Tag: San Francisco Giants

Beloved Giants announcer Hank Greenwald dies at 83

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Hank Greenwald, one of the most beloved announcers in the history of the San Francisco Bay Area sports scene, passed away on Monday afternoon at the age of 83.

Greenwald, who was born in Detroit in 1935, graduated from Syracuse University in 1957 and then went on to work for the then Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers) of the NBA. It was in 1964, that he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and teamed up with the erstwhile Bill King and the Warriors, who still were known as the San Francisco Warriors.

After flourishing in the minor leagues, Greenwald was hired to work San Francisco Giants games with one of his idols, Lindsay Nelson. Greenwald left the Giants after the 1986 season to work for the New York Yankees for two seasons, but then returned to the Bay Area and the Giants for the 1989 season.

It was during that magical 1989 season that saw the Giants return to the World Series for the first time since 1962, and Greenwald uttered his famous quote. “Twenty-seven years of waiting have come to an end! The Giants have won the pennant!”

Greenwald once again left the Giants after the 1996 season, but returned to the broadcast booth with the Oakland A’s for the 2004 and 2005 seasons before hanging up his mike for good.

He is survived by his beloved wife Carla, their son Doug, who is currently the broadcaster for the Fresno Grizzlies (Triple-A affiliate for the Washington Nationals) and daughter Kellie.

Giants Get Crushed by Dodgers 15-0 to Cap 2018 Season

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Joe Lami

The season finally came to an end for the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. They did so in perfect fashion, to sum up, the 2018 season, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers 15-0 at AT&T Park.

Fans came to say a final goodbye to Hunter Pence, the emotional leader of two of the franchise’s three titles in recent years. 2018 was a struggle for Pence, as he finished batting .229 with 24 RBI and four homers in the 96 games he played. It wasn’t the sunset ending Pence, who has wished for either, as he finished the day 0-for-4, including three strikeouts from the lead-off spot.

Andrew Suarez was handed the loss, surrendering six runs on six hits in 2.1 IP as the Dodgers delivered a seven-run blow in the third to make it 9-0. They continued to pour it on with three runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth.

The Dodgers had everything to play for, as the win secured a one-game playoff with the Colorado Rockies to decide who wins the NL West tomorrow at Dodger Stadium. The winner takes the division with the loser having to play in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday.

The Giants could’ve played spoiler for their rival. A Dodgers’ loss would have secured them the Wild Card spot, but instead, LA swept the Giants capped off by the second-worst shutout in rivalry history

Giants fans will wake up tomorrow when September is finally over, looking back at a 5-21 record for the nightmare month. The worst month in franchise history since 1958 pushed them eight games below .500. They finished 73-89, the eighth-worst record in the big leagues.

The off-season will begin for San Francisco, including the search for a general manager after Bobby Evans was relieved of his position for the unacceptable season. Once a general manager is placed, it will bring attention around who will stay and who will go for next season.

Dodgers clinch final playoff berth with 10-6 victory over the Giants

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Photo credit: @Dodgers

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — With the last playoff spot on the line, all the Los Angeles Dodgers needed to do was to defeat their longtime rivals, the San Francisco Giants, on their home field.

Manny Machado, who was acquired by the Dodgers near the trade deadline gave them the hit that they were looking for, as he hit a triple with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the Dodgers defeated the Giants 10-6 before a sellout crowd of 41,768 at AT&T Park on Saturday.

With the victory, the Dodgers clinched their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. According to STATS, LLC., it is the third longest such in Major League history.

Only the Atlanta Braves, who made it to 14 consecutive postseasons from 1991-2005, and the New York Yankees, who went to 13 straight from 1995-2007, have longer streaks.

Machado tripled off of Mark Melancon to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead and then Max Muncy hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning, as the Dodgers blew the game wide open to take a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.

Bay Area native Joc Pederson got the Dodgers on the board in the top of the first inning, as he hit a leadoff home run off of Giants Starter Derrick Rodriguez.

It was the eighth leadoff home run of the season for Pederson, breaking the record of seven that was set by Davey Lopes back in 1979.

