Tag: Toronto Blue Jays

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: How does Holland get in front of the media? It should’ve been kept in house

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dallasnews.com photo: Starting pitcher Derek Holland #45 of the San Francisco Giants throws in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on May 8, 2019 in Denver, Colorado.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 Giants pitcher Derek Holland said he faked an injury, which the Giants countered by saying Holland had a left bruised index finger. The Giants say medical records back up the injury while Holland was listed as injured and demoted from a starter to the bullpen.

#2 Holland was listed with the injured bruised finger and sat last month, Holland has insisted he was not injured and the Giants general manager Farhan Zaidi said, “The guy gets hit by a truck, he can’t walk out on the field. That I guess an unequivocal injury, but there’s a lot of gray area beyond that.”

#3 Holland, no doubt, was disappointed that he was forced to sit for the April 29th injury, and said there was nothing wrong with him and he really wanted to pitch.

#4 Holland says the front office doesn’t know what their doing with the exception for Giants manager Bruce Bochy. Holland said, “I did fake an injury. I’m not happy about that. But at the end of the day I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do.”

#5 Morris has the Giants day off report tonight. On Tuesday, the Giants host the Toronto Blue Jays for two games. The Jays will start Trent Thornton (0-4, 5.06 ERA) and the Giants will start Tyler Beede (0-1,18.69 ERA). Both pitchers are looking for their first win of the season.

Morris does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s just can’t do anything with Jays on the verge of getting swept

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sfexaminer.com file photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels on June 15, 2018. He will be the starting pitcher against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman:

#1 After the Toronto Blue Jays were swept in a brief two-game series by the visiting San Francisco Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Oakland A’s came into Rogers Centre and are on the cusp of getting swept in a three-game series.

#2 The A’s faced the Jays starter Aaron Sanchez on Saturday and the A’s, who have a lot of pop in their lineup, were lucky to even get a pop up off Sanchez, who gave up only a run in five innings against the A’s.

#3 The A’s have a 6-12 record against right-handed pitching as opposed to 8-3 against lefties. This is something no doubt that the Jays have studied film on and have dominated the A’s in their meetings this season.

#4 Former Oakland A’s Eric Sogard scored a run after hitting a double on Saturday and has hit safely in all nine games he has played for the Jays. Sogard is hitting .400, three doubles and two home runs.

#5 It’s the A’s last chance to snap the Jays’ five-game winning streak against them as they will start pitcher Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79 ERA) for Toronto.

Joey does the A’s podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The A’s want out of Canada as the Blue Jays win again on Saturday 7-1

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Tor 4-27
Graphic: @BlueJays

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics have played five games against the Toronto Blue Jays over the past nine days. The Blue Jays have defeated the A’s in all five of those games. They did it again on Saturday afternoon in Toronto by downing Oakland 7-1.

This is just the complete flipside of what happened between the teams in 2018. Last season the A’s won all seven games they played with the Blue Jays.

One of the biggest problems for the A’s on Saturday was Blue Jays starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez who is a right-hander. The Oakland lineup is loaded with right-handed batters, and they have struggled versus right-handed pitching. The Athletics are 6-12 versus right-handed starting pitchers so far this season. They are 8-3 when facing left-handed starters.

Tor Sanchez TSN
Aaron Sanchez Photo: @TSN

Aaron Sanchez made the start for Toronto and worked 5.0 innings in recording his third win of the year. He gave up one run (unearned) on just two hits. Sanchez walked four and struck out four. With his strong performance against the A’s, Sanchez lowered his ERA to 2.32.

Toronto Focus

  • Former Oakland Athletic Eric Sogard scored the first run of the game after he doubled to lead off the game. Sogard has hit safely in all nine of the games he has played for the Blue Jays this season. He is currently batting .400 with three doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI.
  • Brandon Drury went 3-for-3 on Saturday just as he did last Saturday in Oakland. He hit two singles, a double, walked, and scored a run.
  • Randal Grichuk hit two singles, doubled, and drove in two runs as he went 3-for-5 on Saturday afternoon.
  • Catcher Danny Jansen doubled and added an RBI on a Sacrifice Fly.

Athletics Spotlight

Tor Anderson
Brett Anderson Photo: @Athletics
  • Starting pitcher Brett Anderson allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in his 4.1 innings of work. He walked two and struck out two Blue Jays.
  • Ramon Laureano had his sixth multi-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled against Toronto on Saturday.
  • Matt Chapman hit a double in the eighth inning of the game. Chapman entered the game tied for 10th in the American League with 13 extra-base hits.

Up Next

The Oakland A’s will try to keep the Blue Jays from completing the season sweep on Sunday by sending RHP Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to face RHP Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 10:07 PDT.

