Tag: Sports Radio Serivce

Preview of A’s vs. Orioles in Baltimore; Three game series opens Friday

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The Oakland A’s Ramon Lureano (22) swings for a base hit in the bottom of the tenth inning on Wed Apr 21, 2021 at the Oakland Coliseum against the Minnesota Twins (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s head East to start a six-game road trip. The A’s will play three against the Baltimore Oriole’s and finish the trip against the Tampa Bay Rays. The A’s currently reside in the American League Western Division with a 12-7 record. The A’s started the season 1-7 but have won 11 in a row. No team in Major League history has ever started the season with an 0-6 record and then had an 11-game winning streak at any time during the same season.

The Orioles have been a franchise in the American League since 1903. They were known as the St.Louis Browns for 51 seasons. Their last year in St. Louis was 1953. The Browns were doormats in the AL for many, many years. Their only appearance in the World Series came in 1944 during World War II.

They lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Browns featured a one-armed centerfielder, Pete Gray. Bill Veeck owned the team, and he sold it to people who promptly moved the team to Baltimore and named them the Orioles. Since 1954, the Orioles have won three World Series.

They swept the LA Dodgers in 1966 to win their first crown. The Orioles right-fielder was Frank Robinson. The Cincinnati Reds traded Robinson to the O’s as they thought Robinson was an old 30-year-old player. All Robinson did that year was win the AL MVP>They beat the Big Red Machine in 1970. Third baseman Brooks Robinson put on a defensive show in that series that people still remember 51 years later.

The Orioles won their last championship in 1983, downing the Philadelphia Phillies. Shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. led his team that season. Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, and Cal Ripken, Jr. are all Baseball’s Hall of Fame members.

Things have not gone well for the Orioles in recent years. Their last appearance in a World Series was in 1983, 38 years ago. The last time they made the playoffs was in 2016. The Toronto Blue Jays met them in the Wild Card game. The Jays sent the O’s home.

The A’s have not played the Orioles since the 2019 season. There are many new faces on the team. The Orioles traded their superstar third baseman, Manny Machado, to the Dodgers in 2018 as Manny was going to be a free agent at the end of the season. Manny signed with the San Diego Padres in 2019.

Buck Showalter was gone as the Orioles manager. Brandon Hyde replaced him and was tasked with bringing the club back to respectability. Hyde replaced Showalter before the start of the 2019 season. Showalter was the last manager to take the O’s to the playoffs.

The Orioles finished last in 2017 with a record of 75-87. In Showalter’s last year as manager, Baltimore fell to the bottom of the barrel posting a record of 47-115. In Hyde’s first year, Baltimore finished last again. They improved to 54-108.

They had a new young player, Trey Mancini, to lead them out of the wilderness. Fate wasn’t kind to Mancini. Trey had to miss the 2020 season due to cancer treatment. Mancini has recovered, and he will see playing time this weekend. The Orioles finished fourth in the AL East last year with a record of 25-35.

Oakland A’s fans don’t know too much about the Orioles’ roster. They have some new players and some oldies, too. As mentioned above, Baltimore wants to move up in the Eastern Division. They shocked the baseball world by sweeping the Red Sox at Fenway Park by winning all three games. However, they have faltered since then to enter the game against Oakland with a record of 8-10.

The A’s will send lefty Cole Irvin to the mound to start Friday night. Irvin will be making his fourth start as an Oakland Athletic. He did not fare well in his first two outings. In his last game against the Detroit Tigers, Irvin pitched six shutout innings. His overall record ia 1-2 with an ERA of 4.60.

Baltimore will counter with righty Jorge Lopez. Lopez will also be making his fourth start of the season. Lopez was hammered in his first two starts. He pitched well against Texas to earn the win. For the season, Lopez is 1-2 with an ERA of 8.56.

Chris Bassitt will go for Oakland on Saturday. The Orioles have not announced their starter for the Saturday game. Righty Matt Harvey may get the call. Other pitchers that could start are lefties John Means and Bruce Zimmerman.

The A’s enter the series scoring an average of 4.74 runs per game. The A’s have players up and down the lineup that can send the baseball into the stratosphere. Their big first baseman, Matt Olson, has been scorching hot. Olson had three home runs in the last two games of the series with the Minnesota Twins.

Olson has hit six homers and has 15 RBIs so far this year. Mark, Canha, Ramon Laureano, Stephen Piscotty, Jed Lowrie, Sean Murphy, and Seth Brown have all hit home runs to help the A’s to the current 11-game winning streak.

The A’s starting rotation has done the job since the 1-7 start. The team ERA is 4.71, ranking 26th in MLB. The reason for the high ERA was the poor start in the first games of the year. The A’s beat the Twins Wednesday in a wild one 13-12. Before the Wednesday game, the A’s pitching staff recorded four shutouts in five games. A’s starters Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas, and Jesus Luzardo have all done well recently.

The A’s Mike Fiers will be available shortly. Fiers won 15 games last season. The A’s will have to figure out who Fiers will replace. The A’s bullpen has done well, too. A’s manager Bob Melvin has used righty Lou Trivino and lefty Jake Diekman as the closer.