Pederson now has 11 leadoff home runs in his career, tied for the third most in Dodgers history with Johnny Frederick, trailing Rafael Furcal, who hit 14 and Lopes, who hit 28 in his career.

Yaisel Puig extended the Dodgers lead up to 2-0 in the top of the second inning, as he launched a Rodriguez pitch into the left field seats.

Gorkys Hernandez cut the Dodgers lead in half in the bottom of the second inning, as he singled in Brandon Crawford.

Joe Panik gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning, as he singled to score Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence.

Enrique Hernandez doubled to center field to score Puig in the top of the fourth inning to tie up the game.

Clayton Kershaw helped out his own cause in that fourth inning, as he singled to right field to score Yasmani Grandal and Hernandez to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.

Hunter Pence got the Giants within one in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he doubled off of Kershaw to score Abital Avelino, who singled.

Panik tied up the game in that fifth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Pence from third base.

Rodriguez lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on six hits, walking and striking out one in his final start of the season.

It was also a rough day for Kershaw, who went just five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.

Alex Wood pitched 1.1 innings in relief, as he won for the ninth time this season and Melancon took the loss, as his record fell to 1-4 on the season.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers will wrap up their regular seasons with a Sunday matinee finale at 12:05 pm PT.

Andrew Suarez will close out the season for the Giants, as he goes for his eighth win of the season, while Walker Buehler goes for the Dodgers.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Will A’s use bullpenning for AL Wild Card Game?; Will the Giants shop MadBum?; Players prefer GMs in their 30s

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On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 The Oakland A’s who play in New York this Wednesday for the AL Wild Card game lost on Friday night to the Los Angeles Angels. How much of a concern will it be for Oakland since they’ve been bullpenning to use a starter from their rotation after bullpenning for the last few weeks?

#2 Will the San Francisco Giants shop pitcher Madison Bumgarner, and if so, will the Giants be looking for prospects?

#3 The new wave of general managers are in their 30s. 57 MLB scouts have been fired that were over the age of 52 as it’s been noted that the ball players don’t won’t to take orders from general managers who are in their 50s, but want to work with GMs who are in their 30s.

#4 The Baltimore Orioles have benched their first baseman Chris Davis for the rest of the season. Davis hitting .168–the lowest qualifier in MLB history.

#5 The Cubs got a win over the St. Louis Cardinals 8-4 and dimmed the Cards’ chances of having any chance at the NL Wild Card. The Cards are 7.5 games out in the NL Central and have lost four straight games.

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

Turner’s home run wins it for the Dodgers 3-1

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Photo credit: @DodgerBlue1958

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Turner may have missed the first 40 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a broken left wrist, and then 10 more games in July with a right groin injury; however, he came through when he was needed the most.

Turner hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 41,167 at AT&T Park.

On the season, Turner is hitting .357 (10-for-28) against the Giants and has hits in all seven games he has played against the Giants this season.

With the victory, the Dodgers stayed one game behind the Colorado Rockies in the fight for the National League Western Division Championship.

Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched six strong innings, as he gave up just one run on four hits, walking two and striking out three and finished the 2018 season with a 7-3 record.

Ryu’s first and only mistake came in the bottom of the second inning, as he gave up a solo home run to Nick Hundley that gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead.

It was the 10th home run of the season for Hundley, and his sixth at home this season. It was his first home run since July 28 versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

Unfortunately, Madison Bumgarner was unable to hold onto the lead, as Manny Machado singled to left field to score Enrique Hernandez from second base to tie up the game in the top of the third inning.

The Hernandez single in the third inning, was the second of three straight hits for him, he then went to second on a David Freese walk and then Machado tied up the game with his single off of Bumgarner.

Hernandez ended up going three-for-four on the evening, but he did go three-for-three against Bumgarner and is now 19-for-39 (.487) in his career against him. That is the second highest batting average among active players in the majors against Bumgarner (minimum 15 at-bats).

Once again, the Achilles heel was the double play ball, as they grounded into five in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings that put a stop to five huge rallies.

