Tag: Baseball

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: Murray most likely to pass up A’s offer to quarterback at Oklahoma

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@OU Baseball photo: Oklahoma Sooner centerfielder Kyler Murray who can do it all will turn down the Oakland A’s offer to be their number one draft pick to quarterback the Sooners in football next fall

Let’s talk the A’s MLB Draft with Charlie O!

1) Charlie, you told me you’re not to happy about the Athletics’ first-round pick Kyler Murray. What’s your objection?

2) You pointed out an interesting pattern in the first 10 draft picks.

3) Charlie, it took the A’s a while before the grabbed a pitcher in the draft. Does that surprise you?

4) What happens next with the draft?

5) How’s the big club doing and what’s coming up for Oakland?

Charlie O does the Oakland A’s podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: Giants rolling with 5-game win streak; Bumgarner gets the call tonight against D-Backs

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file photo from arizonasports.com: San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner returns tonight for the first start since his injury during spring training in March

On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

We knew that the Giants would be facing some tough opponents of late. Looking back to their road trip in Philadelphia, the Phillies swept the Giants in Philly. They struck 55 Phillies in five games and the Giants didn’t see any of that coming back to AT&T Park and sweeping the Phillies.

Here’s the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are starting at 19-8 and they’re still in that slide. They came into AT&T Park on Monday night with just a one-game lead in first place and they now have lost 13 of their last 14 games. The Diamondbacks re-assumed first place by beating Cincinnati and Miami, winning five out of six in Phoenix. which has been their only response to the huge swoon they went through in May.

There’s more Michael and Morris as they do the Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants Feature With Tony the Tiger Hayes: Forgotten Giants Player Dick Groat in 1967; He Was a Giant?

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Photo credit: 1960sbaseballblog.blogspot.com

By: Tony “Le Tigre” Hayes

Forgotten Giants Player
Dick Groat – SS – 1967 – # 20

He Was a Giant?
The understated Dick Groat wasn’t blessed with the panache of Deion Sanders, the Madison Avenue push of Bo Jackson or the Gold Medal winning cache of Jim Thorpe.

But Groat–briefly a Giant in 1967–was on par with any other multi-sport star American has produced.

He earned MVP honors in MLB (Pirates) and Player of the Year and All-American honors in College Basketball (Duke), yet he rarely gets included among the top players who flittered between sports depending on the seasonal calendar.

Why Was He a Giant?
As a Phillie, Groat collected his career hit 2,000 in 1966, but by 1996, he was literally on his last legs.

The years of constant running and jumping finally caught up to Groat and he would spend two weeks that spring hospitalized after his ankles swelled to three times their normal size.

But even this severe case of cellulitis could not spoil Groat’s competitive spirit and he was game when acquired by San Francisco in mid-1967 to back up the infield and pinch hit.

Before & After
One of the best athletes ever out of the Pittsburgh area, Groat accepted a dual baseball/basketball scholarship to Duke University. Under the guidance of Coach Red Auerbach, Groat was an immediate success in the hardwood.

Twice, he was selected as an All-American and was named National Player of the Year in 1952 when he averaged 25.2 points per game for the Blue Devils. Twice, he also garnered All-American honors for Duke’s baseball team.

Initially, Groat pursued pro careers in both sports and played the 1952-53 season as a sharpshooting guard with the NBA’s Ft. Wayne Pistons, averaging 12 points per game.

Groat opted to focus on baseball for his hometown Pirates and batted .284 as a rookie in 1952 without spending a day in the minors.

In 1960, Groat–a shortstop by trade–was named NL MVP, after winning the batting crown and leading the Bucs to their first World Series title in 35 years.

Later, Groat was dealt to the Cardinals and was a key contributor to their 1964 World Championship club.

He Wasn’t Hal Lanier. But…
The crew-cutted Groat arrived in San Francisco in the midst of the Summer of Love.

Playing time was scant for the 36 -year -old but, he had his moments in the Fog.

In back-to-back wins vs. the visiting Phillies (7/28/67-7/29/67), Groat poked a pair of hits as starting shortstop in each contest.

In 34 games with SF, Groat would bat .171 with four RBIs.

He retired following the 1967 campaign.

Giant Footprint
As a member of the Pirates in 1957, Groat combined to record the last putout of the New York Giants’ final home game–and last game ever–before the club’s move to San Francisco (9/29/57).

After Don Mueller flew out and Willie Mays grounded out for the first two outs of the bottom of the ninth, Dusty Rhodes punched a ground ball to Groat, who in turn fired to first baseman Frank Thomas to conclude the 9-1 Pittsburgh win and 74 seasons of New York Giants baseball.

