Tag: Baseball

A’s hammer Rangers 6-2 behind Sean Manaea’s dominant pitching

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The A’s sent out their big lefty Sean Manaea to face the Texas Rangers Wednesday night at the O.co Coliseum. Manaea pitched well in the A’s second game of the season, but took the loss. However, he was dominant against the Rangers. He mixed up his pitches, and he allowed the Rangers just three singles. The A’s gave Manaea some run support as they led 5-0 after four and he was on cruise control.

The A’s scored the first run of the night in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Matt Chapman singled. Fister struck out Chad Pinder for the second out, but he could not get by Bruce Maxwell. Maxwell lined a double into the gap in left centerfield to drive in Chapman with the A’s first run.

The A’s sent eight men to the plate in the bottom of the fourth. The A’s scored four runs on two hits, and only one of the runs was earned. The A’s loaded the bases with no out. Chapman singled, Pinder was hit by a pitch, and Bruce Maxwell walked. Boog Powell hit a grounder to the first baseman, Joey Gallo. Gallo’s throw home appeared to nail Chapman, but catcher Robinson Chirinos could not handle the throw and the run scored, and the bases were still loaded. Marcus Semien hit a drive to centerfield that was caught at the base of the wall. Pinder scored, and Maxwell and Powell tagged up and advanced to third and second. Fister struck out Matt Joyce for the second out, but Jed Lowrie ended Fister’s night when he singled to drive two more runs. The A’s lead 5-0 after four complete innings.

The Rangers scored their first run of the game in the top of the fifth. Manaea gave up a single to Nomar Mazara and followed that by walking Chirinos. Jurickson Profar hit a long fly to the rightfield corner. Chad Pinder made a wonderful running catch for the first out, but Mazara was able to tag up and advance to third base. Ryan Rua then hit into a fielder’s choice to drive in Mazara. The A’s added a run in the bottom of the seventh when they loaded the bases with no out. Matt Olson singled to knock in the run, and the bases were still loaded, but they could do no more. The A’s lead 6-1 after seven innings.

Bob Melvin pulled his starter Sean Manaea after he finished the eighth inning. Yusmeiro Petit started the ninth for Oakland, and it did not go well as the Rangers’ DH hit a home run on the second pitch he saw from Petit. Petit settled down and retired the next three hitters to secure the win for Oakland.

Game Notes and Stats: Sean Manaea won his first game of the year as he went eight innings and allowed just one run and three hits. He dazzled the Texas hitters and kept them off balance all night. Manaea pitched well his last time out but did not get any run support and lost to the LA Angels.

The A’s offense came to life Wednesday night. The A’s did not hit any home runs, but they got key hits when they needed them. The hitting stars for Oakland were Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman. They each knocked in two runs to pace the A’s attack.

Manaea went eight innings and allowed just one and three hits. He threw 94 pitches. He probably wanted to finish the game, but A’s manager Bob Melvin saw things differently. Manaea is 1-1 and Texas starter, Doug Fister, lost his first of the year and is also 1-1.

It was another sparse crowd again. There were 7,908 fans in the seats on a fairly chilly night.

The good news was the time of the game. They played the game in two hours and 23 minutes and everyone gets to go home early.

Up Next: Game four of the four-game series will be Thursday afternoon at 12:30 pm. Daniel Mengden (0-1) will go for Oakland, and the Rangers will counter with lefty Martin Perez (0-0).

Panik and Longoria go deep in Giants’ 6-4 loss to Mariners

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — After looking fantastic against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the season opener, Ty Blach returned to earth in the San Francisco Giants’ home opener.

Blach lasted 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits, while walking two and striking out two, as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Giants 6-4 before a sellout crowd of 40,901 at AT&T Park.

“He made some good pitches,” said Bruce Bochy.

Due to the Opening Day Pomp and Circumstance, the 1:35 scheduled first pitch actually was 11 minutes later at 1:46.

Within minutes of the first pitch thrown by Blach, the Mariners scored four runs on five hits in the first half inning and never looked back.

“Get out there and compete,” said Blach.

