Kris Jenkins ends the college basketball season with a bang

By Art Spander

HOUSTON — Did he know? Did Kris Jenkins know when that ball left his hands, the ball that would sail through the rim and into the net with 0:00 on the clock, would win a national championship for Villanova and leave a North Carolina team in disbelief and tears?

“When you let it go ... ” asked Jim Nantz, holding a microphone. There was a pause.

“I knew it was good,” said Jenkins.

And so it was, a three-pointer that would give Villanova a 77-74 victory over the favored Tar Heels and an NCAA championship.

You want drama? This game at NRG Stadium had it. You want elation? This game had it. For Villanova. You want dejection? This game also had it — for Carolina, the school with a great basketball history, the school of Michael Jordan, who was in the stands.

What a wild, wonderful conclusion to the college basketball season of 2015–16, a season that some called mediocre because there wasn’t a dominant team, as Kentucky had been a year earlier, and because the tournament was a swarm of confusions — right until the final ticks of the clock.

Two days earlier, the semifinals had been boring, one-sided, Villanova setting a record by beating Oklahoma by 44 points and North Carolina sweeping past Syracuse by 17. See, said the basketball junkies, we told you. A bad season topped off by a bad tournament.

But just like that on Monday evening — dare we use the phrase “one shining moment"? — the whole basketball season bounced as no one foresaw, and the title turned into a memory that will be cherished by Villanova — winning its second championship — and despised by Carolina, which was unable to win its sixth.

Villanova led by three, when after a scramble and an attempt to pass, Carolina’s Marcus Paige hit an off-balance jumper to tie the game, 74-74, with 4.7 seconds to play. Surely, this was going to go on for a while.

“We play defense, the game goes into overtime and it’s ours," said Paige. "(But) it didn’t work out. Kris is one of the best three-point shooters.”

Jenkins, a junior, had four fouls and had been on the bench (he played just 21 of the 40 minutes), but he wasn’t flustered as time ran out.

“I think every shot is going in,” he said. “So that one was no different.”

Except it meant a championship for Villanova and heartbreak for North Carolina, which had trailed 67-57 with 5:29 left and then rallied. Only to lose.

“This is a difficult time period as a coach,” said Carolina’s Roy Williams, who was trying for a third title. “You fought so hard throughout the course of the season to have a chance to win a national championship.

“We couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket in the second half. We shot 34 percent. They shot 58 percent.”

One reason may be a Villanova defense that is everywhere and turns the other team’s misses into its own baskets.

Villanova coach Jay Wright was more bewildered than joyful at game’s end. He had a sour look, as if he had bit into a lemon.

“I can’t wait to see that look,” said Wright after his first championship. “Because I was just shocked. We have an end-of-the-game situation play. We put it in (Ryan) Arcidiacono’s hands. He made the perfect pass. And Kris Jenkins lives for that moment.”

That moment is one that made the season for college basketball — and for the Villanova Wildcats.

Bleacher Report: Horrific Accidents Driving Reserve Coleman to Inspire Tar Heels

By Art Spander
Senior Analyst

HOUSTON — He probably won’t get on court for North Carolina in what will be his final college game. You could look at the career of Justin Coleman, a perennial backup guard for the Tar Heels, and say it hasn’t been very impressive. Except for one thing: It’s impressive he even had a career.

When he was in high school, playing AAU ball, May 11, 2010, Coleman was tripped and fell into a wall, incurring a broken neck. Doctors said he never would play again. But play he did.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Nova defense stops Oklahoma sooner and later

By Art Spander

HOUSTON — It’s a team game. Sure, that’s the cliché of basketball, but it’s also the reality. Another reaffirmation came Saturday night in the Final Four.

Oklahoma had the Player of the Year, Buddy Hield. The man scores from everywhere. Or, as in the semifinal against Villanova, from nowhere. Hield did hit a three-pointer in the opening half-minute, giving everyone the impression he and the Sooners were on their way.

To oblivion, it turned out.

Villanova, shooting 77 percent in the second half, 17 of 22 from the field, and 71 percent for the game, got Oklahoma sooner and later, winning 95-51.

“I thought they popped us there in the first half, and we didn’t respond very well to that,” said OU coach Lon Kruger. “We came out with a little better fight to start the second half. Villanova withstood that, then popped us again.”

And hard. But that’s nothing new for Villanova, the school in the tony suburbs of Philadelphia’s Main Line. It was virtually a repeat performance for Nova, using the term loosely, unlike the defense Villanova plays. No looseness there.

