Tag: Sports radio

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: MLB: First Two Decades of the XXI Century — the Winners

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photo from: chron.com

By Amaury Pi-González

By the time Major League teams report to Spring Training in Arizona and Florida, the last two decades will be history. And of all the MLB teams during those past 20 years, nobody has won more hardware than the Boston Red Sox.

1. Boston Red Sox Four World Championship Titles. (2004-2007-2013-2018)

Boston, a city where baseball is more than a game or sport, is like a religion. They have been playing at the oldest park, Fenway Park, since it opened in 1912. Their passionate fans had to endure a wild roller coaster ride during the past two decades. Founded in 1901 as one the American League’s eight charter franchises. When the first pitch is thrown at Fenway Park in 2020, the Red Sox would be playing their 108th season at that same location.

2004: It took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to win their first World Series since 1918.The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. The pitching of Curt Schilling and the hitting of Manny Ramírez and David “Big Papi” Ortíz guided them, but also a great comeback in the American League Championship Series down 3-0 to the New York Yankees. They became the first team in baseball history with such a comeback.

2007: Sensational Japanese pitcher and rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka as well as great performances by also pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon and great hitting, swept the Colorado Rockies in four games. Between 2007 and 2012, they made history when in 2011 they lost a nine-game lead in the Wild Card standing over the course of the final month of the regular season. That was the worst September collapse in the history of Major League Baseball.

2013: Boston Strong. On April 15, they played an early game that started at 11 AM, and beat the Tampa Bay Rays. It was Patriot Day, a traditional day when the Boston Marathon takes place, and not long after the Red Sox victory, the Boston Marathon was shocked by the bombing. The team was motivated to bring another title to that city. They rebuilt in the off-season and rebounded to win 97 games (best in the American League) under first year manager John Farrell, and found themselves back in the Fall Classic. They defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in six games for their eight championship. Next season(2014), they fell like a rock again — from the top of the game to lose 91 games to last place in the AL East.

2018: It took them five years to get to the World Series again.It was coming since 2016 when they rebuilt again and won the division title,but they lost in the division series as well as in 2017. This year was special as they won a franchise-record 108 games during the regular season and had it on”automatic pilot”through the postseason. They only lost three games in three playoff series going to the World Series again as they took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Boston will have a new look in 2020 as free agents All-Stars J.D. Martínez and Mookie Betts might sign with other teams.

2. San Francisco Giants. Three World Championships Titles (2010, 2012, 2014)

2010: It took the Giants 52 years to win their first championship in San Francisco since they moved from New York in 1958. Giants won the Western Division in a close race ending with a 92-70 record, just two games on top of the San Diego Padres. A lot of good stuff happened this year like signings of Free Agents Aubrey Hoff and Mark DeRosa, promoting Buster Posey in May from AAA Fresno (who was the Rookie of the Year), signing free agent Pat Burrell and claiming Cody Ross from the Marlins via waivers. It all culminated with a giver (5) games World Series defeating the Texas Rangers.

2012: They won it all by sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. After winning the West with 94-68 record defeated Atlanta in the Wild Card game the Cincinnati Reds in the Divisional Series and the St. Louis Cardinals in the Championship Series. An excellent pitching staff with Matt Cain,Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelson and a strong bullpen led the way.

2014: Giants won their third World Series in six years when they beat the Kansas City Royals in seven games. Giants fans talked about winning a World Series every two seasons, but the fantasy was just that. Unfortunately, they have been in decline with the attendance altogether since then. The last three seasons they have finished consistently under .500. The 2019 season, the Giants were under three million in attendance for the first time since 2010. The front office has a lot of work to do this off season in a division dominated by the Dodgers with the young and talented up and coming Padres.

3. Each of these teams won two World Championship titles: St. Louis Cardinals 2006 and 2011 and New York Yankees 2000 and 2009.

These teams won one World Series from 2000 to 2019: Arizona Diamondbacks, LA Angels, Florida Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.

By the way, the Red Sox have company with another team that plays in their area. The New England Patriots, who play their games in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 30 miles south of Boston, have made 11 Super Bowl appearances the most of any NFL team, and during the current decade, have won six Super Bowls. Those six Super Bowl wins are the most in the NFL tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Barracuda shoot down Condors in 5-0 shutout win

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photo from: sjbarracuda.com

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It doesn’t matter what time of the day the San Jose Barracuda take the ice to play a game. For the second straight game, they dominated and shutout their opponent in a 5-0 victory over the defending Pacific Division champion Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday morning at SAP Center.

The early start time of 11:00 am was due to the annual Cuda Classroom Day where students from the area’s elementary and middle schools were among the 3,648 spectators inside the arena.

The game featured the first game back for Radim Simek, the San Jose Sharks defenseman who suffered an ACL injury to his knee back on March 12. The Sharks sent him down to the Cuda for an rehab assignment to get him into game shape before he joins the parent club.

