That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast: A’s host Rays after losing three straight to Cleveland

The Cleveland Guardians starter Triston McKenzie goes into his stretch in the first inning against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum on Sun May 1, 2022 (AP News photo)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 For the first time in 22 years that brings us back to the year 2000 the Cleveland Guardians (10-12) swept the Oakland A’s (10-12) in Sunday’s finale by a score of 7-3. But just to the history of those 22 years that’s a long time does that say something about how penetrable the A’s were in this series or the Guardians were just that good?

#2 Guardians starter Triston McKenzie went 6.1 innings of shutout ball against the A’s and very well could have gone the distance if it weren’t for the pitch count.

#3 A’s pitching did wonders for the Guardians Franmil Reyes who entered Sunday’s game with a 1-27 slump but broke out with a third inning two RBI single in an inning where the Guardians scored three times.

#4 It was A’s pitcher James Kraprielian’s first time back after coming back from shoulder surgery Kaprielian ended up walking four batters and struggled and was lifted in the third inning going two plus innings, three hits on four earned runs and three strikeouts. Is his shoulder still a concern because Guardian hitters certainly saw the ball pretty well.

#5 The A’s will try it all over again tonight at the Coliseum as the A’s have lost six of their last eight games and will face the Tampa Bay Rays tonight the Rays will start Drew Rasmussen (1-1 ERA 3.50) and for the A’s Daulton Jefferies 1-3 ERA 3.26) first pitch at 6:40pm PDT.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s lead play by play announcer on flagship station 1010 KIQI Le Grande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s drop series opener to Guardians at Coliseum 9-8

Cleveland Guardians’ Andres Gimenez (0) swings for the fences and connects for a grand slam against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri Apr 29, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Oakland A’s were back in action on Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s were returning home after splitting the series with their cross town rivals during the week. The Giants won the first game as the A’s won the second in shutout 1-0 fashion on Wednesday night at Oracle Park.

On Friday, the A’s would hope to continue their solid play by beating the Cleveland Guardians who had lost seven straight games. Unfortunately, on Star Wars light show night, the A’s lost the the guardians by the final of 9-8.

The game got off the a quick start. In the first inning, Jose Ramirez hit a solo home run with two outs off Frankie Montas to open the scoring. In the bottom of the inning, the A’s responded in a big way scoring four runs in part to a three run blast from Sean Murphy. The second inning was quiet but the action started back up in the third inning.

In the third inning, Frankie Montas got himself into more trouble. He loaded the bases and managed to get two outs in the inning. Then came up Andres Gimenez who hit a grand slam over the right field fence to put the Guardians on top 5-4. It was demoralizing for the A’s but how they would respond was impressive.

The A’s went on to score two runs in the fourth and sixth inning respectively to retake the lead 8-5. The A’s scores those runs playing small ball and getting big hits when they needed to. Notably, Sheldon Neuse had a two run triple in the sixth inning to extend the A’s lead. Unfortunately, that’s all the runs would score but the Guardians were not done.

The Guardians exploded for four runs the seventh inning. The runs come on a two run double from Jose Ramirez followed by a two run homer from Josh Natalie driving in Ramirez. That would be all the scoring for the night as the Guardians defeated the A’s 9-8.

The starters in the game both got no decisions as the loss went to Domingo Acevedo (0-1) and the win to Trevor Stephan (2-0). The save was credited to Emmanuel Clase his seventh of the year.

The A’s will take on the Guardians again on Saturday at 1:07 PM PST in Oakland. Cleveland will start Shane Bieber (1-1 ERA 2.82) Bieber will be matched up against Oakland starter Cole Irvin (2-1 ERA 3.32)

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: A’s visit Cleveland for 3 game series Tuesday night

Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea gets the call on Tue Aug 10, 2021 against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Here Manaea stands on the mound after surrendering an RBI single in the first inning against the San Diego Padres Jake Cronenworth on Tue Aug 3, 2021 (file photo from sfchronicle.com)

On the A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 The Oakland A’s open a three game series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Tuesday night after having Monday off. The A’s are coming off a three game sweep over the Texas Rangers.

#2 The Rangers struggles might be the A’s thankfulness as the Boston Red Sox are flailing and the Toronto Blue Jays are emerging in the Wild Card race and with the A’s winning they gain ground in the Wild Card race as they hold first place.

#3 The A’s have won seven of their last nine games and the A’s at one time were behind the first place Houston Astros in the AL West by as much as 4.5 games have now cut the lead to just two games.

#4 For the first time since June 19 the A’s are some 16 games over .500 and what helps after the A’s acquired outfielder Starling Marte from the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline especially after the 80 game suspension of outfielder Ramon Laureano for banned substance use.

