Sports Radio Service


		Michael Duca on A's and Giants By Michael Duca June 17, 2011

	Sportstalk: Miguel the A's Gio Gonzalez has been one of those bright spots this season with six wins, an ERA of 2.96 and 82 strikeouts thus far. He also was featured with Amaury Pi Gonzalez on a talk show they did on radio together last season, in covering Gio and talking with him would you say he's been the total package for Oakland in pitching and representing the club? Of all the A's "young guns", he was probably the least-regarded -- Braden, Cahill and Anderson all were more highly-touted. But it's been Gio who has been the steadiest performer of the bunch, and he is the likely A's representative to the All Star team. Although he's born in Miami, Gio is also one of the few members of the A's who can relate to the Hispanic community in their own language; if memory serves, the A's were possibly the only team in MLB to start the season without a player born in Latin America, so this is an important aspect for the team. Sportstalk: The Giants are without Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez but despite all that have won five of their last eight games and took two out of three from Arizona whose on their heels. Manager Bruce Bochy said he's likes what the team has done. Since the injuries how do you explain the team making up for the losses for these two key players? As I write this, the Giants are 10-5 since losing Posey for the season. The answer to your question is simple; it's the same thing that powered the team before the loss of those two players -- dominant pitching. If the other team is held to two runs or fewer, you won't lose very often. The return of Pablo Sandoval has some effect, too, but it's too early to tell if he's going to be a more patient hitter, as he will need to be with little protection in the lineup. Don't forget, the Giants were a solid team last year with Posey and an underperforming Sandoval and Sanchez, but without Cody Ross -- he's there this year, and Sandoval is playing much better, so they aren't that far behind where they were last season offensively. Sportstalk: You and Ken Gimblin have been very gracious this week in paying tribute to our late broadcast colleague Joe Cronin in audio and print. It would take too long to summarize his life's story but for the time you got to know Joe what kind of person was he and what impressed you most about his work? Joe made no apology for who he was, where he came from, or what he believed. He was a passionate liberal in his politics, with both an open mind and an open heart. And yet, he was also very attuned to the past, and he showed that with his long-standing avocation of collecting and cataloging media guides from virtually every league you can think of that had teams in the West. The collection eventually took over his hallways, spare room, and garage, but it wasn't that Joe had all that "stuff", it's that he reproduced the rare items and freely gave them away to people whom he thought would be interested in them.