San Francisco Giants Podcast with Michael Duca: Panda takes on role as bullpen catcher and could be a third string catcher

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photo from sportsgrid.com: San Francisco Giants catcher Pablo Sandoval (48) will catch in the bullpen and according to manager Bruce Bochy will be the Giants third string catcher this spring

On the SF Giants Podcast with Michael:

1 San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval will see action as the Giants bullpen catcher and manger Bruce Bochy might use Sandoval as the third string catcher during spring training games.

2 Sandoval seems like he wants to help out where he can, he’s such a presence in the clubhouse

3 How do you see the additions of Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, Austin Jackson impacting this line up

4 Will the pitching staff be an improvement over last season’s staff

5 Madison Bumgarner says the pitching staff will have to overcome some of the MLB rule changes, less visits to the mound by coaches and managers, less TV time outs or less ads, which translates less time to warm up between innings

#6 Talk with Michael about some of last year’s highlights of former Giant infielder Eduardo Nunez who had a bat and a glove did the Giants make a mistake letting someone of the talents of a Nunez go?

Michael Duca does the San Francisco Giants Podcast each Friday and is covering the 2018 Spring Training games at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball takes down WSU 86-84; Davis’ free throws break tie with 10 seconds remaining

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Alexandra Evans

PALO ALTO–The Stanford Cardinal Men’s Basketball team (15-13) received a visit from the Washington State Cougars (11-16) at Maples Pavilion on Saturday, which was also Senior Day for the Cardinal.

Cougars’ Drick Bernstine made the first basket of the game, the start of the team’s lead over the Cardinal. It was not until the 7:35 mark that the Cardinal caught the lead.

Unlike Thursday’s match against the Washington Huskies, however, the Cardinal’s lead never made it to the double digits. The highest score by which they exceeded the Cougars was seven, as they kept managing to inch their way close to a tie, until the end of the period when Michael Humphrey, one of the seniors who was honored before the match (along with Dorian Pickens), made a buzzer-beating three-pointer for the Cardinal. The score was 49-40 at halftime

Freshman KZ Okpala, who made the first basket for his team, had the most points for the Cardinal after the opening period with 11. Bernstine exceeded the Cougars with 12 points.

When the second period began, Malachi Flynn made a three-pointer for the Cougars, followed by a layup from Kwinton Hinson. Shortly after, Hinson was fouled and Okpala made both free throws, making the score 51-45. Humphrey then got a layup directly after, and then made a dunk (assisted by Daejon Davis) to give the Cardinal their first double digit lead of the game less than four minutes in. Reid Travis brought the Cardinal’s lead to 12 with a layup at the five-minute mark.

The Cardinal managed to keep their lead in the double digits after Travis blocked a shot from Milan Acquaah, and again Oscar da Silva made a three-pointer at the eight-minute mark. Dorian Pickens then made two free throws to give the Cardinal a 14-point lead.

The Cougars cut their trail to single digits after Robert Franks got a three-pointer. The Cardinal’s lead remained in the single digits (even dropping to a two-point difference with a minute remaining), and then the score was tied 84-84 after Franks got on a breakaway and dunked for the Cougars with 30 seconds left in the game.

Two free throws from Davis put the Cardinal ahead by two points with 10 seconds on the clock, and they took home an 86-84 win.

Okpala and Travis finished the game with 20 points to lead the Cardinal. Franks led the Cougars with 19 points.

The Stanford Cardinal will head to the desert on Thursday, March 1 to take on the Arizona Wildcats.

Stanford Cardinal Men’s Basketball Podcast with Matt Harrington: Cardinal have the offense to put Wazoo away tonight

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isiphoto.com by Casey Valentine: Stanford Cardinal’s Dorian Pickens who finished behind teammate Reid Travis in scoring on Thursday against Washington takes it to Washington State tonight at Maple Pavilion

On the Cardinal Podcast with Matt:

The Stanford Cardinal (15-13) took a two game win streak into tonight’s game against the Washington State Cougars at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal last beat the Cal Bears at Berkeley last Sunday for their first win and then win their second straight game last Thursday past the Washington State (18-10). Reid Travis led the Cardinal with 33 points. The Cardinal looked like an improved team offensively in their game against Washington.

Three games left in the regular season and Michael Humphrey and Dorian Pickens want to get a shot at the Big Dance. The Cardinal host the Cougars tonight. Matt breaks down the match up.

