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

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Will Kawhi say goodbye to Toronto?; Giants’ Pomeranz throws heat, strikes out 11 Rockies Monday night; plus more

Photo credit: @ChrisBHaynes

On Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 Will Kawhi Leonard bolt from the Toronto Raptors? It looks like Leonard will decline the $21.3 million player option and will consider becoming a free agent. There is talk that Leonard is considering signing on with the Raptors and Leonard said he love playing in Toronto so much last season why ruin an opportunity and re-up with the Raptors again.

#2 San Francisco Giant starter Drew Pomeranz, who had some very rough outings this season, has also had some successful games. Monday night against the Colorado Rockies was one of them throwing for 11 strikeouts at Oracle Park after throwing 93 pitches was lifted in the bottom of the fifth inning.

#3 The New York Mets are going through some rough times. There is talk that the Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has been making in game moves and over ruling Mets manager Mickey Callaway. What’s so bizarre about it is Callaway has followed Van Wagenen’s decisions resulting in the Mets finding themselves nine games out of first fourth in the NL East.

#4 The biggest baseball name was Aaron like in Hank Aaron famous for the home run, then there is the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who had a lights out season last season, then there’s the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks, whose home run on Monday night help extend and tie the Major League mark for the most consecutive home runs by a team at 27.

#5 After a young girl Katlin Salazar was hit in the face by a Cody Bellinger bullet, the Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to extend the netting from the dugouts to the foul poles at Dodger Stadium. The bullet hit the girl who was seated four rows just up from the dugout. She had to leave some 15 minutes after being hit and was also paid a visit by Bellinger between innings.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Fan hurt at Dodger Stadium; Safety at MLB parks

AP photo: A young fan holds ice to her head after being hit with a foul ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

A young woman was struck at Dodger Stadium by a line-drive hit by Cody Bellinger. She was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests. She was sitting just beyond the protective netting.

“I saw it literally hit her face,” Bellinger said “It was tough.”

While the odds are higher that you will have an automobile accident while driving to the baseball park as opposed to getting hit in a head by a baseball at the park, the fact remains that most stadiums are “fan friendly”and the fans are closer to the action. It is also true that today’s players are stronger than eve — pitchers can throw faster than ever and hitters can hit harder than ever. So if this is all true, the fans most pay more attention than ever, right? Not really.

Today, there are more distractions when you attend a baseball game than ever before. For starters, everybody carries a cell phone and many have one eye on the cell phone and the other eye on the action on the field. We are busier than ever. I remember when you went to the park to relax, enjoy the game and pay attention to the game and maybe even score the game, which is something that you seldom see today. Maybe with the older folks.

A line drive can hit anybody in the stands at any park at any given moment, even if you are paying attention to the game. One of the great things in baseball is that you feel part of the game, unlike any other sport, you can go home with a ball that you caught, show to your friends, save it as a souvenir or use it for a future player autograph.

Stadiums are protected by small screen/netting,most behind the dugouts and in other places. Ironically, the dated Oakland Coliseum, might be one of the safest parks to attend due to all that spacious foul territory. A line-drive doesn’t get to you as quick as most other places, so you have less of a chance of getting injured.

Nevertheless, baseball games offers fans a unique experience. It is the ultimate game to take you family on a sunny Sunday afternoon to enjoy. There will always be accidents, but I believe that if you pay attention, you are more aware and therefore, you can see a ball if it is coming your way.

The largest stadium in the MLB is Dodger Stadium with a capacity of 56,000. As of today, the Dodgers have the largest attendance in all of baseball — 2,049,295 in 43 home games. That is an average of 47,658. They have the best record in the game, 54-25 leading the NL West, 13 games over the Colorado Rockies and on their way to their seventh consecutive divisional title. The current record is 14 in a row by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 2005.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is heard on the Oakland A’s Spanish flagship station KIQI 1010 San Francisco and can be heard weekly on That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Yankees’ rookie plays Judge, jury and executioner in Home Run Derby

New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge smiles as he competes during the MLB baseball All-Star Home Run Derby, Monday, July 10, 2017, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

By Morris Phillips

Back-to-back shots, 504 feet, then 513 feet?

That’s crazy, and that was Aaron Judge on Monday night in Miami, crushing baseballs in the Home Run Derby above and beyond the most prodigious feats ever in the event’s history.

In excess, and as a preface, to Judge being crowned champion of the Derby, the Yankees rookie survived an epic opening round, hitting 23 home runs after Justin Bour of the Marlins hit 22.

The much-anticipated matchup of Judge and hometown hit man Giancarlo Stanton didn’t materialize, as Stanton fell in the first round to Judge’s New York teammate, Gary Sanchez. Miguel Sano of the Twins outlasted Sanchez in the semifinals to reach the finals opposite Judge.

All four first round matchups were cliffhangers, decided by one home run, which in some respects robbed all the drama what transpired after that. Sanchez (18) and Sano (11) both posted totals that Stanton and Sano’s initial opponent, Mike Moustakas fell just short of matching. Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies and Bour posted totals, that were eclipsed, just barely, by Cody Bellinger and Judge.

If most of the drama was contained in round one, then the remainder was spent in round two, along with all of the fireworks courtesy of Judge. In defeating Bellinger, Judge clubbed 12 homers, half of which traveled at least 445 feet, and three of the last four went over 500 feet. Judge’s tie-breaking blast traveled 507 feet and bounced high off the Marlins Park glass facade in left field.

“I don’t know what to say,” a disbelieving Bellinger said. “What do you say after those balls?”

In Bellinger’s case, the answer was ‘say good night.’ In both of the initial rounds, Judge went last and eclipsed his opponent’s total without needing the 30-second bonus he earned.

In the final round, Sano went first and hit 10 home runs, and Judge followed with 11, ending the competition with nearly two minutes remaining on his clock.  Like Bellinger, Sano expressed his respect for his competition who, according to Sano, may have lapped the field before the competition commenced.

“The first time I saw Aaron Judge hit BP, I could tell he was a monster,” Sano admitted.

Judge’s four 500-foot blasts registered as the longest ever in the Derby’s history. With the new rules that give each competitor a definitive time block, Judge had no incentive to pad his totals, still his first round total of 23 ranks third all-time behind Josh Hamilton (28, 2008) and Bobby Abreu (24, 2005).

“It was a blast,” Judge said. “I enjoyed every minute of it–watching the other guys swing, coming here early and talking to the media. Everything about today was fantastic.”

The competition figured to be epic with the largest field–by the combined height and girth of the eight competitors–ever assembled. Led by the Bunyanesque Judge who is 6’7″, 282 pounds, Stanton (6’6″, 245) and Sano (6’4″, 260) the anticipation for the event was at level above normal.

For sure, those that watched the event from its first launch were not disappointed.