Showing posts with label ryan vogelsong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ryan vogelsong. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
San Francisco Giants Notebook: Oakland A's bring more heavy artillery to the mound
The San Francisco Giants (49-41) won't have to deal with Jeff Samardzija, but they'll still have to face the debut of Cole Hammel, another Chicago Cubs pitcher that the Oakland A's (57-33) received in their blockbuster deal.
The first two games of the Battle of the Bay series weren't exactly dominated by the A's, but they final score certainly showed it. A solid pitching duel ended as Oakland broke through in Monday night's game, and San Francisco only got one runner home plate while going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday.
Bringing in runs with two outs remains a thing of the past for the Giants, and the struggles in the bullpen continue. On Monday, Ryan Vogelsong may have been tagged with three earned runs, but it was Juan Gutierrez who came in and let two runners on base immediately score after throwing one pitch. Then two runs were tagged on him (unearned).
The pitching in general wasn't good that night. The A's had 19 RISP; the Giants had two.
Madison Bumgarner had a bad third inning giving up four runs but San Francisco easily could have had some offense in the first couple innings. Instead, Sonny Gray cruised to 9-3 and had more strikeouts (8) than hits (6) given up.
It won't get any easier in AT&T Park. The A's will come in fully loaded on the mound with Hammel tonight and then Scott Kazmir on Thursday night. Both players combine with an 18-8 record on the season and a 2.76 ERA.
Bottom line: The Giants are still slumping with a 7-20 record since starting the season hot and they've run into a huge buzzsaw in a much better team. We'll see if the magic can come back at AT&T Park and if anything bounces in their favor in the final two games of this series.
Monday, May 19, 2014
WSD Sports Page: Pacers beat Heat at free throw line in ECF opener
After cruising through the NBA playoffs winning eight of their first nine games, the Miami Heat take a backseat in Indiana as the Pacers throttle them from the perimeter and at free throw line to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combine for 52 of the team's 96 points, and outside of Chris Anderson and Ray Allen hitting the double-digit mark and be efficient from the field, no one else showed up on the Heat. Nobody was able to hit from the perimeter, the team hitting a cold 6-of-23 including Chris Bosh's 0-for-5 and just 4-for-12 from the field overall.
While the Heat were making free throws, they just weren't getting there enough. The Pacers took 22 more attempts. That's an incredibly rare deficit for Miami considering their superstars generally get the bulk of the calls.
If Indiana ends up winning Game 2 of this series, you can bet that there's going to be a definite swing in momentum when it comes to fouls being called in Miami. There is no conspiracy in NBA game fixing -- at least, not that we know of -- but we all know that these foul calls will balance out.
There's simply no way the Pacers are going to waltz into Miami and attempt nearly 40 free throws in a game, and they have to go into the game knowing that.
What they can control is shooting, and three of their starters -- Lance Stephenson, Paul George, and David West -- combined for 23-of-36 on field goals, a whopping 63.8 percent. That and rebounds (+9 from Game 1) are something they can control, which is where they match up the best against Miami and why we all considered Indiana to be the Heat killers from opening tip of the season.
Ever since "Boat Trip," the Pacers seem to have righted the ship. Now we'll just see how far it goes and how they respond to adversity in the following games.
NHL: Blackhawks take Game 1 against the Kings
Chicago's defense tightened up in the third period, allowing just four shots on goal by Los Angeles as they cruise to the series-opening victory. Despite having six more shot attempts, only getting 15.3% of them in the final stretch down a goal isn't acceptable. Tyler Toffoli had his fourth goal in the postseason.
MLB: Giants avoid three-game skid against Marlins
San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong shut down the all-of-a-sudden hot Miami offense, giving up only five hits and one walk. A 3-run jolt to start the game in the first inning along with Pablo Sandoval's solo shot in the fifth inning (extending his nine-game hitting streak) was all they needed to win, but things got a bit dicey in the eighth inning when the Marlins had runners in the corners.
However, the fish aren't the 2-out scorers like the Giants are, who scored eight of their 15 total runs on two outs and leads MLB with 86 2-out RBIs.
LAX: Johns Hopkins falls to Duke
The Blue Devils began the game with a 6-0 run and finished scoring seven of the last eight goals, holding their lead to head to the NCAA semifinals. They only scored three goals in the first 21 minutes of play in the first half, but the Blue Jays never felt like a threat on offense. Duke dominated ball control with a 37-19 advantage in ground balls and held JHU to just two shots in the final period. JHU going 3-3 in EMOs in the first half were the only thing that kept them in the game.
