Tag: San Francisco Giants

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: As the 2020 Season Opens Your Favorite Baseball Team

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Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium in Miami the former spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles was one of the founding teams that Amaury worked for in starting his career in Major League Baseball (wikipedia.com photo)

As the 2020 Season Opens Your Favorite Baseball Team

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Finally, the baseball season gets under way on Thursday. The inaugural game as the NY Yankees visit the World Champion Washington Nationals and later the San Francisco Giants visit the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Baseball is generational. Good chance that your father (with all the respect to mother) introduced you to the game. My father surely did since I was a little boy playing catch with him and my brother and taking me to Estadio de El Cerro in Havana, to watch the famous Cuban Professional Winter League.

Some people grow up following a team, because that was the team that their family rooted for, as simple as that. That is one of the beauties of the game we all love. But, many might have a preference for one of more teams. While growing up my team in Cuba was Leones del Habana (Havana Lions). In the US because a country of its size and tradition there are numerous people that were born in one city, rooted for their team there, but moved someplace else and now pledge their allegiance to their home team.

In the US, the first Major League team I saw were the Baltimore Orioles, in the early 1960’s when they trained at the old Miami Stadium, in Miami, Florida, later named Bobby Maduro Stadium, who was a Cuban entrepreneur and executive who was dedicated to the game of baseball. I was lucky enough -through a friend- to have worked for the Baltimore Orioles as a bat boy during Spring Training and I will forever remember the players of the Orioles during those years. Milt Pappas, Brooks Robinson, Jackie Brandt, John (Boog) Powell, Gus Triandos and many others. I was on the field with them, and for me they were like Gods.

So for me, my introduction to Major League Baseball was the Orioles, although I have visited Baltimore, but never lived there. It was like my first love to baseball in the US, and therefore, the Orioles will forever have a place in my heart. As a broadcaster I enjoy the game and I always want to see the best baseball possible, I like to see the Oakland Athletics win their fifth World Series in Oakland this year. I was broadcasting A’s games the last time they won it in 1989, a historical year and World Series with the Loma Prieta earthquake right in the middle of the series.

So (for some) it it is possible to have a double-allegiance in baseball. The Orioles have been a terrible team during the last few years but they also had some great years when Earl Weaver was their manager. As a professional in this business, yes, the A’s are definitely my team, but the Orioles are always in my heart, because they are part of my life, the memories of those years as a youngster, my family a much different Miami than today. My kids are also huge A’s fans who used to seat right behind the visiting dugout at the Coliseum with their Mom during the great years of Billy Ball and later Tony LaRussa, Dave Stewart, Ricky Henderson and the Bash Brothers. Those years for the A’s were like the Bruce Springsteen hit, “Glory Days”

My question to you the reader, which is your favorite team or teams? Did you adopt the team because your father your mother, anybody in your family or a friend introduced you to the team as a fan? Did you just follow baseball because you like the game, regardless of who is playing? Who do you root for? And my last question. Do you still own that terrible cap that has the A’s logo in one side and the Giants logo on the other? Just asking.

Baseball is the longest season of any of the main sports leagues in the country. It is a grind that develops a lot of character on people, demands a lot of loyalty, passion and dedication to your favorite team.

I wish your favorite team enjoys a good abbreviated season, and regardless of your opinion, on how you feel about baseball this year, we are all making history in 2020 and that includes baseball with this new experience.

The season opener for the Oakland Athletics is this Friday the 24th when the Los Angeles Angels are the first visitors to the Oakland Coliseum for a weekend-four-game series which concludes on Monday. Joe Maddon in his first season as the Manager of the LA Angels and Bob Melvin manager of the A’s have already named their pitchers. This should be fun, two of the best skippers in the game.

A’s fireballer Frankie Montas is scheduled to start, while lefty Andrew Heaney will open the season for the Halos.