Vlad Jr. Debuts, Jays Walk Off Over A’s 4-2

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

Photo credit: @Cut4

By Matthew Harrington

All eyes were on the A’s Friday night as they took on the Toronto Blue Jays. No, it wasn’t because of the man leading the galaxy in homers, Khris Davis, but instead on a Jays player with a Hall-of-Fame pedigree. Vlad Guerrero Jr., baseball’s top prospect, made his debut Friday night, “accounting” for the winning run in a 4-2 walk-off win. Former Athletic Eric Sogard homered and Brandon Drury hit a two-run walk-off jack. Robbie Grossman knocked in both A’s runs with a two-run homer.

Mike Fiers started for the A’s and had arguably his best start of the season going seven innings with six hits and the two earned runs. He was touched up by Sogard in the first. Randal Grichuk added another on an RBI single in the bottom of the third, but Fiers wriggled out with the no-decision after Grossman took reliever Joe Biagini deep to tie the game in the top of the eighth. Marcus Stroman started the game for the Jays and was once again lethal against Oakland, firing seven innings of one-hit ball after limiting the A’s to one run on eight innings in an earlier outing this season.

For Guerrero, the debut started off failing to live up to the hype. He was 0-for-3 heading into his ninth-inning at-bat. Guerrero worked a double off Yusmeiro Petit for a double. He was lifted for pinch-runner Alan Hanson who moved to third on a sacrifice bunt but was stranded after Teoscar Hernandez’s line-drive out. Drury hit the game-winning homer off Petit (0-1, 2.93 ERA)  though to send the Toronto faithful home with a win. Closer Ken Giles (1-1, 2.19 ERA) wound up the winner with a clean top of the 9th, striking out two A’s while working around a hit.

Oakland will face Vlad Jr. and the Jays Saturday with Brett Anderson starting for Oakland and Aaron Sanchez taking the bump for Toronto.

Pomeranz, Giants shut down Jays 4-0

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

With the exception of the bullpen, which has been outstanding all season, the Giants have been a tough team to figure out. The starters have been inconsistent, and the bats have been the same.

However, they seem to have it figured out for the time being, particularly after a 4-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre Wednesday afternoon. After losing two straight series on the road, the Giants swept the two-game series from the Blue Jays and have now won three straight games.

Drew Pomeranz was in complete control of his stuff Wednesday afternoon. He got his first win of the season by giving up only a pair of hits over six innings, walking two and striking out five hitters while throwing only 87 pitches in the process.

Reyes Moronta and Trevor Gott took over for Pomeranz and kept up the stellar bullpen play that has been the staple of the Giants thus far this season. The two hurlers combined to keep Toronto off the scoreboard as well as the bases.

Brandon Belt, the first baseman with the huge hole in his swing, appeared to have that hole covered up on Wednesday, launched a double into the gap in left-center to bring in Steven Duggar in the top of the fourth to open the scoring.

One inning later, Pablo Sandoval launched a solo homer well over the right-field wall against Toronto starter and World Series champion Clay Buchholz. The Giants tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth with RBI doubles by Buster Posey and Evan Longoria.

Kevin Pillar, the former Blue Jay who was greeted with a giant sign that read “Thank You Kevin” as he trotted out to center field for both games, also pitched in a double on Thursday.

Buchholz, meanwhile, was tagged for all four Giants runs on six hits and struck out two batters.

Giants hit four home runs in narrow 7-6 victory over Jays

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Maybe a trip outside of the United States would help the San Francisco Giants, and find their hitting stride.

Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-4, including his first home run of the season and the Giants staved off a late rally to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 at Rogers Centre.

Sandoval was one of four Giants to hit home runs, as Evan Longoria launched a solo home run over the center field wall and Joe Panik and Brandon Belt each hit home runs for the Giants, who have won two in a row after losing four in a row against the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was the first home run game for the Giants since they accomplished the feat on July 4, 2018 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In his first appearance, back in Toronto since being traded to the Giants for Alen Hanson and Derek Law, Kevin Pillar received a rousing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd.

Pillar drove in the first run of the game for the Giants, as he drove in Pablo Sandoval against the team that he played for a seven-year period.

Jeff Samardzija continues to look sharp in the early going of the season, as he gave up two earned runs in five and one-thirds inning of work. Samardzija gave up five hits, walked one and struck out four, as he improved to 3-0 in his big-league career against the Blue Jays.

Trent Thornton made his fifth start of his career, as he went five innings, allowing four earned runs, six hits and struck out five, as he fell to 0-3 on the season.

