Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese suffered a broken jaw and concussion on a hit to the head from Washington’s Tom Wilson.(Photo: Gene J. Puskar, AP)
On the Headlines Sports podcast with Tony the Tiger Hayes:
#1 Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson was suspended three games in the playoffs for a hit to the head on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Zach Aston-Reese during Game 3, which says the NHL has zero tolerance of deliberate head injuries.
#2 The Golden State Warriors in the first two games of their playoffs with the New Orleans Pelicans have dominated particularly in Game 2 when Stephen Curry made his return on Tuesday night.
#3 Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, who is signed up for $100 million, 10 years might also start earning more than his money’s worth according to Bleacher Report. Gruden could tabbed the team’s general manager and team CEO as well as head coach, which might send current GM Reggie McKenzie packing. It might be more than Gruden can bite off or can he handle it and make the Raiders a team of excellence again?
#4 During the NFL draft, the Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen got a little braggadocious after he was selected 10th in the draft, saying, “I was pretty pissed off as I saw teams passing on me there were nine mistakes ahead of me.” The Cardinals’ coaching staff is expected to put Rosen’s draft thought process into prospective, but soon.
#5 San Francisco Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto goes on the 10-day DL for an elbow injury as San Francisco’s injury list is swelling with Joe Panik out on the 10-day DL with a thumb injury, Madison Bumgarner has taken to the mound and is rehabbing, the Giants’ Mark Melancon out for the rest of the season and Jeff Samardjiza who came back from a pectoral injury is 1-1 with an ERA of 5.27.
When the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers flipped coins to see who would draft nine or 10 at the upcoming draft, the Raiders lost the coin toss and were scheduled to pick 10th.
That all changed on Draft Night, as the Raiders traded their pick to the Arizona Cardinals for their pick in the first round at 15, a third and fifth round over the next two days.
With the pick at 15, the Raiders went Kolton Miller, a 6 foot 9 inch, 308-pound offensive lineman out of UCLA.
Miller, who grew up in Roseville, north of Sacramento; however, he was born in Redwood City and graduated from Roseville before heading down south to play for the Bruins.
While at the Combine in Indianapolis, Miller set the broad jump record for offensive lineman, as he jumped 10 feet one inch.
Miller is the second Bruins player in a row to be drafted by the Raiders, as last year, the Raiders drafted defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes.
“He was super stoked,” Miller said. “To be drafted on the same team as Eddie… Him being from Placer, too, just down the road from Roseville, that’s something pretty neat.”
During the draft, the Raiders made a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the Raiders received wide receiver Martavis Bryant, who caught 50 passes for 603 yards and three touchdowns during the 2017 season.
In exchange for Bryant, the Steelers will receive the third round (79thpick), the pick that the Raiders received in the trade with the Cardinals earlier in the draft.
“It’s like drafting a player,” said Reggie McKenzie. “I feel like we drafted Martavis Bryant.”
Bryant missed the 2016 season because of a suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
When it got to the third round, we felt it was something very interesting to us,” said Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert. “We wish Martavis nothing but the best.”
The 26-year old Bryant will enter his last year of his contract, as he joins Amari Cooper and recently signed Jordy Nelson to make a great trio of wide receivers for quarterback Derek Carr.
Photo credit pro32.ap.org: Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie right and Raiders head coach Jon Gruden left will be making decisions on today’s draft
On the Headline Sports podcast with Tony Renteria:
#1 For today’s draft, what are some of the positions that Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Reggie McKenzie will be looking for?
#2 The Raiders were taking drills with quarterback Derek Carr and the Raider offensive players and it was Gruden’s first practice drill to run since he was a head coach in 2008.
#3 For general manager Reggie McKenzie, how much success will he and Gruden have in recruiting and selecting players out of the draft on defense?
#4 Receiver Jordy Nelson said that the energy level that Gruden brings to camp is amazing. Knowing what you’ve seen of Gruden when he was in Oakland before and listening to Nelson, what’s your take on that energy level?