Austin Slater grounded into a double play with runners on first and second, and nobody out and then Gorkys Hernandez flew out to Chris Taylor to end the inning.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, it was Slater again put the end to a Giants rally, as he grounded into his second double play in three innings.

Evan Longoria grounded into the third one of the night in the bottom of the sixth inning after Joe Panik led off the inning with a single, but was then erased on the double play ball hit by Longoria.

Once again, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Longoria grounded into a double play to end the inning. Panik singled with one out, but was then retired for the second out of the inning.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got Hundley to fly out for the first out of the inning, but Jansen hit Crawford; however, he was able to get Aramis Garcia to ground into the fifth double play of the night for the Giants to end the game.

Bumgarner, who started the season on the disabled list with a broken left finger suffered in his last start of spring training on March 23, went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out six and he finished the 2018 season with a record of 6-7.

Slater was forced to leave the game with elbow soreness in his throwing arm, and will undergo an MRI on Saturday.

NOTES: This was the 250th career start of Bumgarner’s career, and only five pitchers who have reached that plateau since divisional play began in 1969, this according to STATS,LLC.

Giants closer Will Smith was named the 2018 Willie Mac Award winner. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies the inspiration, character and leadership that Willie McCovey demonstrated during his playing days for the Giants from 1959-1974, and then 1977-1980.

Smith, who missed all of the 2017 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was one of the Giants top relievers this season. He posted a record of 2-3 with 1.90 ERA, while saving 14 games in 18 opportunities.

Joining Smith on the field at the ceremony were past winners, Mike Krukow, who was the Master of Ceremonies, Jack Clark , Darrell Evans, Chris Speier, Dave Dravecky, Mike Felder, Shawon Dunston, Ellis Burks, Mark Gardner, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Bumgarner, Crawford and Hundley.

Once again, the Giants topped the three million mark in attendance, as this was the 17th time in the 19 years since AT&T Park opened that they have eclipsed that mark and it is the ninth consecutive year that they accomplished the feat.

The five double plays hit by the Giants are a season high, and it was the first time since July 30, 2017, also against the Dodgers that the Giants hit into at least five double plays in a game.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers face each other again on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PT.

Dereck Rodriguez makes his final start of the 2018 season on Saturday, as he looks to the finish the season on a high note and the Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound.

Giants can knock Dodgers out of the playoffs

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

We’ve seen this a few times before in the long history of these two teams.

There was 1982, when Joe Morgan’s homer knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. However, the Giants also suffered heartbreak at the hands of the Dodgers in 1993, as the Dodgers blasted them 15-1 on the final day to keep them out of the postseason.

Compelling, potentially season-altering moments like these are exactly why the Giants and Dodgers engage in a three-game series to end the regular season year in and year out.

The Giants have been out of the playoff picture for quite some time, but the Dodgers are right in the middle of it. In fact, the three-game weekend series – the final three games of the regular season for both teams – is a make-or-break one for LA in every sense of the word.

The Dodgers are currently sit one game behind the Colorado Rockies for the National League West.

However, they are only one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s final playoff spot. In other words, the defending National League champs are hanging on by a thread.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals end the season with a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs, a team that has already clinched the top spot in the National League and will most likely look to rest its key players in order to get ready for the league’s Division Series next week.

To start the three-games series at AT&T Park, the Dodgers will send Hyun-jin Ryu (6-3, 2.00 ERA) to the mound against Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.20 ERA).

Ryu enters this matchup in fine form, as he did not give up a single run in each of his last two outings, giving up a total of eight hits over 13 innings in wins over the Rockies and San Diego Padres. Bumgarner has not been too bad himself, as he shut out the Rockies on Sept. 15 but gave up three runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Cardinals last Saturday.

Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.50 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Saturday against Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 2.53 ERA). Rodriguez has lost each of his last two decisions, while Kershaw has won each of his last five.

To end the season, there will be a pair of rookies who take the mound, and this could very well decide the Dodgers’ season. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) will go for the Dodgers against Giants lefty Andrew Suarez (7-12, 4.22 ERA).

