At the Frys.com Open, a glimpse of the Tour without Tiger

By Art Spander

NAPA, Calif. — This is what golf will be in the coming years. This is the way golf is at the present. They’re playing the PGA Tour without Tiger Woods, at least for a while. A new season but old worries. What happens to the game?

The Frys.com Open starts Thursday at Silverado Country Club. It’s a place with a great history, a place where Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus have won, as if that has any effect on the game in 2015.

They keep telling us golf is in great shape. That people such as Rory McIlroy, who is entered in this Frys.com, and Jordan Spieth, who isn’t entered, will keep the fans attentive and interested. But golfers have always followed the game. It’s the non-golfers that golf needs.

Bill Veeck understood sports and show business. He owned several major league teams, the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox. The Browns — awful, trapped in the shadow of the St. Louis Cardinals — would eventually become the Baltimore Orioles, but in St. Louis they were all but ignored. Until the stunt.

Veeck signed a midget, Eddie Gaedel, then sent him to bat. Gaedel walked on four pitches, of course, and whether the idea was brilliant or idiotic didn’t matter, it would not go unnoticed. “If you had to depend on baseball fans for your support,” Veeck reminded, “you’d be out of business by Mothers’ Day.”

Golf isn’t going out of business, for certain. And yet, neither is it going as it did when Woods was the attraction. He was golf’s Eddie Gaedel, in a matter of speaking. He brought in an entire new constituency, people unfamiliar with game, who probably didn’t know a sand wedge from a sandwich. But after Woods’ spectacular introduction, the 1997 record Masters win, and the “Hello, World” commercial, they were Woods fans. Not golf fans, per se, but Woods fans.

So now there’s no Tiger Woods, as he rehabs from a second back surgery, so now that his 40^th birthday is some two and a half months away, what happens to the Woods fans? Will they shift loyalties to someone like Rory or Spieth or Jason Day — or even Phil Mickelson? Or will they just end their brief relationship with the sport?

Golf is an individual sport. If you’re a Cubs fan and have suffered through the years you remain a Cubs fan, whether it’s Ernie Banks in the lineup or Kris Bryant. But if you’re a Tiger fan, especially one never previously involved in golf, it’s different.

Arnold Palmer was golf’s first superstar, starting in the late 1950s when golf and television formed a happy alliance. As he declined and later as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Greg Norman declined — not to imply they had the unique appeal of Woods — some connected to the Tour advised journalists to write about the new guys and not the old ones.

“Let your readers know about all the great players out here,” was the usual admonition. The trouble was they knew but often didn’t care. And not much has changed, even with 2013 U.S. Open winner Justin Rose grouped in the first two rounds of this Frys with McIlroy and AT&T Pebble Beach winner Brandt Snedekder. Great players without Tiger's magic.

Tiger’s gone for a while, until next February or March. After that, let’s say another five years, because of the injuries and operations, two on the back, four on the left knee, Woods may be forced to retire and, barring a commemorative appearance, gone forever.

And for those who think it won’t make a difference, look at what occurred during the Wyndham event in August. He made an unscheduled appearance in an attempt to qualify for the Tour Championship events, and the crowds were far greater than in previous years without him in the field.

Woods, as the line goes, still moves the needle. Some dislike him, after the stories of his personal life. Some idolize him, acknowledging the 14 majors he’s won. But nobody disregards him. He’s still a story, even now when he’s not a story.

The golf tour without Tiger Woods? For better or worse, that’s the way it’s going to be.

Raiders control ball, Peyton — and still can’t win

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — This is what happens to teams that aren’t quite there, teams that show progress but often don’t show results, teams that are difficult to embrace but even more difficult to criticize.

You want terrible? Look at the Detroit Lions, getting booed at home, benching first-rounders for bench-warmers. The Lions are terrible and readily identified as much. In contrast to the Oakland Raiders, who as young teams with new coaches do so frequently, entice and tease and then trip over themselves. Clunk.

Not many boo. Instead, they gasp.

The Raiders on Sunday played arguably their best defensive game in years. They controlled the ball — having it for 34 minutes of the 60. For the most part they controlled the great Peyton Manning, who threw  two interceptions and no touchdowns passes for a mediocre passer rating of 62.3, compared to the appreciably better rating of 82.1 by Raiders second-year quarterback Derek Carr.

But as we’ve been told forever and a day, the only number that matters is the final score. The rest is eyewash, material for talk shows and feature stories. At an O.Co Coliseum filled with passion and hope, the final score was Broncos 16, Raiders 10.

That’s the fewest points the Broncos scored this season. No less importantly, after two missed field goals, a lost fumble and a killer interception, a pass returned 74 yards in the fourth quarter when the Broncos were in front only 9-7, that’s the fewest the Raiders scored this season.

Yes, could have, perhaps should have. But didn’t.

The Raiders, with mistakes small and large, so encouraging and then, wham, so disappointing, are not yet capable. “They were supposed to win,” said Carr. “We expected to win.” But they were not yet ready to win.

Sebastian Janikowski set a team record for the number of games played as a Raider, 241. But he had one field goal blocked and another go wide from 40 yards. “Sometimes it happens,” said Seabass.

And Carr lost a fumbled snap on Oakland’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, and then on a misread — “We didn’t execute,” Carr said in a statement that indicted nobody — with the ball on Denver 31, Carr’s throw was picked by Cliff Harris Jr. and returned 74 yards for a TD.

“I always take full accountability,” said Carr, who in his words and actions seems more mature than someone in only his second year as a pro — but in his football occasionally plays exactly like someone in only his second year as a pro.

The game is one of overcoming errors. The best, the veterans, have their problems but not very many when matched against others. In Green Bay on Sunday, Aaron Rodgers even threw an interception. But it was his first in a home game in three years. The longer you go the fewer mistakes you make, and so, the longer you go.

Manning has gone longer than most. He’s 39, the same age as Raiders safety Charles Woodson, who after seasons of facing him finally had his first interception off Manning. But Peyton wasn’t unnerved. Upset, yes, but not unnerved. He’s in his 16^th season. He learned long ago to soldier on. Learned how to win, or more directly learned how to enable his team to win.

