Manager Bruce Bochy said Vogelsong has two breaks in his right hand, at the pinky and knuckle. He’ll have surgery tomorrow and should be out between 4-6 weeks.

“It’s a shame, because tonight was the Vogey that we know…he’ll be back hopefully in a couple months,” said Bochy.

Vogelsong added to Bochy’s sentiment, saying “That’s the best I’ve felt in a long time, from a mental aspect and a physical aspect. It was good to be out there and have everything fall into place…good to start from there, I guess, when I get back.”

When asked if he expected to come back from this like his other obstacles, Vogelsong just stated “Yeah. We’re not talking about Tommy John or anything here.”

The Giants tacked on the runs early. After scoring two in the second, they added on three in the fourth, thanks to Vogelsong, Angel Pagan – who had three RBI – and Marco Scutaro, who extended his hit streak to 18. Scutaro recorded his 19th multi-hit game, logging two-plus hits in 11 of his last 12 games.

Brandon Belt hit his sixth home run of the season on Monday night. He went 4-for-5 with three singles and the homer in the fifth. The outing marked his fourth career four-hit game and fans applauded his night with a standing ovation after Belt came close to a second home run in the eighth inning.

“It was nice to be back home and play in front of the fans. It gives us a nice boost,” said Belt.

Zach Duke, who started for the Nationals in place of the injured Ross Detwiler, didn’t make it through the fourth inning. The lefty left after 3.1 innings, seven hits, four earned runs and only one strikeout. He was replaced by Craig Stammen, who lasted 2.2 innings before Henry Rodriguez took his place.

Vogelsong lasted his longest since April 22 against Arizona, allowing just three hits and one walk through five innings. His night was cut short after leaving the game with a fractured right hand off a pitch in the bottom of the fifth.

The bullpen came through for the rest of the night, allowing no hits and just one walk through the final four innings.

Tomorrow the Giants and Nationals will meet at AT&T Park for Game 2 of the series. Right handers Matt Cain and Stephen Strasburgh will meet at 7:15pm.

The post Giants Take Game, Lose Vogelsong in 8-0 Win Over Nationals appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

A mere 90 feet away, standing in a defensive crouch on the infield dirt near third base, was Red Hawks slugger Brett Wallace. Wallace himself was back in AAA after opening the season in the major leagues with the Astros. He, too, had struggled in that stint, with just one hit in 24 at-bats. Like Taylor, he has see-sawed between the big club and the minors over the past couple of years, failing to hit consistently enough to establish himself as a big league regular.

The two players have a lot more in common than one might think. In fact, Taylor and Wallace are almost like kindred spirits, in a warped kind of way. Once hyped as can’t-miss prospects, the two have both been disappointments. They both received a lot of praise from scouts on their way up the minor league pipeline, they both once found themselves ranked fairly high on top prospect lists, they both saw their careers stall with disappointing performances both in the high minors and in the majors, and they are both currently trying hard to fulfill the promise that their respective prospect statuses once foretold.

Oh, and they were also traded for each other three years ago. That’s right, on December 16, 2009, Taylor, then a hot prospect in the Phillies organization, was sent to the Toronto Blue Jays in the deal that netted the Phils Roy Halladay. The Blue Jays then immediately turned around and swapped Taylor that same day to the A’s for Wallace, then a sweet-swinging third base prospect who had actually spent half the previous season in Sacramento (the A’s had just acquired him that summer for Matt Holliday. Confused yet?).

Before the 2010 season unfolded, Baseball America ranked Wallace as the 27th best prospect in baseball. Two spots behind him on their list was Taylor, at number 29. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus had Taylor even higher, placing him as the nineteenth-best prospect on his list (he was a bit more bearish on Wallace, placing him 43rd). In the subsequent years, however, both men have spent much of their time failing to live up to these expectations.

Taylor, at a listed 6’5″, 255 pounds, was seen as a power/speed combo prospect who had All-Star potential as a corner outfielder and who hit very well in the Phillies’ chain. In 2010, the second he set foot in Sacramento, he stagnated. In his first season in the California State capitol, he finished with a meager .740 OPS. His power all but evaporated, as he managed just six home runs. In fact, he hasn’t topped 16 homers since making the move to the West Coast. He did make great strides in his overall hitting over the next two seasons, culminating in an impressive 2012 where he got on base at a .402 clip, but by this point the A’s had moved on. With a cluttered outfield situation in Oakland, there was simply no room for Taylor, and he enters his fourth season with the River Cats.

