Bay Area Roundup

Two bay area teams faced Kings tonight - the LA Kings and King Felix. Below is a round up of both games...

SJ Sharks 6, LA Kings 3
The sharks have jumped out to a commanding 3-1 series lead in the first round of the NHL playoffs. After a scoreless first period, the Sharks got on the board quickly with a Ryane Clowe goal. They went on to score 2 more, making it a 3-0 with 10 minutes left in the second. The Kings called a timeout, regrouped, and came out firing again. They closed the gap to make it 3-2 at the end of the second period. 

Two and a half minutes in to the third period, the Sharks scored again. This was a product of a breakdown in the Kings defense, as Joe Thornton, just subbing in from the bench, sneaked passed the defense and skated untouched to the front of the goal. Patrick Marleau, being double teamed by two defenders, saw wide-open Thornton in front of the net. A quick pass to Thornton, and there was no way he was going to miss an open shot like the one he had. He put it in the back of the net. Just 54 seconds later, Joe Pavelski deflected a pass from Dan Boyle to give the sharks a 5-2 lead. The Sharks went up 6-2 after a nice goal from Torrey Mitchell. The Kings got a goal back late in the third to make it 6-3, but by that point it was too late. 

The Sharks now head back to San Jose in control of the series. Two very good wins in a row has this team rolling. If they can keep this intensity up and get good goal play from Niemi, this Sharks team could go a long way...

Next Game: LA Kings @ SJ Sharks, Saturday the 23rd - 10:30pm EST. San Jose leads the series 3-1.

Seattle Mariners 1, Oakland Athletics 0
In what was a classic pitchers duel, King Felix showed why he was AL Cy Young last year. A's rookie Brandon McCarthy (L, 1-1) looked strong for the third straight outing, but he had one blemish that ruined his night - a solo home run in the 4th inning to Adam Kennedy (2). The A's could only muster 4 hits off of King Felix, who earned the win (W, 2-2). He got into a jam in the 8th inning, when the A's had runners on first and second with two outs. However, the Seattle bullpen bailed him out when Suzuki ground the final out into a fielders choice. 


Next Game: Oakland @ Seattle, Friday the 22nd - 10:10pm EST.

Rapid Reaction: SJ Sharks 6, LA Kings 5 - F/OT

What a historic night for the San Jose Sharks. Down 4-0 early in the first period, the Sharks never lost hope or persistence. They battled all the way back. The Sharks tied the game 5-5 in the second period thanks to a Joe Pavelski goal in the 19th minute. They scored all of their 5 goals in the second period - a new Sharks record. No scoring was done in the third period, and the game headed to overtime. Three minutes into overtime, Patrick Marleau found Devin Setoguchi on a brilliant pass in front of the Kings net, and Setoguchi set his shot up and put it in the back of the net. 

San Jose came out charging in the second period. Being down 4-0 on the road is a very tough task to overcome, yet this Sharks team showed resilience and intrigue. Could this be the team to carry them all the way to the Stanley Cup? If the team continues to play like they did tonight, the thought is not so absurd...

Next Game: SJ Sharks @ LA Kings, Thursday the 21st at 10:30pm EST. Sharks lead the series 2-1.

Bay Area Primetime!

Welcome to the first of many posts regarding bay area sports team. If you are like me, you will have found it ridiculous that ESPN does not have an ESPN Bay Area channel. If Dallas can have ESPN Dallas, then the bay should have ESPN Bay Area. With so many sports teams (Raiders, 49ers, A's, Giants, Warriors, Sharks, Earthquake, Stanford and Cal), that is just another example of east coast bias. So, this section of GTFOS will be dedicated to anything and everything related to the bay area sports teams.

As a background of myself, my name is Daniel McClain, and I was born and raised in the SF bay area. I have been an avid fan of all bay area sports, and was so happy to see the SF Giants win it all last year. I am in graduate school at the George Washington University, and will be receiving my Master in Tourism Administration this spring. I will end up back in the bay area some time, following my favorite sports teams there.