Matt Harrington does the Stanford Cardinal Podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Condors’ power play dooms Barracuda in 4-1 victory

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photo from sjbarracuda.com: San Jose Barracuda Rourke Chartier (60) center is sandwiched fighting for the puck between the Bakersfield Condors Dillion Simpson (3) and Ethan Bear (24) during Friday night’s contest at Rabonbank Arena in Bakersfield

By Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda (22-22-3-3) are continuing their slippery downfall after the Bakersfield Condors (21-20-7-1) scored three power play goals to power their way to a 4-1 victory Friday evening at Rabobank Arena. It was the fourth consecutive loss and eight out of their last nine games for the Cuda.

The Condors drew first blood at the 16:05 mark of the first period when Ty Rattie found Zach O’Brien in the slot after slipping a zone-entry check and O’Brien snapped a shot under Cuda Antoine Bibeau’s (14-11-2) left arm for his fourth goal on the season.

Alex True tied the game at 1-1 just 17 seconds into the second period when Radim Simek won a one-on-three battle behind the Condors net before centering a pass to True, who snapped a shot in from the low slot past Condor goalie Laurent Brossoit (6-4-2).

Bakersfield would recapture its lead on the power play as Grayson Downing fired a shot past Bibeau from close range along the left side and then at the 19:09 mark for his third goal of the season. Brad Malone deflected the Condors’ third goal of the night through the five-hole of Bibeau just 12 seconds into Bakersfield’s fifth man-advantage for his 13th goal of the season.

In the third period, Josh Currie would ice the game for the Condors when scored his 14th goal of the season on the team’s eighth power play at the 13:19 mark thanks to a Barracuda failure to clear a rebound from the low slot.

Bibeau suffered the loss after allowing four goals on 37 shots. Brossoit collected the win by making 20 saves on 21 shots.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/3 on the power play, while Bakersfield went 3/8.

San Jose went 0-3-1 on their four game road trip. The announced attendance was 4,591.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda come back to SAP Center next Friday 3/2 when they host the Bakersfield Condors at 11 am PT.

Feature: Sharks In Desperate Need of More Power Play Opportunities

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By: Peter Elliott

CHICAGO–Peter DeBoer’s squad was deprived of something other than a win on Friday night: opportunities on the power play.

The Sharks only had one chance to execute on the man advantage in their 3-1 loss to the Blackhawks. It lasted 22 seconds.

San Jose’s only time on the ice with less than five red sweaters was during the third period, when Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy was booked to the penalty box with an interference minor. 22 seconds later, Brent Burns was sent off to the Sharks penalty box on a holding minor, offsetting the Sharks’ 5-on-4 upper hand. If I haven’t stressed it enough, 22 seconds is not enough time to type a tweet, much less let alone score a goal.

The power play had been a strength for the Sharks all season and a reason for their high offensive benchmarks. But lately, not so much.

The team is suffering through a scoreless 0-19 stretch in the power play category, an unusual drought for a team that has been so stellar on the man advantage for the majority of the season. The Sharks still remain among the best in the league in the category, up there with division leaders Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Tampa Bay. But if their recent struggles continue, they surely won’t keep up with that company for very long.

“We need to get a little bit of that confidence back, stepping over the boards and understanding that it can win us some games,” said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski of his team’s power play scoring skid, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. “We need to be better there. Bottom line is we need to execute, make another play, stick one in the net.”

As noted, it’s absence has been sorely missed on the offensive side of the ice recently. Especially on Thursday night during a 7-1 blowout at the hands of Nashville, in which DeBoer’s squad failed to net on a single goal during their five power play opportunities. The Sharks undoubtedly just need both more opportunities and repetitions with the power play. 

Success will come soon.

The power play magic that has helped the Sharks postseason aspirations is currently M.I.A., but luckily for the Sharks, they’ll have time to re-discover it before a Sunday evening game against Minnesota. The Wild boast a pedestrian penalty kill percentage of 80.8%, which makes the playoff contending Wild a ripe target for a power play resurgence.

San Jose has been able to maintain a 6-5 record in the month of February, although that is not ideal for a team in the middle of a tight playoff race. A stronger showing on the man advantage certainly could have alleviated some of those deficits.

The Sharks are set to square off against the Blackhawks again on March 1 in San Jose. Maybe then, the Sharks can get a power play that lasts a whole 30 seconds.

Opinion: Sharks Even the Score, but Let the Game Slip Away 3-1 to Blackhawks

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks dropped a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Friday evening. Three Chicago goals came from Jan Rutta, Nick Schmaltz and Artem Anisimov. The lone Sharks goal came from Timo Meier.

Chicago goaltender Jean Francois Berube made 42 saves for the win, while San Jose goaltender Martin Jones made 33 saves for the loss.

The Blackhawks have struggled this season, but they looked better than their overall season record. This was only Berube’s 14th NHL start and first for this season.

