Tag: Baseball

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s get some light at the end of the tunnel with some pitchers returning

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sfgate.com photo: Oakland Athletics catcher Josh Phegley, right, tags out Tampa Bay Rays’ Austin Meadows, center, at home as umpire Jim Reynolds (77) watches during the third inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 23, 2019.

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O:

#1 After the A’s loss of Frankie Montas and Blake Treinen, the A’s are looking at having some pitchers come back and others they will have to wait for and might be able to fill the void with Jesus Luzardo, Sean Manaea, Brian Schlitter, AJ Puk, Jharel Cotton, and Yusmeiro Petit.

#2 The A’s travel to St. Louis for two games starting on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. The A’s take a 41-38 record to start the road trip and are in third in the AL West. The Cardinals are in third place at 40-37 and just two games out of first place. Charlie O tells us how he sees this series.

#3  Charlie talks about some of the Cardinals that the A’s starters will be facing: first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, third baseman Matt Carpenter, outfielders Marcel Ozuna, Jose Martinez, Dexter Fowler, and Harrison Bader and catchers Yadier Molina and Matt Wieters.

#4 Charlie talked about the odd schedule that had the A’s in St Louis for just two games and they have to fly back to the west coast to Los Angeles for a four-game series starting on Thursday with no day off in between after playing the Cards on Wednesday’s get away game.

#5 Starting pitchers on Tuesday for the A’s Chris Bassitt (4-3, 3.64 ERA), and for the St. Louis Cardinals, Jack Flaherty (4-4, 4.24 ERA). Charlie O clues us in on the matchups.

Charlie O does the Oakland A’s podcasts each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Fan hurt at Dodger Stadium; Safety at MLB parks

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AP photo: A young fan holds ice to her head after being hit with a foul ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

A young woman was struck at Dodger Stadium by a line-drive hit by Cody Bellinger. She was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests. She was sitting just beyond the protective netting.

“I saw it literally hit her face,” Bellinger said “It was tough.”

While the odds are higher that you will have an automobile accident while driving to the baseball park as opposed to getting hit in a head by a baseball at the park, the fact remains that most stadiums are “fan friendly”and the fans are closer to the action. It is also true that today’s players are stronger than eve — pitchers can throw faster than ever and hitters can hit harder than ever. So if this is all true, the fans most pay more attention than ever, right? Not really.

Today, there are more distractions when you attend a baseball game than ever before. For starters, everybody carries a cell phone and many have one eye on the cell phone and the other eye on the action on the field. We are busier than ever. I remember when you went to the park to relax, enjoy the game and pay attention to the game and maybe even score the game, which is something that you seldom see today. Maybe with the older folks.

A line drive can hit anybody in the stands at any park at any given moment, even if you are paying attention to the game. One of the great things in baseball is that you feel part of the game, unlike any other sport, you can go home with a ball that you caught, show to your friends, save it as a souvenir or use it for a future player autograph.

Stadiums are protected by small screen/netting,most behind the dugouts and in other places. Ironically, the dated Oakland Coliseum, might be one of the safest parks to attend due to all that spacious foul territory. A line-drive doesn’t get to you as quick as most other places, so you have less of a chance of getting injured.

Nevertheless, baseball games offers fans a unique experience. It is the ultimate game to take you family on a sunny Sunday afternoon to enjoy. There will always be accidents, but I believe that if you pay attention, you are more aware and therefore, you can see a ball if it is coming your way.

The largest stadium in the MLB is Dodger Stadium with a capacity of 56,000. As of today, the Dodgers have the largest attendance in all of baseball — 2,049,295 in 43 home games. That is an average of 47,658. They have the best record in the game, 54-25 leading the NL West, 13 games over the Colorado Rockies and on their way to their seventh consecutive divisional title. The current record is 14 in a row by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 2005.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is heard on the Oakland A’s Spanish flagship station KIQI 1010 San Francisco and can be heard weekly on That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Preview: A’s-Cards to open 2-game series starting Tuesday night

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photo from the stltoday.com: St Louis Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina congratulates Los Angeles Angels star Albert Pujols in Pujols’ last appearance in Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Sunday.

