Cal Bears Football Podcast with Morris Phillips: Cal’s Wilcox was familiar with USC’s Darnold and coaching staff being a former Trojan assistant

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Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold (14) game stats 26-38-1 int and 2 TD get flush out of the pocket for a long yard gain during the NCAA Football game between USC Trojans and the California Golden Bears 30-20 win at California Memorial Stadium. Thurman James / CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

On the Cal Bears Podcast:

The early gambling pressures worked against the USC Trojan quarterback Sam Darnold whose probably the best player in the Pac 12 and a huge NFL prospect. He was without his starting tailback and one of his to receivers it was really tough on USC to get their offensive attack going with the Cal Bears going and making defensive plays and remember these coaching staffs know each other very well.

Bears Head coach Justin Wilcox was an assistant coach at USC in 2010 and 2011 and it was basically the same coaching staff at that point and they were coaching under former Trojan head coach Steve Sarkisian. Clancy Pendergast is the current Trojans defensive coordinator. The coaches know each other and there’s not a lot of secrets according to some guys I talked to that covered USC it’s a combination of Wilcox’s defenses and how they worked at and how they were deployed.

Morris has more Bears coverage check out the podcast each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s announce Liam Hendriks as the 2017 winner of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award

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Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Liam Hendriks throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND- The Oakland A’s announced Liam Hendriks as the winner of the 2017 Dave Stewart Award for community service. The text of the release follows below.

Liam Hendriks to Receive Dave Stewart Community Service Award

Dave Stewart will present award pregame on Wednesday

 

OAKLAND, Calif. – A’s pitcher Liam Hendriks has been named the recipient of the 2017 Dave Stewart Community Service Award, the team announced today. Stewart will present Hendriks with the award prior to the game on Wednesday, Sept. 27 in a special on-field ceremony.

 

The Dave Stewart Community Service Award is given annually to an A’s player in recognition of charitable contributions throughout Northern California and across the nation.

 

Hendriks teamed up with Big League Impact and Striking Out Poverty with the mission of ending poverty in the Dominican Republic. Hendriks designed a “K” poverty T-shirt, and proceeds from shirt sales benefit this mission. During the 2017 season, he also pledged to donate $100 per strikeout and $200 per walk to the poverty campaign.

 

In addition, Hendriks has supported many A’s community initiatives and programs, including serving meals at the St. Vincent de Paul free dining room for Thanksgiving in June; participating in Youth Sports Nation’s Play Ball Tour, which combines music, sports, and community to celebrate the game of baseball in Oakland schools; A’s Root Beer Float Day, which raises funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; A’s Bowling Bash, which raised more than $100,000 for the Oakland A’s Community Fund; Habitat for Humanity, where Hendriks helped build a playhouse at the Coliseum.

 

The award originated in 1996 in honor of Stewart’s many years of community service in the Bay Area. Throughout the years, Stewart has been involved in many non-profit organizations, including the Oakland Boys & Girls Club and Team-Up for Youth, a program that supports healthy development for young people living in low-income communities through after-school sports and physical activity programs.

 

Previous winners of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award include: Ernie Young (1996), Scott Spiezio (1997), Tom Candiotti (1998), Art Howe (1999), Jason Giambi (2000), Terrence Long (2001), Tim Hudson (2002), Scott Hatteberg (2003), Eric Chavez (2004), Barry Zito (2005), Mark Kotsay (2006), Mark Ellis (2007), Dana Eveland (2008), Dallas Braden and Kurt Suzuki (2009), Craig Breslow (2010), Josh Willingham (2011), Jonny Gomes (2012), Sean Doolittle (2013), Jed Lowrie (2014), and Stephen Vogt (2015, 2016).

There’s a method to the madness in the A’s season-ending win streak

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Oakland Athletics’ Mark Canha (20) places his hand on the shoulder of Bruce Maxwell as Maxwell takes a knee during the national anthem prior to a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–For a last place club, the A’s sure have a way about themselves. Maybe, that’s because they’re not going to be a last place club much longer.

Winning 14 of 17 in September has the A’s within striking distance of the fourth place Mariners, who visit the Coliseum for the final three home games starting Monday. The A’s have been stuck in the AL West cellar since May 30, and haven’t had a winning month in well over a year. The monthly streak is likely to end, while catching the Mariners will be significantly trickier.  But either way, the A’s biggest winning roll since 2013 portends better days ahead.

With a youthful club stripped of almost all of its veteran presence, the A’s haven’t stepped back, they’ve stepped forward, sweeping the Rangers with a 8-1 win Sunday to backup a rare, succesful road trip. Manager Bob Melvin’s list of needed improvements wasn’t short or easily achievable, but his club made all the checkmarks anyway.