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns was asked if this was a missed opportunity, playing against an inexperienced goaltender. Burns responded: “It’s a pretty good team over there. I don’t think you can take that team lightly. Yeah, I mean it is. I don’t know. I think that’s a game we’ve got to win for other reasons. I think just losing the night before you want to rebound with two points. That’s the tough part I think.”

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer was asked about that goaltender as well. His response was a bit more emphatic.

We don’t have any gimmes. So if you’re insinuating that this is a gimme for us because they’ve got an inexperienced goalie, then that’s ridiculous. You’ve been around the NHL long enough to know: every team you play has a chance to beat anyone on any given night.

Of the overall game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:

I think we definitely got better as we went on. Our second period was better, even though we didn’t have the lead. It was something in the third, took us a little bit to get going. But it felt like it was… It’s wierd… We’ve got to the check out this game tape right now, it feels like we should have won that game. We’re a little disappointed we didn’t come away with the win.

The first period was scoreless and penalty free. The Sharks had a 15-10 edge in shots. Burns and Chris Tierney each took three of those shots.

The first goal came at 5:46 of the second period, when Rutta took a shot that was blocked by a mass of skaters in front of Jones. The blocked shot came right back to him so he shot again and that one went it. Assists went to Schmaltz and Anthony Duclair.

Schmaltz’s goal came just 2:01 into the third period. Justin Braun’s pass to Mikkel Boedker in the Sharks’ zone missed and the puck was picked up by Duclair on his way into the zone. He sent the puck back across the slot to Schmaltz. Jones could not get across and Schmaltz had an open net. Duclair got the assist.

The Sharks finally got on the board right off an offensive zone faceoff. Pavelski won the faceoff and got the puck to Brent Burns. Timo Meier picked up a drop pass from Burns and took a quick shot from high in the slot. Burns and Pavelski got the assists.

The third Chicago goal was an empty-netter at 19:29. Anisimov’s goal came after several tries from various Blackhawks players and several blocked shots by Sharks.

The Sharks are still in second place in the Pacific, but the Ducks are just one point behind them. San Jose’s power-play goal drought has now been extended for eight games and 13 days featuring 19 power plays.

The Sharks will wrap up this road trip on Sunday against the Wild at 5:00 pm PT.

Meier scores lone goal in Sharks’ 3-1 loss to Blackhawks

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By: Ana Kieu

CHICAGO — The San Jose Sharks somewhat proved they were lethal on the road as they carried a three-game winning streak to the Music City, but it came to an end in a 7-1 blowout by the Nashville Predators, who annihilated the visiting team at Bridgestone Arena Thursday night. The Sharks, however, brushed off the tough loss and traveled to the Windy City to play some Friday night hockey with the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.

Sharks goalie Martin Jones was a huge factor in the opening period as he made a lot of notable saves to keep the Blackhawks’ shots from entering the net. The period ended in a scoreless tie and the shots were 15-11 in favor of San Jose.

Hawks defenseman Jan Rutta broke open the scoreless deadlock with a goal–his sixth of the season–that was initially set up by left winger Anthony Duclair and center Nick Schmaltz at 5:46 of the second period.

Sharks defenseman Joakim Ryan was called for hooking late in the period. As a result, the Hawks received their first power play of the night. Unfortunately, Chicago was unable to capitalize with the man advantage.

The Hawks carried a 1-0 lead to the locker room after two periods of play. Shots were 25-24 in favor of San Jose.

Schmaltz gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead with his 17th goal of the season at 2:01 of the third period. Anthony Duclair picked up the lone assist.

The third period got fairly chippy for both teams. The rather negative action started as soon as an on-ice official was struck by a puck and was down on the ice in pain. Fortunately, the official was able to pick himself up off the ground after a brief moment of disbelief for the majority of fans. The Hawks received a penalty as Connor Murphy was called for interference at 5:33 of the period. The Sharks then received a penalty after defenseman Brent Burns was called for holding the stick just 32 seconds later. Unfortunately, neither team capitalized with the man advantage.

The Sharks managed to cut the lead in half as right winger Timo Meier scored his 15th goal of the season at the 12:09 mark of the period. Burns and captain Joe Pavelski provided the assists on Meier’s goal.

“It’s frustrating, just to lose,” said Burns. “When you bounce back after a tough night, it’s something…We didn’t win, so it’s tough.”

The Sharks pulled their goalie (Jones) for an extra attacker with 1:50 left in regulation. That, however, only made the situation worse. Hawks center Artem Anisimov scored his 17th goal of the season on the empty net with 31 seconds left. Rutta and Tomas Jurco provided the assists on Anisimov’s insurance goal.