The first six batters to face Blach reached base, as Dee Gordon, Jean Segura, Robinson Cano, and Mike Haniger each scored off of Blach.

It could have been much worse, but Andrew McCutchen was able to catch Kyle Seager leaning off of second base and Brandon Crawford tagged him out for the first out of the afternoon.

That first inning began a huge day for Segura, who picked up hits in his first three at-bats. Following hits in his first at-bats of the game, Segura walked against Pierce Johnson in the top of the sixth inning.

Like in Los Angeles, where he hit two home runs in the Giants first two games of the season, Joe Panik continued his assault on a baseball.

Panik gave the Giants their first run since the ninth inning on Friday night, a span of 21 scoreless innings, as he hit his third home run of the season, when he led off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Giants.

“Obviously you want to come away with the win,” said Panik.

Reyes Moronta pitched 0.2 innings, walking two and striking out two, before giving way to Johnson in the top of the sixth inning.

Austin Jackson picked up his first hit in his new home in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he narrowly beat out a Seager throw. Jackson was originally called out; however, after a 69-second review, Jackson was indeed deemed safe by home plate Ted Barrett.

After the Jackson base hit, the Giants reverted back to their futility of the 2017 season, as Panik hit a ground ball to Cano, who threw to Ryon Healy at first base for the second out and then Healy, threw to Segura, who tagged out Jackson for the final out of the inning.

Evan Longoria picked a great time to get his first hit as a member of the Giants, as he hit a two-run home run of Mariners starter Marco Gonzales in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“Couple of things have not gone our way,” said Longoria.

Gonzales ended up going 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking no one and striking out two on his way to his first win of the young season.

Gregor Blanco got the Giants rally started in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he doubled down the left field line. Kelby Tomlinson then singled Blanco to third base, and then Jackson drove in his first run as a member of the Giants, when he hit a sacrifice fly to Gordon in centerfield to score Blanco without a throw.

Panik then picked up his second hit of the game, as he legged out an infield hit that sent Tomlinson to second base, as he was running on the pitch.

After a McCutchen fly out to right field that advanced Tomilnson an additional 90 feet, Buster Posey grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

NOTES: Prior to the game, the Giants paid their respects to the late San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, who passed away from a heart attack in December. Former San Francisco Mayors Art Agnos, Frank Jordan, Willie Brown, current State Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, London Breed and Mark Farrell were in attendance. The wife of the late George Moscone, was also in attendance. Anita Lee, the wife of 37 years to Mayor Lee was honored by Giants President and CEO Larry Baer and Giants Manager Bruce Bochy.

In honor of the Giants 60th anniversary of moving to San Francisco, the Giants honored players and managers going back to when they played at Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park and AT&T Park.

Such notables as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Barry Bonds, Vida Blue, Felipe Alou, Chris Speier, Joe Amalfitano, Dave Dravecky, Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Jeffrey Leonard, Kevin Mitchell, Robby Thompson, Marvin Benard, Robb Nen, Travis Ishikawa, Brian Johnson, Cody Ross, Dusty Baker and special guest Brian Wilson, who in full uniform, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

From 1958 to the present, over 115 million people have come through the gates at Seals Stadium (1958-1959), Candlestick Park (1960-1999) and Pacific Bell, SBC and AT&T Park (2000-present).

During that time frame, from April 15, 1958 to today. Seals Stadium, in their two years saw 2,694,755, in 40 years at Candlestick Park, 54,134,580 people went through the turnstiles and at AT&T Park from 2000-present, 58,181,967 people have entered the ballpark. That is a total of 115,011,302 that have seen games in the City and County of San Francisco since 1958,

UP NEXT: The Giants and Mariners meet again Wednesday at 4:15 pm PT.

A’s come out on top with 3-1 win over Rangers in nail-biter

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s met the Texas Rangers for the first time this season Monday night at the Oakland Coliseum. Both teams entered the game with a record of 1-3. The A’s sent Andrew Triggs to the mound to handle the pitching chores. Triggs, now in his second year, pitched very well as he went five innings and allowed just one run and four hits. He did not get a decision, but the A’s rallied in the eighth to score two runs and win 3-1.