“I felt great on the ice,” said the Czech native Simek. “The first period was harder for me. It was eight months without (playing) hockey for me. The second and third period was better and we got a big win.”

San Jose (4-3-0-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first period with the man advantage. Jayden Halbgewachs sent a pass along the left boards over to Joel Kellman. Kellman found a wide open Joachim Blichfeld in between the circles and he sent a quick wrist shot past Condors goalie Dylan Wells into the lower right corner of the net for his first goal of the season at the 18:49 mark.

“Great play by Blichy (Blichfeld) to start it off on the power play,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “Which is starting to click a little bit. It’s starting to finally find some traction.”

Alex True found himself in the right place at the right time as he doubled the ‘Cuda lead just halfway past the second period. Kellman cleared the puck out of the zone just as the penalty to True had expired. It found its way right to True’s stick as he skated in on a breakaway using a backhand shot to beat Wells for his third goal of the season at the 11:56 mark.

Less than three minutes later, Blichfeld scored his second goal of the game when received a pass from Lean Bergmann and wristed in his second goal of the season at the 14:17 mark. Keaton Middleton received the secondary assist on the goal.

Despite out shooting San Jose 19-14 through 40 minutes, Bakersfield (3-5-1-0) found it self trailing 3-0 and not being able to find any answers on their five power play opportunities, including a five-on-three they failed to cash in on.

“I though the goalie (Korenar) kept us in the game early,” said Sommer. “It was similar to the Colorado game where we kind of got opportune goals.”

San Jose put the game away with 6:17 remaining in the third period. Halbgewachs led a two-on-one odd man break with Evan Weinger. Halbgewachs made a spin-o-rama move around Dmitri Samorukov before centering the puck out in front of the crease over to Weinger who one-timed it into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

The ‘Cuda put the icing on the cake less than three minutes later on the power play. Thomas Gregoire fed a cross-ice pass over to Simek who fired a shot toward the middle of the ice where Bergmann camped out and used his stick to tip the puck past Wells for his third goal of the season at the 16:43 mark. With the goal and assist, Bergmann has scored in all four games he’s played with San Jose totalling six points (3G, 3A).

“The penalty kill has been good for us the last few games,” said Sommer. “Last two teams have been 0 for 12 or 0 for 13. That makes a big difference and we’re scoring (goals) five-on-five.”

Korenar (3-2-0) finished the game stopping all 28 shots he faced for his second shutout in a row. Wells finished with 22 saves on 27 shots in the losing cause.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/6 on the power play. Bakersfield was 0/6.

Kellman recorded two assists to extend his point streak (1G 7A=8) to six games.

The Barracuda had five players earn multiple points in the victory.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel up north to Stockton to take on the Heat on Friday, November 1 at 7:00 pm at Stockton Arena.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks come off a 1-4 road trip, host Jets Friday night at the Tank

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Photo credit: @sharks_fanly

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Len in short the Boston Bruins (9-1-2) made short work of the San Jose Sharks (4-8-1) with two goals in the first and three goals in the second period are teams learning about the Sharks weakness crash the net early apply the mercy rule in the third period.

#2 How much does it really show now that the Sharks just might have made a mistake in their off season dealing of Gustav Nyquist, Justin Braun, Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi, just to make room for one player Erik Karlsson is this the kind of criticism that the team is hearing now 13 games into the season and four game below .500.

#3 Talk about the road trip the Sharks lost four of their last five games if you include their loss before the trip that was to Buffalo it would five out of six loses was team unprepared for this trip or they simply lack the talent to win against teams like Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa and Boston?

#4 We talked about Nyquist, Braun, Pavelski, and Donskoi the former players on this team but what about the man they made some cap room for Karlsson how much of the weight of the team is his?

#5 The Winnipeg Jets (6-7-0) come into San Jose suffering a defeat on Tuesday night in Anaheim 7-4. The Jets have won three of their last six games the Sharks have lost three straight going into Friday night but with home ice Jets and Sharks who has the upper hand in this contest?

Len does the Sharks podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Kings remain winless; Warriors host Suns tonight; Astros-Nats all knotted up; plus more

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Photo credit: sacbee.com

On Headline Sports podcast with London:

#1 The Sacramento Kings suffered another loss this time at home to the Denver Nuggets 101-84. The Kings had four players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as the Nuggets kept the pressure up in the second half.

#2 The Golden State Warriors (1-3) finally picked up their first win for 2019-20 against the last place New Orleans Pelicans (0-4) 134-123. The Warriors tip off against the Phoenix Suns tonight at Chase Center. They’ll be looking for their first home win of the season. Is it possible?