Offense Optional: Youthful Giants look the part minus the timely base hits

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — Aramis Garcia working the knee high socks, showing the extension on his swing, the big league balance on the follow through, and the majestic path of the baseball into the sparsely populated, left field bleachers.

And that is your San Francisco Giants offensive highlight of the evening.

No doubt, the new look Giants know how to compete, but don’t expect a bushel of wins until the formula includes singles, doubles and home runs to go with the effective pitching and stingy defense. In Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Padres, Garcia’s homer wasn’t just the highlight, it was the entirety of the Giants’ offense. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

“We were one hit away. We’ve done that a few times,” said manager Bruce Bochy, employing simple subtraction, three minus two.

Freddy Galvis singled and tripled, Travis Jankowski had a seventh inning home run among his three hits, and Luis Perdomo was the first of three relievers to combine for six plus innings of shutout baseball, leading the Padres to the win and the series victory.

The Giants played without Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria in their starting lineup, giving the team a decidedly 2019 audition look with Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco hitting first and second as part of their farewell tour. With the teams not obligated to tear at the others postseason aspirations, the lineups leaned toward inexperience.  Unfortunately for the Giants, their lineup also leaned toward ineffectiveness.

Abiatal Avelino, acquired in the Andrew McCutchen deal with the Yankees, singled in the third for the Giants’ first hit. Garcia homered in the seventh ahead of Joe Panik’s walk. And three singles followed, split among the seventh and eighth innings with little impact.

And that was it. Sure the Giants didn’t do much with only five hits, but credit San Diego’s bullpen. Since the All-Star break, the Padres’ pen has posted the National League’s lowest ERA. On Wednesday, they backed it up starting with Perdomo as the opener, and on to Miguel Diaz, who pitched the fifth and sixth innings and got the win.

Casey Kelly got the start for the Giants and pitched well, excepting his throwing (flipping) error and balk in the fifth. The balk scored Travis Jankowski from third and a 2-0 Padres lead.

Kelly was seeking his first big league win since 2012 when he was with the Padres. He’s lost nine decisions since then, and pitched in seven games with the Giants this season, all of them Giants’ losses. Having home plate umpire Ryan Additon catch him flinching slightly with a runner on third was more frustration.

“When I shook my head I kind of moved my hands. I think that’s whey they called it. Once it gets to that point there’s really no going back so there’s no sense in arguing,” Kelly said.

The Giants host the Dodgers in the season-concluding series beginning Friday night and the possibility for drama lies in the hands of the home team. The Dodgers fell out of first place on Wednesday, and pending the result of Thursday’s Phillies-Rockies game, could find themselves a full game back when Madison Bumgarner takes the mound against them on Friday.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Name all the things that went wrong with S.F. this season

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On the Giants podcast with Marko:

#1 What went horribly wrong for ex-Giants general manager Bobby Evans?

#2 There were plenty of injuries throughout the season: Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Jeff Samardjiza, Johnny Cueto, Joe Panik and Evan Longoria; just to name a few did that lend to the lack of play for the Giants, and thus, Evans getting the blame for the mounting loses.

#3 The Giants fell short of losing 100 games last season and have lost 13 of 16 as of Tuesday night and are 12 games under .500 did. That also factored into Evans’ departure.

#4 Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he was hoping to stay on with the Giants for next season. The front office says they’re going to look for outside help for replacing Evans. Where does Bochy’s future lie with this change?

#5 Finally, how much blame does Giants CEO and team president Larry Baer share in the failure of last year’s team as well as this year’s team?

Marko Uklovic did the Giants podcasts for the 2018 season and will be doing the San Jose Barracuda podcasts starting next week on Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bumgarner’s walk-off single lifts Giants to 5-4 win over Padres in 12 innings

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner came up with the biggest hit of the night when it was needed the most.

Bumgarner, who was forced to pinch hit after there were no more pinch hitters hit a walk-off single off of Brad Wieck in the bottom of the 12th inning, as the San Francisco Giants came back to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 before a crowd of 36,063 at AT&T Park on Tuesday night.