“We needed to play better against Houston and we swept them,” Melvin recounted. “Second was we had to play better on the road, and we had a good road trip. And then we want to finish up here and play well within our division because we have not played well within our division this year.”

In a season where the norms for winning big league ballgames has shifted dramatically, the A’s have been ahead of the curve. Scoring is up slightly, home runs are being hit at a record pace, and the percentage of at-bats that end with either a strikeout, a walk or a home run has never been higher.

Wait for the big inning then pounce? You could term it that. It’s definitely not Moneyball, but maybe Moneyball 2.0. Whatever you call it, the A’s are good at it, with Sunday’s five-run fifth the latest example.

With Rangers’ starter Martin Perez softened up by being forced to throw 71 pitches through four innings, the pitcher reached the breaking point in the fifth by allowing singles to Josh Phlegley and Jake Smolinsky.

Marcus Semien then popped out trying to advance the runners with a bunt. Martin’s next pitch was roped by Matt Chapman for an RBI double, then four pitches after that, Jed Lowrie contributed a two-run double. That chased Perez before he could finish five innings, and qualify for a win.

Capping the inning, Khris Davis greeted effective reliever Tony Barnette with a 445-foot bomb with a man aboard, and the A’s led 5-0. Davis has now homered 40 times in consecutive seasons, a first for an Oakland Athletic.

The A’s would add two in the sixth, and one more in the eight and the rout was on.

Currently, the A’s rank in the top five in the American League in homers, walks and strikeouts. While Melvin and the A’s would love to see the strikeouts reduced (the A’s average more than nine a game) the additional pitches extracted from the opposing pitcher have the desired effect of elevating pitch counts as Perez’ number grew burdensome on Sunday.

Jharel Cotton was the beneficiary of the runs against Texas, pitching five innings to earn the win, his ninth.

For the A’s on Sunday, that’s hitting, pitching, and defense as the club committed no errors, and turned a nifty double play. Check, check and check.

“Let the teams in our division know we’re on our way back,” Melvin said. “This three-year period we’ve gone through is hopefully over.”

 

 

PURE INSURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP: Behnard Langer pulls away to take title

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golfweek.com/USA Today Photo: Pure Insurance Champion Behnard Langer basks in victory after taking the top prize at Pebble Beach on Sunda

By Jeremy Harness

 PEBBLE BEACH – Bernhard Langer just knows how to win golf tournaments.

 The 60-year-old German, who in 1986 became golf’s first official number one-ranked player, won his 34th PGA Champions Tour (formerly known as the PGA Senior Tour) win on Sunday, taking home the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

 This marked his fifth win of the year, a string that includes the Senior PGA Championship as well as the Senior Open Championship.

 Langer suffered a bogey at the par-4 eighth, but that was the last real mistake he would make for the rest of the day. He righted the ship with a par at the ninth, and then played a bogey-free back nine that saw him record four birdies, including three straight at holes 13 through 15.

 His closest pursuer, Jerry Kelly, shot a bogey-free 67, but after a lights-out front nine that saw him go four-under, he just could not make up ground on the back nine after Langer hit the accelerator. As a result, he settled for a second-place finish.

 Kenny Perry, who entered Sunday trailing by only one stroke, struggled a bit out of the gate, dropping a shot in the first four holes without a single birdie. He did record a pair of birdies in his second nine, but he simply made too many mistakes to be a factor down the stretch, as he shot a two-over 74 on Sunday and finished in a tie for fifth.

 Langer began Sunday’s proceedings with a one-shot lead but soon saw it increase to three. However, it would not take long before he had some company again.

 Kelly, who won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship last weekend in Victoria, British Columbia and also took the Boeing Classic two weeks before that, made a huge charge on the front nine on Sunday.

 He birdied the first two holes and then made eagle at the par-5 sixth to tie Langer at the top, at 13-under.

 Soon thereafter, Langer bounced back from a bogey at the par-3 fifth with a birdie on the very next hole to go back in the lead by himself. He would not relinquish that advantage, and he only built on it as the afternoon progressed.

 Scott McCarron, the first-round leader who lost ground on Saturday, got himself within striking distance on Sunday, shaking off a bogey at the par-4 fourth and ran off three birdies in a row at holes six through eight to get to within three shots of the lead.

 He lost some of that momentum by bogeying the ninth, but he got it back on the back nine, as he made back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th holes. However, he just could not generate enough of it – and started the final round too far back – to make a real challenge to the title once Langer got going.

 

Offensive woes dooms Carr and Raiders in Washington DC

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Photo credit: Oakland Raiders

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer

HYATTSVILLE, MD — Boy, you didn’t see that one coming from a mile away.

Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders were straight out humbled by Washington 27-10 Sunday night at FedEx Field to brought their record to 2-1 on the season.

Carr and the offense were completely out of sync, registering just 128 yards of total offense. The Raiders signal-caller completed just 19-of-31 passes for 118 and threw two interceptions (with a 52.9 passer rating) that led to a 14-0 lead for Washington at halftime.

Last season, Carr didn’t have a game in which he threw two interceptions in the contest. Before tonight’s two-interception clunker, Carr’s last two-interception game was in Week 15 of the 2015 season against the Green Bay Packers.

“Man, we just got our butt kicked,” Carr told reporters after the game, “This isn’t alarming, but we did get punched in the mouth.”

Punched in the mouth is an understatement.

Washington (2-1) took a pair of rusty pliers to Oakland’s mouth and pulled their teeth out. Oakland took care of the football in the first two games this season, but tonight was a different story.

Oakland couldn’t move the ball on third down, finishing 0-for-11 while Washington converted 7-of-15 on third downs. Washington controlled the time of possession, holding on to the football for 38:06 to just Oakland’s 21:54.

Oakland gained just seven first downs the entire night.

The Raiders didn’t record a first down until 11:34 into the second quarter, and that came off a penalty on Washington.

Wide receivers Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree were virtual no-shows, combining for two catches for 13 yards on eight targets on the night. Crabtree left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a wicked hit to the chest and didn’t return.

Running back Marshawn Lynch racked up 18 of Oakland’s 32 rushing yards and was a non-factor after Oakland had to abandon the run after Washington took a 21-0 lead at the 10:37 mark in the third quarter following a 52-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins to wide receiver Josh Doctson.

Trust me, the offense had a hand in this debacle, but Oakland’s defense got pushed around and were hammered by Washington.

Doctson jumped over Oakland and former Washington cornerback David Amerson up the right sideline that was a gut-punch to a Raiders defense that surrendered 472 yards of total offense.

Cousins ripped Oakland to shreds, completing 25-of-30 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns with a 150.7 passer rating.

Washington running back Chris Thompson was unstoppable, dominating Oakland with six receptions for 150 yards and a 22-yard touchdown catch from Cousins.

Tight end Vernon Davis went back into the time machine, hauling in five catches for 58 yards, which included an 18-yard touchdown catch after gaining a step past cornerback Sean Smith down the middle of the field.

But what makes this loss so gruesome for the Silver and Black was that it occurred in prime-time in front of the entire country.

The over-priced offensive line, and rightfully so, was just out-worked by a speedy and powerful Washington defensive front that gave Oakland problems from the opening kickoff.

Carr, who was sacked just twice coming in two games coming into Week 3, was sacked four times by Washington. On Oakland’s second possession of the game, Carr was sacked on back-to-back drop-backs and the offensive line couldn’t maintain Washington’s speed on defense.

If it weren’t for a fumble by Washington wide receiver Jamison Crowder on a punt that Oakland recovered to set up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Carr to tight end Jared Cook (four receptions for 43 yards) to cut Washington’s lead to 21-7 with 3:52 left in the third quarter, the Raiders could’ve been shut out.

At one point, I’m looking at the stat sheet and the Raiders had just 74 yards of total offense. One of the league’s premier offenses was a shell of itself in the first of their franchise-record five prime-time games this season.

It will be a long flight back to the Bay Area for the Raiders and to a man, everyone on that team plane has to be upset. Everyone from the coaches to the players had a hand in this no-show of a football game.

Oakland has to now turn their attention to Week 4 and prepare for a trip to Denver for a key AFC West game next Sunday.

With both teams looking up at the undefeated Kansas City (3-0) in the division, the matchup against the Broncos (2-1) at Sports Authority Field at Mile High is now a must-win for Oakland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redskins dominate Raiders on primetime television 27-10

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Photo credit: Washington Redskins

By Jeremy Kahn

What could go wrong for the Oakland Raiders against the Washington Redskins most definitely went wrong.

Kirk Cousins threw for 365 yards and three touchdowns, as the Redskins defeated the Raiders 27-10 at FedEx Field.

Not only did Cousins have a huge night, but the Redskins also got a huge game from running back Chris Thompson, who picked up 188 yards and a touchdown.

The Redskins defense sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr four times, and held the Raiders to just 128 total yards of offense.

Cousins went 25-of-30 on the evening, that included touchdown passes to Thompson, Vernon Davis and the final touchdown pass was a 52-yard touchdown pass to Josh Doctson.