The Orioles will probably put these guys on the field Friday night. Trey Mancini will be at first base. Rio Ruiz will be at second, Freddy Galvis at shortstop, and Maikel Franco, the former Philadelphia Phillie, will be at third. DJ Stewart will be in left field, Cedric Mullins in center, and Austin Hays in right. Paul Severino will handle the catching chores for the Orioles.

The Las Vegas oddsmakers probably would favor the A’s to win the series. The magic of baseball, as players well know, you never know what’s going to happen. Even the lowest of teams can upset the applecart of the favored team. Jorge Lopez could pitch his best game of the year. The A’s could send him to an early shower. No one knows. That’s the beauty of baseball. That’s why they play the games.

Jerry Feitelberg is an Oakland A’s beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings podcast with Tony Renteria: How bad does it have to get Kings drop 8 straight

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The Sacramento Kings center Hassan Whiteside (20) feels the pain after being fouled by the Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook (4) at Golden One Center on Wed Apr 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Tony R:

#1 The Sacramento Kings are having a bad go of it dropping their eighth straight game to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at Golden One Center in Sacramento and it wasn’t even close 123-111.

#2 Tony, this is a different Kings team that you might remember beat a team like Golden State 141-119 at Golden One back on Mar 25th and the Lakers 123-120 back on Mar 3rd. The Kings have evolved but in the wrong direction.

#3 The Kings last night just couldn’t contain the Wizards top scorer Bradley Beal who finished with 31 points and the Kings defense just couldn’t stop the Wizard offense losing by 12 points.

#4 Once again the Kings De’Aaron Fox did a lot of the heavy lifting leading the Kings scoring with 33 points. The Kings actually need another player with Fox’s caliber to balance out the offense.

#5 The Kings are on back to back nights and play their second game in as many nights tonight against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns are on a three game win streak and defeated the Miami Heat on Tuesday night in Phoenix 106-86. Set the stage for tonight’s game in the Valley of the Sun.

Join Tony R every Thursday for Kings basketball podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s open up four game series against Tigers

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Oakland A’s lefthander Sean Manaea will start against the Detroit Tigers tonight to begin the first of a four game series at the Oakland Coliseum is seen here pitching to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sep 23, 2020 (AP file photo)

#1 Jerry, How much of a concern should the A’s (5-7) have right now about starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, Luzardo went 2.2 innings giving up six hits and five runs before being lifted in the third against the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-8) on Tuesday night.

#2 After Luzardo was lifted the A’s bullpen came through six pitchers powered through the D-Backs line up and held Arizona to just two runs from the third inning going forward for the win.

#3 Jed Lowrie was the number one star on Tuesday night after hitting a three run home run to tie the ball game up in the top of the seventh 5-5.

#4 The A’s picked up go ahead runs in the eighth and ninth innings and came away with a 7-5 win their offense has also bailed them out of some close games.

#5 The A’s had the day off on Wednesday and are back to work tonight to open a four game series with the Detroit Tigers (6-6). The Tigers are coming off a four game losing streak which included getting swept by Cleveland and have turned it around with a three game win streak against the Houston Astros. The Tigers will start LHP Tarik Skubal (0-1 ERA 7.71) he’ll be matched up against the A’s Sean Manaea (0-1 ERA 5.06) at the Coliseum tonight at 6:40p.

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

Kings Lose Fourth In a Row 116-106

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Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) is fouled by Sacramento Kings center Richaun Holmes at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Mon Apr 5, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings have not won a game since March 31st. Since that win they have lost four games in a row. They fell to the Spurs, the Lakers, the Bucks by a single point and lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night the final score was 116-106. Prior to that they had won five games in a row. The bottom line is that they have been playing very competitive basketball.

They are 3.5 games out of eighth place and so a playoff run is not out of the question but with only about 22 games left in the regular season it’s time to really put it all out there.

Monday afternoon the Kings took on the Minnesota. Minnesota is currently in last place in the Western Conference with only 12 wins. This was a game that Sacramento needed to win.

The Kings got off to a good start and finished the first quarter leading 29-26. Although leading for most of the first half, they needed to put a lot more distance between themselves and Minnesota.

The Timberwolves just kept hanging around. There was not much help off the bench. But De’Aaron Fox had the high score for the first half with 20 points after a slow start. As the second half came to an end the Kings and the Timberwolves were tied at 55.

The second half needed a lot more offense from Hield, Holmes and Haliburton. All three of these guys need to make a difference in every game from here on out if the playoffs are in their future. As the second quarter came to an end both Fox and Hield had some nice offense setting up a promising second half.

As the third quarter came to an end the Kings and Minnesota were all knotted up at 82 and the Kings were fighting for their lives in this one.

The Kings all but fell apart in the fourth quarter. With less than five minutes left in the game they were trailing by 11points. This game was winnable and the Kings have the talent to beat the Timberwolves but again it was the defense that reared it’s ugly head. A defense that would match the offense would be a very nice thing for the Sacramento Kings. 

