Pittsburgh Pirates hitter Brian Reynolds (10) strikes out swinging with the bases loaded against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the seventh inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri Apr 26, 2024 (AP News photo)
Friday, April 26th, 2024
By Troy Ewers
Fresh from a rare home off day in the middle of a homestand, the San Francisco Giants have reached the final series of their longest homestand of the year as they welcome in the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games beginning Friday night.
For San Francisco pitcher Kyle Harrison took the hill for his sixth start of the season pitched a gem shutting out the Pirates in a 3-0 win in front of a crowd of 37,110 at Oracle Park. Improved from his shortest outing of the season (4.0ip) vs. Arizona last Saturday.
Harrison facing the Pirates for the first time in his career…not one player on the Pirates has logged a plate appearance against Harrison in the regular season. Quinn Priester (0-1, 8.31) started for Pittsburgh pitching six innings no runs, three hits and seven strikeouts.
Harrison went six innings, five innings, seven strikeouts and no runs. Preister also went six innings, three innings, one walk, six strikeouts, and no runs as well.
For the duration of the game, it was a scoreless game with at various times both teams scaring the pitchers, but to no avail.
Pittsburgh had the bases loaded in both the seventh and ninth innings, but could not score. Brian Reynolds hit into a double play against Giants closer Camilo Doval (2-0) with the bases full and one out in the ninth.
In the ninth Michael Conforto walked and Matt Chapman singled to begin the inning off reliever David Bednar (1-2). Bailey then knocked a 3-run homer to right field. 3-0 Giants win!!! “One thing this year I tried to build was just my confidence at the plate,” Bailey said. “I felt like I proved to myself last year that I could do it at this level, even with the struggles at the end. So that was my biggest thing this year was just going up confident every time no matter what.” Time of game was 2:23.
Next game for this series is Saturday night at 6:05pm PDT April 27th. Jordan Hicks (2-0, 1.61 ERA) was set to pitch for the Giants in the second game of the series against Martín Pérez (1-1, 3.45 ERA).
Oakland A’s catcher Shea Langeliers (left) congratulates closer Mason Miller after retiring the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the tenth at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Fri Apr 26, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
In yet another electric performance on the mound Mason Miller finished off this game in the tenth inning for the 3-2 Oakland A’s (11-16) win over the first place Baltimore Orioles (16-9) at Camden Yards. The A’s now are three games off the pace in the American League West. This young team has been incredibly competitive lately. They did have the bases loaded in the ninth inning but got the job done in the tenth. In this game the team put together some at-bats in a great outing.
Game recap: Oakland took the early lead 1-0 in first inning when Shea Langeliers hit a solo home run. Baltimore tied up the game in the third inning 1-1. Ryan OHearn singled Gunnar Henderson home for the tie. Baltimore would take the lead in the fourth inning when Cedric Mullins homered to right and the 2-1 score would hold going into the top of the ninth inning.
Oakland pitcher Ross Stripling went 5.2 innings allowing 6 hits, 2 runs with 3 strikeouts. Going into the ninth inning, the Orioles had not gotten another hit in the game. TJ McFarland relieved Stripling for less than an inning and Mitch Spence would take over on the mound in the seventh inning going through the ninth inning.
With two runners on base and no outs in the ninth inning the A’s tied up the game 2-2. Abraham Toro doubled Brent Rooker home. There was a tight play at home plate and for the moment Oakland had a 3-2 lead but after review, JJ Bleday was called out and the tie remained.
With one out, Oakland had the bases loaded when both Darell Hernaiz and Lawrence Butler walked and the A’s were 90 feet from the lead. Ryan Noda came to the plate with two outs. Noda popped out and the A’s missed a golden opportunity leaving three runners stranded. The A’s Mitch Spence had a perfect ninth inning with three up and three down and this game went into extra innings.
In the tenth inning Shea Langeliers grounded into a fielder’s choice to third and Ryan Noda was out. With two outs Brent Rooker doubled Langeliers home and the A’s had taken the lead 3-2 and there would be no review on this one.