The Rangers sent Bartolo Colon out to pitch, and Colon also pitched extremely well. The 44-year-old master went six innings and was touched for just one run while giving up seven hits, He escaped jams in the fifth and sixth innings and he, too, did not get a decision.

The A’s started the scoring in the bottom of the third when third baseman Matt Chapman led off the inning with a home run over the right-center field wall. Bartolo Colon settled down and retired the next three hitters. The A’s lead 1-0 after three complete.

The Rangers threatened in the top of the fourth. With one out, Rangers’ catcher, Robinson Chirinos reached third when A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty failed to catch the ball as he bounced off the wall. Triggs got Rougned Odor to pop out to Jed Lowrie for the second out. Ryan Rua, who had singled in the second inning, hit a line drive to center. A’s center fielder Boog Powell made a sensational diving catch to rob Rua of a hit and end the Ranger threat.

The Rangers tied the game in the top of the fifth. Triggs walked Drew Robinson to start the inning. Robinson stole second when Shin-Soo Chin struck out swinging. Rangers’ first baseman, Joey Gallo, followed with a single to drive in Robinson. The A’s, in their half of the fifth, had three solid singles but could not score. The key play in the inning came when A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy tried to score from second on a Marcus Semien single to center. The throw home was on the mark, and while there was a collision between Lucroy and Chirinos, Chirinos was able to hold onto the ball for the out.

The A’s broke through in the seventh to plate two runs and take a 3-1 lead. The A’s had chances in the fifth and sixth, but could not get the key hit they needed to get the go-ahead run. Their fortunes changed in the seventh. With one out, Lucroy doubled to left-center. The new Ranger pitcher, Kevin Jepsen, retired Boog Powell for the second out and Lucroy advanced to third on the play. The next hitter, Marcus Semien walked. Ranger manager Jeff Banister brought in lefty Jake Diekman to pitch to Jed Lowrie. Banister wanted Lowrie hitting from the right side, but the strategy did not work as Lowrie doubled to drive in both Lucroy and Semien.

The A’s bullpen did its job as Ryan Buchter, Chris Hatcher, and Blake Treinen gave up just two hits and no runs in four innings of work. The A’s win 3-1.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 2-3 while Texas falls to 1-4. The hitting stars for Oakland were Matt Chapman who hit his second homer of the season and Jed Lowrie who had a clutch two-out double in the eighth to drive in the winning runs.

The A’s meet the Rangers again Tuesday night for game two of the four-game series. Kendal Graveman will be on the hill for Oakland, and the Rangers’ will counter with the ace, lefty Cole Hamels.

Time of game was three hours and 10 minutes.  A sparse crowd of 7,416 was on hand to watch the heroes win and were able to go home with smiles on their faces.

Up Next: The A’s and Rangers meet again Tuesday night at 7:05 pm PT.

Dodged a bullet?: Giants either crafty or overmatched in season-opening weekend

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Photo credit: @TwitVI

By Morris Phillips

If the Giants’ bats come around, they’ll laugh heartily about it.

If they don’t, the entire club will be visibly upset for the next six months.

It’s that serious–and that inconsequential–the Giants scored just two runs in four games to start the season in Dodger Stadium. Ultimately, what matters is what’s yet to come. But if the offense tanks, we’ll all remember the Giants started a subpar season with the most inept opening weekend in terms of offense in the last 30 seasons…

Of any team since the 1988 Orioles lost 12-0 on Opening Day–and 12-1 four days later on the way to 107 defeats–and after the two major upgrades in Longoria and McCutchen, all the faith invested in the holdovers, and the similarity to the last two campaigns, a collapse would be a mouthful to swallow.

Of course, this is a sobering juxtaposition. Could the Giants provide more of the same for a third straight year?

With the increasing ominous signs, it bears watching.

If not, the Giants may have shown that given their tenacity and level of engagement, they may have what it takes to compete. After all, the Giants assumed the most arduous opening of any team in the National League–on the road, against the penant winners with four different start times–and scraped together two, memorable, hard fought wins.