Wallace, meanwhile, was once touted as a future batting champion, and prospect gurus championed his line drive/doubles power. He was taken with the thirteenth overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft, and he hit .337 in his first season as a pro. However, in subsequent years, he failed to establish himself despite having seemingly every opportunity to do so. In 818 major league plate appearances, spread out over four seasons, Wallace has hit a subpar .243/.316/.366. He spent most of 2011 starting at first base for a horrible Astros team, but only managed to hit five home runs and OPS .703. That kind of production, or lack thereof, won’t cut it for a first baseman in the bigs. It was telling that the Astros, despite likely being headed for another 100-loss season, signed Carlos Pena rather than hand over the starting first base job to Wallace again.

The two former prospects met on the same field for the weekend series between their respective teams at Raley Field. Both Taylor and Wallace are crushing the ball this year, but they’re both now trying desperately to avoid the dreaded (and often unfair) Quadruple-A player label. Taylor is now 27 and his days as a prospect are long gone. The story is much the same for Wallace, who is 26. Both are caught in predicaments in their respective organizations. Taylor is the victim of Oakland’s deep outfield and is about to be surpassed on the organizational depth chart by hot prospect Michael Choice. Wallace is becoming an afterthought for a rebuilding Astros franchise and is going to be hearing the footsteps of top first base prospect Jonathan Singleton very soon.

In Taylor’s second inning at-bat on Saturday, he lined a sharp single to left field, right past Wallace. He would end up with one more hit and a walk on the night. Later on, in the eighth inning, Wallace launched an impressive home run to right-center field, over the head of the chasing Taylor and into the lawn area behind Raley Field’s bullpen. The prospect shine has worn off both of these players who, not so long ago, were being touted as future All-Stars. Taylor and Wallace are both hitting the lights out now at AAA, and if both can maintain their current torrid hitting, it certainly isn’t too late for one or both of them to carve out a valuable role on a major league club after all.

The post Weekend River Cats Series Features Clash of Former Top Prospects appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

Woodson has flirted with several teams this offseason including the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, and the Denver Broncos.  While he has publically stated his desire to join a team with legitimate title aspirations, he may need to broaden his horizons to up and coming teams like the Raiders.  Though last few years have been injury plagued, his veteran presence could certainly help the Raiders and their talented, but raw secondary.  He is scheduled to visit the Raiders on Tuesday despite a “standing offer” on the table from the Broncos.

What would Woodson mean to the Raiders?

Charles Woodson is no longer an elite defense player as he was in years past, however his intelligence and experience would certainly help out the Raiders defensive corps. The Raiders defensive backs have been horrid over the past few years, utilizing cobbled together secondaries with more holes than Swiss cheese. The lack of quality has forced a number of unusual position changes including shifting Michael Huff and Taiwan Jones away from their comfortable positions.

The draft has yet to pay dividends in the past few years when it comes to the secondary, with players like Chimdi Chekwa and DeMarcus Van Dyke not panning out. Woodson would provide a note of stability as long as he refrains from the home run interception attempt. Too often over the past few years, Woodson has jumped a route only to be a step short, resulting in a number of massive gains at his expense.

Will Charles Woodson be the Woodson of old? No, however he would still qualify as an upgrade over a great deal of the silver and black. Plus, it’s always fun to get the gang back together, even if Woodson is the only member.

The post Could Charles Woodson Return to the Oakland Raiders? appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

The finale of the road trip ended today against the Colorado Rockies (24-20) and yielded another loss for pitcher Barry Zito, who is now 3-3 on the season. Zito went 5 2/3 innings giving up five runs and 11 hits.

Shortstop, Brandon Crawford, committed the thirteenth error of the road trip today in the fifth inning, and went 2 for 4 against Rockies’ pitchers. Errors throughout the road trip included missed, dropped, and over thrown balls from all areas of the field.

Today’s game was a small step up for both pitching and defense as Zito lowered the starting rotation’s ERA for this road trip to 9.82, and the defense made only one error in the game.

The Giants were shut out for the second time this season today 5-0, the first was on Opening Day against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw.

Overall, they finished 1-5 on the road trip with two losses to Toronto and three to Colorado. The only win for the Giants came on Thursday when Matt Cain (3-2, 5.43 ERA) managed an 8-6 victory over the Rockies.

The one bright spot on the road trip was that second baseman Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to 17 games.

The Giants look to get back on track at home tomorrow night against the Washington Nationals (23-21)  with righty Ryan Vogelsong (1-4, 8.06 ERA) on the mound.

