Baseball Journal May 2017 Part 1

5-2-17

It’s a baseball/softball double header with the Aggies visiting the Lobos in Albuquerque.  I was able to watch the games thanks to the Mountain West digital network.  The softball game featured a rather perky, chipper student announcer.  Aggie Softball won 7-6.  A two-run homer in the seventh made it close, but Fahren Glackin closed it out.  Kelsey Horton didn’t play the field and didn’t have a hit, but still had three RBI’s. 

The softball game slightly overlapped with the baseball game.  The wind picked up considerably as night fell.  Paul Weir, new Lobo basketball coach, was in attendance.  I’m sure the Aggie players and fans (of whom there were plenty) went out of their way to say “Hello,” to him.  After four bad losses in a row, Coach Green gave four guys the night off.  That worked out well.  Tristan Carranza figured out how to use that strong wind to the tune of two fourth-inning home runs, including a grand slam.  Meanwhile, bullpen guy, Andy Frakes, pitched eight and a third of the game.  12-5 as the Aggies win big.  As was quoted in the Aggie radio broadcast (as I lost the video halfway through the game), “You never lose.  You either win or you learn.”

5-4-17

I got to hear a bit of the Rangers versus the Astros before going to work in the afternoon.  When I got to work, I ended up bringing up the Rockies versus Padres game as the MLB free game.  Unfortunately, like just about every game west of the Mississippi, the TV broadcast was blacked out.  I still got the Padres’ radio call.  I didn’t catch the main guy’s name, but he was really entertaining.  His co-host put in a plug for the stations’ points rewards for listeners.  “It’s just what I always feared.  The station is having to pay people to listen to me.”  “Its points, not money.”  “It’s the principal!”  They also had a talk about Nolan AR-enado’s name, instead of AIR-enado.  They agreed with the change in pronunciation.  

I turned off the game to do work elsewhere.  I was shocked that it was still going when I got back.  Owing to a minor work crisis (defined as a problem that I wasn’t directly responsible for), I missed the ending, but it turned out to be 3-2 Rockies win.  I eventually got an update on the Rangers and Astros.  After losing every which way for the first three games of the series in Houston, the Rangers managed a 10-4 win behind staff ace, AJ Griffin.  Don’t laugh.  He’s undefeated so far.     

In the evening, Aggie Softball won its final regular season game against Florida Atlantic.  As part of their “May the Fourth be with You,” promotion, the first hundred fans got an Aggie Star Wars t-shirt.  Ron went to the game, but got the time wrong and missed out.  He got to see a really good game though.  Victoria Castro hit a big two-run homer.  Kayla Green came in for the last inning with two on and a one run lead, and got all three outs.  I’m encouraged by that performance.

5-5-17

Aggie baseball continued their hit parade on Friday at Utah Valley to the tune of a 24-1 run-rule win.  They were up 9-0 by the second.  As Adam said, “The crazy thing is, this is only their third-highest scoring game this season.”  Meanwhile the Giants were the MLB free game.  In Cincinnati, on a rainy evening, in front of a “friends and family”-sized crowd, they lost 13-3.  Jon Miller wasn’t calling the game.  Given these two blowouts, it wasn’t surprising that I chose to get caught up on Reign instead. 

I got back home and the Rangers/Mariners game was still going on the radio.  And on.  And on.  By the eleventh, Matt Hicks and Eric Nadel were getting giddy and punchy, after the second injury delay of the inning.  (Joey Gallo ended up seeing three pitchers in the same at bat.)  Jared Sandler, who had long run out of updates on other games, asked them to name all the events in a decathlon.  Baseball just gets weird when it goes past midnight.  Eric was about to do a game recap later: “In case you’re just joining us . . . (laugh) . . . at 1:50 (CST) in the morning.”  In the thirteenth, Ruggie hit a two-run homer to give the Rangers the lead, just as the guys were breaking down a small college’s post-season baseball schedule.  3-1 Rangers win.  I’m up till nearly 1:30 am (MST).  That’s okay.  They won.    

5-6-17

“If you had an hour to live, who would you call?” asked one host to his two, eager to answer, co-hosts.  “What the f*** kind of sports talk radio is this?” I sputtered.  I know they fired a lot of people at ESPN, but clearly they didn’t clean house.  You could easily replace everyone on ESPN Radio with a tape that alternates between saying, “LeBron James is the greatest,” and “Let’s talk about the NFL,” on an endless loop.  I was just listening to hear when the Kentucky Derby started, so I could go from the kitchen back to the TV in the bedroom.  So much for that.  Never mind, back to baseball.