Thirty-one years ago, 1985, in the NCAA final, the Wildcats made 17 of 28 shots, nine of 10 in the second half, and upset Georgetown.

In this final, Monday against North Carolina, which defeated Syracuse in the other semi, Nova also will be an underdog. That might mean something. Or mean zilch.

“They made shots, and we didn’t,” said Oklahoma guard Isaiah Cousins, and could a result be described more simply than that?

“Everything just fell apart, even when we got stops.”

What stopped was Oklahoma’s intensity. They’d miss — the Sooners shot a pathetic 31 percent, 19 of 60, and Hield had nine points, one of eight on threes — and then Villanova would sweep down the court. It was a classic example of what coaches have been teaching forever: defense sets up the offense.

“We were just trying to find a rhythm how to stop them,” said Hield. “I feel early in the second half we got a rhythm. After that, missed a rebound, (Josh) Hart got it up, got a three-point play, momentum went back their way. They played really well today. One of the best teams I ever played in college.

“They made it tough on me, throwing a bunch of bodies at me. Just couldn’t get it going.”

Brilliant strategy by Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose Cats are now 34-5. Brilliant execution from the “bodies,” particularly Hart, Kris Jenkins and Ryan Arcidiacono.

Hield is from the Bahamas, a senior who chose to stay four years in the hope of winning an NCAA championship. That can never be, but at least he made it to the sport’s last weekend. Now he’ll end up with on the NBA’s last-place teams, perhaps the awful 76ers. The Philly nightmare may continue, if in a different way.

“Villanova dictated everything,” said Kruger, the OU coach. “They were up into us the first half. We didn’t rip it strong and attack. We were playing laterally instead of downhill.”

Instead of going to the basket, but how can you go when there are defenders everywhere you look?

Asked if he’d ever seen a game like this, Kruger philosophized. “Oh, it’s happened, I’m sure,” he said, “but I don’t like being a part of it ... You’d like to think you can stand up and change that. We weren’t able to.”

Villanova was prepared, yet preparation doesn’t always mean success. Every time the Golden State Warriors play, the other team is prepared to stop Stephen Curry. But it’s rare when the plans work. They definitely worked for Villanova against Hield, who had averaged 29 points in the four tournament games leading to the semi.

“We were watching film on how good Buddy is,” said Arcidiacono, “We knew he would take and make tough shots. We tried to keep fresh bodies on him, tried to make him take tough, contested shots. If just happened he didn’t make them tonight.”

It just happened that Villanova, with Hart scoring 23 points, on 10 of 12, did make them.

“I’m happy,” said Wright, the Nova coach, “we had one of those games where we just make every shot. Kind of similar to our (December) game in Hawaii against Oklahoma. They made everything, we made nothing.”

There was difference, a huge difference. This one was to make the national finals.

S.F. Examiner: Even years and errors: Differing expectations await Bay Area MLB teams

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

The Even Year Odds. That’s the headline in the regional edition of Sports Illustrated. In baseball, in the West, those four words are enough. It’s the Giants’ time for a World Series. That is if the Giants have enough.

For the other team, the one across the Bay, the Athletics, the issue is less about picking up a pennant than, having led the majors in errors, picking up or throwing a ground ball. It is a problem that during the exhibition games in March appeared as serious — and uncorrectable — as during last season.

Read the full story here.

©2016 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: Warriors perfecting art of winning ugly

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

So the pulse raced a bit. What’s going on out there, you were thinking. The Warriors weren’t really going to lose a regular season home game, were they? Of course not.

Look, every painting can’t be Picasso. Every game can’t be memorable. They don’t give style points in the NBA. The only thing that counts is the final score, which Tuesday night at the Oracle was W’s 102, Washington Wizards, 94.

Read the full story here.

©2016 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: Thompson hits 40 over 76ers

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

This isn’t going to last forever, this Warriors brilliance, the winning streaks — 53 in a row at home now — the sublime shooting of Steph and Klay, or is it Klay and Steph? The all-around game of Draymond Green.

The head coach reminded us as much, and around here where we saw the 49ers, Raiders and A’s on top only to tumble, Steve Kerr’s words resonate.

Read the full story here.

©2016 The San Francisco Examiner

Green, Warriors go speeding along

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — There are only two questions remaining for the Warriors at the moment, to wit: How fast was Draymond Green, driver or passenger, really going in his BMW, and exactly when will they clinch home-court advantage through the playoffs? OK, there’s another indirect question: Whatever happened to the Los Angeles Clippers?