Raiders coach Jack Del Rio knows about both losing and winning and, as the former Broncos defensive coordinator, knows all about Manning. Del Rio particularly coveted a victory over his former team yet understood why the Raiders couldn’t get it.

“I thought we gave ourselves a chance,” said Del Rio, which only sounds good. Oakland, after consecutive defeats, now is 2-3. The Broncos are 5-0, and that stat far outdoes Manning’s interceptions and lack of TD passes.

Woodson was asked in a game when the opposing offense, Denver, was held to three field goals — the touchdown, remember, was a pick six, or interception return — if he would expect a win.

“Yeah, I suppose,” he said, trying to be elusive. “Defensively, we came out. We felt like were prepared and could do some things against them. We were able to, limiting those guys, but we just weren’t able to do enough.”

That’s the inevitable summation from a team that falls short, a team that competes, that excites, that tempts and then, because for one reason or another, ends up losing.

A team like the Oakland Raiders.

O-Line is the 49ers' problem

By Art Spander

SANTA CLARA — Nobody wants to broach the subject, wants to come forward and explain exactly why the 49ers can’t run or pass the ball. Or win.

Nobody involved is willing to admit that the Niners no longer have capable players, especially where it matters most, in the offensive line, and thus it doesn’t matter who is coaching or playing quarterback.

The late Al Davis, the Raiders' chief for years, would grab a journalist and tell him football starts with the O-Line. That guys who can block and open holes enable a team to move the ball, even if the runners aren’t Jim Brown or Walter Payton. Enable a quarterback to have the time to find an open receiver.

Colin Kaepernick was sacked six more times Sunday. You can’t pass from your back. You can’t run on your back. You can’t win on your back. All you can do is lose, and that’s what the Niners did, 17-3, to the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium.

Three points this game. Seven points last game.

The Niners can’t move the ball. The defense was effective, when you consider the Packers, still unbeaten in four games, had the ball 13 minutes more than San Francisco, gained 166 more yards than San Francisco. This one could have been 40-3, if not for the defense.

The offense is bad, maybe awful, because the offensive line is bad. It wasn’t too swift last year, either. Colin Kaepernick was sacked 52 times in the 2014 season. And then Mike Iupati left as a free agent and Anthony Davis retired. In four games this season, Kaepernick, taking heat as well as feeling pressure, has been sacked 14 times, or more than three a game.

Is that Kaep’s fault? Is that the fault of new coach Jim Tomsula, as uninspiring as Tomsula seems to be? Is that the fault of GM Trent Baalke, who failed to bring in the linemen?  “The responsibility (for pass protection) goes to me,” said Tomsula. OK, but if you don’t have the players, all the schemes in creation don’t mean a thing.

The Niners, the franchise of Frankie Albert and John Brodie, Joe Montana and Steve Young, the team that could always get points even if it couldn’t get victories, were simply embarrassing Sunday. With some six minutes left in the game, they had only 72 yards rushing and 72 yards passing. Balanced, but sad. At the same time, the Packers had 131 yards rushing and 200 passing.

“The Green Bay Packers played a heck of a football game,” said Tomsula, as if anyone would be surprised about a team favored to make the Super Bowl — which will be played right where the Pack played Sunday, Levi’s, and where the entire southeast section of the stands was filled with green-jerseyed fans chanting, “Let’s go Packers.”

As for the 1-3 Niners, who in the last three weeks have scored 28 points and allowed 107? “We felt,” said Tomsula, “like defensively the guys took a step. Offensively, obviously we’ve got to get some things ironed out.”

What they’ve got to get is an offensive line to give Kaepernick enough time to throw or Carlos Hyde or Reggie Bush the space to run. Hyde gained 20 yards on eight carries, Bush no yards on one carry. Kaepernick, as normal, was the leading rusher, 57 yards on 10 carries, and he completed 13 passes of 25 for 160 yards.

You want a comparison? The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers — yes, sigh, he could have been drafted out of Cal by the Niners, but he also would have needed a line — completed 22 of 32 for 224 yards and a touchdown.

“I’ll study as much as I can, work as much as I can,” said Kaepernick. “That’s only way I know how to fix it.” What he didn’t say was that improved protection would be the best way to fix it.

Three years ago, ironically, Kaep was sprinting through and around the Packers in the playoffs. Now he’s scrambling for his existence, and someone wondered of the QB if the Niner offense ever felt so out of synch.

“We have to find our rhythm,” said Kaepernick. “We have to get back on track and string plays together. When we do that, we have produced successful drives. It’s getting those plays to string together where we’ve struggled so far.

“To me, we have to get the ball out quick. We have to be able to get it into our playmakers’ hands as soon as we can. But I’m not going to throw the ball into traffic and risk this offense and this team and put them in a bad situation.”

Without a strong offensive line, the situation always will be bad.

Even Dodgers applauded Tim Hudson

By Art Spander

SAN FRANCISCO — He was walking off a off a major league mound for a final time, and in the other dugout, the opposing dugout, the Dodgers dugout, players were standing and applauding, joining a last hurrah for Tim Hudson.

His Giants teammates, of course. The more than 40,000 fans, indeed. But the Dodgers, the historic rivals of the Giants, also taking part? More than anything, that was proof of the respect Hudson had earned in a career now coming to a close.

These are strange days for San Francisco baseball. The Giants’ chance for the postseason, the opportunity to repeat as World Series champions, was halted earlier in the week by the Dodgers. The games no longer mean anything.

It is a time for reflection, for farewells, in the case of 40-year-old Tim Hudson, for a cameo and an ovation that Thursday afternoon shook AT&T Park. You can’t win every year, but you can be appreciative of the years you did win, and the players who contributed to those wins.

For Hudson, the appearance amounted to a victory lap, even if there would be no victory, the Dodgers edging the Giants, 3-2. Hudson lasted 2 1/3 innings. After a single by Howie Kendrick in the top of the third, Bruce Bochy stepped onto the field to replace Hudson. The time had come.