Without a couple of major pieces, that’s an accomplishment.  The precedent set by Joe Panik with his pair of solo shots says it best.

But if the Dodgers can claim the distinction of being the first team in baseball history to allow two or fewer runs in a season-opening four game series than that’s not good. Only one of the two runs were earned? That’s the Giants sending the competition off on their merry way brimming with confidence.

“They’ll get clicking,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a matter of time. … They’re too good. We know that. Hopefully [during] this day off, they’ll get a chance to relax.”

Here’s a snapshot of the numbers from the weekend:

Evan Longoria started the National League portion of his career hitless. The former Tampa Bay Ray went 0 for 15, despite saying he saw some good pitches to hit.

Johnny Cueto was lights out on Friday night, allowing one hit over seven innings, no walks, with four strikeouts. So far no mention of reoccurring issues with blisters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts astutely pointed that Cueto is especially tough with no baserunners pitching out of the stretch.

Joe Panik’s feat of solo homers in consecutive 1-0 wins is a once in the history of the sport achievement. Forget the distinction of Opening Day, no player has ever solo homered in consecutive games with that game result, period.

Opening the season with a pair of 1-0 wins? That’s been done before. 76 years ago by the Reds in wins over the Cardinals with a huge assist to Johnny VanderMeer. The Reds’ pitching staff one-upped the Giants by winning in extra innings both days, 21 innings total.

The Giants are hitting .192 as a team, ranking them 27th, just in case you mistakenly thought they generated a decent share of traffic on the basepaths, but couldn’t summon any big hits.

Dodgers get back-to-back shutouts with 9-0 win over Giants

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

After back-to-back shutouts to open the season, the San Francisco Giants were on the verge of receiving of back-to-back shutouts by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Rich Hill pitched five strong innings, and reigning Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger broke out of a season-opening 0-for-11 slump to hit his first home run of the season and the Dodgers defeated the Giants 9-0 to salvage a split of their season-opening four-game series at Dodger Stadium Sunday night.

Following their first two wins of the season, the Giants failed to score over the final 18 innings of the series, while the Dodgers scored 14 runs in the last two games.

Chris Stratton gave up three runs in 5.1 innings, as the Giants became the first team since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles to score no more than two runs in the first four games of the season.

Stratton held the Dodgers hitless until the bottom of the fourth inning, as Corey Seager picked up his first hit of the season, and then Yaisel Puig followed suit with his first hit of the season.

The Giants defense got confused after Hunter Pence caught a fly ball hit by Bellinger for the second out of the inning, with Seager advancing to third base and Puig broke for second. Brandon Crawford then threw to Brandon Belt, and without a throw, Seager scored from third base to break the scoreless tie.

The Dodgers broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Chris Taylor got a hit and then Puig ended Stratton’s night with a double to score Taylor.

Josh Osich came on to replace Stratton, and Bellinger greeted him with an opposite field home run.

Kike Hernandez put the final touches on the evening as he hit a two-run double off of Roberto Gomez in the bottom of the eighth inning.

NOTES: After a day-off on Monday, the Giants open their 60th home season in San Francisco against the Seattle Mariners, as Ty Blach takes the mound against the Seattle Mariners.

Jeff Samardzija will throw bullpen sessions on both Tuesday and Friday, and then will begin a rehabilitation assignment.

There is no timetable for the return of closer Mark Melancon, who is out with an elbow injury.

MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Giants’ Panik makes history with back-to-back solo shots for game-winners; MLB walking wounded; Oak A’s hope Lucas can help pitching corp

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

On the MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 San Francisco Giants Joe Panik’s history-making start sparks 2-0 start for Giants.

2 Disabled lists already well-occupied throughout MLB.

3  Oakland A’s pick up pitcher Josh Lucas from the St. Louis Cardinals.

4  New York Yankee outfielder Giancarlo Stanton linked with Roger Maris–again.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Maeda shuts out Giants for Dodgers’ first win of season 5-0

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Photo credit: @DodgersDigest

By Jeremy Kahn

You knew that the San Francisco Giants were not going to go 162-0, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were not going to go 0-162 on the season.