You can follow all the action En Español; on KIQI 1010AM radio here in the Bay Area and KATD 990AM Sacramento- Stockton. Every A’s game at home on weekend and night games at home on weekdays will be broadcast in Spanish.

Sintonize este Viernes, primer lanzamiento 7:10 PM.

Stay tuned, stay well.

Giants preview report: Amid pandemic, baseball is back…. with plenty of questions

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Martha Arreola cleans seats occupied with cardboard cutouts of fans at the Oakland Coliseum on Mon Jul 20th before the San Francisco Giants visit against the Oakland A’s in pre season action (photo from the San Francisco Chronicle)

By Jeremy Harness

So many questions, so few answers. And a lot of these questions, frankly, have nothing to do with baseball.

How much longer will players be forced to play inside empty ballparks, with the exception of a few employees, cutouts and teddy bears?

The Giants and A’s played a two-game home-and-home exhibition series earlier this week, and the two teams went about this issue in slightly-different ways. The first few rows of seats behind the plate at Oakland Coliseum were filled with said cutouts, which supposedly could give a pitcher a certain sense of support but seemingly have no other purpose.

Oracle Park, on the other hand, did not have any of that, instead relying on the regular public-address announcer as well as fake crowd noise that all teams are employing, to give the impression that these games – and this season – are, but in reality are anything but.

Normal.

Who will emerge with the tightest mask game?

Wearing a mask over the nose and mouth while in an active sports competition is a concept that not everyone has warmed up to – a local driving range just this week made wearing masks mandatory while hitting golf balls – but expect it to be a thing throughout the coming weeks and months.

Only a portion of players wore masks during MLB’s exhibition series, aka Summer Camp, but that number is expected to grow as well. And just like shoes – or any other part of clothing, really – masks come in different forms and can be certainly be used as a fashion statement or to get a certain message across. Which brings us to our next question.

How many players will choose to kneel for the national anthem?

In 2016, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick famously started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality toward African Americans, and was soon joined by fellow NFL players such as his teammate, safety Eric Reid, as well as safety Malcolm Jenkins.

The next year, A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first MLB player to kneel. Fast forward three years, and following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that involved law enforcement and the ensuing re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the number of players has increased considerably. Giants manager Gabe Kapler as well as three Giants players and a pair of coaches knelt during the national anthem during the recent Giants-A’s exhibition games.

This has also occurred around the league, as Joey Votto was among a number of Cincinnati Reds players to take a knee. Even though the silent protests did not catch on in baseball back in 2017 when Maxwell broke the mold, this has certainly gained momentum, as has the movement in general.

Last but not least, will even this abbreviated season be cut short once more should the COVID-19 pandemic spike to the point where mass shutdowns are to occur?

This has obviously been the most unprecedented, uncertain four-month span of our generation, so to expect anything different for this upcoming baseball season would be absurd. There have been recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, particularly in California, and there is no guarantee that there will not be any roadblocks that arise during this shortened season.

Just like with anything regarding everyday life, we have to take a wait-and-see approach. With that, the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers will convene inside a mostly-empty Dodger Stadium on Thursday to begin a season that was nearly scrapped entirely amid wrangling between the league’s owners and the MLBPA.

With all the questions that are out there, at least one can be answered at this point: There will be baseball to be played, and watched, around the country, and that’s a good start to possibly getting back to the place that we had known for so long but has since been taken from us.

Normal.

Giants game wrap: Summer training ends with a Giants win 4-2

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The San Francisco Giants Mike Yastrzemski belted a homer that landed in the right center field stands on the Levi Plaza level the first volley that put the Giants on top of the visiting Oakland A’s at Oracle Park in San Francisco (sports.yahoo.com photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

It what was the first game at Oracle Park in the Gabe Kapler era ended on a good note for the home team.

Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson each hit solo home runs and nine pitchers went one inning each, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Oakland As 4-2 to sweep the Bay Bridge Series.

