📽️: @nflthrowback
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| Martín Gallegos |
| @MartinJGalleg |
The A's recorded shutouts in both games of a doubleheader for the first time since Sept. 9, 1974 against the Royals at the Coliseum. Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter both tossed complete game shutouts that day. Nine innings, of course. 4/20/21, 9:01 PM
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| Giants at Phillies, with a chance for a sweep: Tommy La Stella - 3B Mike Yastrzemski - RF Donovan Solano - 2B Alex Dickerson - LF Buster Posey - C Wilmer Flores - 1B Brandon Crawford - SS Mauricio Dubón - CF Anthony DeSclafani - RHP | |||
| 4/21/21, 9:04 AM | |||
The Giants won 10-7 instead.
They hit five home runs for the first time since August 2019.
They came back from a 4-0 deficit, and they came back from a 6-3 deficit.
They got to Wheeler, even though his stuff occasionally looked unhittable. They absolutely pounced on the Phillies bullpen, which had been mostly solid to this point of the season.
The Giants didn’t look like the team from a decade ago. They looked like the team from last season — which means they looked like the team you should have been expecting this season.
“We have 2020 as an example of what kind of offense we could be,” Gabe Kapler said after the game. “I think it’s fair to say that we were at least a good team offensively. And I think we added to that, right? We added one of the better hitters in baseball, if you look at a guy who strikes out very little, walks some and has power against righties in Tommy La Stella, which deepens our lineup against right-handed pitching. So with that, and understanding that most of our guys are in the 40 to 60 plate appearance range, I just feel like it’s more when and not if this team is going to start producing offensively.”
Except even comparing Tuesday night’s output to 2020 does the barrage a disservice. A five-homer night is still rare for the Giants, even in the age of launch angle and rabbit balls. They did it only five times in the previous decade, with two of those games coming at Coors Field. They had just two five-homer games throughout the 1970s.
Just as encouraging is where the home runs came from and how many runners were on base when they were hit. La Stella made the Giants feel like they had a shot with a two-run homer to cut what was once a 4-0 Phillies lead to 4-3 in the fifth. A slumping Alex Dickerson turned around a high fastball from right-hander Connor Brogdon for a three-run homer to give the Giants a 7-6 lead in the eighth, and Wilmer Florespounded another fastball from Brogdon to give them three more runs of insurance. These were the meatballs the struggling hitters weren’t seeing over the first three weeks, and they didn’t miss them when they finally showed up.
The dinger star of the game, though, was Buster Posey, who had his first two-homer game since May 2016. In his second at-bat, with the Giants down 4-0, he crushed a first-pitch slider that was so flat, it looked like a fastball.
| Sports Media Watch |
| @paulsen_smw |
Steph Curry's hot streak is moving the NBA ratings needle:-- Warriors-Celtics
-- Warriors-Sixers on Monday is most-watched weeknight game since 2/18
sportsmediawatch
| NBA |
| @NBA |
The current NBA standings before tonight's action.Teams ranked 7-10 will participate in the NBA Play-In Tournament after the regular season (May 18-21) to secure the final two spots in the Playoffs for each conference. pic.twitter.com/
| Cam Inman |
| @CamInman |
“If you coach this guy up in Kyle’s offense, he can be a superstar. He’s got enough arm. Got touch. Got quick enough release. I’m taking him in my mock draft.”
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The offensive coach view
Steve Mariucci
Mariucci is the 49ers’ fourth-winningest coach (57-39 from 1997-2002). He’s coached Hall of Fame quarterbacks Brett Favre and Steve Young, and, in 2017, was Fields’ coach in the 2018 Under Armour All-American Game. Mariucci is in his 16th year as an NFL Network analyst.
“If you want to take a little chance and have a sensational athlete, it’s Justin Fields. He’s a rare athletic quarterback, plus he’s a heck of a passer. He’s big enough, strong enough, terrific runner. He is more of a passing quarterback, that can run like crazy. He’s so strong in the pocket and played sensational games.
“He just doesn’t have the consistency of others. That’s OK. He transferred from Georgia, was going through the pandemic last year.
“If you coach this guy up in Kyle’s offense, he can be a superstar. He’s got enough arm. Got touch. Got quick enough release. I’m taking him in my mock draft.”
The defensive coach view
Wade Phillips
Phillips faced Shanahan’s 49ers as the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator from 2017-19 and he’s coached NFL defenses since 1976, including head-coaching stints with Denver, Dallas and Houston.