JJ Bleday struck out for the third out and Oakland was three outs away from a win in the first game of this series. Mason Miller would take the mound looking to try and lock this game down. It was three up and three down for Miller finishing the game with a 102 mph bullet and Oakland had won the game 3-2. This was Miller’s seventh save of the season.
Oakland finished the game with seven hits and the A’s bullpen kept the Baltimore offense at bay only allowing the six hits.
Game notes: Friday evening the A’s traveled from New York to Baltimore to take on the Orioles. Oakland is coming off a very nice competitive series against the New York Yankees. The A’s split the series with New York winning the first and fourth game of the series. Game two in that series was a 4-3 score and was anybody’s game but it went to the Yankees.
The A’s got some great pitching and saw quite a few home runs in that series. Friday night, A’s pitcher Ross Stripling went 5.2 innings gave up six hits and two runs and the Orioles Corbin Burnes went six innings giving up three hits and one earned run to open Friday’s series. The Orioles are in second place in a very tough AL East division.
Game Two against the Orioles will get underway Saturday . First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM. JP Sears will take the mound for Oakland with a (1-1, 3.38 ERA). Cole Irvin will get the nod for Baltimore with a (1-1, 4.64 ERA).
An Emerson College poll show that 52 percent of Nevadans would vote against public funding for an Las Vegas A’s ballpark at the Tropicana in Las Vegas as 32% would vote to support it. If approved by the Nevada Court a petition drive in four Nevada districts would kill the SB1 bill to fund $380 million for a Las Vegas ballpark. (image from CBS 8 KLAS Las Vegas)
On the Oakland A’s Relocation podcast with Daniel:
#1 It’s been since April 9th when Schools over Stadiums had went to the Nevada Supreme Court to appeal for language that clears up what the court deemed “legally deficient” and “confusing.” Here it is Fri Apr 26th and the court still has not come up with decision whether or not to deny or accept language for the petition language against SB1 state funding for a Las Vegas A’s ballpark at the Tropicana worth $380 million.
#2 There are now 34 days that’s two months to get over 102,000 signatures split up amongst four districts in Nevada primarily in Cook County and Las Vegas to stop SB1. Some say the court is delaying and burning off precious time before they approve the petition language as the petitions are due and signed by June 1st 2024.
#3 The decision rests with a seven member panel on the Nevada Supreme Court. With the State of Nevada backing this funding how much pressure does the Nevada Supreme Court panel face in not approving the petition language and forcing Schools over Stadiums to fold up?
#4 Pressure is also mounting against the Supreme Court to not approve the petition language in favor of Schools over Stadiums from the unions who are seeing the Tropicana project as jobs for contractors and union employees at the hotels as well as laborers. The panel on the other hand has not made a decision one way or the other because delaying would shorten the time for Schools over Stadiums to gather signatures.
#5 Chris Daly, deputy executive director of government relations for the NSEA who is fighting to get the approval for the petitions to get on the streets and signed said that time is running out. A recent poll shows that Nevadans would vote against public funding of the A’s ballpark at 52% and those in favor are at 32%. If this initiative ever made the ballot it would stop the public funding of the A’s Tropicana ballpark.
#6 Strong Public Schools another Nevada Schools organization has filed a lawsuit against the State of Nevada, the Governor of Nevada and the Secretary of State of Nevada which required a majority two thirds rather than the standard majority vote. The standard majority vote is what passed SB1 and Strong Public Schools said that vote was unconstitutional.
New York Yankees Aaron Judge is caught in a rundown by the Oakland A’s second baseman Max Schuemann in the bottom of the second inning at Yankee Stadium in New York on Thu Apr 25, 2024 (AP News photo)
On the A’s podcast with Jeremiah:
#1 Oakland A’s closer Mason Miller retired four Yankee hitters in including Yankee slugger Aaron Judge to shut the door on the Yankees for a 3-1 win in New York on Thursday night.
#2 The A’s got offensive help when Nick Allen and Tyler Nevin both slugged third inning home runs off of Yankee starter Nestor Cortes in a three run inning that turned out to be all the A’s runs they needed for the win.
