The Giants are among the many companies downsizing in the face of the pandemic and a new financial reality: On Friday, the team announced a 10 percent cut in baseball and business operations staff. San Francisco completed its pandemic-shortened 60-game season last month, receiving no gate revenue as fans were not allowed into any regular…
SF Giants cut 10% of jobs in baseball and business departments, citing coronavirus — East Bay Times
Sixteen years ago this weekend, Dave Roberts stole the most famous base in Red Sox history and David Ortiz hit the home run that helped launch one of the greatest comebacks in baseball — against the Yankees to boot. History was made at Fenway Park again on Saturday — though not by the lowly Sox…
Fenway Park a home run for Boston early voters amid unease over mail-in ballots — Boston Herald
Less than 20 years after Major League Baseball was stifled by the steroid era, one of the biggest hurdles in the sport’s history, the same doctor who helped clean up the mess was presented with another one. Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, could MLB police itself again? Could the league avoid distraction from its financial…
MLB’s chief medical director: Zero on-field COVID-19 transmissions during 2020 season — Boston Herald
Bruce Bochy has three World Series rings, more than 2,000 regular-season victories and a quarter-century of managerial experience. The legendary former San Francisco Giants manager sounds interested in adding even more to his résumé. 561 more words
Former Giants manager Bruce Bochy on return to dugout: ‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it’ — Times-Standard
The Oakland A’s have had 24 hours to digest their American League Divisional Series defeat at the hands of the Houston Astros. Difficult decisions can’t be made yet, but the Athletics’ brass left Los Angeles feeling good about the talent that flew back to Oakland. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organization isn’t focused on what they’ve lacked…
Billy Beane on state of A’s after another postseason exit: ‘It’s a pretty darn good foundation’ — Times-Standard
Nationals pitching coach Paul Menhart will not be brought back next season after working in the organization for 15 years.
Nationals let pitching coach Paul Menhart go one year after title — MLB | NBC Sports
Nine Padres pitchers combined to shut out the Cardinals in Game 3 as they won their first postseason series in 22 years.
Padres shut out Cardinals 4-0 in Game 3, reach NLDS — MLB | NBC Sports
Associated PressOct 2, 2020, 11:05 PM EDT1 Commen
Craig Stammen and eight fellow relievers combined on a four-hitter in a brilliant, record-setting effort that sent the San Diego Padres over the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 Friday night in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series.
The Padres won a postseason series for the first time in 22 years and advanced to face the NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series at Arlington, Texas, starting Tuesday.
The nine pitchers marked the most used in a nine-inning shutout in any big league game since 1901.
With starters Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet unavailable due to injuries suffered in their final regular-season starts, rookie manager Jayce Tingler was forced to tap the Padres’ already-stressed bullpen and it came through magnificently. San Diego became the first team in baseball history to use eight or more pitchers in three straight postseason games.
Trevor Rosenthal, who started his career with the Cardinals, struck out the side in the ninth and the Padres began to celebrate in empty Petco Park.
It’s the first postseason series win for the Padres since they beat the Atlanta Braves in the 1998 NLCS and only the second time they’ve won a playoff game at Petco Park, which opened in 2004. The Padres lost to St. Louis in the division series in 2005 and 2006, the last time the Padres were in the postseason. The Cardinals also eliminated the Padres in 1996.
All four division series feature matchups between division rivals. All seven Central teams lost in the first round, with the Cardinals joining Cincinnati, the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota.
Fernando Tatis Jr., who homered twice and drove in five runs in Thursday night’s wild 11-9 victory, doubled into the left-field corner off losing pitcher Jack Flaherty with one out in the fifth and scored on Eric Hosmer‘s two-out double to right-center.
The Padres added on against reliever Alex Reyes in the seventh, on a bases-loaded walk to Hosmer and Manny Machado‘s fielder’s choice and an error on third baseman Tommy Edman.
Rookie Jake Cronenworth homered in the eighth.
With spectators watching from balconies on buildings surrounding the outfield and on a big-screen TV in a nearby parking lot, the Padres rewarded their long-suffering fans by winning one of the most meaningful games of any kind in San Diego in a long time. The city’s only major professional championship remains the San Diego Chargers’ 1963 AFL title. The Chargers left for Los Angeles after the 2016 season, leaving the Padres as the only pro team in San Diego, which lost NBA teams to Houston and Los Angeles.
The Padres lost 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 World Series and were swept by the New York Yankees in the 1998 Fall Classic.
The 36-year-old Stammen, who hadn’t started since 2010 with the Washington Nationals, pitched a perfect first inning and made way for Tim Hill with one on and two out in the second. Hill retired Matt Carpenter, got the first two outs of the third and then handed off to Pierce Johnson. Johnson loaded the bases on a single and a walk but struck out rookie cleanup hitter Dylan Carlson.
Rookie Adrian Morejon tossed a perfect fourth and struck out two to open the fifth before Kolten Wong singled and San Diegan Tommy Edman reached on Tatis Jr.’s throwing error from shortstop.
Austin Adams came on and struck out Paul Goldschmidt, who hit a three-run homer in St. Louis’ 7-4 win in Game 1. Adams wound up with the win.