A’s end road trip with short two-game series with Rangers in Arlington

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chicagotribune.com file photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Manaea celebrates after pitching a no-hitter in May against the Boston Red Sox. He will get the call Tuesday night in Arlington against the Texas Rangers at the Ball Park.

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland Athletics meet the Texas Rangers in Arlington for two games starting Tuesday. The A’s and Rangers have played seven games this season, and the A’s have won four games and lost three. The A’s are currently in fourth place in the American League West with a record of 31-29. The A’s won two out of three from the Kansas City Royals over the weekend and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The A’s are 15-15 at home and 16-14 on the road. The Rangers are 25-37 and trail the first-place Seattle Mariners by 12 1/2 games. They are seven games behind the A’s for the fourth spot in the division.

The A’s will send Sean Manaea to the mound Tuesday night. Manaea, who pitched a no-hitter against Boston in April and was the AL Pitcher of the Month, did not have a good month of May. His record has dropped to 5-6, and his ERA is currently at 3.60. The A’s are hoping the big lefty can get back to the form that he exhibited in April. He will be opposed by the Rangers’ left-hander Matt Moore. Moore, who had a terrible year in 2017 with the San Francisco Giants, is not doing well with Texas. Moore is 1-5 and has an ERA of 7.89. Moore came off the DL last Wednesday and allowed five runs in 5 1/3rd innings of work. Moore is 1-2 lifetime against Oakland in six career starts.

On Wednesday, Daniel Mengden will go for Oakland. Mengden has been pitching well. In his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays, Mengden went 8 plus innings and gave up six hits and three runs. The ageless veteran, Bartolo Colon (2-3, 4.21 ERA), will be seeking his 243rd win to tie him with the great Juan Marichal for most wins by a pitcher from the Dominican Republic.

The A’s hitters have shown that they love to play on the road. The team has guys up and down the lineup that can hit the ball into the stands. Marcus Semien, Matt Chapman, Jed Lowrie, and Matt Olson will be in the infield positions. Lowrie leads the team in hitting, and Olson has found the stroke that got him 24 homers in 59 games last year. Olson had four homers in his last four games. Mark Canha, MattJoyce, Dustin Powell, and Stephen Piscotty play solid defense in the outfield, and all have produced.

The Rangers’ pitching has been less than stellar this season. Their ace, Cole Hamels, is 3-5 with an ERA of 3.63. Hamels wants out of Texas and wants to be traded to a contender. He’s hoping the Yankees will trade for him, but the Rangers may demand more than the Yankees want to give up. Colon, Matt Moore. Doug Fister and Mike Minor are not going to have opposing teams quaking in their boots.

The Rangers’ veteran third baseman, Adrian Beltre, has been on the DL a couple of times this season and he is hitting .304 but has just one home run and 13 RBIs. Big Joey Gallo hits a lot of home runs, but he also strikes out a lot and is hitting just .205. Shortstop Elvis Andrus is still on the DL with a fractured elbow, but he could return soon. Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor fill in at short and second baseman. Odor is having an off-year, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will see time playing second base.

Shin-Soo Choo, Delino DeShields, and Nomar Mazara will be the outfielders.

After the two-game set with Texas the A’s return home to play four with the Kansas City Royals, three with Houston, and three with the LA Angels.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Farquhar throws out first pitch recovering from aneurysm; Seahawks’ Russell wants to help move team to Portland; plus more

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photo from the nytimes.com: Chicago White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar (43) tosses out the first pitch Friday June 1st at Cellular One Field before their meeting with the Milwaukee Brewers

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar throws out first pitch six weeks after suffering brain aneurysm

2 Seahawks quarterback and wife want to bring MLB to Portland, Ore.

3 Giants win third in a row, beat Phillies with three-hitter.

4 Royals bounce back to beat A’s Saturday after Friday’s 16-0 pounding by Oakland.

5 RIP Bruce Kison age 68 – winning pitcher in first nighttime World Series game in 1971.

Daniel Dullum on the MLB The Show podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s bats come alive to beat the Rays 7-3; Mengden wins sixth game of the year

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@Athletics photo: A’s starter Daniel Mengden, who pitched for eight innings gets the win on Thursday afternoon over the Tampa Bay Rays to avoid a sweep at the Oakland Coliseum

By Jerry Feitelberg

Oakland- Tha A’s salvaged the finale of the four-game series as they hit three home runs to help Daniel Mengden win his sixth game of the year. Mengden was brilliant for eight innings as he allowed no runs and just three hits. He stumbled a bit in the ninth, but the A’s bullpen quelled the Rays rally to win 7-3. The Rays’ Ryne Stanek, who, usually pitches out of the bullpen, was selected to continue Kevin Cash’s program of using relievers to start.