Tyler Rogers, Conor Menez, Dany Jimenez, Wandy Peralta, Andrew Suarez, Sam Coonrod, Andrew Triggs, Sam Selman and Sam Wolff each pitched an inning for the victorious Giants over their East Bay rival.

The nine pitchers gave up only two hits to the As, as Menez gave up both hits in his only inning of work.

Yastrzemski got the Giants on the board in a hurry, as he tattooed Mike Fiers onto the arcade over the right-center field wall.

Unfortunately, the one-run lead would not last long, as Chad Pinder hit a long triple off of Menez that looked like a three-run home run, as Bob Melvin challenged the call; however, the play stood and the As took a 2-1 lead.

Matt Olson got the As first hit of the game, as he beat out an infield bunt to the third base side of the diamond with the Giants playing three infielders and four outfielders. Menez then hit Khris Davis, but regrouped to get Mark Canha to fly out to Dickerson and Stephen Piscotty, who homered on Monday night at the Coliseum struck out for the second out of the inning.

Pinder then launched a long fly ball to right-center that was ruled a triple, despite the fact that Melvin challenged the call.

Dickerson then tied up the game, as he launched a solo home run halfway up the left-center field bleachers.

Donovan Solano gave the Giants the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Pablo Sandoval beat the Ramon Laureano throw to the plate.

Tyler Heineman added a second sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Dickerson scored from third base.

Yastrzemski went 2-for-2 on the night, while Dickerson went three-for-four on the evening, as the Giants picked up eight hits on the game against three As pitchers.

Peralta, who pitched a perfect fourth inning to pick up the win for the Giants and Wolff closed it out for his first save of the season, despite giving up a walk to Skye Bolt, who was quickly retired on a double play ball that Wolff got Davis to ground into and then Seth Brown flew out to Jaylin Davis to end the game.

NOTES: Once multiple players, coaches and Kapler knelt during the National Anthem prior to the game that gained national news when they did it on Monday Night, including a tweet from President Donald Trump.

Looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!, Trump tweeted.

UP NEXT: Johnny Cueto will start the opener for the Giants on Thursday night, when they open the season against Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: A’s and Giants conclude two game exhibition tonight at Oracle in SF

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The Oakland A’s Sean Manaea who is slated to start Saturday in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels at the Big A in the second of a four game series (Napa Valley Register file photo)

On That’s Amaury’s pod:

#1 Amaury the A’s hosted the Giants last night for the first of two pre season games. A’s pitcher Sean Manaea who had his plans rearranged for him last season in a tough loss in a one game Wild Card game against the Tampa Bay Rays is really looking to make amends this season.

#2 Manaea said that he looked forward to facing his teammates in training camp inter squad show downs.

#3 Manaea said he didn’t want to talk too much about some of the A’s split squad hitters he faced who grooved some of his pitches saying “a couple of guys that tagged me pretty hard, so I don’t want to talk about that.”

#4 The A’s are starting Frankie Montas for opening night on Friday in Anaheim. Montas was suspended last season for 80 games when tested positive for using a banned substance on June 21, 2019. Montas says that’s all behind him and is looking forward to the start on opening night against the Los Angeles Angels.

#5 The Oakland A’s are bringing up reliever Jordan Weems who actually was drafted as a catcher in 2011 by the Boston Red Sox. He showed up for spring 0.1 and impressed manager Bob Melvin and pitching coach Scott Emerson so much with his 98 MPH pitches and they said he had great control that he will make the opening night roster for this Friday night.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio play by play lead announcer on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s game wrap: Giants take four run win over A’s to open short two game home at home exhibition

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San Francisco Giants players take a knee during the national anthem before their exhibition contest against the Oakland A’s on Monday night at the Oakland Coliseum (photo from CNN News)

By Lewis Rubman

July 20, 2019

San Francisco 6 -7 -2 Oakland 2 -4- 0

OAKLAND–Freud defines the uncanny as the unsettling feeling we get from something that is both strange and familiar at the same time. That’s a pretty good word to describe the experience of going to tonight’s exhibition game between the A’s and the Giants at Camp Coliseum.

