 7 plays culminating with a 19-yard strike from Costello to tight end Colby Parkison for the score. The extra point was good.

Stats: K.J.Costello had a terrific evening. He completed 21 passes in 31 attempts good for 332 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

But the running game for Stanford was nonexistent. Bryce Love could not get anything going. He had 18 touches, and all he could muster was a measly 29 yards.

JJ Arcega-Whiteside was Costello’s favorite receiver Friday night. Arcega-Whiteside had six receptions for 226 yards and three touchdowns.

Aztecs quarterback Christian Chapman was 10-for-15 passing for 113 yards.

Cardinal running back Juwan Washington had 24 carries for 158 yards and one touchdown.

40,913 fans watched the Cardinal win their first game of the 2018 season.

Up Next: The Cardinal will host the USC Trojans at Stanford Stadium next Saturday. The game will start at 8:30 pm PDT and will be televised on FOX.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: After dropping three of their last four, A’s looking to regroup against Mariners tonight

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Joey:

The A’s have lost three of their last four games. They played a challenging Houston team with a couple of one run games in the series and dropped the opening game of the current four-game series to the Seattle Mariners 7-1. A’s starter Frankie Montas got shelled on Thursday, surrendering five runs in the first inning. Montas left pitching six innnings, seven runs and eight hits.

The Mariners’ starter Wade LeBlanc pitched seven innings, holding the A’s to one run and three hits. The A’s were never a threat. The A’s only run accounted for a Jed Lowrie single in the eighth that scored Marcus Semien from second to break up LeBlanc’s shutout.

The Mike and Mike show: The A’s try it again tonight at the Oakland Coliseum. For Seattle, Mike Leake (8-8 ERA 4.03), and for Oakland, Mike Fiers (10-6 ERA 3.15) a 7:15 pm PDT first pitch.

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

Three takeaways from SJSU’s home opener vs. UC Davis

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Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In case you missed it, the San Jose State Spartans welcomed the UC Davis Aggies to its home turf inside CEFCU Stadium on Thursday night.

As you should already know, SJSU went 2-11 (1-7) last year under first-year head coach Brent Brennan, who’s now in his second year as the Spartans’ head coach. And, of course, there are a lot of folks–mostly non-Spartan fans–who doubt that the 2018 Spartans will be an improved team, but that’s fine. It’s still too early to throw in the towel.

Here are three takeaways from SJSU’s home opener vs. UC Davis.

3. Tyler Nevens is in our thoughts and prayers 
The Spartans’ 2018 season is off to a rough start. Tyler Nevens, who’s arguably the Spartans’ top wide running back, suffered a serious injury following a head-to-head collision. Nevens was on the field for nearly 20 minutes before being taken off the field on a stretcher for an evaluation at a local hospital. Nevens was released late Thursday night and has been resting since then.

Many people sent their thoughts and prayers to Nevens, who scored two touchdowns prior to his injury, and it appears to be working wonders on the Spartan star. While it’s unclear if Nevens will be cleared to play in next Saturday’s game at Washington State, Spartans’ head coach Brent Brennan said that Nevens’ replacement at running back would be DeJon Packer, Jamar Williams or Brenden Manigo.

2. Montel Aaron is more confident this year
Spartans’ quarterback Montel Aaron, who’s now a sophomore, told the local media that he felt more confident this year compared to last year.

The only issue is that Aaron hasn’t had much experience last year, so he has a lot of things to learn and a lot of strides to make, but it’s a process, so he’d say that it’s all about mental techniques, so he has to have the required confidence regardless of who’s starting the game or what they’ve done in the offseason, as you’ll have to go after what you want to achieve.

1. Where’s the Spartan defense?
If you listened to the radio broadcast and/or followed live updates on Twitter, you’d notice that the Spartan defense was pretty much non-existent during the SJSU vs. UC Davis home opener at CEFCU Stadium. The Spartan offense, however, was a force that just happened to be reckoned with.

The Aggies are far from a good college football team in the Big Sky Conference, but they were able to hold off the Spartans, who are in the Mountain West Conference, for a 44-38 win in San Jose, Calif. Ulonzo Gilliam became the ninth Aggie to score three touchdowns in a single game in UC Davis’ Big Sky history, and the second to do so against an FBS opponent.

That being said, the Spartan defense has to show up sooner than later if the Spartans want to win games this season. The Spartans’ defensive lineup of Bryson Bridges, Owen “Boogie” Roberts, Sailosi Latu, Jesse Osuna, Tysyn Parker, Ethan Aguayo, Jamal Scott, John Touissaint, Tre Webb, Jay Lenard and Dakari Monroe looks pretty darn good on paper, but in the game versus UC Davis, SJSU’s defense allowed an FCS quarterback to pass for 446 yards and three touchdowns and an FCS running back to rush for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The Spartan defense clearly got destroyed by the Aggies in 2018’s first-ever FCS over FBS upset, which was extremely disappointing.

Up Next
SJSU heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington State at Martin Stadium on Saturday, September 8th at 8 pm PDT on PACN.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Lami: Mullens and Heneghan show they can play some backup quarterbacks in final preseason game

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Photo credit: @YahooSportsUS

On the SF 49ers podcast with Joe:

The 49ers, who were in their final preseason game, didn’t grow their injury list and the quarterbacks showed improvement. Quarterbacks Nick Mullens and Jack Heneghan threw for offensive drives in the 49ers win over the LA Chargers 23-21. Heneghan threw for a score a little more than two minutes left in the game.

Towards the end of the game, the 49ers’ defensive line allowed a kick return that put the ball in the 49ers zone, which happened after the go-ahead score. The 49ers opened the season in Minnesota on Sunday, Sept. 9. Joe sets up opening day and how confident head coach Kyle Shanahan is going into this one.

Joe Lami does the 49ers podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: What’s the best benefit in trading McCutchen?; Can Giants overcome Mets?

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the SF Giants podcast with Miguel:

What were the best benefits for the San Francisco Giants in trading a player like Andrew McCutchen to the New York Yankees? In recent years, McCutchen’s last All-Star appearance was in 2015. McCutchen’s skills have gradually slipped. He hit .255 for San Francisco this season and the Pirates parted with him, sending him to San Francisco,  knowing that his batting average had slipped.

With the Yankees’ Aaron Judge out with a right wrist injury, will McCutchen help in the outfield and in the Yankee lineup? Michael also had a chance to speak to McCutchen during the season about what kind of a player was he and what he meant to the Giants clubhouse.

The Giants open a three-game series tonight at AT&T Park against the NY Mets. Michael sets up this series and the Giants chances of wining the series.

Join Michael each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com for the Giants podcasts