I came in in the eighth of the Chihuahuas playing the Salt Lake City Bees in El Paso. The Bees led 10-0 after three innings, but the pups came back to make it 10-8 by the end of the inning. In the ninth, the Bees tacked on a run. In the bottom, the Chihuahuas scored twice, before making an out. Tim Hagerty and the fans went crazy. Unfortunately, the Bees squeaked out an 11-10 win. Still, a very exciting comeback.
6-2-17
Why was I watching a 9-0 Giants over the Phillies game? Mostly because Jon Miller was doing the game call. Ty Blach threw a 9 inning shutout with a 10-0 final. It was quiet enough in the stadium by the end to clearly hear the heckling of angry Philly fans. Meanwhile, the Rangers released their former closer, Sam Dyson. He’d done a really good job last year, but had clearly lost his stuff. Shin-Soo Choo blogged about Dyson’s exit from the clubhouse. Contrary to the saying, there were many tears shed between Sam and his teammates. “Sometimes, I hate baseball,” wrote Choo. Something to think about.
6-3-17
Miami Marlin, Edinson Volquez threw a no-hitter versus the D-Backs. What was interesting was that he only needed 98 pitches. Watching the highlights in the Fox pre-game, it was obvious that the Arizona players were not seeing the ball well. Batters were swinging at balls that nearly bounced up to the plate. Edinson dedicated the win to his departed countrymen, Jose Fernandez and Yordano Ventura.
This Saturday’s Fox game was the Rangers versus the Astros. For some reason, I felt compelled to take notes on just about every inning in this game. Joe Buck wasn’t doing this game, so I actually enjoyed it. The ballpark at Arlington was full with the fans mostly in red. There was smattering of Astros fans sprinkled throughout the crowd.
The bottom of the first featured Adrian Beltre doing his usual on deck photobombing. If he stood any closer to the plate doing his practice swings, he’d be getting called for strikes. Two pitches went through Astros’ catcher, Brian McCann’s, legs, but were scored as wild pitches, instead of passed balls. 1-0 Rangers.
The top of the second showed a view of one of the ballpark kitchens. Gigantic “boom stick” hot dogs and shish kabobs were frying a big circular grill. Everyone watching the game at home, now wished they were at be at the ballpark. Astro, Carlos Beltran, hit an upper deck home run that was immediately thrown back.
Top of the third happens without my viewing as a bunch of local commercials ran over the start of the inning. Thanks KFOX. The Astros score four runs on five singles, a walk, and a wild pitch. In the bottom, new Hall of Famer, Pudge Rodriguez comes into the booth for an all-too brief chat. One of the hosts completely geeked out on meeting him. Good to see that not everyone in the business is completely jaded. He talked a bit about catching Nolan Ryan. Meanwhile, Astros starter, Lance McCullars, struck out the side for the inning. He’d gotten five “K’s” in a row.
The top of the fifth ended with Beltre hugging it out with Beltran on a groundout. It was a friendly sort of tag. The bottom of the inning came back with The Game Has Changed as the intro music. More of that please. George Springer laid out diving for a sure double to center field by Shin-Soo Choo and saved a couple of runs. But that was just temporary, as Elvis Andrus would drive them in on the next at bat. Beltre then drove Elvis in to chase McCullars from the game. 5-4 Astros.
In the bottom of the sixth, a swarm of gnats attacked Astros’ reliever Chris Devenski on the mound. He pitched through it. Jose Leclerc came in for the Rangers in the seventh. There was a discussion of the team releasing Sam Dyson. I thought the crowd was rising for a strike on a check swing, but they were actually doing the wave. In the bottom, Luke Gregerson accidentally dropped the ball while in the set position with Andrus on. That was a balk and the first of his long career.
Why is NBC not showing the Stanley Cup finals tonight! Just had to get that out. Top of the eighth, a foul ball bounced off a fan’s chest in the upper deck and fell to the lower deck. He was okay. He had a broad chest. The fan only got upset later when Keone Kela balked a runner over.
Top of the ninth, Elvis made a couple of great plays at shortstop, but Jose Altuve hit a leadoff home run. In the bottom, Beltre took a moment from posing in the on deck circle to toss a foul ball to the fans. That was nice of him. He was also the only Ranger without a strikeout tonight. He drove in Elvis again. Delino Deshields got on and distracted Astro’s closer Ken Giles, but Roughned Odor struck out to end the game. That was the eighteenth for the team. 6-5 Astros final and a pretty entertaining game.
Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas lost 11-1 to the Bees in El Paso. When the pups scored their run late in the game, Tim Hagerty reported that a sarcastic cheer went up from the crowd. This game was on for an hour and they were in the fourth inning. The Rangers game took three hours to get to the seventh.
6-4-17
On the Rangers’ radio broadcast, Eric Nadel reminisced about meeting Mr. Met as a youth. He was more excited at the time than getting Tug McGraw’s autograph. The current Mr. Met’s firing over some bad fan interaction was the spark for the conversation. Eric was surprised to learn the Mr. Met had finally tied the knot with Mrs. Met.
With that anecdote, you can guess the game was a bit of a blow out, as the Astros beat the Rangers, 7-2, for a three-game sweep. There was a constant threat of rain during the game, and it finally came near the end of the game, but the umps were not going to prolong the agony with a delay. Eric and Matt Hicks spent most of the game talking about the Astros, as the Rangers seemed to have given up.
Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas won 5-2 over the Bees in front of a quiet crowd.
6-5-17
The Chihuahuas played the Isotopes in Albuquerque in extremely windy conditions. It must have been blowing in, as it knocked down some sure home runs. As it was, the teams had little trouble scoring. The pups led 10-1 in the fourth. The Isotopes did score six over the last three innings to make it closer. The Chihuahuas’ closer had to come in for the final out in a 10-7 win. This game was also the debut of River Stevens with the team. What a name!
The Chihuahuas’ Twitter feed featured this pic for National Donut day. That’s a donut cheeseburger with fries. I sense an addition to some ballpark’s menu.
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