You’re probably aware the W’s on Wednesday night won another regular season game at Oracle Arena, their 51^st straight at home, beating the Clips 114-98, their sixth straight win and fourth in four tries this season over the team that, with the collapse of the Lakers, was supposed to be the best in L.A.

But what nobody knows for certain is who was in the driver’s seat in the video that appeared on Green’s Snapchat account which shows an inside-the-vehicle view of a speedometer hitting 118 mph. Well, somebody knows but isn’t talking publicly. Not to this point.

The since-deleted video — we can erase our sins in the electronic age — was posted on TMZ.com before Green, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds, beat the Clippers.

A video subsequently posted on Green’s Snapchat account showed people inside the same BMW but the car traveling at what could be described as a prudent speed. It is uncertain if, in either video, Green is the driver or the passenger, and before the game Warriors GM Bob Meyers told Diamond Leung of the San Jose Mercury News, “I’m not talking about it.”

Neither was Warriors coach Steve Kerr, but he had a legitimate season: “I didn’t know about it until just before the game.” And why would he?

This is probably teapot-tempest stuff, the type of mildly embarrassing incident that happens when young men seek a bit of off-the-court frivolity that, fortunately, ended up hurting no one. Green has been both a model citizen — he has donated millions to his alma mater, Michigan State — and a brilliant player. But with the Warriors having become the shining star of Bay Area sports, wildly successful, wildly popular, you hope nothing negative gets in the way.

The Warriors, as teams do when confronted with off-court, off-field issues, issued a statement that said they are aware of the video and alluded to their high standards, adding, “We look forward to having a conversation with Draymond and getting additional information.”

His mother, Mary Babers-Green, said in a tweet — she is more than an occasional tweeter — “RELAXXXXXX…y’all act like y’all have never tried to see how fast your car would go.

The Warriors weren’t going very fast the first quarter. Then, whoosh. With Andrew Bogut back in the lineup, his bad foot having healed, the defense took over, enabling the offense to open up. Stephen Curry (12 of 23) had 33 points; Klay Thompson (12 of 21) had 32 points.

“We weren’t playing our brand of basketball in the first half,” said Thompson. “We didn’t play bad, but we didn’t play good, until we pushed the pace on the defensive end. It always carries over on the offensive end, and we’re able to get on a break. I think we’re the most exciting team in the NBA on a fast break.”

Did someone say they’re as fast on the break as whoever was behind the wheel of Draymond’s car?  Sorry. Just like the Snapchat video, erase that.

See, the problem with the Warriors’ season is it’s repetitively boring. So they lost at San Antonio? Even in the defeat, on the road, Curry going 1 for 12, the W’s were in it until the end. That tells you how good they are. That tells you why a Draymond Green video of a car’s speedometer well into three figures becomes a major story. Because very little else with the Warriors is. It’s the same old, same old.

“For many years,” said Kerr, addressing a question of a Clippers-Warriors rivalry, “nobody cared about the Clippers against the Warriors. The last few years, people have cared ... but for some reason I didn’t think tonight had the same juice.”

But it had the same result, a Warriors victory.

Palm Springs Life: What's in Brand? Plenty in Tennis

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

Hollywood figured it out almost as soon as there were movies: Fame sells.

You didn’t need actors who knew Shakespeare — not that it wasn’t acceptable — but actors and actresses who were known. The two worst words for box office weren’t “No talent,” but “Who’s he?” The same thing for golf and tennis.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Delbonis and the desert: a bad combo for Andy Murray

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — He once beat Roger Federer, and that was three years ago when Federer still was near the top of his game. Nobody had heard of Federico Delbonis until then. He was 22, trying to work his way up the rankings, a no-name from Argentina.

Few have heard of him since. Then, whoosh, Delbonis struck again. Handled the serves and psyche Monday of the man ranked No. 2 in the world, Andy Murray. This plot of desert land 15 miles east of Palm Springs seems as alien to Murray as the surface of the moon.

“It’s just the conditions here,” said Murray. He didn’t mean the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where the annual BNP Paribas Open is held annually. He meant the Coachella Valley, where the sun shines — the high temperature was 79 — the wind blows, there are a zillion swimming pools and maybe a half-zillion golf courses. Most visitors are enthralled.

But not Murray, who fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) to Delbonis, ranked 51 slots below him.

“I think a lot of the results I have had here over the years,” said a slightly perplexed Murray, “suggest I haven’t played my best here.”

He’s a Scot, but he once trained in Spain and spends a great deal of time in Miami, where the tennis tours go next. The dry air here, the slower courts, Murray contends, affect his game of booming serves. The man won Wimbledon, in 2013, the first British male in 75 years to be a champion at the All England Club. But it’s apparent he won’t be a champion here.

