Baseball Notebook for August 2016 Part 2

I don’t why I’m suddenly so loquacious.  This was just supposed to be some little random notes, like a diary, but less girly.

8-9-16

Royals’ clubhouse fractious and divided because of Dungeons and Dragons Redux.  Okay, after re-reading this article, perhaps it is actually a gag, a very impressive analogy between D&D and how the team plays baseball.  I think.  Fantasy and reality (baseball) are starting to blur.  Someone needs to do a D&D fan film with Hosmer as that Half-Elf Ranger. 

Oh, to be Eric Hosmer in Kansas City for a day.  I don’t want to go looking for the link, but there was story earlier this year where he showed up at a Justin Bieber concert.  Suffice it to say from seeing the videos, amongst the women, there’s no contest between the two for their affections.  Hos was the rock star with the screaming girls clamoring for him.

Rangers vs. Rockies.  I was actually seated in front of the computer, counting the minutes until the game.  It was scheduled to be the Yahoo game and I was all over it.  6:40 MST.  Click.  “We’re sorry.  Due to blackout restrictions this game is not available in your area.”  Well.  That was disappointing.  I thought, wiping away a manly tear.  Technically, I guess we’re considered to be in the area of one, the other, or even both teams.  Practically, we don’t actually get either team’s TV broadcasts in this area, unless it’s a national game.  I considered turning on the TV and checking if it was the MLB Network game, but certainly it would also be blacked out. 

I resigned myself to listening to tonight’s Chihuahuas game.  This was one day when I really wasn’t enthusiastic about the dogs for other reasons.  My place of business announced a group outing to a Chihuahuas game in September.  I won’t be going since it’s on Friday night.  My backup will be heading out of town for the Labor Day weekend that night, so I’m stuck.  And to make it worse, I’d already decided that I wouldn’t want to go for inter-personal reasons anyway (and half convinced that this event was scheduled for a week night so I wouldn’t be able to go).  And adding further insult, a pair of party busses pulled up that evening to take some of the officers and their favored customers to tonight’s game, at the businesses’ expense (thus alienating any of the employees who found out).  (It was a 5-2 win for pups as I kept checking in on the game.) 

All was not lost though.  As I later clicked on MLB.com to check to on the game, I noticed that the Rangers and Rockies was the MLB.TV free game.  (I also noticed an upsetting story that Bruce Bochy was back in the hospital.  He seems to not be in good health.)  I’d tried accessing this service a couple years ago and it didn’t work for me, so I hadn’t tried it again since.  Silly me.  It works fine with an unrestricted Internet connection.  There were four options for the game (both teams’ radio and TV broadcasts).  I turned off the Chihuahuas (a bit reluctantly) and chose the Rangers’ radio broadcast.  Why not watch the TV broadcast, dummy?  How could I resist hearing Eric and Matt on a strong signal without a bunch of static and fade out? 

I made the right choice.  The guys gave a great broadcast tonight.  Perhaps they were happy to be a mile-high in Denver or maybe since they weren’t together over the weekend, they were happy to be back together.  In any case, Eric and Matt were interacting and bantering a lot more than usual.  They seem to get along well.  I don’t know why this doesn’t happen on every broadcast.  They’re both Hall of Famer broadcasters now (though different halls of the fame).    

What’s ironic, I actually learned more about the Rockies from the Rangers’ broadcast than I had listening to the Rockies’ broadcasts this season.  First, I got the AR-Enado thing cleared up.  At the Denver airport tram, various Denver sports stars greet the visitors on a video.  Nolan did pronounce his name AR-Enado there.  When later questioned by the local media, he confirmed that that’s how he pronounces it.  Apparently, different members of his own family disagree on the pronunciation, so that was the source of the confusion.  This also led to a discussion of the proper pronunciation of Colorado.  Next, there was a discussion on Rockies pitching.  They are organizationally committed to groundball pitchers, owing to the thin air and thus value plus infield defenders. 

Eric Nadel was excited about the hotel they were staying at.  He met Peter Frampton in an elevator there.  Frampton is doing a show in town, as is Demi Lovato.  Eric is a big music fan and digs the music scene in the Denver area, especially the Red Rocks venue.  This led to this exchange:

Matt Hicks: “Do you, you, feel like I do?”

Eric Nadel: “Oh, just show me the way.”

There was also a lively discussion about the clouds.  I think they were worried about the weather, but that never came into play.  I kept hearing cheering whenever the Rangers made a good play.  I didn’t think there were that many fans in the area.  Actually, there were three sections of Ranger fans in attendance as part of a travel package the team was offering.  I’m sure I heard multiple mentions of it over the season during the team broadcasts, but didn’t retain any details of it.  I’m sure it was pretty cool.

Oh, and there was game going on.  Let’s pick it up in the top of the 9^th with the Rangers down 3-1.  A double-steal on the play before, set up Elvis Andrus driving in two with a base hit to tie the score.  Mitch Moreland then drove him home with a double to give the Rangers the lead, 4-3, which would be the final.  Afterward, it was discussed with the team that they had game-planned that double-steal before the game if that situation came up in the game.  There was also an acknowledgement of the Rangers fans in attendance.  They love getting cheers on the road.

Once again, some divided loyalties.  I do like the Rockies.  Arenado had a great game, driving in two runs, including a home run.  He also had a great bare-handed play in the game.  Rookie David Dahl continues to impress.  I think he’s hit in all 14 games since his call up.  His OPS is 1.004.  (Superstar Arenado is like .980.)  If only Trevor Story hadn’t gotten hurt.

After the game, I made a futile search for the Rangers post-game call in show that they always mention during the post game.  It’s on their flagship station in Dallas, but they were only doing network programming.  Perhaps it’s only for home games or not available over the Internet at all.  Well, that’s fine.  I’d had a good night.