“It was a special moment,” said Bochy of Hudson taking his leave. “It’s been an honor to have him on our team.”

Brief as that might have been. Huddy was with the Athletics for six years, then, joining as a free agent, the Atlanta Braves for nine. He came to the Giants before the season of 2014 with the express purpose of pitching and winning a World Series, a goal that was achieved and one that Hudson quickly asserts remains the highlight of a 17-year career.

“I never would have dreamed things would have unfolded the way they did,” said Hudson.

Sport emphasizes the passing of time. One day you’re a rookie, the next you’re nearly finished. Always someone is arriving — the Giants' catcher Thursday, the man to whom Hudson pitched, was Trevor Brown, 24. Always someone is departing.

These were an exciting few days for Brown, as they were for the other rookies who were in the Giants’ starting lineup, Kelby Tomlinson, Matt Duffy, Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker and Nick Noonan. These were bittersweet days for Hudson, as they would be for any retiring athlete. The tributes confirm the reality that life is about to change.

“I’ve had so much fun the last 17 years,” said Hudson. “This was a special day for me, the way the fans responded, my teammates responded.”

When someone wondered if this curtain call was easier than the one he shared last Saturday in Oakland with Barry Zito, Hudson said, “It’s always easier in front of the home fans. These are the best baseball fans, the best sports fans there are. I just wish we would have won the ball game. This is a classy town, a classy organization.”

We have seen so many come and go through the seasons, Willie Mays, Joe Montana, Rick Barry, greats all. Whether Hudson is in that category is debatable, but he did win 222 games—the most of any pitcher active through the end of 2015 — and struck out 2,080.

Bochy mentioned the Hall of Fame, and when Hudson was asked if he thought about the possibility of being elected — he won’t be eligible for five years — he said, “It’s tough for me to get my head around that now. I feel very lucky to have played as long as I have.

“It kind of makes me laugh. This year has been pretty tough.”

Hudson missed time because of a hip problem and finished with an 8-9 record, after 9-13 last season. Not the way he would have wanted, but that old guy, Father Time, has a reputation for ruining all sorts of plans.

Hudson was relieved by Jeremy Affeldt, who a day ago announced he also was retiring, at age 36. It was also a goodbye appearance for Affeldt. He pitched only two thirds of an inning before Ryan Vogelsong took over.

The Giants' pitching wasn’t bad. The Dodgers' pitching, mainly starter Brett Anderson, who went 7 2/3, was spectacular.

“Huddy wanted to be out there,” said Bochy. “I’m sure a lot was on his mind. He had a wonderful career. I hope he takes time and looks back on what he accomplished.”

For certain, everyone else will.

A painful but inevitable end for the Giants

By Art Spander

SAN FRANCISCO — It hurt. Don’t doubt that. To have the Dodgers, the team that infuriates Giants fans even more than their own team enthralls them, clinch the division at their home, was painful. And, sadly, inevitable.

Finally, emphatically, the Dodgers, with all that talent, but with all those questions, ended the chase and for the Giants the hope. It was a rout Tuesday night.

It was Clayton Kershaw in full domination. It was an 8-0 victory that had the message board at AT&T Park offering L.A. congratulations — imagine that, and telling us to “#respecttherivalry” — and the defending World Series champion Giants staring in dismay, if not disbelief.

“You have to remember that in the off-season,” Madison Bumgarner said of the opposition celebrating in what in effect is his house. “You don’t want to be part of that. It’s always tough.”

Even tougher when your own fans began departing as the score built, and in the stands behind first base there were only spectators in blue jackets or jerseys shouting, “Let’s go Dodgers.”

Infuriating. And to the Giants, unacceptable.

Bumgarner was the San Francisco starter this fateful night by the Bay. He was the World Series hero last fall and the one reliable pitcher this summer. But the game and the moment — and the Dodgers — got to him, while the Giants couldn’t get to Kershaw.

Thirteen strikeouts for Kershaw. One hit for the Giants, that by Kevin Frandsen, who spent most of the season with Sacramento, the Triple A farm team. And, after seven straight defeats at AT&T this year, a momentous Los Angeles victory.

Bumgarner, trying to win his 19^th game of 2015, more significantly trying to save the Giants, understood the task and the difficulty, maybe too well. “I don’t want to say it got the best of me,” said Bumgarner, a standup guy as well as a brilliant athlete, “but I was a little more emotional than I like to be. I didn’t have what I wanted to have.”

The Dodgers scored in the first, which it turned out was all they would need but not all they would get. Kike Hernandez homered in the third, Justin Ruggiano and A.J. Ellis homered back-to-back in the sixth. Mad Bum had thrown 112 pitches but would throw no more.

The game was over if there were innings left to play. The season was over, if there were five games left to play.

Yet, properly, there was little remorse from the Giants. “Four concussions and two obliques,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, reminding of a year too filled with injuries and trips to the disabled list. “And yet here we were on September 29^th finally getting knocked out.

“It’s always tough when it happens, but with everything, the new kids, the injuries, to go to the last week of the season you still have to be proud of these guys. Bumgarner had a tremendous year. He had good stuff today.”

Until he wore down. Until the weeks and months caught up with a man who a year ago pitched through October and surely must have felt weary, not that he ever would suggest as much. He wanted the ball, and the Giants, who had watched him outduel Kershaw earlier this season, wanted him to have it.

“There was a lot at stake,” said Bochy, stating the obvious. There also was an uphill climb. The Giants had three long losing streaks during the season, and after allowing leads to get away last week, twice against San Diego and once against Oakland, were eight games behind the Dodgers. They cut the margin to five, but sooner or later L.A. would stop losing. Sooner happened on Monday night.

“We had no margin for error,” said Bochy, repeating a theme of the past few days. Now they will have an autumn without the playoffs. Now there will be no more pennants or paraphernalia.