Kenta Maeda struck out 10 over five innings, as the Dodgers scored for the first time and they went on to defeat the Giants 5-0 at Dodger Stadium Saturday.

The fans at Dodger Stadium exploded with ecstasy in the bottom of the first inning, as Yaisel Puig hit a sacrifice fly to score their first run of the season. Matt Kemp hit a RBI single to increase their lead to 2-0.

Kike Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning to lengthen the Dodgers lead up to 3-0.

The Dodgers scored their final two run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Gregor Blanco and Andrew McCutchen miscommunicated on a fly ball that allowed Austin Barnes and Cody Bellinger to score.

Derek Holland pitched five innings, allowing five runs (three of them earned) on three hits, Holland also walked three and struck out four in his Giants debut.

Joe Panik, who solo home runs in the first two games of the season ended the game as he grounded into a double play to end the game and the undefeated season for the Giants.

NOTES: Chris Stratton will make his season debut for the Giants on Sunday afternoon, as he will take the Dodger Stadium mound and the Dodgers will send veteran left-hander Rich Hill to the mound.

Jeff Samardzija threw a side session of 20 pitches, and will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday, prior to the Giants home opener at AT&T Park. If all goes well with the session, Samardzija could begin a rehab assignment within a week.

UP NEXT: Both teams meet again Sunday night at 5:38 pm PT on ESPN.

A’s battle to the end, but lose to Angels 2-1

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By Charlie O Mallonee

Oakland — On the night the Oakland Athletics introduced their 50th Anniversary Team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the A’s gave the 27,665 fans a real show on the diamond. Unlike the the run-fest on Opening Day, it was an old fashioned pitchers duel on Friday as the Angels downed the Athletics 2-1.

Angels stater–LHP Tyler Skaggs–was in midseason form as kept the A’s hitters off-balance by mixing up his pitches and changing speeds. Skaggs worked 6.1-innings of shutout baseball while giving up just three hits to Oakland batters. Skaggs struck out five and walked none.

When Skaggs left the game in top of the seventh inning, he took a 1-0 lead with him to the clubhouse, thanks to Mike Trout’s first home run of the season that he hit out of the park in the top of the first.

Blake Wood worked the final two outs of the seventh and Kenyan Middleton kept the A’s from scoring in the eighth inning.

After the Angels added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Mike Sciosia handed the ball to Blake Parker to close out the game and that is when it got interesting.

Khris Davis was A’s lead off hitter in bottom of the ninth. Davis walked. Matt Olson then hit a single through the right side of the infield moving Davis up to second. Parker struck out Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman.

Oakland catcher Jonathan Lucroy kept hope alive when he hit a solid single to right-center field that drove Davis home and moved Olson up to third. Parker induced Matt Joyce to ground out third to first to end the game.

Skaggs got the win and the save (just barely) went to Parker. The antacid went to Mike Sciosia.

The A’s Sean Manaea took the loss but he pitched well enough to win. Manaea pitched 7.2-innings giving up just one run off four hits. He walked none and struck out seven LAA hitters. The lefty threw 95 pitches–65 strikes. Oakland manager Bob Melvin told reporters after the game that Manaea did not want to come out of the contest when he was lifted in the top of the eighth inning.

The one blemish on the scoresheet for Manaea was the first inning home run he gave up to Mike Trout. As Melvin mentioned, after going 0-6 on Thursday Trout was overdue. Trout has now hit 14 home runs at the Coliseum in his career.

The A’s scattered seven hits divided between seven different batters. They had only one extra base hit in the game. Oakland went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

The A’s did not hit poorly on Friday night. They were stopped by a very outstanding performance by a starting pitcher and excellent support from two of his three relievers.

Oakland A’s 50th Anniversary Moment
The A’s played on March 30th for the first time in their history.

Opening Day Trivia
Khris Davis hit his third home run on an Opening Day as a member of the Oakland Athletics on Thursday which ties him with Dave Henderson and Terry Steinbach for the A’s record.

Matt Olson became just the fourth player in MLB history dating back to 1908 to hit an Opening Day home run on his birthday (Jeff Mathis (2011) Ian Stewart (2010) Scott Rolen (2000)).