Things were going smooth for the Giants until the bottom of the eighth inning, as they led 7-2; however, Northern California native Rowdy Tellez launched a grand slam off of Tony Watson to cut the lead down to 7-6. Despite allowing the grand slam, Watson was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

Former Oakland As infielder Eric Sogard got the eighth inning rally started, as he singled off of Sam Dyson, then Richard Urena, but then Russell Grichuk singled off the right field wall that confused Urena, who stopped at second base and Sogard ended up at third.

Justin Smoak then struck out for the first out of the inning, and then Watson got the first two strikes against Tellez; however, on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Tellez launched a 432-foot grand slam.

Will Smith struck out two of the three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning, as he picked up his sixth save of the season.

NOTES: Once again, the Giants failed to score in the first inning and the streak now stands at 24 games, a National League record and four away from breaking the dubious record, held by the 1948 Chicago White Sox, who failed to score in 28 consecutive first innings.

This was just the ninth game that the Giants played at Rogers Centre, and their first trip to the Country since the 2013 season. Overall, the Giants are now 4-5 at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays home since June of 1989.

UP NEXT: Drew Pomeranz closes out the road trip, as he looks for his first win of the season, while the Blue Jays will send Clay Buchholz to the hill, as Buchholz also looks for his first win of the season.

A’s swept by the Blue Jays at the Coliseum, Anderson hurt in 5-4 loss

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — A rare and surprising weekend at the Coliseum ended with the tying and winning runs on base, and the A’s failing to push the runners across in their disappointing, final two at-bats.

The A’s fell 5-4, officially ending the most impressive run of success in their home ballpark in their 40 plus years in Oakland.

The A’s were swept at home by Toronto for the first time since 1993. The sweep ended an unprecedented run which saw the team win 15 of its previous 18 series at the Coliseum, tie three and lose none dating back to June 2018.

“We have to give it to them,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We didn’t expect that. Hopefully it just inspires us for the next series to start playing better because it didn’t feel good getting swept.”

Adding injury to insult, starting pitcher Brett Anderson was removed in the third inning after he sprained his ankle attempting to field Randall Grichuk’s ground ball. Afterwards Anderson offered insight that incorporated his health, the current state of the rotation and the ballclub in one brief statement.

“Do some treatment and see how it feels tomorrow. It’s day to day. It’s annoying, a series that wasn’t very conducive to the health and success of the starting pitchers,” Anderson said.

Simply, the A’s have posted results all over the spectrum in their first 24 ballgames (11-13). But one denominator has remained consistent: if the A’s starters have dealt, they’ve won. If not, they’ve lost. Oakland starters went 6-1 in the team’s 6-4 start. They’ve won four times in 14 games since, only once in the last seven.

The A’s have lost five of six, and nine of 14 as their rotation has become unsettled with the injuries to Anderson and Marco Estrada.

Ramon Laureano was worth the price of admission all by himself by jumping up to rob Teoscar Hernandez of a home run in the second inning. Of course, the defensive whiz who has established himself as one of the game’s most prolific outfield assist guys since his promotion from the minors last season didn’t stop there. Laureano immediately unleashed a throw in excess of 400 feet that flew past first base in a failed attempt to double up baserunner Justin Smoak retreating to first base.

That’s actually when the play took on a unique life of its own, courtesy of Smoak and catcher Brett Hundley. Smoak, who should have been shocked and left motionless by the length of Laureano’s throw, instead turned opportunistic and tried to take second base. But Hundley, running well over 100 feet into foul ground, fielded the throw and tossed out Smoak at second base.

And the obvious question after the zany play: how do you throw a baseball that far?

“I threw without thinking. That happens sometimes,” Laureano explained.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s looking at getting swept by Jays, having lost four of last five

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Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

On the A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 It was Oakland A’s Matt Chapman bobblehead day alright, and the A’s did just that on Saturday, bobbled the game away to the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 in a no mercy rule game.

#2 The Jays’ first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit for his fourth homer and got a double as part of the Jays offense was hitting .191.

#3 The Jays’ Brandon Drury hitting .147 went 3-4 and hit for two RBIs and two runs scored.

#4 The A’s rough day continued after using six relievers they called on their first baseman Kendrys Morales as a closer in the ninth inning.

#5 The A’s and Jays conclude the series today at the Coliseum with the Jays Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.86 ERA) and the A’s Brett Anderson (3-0, 2.63 ERA).

Joey does the A’s podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Blue Jays spoil Chapman Bobblehead Day with a 10-1 crushing of the A’s

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Toronto final
Graphic/photo: @Athletics

By Charlie O. Mallonee

OAKLAND — Saturday was supposed to be all about Matt Chapman. The Gold Glove-winning third baseman was honored by having his image immortalized as a bobblehead and given away to eager fans who love to collect limited edition pieces. 33 members of Chapman’s family traveled from Southern California to attend the game. However, instead of a day of celebration, the game became just a very ugly 10-1 lost to the surging Toronto Blue Jays.