It’s hard to fault a team that didn’t have Hunter Pence except for a few games, that had Brandon Belt and Nori Aoki get concussions, that for a while lost Jake Peavy and for most of the time didn’t have Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum.

In spring training gleeful Giants fans wore T-shirts that read, “We like the odds,” a play on words noting the team had won titles in even years. But the odds were not on the Giants’ side. And the Dodgers were too strong.

“We were very competitive,” said Bumgarner. “We were there to the end.”

And now it’s the end.

Giants stay alive and unbeaten against Dodgers at AT&T

By Art Spander

SAN FRANCISCO — Still alive. “We can’t lose a game,” said Bruce Bochy. Not if the Giants want to keep themselves in the dying pennant race. Not if they want to keep the Dodgers from ending it. And Monday night, late, very late, they didn’t lose a game. They beat the Dodgers, and they’re still alive.  

Twelve innings, a minute short of four hours. Dozens of deep breaths. What seemed like dozens of relief pitchers, but in actuality was only 12. A crowd that seemed overloaded with Dodger partisans who came to watch their team clinch a division but in the end a crowd that reaffirmed its loyalty to the home team, chanting, as always, “Beat L.A., beat L.A.”

And because Jake Peavy was brilliant as a starter and Kelby Tomlinson at second turned a wicked grounder with two runners on into a double play in the 11^th and pinch hitter Alejandro De Aza’s sacrifice fly scored Marlon Byrd from third in the 12th, the Giants did beat L.A., 3-2.

We agree. The lead is too large, now five games for the Dodgers, and the magic number too small, still two, meaning an L.A. win Tuesday night, Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon closes the deal. But the water drips slowly and the streak continues.

Monday was the seventh time the Dodgers have played at AT&T Park this season — and the seventh time the Giants have won. Things like that don’t happen in baseball. Or do they?

“A great game,” said Bochy. “A great outcome. Well played, entertaining. A lot of good things happened, and that starts with Peavy.”

Sunday, in the clubhouse at the Oakland Coliseum, Peavy was talking about the thrill of the chase, how being able to pitch against the Dodgers in a must-win situation was the challenge he embraced, the moment of truth, if you will, when you a man finds if he’s equal to the task. Peavy was more than equal.

“As an athlete,” said Peavy, “you want to face the best in league, knowing you have to win.”

Peavy faced Zack Greinke, who if he isn’t the best (he came in with an 18-3 record) is one of the three best, along with teammate Clayton Kershaw and the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner — who pitch against each other Tuesday night.

Peavy went seven innings, giving up a run and three hits. Greinke went seven, giving up two runs and four hits. Neither was in on the decision but both were in on the trend of the game, which was the sort of pitching battle one might have predicted.

Peavy’s catcher, Trevor Brown, was the guy who drove in the two runs off Greinke, in the second. “Ten days ago,” said Peavy about Brown, “he was sitting on a couch.”

Maybe not literally, but Brown was finished with his season at Triple-A Sacramento and had gone home to the Los Angeles suburb of Valencia.

He got a phone call at 1:30 a.m. on September 15 from Giants GM Bobby Evans and headed to the Bay Area. Then, with Buster Posey taking over at first base for the injured Brandon Belt, Brown steps behind the plate and also steps up to lash a double off Greinke.

“What a great performance,” said Peavy of Brown. “A huge hit. As great as he was behind the plate, he was just as great with the bat.”

When Peavy was on rehab at Sacramento he threw to Brown, so the pair communicated well against the Dodgers. Brown said he let Peavy dictate the pitches and pattern.

Greinke had two strikes on Brown in the second with Brandon Crawford — like Brown a one-time star at UCLA — and Tomlinson on the bases. “I was just trying to be as calm as I could.”  Calm or frantic, he powered a ball deep to center to get the runners home.

“And Kelby saved our neck a couple of times,” said Bochy of Tomlinson, another rookie, if one with a few more weeks on the Giants. “All around, this was a well-played game, then De Aza gets the hit that wins it.

“They tied us in the ninth, and that might have been discouraging, but we have fighters on this club. We’re tired, but we know what’s at stake.”

Just the season, that’s all.

For Dodgers, a magic number; for Giants, magic words

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — The Dodgers, the dreaded, despised Dodgers, are down to magic numbers. The Giants have to rely on magic words, those of manager Bruce Bochy. “Still alive,” said Bochy Sunday evening. And so they are, if not for long.

Giants-Dodgers, four games at AT&T, starting Monday night. Four games that could delay the inevitable. Or lead to the Dodgers clinching the division on the Giants’ home field. Which would be the cruelest of blows for the fans of San Francisco. But it doesn’t mean that much to a professional such as Bochy.

“We don’t think of that,” Bochy said of what by the Bay would seem to be the ultimate disgrace, to watch one’s eternal foe celebrating on your diamond. “We play to win the game. What happens happens. The standings are what they are.

“We’re in a tough situation, but we’ll come out fighting.”

What happened Sunday was the Giants managed a 5-4 victory against the stubborn Athletics. And in Denver, the Dodgers lost to the Rockies, swept in three games. So the magic number for L.A. to take the division stayed at two.

Which if the Giants were to sweep the Dodgers still would be two after Thursday. But we know that‘s virtually impossible, right, even though L.A. is 0-6 so far this season at AT&T, right? Hmmm.

For the Giants, yes, there’s hope. For the A’s there’s just the road. The game Sunday before a second consecutive sellout crowd of more than 36,000 was the last at Oakland until April.

The Coliseum belongs to the Raiders now, and infield dirt will be covered by turf. The green and gold departs. The green grass arrives.

The Giants are still alive, because after losing three straight games by scores of 5-4, the first two at San Diego, the third at Oakland, and having led in all three, they won the last two against the A’s.

“We wish were in a little better position,” Bochy conceded, “but we lost some tough games on this trip. That’s baseball.”

A cliché. Another cliché: Every major league team wants to be there in September, to be playing for something. The Giants are there, clinging, clawing, thriving.