“I got into winning position,” said Murray, who had a 4-1 lead in the third set, “and didn’t take it. I think one of the reasons is because I didn’t serve like I should serve.

“I have the capability to serve 135 mph, but my first serve speed would have been 100, 105. I didn’t feel comfortable going for my serve. I felt like every time I went for it, I missed it. I didn’t have control of that shot at all.”

And so in his first tournament (other than Davis Cup team competition) since reaching the finals of the Australian Open, the 26-year-old Murray places only two matches.

Delbonis grew up on clay, and while there are hard courts at Indian Wells, they are not as slick or fast as, say, Flushing Meadows or certainly the grass at Wimbledon. “I feel good,” said Delbonis, “the surface is not too fast. For me, I can slice in that kind of court.”

He certainly sliced up Murray. It’s like facing a knuckleball or slow-curve pitcher when you like to hit fastballs. And no matter what you try, you still can’t make solid contact.

“I made adjustments,” said Murray. “For one, I stopped going for my first serve. I tried to get a higher percentage of serves in, which maybe was not the best decision. I did manage to get myself into a winning position. Also I started returning from way farther back ... I think with the return it worked. The serve didn’t work so much.”

In any sport, it’s a question of forcing the other player or team to play your game. Delbonis did just that. Murray’s backhand is strength, along with the serve. Delbonis went to Andy’s forehand. There’s so much that goes into tennis, as there is into football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer. Keep the opponent off balance.

“Yes, of course,” Delbonis agreed when asked if his strategy was to play to Murray’s forehand. These guys have coaches who scout as well as teach. They know the other guy’s weaknesses, not that they’re always able to take advantage.

“I know his backhand is pretty good,” Delbonis said of Murray, “when he’s quiet in one side. I know I have to play, hit harder to his forehand to get a good hit or a good position on the court, to be aggressive or to move it to him, because it is one of the keys to get a good point.”

Murray, who had played outdoors for five weeks until arriving at Indian Wells, said he did not underestimate Delbonis. “I thought he moved better than what I thought,” said Murray.

If that sounds a bit confused, well, after another tough day in the desert, so is Andy Murray. Again.

Palm Springs Life: Serena Starts Slow, Finishes Fast

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

She’s the world No. 1, as the public address announcer bellowed several times before the first shot and after the last, and although not outwardly arrogant, the 34-year-old Williams well understands her place in the sport, indeed in all of sports.

When she was asked if, not having competed in an event since a finals loss at the Australian Open the end of January, she wasn’t tournament-ready, returned with, “I’m tournament-ready. I have been playing professional tennis for over 20 years. Yeah, if I’m not tournament-ready now, then I’m never going to be. It’s time to think of other jobs. Maybe I can become a reporter.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Palm Springs Life: Slow Return Tests del Potro's Patience

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

He had lost, which was understandable. And given the circumstances, acceptable.

Yet, this time Juan Martin del Potro was been beaten by the man across the net, Tomas Berdych, not his own body.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Palm Springs Life: Novak Djokovic Is the Whole Package

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

He is the best in the game right now, No. 1 in men’s tennis, a ranking earned, not bestowed, which perhaps is the reason Novak Djokovic seems less intimidated by the position — you know the adage, nowhere to go but down — than invigorated by it.

“My thinking, my approach,” he said in response to a question of what should we expect, “is not that I have to win this, I’m supposed to win this, but I’m going to believe in myself, and I carry the confidence that has brought me to where I am at this moment.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Palm Springs Life: Fritz Fizzles at BNP Paribas Open

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

Taylor Fritz didn’t have his serve Thursday — hey, sometimes Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras struggled — but he did have his sense of perspective. After Fritz was whipped by the other young American hotshot, Francis Tiafoe, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in their first-round match of the BNP Paribas Open, he was asked how long it would take him to get over a loss.

Until that moment, most of Fritz’s comments in the media room were the sort expected from a disappointed 18-year-old: that he made too many mistakes; that he usually handles pressure very well. But the recovery time after a defeat?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Palm Springs Life: Even in Absentia, Maria Sharapova is Hot Topic

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

This was the scenario at the BNP Paribas tournament Wednesday (March 9): The ladies who were there, if not yet playing — champions such as Angelique Kerber, who just won the Australian Open, and Petra Kvitova, who has two Wimbledon titles — were compelled to talk about the lady who wasn’t there.

