Baseball Notebook for August 30, 2016

The Yahoo free game was Cubs vs Pirates.  I saw Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer to right field in the 1st, but didn’t catch much else of the action.  It’s almost boring watching the Cubs win this season (though last night’s 13-inning game was apparently pretty exciting).  They’re making it look too easy.  The stadium was packed there, as it’s been all season.  The fans in Chicago can almost taste it.  I feel bad for the Pirates.  Their window of opportunity may have closed for this group.  I’m sure their fans are dreading the possibility of enduring another couple of decades of losing baseball.  I almost want to suggest that they deal McCutchen for a crop of really good prospects in the off season and reload for another run in a few years.  The final was 3-0 Cubs.

I switched over to listening to the Chihuahuas vs the 51’s.  Admittedly, I had a hard time concentrating on the game at work.  Tim seemed very serious in calling the game tonight.  It was a pretty tight affair.  The dogs went down by a couple of runs early, but came back with three in the 2nd to take the lead.  Austin Hedges hit what seemed like a back-breaking two-run homer in the 7th for a 6-2 lead.  But, the 51’s are a good team.  Michael Conforto, who was on Mets’ World Series team last year, hit a two-run home run to bring the score to 6-5 in the 9th.  But, a new reliever for the pups came in after that and shut the door for the win.  Moments after this win, the Isotopes lost their game tonight.  The Chihuahuas’ magic number is two with six games left.

I think I saw on the website that Carlos Asuaje was named PCL Rookie of the Year.  I went back to my scorecard from earlier in the year to get the spelling on that.  I saw him go 4 for 4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s that night.  Ah ha!  I knew I’d heard Stephen Cardullo’s name before when I heard it on the Rockies broadcast yesterday.  He was on the Isotopes that night and he’d hit a home run.

The Rockies were rained out tonight, but baseball goes on in Arlington between the Rangers and the Mariners.  Cole Hamels had a bad outing, giving up six runs, but the Ranger offense never gave up.  I kept checking in on score before finally putting on Gameday for the 9th.  Down a run, Adrian Beltre (who else?) gets it started with a single.  Roughned Odor then steps to the plate.  Even just watching the pitching tracking and reading the play descriptions, what happened next was special: two-run walk-off home run.  Rouggie!  Your happy totals are Rangers 8, Mariners 6.  If this team wins the World Series, I highly suspect these two will be the carrying the team to the trophy.