“I’m excited the team has a chance for the playoffs,” said Jake Peavy. He’s the Giants starter for the first game against the Dodgers. He understands the gravity of the situation — sure, it’s only sports, but from that perspective, it’s serious — and he understands his role.

“Obviously it means us having to win,” said Peavy. “But it’s fun to play when everything rides on it. We, as professionals, get up for these games.

“This rivalry is great for baseball. The fans get into it every time we play the Dodgers. Look. I have the utmost respect for most of their guys over there. The Dodgers have incredible talent. But I expect to win.”

Who knows about expectations? In spring we expected the A’s to contend in the American League West. But the relief pitching was — to be kind — ineffective, and the defense is the worst in baseball. Hitting and pitching enable a team to survive unless you allow the opposition extra outs, as did Oakland.

A week left for the A’s. Their bags were packed and outside the players’ entrance to the Coliseum before the first pitch Sunday. Next it's on to Anaheim. The Giants only had to fight the Bay Bridge traffic and their own emotions.

“I’m proud of these guys,” said Bochy, ever the cockeyed optimist. “We’re still hanging in there.”

The Dodgers packed cases of sparkling wine when they left a few days ago for Denver. Now the bottles, still unopened, are in San Francisco. One win over the Giants, cutting the magic number to zero, zilch. One win in four games is all L.A. needs.

What the Giants needed, and what they received, were strong performances from the kids. There were five rookies in the starting lineup Sunday, including pitcher Chris Heston, who earned his first victory in two months.

The others were Kelby Tomlinson, Trevor Brown, Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker, who after a home run Friday night and three homers Saturday had only two singles and a walk Sunday.

“He’s been impressive,” said Bochy. “A lot of these young players have been. We’re going to have some decisions to make during the off-season and in spring training.”

Without question, as the new players seek to replace the old. But now it’s the possible last dance, the series against the Dodgers. Can’t ask for more than that.

Hudson and Zito took us back to the past

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — The game is one of learning to grip the ball, but in time, we’re told, baseball has the grip on us. It was true Saturday when two teams figuratively going nowhere were able to take us someplace they — and we — had been, into the past.

No pennants this year by the Bay. No playoffs. So being resourceful, as well as realistic, we rely on memories, and for two pitchers, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito, and for two teams for which each has played, or still was playing, on a glorious Saturday in early autumn that proved enough.

This might not have happened in New York or Chicago, where the supporters of one of that city’s teams find it difficult, if not impossible, to embrace anything to do with the other. But the A’s and Giants realize that for us by the Bay, there is an understanding of the big picture. A respect for the other side, especially when the guy on the other side is or has been on your side.

You know the situation, that Zito went from the A’s to the Giants and now for a brief moment is back with the A’s; how Hudson started with the A’s, along with Zito and Mark Mulder, and after years in Atlanta ended up with the Giants. And how through fate, fable and the decency of the men who manage those teams, Bob Melvin of the A’s and Bruce Bochy of the Giants, the decision was made to let the pitchers have one start against each other, a last hurrah if you will.

Neither lasted very long, Zito, age 37, just two innings — he did start the third — and Huddy, 40, only one and one-third innings, And a game harkening to pitching greatness ended up 14-10, if with a hint of the future for the Giants, Jarrett Parker becoming the first San Francisco rookie to hit three home runs in a game and the first Giants player with three homers and seven RBIs since Willie Mays in 1961.

“A crazy game,” said Hudson, meaning baseball in general and not this one in particular. “It wasn’t quite the pitchers' duel I envisioned. I came in thinking it was going to be 1-0 Giants.” Heck, it was 2-0 in the top of the first.

That’s the way sport and life go, entirely unpredictable. Except when it came to the reaction of the sellout crowd of 36,067. You knew they were going to cheer Zito and Hudson. What you didn’t know was the cheering would be so energetic and enthusiastic.

Each pitcher, after his brief but meaningful appearance, was given a call on the public address system and so each was given a standing ovation. Or two of them. Nostalgia. Enjoyment. Thanks, guys. Over the seasons you did yourselves proud, did us proud.

“It was surreal,” said Zito of the cheers — and the chants. After the burst of shouting, there was a repetitive, “Barry, Barry, Barry.”  It gave Barry chills.

“I flashed back to the last time I pitched in San Francisco,” he said, referring to 2013. He was a Giant then, beloved for his postseason performance in 2012 after being disliked for his performances in seasons prior to that.

“I couldn’t believe here I got to be on the field in an in an A’s uniform because I thought the Giants were my last time in the major leagues. It was so special. I always love this ballpark.”

He won the 2002 Cy Young Award pitching for the A’s. Then, as a free agent, he went to San Francisco for a  contract that only seemed obscenely large because he had more bad games than good ones. But it ended well.

Zito is probably done. He spent the season in the minors, then was given the opportunity for one more chance in the bigs. Hudson surely is done. He’s retiring at the end of a season, which closes in eight days. He made it through the first inning Saturday but in the second forced in two runs on walks and a third on a hit batsman. Wild is an understatement.

“Both pitchers had a lot going through their heads,” reminded Bochy. “Memories, the crowd, emotions. I’m sure it got to both of them.”

So did the ovations. The crowd was probably 60 percent A’s fans, but it was 100 percent baseball fans.

“They were awesome,” said Hudson. “I wish it could have ended up a little better, but it was a good day for everyone. I appreciate the fans. They’ve always been great here.”

One game may have changed it all for Raiders

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — One game. One game that ended differently. One game that for the Oakland Raiders may have washed away dozens of games. One game that changed the hopes and vibes of a football team that of late always found way to lose, but on a Sunday that could turn out to be seminal — as well as memorable — found a way to win.

For nearly 58 minutes, the Oakland Raiders had been ahead or tied. Then, after an interception, the mistake the Raiders always seem destined to make, they trailed by three points. And a still loyal but all too realistic crowd at O.co Coliseum knew it the same old Raiders.

But the kid who threw the interception, Derek Carr, was thinking these Raiders were different. “I was just thinking, man, just give us a chance,” he said. “Please, Lord, give us a chance.”