You go through security, just like last year, only this time the inspectors first take your temperature. You find your assigned seat and sit alone, no one within six feet of you until the twenty-seventh out. You try to figure out a way to keep your glasses from steaming up over your mask.

The last Athletics game to have zero paid attendance took place on April 17, 2018, but there were something like 55,000 people in stands that night in the ball yard on the banks of the River Nimitz. Tonight’s crowd, if that’s the word, was closer to 155. It made a weekday game at Cal’s Evans Diamond feel like rush hour in the Tokyo subway.

There were announcements made on the public address system, but Dick Callahan, recovering from a recent medical emergency, wasn’t there to make them, having wisely chosen not to take unnecessary chances with his health. The ubiquitous Kara and Stomper were nowhere to be found, and vendors were as rare as Lysol spray on the shelves of your local supermarket.

The backs of the cutouts bearing images of absent fans that had been placed in the seats in front of the press section looked like rows of tombstones in a military cemetery. During the seventh inning, the A’s announced the attendance figure of 510 cutouts. Perhaps that was a tribute to the area code.

Some of the returning players, too, were both the same and different from last year. Marcus Semien no longer needs to prove his worth. His double play partner of ’19, Jurickson Profar now with the Padres, could be replaced as the A’s by Tony Kemp, who started the game at second, batting ninth, Chad Pinder, Franklin Barreto, Vimael Machín, or a combination of some or all of the four. A healthy Khris Davis is poised to show the power he exhibited before his injury of last May 5. Not yet the reliable threat he had been before then but not the disappointment he had become by the end of last season, KD is, at the age of 32, a promise. Tonight he performed without pain or glory but managed to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.The team’s regular starting catcher is, as a write this, an open question; Sean Murphy began tonight behind the plate, one spot up from Kemp in the batting order

The scoreboards were bright and legible, but their new, uncluttered look didn’t leave room for a bit of useful information that they used to convey, pitch counts.. It took a while, but eventually the lights took full effect.

Shortly before game time, A.J. Puk,for whom the A’s had placed high hopes, was placed on the injured list with a strained shoulder on his pitching arm. A case, Yogi Berra might have said, of déjà vu all over again. Of course, the Yog wouldn’t have used diacritical marks if he were to write his observation, which he’s told us you can do a lot of if you just look.

In spring training, you expect to have a messy score card. Pinch hitters, pinch runners, and defensive substitutions abound; four or five pitchers a game for each side isn’t at all rare. As the the regular season approaches, the lineups shrink and stabilize. But what would tonight’s score cards look like? It’s mid to late July, and the real season’s yet to start. I made sure to carry plenty of erasers and freshly sharpened pencils. (But I forgot to pack them). Both teams substituted heavily in the last third of the game, but the Giants clearly outscored the A’s, not just in runs, but in pitchers used. Manager Gabe Kapler sent nine hurlers to the mound, each of whom pitched exactly one inning. Kevin Gausman, Tyler Anderson, Drew Smyly, Caleb Baragar, Rico García, Tony Watson, Shaun Anderson,Trevor Gott, and Carlos Navas held the home team to two runs on four hits. Anderson and Baragar gave up the runs. Each Anderson, as well as Baragar and García allowed a hit a piece.

When Sean Manaea, who had experienced his share of medical misery last season, took the mound to face the Giants’ lead-off batter, Austin Slater, it felt as exciting as opening day, but you also had the feeling that any of the baseball action that followed would be a footnote to the big story: the first non intra-squad baseball game played at the Coliseum since the ill-starred wild card game of last October 2. Maneaa was the A’s starter on that occasion as well. The paid attendance that evening was 54,005.