#3 One thing that can be said about Miller he can heave he throws over 100 MPH and struck out Jose Trevino the his first batter he faced when he came into relieve TJ McFarland.
#4 Miller pitched his eighth consecutive scoreless inning of relief. Miller has put out 31 of his last 38 hitters and has struck out 22 of those 38 batters. Miller is really putting up some Fireman of the Year numbers at this stage of the season.
#5 The A’s open up a series in Baltimore on Friday night. The A’s will start RHP Ross Stripling (0-5 ERA 5.34) whose looking for his first win. The Orioles will start RHP Corbin Burnes (3-0 ERA 2.76). Like the Yankees the Orioles are hot. They’re in first place in the AL East 16-8, they have won and have won eight of their last ten games.
Oakland A’s starter Alex Wood had one his best outings of the season pitching five plus innings giving up eight hits and one run against the first place New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thu Apr 25, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Jessica Kwong
NEW YORK.—The Oakland Athletics’ Mason Miller retired Aaron Judge with his first four-out save and the visitors defeated the New York Yankees 3-1 on Thursday night, splitting the four-game series in the Bronx.
Winning the final game of the series at Yankee Stadium was a big confidence booster for the A’s, who were swept by the Cleveland Guardians to start their 10-game road trip and fell in the last two contests against the Yankees.
“It’s a great bounceback series for us. We knew going into this road trip, Cleveland, New York and now going now to Baltimore, that we had a challenge in front of us with some good baseball teams,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “After getting swept by Cleveland and coming here, to split a series with the AL East division leaders right now, it’s a good sign.”
In the second inning, Jose Trevino hit a home run on a fly ball to right field to put the Yankees up 1-0.
The A’s answered back in the third inning, as Nick Allen hit a homer on a fly ball to left field and tied the game. Then Tyler Nevin hit a home run on a fly ball to right field and Darnell Hernaiz scored, giving Oakland a 3-1 lead.
A’s starting pitcher Alex Wood earned his first win of the season after allowing one earned run in a season-high 5.2 innings pitched. He triumphed in bases loaded situations in the first and fourth innings.
“This game could’ve gotten out of hand in the first inning, especially against a lineup like that… so it just felt good,” said Wood.
In the eighth inning, A’s right-handed pitcher Mason Miller relieved TJ McFarland with a runner on first base and struck out Jose Trevino on a fastball. In the ninth, Miller got Oswaldo Cabrera out on a third strike, allowed a single to Anthony Volpe, and struck out Juan Soto. Judge flied to right on a slider and Miller notched his sixth save of the season.
“The kid is impressive. He’s a power pitcher but he’s got a good slider to go with it and he showed that tonight a couple times,” Kotsay said of Miller. “He’s really embraced this role, he loves it, and you can see just the energy when he comes into the game. This is the first time we’ve kind of used him in that four-out situation and for him to respond the way he did is a good sign.”
Miller, who averaged 100.8 mph with eight fastballs, affirmed that the fastball and slider combination is his go-to.
“Yeah that’s my mix,” he said. “Those are the pitches I’m going to come to the guys with.”
The A’s (10-16) continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles starting on Friday at Camden Yards. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. PT. Starting pitchers for the Oakland A’s RHP Ross Stripling (0-5 ERA 5.34) for the Orioles RHP Corbin Burnes (3-0 ERA 2.76).
“We’ve got a task in front of us with going to Baltimore now,” Kotsay said.
Mexican City Series 2024 between the Colorado Rockies vs. Houston Astros in Mexico City on Apr 27 and 28, 2024 (MLB.com image)
Béisbol de Grandes Ligas! The México City Series
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
Major League Baseball continues flirting with México, playing regular season games down México way. This weekend, the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies will play two games in the Mexico City Series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú with 20,062 capacity. This will mark the seventh time MLB plays a regular season series in Mexican territory.