He got that chance. The Raiders got that chance. With 26 seconds left, Carr connected with Seth Roberts in the south end zone, the Black Hole end zone. The Raiders, the hard-luck, how-are-they-going-to-screw-up-this-time Raiders, were winners, 37-33.

Carr is the second-year quarterback in whom the Raiders have placed their future. The choice appears to be brilliant. We know his background: the younger brother of David Carr, also a quarterback, also from Fresno State, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft by Houston.

But lineage is only so important. What would Derek do when he had to pull off the winning drive, had to be another Joe Montana or Ken Stabler or Tom Brady?

After Sunday, after the Raiders, who looked so bad a week ago in the opening game, evened their record at 1-1, we have a very good idea. He moved the Raiders 80 yards. On a hot day — it was 90 degrees by the Bay — Carr was properly cool, as successful QBs must be.

This after leaving last week’s game with a hand injury and leaving journalists to ask numerous questions about his condition that went unanswered by head coach Jack Del Rio.

“One week of people thinking I’m hiding something, or whatever,” said Del Rio. “It was a normal week. He threw the ball well and prepared hard. There was just a lot because he couldn’t finish last week … It’s a testament to his desire and willingness to do the extra things to get his body to recover.”

The Raiders, so steeped in nostalgia and, in the last decade, failure. The torch up on the plaza adjacent to the south stands is lighted each game — Sunday it was by the great lineman Art Thoms — to the memory of the late Al Davis. The frustrated fans who, declining in number, still show up at a stadium the team is threatening to desert. The thoughts of the way it used to be back in the 1970s and 80s, when the Raiders were the NFL’s bad guys, and Davis relished that concept.

Yet, sports are of the moment. The Raiders haven’t had a winning record in more than a decade, and after the 33-13 pummeling eight days earlier, you might have thought they never would have one. But the Del Rio influence cannot be underestimated. He came home, having grown up in neighboring Hayward, to restore the heart of a franchise he cheered for as a kid.

Now he has his first victory as a Raiders head coach, and although that was passed over because of the performance of Carr — 30 of 46 for 351 yards and three touchdowns, including the ultimate one — surely that meant something to contemplate.

“That was one heck of an effort,” said Del Rio, emphasizing the team rather than the individual. “I saw a lot of examples of guys really emptying their bucket, a phrase that says they really had given all they had — straining, not flinching in tough circumstances, finding a way.

“The head coach and the quarterback are the only two guys in the organization directly tied to wins and losses, and to see our young quarterback take our team down there to the end like that was special.”

Michael Crabtree, the receiver late of the 49ers, said “The quarterback stuck in their like everybody else. The offensive line did good. The running backs made extra plays. The wide receivers were out there doing all they can.”

Carr did what he had to do, especially after the interception with five minutes to play and the game tied, 30-30.

“I told the guys in the huddle to believe it,” said Carr. “We’ve done it a thousand times.”

In practice. Now they’ve done it a game. What a change.

Bleacher Report: No End in Sight to Novak Djokovic's Dominance After Career Year, US Open Title

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — He’s a man in full flight, at the top of his game, athletic, resolute, a champion whose future is no less beautiful than his present. Novak Djokovic had a rare year in tennis, a winner of three Grand Slam tournaments, a runner-up in the fourth.

But it’s not so much what Djokovic has done—adding another U.S. Open championship to his collection of titles with his win Sunday over the man who was the gold standard of the sport, Roger Federer.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

Bleacher Report: Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer Battle a Dream Finale for 2015 US Open

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — This is what tennis wanted, and the sport will have it on Sunday in the U.S. Open men's final: the best against the best, No. 1 against No. 2, the great server against the great returner.

It’s the dream match — the latest version of a recurring dream.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bleacher Report: The Ageless Roger Federer Is the People's Choice

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — He was finished with Stan Wawrinka, but the fans were not finished with Roger Federer. They never are. It doesn’t matter. In Australia. At Wimbledon. Or Friday night, at the U.S. Open.

Federer is the people’s choice in tennis. That was loudly obvious in the plaza at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. He had shown up in the ESPN booth for a post-match interview, where on a set with a transparent backing he was clearly visible—while the crowd was clearly audible.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bleacher Report: Roberta Vinci, the Joyous Unknown Who Stunned Serena Williams, Denied History

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — She was all disbelief and smiles, but not before shedding a few tears after dispatching the world’s No. 1 female tennis player and the thought, now erased, of a rare Grand Slam.

Roberta Vinci, who didn’t even know what the word upset meant until it was translated into Italian, produced one of the bigger upsets ever in her sport, maybe the single biggest.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Sports Xchange: Refocused Serena makes case for being all-time best

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange

NEW YORK — How appropriately named. How incorrectly named. Serena. Serene, calm, composed, tranquil. At times, perhaps, but if anything, Serena Williams, arguably the best women's tennis player of all time, is feisty, and more than anything competitive.

Which is how one becomes great in an individual sport, and Williams, whose quest is still alive to become only the fourth woman in history to take the Grand Slam, all four major championships in a calendar year, is nothing but great. Maybe, to borrow a line from Muhammad Ali, the greatest.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange

Nadal and Federer, the Difference Between Night and Day

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — The difference was that between night and day, between a man who mysteriously has lost his touch and one who somehow again has found his, between a player who should be better than he’s been of late and another who by all rights shouldn’t be as good as he is this late in a career.

The difference was that between Rafael Nadal, who in the wee small hours Saturday was beaten after winning the first two sets from Fabio Fognini, and Roger Federer, who in the bright glare of an early afternoon Saturday was victorious over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

It seems never to stop at the U.S. Open tennis championship, so very much a part of the booming city that never sleeps. They start early, late morning. And they finish late, early morning. But this early morning, with the clock closing in on 1:30, the Open stopped for Nadal. And the questions started anew.

Fognini, holding the last men’s seed, No. 32, was as bewildered as he was delighted with the 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Nadal. “It’s something incredible I did,” said Fognini after the 3-hour, 46-minute match.