Vogelsong’s last outing against Toronto last Wednesday was disastrous as he lasted only two innings and gave up three earned runs. It’s rumored that Vogelsong needs to have a good outing tomorrow night as he is in jeopardy of losing his starting position in the Giants’ rotation.

The Giants are currently tied for second place in the NL West with the Rockies, and both teams are one game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks (25-19).

The post Giants Finish 1-5 on Six Game Road Trip appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

A.J. Griffin and a strong bullpen performance kept the A’s in the game, but it was a line-drive home run in the eighth inning off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes that was the deciding factor of the 4-3 victory.

“Personally I’d rather see us win by 10 runs, but the fans get a kick out of it, we have a flair for the dramatic in close games here,” said Bob Melvin. “It shows tenacity. When we get down we don’t worry about it, we still feel like we can claw back and win.”

Cespedes started the day below the “Mendoza line,” with just a .198 batting average and in the midst of a 4 for 38 slump. The slugger had been hitting the ball hard recently, and after a seeing eye single fell in during the fourth inning, you had the feeling that the sleeping giant was going to awaken in a big way.

“He loves being up there with the game on the line. That’s kind of his thing, he wants to be the guy,” said Griffin on seeing number 52 in the batter’s box.

The homer from Cespedes came on a 96MPH fastball, and disappeared over the raised wall in left center in the blink of an eye. As he rounded the bases and headed for the home run tunnel in the dugout, “The guy” had raised his average to .208.

The A’s caught a break in the seventh inning when a lead off single from Derek Norris evaded the Kansas City center fielder’s glove and rolled to the wall, allowing Norris to reach third base. After pinch hitter Adam Rosales failed to bring him in, Coco Crisp launched a sacrifice fly deep enough in left field to bring the run in.

A concern for Melvin and his staff is the alarmingly low success rate of pinch hitters on the year. The A’s are just 2 for 40 in those situations, overwhelmingly the worst in the league.

Giving the free pass came back to haunt Griffin twice, as walked batters came around to score in the third and fourth innings. The righty had surrendered just 13 walks in 51.2 innings coming into the game. Griffin was otherwise effective, striking out five and pitching at least six innings for the eighth time in nine starts.

Hideki Okajima made his Oakland debut, Jerry Blevins picked up his third win, and Ryan Cook notched his first save of the year as the A’s bullpen pitched a scoreless three innings combined, putting the team in position to win.

Cook, last season’s lone all-star from the A’s, was filling in the closing duties for Grant Balfour who received a day off to rest. With two outs and a game-ending pop out in his sights, third baseman Josh Donaldson lept up and over the tarp down the third baseline, sprawling out into the stands as if he were crowd surfing, and still ended up ten feet shy of the ball.

“I was trying to figure out what the hell he was doing, but as a pitcher you’ll take that effort from guys all day long,” said Cook, who induced a groundout to second on the next pitch.

Donaldson had thought about that situation before.

“I’ve been waiting for that play all year. I’m going to jump in the stands if I can, I thought I had a pretty good chance to make a play,” the talented defender said with a grin on his face.

With the sweep of Kansas City, the A’s move back over .500 with a 23-22 record. They will look to keep momentum rolling into a six-game road trip in the Lone Star state.

Bartolo Colon will take the hill Monday night against Josh Lindblom and the Texas Rangers.

The post Cespedes, Bullpen Power Sweep of Royals appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

This time, the errors did not result in any unearned runs to blame the loss on, that designation goes straight to the poor pitching of Tim Lincecum. The former Cy-Young winner surrendered six runs on seven hits and a pair of walks in five innings of work.

The loss dropped Lincecum’s record to 3-3 on the season and raised his ERA to 4.70.

Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Lincecum himself combined for the three errors in the game. Not to mention a mental error by Lincecum that resulted in a balk and a Rockies’ run, that error doesn’t show in the E column. Well, technically Lincecum slipped while throwing the ball and that resulted in the balk, so perhaps the righty deserves a break on that misplay.

“Nine errors in four games, 13 in 10 games, that’s too much,” manager Bruce Bochy said before the game Saturday, in which the Giants increased those totals to 12 in five games, and 16 in 11 games now.

You now have to go back over a week since the last time the Giants played an error-free game.

The result of that game, back on Saturday, May 11, was a 10-1 trouncing of the Atlanta Braves in which Madison Bumgarner earned his fourth victory of the season. Since that game, the Giants have committed errors in each of their next six games, winning just two of those games.

