7-21-17
It was raining here (Las Cruces) and in El Paso. Tim Hagerty reported only sprinkles at the downtown ballpark and urged everyone to come for tonight’s game between the Chihuahuas and the Omaha Storm Chasers. I’ve seen Omaha’s parent club, the Royals, a few times this season. I didn’t realize Jorge Solar from the Cubs was with the Storm Chasers now. He was one of the Cubs’ top prospects. I also learned that the Royals mandate high socks at the minor league levels.
The Storm Chasers started the game off well, as they scored in the first three innings for six runs. I ended up switching to watch the Twins and Tigers on the MLB free game. Ooops. Not so fast. For some reason, the site suddenly got bitchy about my login. I was already logged in. I’m not sure what the issue was. Luckily, Yahoo was still broadcasting the free game, so I watched there. Unfortunately, it was the Twin’s feed. There was an old-timers gathering this weekend and a couple of them were in the booth, reminiscing about World Series winning teams. I don’t like the Twins, so this was annoying. Yahoo didn’t run commercials between innings, which I did like. There was even some behind the scenes stuff broadcast by the Twins’ network.
I flipped back to the Chihuahuas when I noticed they’d scored three in the sixth (and I lost video on the Tigers’ game, who won 6-3). Tim was finally acknowledging that it was raining there, but lightly. It continued for most of the rest of the game. The Internet broadcast I was listening to came back to the game late from the commercials in the eighth inning. I’d missed the Chihuahuas scoring on a two-run homer to close it to 7-6. Dusty Coleman almost tied it on a long shot that was caught at the wall. In the bottom of the ninth, Tim and crowd were really getting into it. “We want a hit!” was heard chanted. The Storm Chasers’ catcher slipped on the on the wet on-deck circle making a foul out, but that was the only drama. 7-6 Storm Chasers was the final.
7-22-17
The Rangers’ affiliate in El Paso didn’t pick up the coverage of their game against the Rays until it had been for an hour. They’re just getting worse and worse. I was having a hard time getting into the game after that. Also, while the Rangers had won last night behind Yu Darvish, the only team news was that management was now shopping him around. That’s a bad sign.
I also lost the signal around the seventh, but it turned out that I’d heard all scoring in the game anyway. The Rays got out to a three-run lead. In the sixth, Adrian Beltre would drive in two which tied the score. The Rangers got the lead after a wild pitch scored a run from third. 4-3 was the final. I was impressed with the high-level of offensive and defensive play from the “old men” on the field, Beltre and Evan Longoria of the Rays. Both drove in runs and played an excellent third base.
It had been raining here and El Paso, but it had stopped well before tonight’s Chihuahuas/Storm Chasers game. Tim Hagerty encouraged people to come out to the ballpark with the cool overcast weather. The first run was in the third. Rocky Gale got caught in a rundown, but right after, a hit would drive in Travis Jankowski, who’s down from the Padres on rehab. Nick Buss then doubled in a run to make the score 2-0. In the fifth, a bases loaded sac brought in a run. A three-run homer by Collin Cowgill brought the score to 6-0. It was a 10-batter inning.
At this point, I lost track of the scoring, because it didn’t stop. The Storm Chasers scored a couple in the sixth, but Ryan Schimpf hit a home run. He hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Nick Schultz also homered. Okay, it was 12-3 going into the ninth. The crowd was yelling at the Omaha batters to swing, because they wanted their fireworks show. They swung to the tune of three more runs. With two on and two out, a reliever was brought in. He threw one pitch. There was some confusion in the outfield between the outfielders, but that was the final out. 12-6 Chihuahuas final. They’re at .500 again, 50-50, and four games out of first.
I missed the Rockies again. I had trouble turning away from the Chihuahuas and reception was not good. They won, but I am totally missing out on their season.
7-23-17
Before today's ballgame, I made the mistake of listening to Fox Sports Radio for about five minutes, waiting for the game. Five minutes was all I could take. The two hosts were going after Jordan Spieth for choking at the British Open on Sunday. They used this as a gateway topic to go after the greatest chokers of all time. What's that you say? Spieth actually won the British Open (yes, it's still the BRITISH Open, regardless of their denials). They even mentioned how he'd just made a come back and regained the lead (the tournament was still in progress at the time), but that didn't stop their opinion mongering. Sheer brillance.