Or, considering the decline of Nadal, from No. 3 at the beginning of the year to No. 8 now, maybe something unexceptional.

“It was not so much a match that I lost,” said Nadal of the defeat, “even if I had opportunities. It’s a match he wins. Not happy, but I accept that he was better than me today.”

All four Grand Slams in 2015, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and now the U.S. Open, some opponent has been better than Rafa. For the first time in 11 years he didn’t win a Slam. And even though Nadal only is 29, because of his aggressive, pounding style, and past injuries, he is an old 29.

In contrast, there’s Federer. Two years ago we thought he had slipped too far from his past glory. That having reached 30 — he will be 34 on Tuesday — it wasn’t so much the game had passed him by but others, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and even on occasion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, were hitting passing shots by him. Father Time was hovering.

What do we know? While Nadal tumbled — and the dead of night, or somewhere beyond the bewitching hour, was a properly eerie time — Federer arose. The No. 2 seed in this Open, Federer blitzed Kohlschreiber, the No. 29 seed, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Federer may not have extended his all-time record of 17 Slam victories (his last was 2012 Wimbledon), but this year and last he was a Wimbledon finalist, losing to Djokovic, currently the world’s No. 1.

Where Nadal huffs, puffs and slugs, Federer glides and swings. His style has enabled him to avoid major injuries, and in an acknowledgement that maybe he’s lost a step or a couple inches of racquet speed, he has re-invented himself, moving up to the base line at times to take second serves.

Where Nadal is disappointed, although telling us there’s been progress, mentally at last, Federer is content.  “I feel good,” he said after a match that went barely past an hour and a half. “I have had a nice schedule.  Played early the first day. It was a fast match.

“And when I played at night,” he said of his win Thursday over Steve Darcis, “I played the first slot (7 p.m. EDT). I didn’t get to bed too late. I’m still in a normal schedule, which is good to be. Because if you finish a match like Fognini and Rafa, it’s hard to go to sleep anyway. It can be 3 or 4 in the morning.”

It was later than that for Nadal and Fognini. They were doing post-match interviews well past 2 a.m.  “It was an incredible match for sure,” said Fognini. It was a telling match for sure for Nadal.

“We can be talking for an hour trying to create a reason,” said Nadal. A Spaniard, he speaks English well enough, but doesn’t always choose the proper idiom or tense.

“But the sport for me is simple, no?,” said Nadal. “If you are playing with less confidence and you are hitting balls without creating the damage on the opponent that I believe I should do, then they have the possibility to attack.

“I want the defense, a little bit longer, and hit easier winners. Have been a little bit tough for me to hit the winners tonight. But that’s it. Not a big story. Is just improve small things that make a big difference.”

Federer went to bed before the Nadal story was told, and no matter what Rafa says it’s a very big story.

“I heard the news when I woke up,” Federer said about Nadal losing. “I wish I did see the match because I didn’t expect it to be this thrilling, but that would have been bad preparation for my match today.”

A match that was as different from Nadal’s as night is from day.

New York: Federer, Serena, Pinsanity and the Pope

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — Roger Federer and Serena Williams are here (and still winning), the Pope’s en route and the heat won’t leave. Late summer humidity clings to this place like the vagrants the police commissioner is trying to chase out of the city, in what the New York Post headlined as a "BUMS’ RUSH."

Everything’s here. The tennis open, the traffic, the heat, the misery, the delight. Everyone’s here, or was here. Or will be here. Or is just down the road. “The party’s 15 minutes away,” says the billboard to the right of the Long Island Expressway just out of the Midtown Tunnel. Right around the bend at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

It’s what the Post said about the Yankees' win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night: “Pinsanity,” a play on pinstripes, which along with “Bombers,” as in Bronx Bombers, is how the tabloids refer to the Yanks. New York is a big city, the biggest, the wildest, masquerading as a small town.

In California, seasons are judged by the weather. If it’s foggy along the coast, it must be summer, right? Back east, they adhere to the calendar. Swimming pools open Memorial Day and are drained on or about Labor Day.

It says September, so unpack the winter clothes. The New York Giants (“Big Blue”) and Jets (“Gang Green”) are ready to begin the NFL season. Fortunately, unlike Levi’s Stadium, their shared home, MetLife Stadium, has an overhang.

They’re in the process of building a roof at the tennis complex. The superstructure has been erected, like some enormous spider web. The idea after so many washouts was to play matches during rain, which was something that might have been welcome when the temperature hit the 90s Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was only in the mid-80s Thursday, but oppressive enough. Jack Sock, the 22-year-old from Nebraska, collapsed during the fourth set of his match against Ruben Bemelmans and was carried out. His was the 13th^th early retirement in four days of this U.S. Open.

On Wednesday night, around midnight, defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic became so sweaty he planted his hand in a small pile of sawdust — and still couldn’t grip his racquet tightly enough to keep from double-faulting on a serve. He did win his match.

So, Thursday, did Stan Wawrinka, who’s won a French and Australian Open. Wawrinka was a 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 winner over Hyeon Chung, a 19-year-old Korean. The match lasted 3 hours 2 minutes, and Wawrinka, 30, said the conditions “were really tough.”

But he followed with that eternal comment regarding weather, good or bad, to wit, “I don’t know what we can do about it.”

There’s not much we can do about the New York tabs except enjoy them. As someone said long ago, they don’t have stories in New York, they have incidents.

Whether it’s the poor manner in which Jets GM John Idzik drafted in 2014 (“DIRTY DOZEN,” according to the Post) or the refusal by U.S. Tennis Association president Katrina Adams to keep the guest of a big tournament supporter from her private box because the guest wasn’t dressed properly (“Open warfare over jeans”).

You know the line from the Kander-Ebb song, the one linked to Sinatra: “If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.” The Open has made it in New York because it’s so much a part of the city — noisy, dramatic, newsworthy. There are stars on the court. There are celebrities in the seats. Derek Jeter, who used to spend his days fielding grounders at Yankee Stadium, spent Tuesday in a private box at Ashe Stadium.