The Sharks lost to the Hawks 3-1 on the road. J.F. Berube stopped 42 of 43 shots for Chicago. Jones made 33 of 35 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.

“We had the shots, we had the looks, but we didn’t have enough time to get bodies to the net,” said Pavelski. “But we’ve been addressing that (issue) lately.”

“We didn’t have the bounces that we should’ve,” Sharks right winger Kevin Labanc said. “I mean, every game from here on out is going to be a playoff type of hockey. You just gotta be good defensively on the power play…We gotta score. We gotta improve defensively.”

“Not enough to win,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer. “That’s the bottom line.”

Notes
Sharks’ starting lineup: Joe Pavelski (C), Joonas Donskoi, Timo Meier, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Martin Jones.

Hawks’ starting lineup: Tomas Jurco, Artem Anisimov, Jan Rutta, Erik Gustafsson, Patrick Kane and J.F. Berube.

Tonight’s attendance was 21,906.

Up Next
The Sharks head to Minnesota to take on the Wild on Sunday night at 7 pm CT.

San Jose State hosts San Diego State on Saturday night

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Photo credit: youtube.com

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State men’s basketball team hosts the San Diego State men’s basketball team on Saturday night inside the Event Center with a tipoff scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. Tickets for the game are available at the Spartan Ticket Office, which can be reached at 408-924-7589. ESPN3 will broadcast the game live and Spartan fans can listen to the home broadcast by tuning into KLIV 1590 AM to hear Justin Allegri’s play-by-play call.

Game #27
SJSU (3-23, 0-15 MW) vs. SDSU  (16-10, 8-7 MW)
Saturday, February 24, 2018, 7:00 pm PT
The Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

TV: ESPN3
Radio: KLIV 1590 AM

Spartans to honor Welage Saturday
Earlier this season, Ryan Welage became the 15th player to reach the 1,000-point plateau in the 108-year history of the SJSU men’s basketball program. Since then, he has risen among the all-time scoring ranks to seventh place with 1,200 points. SJSU Director of Athletics Marie Tuite and head coach Jean Prioleau will present Welage with a ceremonial 1,000-point basketball prior to the Spartans’ tipoff on Saturday night.

SJSU all-time scoring leaders
1. 1,767 – Ricky Berry (84 games)
2. 1,750 – Adrian Oliver (80 games)
3. 1,504 – Stu Inman (123 games)
4. 1,432 – Wally Rank (102 games)
5. 1,272 – Justin Graham (119 games)
6. 1,236 – Chris McNealy (81 games)
7. 1,200- Ryan Welage (87 games)
8. 1,173 – Coby Dietrick (72 games)
9. 1,139 – Terry Cannon (97 games)
10. 1,136 – Johnnie Skinner (73 games)

King of the three-ball
Welage sank four 3-pointers last game at Nevada, which brought him into a tie with Tim Pierce as the all-time leader for made threes in a Spartan career with 153. His first 3-pointer of the night Saturday would make him the all-time 3-point makes leader in program history.

SJSU career 3-point field goals made leaders
1. 153 – Tim Pierce (86 games)
1. 153 – Ryan Welage (87 games)
3. 138 – Adrian Oliver (80 games)
4. 134 – Rashad Muhammad (58 games)
5. 125 – Robert Owens (61 games)

Spartan opponents have been loading up from downtown
In the last two games, Wyoming and Nevada combined to attempt 79 threes against the Spartans. The two combined to make 40.5 of the shots from beyond the arc. Wyoming jacked up 42 shots from downtown, which was a school record for a Spartan opponent. Kendall Stephens and Hallice Cooke shot 26 of Nevada’s 37 threes in the last game, of which they hit 12. Guarding against easy points in the paint, the Spartans have been playing the 3-point percentages against their opponents. SDSU comes in shooting 34.7 percent as a team from beyond the arch, ranking seventh in the Mountain West.

Series history with SDSU
SDSU holds a 37-35 edge over San Jose State in the all-time series. SJSU’s 76-71 win over the Aztecs last season inside the Event Center last year snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series which dated back to 1999.

Last meeting with SDSU
SJSU suffered a 36-point, 85-49, loss to SDSU earlier this season on January 9 inside the Viejas Arena. The one shining moment of the evening was Welage sinking a pair of free throws in the second half for his career-points 999 and 1,000. With that he etched his name in the SJSU history books as the 15th player in the 108-year history of the program to reach 1,000 points.

Mountain West tournament seeding impact
At 0-15 in league play, SJSU is locked in the 11th spot and will play the sixth-seeded team in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament. Right now, teams four through eight in the MW standings are all separated by 2.0 games, and one of them is SDSU. The Aztecs are currently in sixth place and one of three teams heading into the weekend with an 8-7 record in MW play.