That, of course, would be Maria Sharapova, who pulled out Indian Wells with a sore forearm — that’s forearm, not forehand — before it was announced she had failed a drug test and faced a suspension from the game.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Samardzija on Giants-Dodgers: It’s a rivalry for sure

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — They were booing the announcement of the other team’s lineup. Before an exhibition game. Before what, in effect, is a workout, if with a lot of accoutrements. But it was the Dodgers, and for a sellout crowd of 12,127 at the Giants spring ballpark, that fact transcended everything else.

As one of new kids on the block, and on the mound, understood full well.

“It’s a rivalry for sure,” said Jeff Samardzija. “I love it.”

The majority of the fans at Scottsdale Stadium did not love the result, the Dodgers winning 5-2. It wasn’t a good day overall for the Bay Area against L.A., with the Lakers throttling the Warriors.

Of course, that one mattered, in the standings and in the records. This one mattered only for the emotions of the spectators. Not that they should be ignored.

When people are chanting “Beat L.A., Beat L.A.” in Arizona, in early March, one grasps the significance of what, other than the individual performances, is a contest of insignificance. Except for the people who buy the tickets and buy into the idea that beating the Dodgers makes their lives better.

“It’s to be expected,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. He didn’t need to add that the Giants and Dodgers have been facing each other since 1890 when the Giants were in one New York borough, upper Manhattan, and the Dodgers in another, Brooklyn. They’ve played more than 2,400 times, not including exhibitions.

“The booing, the fans, probably adds a little excitement for the players,” said Bochy.

As usual this time of year, Bochy doesn’t get too excited or depressed, other than for a serious injury. He was upbeat about Samardzija, in his second Cactus League start, going three innings, striking out five and allowing just one run. It’s what the Giants need from a man signed as a free agent for $90 million who is supposed to be No. 2 or No. 3 in the rotation.

If Giants relievers Clayton Blackburn, who was the loser, and Jake Smith each gave up two runs, well, nothing to be worried about. Even if it’s against the Dodgers.

The Giants' lineup was without Buster Posey, taking a day off, and Hunter Pence, who’s been out with soreness in an Achilles tendon but is supposed to be ready on Wednesday.

Brandon Crawford again was the designated hitter — even when two National League teams meet, the DH is in effect in the exhibition season — because of a sore throwing arm. He should be back at shortstop the middle of the week. Crawford’s swing is fine. He homered in the sixth.

The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig, who singled and drove in a run, was the main target of the derision. Giants fans simply do not like the man. And Chase Utley, who reportedly has won the appeal of a two-game suspension he received for taking out (and breaking the leg of) Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in the World Series, also was booed loudly.

“You’ve got two passionate fan bases,” said Samardzija, “and they’re going at each other more than the players are. That’s good.”

Although he’s new to the Giants, Samardzija is not new to rivalries. He pitched for the Cubs, who couldn’t escape the presence or success of the Cardinals. Before that, he played football for Notre Dame.

“It could be USC or Michigan,” said Samardzija. “Those were big games for us. We could have a down team or they could have a down team. It never really mattered. There was so much at stake.”

A wise man would say that virtually nothing is at stake in baseball during the first week in March, but when the opposing team has LA on its baseball caps, logic is secondary. Memories of Tommy Lasorda lording it at Candlestick Park remain, even with Lasorda retired and Candlestick destroyed.

For years, the Giants were the Dodgers' foils. As the lyrics went, paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep.

Giants fans cannot forget or apparently forgive.

“For the players, these games are just workouts,” said Samardzija. “But we have to understand the people take these games seriously. You don’t want to go out there and be too loose.”

To borrow from Samardzija’s thoughts, don’t we just love it?

Newsday (N.Y.): Royals ready to repeat, but they know it won’t be easy

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SURPRISE, Ariz. — This city was created in 1938 on Sonoran desert scrubland 25 miles west of Phoenix. “I’ll be surprised if the town amounts to anything,” said Flora Mae Statler, the founder, unintentionally providing a name.

The population of Surprise — surprise! — now is more than 117,000.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Will Giants be end of Ricky Romero’s long road?

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were days when Ricky Romero would sit and wonder, “Why me?” Why someone in his prime, someone so skilled, someone “so dedicated and passionate about the game of baseball,” as he described himself, would suddenly have his body fail him and send him crashing not just out of the majors but out of the game.

He was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 draft, from Cal State Fullerton, and in six years an All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays. So perfect an arc for anyone, especially a kid from the barrio, from East Los Angeles. A lefthanded pitcher, and you know how valuable they are.

In his late 20s the value diminished. An elbow ache. He compensated by trying to drive harder off the mound, and both knees — sore from running the stadium steps to get in shape — went bad.       