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s, with a record of 41-38, travel to St.Louis to play two games against the Cardinals. The Cardinals are 40-37 and are in third place in the NL Central. They trail the Chicago Cubs by two games in the race for first place in the division. They are 1/2 game behind the Milwaukee Brewers for second place.

The A’s will be facing a team that is always in the mix for a post-season berth. The Cardinals have a lineup with players that can send the ball out of the park. The key players for the Cardinals are first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, third baseman Matt Carpenter, outfielders Marcel Ozuna, Jose Martinez, Dexter Fowler, and Harrison Bader. The catching chores are shared by Yadier Molina and Matt Wieters.

The Cardinals obtained Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks last winter. So far, Goldschmidt is hitting .260 and has 14 home runs and 31 RBIs. Carpenter is having an off-year hitting .218, but has hit 10 dingers. Left-fielder Marcel Ozuna is the big power man on the team. Ozuna, in his second year in St. Louis, has 20 homers and 62 RBIs so far.

The pitching matchups will see Chris Bassitt going for Oakland on Tuesday. Bassitt (4-3, 3.64 ERA) pitched well last week against Baltimore. The A’s are hoping the magic rubs off against the Cardinals. Jack Flaherty (4-4, 4.24 ERA) will be the Cardinals’ starter. On Wednesday, Tanner Anderson will be the A’s choice to pitch, and the Cardinals will counter with the veteran Adam Wainwright.

The Cardinals’ bullpen will feature Andrew Miller and Genesis Cabrera from the left side. Their righties are John Brebbia, Giovanny Gallegos, John Gant, Jordan Hicks, and Carlos Martinez. Martinez has been designated as the team’s closer.

Since the game is being played in a National League Park, the A’s will not be able to use the Designated Hitter. A’s right-fielder- Stephen Piscotty will be making his first trip back to St. Louis. Piscotty was traded to the A’s before the start of the 2018 season.

On paper, the teams appear to be evenly matched. The A’s are having problems dealing with the loss of Frankie Montas and Blake Treinen. Montas is gone for 80 games, and Treinen has been placed on the 10-day IL with a shoulder issue.

The A’s finish the six-game road trip with four with the LA Angels in Anaheim. The Cardinals will play the A’s again in Oakland on August 3rd and 4th.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Dickerson and Anderson have great series, but Giants can’t overcome D-Backs

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photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco Giants pitcher Shaun Anderson throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 How impressive was the Giants outfielder Alex Dickerson in the Arizona Diamondbacks series? He was collecting the hits in his first series with the team.

#2 Shaun Anderson, the Giants pitcher, has had himself a great year so far. Who can forget his first game at Oracle Park getting two hits to help his own cause and winning, and on Sunday, no exception again — pitching in a 3-2 loss, but a good outing getting six innings in five hits and two runs while striking out two.

#3 Anderson said during the game manager Bruce Bochy could have pinched hit for him, but kept him out there and he got that quality start.

#4 Critics have said the Giants have the worst lineup in the franchise’s history? No one is hitting .300 or above at this stage of the season.

#5 The Colorado Rockies come to Oracle Park tonight and will start Jon Gray (7-5) against the Giants’ Drew Pomeranz (2-7).

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

 

Locastro’s RBI single in 10th helps Snakes sink Giants 3-2

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sfgate.com: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Tim Locastro hits an RBI single against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, June 23, 2019

PHOENIX — After losing six games in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks were ready to celebrate something.

Centerfielder Tim Locastro lit the fuse for the occasion with a 10th inning walk-off run-scoring single that gave the D-Backs a 3-2 NL West win over the San Francisco Giants Sunday before 25,071 at Chase Field.

As soon as Locastro’s drive shot past Giants third baseman Evan Longoria, the Diamondback dugout emptied onto the field.

“Those are the things you look for as a team, when you finally have something good happen,” Arizona Manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve been coming in here talking about losing baseball games, and that’s hard. It’s tough on the team and tough on everyone.

“But you have to find a way to keep grinding. That showed the personality of this team.”

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases against San Francisco reliever Mark Melancon (3-2) before Locastro delivered his game-winner. After Christian Walker led off the Arizona 10th with a single, he was erased at second when Nick Ahmed hit into a fielder’s choice. Pinch-hitter Jarrod Dyson walked and Carson Kelly was intentionally walked.

Ahmed scored the winning run from third on Locastro’s drive over the third base bag.