St. Louis had another scoring chance in the sixth when Yadier Molina hit a one-out double off rookie Luis Patino and took third on Paul DeJong‘s grounder. Patino got Dexter Fowler to fly out to the warning track in right-center to end it.
Emilio Pagan threw a perfect seventh and Drew Pomeranz walked one in the eighth.
The bullpen had been one of the Padres’ strengths coming into the season but lost several members to injuries, including closer Kirby Yates, who led the majors with 41 saves last year. General manager A.J. Preller replenished it just before the trade deadline.
Stammen had a seesaw regular season, going 4-2 with a 5.63 ERA in 24 appearances.
Flaherty was brilliant as well, allowing one run and six hits in six innings while striking out eight and walking two.
The loss ended a season that saw the Cardinals shut down by a virus outbreak in the early going. Manager Mike Shildt’s team earned a playoff spot by last Sunday by winning on the final day of the regular season.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP-SportsTags: Adrian Morejon, Alex Reyes, Austin Adams, Craig Stammen, Dexter Fowler, Dinelson Lamet, Drew Pomeranz, Dylan Carlson, Emilio Pagan, Eric Hosmer, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jack Flaherty, Jake Cronenworth, Kirby Yates, Kolten Wong, Manny Machado, Matt Carpenter, Mike Clevinger, Paul DeJong, Paul Goldschmidt, Pierce Johnson, Tim Hill, Tommy Edman, Trevor Rosenthal, Yadier Molina
LOS ANGELES — This journey began in 2008. That’s when Clayton Kershaw made the first of his now 33 appearances in a postseason game. A 20-year-old Kershaw made two relief appearances against the Philadelphia Phillies in that National League Championship Series. Oh, the advice a 32-year-old Clayton might give that 20-year-old about his postseason journey…
How Clayton Kershaw in midseason form could affect his postseason — Daily News
Tigers GM Al Avila says that Detroit is not ruling out the possibility of hiring A.J. Hinch or Alex Cora for its manager vacancy.
Avila says Tigers aren’t ruling out Hinch, Cora for manager — MLB | NBC Sports
Associated PressOct 2, 2020, 7:15 PM EDTLeave a comment
DETROIT — Tigers general manager Al Avila said Friday that Detroit is not ruling out the possibility of hiring A.J. Hinch or Alex Cora for its manager vacancy.
Hinch and Cora were suspended through the 2020 postseason for their roles in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The Astros fired Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow on Jan. 13 and Cora lost his job managing the Boston Red Sox the following day.. Cora spent the 2017 season as bench coach on Hinch’s staff with Houston.
The Tigers are in the market for a replacement for manager Ron Gardenhire, who retired on Sept. 19 with a little more than a week left in the season. Avila was asked about Hinch and Cora, and while Detroit’s search appears to be in a very early stage, the GM at least seemed open to the possibility of hiring one of the suspended managers.
“Really, I can’t say that I’ve eliminated anybody,” Avila said. “The cheating scandal is not a good thing, obviously. They’re serving their suspensions, and once their suspensions are over, then they’ll be free to pursue their careers. So we have not eliminated anybody from our list at this point.”
Avila said interviews will be conducted by video, but he could meet face to face once the list of candidates is down to a small number.
“We could finish this sometime in October. It might go into November,” he said. “Really, we’re not in a rush. We’re kind of taking our time with it.”
The Tigers went 23-35 in the shortened season, finishing in the AL Central cellar for the third time in four years. They did bring up two of their most highly touted pitching prospects in Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, so that duo got some experience in the big leagues.
Avila said it is important that the next manager be able to help with talent evaluation, since there are important decisions to make throughout the roster. He sounds open to a variety of experience levels for managerial candidates.
“I guess one thing you could eliminate is a guy that maybe played and has absolutely no coaching experience, no managerial experience, and goes from being a player directly to a major league manager,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t go that way, but everything else I would say is in play.”
Tags: A.J. Hinch, Al Avila, Alex Cora, Astros, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Jeff Luhnow, Major League Baseball, MLB, Red Sox, Ron Gardenhire, Tiger, Casey Mize, Tarik SkubalLeave a comment
LOS ANGELES — For the second time in the past week, the Dodgers have lost a postseason hero from the franchise’s past. “Sweet Lou” Johnson who stepped in for an injured Tommy Davis during the 1965 World Series passed away Thursday night. He was 86. Born Louis Brown Johnson in Lexington, Kentucky, “Sweet Lou” toiled…
Former Dodger World Series hero ‘Sweet Lou’ Johnson dies — Press Telegram
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brent Suter is one of two active major league players who attended Harvard University. He was a dual major in environmental science and public policy. The space between his ears contains multitudes and, for a time Wednesday night, Suter couldn’t escape it. Chosen at the last minute to start Game 1 of…
Brewers’ Brent Suter melts down, Dodgers take advantage in Game 1 — Press Telegram
The Deets is a weekday morning dose of commentary — delivered at 7 a.m. — from sports columnist Dieter Kurtenbach that wraps up everything important in the world of sports and looks forward to another crazy day ahead. The Houston Astros still don’t get it. It’s on the Oakland A’s or the Chicago White Sox…
Kurtenbach: Karma is coming for the bratty Astros and Carlos Correa — Times-Standard