#3 The World Series is all knotted up at three games a piece after the Washington Nationals had lost three straight games, came back and won it by five runs 7-2 at Minute Maid Field on Tuesday night. Washington manager Dave Martinez was ejected from the game arguing about a hit ball hit to Astros pitcher Brad Peacock, who threw it to first baseman Yuri Gurriel, whose glove came off the ball hit baserunner Turner and was ruled out after a review play.

#4 The San Francisco 49ers are setting all sorts of numbers with a huge offensive Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in a 51-13 win over the Carolina Panthers. It was the first time since 2003 that the 49ers scored 50 points.

#5 The Oakland Raiders didn’t fare anywhere close as they lost the Houston Texans Sunday after playing five games in six weeks out of town. The Raiders are in second in the AFC West and play their next game at the Oakland Coliseum on Nov. 3rd against the Detroit Lions.

London Marq does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Cuda host Bakersfield in Wednesday matinee at SAP Center

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The Barracuda (3-3-0) are coming off a split in Colorado last Friday and Saturday nights taking the second game. How important is it for the Cuda to get that split going into Wednesday’s game against the Bakersfield Condors (3-4-0)?

#2 The Barracuda not only got the win last Saturday in Colorado (4-3-0) in game 2, but they threw a shutout 4-0 after getting beat on Friday night.

#3 Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (2-2-0) made 31 saves to collect his first shutout of the season and his fifth of his AHL career.

#4 The game last Saturday against the Eagles was the Barracuda’s 150th victory in franchise history.

#5 The Condors are a team that could give the Barracuda fits and their looking to pick up their fifth win. Meanwhile, the Barracuda have won two of their last five games and have home ice for today’s matinee.

Marko does the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Raiders finally return home Sunday; 49ers in Arizona on Thursday Night Football; plus more

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photo sfgate.com: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tyrell Williams (16) is hit by Houston Texans defensive back Keion Crossen (35) after a catch during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Houston.

On the Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 The Oakland Raiders completed their five-game, six-week out of town road trip on Sunday to the tune of a 27-24 loss. The Raiders went 2-3 on the trip and are 3-4 in the AFC West.

#2 The San Francisco 49ers continue to pull it off with another shocker win, 51-13, over the Carolina Panthers. The 49ers remain perfect at 7-0.

#3 The Golden State Warriors are no longer three time World Champions and are the talk of the town but in a bad way are 1-3 and since they lost a core of who they were from last season including Kevin Durant the team is trying to find their way after a win past 0-4 New Orleans.

#4 The Cal Bears continue to be challenged dropping their fourth straight game. Now, Cal is a .500 team and play host to Washington State on Nov. 9th. The Cougars are struggling too. They’ve lost four of their last five.

#5 The San Jose Sharks faced off against Boston and dropped another one 5-1 on Tuesday night and lost their fifth of their last six games winning only one game on this concluded road trip.

Barbara does Headline Sports each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bruins pounce on Sharks in dominating 5-1 win

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Photo credit: @NHLBruins

By Marko Ukalovic

BOSTON, Mass- The San Jose Sharks got into penalty trouble early and often and the Boston Bruins made them pay for their indiscretions in a 5-1 victory — that featured five different goal scorers — on Tuesday evening at TD Garden.

Boston is currently undefeated in their last eight games (6-0-2), while San Jose limps back home licking their wounds after a disappointing 1-3-1 Northeast road trip. Once again the Sharks’ defensive woes were the story of the game as the Bruins had numerous scoring chances during the game.

Boston (9-1-2) drew first blood on the power play just under eight minutes into the first period. A failed clearing attempt by Brenden Dillon found the stick of Patrice Bergeron who faked a shot and sent a cross ice pass over to David Pastrnak who was all alone on the left side when he buried a one-timer past Sharks goalie Martin Jones for his 12th goal of the season, which leads the NHL, at the 7:49 mark.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer challenged the call for offsides, but after the video review, the officials upheld the goal, which resulted in a minor penalty and second consecutive power play opportunity, which the Sharks were able to kill off.

The Bruins capitalized on their third power play opportunity late in the opening 20 minutes. Brad Marchand sent the puck back up to the point where Torey Krug touched pass it over to the David Krejci, who wristed a one-timer underneath the arm of Jones for his first goal of the season at the 17:51 mark.

“We’re definitely going through a tough time right now,” said captain Logan Couture. “You gotta go through some adversity at some point in the year. It’s been too long to stay in the rut. We gotta respond at some point.”

San Jose (4-8-1) opened up the second period with a power play goal of their own to cut the deficit to 2-1. After a faceoff win, Erik Karlsson fed the puck over to Brent Burns  from the point. Burns made one move and lasered a wrist shot under the arm of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask for his third goal of the season at the 1:31 mark. Burns leads the Sharks with 13 points.

