Athletics’ Mason Miller turning heads as high-velocity closer

OAKLAND — It’s not so much the three digits on the radar gun that are impressive as the fact that it looks so effortless for Mason Miller. If Miller played for any other team than the Oakland-turned-Sacramento-someday Las Vegas Athletics, he’d be all over SportsCenter. As it is, Miller’s high-velocity conversion from promising starter to closer is starting to gain momentum as a league-wide story. The Athletics completed a six-game road trip in Detroit and Texas winning both series and Miller getting his first two saves with his four-seam fastball and wipeout slider. In a 1-0 win over the Rangers Wednesday, Miller threw nine consecutive pitches at 100 miles per hour or better, topping out at an obscene 104. Five pitches were 102 or better. What’s it like to throw that hard? “It’s pretty cool for sure,” Miller said Friday before the A’s began a three-game series against the Washington Nationals at the Coliseum. “I mean, the fastball for me, just try not to do too much with it. The ones I try to get on and throw harder, they end up not getting as

Offensive woes follow SF Giants to Florida in road loss to Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It was 72 degrees inside Tropicana Field at first pitch Friday evening without a whiff of wind inside the domed stadium. The pristine, climate-controlled conditions weren’t enough to wake up the San Francisco Giants’ bats, even thousands of miles away from cold and windy Oracle Park. The offensive woes continued in a 2-1 loss to the Rays that kicked off a six-game swing through Florida, with the would-be tying run left stranded at third base. Pinch-hitting to lead off the ninth, Wilmer Flores worked a walk, then gave way to pinch-runner Tyler Fitzgerald, who stole second and made it to third, but representative of the Giants’ issues all game long — and for much of the season — they couldn’t deliver the timely hit to drive him in. So fed up was manager Bob Melvin that he was ejected arguing balls and strikes after Jorge Soler was rung up to end the seventh inning, spoiling another scoring opportunity. Both men protested the called strike three at the knees, and Melvin earned his first ejection with the Giants (the 60th of his

Pair of key Warriors sidelined for pivotal Pelicans matchup

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors rested Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in Portland with hopes of being at full-strength for a high-stakes game against the Pelicans on Friday, but it didn’t work out that way. Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II, two valuable two-way contributors, were ruled out ahead of the New Orleans matchup in Chase Center. Kuminga suffered a right pelvic contusion against Portland and Payton has tightness in his left calf. “He fell and bruised his tail bone,” Steve Kerr said of Kuminga. “He’s in a lot of pain. And with Gary, it’s a calf. Trying to be cautious with it.” A win against the Pelicans Friday night, coupled with a win in Game 82 against the lowly Jazz, would give the Warriors a strong chance at reaching the eighth seed. In that scenario, the Warriors would have two chances to advance out of the play-in round and have a shot at avoiding the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in the first round. But the Pelicans are tough, especially if you’re short-handed. New Orleans is down star wing Brandon Ingram, but is otherwise healthy. They

Garfield Elementary students in Selma become published authors and illustrators

SELMA, Calif. (KFSN) — A lesson on literary techniques ended with dozens of students becoming published authors and illustrators. At Garfield Elementary School, students in Diana Baruti’s 4th grade class take reading, writing and learning seriously. So it was important to Baruti to make sure students really understood tough literary concepts like idioms. “And so you say one thing, but you mean something different. For example, the common one, ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’ means it’s raining really hard,” Baruti said. So as a class, they researched different idioms and how to use them. But a post on Instagram from Student Treasures Publishing inspired Baruti to take the learning a little further. “As teachers, we look for different ways to reach kids, to help kids enjoy learning,” Baruti said. Student Treasures Publishing allows teachers to submit student’s work to be published in a hard-cover book. The teacher gets a copy for free. So each student picked an idiom, wrote about it figuratively and literally, then illustrated it. This is Millie Ogan’s page — she chose “Losing his marbles.” “I think it fits me because I

Good Sports: Liberty’s Rylee Bocchini makes history with home run stretch

Saturday, April 13, 2024 12:23AM A local softball star has done something no other Central Section player has done before. MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) — Out in Madera Ranchos, Liberty’s Rylee Bocchini is on the hunt for another Northwest Sequoia title. “She’s a phenomenal athlete,” says coach Keith Davis. I saw that day one coming in.” In March, the senior catcher did something so unlikely, it seems impossible. In six straight at-bats against Riverdale and Parlier, Rylee hit six straight home runs. Nobody in Central Section history has ever accomplished the feat. “Once I got to like my fourth one, I was like, ‘Oh shoot, when am I going to stop?'” Rylee would finish the two-game stretch 8-9, with six home runs and 13 RBIs. It’s a tear she credits to her time behind the dish. “Honestly, I think being a catcher helps me be such a great hitter,” she said. The dual-threat also caught the eye of Fresno State. “My number-one was Fresno State,” she said. In 2022, Rylee verbally committed to play for the Bulldogs — an opportunity helped made possible by her coach.

