Just as predicted Puig solves Dodgers ills

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

LOS ANGELES–Yasiel Puig the Dodgers young slugger and outfielder saved the Dodgers season he’s the Cuban kid 22 years old and that energy is contagious to everybody on the Dodgers that it even rubbed off on Hanley Ramirez who wasn’t having fun in Miami with the Marlins and here he is.

Ramirez was a miserable human being, he didn’t want to talk to anybody, he never gave his teammates even a smile, never gave an interview with the press, Ramirez went to the Dodgers and when the Dodgers brought up Puig and now Ramirez is the happiest man in the world he’s producing and said after game three that he would do anything for the organization.

That’s what’s happens in baseball, baseball is not as physical as football, basketball or hockey, it’s a mental game and the Dodgers are a happy bunch and their producing. Magic Johnson is part owner of the team, the Dodgers are getting all the money in the world. Of all the parks in the world the largest attendance, the largest capacity is Dodgers stadium.

There are over 53,000 people that fit into the park at Chavez Ravine and their coming back and I wouldn’t be surprised after losing the first two games in St.Louis they won Monday night and they came back and they have done it three times in 1955 they were done the Yankees had a big lead and they came back and they were the Brooklyn Dodgers at that time.

In 1965 they lost the first two games of the World Series to the Minnesota Twins turned it around and won four in a row and won the World Championship. In 1981 they were down to the Yankees and they came back to win. This is not new territory for the Dodgers they’ve been down in the series before and their going to win the National League the Dodgers are the most likely to go all the way and win the World Series.

Raiders can’t get it together: Nobody expected the Raiders to do too much this year. I haven’t heard anybody saying that the Raiders are going to win five or six games. Most predictions were three wins or four wins at most. Then last Sunday they faced the Kansas Chiefs who are perfect at 6-0 and facing former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith where people around the Bay Area are saying “oh the 49ers should have kept him he should be their starting quarterback now.”

Smith has had a terrific start and he’s throwing games that’s almost like “in your face 49ers here I’m” with one of the best starts in Kansas City Chiefs history at 6-0. Everything is clicking for Smith over in KC. Smith was a good quarterback he got in the mud with all the quarterback controversies with the franchise of the 49ers.

This is good to see and I’m glad for Smith and the Chiefs and I can not say the same for the Raiders, their very inconsistent with their quarterback in Terrelle Pryor and they have a lot of problems on that team and since the first day of the year Pryor should have run a little bit more and Pryor was throwing the ball and had problems and Pryor and that offense needs a lot of adjustments.

Edward Lake II second 49ers construction worker to be killed at new stadium: Edward Lake II a delivery truck driver was killed on Monday as he was crushed to death by a steel rebar at the 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara. Lake was 60 and became the second casualty in four months at the Niners new digs which is set to open August 2014.

The job site was shut down all day on Monday due to state investigations but reopened on Tuesday, it’s sad, it’s a tragedy, it happens. I have seen the production of the construction crew and the results of the new Niners stadium and I’ve seen it when you fly over the stadium out of San Jose Airport  and the cost of the stadium is over one billion dollars.  

With all the safety, and all the helmets they wear and this happens it’s not a bad rap for the 49ers or anybody but construction is a tough job and when your building a new stadium with so much going on on the property there’s something that could happen and I’m very sad by this death at the 49ers new stadium and I hope it doesn’t dampen the move for the 49ers in 2014.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Museum and does News and Commentary for Sportstalk Radio

Raiders head to Arrowhead looking for 7th Straight win in Kansas City

By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — After dispatching fellow AFC West foe the San Diego Chargers 27-17 last week at home, the Oakland Raiders (2-3) hit the road to take on another AFC West foe, the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) Sunday at Arrowhead. Oakland is seeking their seventh straight win in Kansas City, dating back to 2007.

With former incumbent quarterback Matt Flynn being released on Monday, the Raiders have officially become Terrelle Pryor’s team. On the Flynn experiment, head coach Dennis Allen mentioned “it just didn’t work” during the team’s press conference Monday.