Thompson gained 38 yards on the ground, and 150 yards through the air, becoming only the second running back to gain 150 yards thru the air against the Raiders since they returned to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995.

In comparison to the Raiders 128 yards of total offense, the Redskins gained 472 yards of total offense and are now 2-1 on the young season.

Carr went 19-for-31 for 118 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Entering the game, Carr went 112 consecutive passes without throwing an interception; however, that ended on the second play of the game, as Montae Nicholson intercepted a Carr pass.

The duo of Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper caught a combined two passes on the evening.

Marshawn Lynch carried the ball just six times for 18 yards.

Nothing went right for the Raiders on the evening, as they went 0-for-11 on third down conversions.

The Raiders offense gained just 47 yards in the first half, their lowest performance in a first half since Week 14 of the 2015 season against, this according to ESPN Stats and Info.

NOTES: Once again, the Raiders will stay on the road next week, as they face the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority at Mile High.

The only other running back to gain 150 yards of receiving was Jamal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Athletics sweep the Rangers out of town by winning 8-1 on Sunday in Oakland

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
DSC08542
Jed Lowrie loads up to hit a two-run double Photo Jordan Chapin Sports Radio Service

by Charlie O. Mallonee and Jordan Chapin

Oakland – The Athletics have now won seven games in a row after sweeping a three-game series from the Wild Card contending Texas Rangers. The A’s completed the sweep with an 8-1 win on Sunday in front of 18,706 fans at the Coliseum on “Hecho en Oakland” Day.

This was also the second consecutive series sweep for the Athletics who took a three-game series from the Tigers in Detroit to wrap up a nine-game road trip. Oakland has now won seven consecutive games. That is their longest winning streak of the season.

The Athletics (72-83) have won 14 games in September – the most in any month this year.

Warning!

Many experts will tell you not to fall in love with “September baseball”. There is some great wisdom in that statement. Rosters have been expanded. Players may be playing over their heads as they try to impress the front offices. Some veterans are just going through the motions. It is not a true barometer of what is going to happen in the future.

In the case of the Athletics, two very important things have happened in September that are worth noting for the future:

  • This young Oakland roster has learned to win on the road. The A’s have been tough at home all season but have been terrible away from the Coliseum. This newly constituted roster of “young guns” has taken on the challenge from Bob Melvin and learned how to win on the road. That is a lesson that can carry over into April of next year.
  • The Athletics also became a team that plays their division opponents tough. The A’s swept a four-game series from the Astros in September. Now they have swept the Rangers. Taking care of business with the teams in your division is the key to becoming competitive and moving toward becoming a playoff contender.

Pitching was a real key for the A’s

Jharel Cotton started the game for Oakland. He had to be scratched from his scheduled started start in Detroit due a strained groin. He showed no signs of having any problems with that issue during the game on Sunday.

Cotton threw his fastball at speeds of up to 95 mph and then would stop-down the change-up by as much as 15 mph. The Rangers hitters were just completely off-balance.

Cotton worked 5.0 – innings allowing no runs on just one hit. He walked one Texas batter while striking out six. Cotton threw 77 pitches (51 strikes).

Cotton set the side down in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

After the game, Cotton had nothing but compliments for the way his teammates played in the game.

Cotton is now 9-10 on the season and has the most wins for any rookie pitcher in the American League.

It was revealed after the game that Cotton experienced some tightness in his throwing elbow and that is why he did not continue after the fifth inning. He appeared to be fine in the clubhouse after the game.

Oakland exploded for five runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and added one in the eighth

The Athletics insured the win for Cotton by posting five runs off Texas starter Martin Perez (12-12) in the home half of the fifth inning. Catcher Josh Phegley led the inning off with a base hit and eventually eight batters would come to the plate.

The big hit of the inning came off the bat of Khris – yes you can call me “Krush” – Davis who hit his 41st home run of the year off Perez. It was a two-run shot that hit off the concrete wall just under the windows of the suites in straightaway center field.

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Khris Davis at the plate against the Rangers Photo by Jordan Chapin Sports Radio Service

Athletics in the batter’s box

  • As a team: 8 runs on 10 hits, six men left on base, 5-for-13 with Runners In Scoring Position
  • Phegley 2-for-3 with a double (11) and an RBI (10)
  • Chapman 2-for-5 including two doubles (21) and two RBI (36)
  • Khris Davis also recorded his 105th RBI

Oakland relief pitching

The relievers did not have a perfect outing as all four were not able to post “Goose Eggs” in the run column. Simon Castro – who worked 1.2-innings of relief – did give up one run on a solo home run to Normar Mazara (20). That was the only run the Rangers would score.

