Rangers vs. Mariners. Martin Perez vs. Felix Hernandez looked like a mismatch on paper. And indeed it was on the field, just opposite of expectations. Perez goes six innings and gives up nothing. King Felix goes four innings and gives up six runs. When I was listening to the first three innings at home, before going to work, the Rangers had managed to score the first run of the game without a hit and it looked like another tight game was in order. Congrats to Eric Nadel for calling that steal of second from the booth. Perhaps he’s actually the secret manager of the club.
When I got to work, things had changed dramatically. I’d wondered if Carlos Gomez had broken his slump yesterday, and he had with two hits. Today, he followed that up with a grand slam. Not to be outdone, his teammates piled on. Ryan Rua, Adrian Beltre, and Roughned Odor (twice) all homered. (When I got to work, I also got to see Rougie’s game winning homer yesterday. Manager Jeff Banister was jumping up and down like a little kid. Odor must be a heck of a golfer to have hit that low pitch.) Our final was 14-1 Rangers. As Lonestar Ball put it, “Rangers tramp dirt on freshly buried Mariners.”
Serious Tim Hagerty was in the booth again this evening as the Chihuahuas took on the 51’s. This time a possible division clinching was on tap, as the Isotopes were playing a double header tonight. The dogs needed a win and an Albuquerque loss to do it. The Chihuahuas did what they could. In the 2nd, call up Austin Bousfield hit his first Triple-A home run. Tim mentioned during the game that the Padres organization had brought up some promising lower level players to the help the Chihuahuas in their playoff run. (I wonder if there are some Padres who wouldn’t mind going back for a couple of weeks to help too. It’s not like they’re doing anything important.) In the 3rd, Hunter Renfroe hit a two-run homer, and in the 6th, the pups added two more runs. As the 51’s hadn’t answered, Tim pronounced, “Things are starting to get real.”
Meanwhile in Denver, the Rockies and Dodgers were playing their own double header. Stephen Cardullo hit his first major league home run in game one. He followed that up with a grand slam in game two. These games did have an impact in the minors. The Rockies would have been able to call up an extra player for these two games. But, the Isotopes were also playing a double header tonight. I suspect this may have ended up hurting both teams. The Rockies and Isotopes won game one. In game two, the Rockies coughed up five runs, including a grand slam, to lose game two.
By the 8th, I’ve got the Albuquerque game on Gameday. The Isotopes were well behind in their second game. The Chihuahuas have things well in hand and would win their game 5-0. After the game, many fans would be sticking around and the players would be hanging out in the dugout. The Isotopes game feed was put on the video board at the stadium. Tim and the board op would be vamping a bit after the game, hoping to get in the final before the end of the broadcast. The Isotopes put a furious charge in the 9th, but came up short, 5-3 Salt Lake. You could hear the cheers in the stadium as the final out in that game was recorded. The Chihuahuas win the division and are going to the playoffs! Tim and the crew there were tried to work some interviews before the broadcast ended, but they’d delivered the important news. Now we look forward to another PCL Championship run.
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