SAN FRANCISCO — Blake Snell winced and wiggled his left arm. Bob Melvin quickly popped out of the Giants’ dugout and made his way to the mound with a trainer by his side, and after a brief discussion, the 31-year-old left-hander accompanied his manager off the field. Snell’s 99th pitch, a fastball that sailed wide of the strike zone to put Giancarlo Stanton on base with two outs in the fifth inning, was the last one he would throw Sunday afternoon, walking off the mound with the second physical issue of his two-plus month tenure with the team. The club classified Snell’s latest ailment as a ti ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The one-two tandem at the top of the lineups Bob Melvin schemed up in spring training likely didn’t include either Heliot Ramos or Brett Wisely, and the Giants’ manager also likely didn’t envision Wisely and Casey Schmitt making up his double-play duo up the middle. That, however, is what Melvin had to work with Sunday as he filled out his lineup card for the Giants’ series finale against the Yankees, who after taking the first two games this weekend improved to 41-19, trailing only the last team to visit Oracle Park, the Philadelphia Phillies, for the best record in the majors ..read more

OAKLAND — Days before the sold-out inaugural home opener of Oakland’s new minor professional baseball team the Ballers, the team’s co-owner was scrambling to run through a “million tasks.” “We’re putting in all the final touches,” Paul Freedman said in a phone interview Thursday as he watched workers install a large scoreboard above Raimondi Park, the West Oakland home of the fledgling franchise. “They’re also putting in the last bit of the home dugout.” The Ballers — nicknamed the B’s, in a sly nod to the soon-departing A’s — have been marketed as an injection of positivity into a town t ..read more

SANTA CLARA — When the airhorn blares on the 49ers’ practice field, reporters are ushered inside the gates to watch practice. The first sight is the synthetic turf field used by players rehabilitating from injuries. Players like Talanoa Hufanga, who is five months removed from surgery on his right knee. Hufanga, a 2022 All-Pro safety, looks on track to become the 49ers’ latest to conquer a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Nick Bosa did so in 2021, and Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019; both sustained their ACL tears in Week 3 of the previous season, and both were back by the next season opener. Hufanga ..read more

When he returned home for an offseason break, Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski sat courtside for a Bucks-Pacers first-round game. “I think it’s more physical, it’s more defensive-oriented in the playoffs,” Podziemski said after being named All-Rookie. “Just to see that environment, what the refs were letting go, what they were calling. How you see the All-Stars rise to the top when it matters. It gave me the chills, like, ‘This is fun. This is something I want to be a part of.’” The best lesson is actually playing in the postseason, but watching and observing can be informative, too. And the ..read more

EL DORADO HILLS – Kaylee Davis was exhausted after eight innings of baking under the relentless El Dorado Hills sun, throwing pitches to a stacked Oak Ridge lineup in a back-and-forth NorCal Division I championship game.  But even while Amador Valley’s star was battling a cold that sapped her of even more strength, the junior used every bit of energy and willpower she had left to barrel up a ball in the ninth inning and hammer a two-run homer over the fence.  Those ended up being the winning runs of Amador Valley’s 13-11 championship victory, Davis’ swing securing and punctuating one ..read more

SAN JOSE – Willow Glen’s season came to an end at the same point as last year, in the Northern California Division II softball championship game. No happy ending this time, however. The Rams, attempting to repeat as NorCal Division II champs, went up against a strong Capital Christian-Sacramento team Saturday and lost 6-0. In retrospect it’s a mystery why Capital Christian (26-3-1) was seeded as low as eighth in Division II after the team went on the road and won three games in dominating fashion by a combined score of 20-1. The Cougars hit 29 home runs this season compared to 10 for Willow Gl ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO — On Wu-Tang Night, it was the Yankees — and their fans — who brought the ruckus. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both hit two-run homers for New York as the Giants fell to the Yankees 7-3 on Saturday at Oracle Park, dropping their third straight and dipping back below the .500 mark. A night after hitting two home runs in his first game at Oracle Park, Judge opened up the scoring with a 464-foot, two-run shot that nearly cleared the left-field bleachers, giving the Yankees an early 2-0. New York (41-19) added two more runs in the third, extending the lead to 4-0. Juan Soto ..read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Brody Malone has become an expert on many things over the last 15 months while recovering from a knee injury that threatened to derail his chances of returning to the Olympics. Patience. Faith. Diligence. Pain tolerance. The efficacy of certain types of knee braces. The 23-year-old gymnast and former Stanford star is well-versed in all of them following an arduous rehab that tested him in ways he never imagined. So yes, Malone’s surgically repaired right knee was bothering him at the end of the U.S. Championships on Saturday night. His ankles and lots of other things, too ..read more

Baseball Division IV No. 2 Bradshaw Christian 6, No. 1 Piedmont 0 The Highlanders’ usually high-scoring offense struggled to generate runs in Saturday’s Division IV championship game loss to Bradshaw Christian.  Piedmont totaled eight hits, but Bradshaw Christian’s defense kept the Highlanders in check. Bradshaw Christian pitchers Ethan Rickert and Micah Nicholson combined to strike out nine while allowing no runs.  The Pride scored two runs in the first inning, two in the second and two in the fourth in a dominant offensive performance that saw the Sacramento school total 12 hits. J ..read more