Manaea surrendered three early runs, hitting Pablo Sandoval with a pitch to open the second and then allowing infield isingles to Jaylin Davis and Chadwick Tromp on hard hit ground balls. Austin Slater’s double to left brought all the baserunners home.The Throwin’ Samoan recovered to pitch scoreless baseball in the third, fourth, and fifth frames, but the only other tally his teammates could muster besides the one KD drove in came on Stephen Piscotty’s solo homer in the second. Of the five relievers who followed Manaea four were effective. They were Yusmeiro Petit, Jordan Weems, J.B. Wendelken, and Liam Hendricks. The exception was Jake Diekman, who allowed three runs on two hits and a walk in his 2/3 of an inning pitched.

The two teams will face each other tomorrow evening in a semi-deserted Oracle Park. Mike Fiers will start for Oakland, and submariner Tyler Rogers will take the mound for the Giants.

Slater, Giants bring the noise to Oakland in 6-2 Summer Camp win

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By Morris Phillips

Austin Slater knows he’ll be around, he just doesn’t know what his role will be. Given that, Monday’s exhibition in Oakland was about defining things.

Mission accomplished.

Slater had three hits, two doubles and five RBI in the Giants 6-2 Summer Camp win over the A’s. The utilityman was penciled into manager Gabe Kapler’s right-handed dominant lineup as the leadoff guy with pop. Given his success, and Kapler’s preference for platoons, don’t be surprised if Slater assumes the role again this weekend against the Dodgers, for the season-opening series in which the Giants expect to see lefty starters in three of the four games.

During spring and summer training, Slater seen time defensively at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher. The 27-year old carries a collection of gloves, and doesn’t seem rattled by all the uncertainty needed as a reserve. Kapler wasn’t around, but Slater’s sneaky good 2019 season helps his cause as well.

“I think guys are able to round out their game and not be so narrowed in on one specific position,” Slater said of his expansive skill set. “It helps you understand the game. It helps the team.”

Slater, singled in the first and doubled in the second off A’s starter Sean Manaea. The double came with bases loaded and cleared the bases. Then in the seventh, Slater took advantage of lefty reliever Jake Diekman with a two-run double.

Nine Giants pitchers, starting with Kevin Gausman, saw an inning of work, and none of the nine gave up more than one hit. Tyler Anderson surrendered Stephen Piscotty’s home run in the second, and 26-year Caleb Baragar gave up a hit, walk and a run in the fourth.

Chadwick Tromp doubled and scored, and Jaylinn Davis singled and scored twice for the Giants.

The abbreviated summer camp concludes Tuesday as the two teams meet again at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Kapler and several of his players elected to kneel during the national anthem prior to the game. The socially conscious manager announced his plan to kneel before the game, while encouraging his players to kneel or do whatever they were comfortable with.

“I wanted them to know that I wasn’t pleased with the way our country has handled police brutality, and I told them I wanted to amplify their voices and I wanted to amplify the voice of the Black community and marginalized communities, as well,” Kapler said.

 

No Posey: SF Giants turn to Plan B for 2020 success

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The most obvious path to  success for the 2020 San Francisco Giants disappeared when Buster Posey opted out of the season, citing his family and the adoption of prematurely-born twin girls.

With just 60 games in a 100-yard dash of a season, the Giants figured to rely on a veteran, starting pitching staff to establish a pattern of low-scoring games winnable with an offense adept in scratching across a run or two as opposed to slugging its way past NL and AL West opponents. Without Posey–in his familiar role as the orchestrator of the pitching staff–the Giants may need to revisit just how capable their offense is.

Any evaluation of the Giants offensively should begin with right fielder Alex Dickerson, the 2019 mid-season acquisition from San Diego who turned heads with 22 extra-base hits in playing time limited by injuries. Dickerson has the swing and the frame of a 30 home run guy at big league level, but a balky back and other physical issues have kept the 30-year old from blossoming. His home run off Shaun Anderson highlighted Tuesday’s intersquad game and provided hope that Dickerson can be the starting left fielder on Opening Day and stay put.