Today's Slate
(Central times listed)
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3
Rangers at Canadiens (NYR 1-0) - 7:00 NBCS
NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS
Thunder at Spurs (Game 1) - 8:00 TNT
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combine for 52 of the team's 96 points, and outside of Chris Anderson and Ray Allen hitting the double-digit mark and be efficient from the field, no one else showed up on the Heat. Nobody was able to hit from the perimeter, the team hitting a cold 6-of-23 including Chris Bosh's 0-for-5 and just 4-for-12 from the field overall.
While the Heat were making free throws, they just weren't getting there enough. The Pacers took 22 more attempts. That's an incredibly rare deficit for Miami considering their superstars generally get the bulk of the calls.
If Indiana ends up winning Game 2 of this series, you can bet that there's going to be a definite swing in momentum when it comes to fouls being called in Miami. There is no conspiracy in NBA game fixing -- at least, not that we know of -- but we all know that these foul calls will balance out.
There's simply no way the Pacers are going to waltz into Miami and attempt nearly 40 free throws in a game, and they have to go into the game knowing that.
What they can control is shooting, and three of their starters -- Lance Stephenson, Paul George, and David West -- combined for 23-of-36 on field goals, a whopping 63.8 percent. That and rebounds (+9 from Game 1) are something they can control, which is where they match up the best against Miami and why we all considered Indiana to be the Heat killers from opening tip of the season.
Ever since "Boat Trip," the Pacers seem to have righted the ship. Now we'll just see how far it goes and how they respond to adversity in the following games.
NHL: Blackhawks take Game 1 against the Kings
Chicago's defense tightened up in the third period, allowing just four shots on goal by Los Angeles as they cruise to the series-opening victory. Despite having six more shot attempts, only getting 15.3% of them in the final stretch down a goal isn't acceptable. Tyler Toffoli had his fourth goal in the postseason.
MLB: Giants avoid three-game skid against Marlins
San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong shut down the all-of-a-sudden hot Miami offense, giving up only five hits and one walk. A 3-run jolt to start the game in the first inning along with Pablo Sandoval's solo shot in the fifth inning (extending his nine-game hitting streak) was all they needed to win, but things got a bit dicey in the eighth inning when the Marlins had runners in the corners.
However, the fish aren't the 2-out scorers like the Giants are, who scored eight of their 15 total runs on two outs and leads MLB with 86 2-out RBIs.
LAX: Johns Hopkins falls to Duke
The Blue Devils began the game with a 6-0 run and finished scoring seven of the last eight goals, holding their lead to head to the NCAA semifinals. They only scored three goals in the first 21 minutes of play in the first half, but the Blue Jays never felt like a threat on offense. Duke dominated ball control with a 37-19 advantage in ground balls and held JHU to just two shots in the final period. JHU going 3-3 in EMOs in the first half were the only thing that kept them in the game.
Today's Slate
(Central times listed)
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3
Rangers at Canadiens (NYR 1-0) - 7:00 NBCS
NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS
Thunder at Spurs (Game 1) - 8:00 TNT
Monday, April 28, 2014
Yesterday's Favorites: San Francisco Giants sweep the Cleveland Indians
The San Francisco Giants improves to 15-10 after sweeping the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Longhorns fall back in the Big 12 as we recap my favorite teams from yesterday.
MLB: Giants 4, Indians 1
San Francisco got another walk-off home run on a Sunday, and this time it was to complete their first sweep of the season. For the second time this week, walking a batter didn't work for the opponent. Cleveland passed up Brandon Crawford to bring on Brandon Hicks, who smacked a 3-run walk-off home run, his third HR of the season.
Sergio Romo picked up the victory, but the story on the mound was Ryan Vogelsong finally finding his rhythm. He pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and recording six strikeouts. It was needed with Danny Salazar matching him with recording eight strikeouts, one walk, and one run in the same amount of innings.
With Colorado taking two of three against the LA Dodgers, the Giants enjoy a 1.5 game lead in the NL West while those two sit with te same 14-12 record. San Diego finally found some offense in Washington and improve their record to 12-14.
NCAA Baseball: Oklahoma State 8, Texas 3
It was a mixture of leaving base runners and Nathan Thornhill's tough start that demised the Longhorns in the series finale against the Cowboys. Thornhill suffered just his second loss this season, giving up seven hits and seven runs (all earned) in 3.1 innings of work.
Oklahoma State's Vince Wheeland made just his second start of the season but recorded his fifth victory. Texas still was able to come up with nine total hits, and four different players had multi-hit games, but they left 11 players on the bases.
Texas lost the final two games of the series, falling back to 4th in the Big 12 after Texas Tech swept Oklahoma and has won six straight games. Oklahoma State remains in first place.
MLB: Giants 4, Indians 1
San Francisco got another walk-off home run on a Sunday, and this time it was to complete their first sweep of the season. For the second time this week, walking a batter didn't work for the opponent. Cleveland passed up Brandon Crawford to bring on Brandon Hicks, who smacked a 3-run walk-off home run, his third HR of the season.