Rangers versus Rays. Starting off in the second, Adrian Beltre tripled. Each hit he gets now adds to the countdown to 3,000. Mike Napoli sacrificed him in. Roughned Odor homered right after. Eric Nadel hesitated on the call until the umpire called it. The ball hit a catwalk there in Tropicana Field. 2-0 Rangers. The Rays tied it in the bottom. As per Eric’s call on one of the runs, “The Rangers turn a double play, and the Rays score the tying run. Everybody’s happy.” Two all.
In the third, Matt Hicks stumbled over the name of the Rays’ pitcher, Jake Odorizzi. “Easy for me to say.” In the bottom of the fourth, there was a Catcher’s Interference call (I think). This call seems to be more common than usual this year. I also learned that it is scored an error, but does not count as an at bat. Two Rays score on a double in the inning. Then, there was a failed suicide squeeze with a runner on third. The ball bounced up and hit the batter in the face. He ended up trying to drive the batter in with a hit, but the runner was out on a collision in front of the plate. Ranger catcher, Robinson Chirinos, stayed in for the inning, but came out afterward with a twisted ankle. (That’s pretty tough, catching on a twisted ankle.) The bases were loaded. Ranger starter, Tyson Ross, came out after walking in a run. 5-2 Rays.
In the fifth, Joey Gallo homered on a jammed swing. How far would it have gone if he’d had full extension? Three walks afterward loaded the bases, but none scored. 5-3 Rays. In the eighth, Ruggie hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot that tied the game at five. Right after, Carlos Gomez went yard to give the Rangers a 6-5 lead.
In the ninth, with two on, Napoli hit another catwalk, but the ball was still in play this time. Evan Longoria made the ricochet play on it for a flyball out. The ground rules at the Trop are numerous. Jose LeClerc came in to close. He let two on, but got the save. 6-5 Rangers final. That’s a three-game sweep following getting swept in four by the Orioles. It was a nearly four-hour, nine inning game. Jarrett Sandler was glad he’d be able to make it to call a Frisco Roughriders’ game. Eric and Matt would still be able to make it to an Earth, Wind, and Fire concert this evening.
On the subject of events that went on too long, I had NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 on this whole time. I wouldn’t even bother mentioning this race, but it got hysterical, for the wrong reasons, by the end. Coverage started at noon. The race finished (?) just before 7:00. The grandstand looked kind empty for the start of the race. This may have been at least partly because of the weather. NASCAR ran about 30 minutes of “show” laps, before parking everyone right before a storm hit.
After over two hours of delay, the race restarted. What followed was a steady stream of crashes and blown up cars. There ended up being a record number of cautions at 14. I think half of the field had been eliminated by the end, including Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, who’d dominated the race. They couldn’t even finish either Overtime attempt. On the second try, nearly racing in the dark (no lights at IMS and those are just decals on the cars, not headlights), there was another wreck down the backstretch. Officials held off on throwing the yellow until the official line had been crossed to end the race, since the sun was just minutes from going down. Kasey Kahne was the “winner,” though it felt like everyone involved in this was a loser.
I never imagined that the race would overlap with the Chihuahuas/Storm Chasers’ game. At least nothing much happened until the fifth, where Omaha would score three runs, including a solo homer. Unlike the last two sporting events, and almost unbelievably, this game had only been going on for an hour at that point. It was like everyone had a plane to catch.
In the sixth, the Storm Chasers added another home run to make it 4-0. Their pitcher was just up from High-A. By this point, the Chihuahuas’ batters had seen him a couple of times and started to tee off on him. Peter Van Gansen doubled in two runs. Franchy Cordero, down from the Padres, then hit a three-run homer. 5-4 Chihuahuas.
In the seventh, the Storm Chasers tied it at five. Rain started falling as a mist in the ninth. Tim Hagerty started getting nervous, mostly worried about the game getting rained out. There was crackling on my radio, indicating lightning in the area. (This just about drove me nuts during the Rangers game, when it started pouring here earlier.) Of course we went to extras. It was that kind of day. In the eleventh, the Storm Chasers pushed across a run thanks to three walks in the inning. With rain coming down harder and most of the crowd departing, the Chihuahuas went down quietly in their half. 6-5 Storm Chasers final. I guess playing in that dumb dome in Tampa Bay does have its advantages.
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