Michael Yastrzemski, the Giants’ other under the radar acquisition from last season, returns with a firm grip on the centerfield job, the leadoff spot and an opportunity to improve on his 101 hits and 21 homers in 2019. The Giants love his work ethic and approach, all reasons to bet on the Hall of Famer’s grandson to trend upward in 2020.

Hunter Pence returns to San Francisco after a year in Texas in which he re-energized a career that appeared to be over. Pence is healthier than he was in his last season as a Giant in 2018, and he’s successfully tweaked his batting approach and daily habits, giving him a shot to recapture the starting job in right field.

Evan Longoria, starting his 13th big league season, is no longer a stranger to San Francisco, the cooler weather and the National League, and is in fact, the team’s closest thing to a senior leader in Posey’s absence. Most importantly, Longo’s not satisfied, believing that his stats should return to previous standards now that he’s completely acclimated. In seven previous seasons, the third baseman hit more home runs than the 20 he had in 2019.

Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford return at first base and shortstop respectively, and both are out to prove they’re more than the last links to the team’s world championship past. Crawford slipped some defensively last season, and Belt stayed healthy–tying his career high with appearances in 156 games–but saw his batting average and offensive impact slip dramatically. Both Brandons are eager to shore up their defenciencies but Belt’s availability for the opener in Los Angeles is up in the air due to a foot injury.

Maurice Dubon was a breath of fresh air in the clubhouse and on the field following his 2019 acquisition from Milwaukee, but 28 games were hardly enough to show his full capabilities. Can he continue his growth in 2020? Manager Gabe Kaplan is betting yes by handing the second base job to the 25-year old originally from Honduras who played as a prep in Sacramento.

Posey’s catcher spot remains up in the air with Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly and Chadwick Tromp all in camp and getting reps while free agent veteran Russell Martin keeps getting mentioned as a potential acquisition. Currently, Tromp’s getting a lot of attention with his power bat and dramatic rise after seven seasons at the minor league level.

The universal DH is baseball’s COVID-19, shortened season surprise adjustment that has all 15 National League teams scrambling to staff on the fly. The Giants are even further behind here given their lack of power options, but they’ve already decided to pass on Yasiel Puig who just signed with the Braves. Instead the Giants will cobble together a left-right platoon with Pablo Sandoval, Pence, non-roster invitee Darrin Ruf, Steven Duggar and Tromp all in the mix.

He Was a Giant? Former A’s and Giant pitcher Brian Kingman feature By Tony the Tiger Hayes

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Former Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Kingman featured with the A’s Five Aces in 1981 on Sports Illustrated (top far right) is today’s He Was A Giant? Feature (file photo from newsbreak.com)

HE WAS A GIANT?

By Tony The Tiger Hayes

BRIAN KINGMAN: Oakland’s Big Time Loser, Was Worse with San Francisco

Brian Kingman – RHP – 1983 – # 25

If a 20-game win season is the magnum opus for a starting pitcher, you would figure that 20 losses would be the equivalent of finding a turd in the punch bowl.

But not for Brian Kingman.

Since losing 20 games for the 1980 Oakland A’s, Kingman has not only accepted his place in the 20-game loss fraternity, he has became the ignominious club’s self-appointed president, treasurer and spokesperson.

His 20 -game loser status has became Kingman’s calling card – his reason to be remembered.

“I feel sorry for all those guys who (only) get to 19 wins – all that frustration and never be talked about,” Kingman, tongue pressed only partially in cheek, once said. “They might as well take the final step and lose 20.”

Kingman did not lose 20 games for the Giants in 1983 – in fact he had no desisions in the three games he appeared.

But the Los Angeles native did something as a Giant that he didn’t do quite as often as you might have thought in his Oaklandish 20-game loss season.

As a Giant, Kingman pitched exceptionally ghastly.

Why Was He A Giant?

After going 4-12, 4.48 for the 1982 A’s, Kingman was dealt to the Red Sox in a cash deal. But Kingman failed to make the Boston roster the following spring and wound up hooking on with San Francisco.

