Owing to an impending, violent change to my life schedule, I
wasn’t sure about bothering with a journal this year. However, as long as there’s baseball that I
can watch or listen to, let’s enjoy what we can. Mostly, I’ve been listening over the radio
(and Internet) and catching the MLB Free game.
As usual, this is highly biased towards the teams that I like and that I
get to watch or listen to, namely the NM State Aggies, the El Paso Chihuahuas,
the Texas Rangers, and the Colorado Rockies.
So far, I haven’t bothered much with baseball on TV. A big “Thank you” to Fox Sports for not
bothering to show any baseball this month and instead focusing on European
soccer matches. That’s just great. I guess the Yankees and Red Sox haven’t been
playing on any of the weekends yet. I
missed all of spring training and did not see any of the World Baseball
Classic, though I did follow along with the championship game. I have commentary on that: USA ! USA !
4-1-17
4-3-17
Opening Day! It was a
bad day at work. I didn’t get to see or
hear more than a couple of minutes of baseball (or the NCAA Basketball Championship). I did catch some of the Rangers come from
ahead loss to the Cleveland Indians on the MLB free game. Rougned Odor did hit two homers in the game. Sam Dyson took the loss in what seemed like
ominous foreboding for the Rangers’ bullpen.
4-4-17
4-6-17
Opening Day for the Chihuahuas ! It was a sellout and then some with over
9,000 in attendance. The late head
groundskeeper, Nate Jones, was remembered.
He died at 24 in a car wreck in the offseason. His field won a PCL award for the grass. Those outfield suite seats aren’t that great
a place to see the game, but I was able to get a good look at that grass. It was so perfect, it looked like it should
be vacuumed instead of mowed. The Chihuahuas won. There were a couple of homers and an inside
the park home run (technically a single and three-base error). Coach Rod Barajas later admitted that the
huge crowd did kind of goad him into sending the runner home.
4-8-17
4-9-17
4-11-17
[This was my actual first entry and the first game I got to
really listen to. Yeah, I started this
over a week late. I was still upset
about Opening Day going badly for me.] Up
5-0 over the Angels, the Rangers proceeded to squander the lead until the ninth
when Sam Dyson came in finished the job for his second blown save of the
year. Of course, it was my least
favorite player, Al Pujols driving in Mike Trout for the tying run. In the tenth, Trout then robbed Jonathan
Lucroy of the go ahead home run. The
Rangers lose in the bottom on a squeeze play.
6-5 Angels. Adrian Beltre is
still out and Joey Gallo is in. He’s
still striking out, but did a tremendous upper deck home run last week.
4-13-17
At the end of this game, I got the final score of the Mets
and Marlins game I was watching earlier.
It was 9-8 Mets in extras. Yoenis
Cespedes hit two monster home runs while I was watching. Meanwhile, the Aggies beat Sacramento State
4-14-17
Marcel Renteria went 9 innings and worked his way out of a
bases loaded jam in the ninth. He
actually talked his way into staying into the game with three guys on. Unfortunately it ended in a 2-1 loss to Sac State Sac State
4-15-17
4-16-17
8-7, Rangers lose to the Mariners. Another Sam Dyson blown save. There was an odd series of events in the
inning, but ultimately he walked in the tying run. There wasn’t even a batted ball that left the
infield in the final inning. The Rangers
seem to have to find a new closer every year.
The Chihuahuas
also lost, but there was an interesting scoring play for dogs in the game. Jabari Blash tagged up on second on a deep
fly ball by Collin Cowgill and scored.
The centerfielder fell down after making the catch, but that is still a
heck of a sprint.
4-17-17
It was an afternoon matinee for the Chihuahuas and a blowout loss. Catcher Rocky Gale made his pitching debut,
throwing a 60mph fastball. You could
hear a heckler in the stands giving him the business, “Show us your fast ball!” His line was one hit batter, one strikeout, a
single (scoring two inherited runners), and a groundball out.
4-18-17
At least the Aggie baseball team put up a good fight against
Texas Tech in Midland ,
losing 6-4. They briefly had a
lead. In the fifth, in a four strikeout
inning, the Aggies scored a, almost needless to say, unearned run. They were playing under harsh conditions,
namely every time the Red Raiders scored, a hockey horn blasted and then the
Tech fight song played.
Meanwhile in Las
Cruces , the Aggie softball team was getting clobbered
by the Arizona Wildcats. There
apparently was no run rule. In Game one,
with over 500 in attendance, they lost 8-0.
In Game two, with over 800 in attendance (nearly a full house), they
lost 11-1. The Arizona pitcher in that game had 12 strikeouts. Why am I smiling though? She had a no-hitter going in the last inning
until Kelsey Horton came up. I don’t
know if she just made a mistake or was trying to challenge Kelsey, but the
result was a home run. Having seen
Kelsey bat, that must have been the angriest swing of the night. Also, the team only had one error in the two
games, so they didn’t beat themselves.
Back at home that night, I got to hear the end of the Rockies versus the Dodgers. There was some drama in the bottom of the
ninth, but Greg Holland got save, his eighth in a row. 4-3 Rockies .