#5 A’s travel to Cleveland Tuesday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland for the first of three games, the A’s will be starting Sean Manaea (8-7 ERA 3.26) and for Cleveland Triston McKenzie (1-6 ERA 5.89) talk about this match and series.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: From Indians to Guardians

Illustrations of the Cleveland Guardians new home and away caps, uniforms and socks (image from spectrumnews1.com)

From Indians to Guardians

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

The 2021 Cleveland Indians might not make it to the postseason this year. With 68 games remaining the Indians are in second place in the Central Division, today nine games back from the Chicago White Sox. Starting 2022 they will be officially the Cleveland Guardians.

Maybe as Cleveland Guardians they will be able to do what they have not been able to do in 70 years in the American League win a World Series (currently the longest span among all teams in major league baseball without a World Series title). For many years (some of us) we remember when Cleveland was the city for jokes.

The old park next to Lake Erie was “The Mistake on the Lake”. Comedians used Cleveland all the time as the city they would relate their jokes to. Ironically one of the most famous and successful comedians, Bob Hope was the owner of the Cleveland Indians in the 1950’s.

As a founding member of the American League in 1901, the Cleveland Indians franchise has a rich history in baseball and the American sporting landscape. The Cleveland Indians have won six AL Pennant and two World Series, 1920 and most “recently” 1948.

Just a few months after Jackie Robinson made his major league debut, the Cleveland Indians under owner Bill Veeck signed Larry Doby, the first African-American player in the American League. Already the first AL team to sign an African-American player, Cleveland made history again when it named Frank Robinson as the majors’ first black manager in 1975.

A player-manager, Robinson wore this jersey on that historic Opening Day when he smashed a homer to help defeat the Yankees, 5-3. Like the late NY Yankees great announcer Mel Allen used to say “How About That!” These Cleveland Indians have been inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Jessie Burkett, Bob Feller, Elmer Flick, Stan Covaleski, Lou Boudreau, Early Wynn, Earl Averill, Bob Lemon, Joe Sewell, Addie Jones, Larry Doby, and Jim Thome.

In 1954 the Cleveland Indians won 111 games and the American League pennant, and were swept by the New York Giants (4-0) in that year’s World Series. More wins during a regular season: Chicago Cubs in 1906, 116 wins and the Seattle Mariners in 2001 also 116 wins.

Cleveland Indians current owner Paul Dolan: “We are excited to usher in the next era of the deep history of baseball in Cleveland,” Dolan said in a statement. “Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity. Therefore, we wanted a name that strongly represents the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders.”

The name of Guardians is a Cleveland favorite. The Guardians of Traffic are large art-deco statues that adorn the Hope Memorial Bridge which connects Cleveland west side with the east side. The name Guardians has nothing to do with the very popular movie of 2017 Guardians of the Universe from the popular fictional DC Comic books and characters like: Nebula, Groot, Rocket and others.

Other superheroes of notable fame: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Captain America, Thor, The Flash, The Hulk, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. If you are wondering about the Atlanta Braves, the Braves logo has remained the same since 1990.

Their imagery of Native American stereotypes was removed. They added a tomahawk, originally a Native American tool, which symbolizes throwing accuracy and force. Often these name changes in our professional sports teams are not originated by the people that are allegedly “offended.”

A good example was a poll conducted a few years ago about the Redskins name for the Washington football team. A poll reveled that nine in ten Native Americans were not offended by the Washington Redskins name. Nevertheless, today that team Washington Football Team will keep the name through 2021 and will unveil new identity in 2022.

With new names, comes new logos, new uniform styles and of course, more sales. As fans love all that stuff, perhaps the ownership of the Cleveland Guardians could donate all the money they are going to generate with these new marketing campaigns, to Native American organizations that are more concerned about their communities and improving their lives, than with the simple politically correct name change of a team.

Starting 2022 the Cleveland Indians will be the Cleveland Guardians. But, who knows, maybe 20 years from today when, billionaires, Branson, Bezos and Musk had colonized a few planets the trend will be space names and then the only team that would be “in vogue” will be the Houston Astros and they will probably “offend” somebody.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: 49ers WR Jalen Hurd looking at knee surgery; Cleveland pitcher says he’ll leave team if Clevinger and Plesac stay

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jalen Hurd (17) is facing knee surgery, he had a MRI, Hurd missed most of the 2019 season from a back injury (sfgate.com photo)

Headlines with Barbara podcast:

#1 The San Francisco wide receiver 49ers Jalen Hurd is going to have major knee surgery, Hurd missed last season due to a back injury and was diagnosed with a torn ACL after having an MRI.

#2 Hurd during the pre season last year had three catches for 31 yards and had two touchdowns for 20 yards and four yards of the opening game of the pre season but was shelved for the rest of the season when back trouble started.