He debuted in Orange & Black at Candlestick Park in a pair of games vs. Montreal in early June and was promptly battered by Expos hitters.

After two relief outings he was suffering from a 13.50 ERA, which was worse than the 9.00 figure posted by slugger Dave Kingman after his two random mop-up relief appearances for the 1973 Giants.

Before & After

As a rookie in 1979, Brian Kingman was one of the bright spots for Oakland, going 8-7, 4.31 for a confused Green & Gold club that lost a staggering 107 games.

But the A’s made an incredible turnaround the following season after the hiring of fabled firebrand skipper Billy Martin.

An unforeseen Oakland team stunned the Junior Circuit posting a winning record (83-79) with an appealing brand of baseball that relied on daring base running, power hitting and macho starting pitching.

A’s iron -armed starters would complete a staggering 94 games that season. Kingman threw 10 of those full-games, but even that meaty figure ranked fifth among A’s starters.

Despite his very reasonable 3.83 ERA over 211.1 innings, Kingman frequently pitched in tough luck in ‘80.

He lost six one-run decisions. The A’s were shutout in five of his starts and OakTown scored a paltry average of 2.8 runs in his 30 starts.

Kingman had lost nine decisions in a row when Martin mercifully (Billy had a ❤️!) yanked the righty from the rotation late in the campaign with 19 losses on his ledger.

Still, like Wilbur Wood, Jerry Koosman and Phil Niekro, the three previous 20 game losers prior to Kingman – it seemed Kingman was destined to be a historic flop.

Ironically, Kingman’s 20th loss came in relief in a game he would have normally been scheduled to start.

Kingman was forced into the game in the second inning of a game vs. the visiting White Sox when starter Matt Keough was pulled from the game with an injury.

Kingman would allow just two earned runs over 5.2 innings of work in a 6-4 home defeat, but he absorbed the loss when the A’s kicked the ball around like FC Barcelona, committing four errors (9/25/80).

“I thought I was going to be stuck 19,” Kingman quipped at the time.

More than 20 seasons would pass before Mike Maroth of Detroit became baseball’s next 20 game loser. There have been none since.

By the way, the Giants have not had a 20 game loser during their SF era.

He Never Got His Own Bobblehead. But…

Several days after his distressing Giants debut, Kingman made his third and final Giants appearance at Atlanta and pitched decently – allowing three hits and one unearned run over two innings in a 7-3 loss to the Braves (6/10/83).

But it was too little, too late and Kingman was soon optioned to Triple-AAA Phoenix. He pitched in the Giants system through 1984 but never returned to the majors.

Giant Footprint

In the World Series era, 189 pitchers have lost at least 20 games in a MLB season. The group includes several excellent pitchers including a few of immortals, including Hall of Famers Niekro, Steve Carlton, Cy Young and Walter Johnson

That fact has helped Kingman salve the sting of being labeled a big-time loser.

“That would be like if you were a scientist getting linked to Einstein or something,” Kingman said. “I was being mentioned with Walter Johnson and Cy Young.”

Headline Sports podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Giants Samardzija says owners interested in money more than safety; Sierra Club says environmental issues should stop A’s downtown stadium build

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mercurynews.com file photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija winds up and has spoken out about the owners making it more about the money than the players safety

Headline Sports podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson:

#1 San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is just about had enough of the MLB owners saying they’ll do anything to make a buck at the cost of the safety of the players.

#2 How bad is the look for the owners for their pushing 60 games on the players and the players are contractually obligated to play the games with great risk?

#3 The Oakland A’s team president David Kaval was upset over a letter drafted by the Sierra Club stating that environmental issues including parking, congestion, the railway system that surrounds Howard Terminal, no transportation to the park and other sticking issues to try and stop the A’s from trying to build.

#4 The A’s have reportedly are seeking to find a new radio station that would pick up their games for the 2020 season as they were originally going to stream all their games on Tune Ins but have been looking for a flagship to broadcast their games. The general manager of the A’s flagship station from 2019 860 KTRB has approached the A’s about returning. The A’s left because of KTRB’s right wing broadcast format.