Boston regained their two-goal lead seconds after a tripping penalty to Tomas Hertl had ended. Krejci gathered the puck after a deflection and sent a shot-pass over to Charlie Coyle, former Sharks draft pick, who had inside position on Marc-Edouard Vlasic and  knocked it home from the crease for his second goal of the season less than four minutes later at the 5:21 mark.

Chris Wagner took advantage off a turnover by Tim Heed to give the Bruins a 4-1 lead. Heed’s attempted cross ice pass heeled off his stick over to of David Backes, who quickly outletted a pass up the ice that sent Wagner on a breakaway. Wagner made one move before sliding the puck past Jones’ five-hole for his first goal of the season at the 8:31 mark.

“It was a game of mistakes,” said Burns. “It’s tough (to get the offense going) when you’re playing in your own zone a lot against a team like that. They’re going to capitalize (on their chances).”

Boston scored its third unanswered goal of the period when Wagner won a battle along the boards and sent the puck back up to the point where Brando Carlo wristed a knuckle-ball of a shot that appeared to glance off a Sharks’ body and went over the left shoulder of Jones for his second goal of the season at the 16:50 mark.

Despite the goals scored, it could have been much worse in the second period if not for some incredible saves from Jones in a four-minute stretch where he faced numerous odd man rushes from Boston thanks to the pourous San Jose defense. Boston outshot San Jose 18-6 in the middle frame.

Things got chippy in the third period when Evander Kane went up high on Charlie McAvoy with Zdeno Chara going after Kane and Dillion coming to the aid of his forward. Both Chara and Dillon received minor penalties for roughing. Fights from Barclay Goodrow/Brett Richie and Couture/Marchand ended their nights early as they were all given game misconduct penalties after their scrums.

“We’re a little fragile right now,” said DeBoer. “You can see that. You’re at the end of a road trip and you take eight minor penalties, five in the first two periods, against the best power play in the league. We have to be smarter in helping ourselves.”

Rask finished the game with 16 saves on 17 shots to earn the win. Jones, who should have received a purple heart medal after the game, stopped 36 of the 41 shots he faced in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 1/3 on the power play. Boston was 2/8. The Sharks came into the game with the number one penalty kill in the NHL and had killed off 14 penalty kills in a row before Pastrnak’s power play goal.

Bergeron recorded his 499th assist of his NHL career.

It was the first game in NHL history that featured three players (Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Chara) with an over combined 4700 career games played.

UP NEXT: The Sharks return home to host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, November 1 at 7:30 pm in the SAP Center.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with David Zizmor: No one is doubting the 49ers now

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photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa runs with the ball after making an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019.

On the 49ers podcast with David:

#1 No doubt that the 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense killed it on Sunday 51-13 against Carolina Panthers to improve to 7-0.

#2 The defense just handled the Panthers allowing the only 13 points. It got to point where the 49ers bench had to get into the game.

David Zizmor does the 49ers podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Nationals come into Game 6 with backs to the wall

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photo from chron.com: Houston Astros left fielder Michael Brantley (23) is high-fived by members of the Astros coaching staff after the team’s 7-1 win of Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019.

On Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 With the Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer out as a starter for Game 6 on Tuesday night in Houston and the Astros leading the series 3-2, the Nationals have their backs to the wall.

#2 In Game 2, the Nationals took a 12-3 win to take a 2-0 lead. At that point, it looked like the Nats could win the whole thing, but obviously, it would be almost miraculous if they could even keep up with Houston.

#3 On Sunday night, the Astros trounced the Nationals for a 7-1 to take the current 3-2 lead, and in Sunday’s game, the Nationals simply could not get any offense working to make any noise.

#4 The Houston Astros are granting permission to bench coach Joe Espada to talk with the San Francisco Giants for a second interview for the manager’s job. Espada met with Giants operations manager Farhan Zaidi and CEO Larry Baer for 4 1/2 hours last Thursday and at great length on Monday.

#5 The Astros became the fourth team in pro sports to lead in road victories. They’re undefeated in the series going 3-0 in Washington.

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

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Home floor no help for Sac, Nuggets hand Kings third loss, 101-94

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Photo credit: denverstiffs.com

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 Kings take a tough loss, their third straight, to remain 0-4. They did have a chance against Denver, but just couldn’t seal the deal.

#2 For the Nuggets, their top three scorers — Jamal Murray 18, Gary Harris 17 and Will Barton 13 — led the way for Denver.

#3 Close game in the first half, but the Kings struggled in the second half to seal the deal. Was the second half a matter of shutting off Denver’s offense or the Kings couldn’t quite get past Denver going down the stretch?

#4 Four guys in double figures for the Kings. Richaun Holmes 24, De’Aaron Fox 20, Harrison Barnes and Nemanja Bjelica — both with 12 points — good numbers. How did the Kings come up short?

#5 Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Hornets (1-3) come calling at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday as the Kings (0-4) look to get their first win of the season.

Charlie O does the Kings podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com