Up Next
On Saturday the “second-coming” of Rollie Fingers, RHP Daniel Mengden will make his first start of the season for the Athletics. Mengden posted a record of 3-2 in seven starts last season with an ERA of 3.14. The Angels will counter RHP Matt Shoemaker who made 14 starts for the Halos in 2017 and finished with a 6-3 record while recording a 4.52 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 P.M. The game can be seen on NBC-California, heard on the A’s Radio Network and en Espanol on 1010 AM and 990 AM.

The Big Reveal
The MLB debut that everyone has been waiting for will happening in Oakland on Sunday when the highly touted, two-way Japanese player Shohei Ohtani will make the start for the Angels. Game time is 1:05 P.M.

Panik makes history in Giants’ 1-0 win over Dodgers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Just two days in the 2018 Major League season, San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik made history.

Panik hit a solo home run off of Kenley Jansen in the top of the ninth inning, as the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 at Dodger Stadium.

His home run was the only run of the game for the second game, as he became the first player in the 139-year history of Major League Baseball to hit home runs in back-to-back games with the final score of 1-0.

The Giants became the first team since the 1943 Cincinnati Reds to pick-up 1-0 wins in their first two games of the season, as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 75 years ago.

Johnny Cueto retired the first 18 batters of the game until Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single. That would be the only baserunner to reach base against Cueto on the evening.

Cueto walked no one and struck out four, as he went seven innings after he threw 97 pitches in his first start of the season.

Former Dodgers reliever Tony Watson struck out two in the bottom of the eighth inning, before giving way to Hunter Strickland, who retired the Dodgers in order that included getting Joc Pederson to pop out to Buster Posey on the first pitch he saw on from Strickland.

It was the second game in a row that Pederson made the final out of the game, as he grounded out to Brandon Crawford to end the opener on Thursday.

Through their first two games of the season, the reigning National League Champions have yet to score a run, while allowing just two runs to their longtime rivals from San Francisco.

If you thought Cueto pitched a great game, the guy across the diamond for the Dodgers was not too shabby either.

Alex Wood pitched eight innings, as he allowed just a base hit to Brandon Crawford in the top of the fifth inning and nothing else.

Wood struck out five and did not walk a batter like Cueto, but it was one pitch by the best reliever in the game that cost the Dodgers the game.

Logan Forsythe, playing at third base in place of the injured Justin Turner, who suffered a broken wrist during spring training, committed three of the four Dodgers errors on the night.

The four errors in a game by the Dodgers are their most in a game since they committed four on August 11, 2013 against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that game, like Forsythe, Dee Gordon committed three errors for the Dodgers.

NOTES: Derek Holland makes his Giants debut on Saturday night, as he takes the Dodger Stadium mound, while the Dodgers will send Kenta Maeda to the hill.

UP NEXT: These two teams face each other again Saturday night at 6:10 pm PST.

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: Angels’ Ohtani is all the rage at the Oakland Coliseum

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Photo credit: @deepredthread

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND — Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels infielder and pitcher, is baseball’s center of the universe at the Oakland Coliseum with at least 100 Japanese journalists out here to cover the first ever position and pitcher player since Babe Ruth did it for the Boston Red Sox in the early 20th century.

Ohtani, who had not made himself available to the Japanese and English media, is a very low-key player much in the way that former Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki was when he was in his hey days. Ohtani is schedule to pitch on Sunday against the Oakland A’s that will draw not only thousands in the stands, but millions watching from Japan and about 100 Japanese reporters are expected to cover his first big league pitching performance on Sunday.

A’s opening day transformation: The A’s team president David Kaval, who did away with the opening night game concept, gets a lot of credit for his scheduling of the A’s first day game since the day game opener since 1994. Amaury remembers covering the Giants opening day and the Giants played a lot of day games.

Day games are special, and in Anaheim, the Angels play a lot of Saturday night games. It’s an entertainment area as you get Disneyland which is for families who take their families to the park, and at night, they go to the games. The games for the A’s every game is a day on a Saturday.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio play-by-play and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com