#5 The Washington Redskins are under a ton of pressure to end their mascot name and after all the racial discussions in the country the heat has been turned up on Washington to dump the racist name can it really be true?

Jeremiah Salmonson does Headline Sports every other Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

He Was A Giant? Jose Cardenal 1963-64 seasons feature By Tony the Tiger Hayes

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Jose Cardenal as a San Francisco Giant who played in San Francisco during the 1963 and 1964 seasons (Amazon file photo)

HE WAS A GIANT?

JOSE CARDENAL – OF – 1963-64 – # 10

By Tony the Tiger Hayes

If you collected baseball cards as a kid in the 1970s there were three givens: “bubblegum” that crumbled into brittle shards the moment you touched it; hideous air-brush art work, and, finally, the incremental Chia-Pet like growth of Jose Cardenal’s unwieldy Afro. (Think TV artist Bob Ross.)

A fiery competitor with a stylish hairdo, Cardenal was a career .275 hitter and a familiar presence on the MLB scene for parts of five decades as both a player and coach.

But before the Cuban fly chaser picked his hair out to resemble a spinning classroom world globe, Cardenal broke in with the Giants, appearing in 29 games over 1963-64.

Why Was He a Giant?

Cardenal was one of the last ball players to escape Cuba before Fidel Castro shut the island’s borders. He was just 17 when the Giants paid him $200 to sign with the organization in 1960.

Though off the field he struggled with assimilation process – fueled by being cut off from family back in Cuba – Cardenal had no such issues in the batters box and produced gaudy minor league numbers.

Cardenal was just 19 when he broke camp with SF in 1963. He came and went a few times over the next couple of seasons but never could crack SF’s All-Star studded lineup.

Before & After

Despite great reviews for his on field play in the Giants farm system – hitting for power and stealing bases like a bandit – Cardenal developed a reputation of being a bit of a scoundrel.

As a young man he got into scrapes and arguments with teammates and ran afoul of team management and opposing clubs.

In one 1962 incident, when he was with the El Paso Sun Kings, Cardenal menaced the opposing Austin Senators dugout with a letter opener.

Mouthy bench jockeys had gotten under the young Cuban’s skin by calling him a “Castro Lover” and a “Communist.”

Cardenal became so enraged he considered skinning an entire minor league club. He was stopped however before he could initiate his Davy Crockett routine.

“There’s a lot behind the boy’s flare up,” said El Paso manager George Genovese after Cardenal was placed on Texas League probation. “He is immature all right but he hasn’t been home in a long time and hasn’t seen his family in two years. And there’s a language problem.”

Due to his hair-trigger temper and the fact that the Orange & Black were already brimming with talented OF prospects, the club moved on from Cardenal after the 1964 campaign, trading him to the Angels in a swap for C Jack Hiatt.

Cardenal jumped from team to team for awhile before finding a home with the Cubs for much of the ’70s. He later appeared in the 1980 World Series with Kansas City.

From 1993-2003 Cardenal was a major league coach for several teams including the 1996 World Series Champion Yankees.

He Didn’t Get His Own Bobblehead Doll (Or Chia-Pet). But…

Cardenal smacked the only hit of his Giants career in his second MLB at bat, lining a two-run, pinch hit single to left off the Cardinals Curt Simmons. Cardenal was then nabbed however trying to steal second base in a weekday afternoon 4-3 home loss (4/24/63).

Giant Footprint

It was against the Giants that Cardenal assembled a career best six- hit game at Candlestick Park (5/2/76), batting 6-for-7 with four RBIs in a 6-5, 14-inning Chicago win at Candlestick in the matinee of a double header.

The last several innings of that game can be viewed on You Tube – providing a good look at Cardenal’s glorious Afro in action and a rare look at the Giants much maligned mid-1970s AstroTurf era.

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