It will be the first international game for the Houston Astros since 2019. The Rockies also played in Monterrey during 2019 but in Spring Training. México City’s population is over 9 million, and the metro area population of México City is over 22,000,000 people. If baseball is smart “if” they should consider México City for expansion.
These are the potential cities that have shown interest for an expansion team, some are being considered.
Austin/San Antonio, Texas
Charlotte, North Carolina
México City, México
Montréal, Canada
Nashville, Tennessee
Orlando, Florida
Portland, Oregon
Raleigh, North Carolina
Salt Lake City, Utah
San José, CA
Coverage for the US. MLB TV (Saturday) and ESPN TV (Sunday)
Major League Baseball will expand from 30 to 32 teams in the coming years. The only uncertainties are when the process will formally begin and when the two new franchises to be named will begin play. The last time MLB expanded, ahead of the 1998 season, the Tampa Bay then-Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks each had to pay $130 million to join the club. We feel confident the price has gone way up.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play voice for the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
This is the week to tell Tara VanDerveer stories. The unquestioned titan of college basketball coaching retired after 38 seasons at Stanford with an all-time record 1,216 wins overall. VanDerveer arrived on the Farm in 1985 and turned a fledgling program into a national powerhouse in her first five seasons, then never took her foot off the gas. Great players, national title contending teams, and big crowds became the norm, and I watched it all unfold in person.
I have Tara VanDerveer stories on demand for my most qualified audiences. This is easily the best one.
On March 30, 2009, VanDerveer and her Cardinal team were riding a 19-game win streak, just another sign that VanDerveer had recaptured the magic that disappeared when her teams went an unprecedented decade without a Final Four appearance, a dry spell that ended a year earlier in March 2008. Led by 6’4” Jayne Appel, the Cardinal were better known for their supporting cast than Appel, who dominated other Pac-12 post players without putting up eye-popping numbers or drawing attention she deserved as the best player on the West Coast’s best team.
Ironically, the best example of Appel’s flying under the radar came earlier that season in Hawaii when Stanford routed Iowa State–their March 30th opponent–by 38 points with Appel scoring just six. For Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly that rough loss was the impetus for his strategy in the rematch: leave Appel one-on-one in the paint and implore his Cyclones to clamp down on the numerous Stanford 3-point threats.
“Tara told me she was pretty sure they weren’t going to double me, so we knew immediately that we were going to go inside,” Appel said of the approach heading into the Elite Eight rematch. “That was our game plan from the very beginning.”
On March 30, 2009 my daughter, Sydney Beau, was a precocious 18-month-old child who had already grown accustomed to her dad’s many day adventures, both inside and outside of the daily realm of a working parent. With mommy Sysha busy after her senior year of college at the Academy of Art, Sydney and I bonded through my ability to bring her with me during the work day, as I filed—and served–legal papers for a number of San Francisco attorneys.
All weekend leading to Monday the 30th I knew the 6pm tip time to see Iowa State-Stanford in Berkeley (of all places!) would be challenging after a 9am-5pm work day. And I knew that Sydney Beau would be along for the ride, and the adventure. Our key, third component—Syd’s do-it-all stroller—would miss the trip to Berkeley due to crowded, rush hour BART trains that would undoubtedly test Sydney and daddy’s patience.
I attended my first women’s basketball game in 1980. Within a month I saw Machine Gun Molly Bolin of the WBL, Nancy Lieberman and USF’s All-American Mary Hile play in person. To see both games, I traveled fewer than 15 blocks from my house. It was as if the women’s game had come by my house looking for me. At San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium, Bolin wowed me with her pull-up jumpers in transition that seem to settle in the rim as if she had the basketball on a tether. In that 1980 season, Bolin would establish records for points in a game (55) and average points per game (32.8). Just 23 years old, Bolin had polish on her game that few of her competitors could match.
Lieberman, a college player at Old Dominion, was better known than Bolin. She developed quite a reputation in Queens for playing with the boys and schooling them as a teenager on the New York hard courts. It wasn’t until she was a high school sophomore that she settled into competing against other high school girls and teams she would dominate. Lieberman’s story appeared in the Chronicle in the days leading to her appearance at USF to face Hile and the Lady Dons. I read it and knew I had to get parental clearance to ride the bus alone at night—maybe for the first time–and see the game.