4-19-17
4-20-17
I came into this game late, but better late than never in a
scoreless 13 inning game. Joey Gallo
doubled and was driven in by Delino Deshields for the 1-0 Ranger win over the
Royals. Meanwhile, how do you get 17
strikeouts in a game and have a 5-0 lead and still lose in extras? Ask the Chihuahuas , as I listened to this night’s
game in slowly unfolding horror. They
should have stayed the Diablos.
4-22-17
4-23-17
4-24-17
Twins over the Rangers 3-2.
All of the Twins’ runs were walked on base. I finally got a look at Jose Leclerc. Whatever he’s throwing, he’s making the
batters look silly trying to swing at it.
Meanwhile in Denver , down a run to the
Nationals in the eighth, the Rockies got five
straight hits to start the inning before the Nat’s reliever was taken out. Rockies win
8-4. The Chihuahuas lost at home 12-1. Probably a good thing, I decided to watch the
Rangers instead.
4-25-17
The MLB free game was a good matchup between the Astros and
the Indians. Dallas Keuchel pitched a compete
game for a 4-2 win for the Astros. Josh
Reddick made a highlight reel catch in centerfield to rob Jason Kipnis of a
home run. However, Houston may have actually been the loser in
the game, as Jose Altuve and Teoscar Hernandez had hard collision on a
popup. Both had to come out of the game,
though somehow, Teoscar, who might have nearly a foot in height and at least 50
pounds on Altuve, came away the worst for it, as he left on a cart. The Astros are already a bit banged up. This isn’t good.
Meanwhile in Tucson , the
Aggie baseball team was crushed by Arizona ,
11-2. Six errors leading to six unearned
runs didn’t help. You can accept another
team being better than your team, but it’s hard to accept your team beating
themselves. The other team being really
good, doesn’t cause errors. That’s on
you guys. Even Adam Young’s call of the
game was flat, listless, and defeated. I
almost hope there was some reason other than the game for him sounding
depressed.
4-27-17
This has to be my favorite Internet baseball story of the
year, Ranking the Rockies Walk up Music. At last, news I can use. Before I
even read it, I knew it was going to be Charlie Blackmon’s “Your Love” by the
Outfield at number one. Is there
anything better in baseball on a weekly basis than hearing the Denver crowd finish the opening verse when he
comes to bat?
4-28-17
I got the latest issue of Sports Illustrated in the mail
today. It sucking mess of player and
coach puff pieces and typical media agenda items. Thanks goodness I got this subscription for
free. But the last page commentary by
Steve Rushin had me giggling for the rest of the day. In a rambling piece about baseball, he
mentioned the “butterscotch” voice of Giants broadcaster, Jon Miller. “Miller’s is the voice you want to hear on
your deathbed, narrating your life as it flashes before your eyes.” Wow, Rushin totally nailed that.
It was a busy night at work with month end processing and a
busy night in baseball. The Aggie
baseball team was playing GCU on TV. The
Aggie softball team was also playing GCU, which I could follow along on
Statcast. And the MLB free game featured
the Rangers playing the Hated Angels.
(The Chihuahuas
were rained out on the road thankfully.
Otherwise I might have been totally overloaded.)
The Aggie baseball game featured an overhead drone view of
the stadium. It was very
impressive. I’m sure MLB teams will
likely start using them too in the near future.
I caught a glimpse of the son of a co-worker manning a camera in the
opposing dugout. (I told his mom
later. She was thrilled.) There was a shot of the stands where Athletic
Director Mario Moccia was sitting with the football coach, Doug Martin, and the
new Men’s basketball coach, Chris Jans.
Jans went into the booth to chat in the fourth inning. Is it a bad sign that GCU hit a home run to
start that inning?
Just to add to the frenzy, I noticed on Youtube that someone
had pirated the Red Sox/Cubs game and was broadcasting it live. I checked in on it occasionally, but couldn’t
stay and watch. Meanwhile, after going
down 8-nothing in the fourth and about to be run ruled in the fifth, Aggie Softball
erupted for seven runs to make a game out of it.
Wait, I see that 6’11” baseball player in the Aggie
dugout. He’s not a myth. Inspired by the girls, the guys managed to
tie the score 4-4 in the fourth.
Unfortunately, Aggie Softball pitching didn’t hold GCU and they lost 14-8. In Arlington ,
the Rangers lost to the Hated Angels 6-3.
Eric Nadel made a suggestion for pick off throws: the pitcher gets two
throws, then it’s a balk. He’s gotten no
support on this. (My suggestion is that
a throw to any base other than home is a ball.
Along with this, we get rid of the balk rule or have lines 10’ away from
the bases that the runners can’t cross until the pitcher moves.)
Aggie Baseball had a three run lead, but lost it on a home
run in the eighth. Ruger Rodriguez blew
his first save of the year. There’s a
light rain where I am, but it doesn’t get to the stadium. In the tenth, GCU scored the go ahead run on
a passed ball strike out with the bases loaded.
Groan. I’m physically hurt. The Aggies lose 11-9. What a disappointing night for baseball.
4-29-17
I hear this from Tim Hagerty during Game 2 of a double
header sweep by Chihuahuas . The starting Salt Lake City pitcher for Game 1 was ejected
before the game. The incident was
described as “a miscommunication.” Tim
said the umpire had told the pitcher to move his chair in the bullpen. When the pitcher argued, he got tossed. He came in in Game 2 as a reliever and gave
up five runs. He should have stayed in
the dugout.
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