Pryor looked good in the pocket while playing the best football of his career last Sunday night against San Diego, completing 18-of-23 passes for 221 yards and two first quarter touchdowns.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Pryor currently ranks fourth in the NFL in completion percentage, completing 72.7 percent of his passes from the pocket, which is higher than more accomplish quarterbacks such as Drew Brees (69.7), Matt Ryan (69.3), and Aaron Rodgers (66.4).

The one player that will give Oakland its best chance at collecting their seventh straight win at Arrowhead is wide receiver Denarius Moore.

In Oakland’s 26-16 victory last season at Arrowhead, Moore played a vital role in the win, hauling in 96 yards on five catches including a nine-yard touchdown grab. Over the past three games, Moore has 20 catches for 274 receiving yards (18 yards per catch) and two touchdowns. Moore is Pryor’s first option when he drops back to pass.

First-year Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has pumped new blood into Kansas City after their dismal 2-14 season a year ago.

Kansas City took down the Tennessee Titans, 26-17 in Nashville last week, and is playing great football which will be a huge challenge for the Silver and Black.

After playing musical chairs at quarterback, Kansas City traded a conditional second round pick in next year’s draft for former San Francisco 49ers’ No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Alex Smith. Smith isn’t your typical strong-armed quarterback (18th-best quarterback according to nfl.com), but has been very accurate for Kansas City. Smith has thrown seven touchdowns and only three interceptions, but the offense isn’t what makes this team click.

Its the seventh ranked defense (first in points scored against per game at 11.6) in the NFL that has Kansas City running on all cylinders.

Linebacker Justin Houston is the straw that stirs the drink for Kansas City’s defense. Houston is second in the NFL with 8.5 sacks and will no doubt be keeping his eyes on Pryor’s every move. Fellow linebacker Derrick Johnson leads Kansas City with 35 tackles (31 solo).

Kansas City’s has a very formidable defensive line led by defensive end Tamba Hali and rookie defensive tackle, Dontari Poe. Facing the Chiefs defense won’t be a day at the park for Oakland.

Oakland has got to play near flawless football if they expect to leave Arrowhead with a 3-3 record heading into their bye week next week.

Player to Watch for Oakland:

No. 24) Charles Woodson (FS) — The reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week is still playing at a high level at this stage of his career. Against San Diego, Woodson tied the NFL’s all-time record for defensive touchdowns when he recovered a third-quarter fumble, giving him 13 for his career. Woodson’s fourth-quarter interception sealed the win for Oakland.

Player to Watch for Kansas City:

No. 24) Brandon Flowers (CB) — Flowers is one of the better cornerbacks in the league that no one really talks about since he plays in a small market like Kansas City. Flowers has the ability to take the opposing team’s best wide receiver and shut him down for the game. Expect Flowers to shadow Denarius Moore for much of the game.

 

 

Jury still out on Tolzien, McCoy or Daniels for number two quarterback spot

By David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The 49ers who completed their second pre season game on Friday night was an uneventful match in Kansas City although they did manage to win the game 15-13. As we saw in the first game this wasn’t much of a match up it was obviously the intrigue involved with former 49ers quarterback and now Chief Alex Smith facing the 49ers for the first time ever and seeing him in another uniform was certainly strange.

The 49ers are concerned from a roster stand point this wasn’t exactly a big deal of a game were not seeing a lot of competition and were not seeing the starters for all that long 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick only played one series and that series was uneventful it was highlighted by a big 50 plus yard run by running back Frank Gore. Kaepernick he looked so good in practice and in the first game there was really no reason to run.

There was no need having Kaepernick go onto the field and get hurt, the 49ers immediately shifted to back up mode partly because the back up quarterback situation is a little bit more tumultuous and the 49ers need to make a decision about the number two guy behind Kaepernick whether it’s going to be Scott Tolzien, Colt McCoy, or B.J. Daniels who the 49ers drafted this year. From that prospective it’s not sure if the 49ers got a whole lot of answers.