Hile is simply the greatest women’s basketball player ever with a San Francisco background. As a prep, she developed as a Jill of all trades, playing four sports at her Sunnyvale, CA high school. But once she landed at the University of San Francisco, Hile settled into rewriting the record book by scoring 2,324 points and grabbing 1,602 rebounds in her four years on the Hilltop. Her records still stand, and her point total is greater than Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and Bill Cartwright, the better-known men basketballers that played at USF.
Unfortunately, January 9, 1980 didn’t live up to the billing. With Lieberman and future Olympian Anne Donovan forming an incredible duo, USF was left by the side of the road on its biggest night of women’s hoops ever. The Monarchs ran away and hid, winning 70-46. But I was forever changed, wanting to see what great women’s players I could run into next.
Five years after Old Dominion tore up San Francisco, coach Wendy Larry and the Monarchs were still at it. Led by Medina Dixon and Tracy Claxton, Old Dominion captured the 1985 NCAA Tournament, winning 70-65 over Georgia in the championship game. Along the way to the title, ODU got past Ohio State in the East Regional final, winning 72-68. That would be the last game Tara VanDerveer would coach at Ohio State. In a stroke of genius, athletic director Andy Geiger convinced the 31-year old VanDerveer to leave OSU for Stanford, which at the time was coming off a 9-19 season and playing in front of 300 fans a night.
“My dad told me I was crazy to take this job. He said, ‘You’ll be unemployed and coming home to live with us in three months’,” VanDerveer recalled.
VanDerveer captured her first national title at Stanford, winning it all in 1990. Then again in 1992, Stanford was crowned champion. VanDerveer was well on her way to turning a three-month, crash-and-burn job into the most superior 38 years of college coaching the sport had ever seen.
Stanford’s 2007-08 team didn’t come out of nowhere. I know. Now 22 seasons into my love affair with VanDerveer’s basketball dynasty, I’d already seen more great players than I could ever imagine. Starting with Jennifer Azzi, VanDerveer rolled out All-Americans seemingly two and three at a time. I saw Val Whiting, Kate Starbird, Rachel Hemmer, Olympia Scott, Kristin Folkl, Lindsey Yamasaki, Nicole Powell and Candice Wiggins all play in person at Maples Pavilion, right in the middle of Stanford’s sprawling campus. I caught the train, drove, and rode my bike to Palo Alto. By any means I had to see Stanford play and VanDerveer coach. To this day, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Stanford lose in person. Maybe once? I’m not sure, but for the purposes of this story, I’ve been to 65 Stanford games in person, and seen them win every time. Amazing.
That 2008 team featuring Wiggins, VanDerveer’s self-proclaimed favorite player to ever receive her coaching, broke the dry spell as Stanford qualified for the Final Four. But local high school McDonald’s All-American Appel, Kayla Pedersen, Ros Gold-Onwude, Jillian Harmon and Jeanette Pohlen were also on that team as non-seniors. Subsequently, Stanford started the 2008-09 under the hardly mysterious, absolutely attention-grabbing moniker of “loaded.”
Sydney and I were destined to be a sports consuming father-daughter duo from the start. My father, Morris Jr. and I bonded over our frequent attendance at Stanford and Cal football games, Giants games, and the A’s. In fact, my father took me to four World Series games between 1972 and 1974 at the Coliseum and in Los Angeles for the first A’s-Dodgers World Series.
Sydney had been to games previously, but on both occasions with Sysha with us as well. Too young to actually watch a game, Syd was content to sit on one of our laps, watch, and listen to all that was going on around her. While oblivious, my child was already on the fast track, having “watched” Stanford play at home in the NCAA Tournament (March 24, 2008 vs. UTEP) and experienced Sacred Heart Cathedral’s No. 1 nationally-ranked high school girls team (January 2008) in their home gym.