Sergio Romo picked up the victory, but the story on the mound was Ryan Vogelsong finally finding his rhythm. He pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and recording six strikeouts. It was needed with Danny Salazar matching him with recording eight strikeouts, one walk, and one run in the same amount of innings.
With Colorado taking two of three against the LA Dodgers, the Giants enjoy a 1.5 game lead in the NL West while those two sit with te same 14-12 record. San Diego finally found some offense in Washington and improve their record to 12-14.
NCAA Baseball: Oklahoma State 8, Texas 3
It was a mixture of leaving base runners and Nathan Thornhill's tough start that demised the Longhorns in the series finale against the Cowboys. Thornhill suffered just his second loss this season, giving up seven hits and seven runs (all earned) in 3.1 innings of work.
Oklahoma State's Vince Wheeland made just his second start of the season but recorded his fifth victory. Texas still was able to come up with nine total hits, and four different players had multi-hit games, but they left 11 players on the bases.
Texas lost the final two games of the series, falling back to 4th in the Big 12 after Texas Tech swept Oklahoma and has won six straight games. Oklahoma State remains in first place.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
WSD Daily Sports Page (4-22-14): NBA stars only complain about calls when it matters to them
Star NBA players not complaining about calls when things go their way? That's rich considering how often they complain every single time they don't get any call. That and how the San Francisco Giants continue to struggle in today's sports page.
The Lede
Following the Brooklyn Nets' road win over the Toronto Raptors, both star NBA players Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce didn't spend much time on foul calls in the game, something that Raptors head coach Dwane Casey found interesting int he last quarter of the game.
Casey wouldn't criticize the officials directly, but noted that Toronto didn't get any calls in the fourth quarter. Looking at the box score, outside of a Deron Williams offensive charge with 4:11 to go, the six other fouls called in the period were on the Raptors. In fact, after that Williams charge when the game was 77-76 in favor of the Nets, Toronto was called for four fouls in the final 1:46. However, most of that came from the Raptors needing to foul to extend the game.
But Casey's beef with not getting any calls is somewhat fair, even though the Raptors could have settled for less field goals.
That's not where my beef is with this whole situation. It's with both Garnett and Pierce, with their somewhat oblivious comments to what Casey said.
Pierce brought up the boring argument of, well, things didn't go our way either!
All these statements are incredibly rich from NBA stars when they're the ones that bitch the most on the court when things don't go their way. There's a reason why LeBron James doesn't get much love when compared to Michael Jordan. It's not just because fans of other teams are jealous of James' skills and generally, the better the player, the more hated he is in social media.
That's some of it, but the reason why James doesn't get much respect is how he constantly, always has the face of anguish any time a foul doesn't go his way. He continues to flop on the ground like he doesn't have any strength, checks his face for blood when there's any sort of contact to the head just so he can have a case for the ref, and when he gets stuffed at the rim, of course that was a foul.
Garnett and Pierce are the same dudes, same as all the other NBA stars that have ever played the game. Especially the stars in this era of basketball. They have no problem shrugging their shoulders about foul calls when their team wins the game. But they would be the first to bitch if the game was lost in a similar fashion.
Yesterday's Favorites
MLB: Rockies 8, Giants 2
Well that's a horrible way to end a 10-game, one-run streak. Ryan Vogelsong can't even make it through two innings in his worst start for San Francisco, and is the shortest start for any National League pitcher. Even worse, reliever David Huff got injured on a hit in the top of the third after getting the Giants out of a jam in the second inning.
The game was essentially over after four different Rockies racked up home runs in the first three innings, pulling out to a quick 7-1 start and didn't look back. Giants hitting continued to slump with just six hits on the night and hitting just 1-of-10 with runners in scoring position. Michael Morse left three runners in scoring position.
Today's Slate
Central times listed.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - SEMIFINALS
Chelsea at Atleico Madrid (Leg 1) - 1:45 FS1
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Lightning at Canadiens (MON 3-0) - 6:00 NHLN
Bruins at Red Wings (Tied 1-1) - 6:30 NBCS
Rangers at Flyers (Tied 1-1) - 7:00 CNBC
Sharks at Kings (SJ 2-0) - 9:00 NBCS
NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Hawks at Pacers (ATL 1-0) - 6:00 TNT
Nets at Raptors (BKN 1-0) - 6:30 NBATV
Wizards at Bulls (WSH 1-0) - 8:30 TNT
MLB
D'backs at Cubs - 7:05 FSAZ/CSCH
Padres at Brewers - 7:10 FSSD/FSWI
Giants at Rockies - 7:40 CSBA/RSRM
Phillies at Dodgers - 9:10 CSPA/SNLA
LAX
PL: Bucknell at Colgate (Qtrs) - 3:00 LAXM (ONL)
PL: Navy at Lehigh (Qtrs) - 6:00 LAXM (ONL)
CBB - BIG 12
UTPA at Texas - 6:00 LHN
CS Bakersfield at Kansas St - 6:30 FCS
The Lede
Following the Brooklyn Nets' road win over the Toronto Raptors, both star NBA players Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce didn't spend much time on foul calls in the game, something that Raptors head coach Dwane Casey found interesting int he last quarter of the game.