#3 Cleveland relief pitcher Oliver Perez said he would leave the team if pitchers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac were allowed to stay with the team. Although Clevinger and Pleasac were both tested negative for Coronavirus and had apologized for leaving the team hotel to meet with friends when the club was in Chicago violating team policy regarding Covid-19 protocols. Both were optioned to the team’s alternative site.

#4 During a team meeting on Friday teammates were very vocal about what Clevinger and Plesac did put the club in jeopardy as both players apologized. Teammates were angry that Clevinger took a team flight after being in contact with meeting with friends and Pleasac who was caught trying to sneak back into the hotel by MLB security was forced to drive back to Cleveland from Chicago.

#5 The Oakland A’s who took another loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-1 tonight and that makes A’s (16-8) and Yankees (16-6) behind the Dodgers (18-7) for the best record in baseball.

Join Barbara Tuesday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Braves advance to LDS, quiet celebration after Culberson hit in face; A’s sit all alone at the top of AL wild card; plus more

photo from investing.com: Atlanta Braves hitter Charlie Culberson (8), who squared around to bunt, took a 91 per hour fast ball in the face throw by Washington Nationals pitcher Fernando Rodney on Saturday September 14th’s game at National’s Park in Washington DC.

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 NL East-leading Braves clinch postseason berth

2 A’s club four homers in win over Rangers; now occupy top AL Wild Card spot; Surging Rays right behind Oakland in second Wild Card

3 Twins sweep doubleheader from Tribe; back to 5 1/2 game lead in AL Central

4 D-Backs extend GM Mike Hazen; head off possible return of Hazen to Red Sox; Meanwhile, Paul Goldschmidt swinging a hot bat for the Cardinals

5 MLB won’t fine Mets’ for Pete Alonso’s 9/11 tribute

Catch Daniel right here for complete MLB podcast coverage through the postseason and World Series at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s crush the Astros 21-7 on Tuesday night

Graphic: @NBCSCA

By Charlie O Mallonee @Charlieo1320

This morning on my Oakland A’s podcast with Lee Leonard, I told our listeners not to panic about the A’s 15-0 loss to the Astros on Monday night. Baseball is a funny game and sometimes a game will just get away from a team. Just as frequently, when a team scores a bundle of runs in a game – they will not be able to repeat that feat in the next game no matter how hard they try. It’s just a “baseball thing”.

The A’s turned the table on Tuesday

Oakland showed up on Tuesday night ready to play and scored seven – that’s right seven – runs in the top of the first inning before the Astros ever had a chance to pick up a bat. The Houston starting pitcher – Wade Miley – was credited with working 0.1-innings while giving up seven runs (all earned) off seven hits. He walked one and struck out none. Miley entered the game with a record of 13-4 and an ERA of 3.74. His record is now 13-5.

It was like the A’s had all of this pent-up energy that just had to be released and they took it all out on the Astros on Tuesday night. The A’s scored two runs in the second inning, two in the third, six runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, one in the sixth and tacked one more on in the top of the ninth inning for a total of 21.

Oakland won the game 21-7.

Tanner Roark picked up the win

Tanner Roark picked up his 10^th victory of the season in this game. He worked 5.2-innings allowing five runs (all earned) off eight hits. He walked one and struck out three. He did give up three home runs. Roark threw 105 pitches (65 strikes).

Ryan Buchter faced one-hitter and Daniel Mengden worked 3.0-innings giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits. He walked two and struck out one. Mengden did allow one home run.

Focus on the A’s with the bat

• Mark Canha: went 3-for-6 with three runs scored and one RBI.
• Chad Pinder: also had a 3-for-6 game scoring one run and adding an RBI.
• Khris Davis: joined the 3-for-6 club with two runs scored and three RBI. Davis hit his 20^th HR in the game.
• Sean Murphy: had a two-home run game. He went 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored and four RBI.
• Matt Olson hit two home runs and now has 31 for the year.
• Marcus Semien hit his 27^th round-tripper of the season in this contest.
• For the A’s, it was 21 runs off 25 hits and just eight men left on base.

Wild Card Race

Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Cleveland all were winners on Tuesday. The Rays stay in Wild Card Slot #1 with a 1.5-game lead over the A’s. The A’s own Wild Card Slot #2 with a 0.5-game lead over the Indians. The race is tight and very competitive.

After the Houston series, the A’s do have a game versus a team with a winning record.

Up Next

Game three of the four-game series will be played on Wednesday night at 5:10 PM PDT. LHP Brett Anderson (11-9, 4.08) will start for Oakland while RHP Jose Urquidy (1-1, 5.33) will take the mound for Houston.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Fans and players not big fans of the weekend uniforms; When will Brown’s helmet issues get settled?; plus more

Photo credit: foxnews.com

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 How bad were the weekend uniforms, some said the home whites looked like they were cricket players or they were selling ice cream in the stands like the concession salespeople. MLB said and made sure each player wore the proper uniform.