The Rays were hoping to sweep the A’s as their pitching had held the A’s to just three runs in the last three games. The A’s hitters were scuffling, but today, they snapped out of the hitting funk. The A’s Khris Davis, who was on the 10-day DL, was cleared to play and he helped get the team going when he doubled in his first at-bat. The A’s also hit three home runs to aid Mengden’s cause. The A’s had hit just 19 at home so far this year as compared to 47 on the road. The changed the numbers when the three Matts, Olson, Chapman, and Joyce all homered.

In the bottom of the second, the A’s exploded to score three times.  The A’s had scored just three runs in the 4-game series with the Rays had to be ecstatic as the bats came alive. Khris Davis, in his first at-bat after being on the 10-day DL, doubled to right-centerfield. Chad Pinder walked to give the A’s runners at first and second with one out. Bruce Maxwell struck out for the second out. Stephen Piscotty, who has been scuffling, doubled to the left-field corner to drive in Davis and Pinder. Mark Canha followed with a single to give the A’s the lead 2-0 after two complete.

The A’s scored two runs on two hits in the bottom of the seventh to take a 5-0 lead. With one out, Matt Olson hit a solo home run to right. Two batters later, Matt Chapman sent a Ryan Yarbrough pitch into outer space for his ninth of the season.

Matt Joyce joined the homer parade in the eighth. Stephen Piscotty walked to put a man on first with one out. The Rays recorded the second out of the inning when Mark Canha popped out to the Rays’ first baseman Brad Miller in foul territory. Joyce then blasted his seventh big fly to put the A’s in the driver’s seat 7-0.

A’s manager let Mengden start the ninth. Mengden gave up a single to C.J.Cron and Joey Wendle to put men on first and second with no out. Rays’ catcher Wilson Ramos doubled to drive in Cron and Wendle. A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Josh Lucas to pitch. Mengden received a standing ovation from the 12, 070 fans in attendance. Lucas struck out Daniel Robertson for the first out. He then walked Brad Miller. Lucas struck out Rob Refsnyder for the second out. He needed one more out to get the save, but he couldn’t retire Christian Arroyo. Aroyo slammed a double into left field to drive in Ramos. Miller stopped at third base. Melvin brought in closer Blake Treinen to end the game. Rays’ right fielder Josh Field hit a blooper that looked as if it was going to fall in for a hit. Chad Pinder made a sensational over-the-shoulder catch to end the game. It was not easy as the ball bounced off Pinder’s glove, but he somehow was able to grab the ball with his bare hand as he fell to the ground.  The A’s win 7-3

Game Notes: Mengden had his scoreless streak end at a career-high 25 innings. It was the longest streak by an A’s pitcher since Sean Doolittle in 2014 (26.1) and the longest by an A’s starter since Corey Lidle in 2002 (32.0). Mengden also pitched 16 consecutive innings without issuing a walk. He has won four consecutive games for the first time in his career. Blake Treinen recorded his 13th save of the year, and it was his 10th save in May tying him with Dennis Eckersley for the most saves in May in Oakland history.

The A’s seven runs ended a 14-game consecutive streak of 4 runs or less. They finished the month with a record of 15-14 which was the first winning record in May since 2014.

The line score for Oakland was 7 runs, 7 hits, and no errors. The Rays’ line was 3 runs, 7 hits, and 2 errors. The A’s improve to 29-28 while the Rays fall to 28-27.

Up Next: The A’s start a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals Friday night in Kansas City. They are off on Monday before going to Texas for two more with the Rangers. Frankie Montas, who pitched well in his last start, will handle the pitching chores for the Green and Gold and the Royal will start the veteran righty, Ian Kennedy. Kennedy is 1-5 and has an ERA of 5.15. Game time is at 5:15 pm PST.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Oakland 3-5 on current homestand so far; looking to have breakout offense against Rays

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Photo credit: @RaysBaseball

On the A’s podcast with Jerry:

First of all let’s talk about Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Nathan Eovaldi who was coming off his second Tommy John surgery and hadn’t pitched since August 10, 2016. Eovaldi pitched six innings reached his 70 pitch count and was throwing a no hitter and left the game for reliever Wilmer Font who was an A’s pitcher once upon a time until the A’s designated him for assignment and the Rays picked him up.

Font gave up the only hit in the ball game for the A’s when the A’s Jed Lowrie got a single that broke it up. If the Rays succeeded with the no hitter it would be the first time since 1991 that the A’s would have been no hit.