As did his ERA, ballooning to 5.77 in 2012 from 2.92 the previous year. He underwent surgery on each knee. And struggled. Although he had $8 million coming, in 2014 the Jays sent him to Triple A Buffalo. He was pounded in two starts and cut.

“I asked myself, am I just going to sit here and feel sorry for myself or am I going to go to work and do what I have to do?” Romero remembered. “There were a lot of rehab days where I said, ‘This is it. I’m just tired of being in pain.’ Then finally the Giants called. They said, ‘We don’t want you ready for this year (2015). We want you ready for next year.’ I thought, let’s do it.”

Next year arrived on a humid, 84-degree afternoon Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium. For the first time in two years Romero pitched against major leaguers. He started the Giants’ Cactus League game against the Texas Rangers, went 1 2/3 innings and although allowing a hit and two walks didn’t give up a run.

Eventually the Giants would be beaten by Texas, 7-5, before a sellout crowd of 11,351. Yet that seemed unimportant. Romero was not. “This was a big day for him,” affirmed Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ manager.

“This,” said Bochy, “has been a long road for him.”

Where it leads is impossible to suggest. Does Romero regain the dominance of the past, at the least find a spot in the rotation of the Giants’ AAA affiliate in Sacramento and then, when and if someone on the San Francisco staff falters or is hurt, move up to the big club? Or does he never make it back to the majors?

“Look at his track record,” said Bochy, an unrelenting optimist. “You can tell he’s got experience just by his poise and how he pitches.”

This comeback hardly is a lark for Romero. He misses the game, misses the clubhouse, misses the feeling of making a contribution. At 31, he doesn’t need the money. He needs the acceptance.

“At this point in my career,” said Romero,” there’s no pressure. I’ve been through it with injuries. Whatever happens, happens because of the work that I put in. I think I did a pretty good job of that. Just to be part of this team, with a coaching staff like this, is pretty cool.”

The knee is healthy. The outlook is healthy. Time and patience were necessary. Obviously a team like the Giants, with pitching depth, a perceptive front office and a large budget, had the smarts and wherewithal to go about it in a proper manner.

“I’m being smart about certain things,” said Romero. “I’m not 23 years old anymore. It’s been a process. After I signed here, I still was rehabbing. I showed up on the minor league side. They saw me play catch for the first time. They’re like, you’re not going on any mound yet, even though I had thrown live batting practice in Toronto.

“So I took a step back. This ain’t a race I had to get back into the year I signed.”

Now the race is underway again.

“My agent asked me over the winter if I wanted to go back with the Giants,” said Romero. “I said, 'If they want me back.' They did the job helping me get healthy. If I can help them in whatever way, I will help them. You might be the guy they call up. These guys are winning for a reason.”

Ricky Romero can only wish he’s part of that reason.

Greatness of the A's lives on in Mesa

By Art Spander

MESA, Ariz. — Spring training is supposed to be about the future, about preparation for the season ahead. And while the Oakland Athletics are no less diligent than any other major league team in that assignment, so much here at their home ballpark, Hohokam Stadium, is about a glorious past.

Along the main concourse that leads from the entrance to the stands are posted huge photo murals of former A’s greats, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, the late Catfish Hunter and others, memories of the championship years, of the last franchise in baseball to win three World Series in succession.

So far away, and these days apparently so unattainable. In 2015, the A’s had the worst record in the American League. Such a contrast to the success reflected in the photos. Still, this is the time of hope and optimism in baseball. And on Friday afternoon, with the A's 9-4 winners over the Colorado Rockies, there was a great deal of both.

Now in his sixth year as manager of the A’s, Bob Melvin sees last year as an aberration, a failure unusual for the organization, a failure created by an obscenely high number of injuries.

“We were in the postseason three years in a row, so last year did not sit well with anybody who’s still here,” said Melvin. “Look at the injuries we had to the guys who were performing well. We’re completely redoing our bullpen, which was a big issue for us. So we didn’t feel like we were that far off.”

Melvin is 54, a onetime catcher from Cal whose career began with Detroit and continued with the Giants. “My first day at Candlestick Park in 1986,” recalled Melvin, “and Willie Mays (coaching) and Willie McCovey have the lockers on either side of me.” If that wouldn’t intimidate a young player, nothing would.

The trades by A’s GM Billy Beane are just another issue, part of the job. Melvin managed the Diamondbacks to first place in the National League West in 2006, then did the same thing with the A’s in the AL West in 2012 and 2013.

“We didn’t feel we were that far off,” said Melvin about the current A’s. “Shore up a couple areas, and we feel we’ll be a lot better.”