‘With one out, I’m just trying to get the ball to the outfield,” Locastro said. “Actually, I knew that (Melancon’s) tendency is to come in a little bit, so I was looking in there and got one over the third baseman’s head.

“As soon as I hit it, I saw (Longoria) jump up for it. As soon as I saw it drop, I gave it a fist pump and knew we had the win. I was very excited.”

“It didn’t surprise me that (Dyson) drew that walk,’ Lovullo said. “He was fighting off pitches and that was a key moment of the game. It’s built because of Christian Walker having a good at-bat and getting on base.”

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the third when Caleb Joseph drew a one-out walk and scored on Locastro’s base hit.

The Giants tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth. Evan Longoria led off with a single, moved to third on Brandon Belt’s double and scored on an infield groundout by Stephen Vogt.

The Diamondbacks regained the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Adam Jones reached on a strike three wild pitch, moved to third on Eduardo Escobar’s single and scored on a base hit by Christian Walker.

Kevin Pillar tied the game at 2-2 with his 10th home run of the season to lead off the Giants seventh, hastening Merrill Kelly’s departure. He worked six-plus innings, struck out nine, walked two, and gave up two earned runs on four hits.

The D-Backs bullpen — Andrew Chafin, Yoan Lopez, Greg Holland and winning pitcher Matt Andriese (4-4) held San Francisco scoreless in the final four innings, with a combined three strikeouts and no walks or hits.

“It was pretty bad to give up that leadoff homer to Pillar. It would have been liked getting out of there with a lead, but the guys did a great job of picking me up and getting a huge victory,” Merritt Kelly said. “Hopefully, we’ve got some good energy going.”

Giants starter Shaun Anderson threw a strong six innings, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Relievers Reyes Moronta and Sam Dyson held the Snakes scoreless and hitless in their combined three innings.

“We just couldn’t get anything going with the bats,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘They got the big hit, we didn’t. That’s the difference in the game.”

Lovullo said that Ketel Marte was not available for today’s game, even going into extra innings. Marte had been listed as day-to-day after suffering a left groin cramp on Friday.

“There was a minimal risk, but we held him back today. (Marte) will be out there when we play the Dodgers.”

Locastro added, “Now we have to get on a streak and that’s the goal moving forward.”

The Giants return home to host Colorado Monday through Wednesday. Lefthander Drew Pomeranz (2-7, 7.09 ERA) faces the Rockies’ Jon Gray (7-5, 4.18 ERA) in Monday’s series opener. San Francisco’s probables for Tuesday and Wednesday are Madison Bumgarner (3-7, 4.28 ERA) and Jeff Samardzija (4-6, 4.23 ERA).

TAGS: Tim Locastro, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, MLB

MLB podcast with Matt Harrington: Was Montas success related to PED use?; Could MLB’s high number of HRs have something to do with substance abuse?

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nytimes.com photo: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred talked about the Tampa Bay Rays splitting time between playing in Tampa Bay and Montreal

On the MLB podcast with Matt:

#1 Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas (9-2 ERA 2.70) has had an outstanding season, he had everything working for him and that was just the thing when he tested positive for performance enhancers. Was his great season lent to his use of PEDs?

#2 MLB has a high number of home runs this season so far, the last time you saw home runs majestically fall into the bleachers like this season was when former St Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire and former Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa were playing. Does this draw suspicions about how this has come about?

#3 MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering moving a team to either Montreal or Portland. The topic of the Tampa Bay Rays who are drawing poorly and need a new stadium will be playing half there games in Montreal and in St Petersburg. Other cities vying for an MLB team are Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, and Las Vegas.

#4 A new Oakland A’s stadium hangs in the balance in downtown Oakland, the Oakland City Council have said they have lots of questions regarding financing the stadium and other environmental issues if by happenstance the city council thumbs down a new stadium for the A’s at Jack London Square the A’s also could be moving to another city on that list.

#5 San Francisco Giant Alex Dickerson who hit a grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Friday night fused a huge win for San Francisco 11-6. The Giants with the win snapped their four game losing streak.

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

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants nearly come back on Dodgers on Thursday night

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The Dodgers nearly did what they did on Wednesday night and run away with a ballgame as the Dodgers started out the game with a 6-0 lead.