The player who really had the opportunity to celebrate on Saturday grew up about 90 miles away from the Oakland Coliseum and had a large contingent of family and friends in the stands. Rowdy Tellez plays first base for the Blue Jays. Tellez came into the game struggling with just a .191 batting average. When the game ended, the big man from Elk Grove had picked up his fourth home run of the season to go with a double, two runs scored and three RBI.

Tellez had a partner in crime that helped defeat the A’s in Brandon Drury. Drury also started the day hitting below the “Mendoza Line” at .147. Drury went 3-for-4 in the game with two RBI and two runs scored.

The A’s used six pitchers in the contest. The final player to take the mound for Oakland was first baseman Kendrys Morales. Yes, the A’s were waving the white flag at the point in the top of the ninth inning.

Oakland did manage to manufacture one run in the bottom of the ninth to prevent the game from being a shutout.

Bob Melvin’s Postgame Comments

A’s

  • The A’s have fallen under .500 with this loss. Their record now stands at 11-12.
  • Oakland has lost four of their last five games. They are 1-3 on this eight-game homestand.
  • This will be the first home series loss for the A’s since being swept by the Astros in June of 2018.
  • Mike Fiers was charged with the loss and falls to 2-2 for the season. He worked just 3.1 innings allowing six runs (all earned) off nine hits (2 HR). Fiers struck out four batters and walked none.
  • The A;s used a total of six pitchers who gave up 10 runs (all earned) on 15 hits to the Jays. A’s pitchers struck out 12 batters and walked just three. They did allow three home runs.
  • The A’s scattered six hits in the contest. Matt Chapman and Steven Piscotty both collected two hits off Toronto pitching.
  • The only extra base hit for the A’s came in the ninth inning. Robbie Grossman hit a double and eventually came home to score the only run for the green and gold.
  • The A’s left six men on base and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
  • Fernando Rodney pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning for Oakland. It was his 906th career pitching appearance tying him with Cy Young for 24th on the all-time list. That is pretty “heady” company.

Toronto Rodney
Fernando Rodney makes 906th appearance Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

Blue Jays

  • The Blue Jays have now won five of their six games on this seven-game road trip.
  • They will win both series on the road.
  • The Jays’ record has improved to 10-12 for 2019.
  • Sam Gaviglio (2-0) gets credit for the win.
  • Matt Shoemaker made the start for Toronto and was pitching a fine game when he had to exit due to injury. The pitcher became involved in a rundown play of Matt Chapman between first and second in the bottom of the third inning. Shoemaker put the tag on Chapman and then fell to the ground. He left the field under his own power, but the club reported later that he was being evaluated for a left knee injury.
  • The Jays left nine men on base and went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
  • Toronto hit three doubles and three home runs off A’s pitching.
  • It was a day for the Blue Jays where they could do no wrong.

There was something in the air

There were two separate incidents of fans jumping out of the stands and on to the field of play on Saturday. One occurred in the sixth inning and was ended fairly quickly.

The second incident happened in the ninth inning and the man spent a considerable amount of time running around on the infield. The trespasser thought he was about to elude security again when second base umpire and crew chief Bill Nelson grabbed him by the waist. Nelson threw the unruly fan to the ground and security took care of the rest. The big crowd of 31,140 gave Nelson a roar of approval.

The easy answer is to say it was 4/20 day, but that is too easy. The most import thing is that no player, umpire or employee was injured.

Up Next

The three-game series with Toronto wraps up on Easter Sunday. The Blue Jays will send RHP Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.86 ERA) to the mound while the A’s will counter with the undefeated LHP Brett Anderson (3-0, 2.63 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 PM.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants home opener hopes to bring successful homestand today

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Photo credit: sfchronicle.com

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The Giants went 2-5 on their first road trip of 2019. Anything manager Bruce Bochy should be concerned about or is this something that will chalked up as experience?

#2 The Giants’ bright spot was when first baseman Brandon Belt hit a game-winning home run on Monday night for a win.

#3 Meanwhile, the Dodgers took their opening homestand, winning five of seven. Will the Dodgers be dominant much like the last two seasons this year?

#4 How important is it for Kevin Pillar to play for the Giants and be back in the Bay Area after playing most of his major league career in Toronto?

#5 In the Pillar deal, did the Giants make a good deal in sending Alen Hanson, Derek Law, and Juan De Paula to the Blue Jays?

Michael Duca does the Giants podcasts each Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com