“Kyle didn’t have him but Mike Shanahan had Jake Plummer (in Denver, 2003-06), a run-and-throw type guy and did a good job with him. They’ll utilize what he does well, like he does with running backs.
“You’ve got to think Fields is the guy they might get. He can run and throw. Lance, you don’t know how well he throws. Then Jones is not a runner. Fields is more of the modern-day quarterback everyone is looking for, the Mahomes-type.”
The quarterback view
Jeff Garcia
Garcia, by way of San Jose State and the Canadian Football League, began his 11-year NFL career with the 49ers from (1999-2003). He’s been an NBC Sports Bay Area analyst since 2017.
“I remember watching Justin Fields in his high school QB1 (Netflix) program. He was a talented kid then, and I didn’t connect the dots he was the kid at Ohio State until I looked into it, because he went to Georgia and transferred.
“In 2019, he had phenomenal numbers (41 touchdowns, three interceptions). I know it’s Ohio State and there’s great talent around you. You’re able to put defenses in a bind because of the level of play at your fingertips, like Mac Jones had at Alabama. They’re putting pressure on defenses. Now it comes down to decision-making, accuracy, leadership. I know there’ve been words on if is he committed and puts time into it. Here’s a perfect opp to quiet critics and become a workhorse at the next level. He can learn and compete with Jimmy (Garoppolo), and that makes the position better.
“If you’re looking at that (mobile) style of quarterback (between Fields and Lance), I’m going to go with the guy who’s played in bigger games, on a bigger stage, with more starts and has unbelievable statistics and the physical toughness.”
The general manager view
Mark Dominik
Dominik worked in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ personnel department from 1997-2013, overlapping with John Lynch’s playing days and eventually serving as the Bucs’ GM for five years. He hosts a Sirius/XM NFL Radio show Fridays.
“You know very well Shanahan likes to move around, move the pocket and fly around. The No. 1 thing Shanahan loves is guys that can process multiple reads, get out in space and get rid of the ball, hitting crossing patterns, play-action and when you take that deep shot, it’s got to be a good ball.
“… Fields certainly brings that element of run that is very prevalent right now in the National Football League, in a good way.”
The scout view
Gil Brandt
Brandt entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame two years ago. He became a full-time scout with the 49ers in 1958-59 before 29 years in the Dallas Cowboys’ personnel department. He is a weeknight host on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“I think Justin Fields is going to be an excellent quarterback. I don’t know why he’s all over the board. Some people think he is the second or third player picked. Some people think he’s the 10th player picked. I think he will surprise everybody and I really think that that’s the quarterback that San Francisco will take with the third overall pick.”
The college football view
Kirk Herbstreit
Herbstreit is a fixture on ESPN’s College GameDay and has split time as a game analyst during his 25 years at the network. He played quarterback at Ohio State from 1989-92.
“Justin Fields to me is exactly where the NFL is trending as far as his physical skill set, and there’s a lot of evidence and proof and a lot of big games that he played in his career, so I guess my answer to that would be I love his versatility. He can throw the ball downfield. He can throw the ball intermediately. He’s got the levels concepts and he can create off-platform very comfortably so I don’t think you’re pigeon-holed if you take him.”
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The Raiders faced heavy backlash Tuesday evening after the organization tweeted a graphic in response to the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict for the murder of George Floyd, which read "I can breathe."
Raiders owner Mark Davis not only defended the tweet but said that he created the post.
"That's my tweet. That was me," Davis said to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I don't want anyone in the organization taking heat. I take full responsibility for that."
He later clarified that the post was paraphrasing a quote from George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd. After Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty on all three charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, Philonise said “Today, we are able to breathe again.”
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His phrasing mirrored his brother’s cry of “I can’t breathe” when Chauvin kneeled on George's neck while restraining him for more than nine minutes, ultimately killing George.
“If I offended the family, then I’m deeply, deeply disappointed,” Davis told The Athletic.Davis also said the post will not be deleted.
Davis said he was not aware that New York Police Department supporters wore "I can breathe" shirts in 2014 following the killing of Eric Garner. Similar to Floyd, Garner also
Let me say this right off the bat: I was not aware of that," he told The Athletic. "Absolutely not. I had no idea of that. That's a situation that I was not aware of. I can see where there could be some negativity towards what I said based on that."
He does not plan to remove the post either, saying that "it's already out there."
"I rarely, rarely post stuff, but I'm not into erasing something," Davis said to The Athletic. "It's not an apology. I'm not embarrassed by what I said, but I did learn something now."
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