FRIDAY:

GUESTS:

REVISION BREWING 330

MARK GUBICZA 4 PM

MARCUS THOMPSOTS PRE GAME N 430

AFFELDT 5 PM


GIANTS PREGAME 615


WARRIORS:

THOMPSON WITH A CURRY UPDATE: 
The Warriors are no doubt hoping Portland makes a series of it against New Orleans or else the Western Conference semifinals could start on April 28, at the earliest. Yes, it could be that soon. Assuming the Warriors finish off the Spurs quickly, whether Curry is available for the start of the next round could come down to when it begins.

According to multiple sources, Curry is still not close to playing. Despite video of him doing work on the court, which has fans salivating about his return, he isn't in the final stages of his rehabilitation. He will be evaluated again on Friday. He is on schedule but not on pace to beat the announced timelines. The working parameters have been 4 to 6 weeks since JaVale McGee crashed into Curry's left knee.


he Warriors have won 18 straight Western Conference playoff games
-Final 3 of OKC series back in 2016
-Went 12-0 through the West in 2017
-Up 3-0 in Round 1 vs Spurs in 2018


-DRAY'S DEFENSE

-DURANT'S ANKLE:

The spooky finish

With just under five minutes left and the Warriors up 17, Durant fumbled the ball up top. As his gangly body tried to scramble downward and retrieve it, Patty Mills was on the prowl from behind. Sprawled awkwardly, Durant twisted his left ankle pretty significantly, grabbing it in pain as Mills took off with a steal.

Durant was immediately pulled from the game and soon limped to the locker room. But he appeared fine in the postgame, making the 200-yard walk from the locker room to the podium without a limp.

“It's cool. I'm good,” Durant said. “Shouldn't have been playing around with the ball anyway. So I blame myself.”

Literally 33 game seconds later, almost the exact same thing happened to another important Warriors piece: Bringing the ball upcourt, Livingston was jumped by an aggressive Mills. In the scramble, Livingston fell awkwardly and twisted his left ankle, forcing him to hobble off.

“I think they're going to be OK,” Kerr said. “Shaun's was probably a little worse than Kevin's. Both sprained ankles, but I think they'll be all right.”

NEW ORLEANS: 

But Anthony Davis' game continues to ascend to megastar status, Jrue Holiday is having one of the more underrated seasons in basketball, the wily Rajon Rondo is showing up big in the playoffs again and Nikola Mirotic is proving to be the most important trade deadline addition, sniping through 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting in Game 3.

But there will be plenty of time to analyze the matchup next week. Let's first see if these two teams can finish off the sweeps.

-HELD YOUR BREATH ON DURANT, LIVINGSTON KNEE
-CURRY TIME TABLE ---CLOSER TO 6 WEEKS - CAN THEY BEAT PELICANS W OUT CURRY?
-PELS LOOK GOOD - MIROTIC



GIANTS:

GIANTS LOSE --ONE RUN OR FEWER IN 10 OF 18 --

Although unofficial for now, the Giants intend to place Pence on the 10-day disabled list because of the right thumb he sprained in the club’s home opener April 3. Hot-hitting outfielder Mac Williamson will join the Giants on Friday in Anaheim as the club begins a three-game interleague series, Bochy confirmed.

Bochy did not commit to Williamson being anything more than a taxi squad player on Friday. But from what I’ve been told, the club had every intention of activating him by Saturday at the latest and giving him a shot at regular playing time in left field.

The Giants wanted to wait to see how their bullpen came out of Thursday’s series finale here, cognizant that Jeff Samardzija is returning from the disabled list to make his season debut on Friday and threw just 62 pitches in his last rehab assignment.

WILLIAMSON: 

Williamson was 19 for 41 with six home runs and three doubles for the River Cats. His slash line is .487/.600/1.026 (yes, that last number is his slugging percentage, not his OPS). And while there is always some pyrite in Pacific Coast League statistics, Williamson is gobbling up Triple-A pitching on the heels of a highly impressive spring in which he rapidly implemented an overhauled approach at the plate.

PENCE: 

.172  10-58 / 22K'S 

1 XBH (DOUBLE) 

0 HR 3 RBI'S 

1-17 , SINGLE 10 K'S

2017:


Offensively, San Francisco's left fielders ranked 28th, the center fielders were 23rd and the right fielders 30th in the majors


THIS SEASON:

OPS:

C- 17
1B -10
2B- 12
SS - 22
3B  - 15
LF - 29
CF -17
RF- 20


-PHANTOM PENCE INJURY - BRING UP MAC
-SAMARDZIJA BACK

WHAT IF THE GIANTS HAD SIGNED OHTANI?

“Bumgarner,” said Bochy, with a faint smile. “He asked whether Bum’d be OK pitching sometimes on a sixth day. He did his homework. He knew everything about us.”

If the Giants had won over Ohtani, there is an alternate reality in which Bumgarner would be starting this weekend against the Los Angeles Angels and one of his rotation mates could serve as his DH. The pair of power-hitting pitchers could’ve spent the entire season drawing crowds while trying to one-up each other in batting practice – an endlessly more entertaining show than the bunts and butcher-boy cuts you usually see in pitcher’s BP.

Ohtani chose the Angels, of course. And as the Giants arrive in Anaheim to begin a three-game interleague series tonight, it so happens that neither Ohtani nor Bumgarner will throw a pitch.

As you might suspect, the scheduling architecture of a pitcher/hitter is something Bumgarner has thought about in the past. But he never took to scaling the idea too high in his mind.

“I didn’t think it would work,” Bumgarner said. “And I don’t know if it will still work. Nobody knows. We just have to see how it goes for an extended amount of time. But he’s definitely gotten out of the gate better than anybody was expecting, especially after (his spring).”

Bochy had his doubts, too, and expressed them publicly to reporters prior to a game last September. Later that afternoon, he was shown video of Ohtani’s swing and marveled at his bat speed. The next day, he started his pregame session with a nervous laugh: “Can we talk about Ohtani again? Because I think we could make this work.”

It’s not Ohtani’s fast start — .324 average, 1.055 OPS, three home runs in just eight starts at DH plus one pinch-hitting appearance — that most surprised Bochy. He saw enough video to know the outsized talent was there. It’s the fact Ohtani struggled through spring training before taking the advice of coaches to eliminate a leg kick at the very end of camp.

“He’s already shown he has the ability to adjust,” Bochy said. “The hitting part can be a big adjustment when he doesn’t know these pitchers. The bat speed is there and now he’s made the adjustment, and made it so fast. So I think we’re seeing just how special this guy can be.”

49ERS:

-JUST DID THE 2018 DRAFT PODCAST WITH KUEG ---

SCHEDULE HEARD THE GAME BY GAME THING ---WHAT A BEATING THAT IS ...


SHARKS:

OTHER:

420