Daniel Coulombe, Santiago Casilla and Liam Hendriks combined to work 2.1-innings of scoreless relief for the A’s and preserve the victory.

A’s manager Bob Melvin was pleased with his team after the game

Melvin also spoke about team goals, the health of Matt Olson and Bruce Maxwell’s kneeling.

Texas Rangers

There has not been much mention of the Rangers in this article because for all intensive purposes their season came to an end today. They came into this weekend series still contending for a potential spot as a Wild Card team in the American League Playoffs. After the loss on Sunday, the Rangers are 5.5 games behind the Twins for the second Wild Card slot with seven games remaining to play.

The Rangers final seven games are all home games. They have a three-game series with the Astros that begins on Monday and a four-game series with the A’s that begins on Thursday.

The Twins are on a four-game winning streak.

Up next

The A’s begin their final three-game home series of the season on Monday night with Seattle Mariners. RHP Daniel Gossett (4-9,5.38) will start for Oakland while Seattle will send “King” Felix Hernandez (5-5,4.57) to the hill.

Kershaw keeps record clean against Giants

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~ (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (18-4) backed by double play defense equaled a 3-1 win over San Francisco in the teams’ last 2017 meeting Sunday.

Kershaw, now 25-0 versus the rival Giants, pitched seven scoreless innings until giving up a homer in the eighth. He struck out six and has had that many for the fifth outing in a row. San Francisco peppered Kershaw with eight hits like last time, but the Dodgers defense turned four double plays.

Brandon Morrow earned the save.

Yasmani Grandal had the game-winner with a two-run shot off starter Chris Stratton in the fourth. Grandal also brought in the other run and walked. Joc Pederson had two walk, one single and a stolen base.

For the Giants, Mac Williamson was a perfect 3-for-3 with the home run and two singles. Hunter Pence was also a perfect 3-for-3 versus Kershaw with two singles and an infield hit.

San Francisco pitchers threw three 1-2-3 innings.

Pence got the first hit of the game with a leadoff single but was stranded in the second.

Los Angeles followed with their first hit from Curtis Granderson. Logan Forsythe got the game’s first extra-base hit, which allowed Granderson to go to third. One out later, Grandal hit a fly ball that allowed Granderson to score.

The game winner was set up when Chase Utley reached on an infield hit and Grandal followed with a home run. It could have been worse after Pederson walked, moved to second on a sacrifice from Kershaw and moved to third on a wild pitch. However, after review, a call was overturned when a fan interfered with a catchable ball by Pence that gave the Giants the final out of the inning.

San Francisco got a leadoff runner in scoring position when Hernández hit a double in the sixth, but a poor baserunning choice ended that threat.

Like the previous game, a rally began in the eighth with Williamson’s  home run. However, the Giants were unable to do more. An interesting occurrence was when Hernández was at the plate and his bat went flying towards Kershaw. Kershaw had to jump and then retrieved the bat.

Game notes: The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor finished 0-for-11 in the series. San Francisco finishes their road trip against the Diamondbacks, starting Monday at 6:40pm.

NCAA Football Podcast with Michelle Richardson: Penn State just gets by Iowa; OK State can’t catch TCU; and will NCAA players join in the anthem protest?

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Penn State wide receiver Juwan Johnson, left, is pulled down by Iowa defensive back Joshua Jackson after catching a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

On the NCAA Podcast with Michelle:

1 Penn St got a close shave in a 21-19 win at Iowa, the Nittany Lions drove for 80 yards with 1:39 on the game clock, the Lions quarterback Trace McSorely hit Juwan Johnson for the go ahead and eventual game winner.

2 TCU got an upset over Oklahoma St with a 44-31 win Sat. TCU had a 37-17 lead but OK St made a close comeback cutting the lead to 37-31 but couldn’t seal the deal and the Horned Frogs got a 13 point win.

3 Do you see at some point NCAA players locking arms and taking a knee for the national anthem based on this weekend’s comments from Trump?

Michelle does the NCAA Podcasts every other week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Where Bruce Maxwell is now and will the other MLB players follow suit

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Nancy Levine of Marin, Calif., holds a sign in support of Oakland Athletics’ Bruce Maxwell, who knelt during the national anthem for a second day prior to the baseball game against the Texas Rangers Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

On the MLB Podcast with Daniel:

1 A’s Bruce Maxwell is first MLB player to kneel for the anthem.

2 Giancarlo Stanton hits HR No. 57, sets Marlins RBI record

3 Brad Ausmus stepping down as Tigers’ skipper

4 Twins inching toward second AL Wild Card berth

5 Rockies lose at San Diego, lead for second NL Wild Card cut to 1 game

Daniel does the MLB Podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com