#2 The Giants rallied back in the last three innings of the game and nearly tied up the ball game against Dodger pitcher Kenley Jansen.

#3 On a Giant bunt by Tyler Austin up the first base side, Dodger first baseman Cody Bellinger’s throw to third base that Giants baserunner Stephen Vogt was called out. The play was reviewed and it look like Vogt’s foot hit the bag about the same time the ball hit Dodger third baseman Justin Turner’s glove how did Michael see it.

#4 When the Dodgers’ Max Muncy came up to the plate to face Giants starter Madison Bumgarner the Dodger’s scoreboard showed a replay of the home run that Muncy hit off Bumgarner last time the Dodgers were in San Francisco plus the Dodgers played “Under the Sea” and “Smoke on the Water” during the replay.

#5 The Giants are in Arizona for a three-game battle with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants will start Jeff Samardzija (3-6) going against the Diamondbacks’ Taylor Clark (1-2).

Michael does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s Bassitt had everything working for him on Wednesday; Orioles suffer 8th straight loss; plus more

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Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

On the A’s podcast with Jerry:

#1 The Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt sat down the Baltimore Orioles, pitching 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon.

#2 For the lowly Orioles, they suffered their eighth straight loss, sit in dead last place, and are desperate need of both hitting and pitching.

#3 For Bassitt pitching as well as he did, he really had all his pitches working for him and really handled the Orioles in those first 5.2 innings, allowing only two hits.

#4 Bassitt also retired 16 of the 18 batters he faced, saying he felt better in this outing than the last two outings he had.

#5 The A’s open up a four-game series on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost their last two games against the New York Yankees. The Rays will start Charlie Morton (8-1, 2.37 ERA), and for the Oakland A’s, Frankie Montas (9-2, 2.85 ERA) at the Oakland Coliseum.

Jerry Feitelberg does the Oakland A’s podcast each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Manaea working his way back to the show; Machado files a protest against suspension; plus more

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Photo credit: @theScore

On Headline Sports with Barbara Mason:

#1 The Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Manaea is throwing well in a simulated 45-pitch three contest. He pitched three innings against Oakland minor league hitters. He said he feels great.

#2 A’s left hander AJ Puk, who had Tommy John surgery, threw two innings against Class A Advanced Stockton and allowed a homer and a walk with three strikeouts. Jesus Luzardo, who had a shoulder strain, allowed four hits and a homer. The A’s are hoping that both Puk and Luzardo can rehab and make it back to the big club.

#3 San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado wants to earn every penny of that $300 million contract and getting called out on strikes didn’t sit well for him on Monday night. Plate Umpire Bill Welke called a pitch on the outside corner and Machado argued the call made contact with Welke, threw his bat, and dropped some heavy language. Machado has appealed his one-game suspension.

#4 The Chicago Cubs are considering opening up a sportsbook at Wrigley Field and people just like at the racetrack can go and place their bets inside at the park. MLB currently prohibits gambling inside MLB stadiums, but the rules are about to change and betting will be allowed.

#5 Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence of the Texas Rangers, who had has 15 home runs for the season, had his run stopped by a groin injury he got in Cincinnati on Sunday. Pence was hitting .294 and 48 RBIs in 55 games.

Headlines Sports with Barbara Mason is heard each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: Piscotty says he feels fine, back in the lineup Monday night; Manaea says rehab is coming along great

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Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The A’s and Orioles started the three-game series with a close game at the Oakland Coliseum on Monday night. Regardless where some teams are in the standings, the A’s opponents are well aware they might be playing some tight games.

#2 Stephen Piscotty came back from melanoma from his right ear and was in the lineup on Monday night at the Coliseum. Piscotty says he’s doing fine.

#3 The Oakland A’s Sean Manaea and AJ Puk are working their way back into the rotation. Manaea has been throwing 45-pitch simulated games and Puk, who had Tommy John, has been throwing. Although their recoveries are slow, they’re both determined to make it back.

#4 Mike Fiers started for the Oakland A’s on Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles Jack Cashner in a game that turned out to be a well pitched game with the A’s getting a one run win 3-2.

#5 The A’s Matt Chapman, who leads the team in home runs with 16, and part of why the A’s have such consistent hitting.

Charlie O does the A’s podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com