Casey wouldn't criticize the officials directly, but noted that Toronto didn't get any calls in the fourth quarter. Looking at the box score, outside of a Deron Williams offensive charge with 4:11 to go, the six other fouls called in the period were on the Raptors. In fact, after that Williams charge when the game was 77-76 in favor of the Nets, Toronto was called for four fouls in the final 1:46. However, most of that came from the Raptors needing to foul to extend the game.
But Casey's beef with not getting any calls is somewhat fair, even though the Raptors could have settled for less field goals.
That's not where my beef is with this whole situation. It's with both Garnett and Pierce, with their somewhat oblivious comments to what Casey said.
"In the playoffs you're not going to get calls," Garnett said [via ESPN]. "If you do, then you're fortunate. Playing on the road is very difficult. We know that. Some of us do. And that's just expected to come with the series. Things are not going to go the way that you want them and you have to just continue to be aggressive. But that's the difference between experience and non-experience."Sorry Garnett. While some things aren't going to go your way, it's certainly not just experience that gives teams calls in the NBA. It's star athletes' names that do it. Saying that "you're not going to get calls" is pretty rich coming from an NBA star that routinely gets calls.
Pierce brought up the boring argument of, well, things didn't go our way either!
"We could say something about the refereeing on our side, but we're not going to get into that. We understand that it's the playoffs. A lot of calls may not go your way and we understand that as veterans. You gotta be able to play through it."Because stars always need to complain, even when things go our way.
All these statements are incredibly rich from NBA stars when they're the ones that bitch the most on the court when things don't go their way. There's a reason why LeBron James doesn't get much love when compared to Michael Jordan. It's not just because fans of other teams are jealous of James' skills and generally, the better the player, the more hated he is in social media.
That's some of it, but the reason why James doesn't get much respect is how he constantly, always has the face of anguish any time a foul doesn't go his way. He continues to flop on the ground like he doesn't have any strength, checks his face for blood when there's any sort of contact to the head just so he can have a case for the ref, and when he gets stuffed at the rim, of course that was a foul.
Garnett and Pierce are the same dudes, same as all the other NBA stars that have ever played the game. Especially the stars in this era of basketball. They have no problem shrugging their shoulders about foul calls when their team wins the game. But they would be the first to bitch if the game was lost in a similar fashion.
Yesterday's Favorites
MLB: Rockies 8, Giants 2
Well that's a horrible way to end a 10-game, one-run streak. Ryan Vogelsong can't even make it through two innings in his worst start for San Francisco, and is the shortest start for any National League pitcher. Even worse, reliever David Huff got injured on a hit in the top of the third after getting the Giants out of a jam in the second inning.
The game was essentially over after four different Rockies racked up home runs in the first three innings, pulling out to a quick 7-1 start and didn't look back. Giants hitting continued to slump with just six hits on the night and hitting just 1-of-10 with runners in scoring position. Michael Morse left three runners in scoring position.
Today's Slate
Central times listed.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - SEMIFINALS
Chelsea at Atleico Madrid (Leg 1) - 1:45 FS1
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Lightning at Canadiens (MON 3-0) - 6:00 NHLN
Bruins at Red Wings (Tied 1-1) - 6:30 NBCS
Rangers at Flyers (Tied 1-1) - 7:00 CNBC
Sharks at Kings (SJ 2-0) - 9:00 NBCS
NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Hawks at Pacers (ATL 1-0) - 6:00 TNT
Nets at Raptors (BKN 1-0) - 6:30 NBATV
Wizards at Bulls (WSH 1-0) - 8:30 TNT
MLB
D'backs at Cubs - 7:05 FSAZ/CSCH
Padres at Brewers - 7:10 FSSD/FSWI
Giants at Rockies - 7:40 CSBA/RSRM
Phillies at Dodgers - 9:10 CSPA/SNLA
LAX
PL: Bucknell at Colgate (Qtrs) - 3:00 LAXM (ONL)
PL: Navy at Lehigh (Qtrs) - 6:00 LAXM (ONL)
CBB - BIG 12
UTPA at Texas - 6:00 LHN
CS Bakersfield at Kansas St - 6:30 FCS
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