The Bumgarner single off of Wieck scored Gorkys Hernandez from third base, after Hernandez tripled to lead off the inning against Wieck.

This was the first walk-off of Bumgarner’s career, and his fourth career pinch-hit with the last coming on July 21, 2016 against the Washington Nationals.

Chris Stratton went just 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking five and striking out five.

The win by the Giants stopped their five-game losing streak, as they won for just the fifth time in their last 22 games.

The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Gregor Blanco came off the bench and doubled down the left field line to score pinch-hitter Joe Panik, who singled and Hunter Pence, who singled Panik to third base. Gorkys Hernandez led off the inning with a double, but was thrown out trying to steal third base for the first out of the inning.

Unfortunately, Will Smith was unable to close it out, as he gave up a one-out double to Wil Myers and then Framil Reyes singled to score Myers.

Eric Hosmer gave the Padres the lead in that third inning, as he singled in Robbie Erlin and Myers, on the play, Hernandez to control the ball for an error that sent Reyes across the plate.

Abiatal Avelino then committed the Giants second error in as many at-bats, as he was unable to field the Hunter Renfroe ball that scored Reyes from third base.

Erlin went the minimum five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, not walking a batter and striking out four, but did not fare in the decision.

Evan Longoria gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead on a double that scored Pence, who led off the by reaching on an error by Javy Guerra.

Pence, whose contract with the Giants comes to an end on Sunday got the Giants within one run in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he hit his fourth home run of the season.

NOTES: With the victory, the Giants raise their record to 52-19 when they score four or more runs in a game.

Bumgarner is the first MLB player since Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs to get a walk-off single without pitching in a game. Lester’s walk-off came on July 31, 2016 against the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Padres conclude their series Wednesday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

The Giants’ Casey Kelly takes the mound, as he looks for his first win, while the Padres will Eric Lauer to the mound in the series and season finale between the two teams.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Giants Have Many Decisions to Make This Winter

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By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The Giants could go in a new direction. Would if be towards analytics and be more creative with their player acquisitions and trades? AT&T Park will never be a home run friendly park, even if they acquired Bryce Harper; that alone might not be enough for them to contend on their division. Many decisions now rest with the new person that will take over Baseball Operations, replacing Bobby Evans, who was fired prior to the game Monday against the Padres at AT&T Park.

The Giants have $132.9 million committed in 2019, $129.4 million in 2020 and $94.1 million in 2021–just five players.

The Giants have a lot of money tied up into a handful of players and most of them are bound to return in 2019.

Next year’s Giants will have Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey (coming back for surgery), Johnny Cueto $130 million (coming back from surgery), Jeff Samardzija–$90 million, and Mark Melancon–$63 million, These players are veterans who are in their 30’s.

Yes, the Giants need to get younger. Are the Giants going to pick up the 2019 option for Bumgarner? $12 million, that is a bargain, but maybe the new General Manager/Baseball Operations that will take Evans’ place might consider trading him for a few young prospects. I would trade Bumgarner if I was able to find a few young, exciting, promising players. Why not? He is the best bait you’ll have for a nice deal.

The Giants had a good run and won three World Series, but they got melancholic with their established players,  pouring big money on them and hoping for another run, which never happened. It is understandable, as they have a great fan base and want to keep that winning style of baseball happening at AT&T Park. But the last two seasons were not exciting at all. When you do not hit in today’s game, you become a boring team.

Yes, their pitching this year surprisingly was not that bad, but this is not Soccer/Fútbol, there is no tie and you have to win. You have to hit and hit with power in today’s game. The Giants are the only MLB team this year with no player hitting at least 20 home runs. Look across the bay, that A’s team has Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Stephen Piscotty, Jed Lowrie, Mark Canha, Marcus Semien and company–they all hit home runs and that is a huge part of the game and they ended up winning.

And by the way, the Coliseum–just like ATT Park–is also not a home run friendly park.

Good luck to the next man or woman who will be running the Giants’ Baseball Operations.