csnnw.com still photo: Oregon Ducks quarterback Justin Hebert talks to the media, Hebert will be out of action due to a broken collar bone from Saturday’s home game in Eugene against the Cal Bears
On the NCAA Football Podcast with Daniel:
1 Stanford rebounds against Arizona State
2 Cardinal’s Love rushes for 1,000 yards in first five games
3 Injury-riddled Oregon holds off Cal including Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert with a broken collar bone
4 Troy knocks off No. 25 LSU
5 Nick Saban: NFL player protests not meant to offend vets
Miami Marlins president David Samson gestures as he says good bye to members of the media during a news conference before a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Miami. Major League Baseball owners on Wednesday unanimously approved Jeffrey Loria’s sale of the Miami Marlins to a group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
On the MLB Podcast with Daniel:
1 Playoff pairings are set, Wild Card games on Tuesday, Wednesday
2 Derek Jeter continues housecleaning in Miami
3 Marlins’ ageless Ichiro wants to keep going
4 Matt Cain throws final game of his career at AT&T Park
5 Aaron Judge breaks another Yankee home run record
AP Photo: San Jose Earthquakes players celebrate a victory over the Portland Timbers at Avaya Stadium in San Jose on Saturday night
By London Marq
SAN JOSE–It’s usually good when the games throughout the season continually get more important. For the San Jose Earthquakes that has been the case this season. A rocky start to their campaign led to a midseason coaching change. They have since played a higher quality of soccer and climbed themselves into the playoff hunt. After two consecutive losses, in both of which the Quakes allowed four goals, they are on the outside looking in.
Tonight, they play the first of the final three games this season and they need every point they can get in the standings. Darlington Nagbe and the second seeded Portland Timbers come into Avaya Stadium as a formidable opponent. Not only a chance to for San Jose to prove they belong to be mentioned with the best despite their early season shortcomings, but also a chance to be proven wrong and knocked out of the hunt.
The Earthquakes came out of the locker room with fierce energy, striking for the goal immediately after the opening whistle. In the 16th minute, the Quakes opening salvo came from Valeri Qazaishvili. His third goal of the season. The crowd exploded and nearly blew the top off the stadium. Unlike we have seen in the past, San Jose did not ease up after the first goal. Wondolowski, Bernardez, and Hyka continued to push the issue. It paid off in the opening minutes of the second half, when Wondolowski fed a beautiful cross to Danny Hoesen who put a far post shot into the bottom left corner.
After San Jose obtained a two-goal lead, the match became more physical and two yellow cards were dealt out. One to Bernardez of San Jose and one to Andriuskevicius of Portland. The Timbers fought hard to make it a game but never got into a rhythm as the San Jose Defense kept them off balance. They would score in the 87th minute of the foot of Blanco, but it was too little too late. The game would end six minutes later 2-1.
A win tonight not only improves the Earthquakes standing from 8 to 7, but it should also be a confidence boost signaling that they have the talent to compete with anyone in Major League Soccer. The final two games are crucial to the team’s playoff aspirations. The next match is against the West leading Vancouver Whitecaps 16 days from now on October 15.
Daniel Gossett intended to pitch longer than 1.2-innings when he started the game for the Athletics in Texas on Saturday night but that was not to be the case. Gossett set the Rangers down in order in the first inning but would not survive the bottom of the second inning.
Gossett gave up four runs (all earned) off five hits including one home run in that fateful second inning. Joey Gallo hit his 40th home run of the season off Gossett with Nomar Mazara on base to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Gossett would never recover and would be replaced by Simon Castro.
Gossett would be tagged with the loss and will finish the season with a 4-11 record.
A’s bullpen could not post “Goose Eggs”
The Athletics needed their bullpen to put up “Goose Eggs” in the runs column but that did not happen. Six A’s relievers gave up four runs on eight hits. They walked four and struck out five.
Some nights the bullpen just cannot stop the momentum of the other team.
Texas feasted on A’s pitching
Every Rangers starting player recorded at least one hit. Texas scored eight runs on 13 hits while leaving seven men on base. They went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Joey Gallo went 2-for-2 at the plate with both hits being home runs. He has now hit 41 round-trippers in 2017. Gallo scored three runs and recorded three RBI to up his season total to 80.