If Wimbledon is the example of English restraint and subtlety, the Open is a boisterous adventure into American free expression. There’s nothing subtle about it, but how could there be when it wants to get noticed and admired in New York?

The other night, after Djokovic’s ridiculously easy victory, a man was brought out of the stands onto the court and began to dance as music poured of the loudspeakers. He waved a towel at Djokovic, who grabbed it and, in good nature, danced along.

Then the guy pulled out an “I Love New York” T-shirt and pulled it over Djokovic’s tennis shirt.  Great theater. The Pope, who’s scheduled to be here in late September, will have a difficult act to top.

Bleacher Report: Mardy Fish Begins Courageous Farewell Tour at 2015 US Open

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — He was playing in the same tennis tournament, the U.S. Open, from which he walked away almost three years ago to the date. Mardy Fish was back as much to be the role model he couldn't find in others as to write a chapter of a story he conceded is about to end.

On Sept. 3, 2012, Fish, then one of America's best and the 23rd seed in that Open, pulled out of a fourth-round match against Roger Federer, saying it was for "precautionary measures" and on doctor's orders. Fish had missed two and a half months of the season because of an irregular heartbeat and in May had undergone a medical procedure.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Giants' Tomlinson slams his way into the big time

By Art Spander

SAN FRANCISCO — He wears glasses. Not Madison Bumgarner, of course — he simply wears out the opposition. And not anyone from the Chicago Cubs, although given the frequency with which they struck out against Bumgarner, maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea. But no, the reference is to Kelby Tomlinson.

As in Grand Slam Kelby, who Thursday, on the warmest (79 degrees at first pitch) and surely most enthralling afternoon of this often painful season at AT&T Park, hit his first major-league home run.

That it came in the eighth inning with the bases loaded of a 9-1 victory over the Cubs had Tomlinson’s teammates applauding like fans, and had Tomlinson a bit bewildered.

Barely a month away from the minor leagues, Tomlinson wasn’t sure how to respond when the slam was reshown on the big video board in center field. When your career has been limited to places like Augusta, San Jose, Richmond and, until August 3, Sacramento, there’s unfamiliarity with heroic celebrations in the bigs.

“Everybody got up and started clapping for me,” said Tomlinson. Including, one guesses, in absentia his optometrist.

In these days of laser surgery and contact lenses, the ballplayer who wears glasses is rare. Across the Bay, Eric Sogard of the Athletics chooses them. And although he’s not competing, Cubs manager Joe Maddon wears glasses, the horn-rimmed variety.

Tomlinson has astigmatism. He tried contacts, on the suggestion of his wife. But he feels more comfortable in the spectacles, he said facing a dozen newspaper and TV types, half of whom also were wearing glasses.

Years ago when he first played for the Lakers, Kurt Rambis wore horn-rims, leading a group of young men who called themselves the Rambis Fan Club to show up at games in the same sort of glasses, whether they required vision correction or not. Maybe some of the Giant partisans should try the same stunt, although Tomlinson’s glasses are not particularly unusual.

Tomlinson, 24, born and raised in Oklahoma, isn’t unusual either. Although the way he’s started with the Giants definitely is. In 20 games, he’s had 18 hits in 52 at bats, a .346 average, and now 11 runs batted in.

“He’s a base-hit guy,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Tomlinson. “Has a short swing. Good speed. One of the most complete players from this club.”

A club with so many players injured that men such as Tomlinson, Juan Perez and Ehire Adrianza have to start. But it’s also a club that, after going winless in five games against the Cubs, won the last two — and the series.

As always, Bumgarner was at least in part responsible. The first six outs he recorded were strikeouts. By the time Bochy decided to “give him a break,” taking him out after six innings, MadBum had 12 strikeouts and his 16^th win.

He allowed only two hits and two walks, and in August was 5-0 with a 1.45 earned run average.  “A great athlete,” said Bochy. “He was disappointed because when I sent him up to pinch hit (in St. Louis) he didn’t get a hit.” That was a night after Bumgarner pinch hit and did get a single.

The Giants have lost Joe Panik, Angel Pagan and now for a few days Brandon Crawford. So they reach down and grab Tomlinson, and Tomlinson grabs the spotlight. “It’s a long season,” said Bochy, “and you learn to deal with it because you have no choice.”

Wednesday night, on first, Tomlinson beat a throw to second on a grounder when it appeared he would be out. “That’s how the game should be played,” Bochy said of Tomlinson’s hustle.

His power isn’t bad either. “You play in the yard,” Tomlinson said about growing up, “and you never dream about getting a hit. You dream about hitting a home run and hitting a grand slam. I don’t hit that many home runs, so that was great.”

Marlon Byrd, a few days from his 38^th birthday, does hit that many home runs. He had 21 for the Mets in 2013, 25 for the Phillies in 2014 and his shot in the third for the Giants was his 21^st of 2015.

He was the one who urged Tomlinson to step up and acknowledge the ovation for the grand slam.

“I’m so happy for him,” Bochy said of Tomlinson. “I loved the way he came through.”

Bleacher Report: Golf Will Tiger Woods Salvage His Season After Vintage Round 1 at Wyndham?

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

It’s not really about the season, he said a week ago. It’s about the year. Tiger Woods had his own judgmental way of looking at the past several months, which were not at all pleasant, and at the future.

So many of us saw his result in the PGA Championship a few days ago, and in the U.S. and British Opens — missed cuts all — and said it’s over for 2015.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bleacher Report: Jordan Spieth's Incredible Consistency in Majors Not Seen Since Jack Nicklaus

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

HAVEN, Wis. — He’s the best in the world now, at least in the rankings.

No, Jordan Spieth didn’t win the PGA Championship, but he finished second. This after wins in the Masters and U.S. Open and after missing the playoff in the British Open by a single shot. It was a record-breaking year in which he finished with the lowest cumulative score for all four majors in a single season at 54 under par.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.