#5 The Raiders said that Khalil Mack remains absent from the Raiders camp as he wants to negotiate a contract extension. Mack was the Raiders 2016 Defensive Player of the Year.
Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea (55) throws a pitch during the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oakland Coliseum. Courtesy of Kiel Maddox-USA TODAY Sports
By Morris Phillips
OAKLAND–A whole lot transpired at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night, and Sean Manaea admittedly wasn’t tuned in to all of it. But he did have a handle on the important stuff.
Like? Like handling 27 Red Sox’ batters (excepting two walks) one at a time.
Manaea not only threw a no-hitter, he stopped baseball’s hottest team dead in its tracks. So call it the rarest of no-hitters.
How rare? Rare.
Only seven major league teams since 1900 have won 17 of 19 games to start a season. Before the Red Sox this season, the ’87 Brewers were the last to do it. The Red Sox hadn’t been no-hit since 1993–25 seasons ago–the second longest streak ever for one franchise avoiding being no-hit. And the A’s hadn’t produced a no-no since Dallas Braden’s Mother’s Day masterpiece in 2010. That’s a total of just seven no-hitters in the 50-year history of the Oakland A’s.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Manaea said. “I can’t imagine throwing a no-hitter in the big leagues, especially against a team like the Red Sox.”
Manaea’s battery mate, catcher Jonathan Lucroy, envisioned the no-hitter as it was happening. Superstitious manager Bob Melvin started doing weird baseball stuff in the sixth inning. Didn’t make eye contact with Manaea in the dugout between innings, made sure his conversations with pitching coach Scott Emerson regarding Manaea’s pitch count were done privately. And in the ninth inning, Melvin hoped that he wouldn’t distract his pitcher by being forced to get a reliever up in the bullpen.
Meanwhile, Manaea didn’t have any extraneous thoughts going on. When Boston’s Sandy Leon lazy, but well-placed pop up in the fifth glanced off Marcus Semien’s glove for an error, Manaea assumed it was ruled a base hit. It wasn’t until he retired six more batters, before the start of the eighth inning, that he realized otherwise.
“I just thought it was a hit,” he said. “So from them until the eighth or ninth, I thought it was just a one-hitter. I didn’t think it was a no-hitter. And then I looked up in the eighth and ninth, and I saw that there were still zeros. I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s weird.’”
What wasn’t weird was Manaea’s methodical approach to mowing down Red Sox hitters. In Lucroy, the A’s have one of baseball’s most analytical catchers, addicted to watching opposing hitters on video, taking notes and developing game plans. Manaea, in his third year in Oakland, has admitted to coasting in regards to preparation in his first, two big league seasons. That’s no longer the case as the Midwesterner has developed a mental approach and philosophy to his pitching assignments that incorporates all of the resources available to him.
“Talking to people, talking to pitchers, talking to coaches, you have to put your foot on the gas pedal the whole time,” Manaea explained to the MLB Network on Friday afternoon, when interviewed on Ballpark Cam. “If you shy away from things or if you get scared, or if you’re not sure what’s going on on the mound, teams are going to exploit that.”
Throughout, whatever pitch Lucroy summoned, Manaea delivered. Mookie Betts, the hottest of hot Red Sox hitters, and the owner of two, laser shot home runs over the Green Monster against Manaea walked to start the game. But his remaining three at-bats were drama-less outs.
The Red Sox were without the injured Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts, their normal double play combination, and struggling catcher Christian Vazquez (hitting .208) got a day off, replaced by Leon. But the Red Sox were hardly destitute; they came in leading MLB in runs scored with 123 in 19 games.
But Manaea handled them, adroitly moving the ball around the strike zone, and deploying his vastly improved slider and changeup as out pitches. The Red Sox had struck out in just 16 percent of their official at-bats coming in. Against Manaea, they struck out 10 times–eight of those in the first five innings.