Rougned Odor had a 3-for-4 day with the bat. He hit his 21st double and posted his 75th RBI. Odor also recorded his 15th stolen base of the year.
Rangers on the hill
Andrew Cashner evened his record at 11-11 after being awarded the win on Saturday over the Athletics. He pitched 6.0-innings allowing two runs (both earned) off five hits. Cashner walked two and struck out two.
The Texas bullpen worked the final three innings and tried to let the Athletics back into the game. Matt Bush gave up a run in the eighth inning including a home run to Matt Joyce. Paolo Espino allowed a run in the ninth inning when Marcus Semien hit his ninth home run of the season.
Despite the late show of power, the Athletics came up four runs short on Saturday night.
Oakland in the batter’s box
The A’s scored four runs on eight hits while leaving seven runners on base. They went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Marcus Semien went 2-for-5 in the game. He hit his ninth home run and recorded his 40th RBI.
Matt Joyce had a 2-for-4 night at the plate including two runs scored and one RBI. He hit his 25th home run and posted his 68th RBI.
Khris Davis hit as the DH on Saturday night and went 2-for-3. He hit his 23rd double while adding his 109th RBI of the season.
Western Division Standings
Texas is now 78-83 for 2017 and is tied with Seattle for third in the west. The A’s record stands at 74-87 and they are alone in last place.
Starters for game 162
RHP Daniel Mengden (2-2, 3.75) will start for the A’s on Sunday in the season finale. He lost his last start to Seattle on Tuesday, September 26th 6-3.
The Rangers will counter with LHP Cole Hamels (11-5, 4.10). Hamels 4.10 ERA is his highest since the 2009 season.
The final game of the season gets underway at 12:05 p.m. PDT.
Sep 30, 2017; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert (10) scores a touchdown during the first half against the California Golden Bears at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports(Photo: Troy Wayrynen, Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports)
By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Despite a chronic case of the injury bug, Oregon still played well enough to knock off California 45-24 Saturday night in Pac-12 football at Eugene in front of a enthusiastic crowd of 55,707.
Justin Herbert threw one touchdown pass and ran for another before he suffered an injury in the first half, along with fellow Ducks running back Royce Freeman and wide receiver Dillon Mitchell. “I thought that was a big team win and considering all the injuries,” Oregon coach Willie Taggart said afterward. “That’s something I’ve never been a part of, that many (injuries). That was crazy but you know what, the good lord doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle. We’ll find a way, which we did.”
That wasn’t all. Backup quarterback Taylor Alie was injured and left the game in the fourth quarter. None of the Oregon injuries were specified.
The Ducks (4-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) were led by running back Kani Benoit, who racked up 138 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-long 68-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
Cal quarterback Ross Bowers threw three TD passes for the Golden Bears (3-2 overall, 0-2 Pac-12). One of those scoring strikes went to Kanawai Noa, who finished with seven receptions for 126 yards. Bowers threw for 255 yards.
An interception by Jordan Kunaszyk of an Alie pass set up the Golden Bears’ first score. On first down, Bowers fired an 18-yard TD pass to Jordan Veasy, cutting Cal’s deficit to 17-7.
Oregon pulled away early in the third quarter on Benoit’s 1-yard touchdown run. After the Bears responded with a 75-yard TD pass from Bowers to Noa, Ducks’ kicker Matt Anderson booted a 36-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
The Ducks extended their lead to 38-17 on a 5-yard touchdown run by Tony Brooks-James.
Cal’s final tally came on scoring pass of 28 yards from Bowers to Vic Wharton III.
Next Saturday, the Golden Bears travel to No. 6 Washington.
Oakland- The Golden State Warriors played the first of four preseason games Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena. The Dubs, preparing to defend their NBA championship, showed a lot of rust and the three-point shots did not fall. The Nuggets with their new addition of Paul Milsap leading the way beat the Dubs 108-102.
Coach Steve Kerr played his regular for about 20 minutes in the game. The Dubs wanted to give some of the players on the second and third units playing time.