The area where the A’s were supreme was pitching, and Melvin, hardly alone in the dugout or the clubhouse, was enthralled with the performance of Sean Manaea, the lefthander Oakland obtained last July from Kansas City who was making his first start. It was impressive.

Manaea went two innings, allowed one hit and struck out four.

“Up to 97,” said Melvin, “throwing four changeups in a row, which is kind of his work-on pitch to get a strikeout, breaking balls, two-seamer (fastball), four-seamer. We were impressed with him before, but even more so right now.”

Manaea is from Indiana State, Larry Bird’s school. Maybe he can’t hit 20-foot jumpers, but he can hit the corners of the plate. He did miss the first baseman on a pickoff, but that didn’t bother Melvin, who said, “He likes to throw over, and he had him off balance, he would have picked him off.

“When you see a young kid like that trying to perfect his game, something we talked about early in camp, the little things to get yourself ready, get better every day, it’s definitely impressive.”

So the A’s have pitching, they believe. They also have hitting. Franklin Barreto, who was with Stockton in the Cal League last season, homered as a pinch hitter. “Didn’t take him time to get going,” said Melvin.

Asked if it were a surprise, Melvin said, “No. When you watch him take batting practice, watch him go about his business here, he knows what he’s doing. When he steps up like that, first time up, that was...”

That was what's making the A’s impatient for this season and beyond. Khris Davis, picked up only a couple weeks ago in a trade, had a double and three runs batted in.

“We’re always optimistic here,” said Melvin.

Just keep looking at those photos of the good old days. If the A’s could do it then, certainly they could do it now.

Peavy: No reason to be embarrassed or disgusted

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The question didn’t seem to bother Jake Peavy as much as it surprised him. The Giants pitcher had given up six runs and nine hits in under two innings, in his first start of spring training. The Milwaukee Brewers had gone whap, whap and, with Chris Carter’s homer, whump.

And so someone (blush!) had the temerity to ask Peavy whether he was embarrassed or disgusted. Peavey almost couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“I’m not embarrassed or disgusted,” he said. “There’s no reason to be. I gave up six runs in a spring training game. There were some balls hit hard, and a ball that was almost an out. The results weren’t good, but that’s part of spring training.”

A glorious time of year, spring training, part myth, part standing in line at Don & Charlie’s restaurant. The next year we’ve waited for has arrived, if only as Baseball Light, when the games don’t count and even after his team gets whipped 8-7, as happened to the Giants on Thursday, the manager can offer a few virtual shrugs and a couple of casual comments.

“In Arizona,” said Bruce Bochy of the Giants, “if you don’t get the ball where you want it, you’re in trouble.”

Jake Peavy, although fully healthy, did not and was. Well, was in trouble if you consider getting hammered, those six runs, nine hits in 1 2/3 innings, trouble. And neither Peavy, two months from his 35th birthday, or Bochy tended to think along those lines.

Maybe in 20 games, maybe when April is close, it will be different. But, insisted Peavy, not the first game, when you’re trying to get your fastball over and nothing else matters. Which is why they’re called exhibition games, even dolled up with the Cactus League label (in Florida, it's the Grapefruit League).

Peavy, in the bigs since 2002, came to the Giants in 2014 by way of, in chronological order, the Padres, White Sox and Red Sox. He helped San Francisco win a pennant and World Series, but he had hip and back problems early in 2015 and didn’t do much until late in the season. He wasn’t going to overwork himself in the winter and reinjure himself. This February and March is for getting into shape and getting into the groove. If possible.

“Because I’m experienced,” said Peavy, “I was excited to get to pitch today.” It was only the Giants' second game of the spring, and a home game, before a heavily partisan crowd of 8,355 at Scottsdale Stadium.

 “But it wasn’t like I was trying to win the seventh game of the World Series.”

What he was trying to do, unsuccessfully, was find out what was wrong with his basic pitch, the one on which his whole repertoire depends, the fastball. Everything seemed fine in bullpen sessions, but against the Brewers, against batters, Peavy couldn’t throw the thing where he wanted.

“My fastball is everything,” he explained. “If I’m not throwing the fastball where I want to throw it — well, everything works off my fastball, the cutter (cut-fastball), curves, changeups. So I kept throwing it.” And from the first batter in the box for Milwaukee, Eric Young, who singled to right, the Brewers kept hitting it.

Pitching is where the Giants live, although they did hit well in 2015. Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija — the last two signed as free agents in December — Matt Cain and Peavy are supposed to keep the opponents off the bases and San Francisco in race. So even in exhibitions, even in early March, even the least important situation becomes very important. Or one would surmise.