#2 The helmet issue of Oakland Raiders’ Antonio Brown has not yet gone away yet. Brown filed a grievance with the Players Union. Brown said the helmet that he used to use in Pittsburgh was a good-fitting helmet that did its job. The league is saying Brown needs to wear the proper helmet to protect himself from concussion and if he collides with another player.

#3 The Raiders picked up a close win in Winnipeg against the Green Bay Packers 22-21 last Thursday. It took a Daniel Carlson field goal with eight seconds left to get the Raiders the win on a rugged short field that’s normally used for Canadian Football.

#4 The A’s will try and shake off the double loss to the Giants from the weekend series and tango with the Kansas City Royals. The A’s really need this series in order to keep pace with Cleveland and Tampa Bay in the AL wild card.

#5 It’s hard to believe that former San Francisco Giant pitcher Juan Marichal is 81 years old. He’s had a storied career, most notably when he got into that ruckus with John Roseboro and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965 in a brawl that Marichal hit Roseboro on the head with a bat. Marichal is also noted for his high leg kick and his multiple 20-win games.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the radio voice for the Oakland A’s Spanish radio on 1010 KIQI, is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show Podcast with Matt Harrington: Giants need to sweep a lot of series to get wild card in their sights; Cervelli hooks up with Braves, feels no concussion issues; plus more

photo from sfgate.com:  Scooter Gennett #14 of the San Francisco Giants turns a double play in the fourth inning against Nicholas Castellanos #6 of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on August 22, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.

On the MLB podcast with Matt:

#1 Last chance for the San Francisco Giants, who open a two-game road trip to Oakland and face the A’s. The A’s are rolling they have won eight out of their last ten games and are tied for second for a wild card spot with Cleveland.

#2 The Giants’ wild card chances are becoming distant they got swept in Chicago and are six games back of second for a shot at the wild card.

#3 The Atlanta Braves in need of catching after Brian McCann was injured with a sprained left knee and picked up former Pittsburgh Pirate Francisco Cervelli at the pro-rated minimum MLB salary at the pro-rated amount of $119,000. Cervelli, who had concussion issues, caught six games with Pittsburgh Triple-A affiliate Indianapolis without any signs recurring problems.

#4 In Los Angeles on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant and comedian Larry David both took in the Dodgers-Yankees game. It’s not too often you’ll see the two New Yorkers in the same place in LA, but they were the talk of the game.

#5 Can the Atlanta Brave Ronald Acuna Jr. get to 40-40? Right now, he has 30 homers and 30 steals with a month and a week left in the season. September could be an exciting month for Acuna Jr chasing down 40-40.

Matt does the MLB podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Kuiper brothers will fly home for father’s funeral; Tatis will miss the rest of season with back injury; plus more

sportingnews.com photo file: San Francisco Giant broadcaster Duane Kuiper (in photo) along with brothers Giants TV producer Jeff Kuiper and Oakland A’s TV broadcaster Glenn Kuiper (not in photo) will attend their father’s funeral this weekend and will be on bereavement from their broadcasting work.

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper, A’s broadcaster Glenn Kuiper, and Giants TV producer Jeff Kuiper will all fly to Racine, Wisconsin in preparation of the funeral for their father Henry, who passed away at age 94. Henry was a auctioneer and a farmer locally in Racine and allowed a restaurant to be built on his property. He also was involved in fast pitch baseball and would not let Duane drive the tractor on the family farm because Duane could not drive the tractor straight, leaving ziz zags embarrassing the farming community.

#2 San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. will sit out the rest of the 2019 season with a back injury. Tatis was a candidate for the 2019 Rookie of the Year award, hitting .317, 13 doubles, 22 home runs, and 53 RBIs in 84 games.

#3 The Boston Red Sox, like much of the American League, crushed the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night with a 9-1 win. Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland got RBI triples and Sox pitcher Rick Porchello pitched six innings, giving up only one run in the victory. For the O’s, it was their fifth straight loss.

#4 Big win for the Minnesota Twins on Friday night with a narrow 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers. The Twins maintain a 1.5 game lead in the AL Central over the second place Cleveland Indians. The Twins’ Max Kepler and Jonathan Schoop got two-run homers in Arlington Texas.

#5 The Los Angeles Dodgers are just simply running away with it in the NL West. They picked up another victory over the Atlanta Braves 8-3 at Sun Trust Stadium. LA’s Cody Bellinger hit for home run number 41. The Dodgers’ Max Muncy and Justin Turner both hit home runs in the victory Friday night.

Join Matt each Saturday for the MLB podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com