The Warriors missed their first nine three-point shots and were 4-for-33 for the game. Draymond Green and Kevin Durant were each 0-for 5 and Steph was 1-for-7 in that department. Nick Young made the first three-pointer for Golden State late in the first half. The Dubs shot 40% from the field but had just seven assists which indicated that they didn’t have a lot of ball movement.
Denver shot 41% from the field in the first half. They made five three-pointers.
Warriors rookie Jordan Bell knocked down seven points in his first game as a Warrior.
Game Notes- Ben Wallace, winner of Defensive Player of the Year four times in his career, presented Draymond Green with the award. Draymond, when he was a young man growing up in Saginaw, Michigan, idolized Wallace and he was totally surprised by Wallace’s appearance at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors fly to China on Sunday. They will play two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves there. The first game will be in Shenzen on October 5th and the second game will take place on October 8th in Shanghai.
SAN JOSE– Arizona Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue was the star of the show on Saturday, stopping 31 shots from the Sharks for a preseason shutout in San Jose. Derek Stepan, with linemates Clayton Keller and Max Domi impressed with their two goals, and another two came from Brendan Perlini.
That was disappointing for the home crowd, especially since the Sharks had most of their regular lineup in the game. Conversely, this was the first outing for them as a group this preseason. The Sharks lineup included Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Joel Ward, Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney, and Melker Karlsson up front. Also playing at forward were Timo Meier, Jannik Hansen, Kevin Labanc, Ryan Carpenter, and Mikkel Boedker. The defense was comprised of Brent Burns, Paul Martin, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Justin Braun, Brenden Dillon and Tim Heed. The loss follows another in Anaheim last Thursday, when a very different Sharks lineup was also shutout.
The Coyotes started well against the Sharks on Saturday, maintaining a close shot count and scoring midway through the first. In the second, the visitors earned a powerplay goal while Kevin Labanc sat in the box for a hook. Both goals were scored by Derek Stepan from Clayton Keller and Max Domi.
The Sharks had a couple of good chances early in the game, but Louis Domingue was very sharp from the get go. San Jose failed to score despite back to back power plays that overlapped by 11 seconds in the first period.
A noteworthy incident followed the second goal, when Joonas Donskoi was called for boarding Nick Cousins. He received a five minute major and a game misconduct. The call was not popular with the home crowd. Cousins looked shaken up but did return to the ice before the end of the period.
The Coyotes extended the lead at 2:58 of the third when Brendan Perlini got by Brenden Dillon and then Tim Heed to make it 3-0. An assist went to Adam Clendening. After that third goal, the Coyotes shifted down into defensive mode and took very few shots. After staying within two on the shot clock, Arizona only took four shots. Unfortunetely for the Sharks, that fourth shot went into an empty net for Perlini. Assists went to Dylan Strome and Lawson Crouse.
Apart from taking 13 shots to the Coyotes 4, the Sharks did not make much progress in the third. Ryan Carpenter drew a tripping penalty at 5:37, sending Alex Goligoski to the box. At 9:13, the Sharks had another try at the power play when Nick Cousins was called for interference/slashing against Brenden Dillon.
The Sharks will play their final preseason game in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 1 at 5:00 PM PT, against the Golden Knights.
sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Jose Barracuda left winger Adam Helewka (46) takes the puck past two Stockton Heat defenders on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center on Saturday
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE–What a difference a day makes. The San Jose Barracuda rebounded less than 14 hours after their terrible pre-season debut to win a thrilling 2-1 game in overtime over the visiting Stockton Heat at the SAP Center. San Jose’s Adam Helewka scored the game winner with less than a minute left in overtime. Helewka used some nifty stick handling to maneuver around defenders before he wristed a shot past Heat goalie Mason McDonald.
The Heat got on the board first with exactly 11 minutes left in the second period when Joel Lowry was able to clean up a rebound from a Spencer Foo shot near the right point that Barracuda goalie Antoine Bibeau initially stopped but wasn’t able to corral the rebound as the puck trickled through his legs that Lowry was able to tap past him for the 1-0 lead.
The Barracuda were on the verge of their second straight shutout until Manuel Wiederer scored just over a minute into the 3rd period. It was McDonald’s first test after he came into the 3rd period replacing starting goalie Tyler Parsons, who left after the 2nd period. Parsons finished with 16 saves, including a couple of point blank chances, before being replaced by McDonald.