An exuberant Nick Swisher has joined Alex Rodriguez on the Fox Sports MLB pre-game.  The only reason Fox was broadcasting baseball tonight was because it was the Yankees versus the Cubs.  It’s cold and windy like its early April at Wrigley.  People are bundled up, even the Marlins Man.  The ticker is now being used to promote Fox’s own s***** sports talk network (populated by a bunch of ex-ESPN Radio guys, coincidence?) and upcoming German and MLS soccer matches on the network.  That’s great.

I found out that the Cubs’ had moved the bullpens off the field and under the outfield bleachers.  I found this out in the top of first, as the Yankees scored five runs, and the Cubs were forced to bring in a reliever.  I got sick of Joe Buck immediately and switched on the Chihuahuas on the radio for audio, leaving the game on TV.  I briefly considered turning over to the playoff hockey, but I didn’t like either team.  Unfortunately, I lost radio reception in the eighth, just as the dogs went down by three runs.  I assumed they lost.  The Cubs lost 11-6 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate and wasn’t that interesting either. 

Meanwhile in Orem Utah, Aggie baseball was losing 4-6 in the fifth.  Marcel Renteria did not have his good stuff.  That’s too bad, since apparently a bunch of scouts were there to see him.  The Aggies tied it in the sixth.  Thereafter, they poured it on.  16-6 was the final.  Giving Joey Ortiz a couple of games off worked well as he went four for four.  Aggie pitching gave up one walk in the game.  I missed the Rockies game, which was okay, since I couldn’t get the station in.  The Rangers/Mariners game was still going.  It was 1-1 until the seventh, but was functionally over by the time I started listening (8-2 final).  More bullpen troubles.

5-7-17             

Aggie baseball was on at noon on the radio.  During the game, Adam Young started reading off some Aggie hitting records, since several players are doing so well this season.  He couldn’t believe that they’re not even close to the top 10 in several records.  Adam marveled over one kid having over 100 RBI’s in 50 games.  It’s pretty easy to explain: past players weren’t using the Bbcorr bats.  I can still remember the “ping” of those old aluminum bats and how much more powerful they were.  It’s a 6-0 Aggie win over Utah Valley with Jonathan Groff pitching a complete game shutout.

The Chihuahuas lost 3-7 to Nashville yesterday, as I found out in today’s pre-game.  In other news, the team released Jamie Romak.  He got a better deal to play ball in South Korea, and as a veteran, they had to let him go.  Maybe he comes back as Eric Thames.  Tim Hagerty, on the play-by-play, also talked about how many players now get to the ballpark using Uber.  It was more interesting when he told it.  Tim mentioned also they put on an interesting mascot race in Nashville.  They feature big-headed country music mascots of Johnny Cash, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. 

A former Aggie pitcher came into the game late for Nashville.  His name sounded familiar, but too long and complicated to write out.  I was watching the hockey playoff game that was on at the same time, featuring the Nashville Predators versus the St. Louis Blues.  The baseball crowd started cheering as the Predators went ahead in the third period.  They let out a bigger one when they won and a PA announcement was made between innings. 

Okay, not baseball related, but after the hockey and before the baseball ended, I got to see the end of the NASCAR Talladega race.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr won.  Several years ago, I made a prediction to some race fans at work that he’d win before his girlfriend, Dancia Patrick, did.  This was considered to be quite a foolish position at the time.  Oh, how sweet Monday will be.  For her part, Danica was happy for him in Victory Lane and didn’t try to steal the spotlight.  Minutes later, the Chihuahuas won 3-2, stranding the tying run on third.

I picked up the Rangers/Mariners game in the seventh.  (All three of these games started an hour after each other.)  Jose LeClerc had just thrown an extremely wild pitch.  Matt Hicks: “Jean Segura can’t be comfortable standing in that box after seeing that.”  Eric Nadel: “I’m not comfortable up here after seeing that.”  The Rangers’ bullpen loses it again, 4-3 Mariners.       

I almost got to listen to all of the Yankees versus Cubs game tonight.  I wasn’t paying much attention since I was writing that stupid boxing recap.  The signal weakened after sundown, but was still listenable.  In the bottom of the ninth, with the Yankees up 3-1 and one on, the signal completely dropped.  When it came back several minutes later, they were in commercial.  I guess the Yankees won.  I suspect their youngsters’ awesome numbers will tail off as the season goes along.  The Cubs are plenty good enough to beat bad teams, but they’re going to need a couple of good trades to actually improve.