They aren’t single error games either. The streak of bad defensive play began on May 12 with an error by Pablo Sandoval. San Francisco still won that game behind a vintage Tim Lincecum performance, shutting down the Braves for seven innings in a game in which the Giants won 5-1.

A pair of errors resulted in three unearned runs on May 14th against the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-6 loss. Sandoval was again one of the culprits, with Angel Pagan accounting for the other goof.

Two more errors doomed Ryan Vogelsong to the tune of five unearned runs the following day in an 11-3 beating, also at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Pagan earned one of the misplays this time, and Marco Scutaro the other.

The Giants rallied from a 6-0 deficit to win 8-6 on Thursday (May 16th) against the Colorado Rockies, but earned another error in the game on a missed catch by the usually sure-handed Brandon Crawford.

Friday, May 17th, the defense became extremely ugly, prompting manager Bruce Bochy to hold a team meeting prior to Saturday’s game. The Giants committed four errors against the Rockies on Friday, with Scutaro, Pagan and Sandoval earning another “E” each and Madison Bumgarner contributing to his own demise with an error of his own. The poor play resulted in another pair of unearned runs in the game.

Bochy’s pre-game meeting did not apparently have the results he had hoped for as the Giants committed those three additional errors Saturday.

The Giants will try to leave Colorado with a series split if they can win their game Sunday with Barry Zito (3-2) on the hill. The Giants are currently 24-19 and a game out of first place behind the Arizona Diamondbacks despite the recent rough patch.

If the errors continue, though, it could be a round of early reporting and extra fielding drills when the Giants return to San Francisco on Monday for the beginning of a six-game home stand with the Nationals and Rockies before things get really out of hand.

The post Errors, Pitching Continue to Doom the San Francisco Giants appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

Tommy Milone (4-5) earned the victory by out dueling Ervin Santana of the Royals.

Early on it appeared that Milone may be in for a short outing as his pitch count continued to rise. Instead, the A’s young lefty lasted six innings, allowing five hits and three walks, while surrendering just the one run and striking out four.

“That was Houdini,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Fifty pitches with three outs, 70 pitches with six or seven outs and he goes six innings. To do that, you have to be a pretty clear thinker out there. I’ve been impressed with a lot of his starts, and none more than that one.”

Milone escaped jams in the second and fourth innings to keep the A’s in the game, and then never let another runner get past first base beyond the fourth inning.

In the sixth inning the A’s got their starter’s back and scored a pair of runs to give him his fourth victory of the season.

Eric Sogard doubled and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Coco Crisp then walked and Jed Lowrie brought home Sogard on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.

One out later, Brandon Moss tripled to bring home Crisp and give the A’s the game winning run.

Melvin credited Milone with the A’s ability to grind it out and earn the win.

“It has a lot to do with the starting pitching,” Melvin said. “It’s one thing to try and fight back from four runs down and another thing when you’re one run back or even. It makes it easier to keep grinding.”

With the A’s in the lead 2-1, the bullpen finished off the game. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect seventh and eighth inning to setup the ninth inning for Grant Balfour.

Balfour allowed the first batter he faced to reach base, but then quickly shut the door on the Royals chances to rally and earned his eighth save of the season.

While the A’s players and coaches went about their post-game routines, the sellout crowd celebrated on the field and stands as they watched the A’s put on a pyrotechnic show above Mt. Davis.

A fitting way to cap a winning night.

The A’s will go for a series sweep Sunday afternoon at 1PM at the Oakland Coliseum.

The post Tommy Milone, A’s Beat Royals 2-1, Celebrate With Fireworks appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

To kick things off, the Sharks were already without Raffi Torres who has been suspended for the remainder of the series. They lost Martin Havlat at the first intermission and did not have him for the remainder of the game. Logan Couture and Scott Hannan both were injured during the second period and briefly left the ice and headed for the locker room.

Fortunately for the Sharks, both Hannan and Couture were able to return.

Considering that Couture wound up with the game winner at 1:29 into overtime, it was especially important that he was able to gut it out and come through huge in the clutch.

“When Cooch came back, I think it gave our team a lift as well, “said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. The locker room was real positive when he was ready to go.”

A pair of penalties to the Kings as regulation wound down gave the Sharks a 5-on-3 advantage that Couture did not waste.