I can’t say that Sydney ever became a fan of the game. Now 16 years old, she’s a surfer, a swimmer, and a student. My deceased father would scratch his head knowing that his grandchild’s high school football team won a California state championship, played 15 games, and she didn’t attend any of them. But ultimately, none of that matters. She’s our child, we love her and support any healthy activities she wants to pursue.
Not only did Tara VanDerveer predict that Iowa State would leave Jayne Appel one-on-one in the paint on March 30, 2009, she also felt the result would be a 50-point night for her star player with the game being played just 19 miles from Appel’s high school in Concord, CA. Drake’s Lori Baumann holds the record for individual scoring in the NCAA Tournament with a 50-point game in 1982, and Sheryl Swoopes is second with a 47-point game in 1993. The normally tight-lipped VanDerveer kept tight-lipped, mentioning her forecast only to Appel minutes before the game tipped off. I walked into the arena that night, unaware of what the Stanford sideline had in store. An NCAA-record scoring performance in an Elite Eight game was a lot, even in 2009, some 15 years prior to the Caitlin Clark supernova striking planet Earth.
But almost immediately, that’s exactly what transpired. Appel scored 27 points in the first half, made 13 shots, missed just six, and outscored Iowa State single handedly. In her junior year season, Big Jayne was injury free, in top condition, and way too nimble with her feet, arms, and hands to be contained. An All-American on her best night, she blew past her previous high that season of 29 points by scoring the first six points of the second half, and the rout was on. With 46 points, 16 rebounds in 35 minutes on the floor, Appel settled into third place on the Tournament game scoring list, a spot she still holds today.
“I wasn’t concerned about how many points [Appel] scored,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “Our plan was to make 10 or 11 3’s, and take away the 3 from them.”
“I came into the gym with the mind-set that I wasn’t going to leave without the net,” Appel said of the 74-53 victory. “We weren’t going to leave here without cutting down those nets. It just wasn’t an option.”
Sydney didn’t know Jayne Appel was having a big night. Sydney was having a big night. First of all, she looked great in a billowing, red dress with tights underneath. As soon as we arrived at the game (fashionably 20 minutes late), the compliments started, as my daughter loved being around 9,000 other people, many realizing what a dashing 18-month old child could be. In exchange for the compliments, she put on a show, prancing in several directions at once, unconstrained by me or her stroller. I knew my daughter, I could keep an eye on her and the game. So I thought…
Once we settled into an area of the bleachers behind one of the baskets that allowed us appropriate space for a daddy-daughter combo, I was immediately on alert. Sydney, I later found out, had napped much of the day while I was at work. That following a big breakfast, and preceding her entrance at the game. My beautiful daughter started climbing in and through the bleachers at a furious pace, not caring about messing up her clothes.
Quickly, I positioned myself to grab her at any moment. People were watching me, and both of us, as I played a dangerous game of sports fan and parent trying to prevent my child from falling through the bleachers into the metal supports and hardwood below. I’m sure some watching thought I was foolish enough to let Sydney harm herself.
I wasn’t that foolish.
While Appel racked up the points, I just stopped watching. Thanks to Tara VanDerveer, I’d never been at a Stanford game and worried about them possibly losing. So the crowd, heavily populated with Stanford fans, let me know that things were going well, and I just focused on Sydney.
So on the night Big Jayne Appel scored a Stanford-record 46 points, I probably saw her score 18. I’m okay with that, I got a lifetime memory instead.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell (left) departs from the mound after being lifted in the top of the fifth inning by manager Bob Melvin (right) against the Arizona Diamondback on Fri Apr 19, 2024 at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)
On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael:
#1 Michael, pitcher Blake Snell had been rocked in his last two outings in Tampa Bay on Apr 14 giving up six hits and seven runs and on Apr 19 against Arizona giving up nine hits and five runs. He’s on the 15 day IL for an adductor strain. Watching him in his last start was there any indication to you he was in any kind of physical struggle or discomfort?