McDonald took the loss after allowing two goals on 13 shots in 20 minutes and 46 seconds of action. Bibeau earned the win by making 24-of-25 saves. Both teams were unsuccessful on their power play opportunity in the first period.
NEXT UP: The San Jose Barracuda begin their regular season on the road at the Stockton Heat next Saturday October 7th at 6pm.
Stanford Cardinal running back Bryce Love (20) fends off Arizona State Sun Devils defensive back Chad Adams (21), during a NCAA Football game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Stanford Cardinal at the Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California. Valerie Shoaps/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
By Morris Phillips
PALO ALTO–Stanford Cardinal running back Bryce Love had a big pay day for Love 25 carries and 301 yards. Like former Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey was their key guy last year and now it looks like Love could be the go to guy for ground game offense. Stanford head coach David Shaw doesn’t like to talk a lot about his players individually and sure enough here was Shaw again talking about Love’s performance. Stanford got a ten point win over Arizona State University on Saturday at Stanford Stadium 34-24.
Shaw talked about how versatile Love is, how fast he is and just how tough he is. He really gave ASU more than they can handle. Shaw said that the offensive line played as well as they have all year in Saturday’s game. This was Stanford’s second straight win and it was a game that the Cardinal wanted to put out of their minds after that tough loss at San Diego State.
Morris Phillips is filling in for Matt Harrington who does Stanford Cardinal podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Stanford running back Bryce Love, left, runs for a touchdown past Arizona State defensive back Demonte King (28) during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
By Morris Phillips
PALO ALTO, CA–Less than a year after Coach David Shaw was forced to step out of character, and heap platitudes on one member of his Stanford football team, the coach who preaches selflessness and teamwork, had to do it again.
This time Shaw had a plan, one he executed in his first utterings to the media after Stanford bludgeoned Arizona State, 34-24 on Saturday.
“The opening statement is Bryce Love, and the answer to every question is Bryce Love,” Shaw declared.
Love had himself a day, rushing for a school-record 301 yards and three touchdowns, surpassing the previous record of 284 yards, set by Christian McCaffrey in November. Love also became only the third FBS back since 2004 to top 1,000 yards rushing in his team’s first five games, joining Northern Illinois’ Garrett Wolfe (2006) and Leonard Fournette (2015).
Folks, that 1,000 yards just days after the official end of summer. Given that, Shaw couldn’t help himself. Like he did when describing the running style of the Heisman trophy runner-up, McCaffrey, Shaw had a few, additional things to say about the guy who last season was merely McCaffrey’s backup.
“He runs physical, he runs tough, and if he breaks a tackle, he’s gone,” Shaw gushed. “I’ve never seen anybody get hit and stumble and then get back up full speed. I’ve just never seen that before. It’s unbelievable.”
Unquestionably, this was the perfect storm, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Love would be perfect. But he was. Two weeks ago, Arizona State’s beleaguered defense surrendered 216 yards to San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny, and ASU Coach Todd Graham conceded during the week that Love would provide an even bigger challenge.
From Stanford’s perspective, quarterback stability is often the last piece to the puzzle, and they appear to have that, with K.J. Costello, the sophomore who made his first college start on Saturday, after his eye-opening second half of football against UCLA last week. Combine Costello’s emergence with the Cardinal’s offensive line having what Shaw said was their best performance to date, and Love was basically off and running from the opening kickoff.
Less than two minutes into the game, Love went 61 yards for a score, motoring past Sun Devils’ defenders like a speeding commuter on 101 during rush hour.
Early in the second quarter, Love knifed through the line, then broke outside on his way to a 43-yard score down the sideline.
Then early in third quarter, Love broke free up the middle, and ran 59 yards untouched for his final score.
“Every play that he broke, we had someone there, unblocked, and couldn’t tackle him,” Graham said. “You have to give him a lot of credit. He’s very, very good.”
But the run that had everyone talking was Love’s final one of the afternoon, a 7-yard run that was all effort and will, and ended with three ASU defenders with hands on the running back.