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

 

Two more pitchers injured in Giants’ 11-4 loss to Rockies; Samardzija and Rodriguez leave game due to injuries

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skgoabc7.com photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija last just an inning before leaving due to tightness in his throwing shoulder while pitching against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday night

By Jeremy Kahn

There is one or two things that the San Francisco Giants did not need with just two games remaining on their three-city, eight-game road trip.

Jeff Samardzija lasted just one inning, where he gave up two runs on three hits and the Colorado Rockies defeated the Giants 11-4 at Coors Field.

Samardzija was forced to leave the game with his tightness in his right shoulder, the same right shoulder that saw the right-hander begin the 2018 season on the disabled list for the first time in his major-league career.

With the loss of Samardzija after just one inning, the Giants turned to Dereck Rodriguez, who made his major-league debut.

Rodriguez, who is the son of hall of fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, went 3.1 innings, allowing four runs, with just one of them earned. He also drove in the Giants first run of the game, as he doubled over the head of Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez in the top of the fifth inning that cut the Rockies lead down to 5-1.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez’s debut ended on a sour note, as he took a line drive off the right calf in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Ian Desmond hit a ball up the middle.

Once again, the Giants defense was subpar, as they committed four errors on the evening, including two in the bottom of the fourth inning that saw the Rockies break the game wide open, as they scored three runs.

After Rodriguez was able to get the first outs of the inning via the strikeout, the floodgates of shoddy defense began. Kyle Freeland doubled, then Charlie Blackmon hit a ground ball to Kelby Tomlinson that he was unable to handle for his second error of the evening that allowed Freeland to scored. Blackmon went to third base on a throwing error by Brandon Belt and then both Gerardo Parra and Nolan Arenado each hit run-scoring doubles.

Tomlinson committed a third error in the bottom of the eighth inning, as his throw to Brandon Crawford on a Trevor Story groundball that pulled Crawford off of second base.

It was a good night on the mound for Freeland, as he went 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, he also did not walk a batter and struck out three. Freeland evened up his record on the season at 5-5.

Evan Longoria hit two home runs in the same game for the first time since July 17, 2016, when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays. Longoria reaches 10 home runs on the season, just two months into the season, during the 2017 season, the Giants third basemen combined for eight home runs.

Buster Posey hit his third home run of the season.

NOTES: Derek Holland looks for his third win of the season, as the Giants look to end the road trip on a high note. Through the first seven games on the road trip, the Giants are 1-6. Rockies will send Jon Gray to the mound, as he looks for his first career win against the Giants. In his career, Gray is 0-2 with a 4.26 earned run average in four starts.

Madison Bumgarner will make his second rehab start on Thursday night, as he will throw between 70 and 75 pitches for class A San Jose.

Bumgarner is slated to make his season debut on June 5th at AT&T Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies continue their series Wednesday at 5:40 pm PST.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s getting good pitching, they just need some offense

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mlb.com photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Daniel Mengden throwing a shutout against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday May 26, 2018 at the Oakland Coliseum

Charlie O on the A’s podcast:

1) The A’s took 2 of 3 from Arizona and then lost the first game of the Tampa Bay series in an 1-0 extra inning heartbreaker. In those 4 games they scored 4 runs, what’s happening at the plate?

2) what about the pitching? How the staff perform in these games?

3) you say the A’s have some good news coming this week.

4) I have noticed on our Twitter account you have been doing some fantasy betting on A’s games? Why? And how are you doing?

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

 

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News and Commentary: Oakland and Tampa Bay have similar business model situations; Both teams in need of new stadiums

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Photo credit: @SFGate

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s, who opened a four-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, started the series with the Rays at .500 on this current homestand. The A’s started the homestand against the Seattle Mariners, a very good team who is in second place followed by Arizona.

The M’s won two out of three from the slumping Minnesota Twins over the weekend. The A’s and Rays as far as front office organization situations are concerned are in the same boat. The attendance for both teams are low and their in two different divisions but similar at this time in history. Both teams are struggling in their current ball parks. They both are in need of getting new parks built. The A’s are looking to go to Jack London Square and build a waterfront park. The Rays want a waterfront park in Tampa Bay and want to get out of Tropicana Field in St Petersburg.

The A’s and Rays also speaking of sharing business models. It gets down to on the field and both teams also have bullpens on their home fields. They are two of three teams in MLB that have bullpens on the field, the Giants being the other. Bullpens on the field became an issue after the Giants outfielder Mac Williamson tripped on the AT&T bullpen mound and got a concussion in April.

I’m old-school. I like to see the bullpens on the field, baseball has changed. The fans still enjoy to see the bullpens and you like to see the pitchers warming up in the bullpens. When you broadcast a game, you can see whose loosening up. Some stadiums you don’t see whose warming up.

There’s more on That’s Amaury listen to Amaury’s podcast weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com