Man sentenced to prison, substance abuse treatment for crash that killed teen

Saturday, April 13, 2024 12:21AM A repeat DUI offender is now being held responsible for his crime nearly four years after he hit and killed a Fresno County teenager. FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — A repeat DUI offender is now being held responsible for his crime nearly four years after he hit and killed a Fresno County teenager. Albert Fimbrez was drinking and on prescription drugs when prosecutors say he crashed his pickup truck into Dayvon Fletcher. “He mixed alcohol and, specifically, Prozac,” Fresno County Superior Court Judge Arlan Harrell said. It happened back in November 2019 near the intersection of Valentine and Shields Avenues. The speed limit was 40 miles per hour. Fimbrez was going 70. “It’s the use of substances and then making the decision to drive this vehicle,” Deputy District Attorney Steven Ueltzen said. That behavior killed Dayvon, who was 16 years old. It also injured his teenage friend who was walking with him. Fimbrez was not legally drunk, but it was a tragedy that did not have to happen. The 59-year-old has at least four previous DUI convictions dating back two

Vance Walberg formally introduced as new Fresno State basketball coach

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Fresno State has officially introduced Vance Walberg as the new head men’s basketball coach. The new coach comes to Fresno State following his second stint as the head coach at Clovis West High School, where he has been since 2016. RELATED: Clovis West’s Vance Walberg hired as the Fresno State Men’s Basketball new head coach Walberg also spent four seasons as an NBA assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets. Additional experience includes two seasons at Pepperdine, three seasons as an assistant at the University of Massachusetts and four seasons as head coach at Fresno City College. Copyright © 2024 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.

Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS ‘NewsHour’ nightly newscast, dies at 93

NEW YORK — Robert MacNeil, who created the even-handed, no-frills PBS newscast “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” in the 1970s and co-anchored the show for with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades, died on Friday. He was 93. MacNeil died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to his daughter, Alison MacNeil. MacNeil first gained prominence for his coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings for the public broadcasting service and began his half-hour “Robert MacNeil Report” on PBS in 1975 with his friend Lehrer as Washington correspondent. The broadcast became the “MacNeil-Lehrer Report” and then, in 1983, was expanded to an hour and renamed the “MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour.” The nation’s first one-hour evening news broadcast, and recipient of several Emmy and Peabody awards, it remains on the air today with Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz as anchors. It was MacNeil’s and Lehrer’s disenchantment with the style and content of rival news programs on ABC, CBS and NBC that led to the program’s creation. “We don’t need to SELL the news,” MacNeil told the Chicago Tribune in 1983. “The networks hype the news to make it

No matter how season ends, Golden State Warriors made a step in the right direction

By beating the Blazers in Portland Thursday night, the Warriors officially surpassed their win total from last year. As if they needed to win more games than last year to prove the simple point: this season’s team is better than last year’s. Their roster makes more sense, they’re less dependent on journeymen bit players, and they gel together better. Steve Kerr has repeatedly said that this season’s group has been among the most fun he’s had the opportunity to coach. Take his word for it. “We’re definitely a better team,” Kerr said this week. “Better two-way basketball, better connection, better chemistry. Much better vibe with this team. So I still believe, firmly, that we can do something special.” Last year’s team entered the playoffs as the six-seed and beat the Kings in the first round before falling to the Lakers in the Western Conference semis. The stacked West this year will pit Golden State somewhere in the play-in round, depending on how the last pair of games shake up. The Warriors (45-35) end the regular season with two home games: tonight against the New Orleans

Judge declines to delay Trump’s NY hush money trial over complaints of pretrial publicity

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case on Friday turned down the former president’s request to postpone his trial because of publicity about the case. It’s the latest in a string of delay denials that Trump has gotten from various courts this week as he fights to stave off the trial’s start Monday with jury selection. Among other things, Trump’s lawyers had argued that the jury pool was deluged with what the defense saw as “exceptionally prejudicial” news coverage of the case. The defense maintained that was a reason to hold off the case indefinitely. Judge Juan M. Merchan wrote that Trump “appears to take the position that his situation and this case are unique and that the pre-trial publicity will never subside. However, this view does not align with reality.” Pointing to Trump’s two federal defamation trials and a state civil fraud trial in Manhattan within the past year, Merchan wrote that the ex-president himself “was personally responsible for generating much, if not most, of the surrounding publicity with

Judge in sports betting case orders ex-interpreter for Ohtani to get gambling addiction treatment

By STEFANIE DAZIO (Associated Press) LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the former longtime interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani to undergo gambling addiction treatment in a sports betting case stemming from allegations he stole $16 million from the Japanese baseball player’s bank account to pay off debts. Ippei Mizuhara exploited his personal and professional relationship with Ohtani to plunder millions from the two-way player’s account for years, prosecutors said, at times impersonating Ohtani to bankers. Mizuhara only spoke on Friday to answer the judge’s questions, saying “yes” when Audero asked if he understood several parts of the case and his bond conditions. Hours after court, his attorney Michael G. Freedman issued a statement saying Mizuhara hopes to “reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as quickly as possible so that he can take responsibility.” He further added Mizuhara “wishes to apologize to Mr. Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and his family.” “I’m very grateful for the Department of Justice’s investigation,” Ohtani told the Los Angeles Times on Friday. “For me personally, this marks a