“I’ve caught a lot of great pitchers, but that was the best-pitched and most prepared-pitched game I’ve ever seen. We were giving them different looks,” Lucroy said. “That’s one of the best offenses in the league and Sean no-hit them. Watching their swings, they weren’t very comfortable.”
Remember when linebacker Aldon Smith was drafted seventh overall by the San Francisco 49ers at the 2011 NFL Draft?
In his college years at the University of Missouri, he was considered to be just a three-star recruit, but was somehow considered to be the fifth overall prospect in the state of Missouri. In his freshman year in 2009, he started 11 of 13 games, finishing the season with 60 tackles and 11 sacks. In his sophomore year in 2010, he played in nine games, recording 48 tackles and six sacks. He forwent his final two years of college eligibility.
In 2011, Smith made his NFL debut in the 49ers’ game against the Seahawks. Despite not starting a single season his rookie year, he was only a half sack shy of tying the all-time rookie sack record held by defensive end Jevon Kearse. The Pro Football Writers of America named him Defensive Rookie of the Year. As for the Associated Press‘ NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, he finished in second place, trailing just linebacker Von Miller.
It wasn’t until 2012 that Smith became a full-time starter. In Super Bowl XLVIII. he had two combined tackles as the 49ers lost to the Ravens 34-31 on February 3, 2013.
Things took a turn for the worse after Super Bowl XLVIII. Smith got involved in a single vehicle accident in San Jose, California, and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of marijuana. As a result, he voluntarily entered a rehab facility, which caused him to miss five NFL games. Despite his early public struggles, he finished the 2013 season with 34 tackles and 8.5 sacks. He was also ranked No. 33 in the NFL Top 100 Years of 2014.
The following year, Smith was reinstated in Week 11 after serving a nine-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies, but the 49ers released him following his third DUI arrest.
After that, Smith signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Raiders on September 11, 2015. He finished his first season with the Raiders with 28 tackles and 3.5 sacks in nine games and seven starts.
In 2016, Smith re-signed with the Raiders and later applied for reinstatement, but no reinstatement occurred, so he sat out during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, respectively. Following a domestic violence incident, Oakland released him on March 5, 2018, and that domestic violence incident was the first of three arrests for Smith in the past two months alone.
Smith violated a court order on March 23, 2018. He was ordered to stay away from a woman (who was later revealed to be his fiancee) he assaulted earlier that month.
Smith was also arrested on April 8, 2018. He reportedly violated the terms of a protective order from his previous domestic violence arrest. He was held on $500,000 bail.
The question isn’t “who can bond Smith out of jail?” It’s “can Smith stay out of trouble?” The 28-year-old has time to turn things around for the better, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. His fiancee–who has only know him for three months–is reportedly going to leave him and keep the ring that he gave her.
A short (or long) jail stint is going to protect the people, but it’s likely not going to save Smith. He has to want to stay out of trouble in order to try to make a comeback in the NFL.
OAKLAND — Marshawn Lynch will be back in uniform for the Oakland Raiders in 2018, agreeing to a restructured contract with the team as reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero Wednesday.
Pelissero reported that Lynch restructured his contract on Saturday before his $1 million roster bonus was due. The move lowered his base value in 2018 to $5.5 million, which is $500k less than before. Instead of having zero guaranteed dollars, Lynch is essentially guaranteed $4.5 million, per Pelissero.
In total, Lynch can earn up to $9.25 million total with incentives in 2018.
After the Raiders signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin during free agency, rumors swirled that Lynch’s days as the featured back in Oakland were numbered.
Not so fast.
Expect “Beast Mode” to remain Oakland’s top ball-carrier this upcoming season, and rightfully so as he enters his 11th season in the NFL.
Lynch was Oakland’s best running back in 2017, rushing for 891 yards on 207 carries (4.3 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns.
Oakland finished 6-10 in Lynch’s first season after coming out of retirement following the 2015 season after six seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.