“Going to overtime on a 5-on-3 we’re feeling pretty confident that we are going to get a good look, ” said center Joe Pavelski. “We don’t create as much momentum on the 5-on-3 probably as we like, but we got a look or two off it. Then the guys make a good play [to score the goal].”

Captain Joe Thornton added, “Really, [you just want] to end it. That’s all you want to do, that’s all you’re thinking about, is just ending this game and getting ready for the next one. Fortunately, we did that.”

Dan Boyle scored the Sharks first goal in the first period on a slap shot that found its way past Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick at 1:34 into the game.  Patrick Marleau and Pavelski were credited with assists on the goal.

Marleau earned his second assist of the evening on Couture’s game winner. Thornton also received credit for an assist on the play.

Antti Niemi made 26 saves in the 2-1 victory as the Sharks out shot the Kings 40 to 27. Quick made 38 saves, in the loss for Los Angeles.

The win cuts the series deficit to 2-1 in favor of the Kings. San Jose had been down in a series 2-0 nine other times and has failed to come back to win a series. Despite that streak, the Sharks players are confident that history has no bearing on this current team and their Stanley Cup quest.

“We’ve been in the series,” Pavelski said. “Coming back it didn’t feel down 2-0. Obviously that’s what it was, but we weren’t necessarily playing that score. We’ve played hard, we’ve invested a lot so far. We knew we had to win. Obviously we knew what the series was. But guys have been feeling good and confident out there. Again, we come out with great chances and find our way on the plus side.”

The Sharks will try to continue to use their home ice advantage to even the series at 2-2 on Tuesday night. The puck drops at the HP Pavilion at 7:00PM in Game 4.

The post Logan Couture Leads San Jose Sharks Past LA Kings in OT Win appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

A’s manager Bob Melvin commented, “so far so good,” in response to how the session went. It is a good sign that he has not suffered a setback considering that he commented that surgery was not out of the question for him less than a week ago.

Reddick is currently batting .152 with one homer and 14 RBI for the A’s. He had been playing with the injured wrist for most of the season though, having originally injured it while sliding into a wall in foul territory against the Houston Astros on April 7 in the first week of the season.

The A’s would like to see him return to the form he showed in 2012 when he led the Athletics with 32 homers and displayed Gold Glove worthy defense in right field.

He is eligible to come off the disabled list on May 24, when the A’s play the Astros in Houston.

In other A’s related news, Hiro Nakajima’s rehab stint with the Sacramento River Cats is coming to a close.

“I don’t know what the decision will be when the time comes,” Melvin said regarding whether to activate Nakajima or option him to Sacramento officially.

The A’s are pleased with the progress he has made on defense, however he is batting just .229 with three walks and six strikeouts in 40 plate appearances in the minors.

With Jed Lowrie playing well at shortstop and Adam Rosales and Eric Sogard playing respectably, the A’s can afford to take their time and let him build some consistency at the plate before promoting him to the Majors. Considering that they handed him a $6.5 million contract this offseason, however, they would likely prefer to see that sooner rather than later.

The post Josh Reddick Nearing Return, Hiro Nakajima Likely Staying in Sacramento For Now appeared first on BaySportsNet.com.

Prior to going on the disabled list on May 4 (retroactive to April 30), Young had been batting .172 with 15 RBI in 23 games with the A’s. Ten of his 15 hits are for extra bases, including five doubles, one triple and four home runs.

Young went 1-for-1 with two walks, a run scored and a stolen base while starting in center field in his only rehab game with Sacramento against Oklahoma City on Thursday. He was with the A’s on Friday and put on an impressive power display during batting practice prior to being activated for Saturday’s game.

Barton, batting .143 with a homer and three RBIs in eight games, was selected from Sacramento on May 8 and added to the 40-man roster as well as the 25-man roster. His designation opens a spot on the 40-man roster.

He batted .287 with three home runs and 21 RBI in 29 games with the River Cats. He must now pass through waivers without being claimed before the A’s can send him back to Triple-A Sacramento.

It is possible that a team in need of defensive help in the infield could claim him. Although it appears there have no been talks yet, Joel Sherman of the New York Post has already floated the idea that the New York Mets could have interest in Barton due to his patience at the plate and fielding ability.

The A’s have not yet made a corresponding move to fill the opening on the 40-man roster, however it would make sense that with yesterday’s news that Brett Anderson will likely miss at least six weeks with a broken foot, the A’s could use the open spot to purchase the contract of Sonny Gray and place the 2011 first round draft pick on the 40-man roster as insurance should the starting rotation continue to struggle with consistency.

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