“I love our rotation,” said Peavy, unsure where he’ll fit in that rotation, but pointing out that depth cannot be underestimated. Peavy’s reputation is that of a man dominant in the early innings, then fading in the seventh or eighth.

“I feel quite a bit stronger all over,” said Peavy. “I’m refreshed. If you plan on playing a full season you’ve got to be smarter. I’m not going look today like I will at the end of the month.”

There are no scouting reports for exhibition games. The pitcher throws, the batter swings. And each keeps in mind what might happen if and when they face each other in the regular season.

In the top of the first, Carter came up with two runs in and a runner on third. He drove the ball over the right centerfield fence.

“I’m not going to throw Chris Carter a breaking ball,” said Peavy. “I may have to face him in a huge situation this year. You try to get ahead of a hitter. If you don’t, you better spot the ball. Arizona (with the elevation and dry air) is not the most fun place to do that, but it makes you a better pitcher.”

Better, one would think, than he was on Thursday.

Football made Samardzija appreciate baseball

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — He was a football player, a very good one too, a receiver who set records at that most famous of football schools, Notre Dame. But Jeff Samardzija also played baseball, and he said perhaps the sport everyone thought he would choose as a pro provided the reason for the one he actually selected.

“Maybe playing football,” said Samardzija, “gave me an appreciation for pitching.”

He is a thinker, Samardzija, a fireballer. And Wednesday, in the Cactus League opener for the Giants, with whom last December he signed a $90 million, five-year contract, he did both, thinking and throwing.

Then, after the Giants’ 4-1 win over the Angels, Samardzija did a great deal of talking.

He threw 32 pitches in two innings, allowed a run and a hit, walked four.

Exactly as he would have wanted, a game in which he had to work, had to use his guile as well as his power.

“Trying not to do anything stupid,” said Samardzija, who didn’t.

An exhibition but hardly meaningless, at least not to Samardzija. Or to the Giants’ main man, Buster Posey, who insisted upon starting so he could get in synch with the new guy — and vice versa. An exhibition, but also an opportunity to learn.

“Buster is so cerebral,” said Samardzija. “He took the load off my shoulders. This was a great first day.”

Great because after four to five months of inactivity, the 31-year-old Samardzija was on a mound. And, in a way, on a soapbox. “I was OK putting the first guy on,” he said. “Even the second guy. I had to work out of something.”

Which he didn’t, since Angels catcher Carlos Perez, who led off with a double, eventually scored on a sacrifice fly after two walks. But Samardzija said he’ll get the ball down in the next game.

“I didn’t mind the first walk,” he said. “Didn’t want to walk the second one. Like pitching in the late innings, I had work out a situation there. It was good to get this one out of the way.”

Spring baseball is viewed differently from the dugout or clubhouse than it is from the stands, where more than 8,000 were crowded, dining, drinking, laughing and, when San Francisco got a home run from Conor Gillaspie in the third and then three fours in the sixth, cheering. 

When someone told Posey, who had one swing, one single and two innings behind the plate, that Samardzija wasn’t “just going through the motions,” Buster was happy. “Glad to hear him say that,” offered Posey of Samardzija. “Otherwise it’s a waste of time.”

Posey had faced Samardzija infrequently when Jeff was with the Cubs, Athletics and White Sox. The Cubs, who sent him to Oakland for young shortstop Addison Russell, tried to sign him again as a free agent last winter, but Samardzija decided on the Giants.

He spoke of the great charge-and-throw defensive play made by Kelby Tomlinson on the Angels with runners on in the top of the second. Tomlinson was at short, in place of All-Star Brandon Crawford, who was the Giants’ designated hitter. And Tomlinson is a second baseman, although he was a shortstop in this game.

“It’s not a coincidence they have a guy like Tomlinson who can step in,” said Samardzija. “That’s because of the organization. You understand why they’ve won.”

Samardzija didn’t dislike football. He simply enjoys the day-to-day pace of baseball. In football, he said, there’s a week between games. In baseball, there’s 24 hours.

Some time ago, in the late 1950s, Pat Richter was a multi-sport letterman for the University of Wisconsin and faced the same choice as Samardzija. The general manager of the Dodgers, trying to persuade Richter to sign with them, reportedly asked him, “What do you want, kid? A bonus or a limp?” Richter went to the NFL.

Unlike Samardzija.

“I love baseball,” said Samardzija. “I like talking about it. I like playing it.”

Assuming he plays it well, the Giants will love Samardzija. Maybe they already do.