Photo credit: @JSM8ith former Green Bay Packer Jordy Nelson joins the Oakland Raiders as both sides came to an agreement Thursday afternoon
On the Sports Headlines Podcast with Tony:
#1 Former Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson, who was let go by the team on Tuesday, is looking at getting picked up by the Raiders. Former Oakland Raider wide receiver Michael Crabtree was released by the Raiders
#2 Former Arizona Cardinals Adrian Peterson, aged 33, was let go on Tuesday. Peterson went 12,276 yards rushing as of Wednesday night, but has not been picked up by a team.
#3 New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees signed for a two-year, $50 million extension with $27 million guaranteed in his first season of the deal.
#4 The New York Mets’ Tim Tebow was reassigned to the Mets’ minor league farm system. Tebow went 0-4 striking out four times at the plate. Tebow, aged 30, has a left ankle strain.
#5 NFL Network announced that tight end Derek Carrier will come back to the Raiders. He last played with the team in 2012. He has 36 career catches for 327 yards.
1 ESPN and Fox in a bidding war for Peyton Manning’s TV services the networks have offered as high as $10 million for Manning’s talents as an NFL analyst
2 Dallas Cowboys will have to pay the NFL $2 million for owner Jerry Jones speaking out on behalf of Ezekiel Elliott last season, who was suspended for six games last season. Because the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell would not lift or lighten the suspension and Jones went on a rant and also told the other owners not to renew Goodell’s contract which landed Jones and the Cowboys with a fine.
3 Oakland Raiders’ Aldon Smith–Will he be done or will he get another chance in football?
4 LeBron has selected four teams he is willing to considering during free agency the Cavs, Lakers, Rockets and 76ers where do you see LeBron ending up next season?
5 The Oakland A’s open their season at the Coliseum on March 29th a day game. It’s been years since the A’s played a home opener in the day time.
6 The A’s named former pitcher and Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers as special assistant to team president David Kaval.
It was never a secret since the firing of Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio on who his replacement would be.
Well, it is now official, as the Raiders have announced the hiring of Jon Gruden as head coach of the Raiders.
Gruden returns to the team that he coached from 1996-2001 before being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the Raiders lost to the New England Patriots 16-13 in the AFC Divisional Game, it what is known as “The Tuck Rule Game.”
The 54-year old Gruden led the Raiders to the 2000 AFC Championship Game, where the Raiders lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens.
Gruden spent the last nine seasons as an analyst on ESPN’S Monday Night Football after he was fired by the Buccaneers after the 2008 season.
“It’s an emotional and bittersweet day for our Monday Night Football family, as today we say goodbye to Coach Gruden after nine very distinguished years coaching this Monday Night Football group,” ESPN analyst Sean McDonough said at the beginning of Saturday’s game.
Kind of ironic that Gruden’s last game with ESPN was at the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders rival since the two teams entered the old American Football League back in 1960, when the Chiefs played in Dallas as the Dallas Texans.
“These Chiefs fans have been on my case since we got here,” Gruden said jokingly.
1 The Warriors who lost to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday and just got by the Mavericks on Wednesday. We ask Tony if opposing teams are decoding the Warriors and can they finally break through in figuring out how this team keeps winning each night?
2 The Sacramento Kings, who faced a Charlotte Hornets team who beat the Warriors Friday, got laid out 131-111. The Kings continue to struggle at home and now are 12-25 for the season
3 Tiger Woods, who’s had his personal struggles and worries, is making his return January 26th in the Bahamas for a major. Woods, who played well in another tournament last month, is just four short of the all-time record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus for majors won.
4 Is the Rooney rule a sham? Tony comments on the Oakland Raiders almost certain hiring of Jon Gruden as they will go through the motions of interviewing a minority coach and then give the job to Gruden.
5 Also, after leaving the Raiders the last time in 2001, the situation is totally different with Gruden coming back in 2018
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