#2 Snell comes to the Giants on a two year deal for $62 million. He was the touted free agent in the off season and during spring training signing with the Giants during pre season. It was said that another MLB team didn’t want Snell and he was damaged goods. How much confidence did general manager Pete Putila have in signing a healthy Snell?
#3 In Wednesday’s matinee the New York Mets avoided getting swept by the Giants with a 8-2 win. After Snell’s scratch it turned into a bullpen game with Ryan Walker getting the start after pitching one inning of shutout ball he was lifted for Sean Hjelle who gave up two hits and three earned runs and reliever Landen Roupp faired no better giving up three hits and three earned runs in one and one third innings of work.
#4 The Mets Francisco Lindor went yard twice against Giant pitching with two home runs and helped the Mets end their three game losing streak. The Mets had lost the first two games of the three game series.
#5 The Pittsburgh Pirates come calling for the first of three games against the Giants on Friday night at Oracle Park. The Pirates are coming off a series with the Milwaukee Brewers and will start Quinn Priester (0-1 ERA 8.31) for the Giants Kyle Harrison 2-1 (ERA 5.00) for a 7:15pm PDT first pitch.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (left) and Juan Soto (right) go for a forearm bash after Judge’s home run off the Oakland A’s in the first inning at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wed Apr 24, 2024 (AP News photo)
On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry F:
#1 Jerry, things just didn’t go right for the Oakland A’s at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night. Yankee slugger Aaron Judge hit a home run right after the A’s pitcher starter Joe Boyle was called for a balk.
#2 The Yankees further added to their total with home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Juan Soto. It was like Boyle was pitching to a complete All Star line up and couldn’t put anyone away.
#3 Boyle had been called for a quick pitch after after it looked like Judge had took strike three. Boyle was hit for the balk and Judge got another chance to take a swing which he did on the next pitch it was a home run.
#4 More bad news for the A’s their second baseman Zack Gelof had to be removed from the starting line up due to abdominal soreness . Gelof had an MRI which show a strained oblique and most likely Gelof is headed to the IL.
#5 Starting pitchers for Thursday’s A’s and Yankees battle in the fourth and final game of this series. For Oakland, Alex Wood (0-2 ERA 7.89) going for New York Nestor Cortez (1-1 ERA 3.41) first pitch 4:05pm PDT.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was tossed out in the first inning after a fan behind the Yankees dugout shouted something to plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt at Yankees Stadium in New York on Mon Apr 22, 2024 (AP News photo)
On Headline Sports with Jessica Kwong:
#1 Jessica, on New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s ejection on Monday. Boone had just come out of the dugout to question plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt about a ball that hit Oakland A’s hitter Esteury Ruiz’s foot and on a swing. Once back in the dugout Wendelstedt had warned Boone about saying anything further when a fan said something and Wendelsted threw out Boone who said nothing.
#2 The A’s who were the worst team in baseball last season has improved slightly. They won two straight series which didn’t happen much last season. They did get swept by the Cleveland Guardians who are the hottest team in baseball. But the A’s surprised everybody with a 2-0 shutout win over the Yankees on Monday, they maintain third place and are three games back in the AL West.
#3 The Chicago White Sox said before the season that they would be an improved team and they would compete but they have lost nine of their last ten games and are dead last in the American League Central winning on three games so far this season against 19 loses. The Sox have an atrocious road record winning only one game against 12 loses.
#4 Turning to the NBA, Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James had lots to say about the officiating after last Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a game 2 loss 101-99. LeBron was called for having his foot on the three point line and got only two points losing the three points in a close game. He also was called out of bounds in a game against the Golden State Warriors. LeBron questioned why the NBA has a replay center for when calls are going to stand like those ones?
#5 Jessica, the subject was raised about the Golden State Warriors possibly trading Stephen Curry. The Warriors who lost a play in game against the Sacramento Kings to be eliminated from post season. Curry scored only 22 points and teammate Klay Thompson had 0 points. The Warriors might even consider trading Draymond Green. It looks like Golden State is going to break up that old gang and try and get younger.
Sports Radio Service 