Team defense continues to hold Spartans back
Just a few weeks ago, the Spartans had a top-five field goal percentage defense in the MW of 42.5 percent. However, in the last five games, Spartan opponents are hitting 46.2 percent of their field goal attempts and averaging 81.4 points per game. SDSU comes into Saturday’s game shooting 46.0 percent as a team and averages 77.8 points per game, which ranks seventh in the MW.

Fisher III extends career-scoring high again
Redshirt freshman Keith Fisher III extended his career-scoring high twice in one week with a 23-point performance at Colorado State on February 10, followed by 26 points last Saturday at Wyoming. Fisher has finished eight of the last 11 games in double-figure scoring. Over the last five games he is averaging 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds while hitting 52.6 percent of his shots. He was limited to just five points in the last game at Nevada after fouling out with just under 12 minutes to play in the second half.

Hillsman returns to starting lineup vs. Wyoming
Jaycee Hillsman not only returned to the starting lineup for the first time since December 5, but he also played a career-high 39 minutes last Saturday at Wyoming. He finished the game with a double-double including 15 points and 10 rebounds. The junior from Champaign, Illinois, is averaging 9.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24.4 minutes during conference play.

NHL/Olympics Podcast with Joe Lami: Now it’s time for hockey to grow the women’s game

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sbnation.com photo: US Women’s Olympic team celebrates after overtime win past Team Canada on Wednesday at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics

On the NHL Podcast with Joe:

1 The US Women’s team played a nailbiter with a 3-2 shootout win over Team Canada, the last time the US Women’s team won gold was in 1998

2 The US broke Canada’s four straight gold medal streak in Women’s hockey

3 It was the penalty shootout that clinched it for Team USA in a game where both teams played it until it hurt

4 It was anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team when Team USA beat the Soviets. Was this win just as huge as that 1980 game?

5 Canada defenseman Jocelyne Larocque took her silver medal off during the award ceremony because she only wanted to wear gold

Joe Lami will be back with the NHL Podcast next Monday for all the latest in the NHL trade deadline at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Late collapse: Rare Washington State road win drops Cal into the Pac-12 cellar

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coleman-1
Photo courtesy of Marcus Edwards/KLC Fotos

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The sobering reality of life in the “Conference of Champions” is that beyond all the competition, parity and national name recognition is an undesirable place reserved for the Pac-12’s downtrodden.

The Cal Bears have taken residence there–in 12th place–after Washington State’s Drick Bernstein slipped behind the defense and scored the game-winning layup with a second remaining at Haas Pavilion on Thursday.

The 78-76 loss to WSU in a wildy-competitive contest between the Pac-12’s most disadvantaged teams most certainly means the Bears will be the lowest seeded team in the conference tournament that commences in two weeks at Las Vegas. With the win, the Cougars swept the season series against Cal and would have to lose at least two of their final three league contests to fall behind the Bears.

When two teams have combined for just five conference wins, any movement in the standings in this short time frame is highly unlikely. Along with the drama laced into the victory, the scenario had WSU Coach Ernie Kent feeling very fortunate.

“For this team, with everything they’ve been through, similar to what Cal’s gone through, to come down here and play a much-improved Cal team, it was just a grind-it-out win for us,” Kent said.

On the game’s final play–on the heels of Marcus Lee’s tying basket with seven seconds remaining–the Cougars refused a timeout and rushed the ball up the floor where they found Cal’s defense scrambled. Bernstein slipped into the post and WSU guard Malachi Flynn found him for the game-winner.

“We weren’t communicating well enough and he got open for a layup,” said Cal’s scoring leader Justice Sueing, who finished with 25 points. “That game should have been ours.”

Despite the loss, the Bears achieved some level of redemption for their poor showing last month in Pullman, in which the Cougars embarassed the Bears in a 25-point win that turned lopsided after halftime. This time the Bears paid attention to WSU’s shooters, controlled the glass, and shared the ball offensively, illustrated by their 17 assists. But the Bears went scoreless for more than three minutes down the stretch, which allowed Washington State to draw even, and set up the dramatic finish in which there were five lead changes in the game’s final minutes.

Individually, the Bears did some notable things, most prominently Sueing’s 25 points, his sixth 20-point game of the season. Lee was a perfect 7 for 7 shooting from the floor. Darius McNeill hit three 3-pointers, and seldom-utilized Roman Davis came up with a career-best 15 points.

Washington State countered with four of their starters scoring in double figures led by Robert Franks with 15.

The Bears host Washington on Saturday in their regular season home finale.