None of these guys really separated themselves from the field and they all had okay games but nothing particularly note worthy, you could see Tolzien was 3-8, McCoy was 3-6, Daniels probably had the best game going 6-9 for 72 yards including a little bit of scrambling 4-13. You have to note that he threw the only touchdown pass in the game. You have to note that Daniels was playing in the fourth quarter when they were going at third and fourth string guys or in other words players that won’t even make it to the NFL when the season starts.

Most of those guys might make it to the practice squad at that. Daniels had a good game and could see that and you could see the raw talent. The 49ers liked when they drafted him but he wasn’t only going against high quality opponents. McCoy and Tolzien were going to get slightly better and they had a little bit tougher time. The 49ers looked at their performance and said “oh boy we got to be a little concerned with how their playing, because none of these guys are separating themselves and making it obvious whose going to be the number two quarterback.

It’s a bit of a concern if Kaepernick gets hurt and if your comparing McCoy and Tolzien and the reason to separate Tolzien from McCoy is that McCoy has started about 20 games in his NFL career. So at least he has the experience being under center when it counts. Tolzien has been in the league for a couple of years and knows the 49ers system a little bit better because he’s been with the team for a couple of years but at the same time he’s never taken the field and that’s got to be a little bit of a concern you never know how a player is going to respond under pressure.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Preseason preview week 2, 49ers at Chiefs

By Gabe Schapiro

This Friday, August 16 at 5pm, the San Francisco 49ers (0-1) face off against the rebuilding Kansas City Chiefs (0-1) at Arrowhead Stadium. Despite just being the preseason, this matchup comes with some intrigue. After a dismal 2-14 season last year, the Chiefs underwent a major overhaul. They brought in a new general manager, John Dorsey, and head coach, Andy Reid, who had previously spent over a decade with the Philadelphia Eagles. In addition, the Chiefs got themselves a new starting quarterback. In June these two opponents completed a trade that sent Alex Smith, who was somewhat controversially replaced last season by Colin Kaepernick, to the Chiefs for a couple of draft picks. This will be the first time Smith will be taking on his former team of seven years.

Last week in the preseason opener the 49ers lost to the Denver Broncos 10-6. As is to be expected the assumed starters saw little action, mostly just playing in one series. The first-team offense looked solid, going on a 13-play drive for a field goal in their opening possession. The second and third units have some work to do after combining for four turnovers, but that is what this time of year is all about. As will continue to be the emphasis in the coming three weeks, the preseason is all about staying healthy, settling position battles, and gearing up for the real deal on September 8.

With week 1 in the books, the competition at wide receiver seems to be more up in the air than ever. Anquan Boldin already seems to have an established chemistry with Kaepernick, which is great news moving forward, but after Boldin the depth chart looks unclear. Kyle Williams didn’t play last week as he continues to nurse a hamstring injury. Marlon Moore, Chad Hall, Kassim Osgood, and Austin Collie had solid games. AJ Jenkins, however, struggled. He saw his fair share of snaps, but was targeted just three times, and only had one reception. To make matters worse, on his one reception he promptly fumbled, accounting for one of the teams’ four turnovers. By all accounts Jenkins has the talent, but as of yet just hasn’t been able to put everything together. Keep a close eye on the receiving corp, Jenkins in particular, heading into week 2 against a lesser defense.

The competitions at free safety and cornerback continue as well, although both positions look far less muddled. At safety Craig Dahl started the game last week, but presumed starter Eric Reid had a strong debut, getting a lot of playing time and finishing with six tackles. Looking to step up for the injured cornerback Chris Culliver, the trio of Parrish Cox, Tramaine Brock, and Nnamdi Asomugha did well. The group will look to show what they’ve got against former teammate Alex Smith.

As a whole, expect to see slightly more playing time for all of the starters as everyone gets game ready for the regular season opener.