This is a game that Sacramento should have won. Fox finished with 31 points, Harrison Barnes with 21, and Buddy Hield with 18 points. The bench was ok and there is no explanation other then their defensive woes. Each loss from here on out takes them further and further away from any playoff hopes

The Kings will next take on the Pistons Thursday night in another winnable game against a last place team. Tipoff is at 7:00PM.

A’s Luzardo coughs up 2 homers and 5 earned runs in 9-5 loss to Astros

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Houston Astros baserunner Jose Altuve (27) reaches down to touch home plate behind Oakland A’s catcher Aramis Garcia (37) on a Michael Brantley double in the top of the fourth inning (AP News photo)

Houston. 9. 14. 0

Oakland. 5. 8. 1

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Ever since they traded Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to Washington for Blake Treinen, Sheldon Neuse and Jesús Luzardo July of 2017, the A’s have had high expectations for the Peruvian born, Venezuelan and state-side educated left hander Luzardo.

While he hasn’t yet fulfilled the team’s hopes, it hasn’t been for lack of talent or motivation but because of nagging problems with the shoulder of his pitching arm. Indeed, he underwent Tommy John surgery at 18, while still in high school. That was in 2016. He began last season in the bullpen and ended up starting in game 3 of the division series. In between he threw his first 100 pitch game. His record for the season was 3-2, 4.12.

Today, he left the game trailing 5-2 after five innings, in which he sent 92 balls to the plate, 56 of which were strikes. All five runs were earned, and Luzardo gave up eight hits, two of which were round trippers. He walked one and struck out eight Astros. Burch Smith relieved him to open the sixth. The A’s ended up losing their second straight game to the Astros 9-5 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Luzardo’s opposite number for the visitors was their promising right hander, Cristián Javier, who had finished third in last year´s rookie of the year balloting.

Houston drew first blood in the third, capitalizing on José Altuve’s short stature and the long ball prowess of Michael Brantey and Alex Bregman. The Astros’ second sacker opened the frame by taking a four pitch walk. Brantley followed with a double off the right-center field wall.

He looked out at second, and the A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus thought he was. Second base umpire Sean Barber did not. Alex Bregman then blasted a three and two 96 mph four seam fast ball over both the glove of a leaping Mark Canha and the left field wall, Luzardo settled down to retire the next three batters in order.

But the Astros added a couple of runs to their 3-0 lead in the very next inning. Yuli Gurriel led off with a homer to left. Two outs later, Altuve beat out a grounder to Chapman. He scored on Brantley’s resounding double to center.

Oakland finally got on the board in their half of the fourth. Canha led off with a single to third and scored on Laureano’s powerful triple. Olson was hit by a pitch, and, after Chapman fanned, Laureano came home on Mitch Moreland’s sacrifice fly to medium right field.

You can chalk that run up to Laureano’speed. After Lowrie lined a single to center, Astro manager Dusty Baker decided that Javier had pitched enough for the day and replaced him on the mound with Bryan Abreu, who closed out the inning by getting Andrus to hit into a force out at second.

Houston’s young starter left with no decision, having yielded two runs, both earned, on three hits over three and two-thirds innings. He gave up three hits and got four strike outs while hitting one batter. 46 of his 73 offerings were strikes.

With Smith on the mound for Oakland in the top of the seventh, Houston managed to tack on another to their lead when Altuve walked and advanced to third on single by Bregman. The speedy Altuve then managed to score on Kyle Tucker’s sacrifice pop up to Andrus in shallow right field.

The Athletics came roaring back in the bottom half of that inning, Chad Pinder, pinch hitting for Ka’ai Tom with Jed Lowrie, who had walked, on first, blasted a Brooks Raley 90 mph cut fast ball into the left center field seats to cut the Astros’ advantage to 6-4. They narrowed their deficit to a single tally on Olson’s two base hit, a productive ground out to second by Chapman, and a pinch hit ground out to short by a pinch hitting Stephen Piscotty off of Blake Taylor.

The deficit increased, however, in the Astros’ ninth. Jake Diekman made an inauspcious season debut by giving up a single to right by the pesky Altuve, who stopped at third on Brantley’s subsequent double to right. Diekman then loaded the bases with an intentional pass to Bregman.

Left handed hitter Kyle Tucker, with the shift on and the infield drawn in, slapped a hard bounder to Andrus, playing to the right of second base. The ball bounced off the shortstop’s glove and into center field for a two run single and an 8-4 Houston lead.

Althogh Diekman struck out the next two batters, the wheels continued to fall off Oakland’s wagon, JB Windelkin walked Gurriel, moving Bregman and Tucker up a base each. Myles Straw hit what looked like an inning ending grounder to Olson. But the Gold Glove winning first baseman bobbled the ball, and Straw beat his throw to Windelken at first. That was the final score, Houston winning 9-5.

Ryan Pressly closed out the game for the ‘stros with a scoreless ninth. Abreu got the win for his two and a third innings of one hit ball.

The A’s used five pitchers, Luzardo, Smith, Romo, Diekman, and Wendelken, in a losing cause.

The teams will go at it again tomorrow at 1:07. Lance McCullers, Jr. will take the mound for Houston. Col Irvin will make his debut for Oakland.

The A’s are now two games down with, let us hope, 160 to go.