7-26-17
I didn’t properly process this news yesterday when I first heard it. There was a run-scoring triple-play in the Yankee’s game versus the Reds. It took me a while to realize that a run shouldn’t score on a triple-play, but it happened. No RBI though for Todd Frazier in his first Yankee at bat.
Also to close a loop from yesterday, I got a survey from the MLB about the Rockies/Cardinals game. Apparently they had taken out some commercials and replaced them with unobtrusive logo ads in game. Apparently too unobtrusive, I didn’t notice them. I fear this experiment may be a one-time thing. It’s not so much time of game, as it is pace of play. I know that seems like the same thing, but it isn’t. I’ll take fewer commercials though.
What sounded like an opera singer did the National Anthem before the Chihuahuas/ICubs game. Very classy. Just bring her back every night. I missed the Cubs’ first inning run while a cleaning person was vacuuming next to me. That’s what I get for working late. A bit later, I cringed as I heard released Tyrell Jenkins still in the player bumper rotation.
Even against an early lead, the Chihuahuas would come back and pour it on. Nick Buss had a homer in the fourth. Later, Diego Goris, off the disabled list, doubled in Ryan Schimpf and advanced to third on an error, which tied the game at three. The pups loaded the bases in the fifth, but only managed one run on a sacrifice. In the seventh, Buss had a Fielder’s Choice RBI and Schimpf drove in two with a double to make the score 7-3. The ninth got messy. Carter Capps loaded the bases and allowed three runs, before getting an out. The Chihuahuas managed to squeak out a 7-6 win.
The big baseball news of the night was the Rangers versus Marlins game. First, the score was 22-10 Marlins. That would get anybody’s attention. Second, Yu Darvish started the game and gave up 10 of those runs. Given the trade rumors, this was a cataclysmic performance for Darvish right before the trade deadline. The first post on a Rangers’ fansite read, “So sad. Darvish’s last start for the Rangers.” The reply right under that, from a couple hours later, read “Maybe a little less than you thought.” Among other comments were, “Pull him now while he still has trade value,” and “Maybe no one’s watching.” The fans did reportedly applaud Yu as he left the field.
In fairness, none of the other relievers obviously did any better against the Marlins’ offense tonight, including a position player in the ninth. Giancarlo Stanton apparently had some feud going with a Rangers’ reliever Jason Grilli. Stanton had thought that he’d shown him up after a strikeout last night, and so Stanton did the same after a home run off him. There’s going to be retaliation someday.
And none of this was even the biggest event from the game. (And I’m sure Darvish was happy to have some of the spotlight off him.) Adrian Beltre was three for three in the game, four away from #3,000. Late in the game, the people still left in the stands were sticking around just to see his last at bat. While Beltre was doing his usual photo-bombing off the on-deck circle, the ump took offense and demanded he stand next to the circle. Beltre grabbed the mat and pulled it over to where he was standing.
This, of course, resulted in an immediate ejection (and the manager’s shortly after). Beltre maintained he’d been hit in the circle a couple of times and that’s why he didn’t stand next to it. At last, an explanation. The ump had to run Beltre after moving the circle, but the question is: Why was this an issue late in the game, as opposed to earlier in the game or any other game Beltre has been in in his long career? I doubt the ump is going to have a good answer for that.
There was a late game on the MLB Network. I tuned in, hoping for the Padres game, so I could see some ex-Chihuahuas. Unfortunately, it was the Dodgers and Twins. I wouldn’t have watched two teams I don’t like normally, but it was an interesting game. The Dodgers came back from 5-0 and won, 6-5, on a walk-off hit in the ninth by Justin Turner. Up on the giant video screens afterward, the shaggy Muppet, Animal, came on and started shouting, “Justin Turner! Justin Turner!” I hadn’t noticed before, but there is a remarkable resemblance between the two. (Mike confirmed, from his trip to Dodger Stadium that they ran that video for him when he was there.)
7-27-17
For tonight’s game between the Chihuahuas and the ICubs, Tim Hagerty was pretty chatty talking about baseball, which is a very good thing. He even explained the “Three true outcomes” of the Sabermetricians early in the game, which everyone’s been talking about this season. Okay, now that I’ve finally heard this, I’m calling BS. It’s just like the WAR stat. It’s pure crap. Neither measures anything of value.
WAR uses a somewhat arbitrary value as part of its equation. Its only purpose is to somehow prove that Mike Trout is the greatest baseball player ever. Walks, strikeouts, and home runs are somehow the only outcomes that just measure the batter without the fielders or random chance interfering. How about the umps’ strikezone? Once we go to an electronic strike zone, you might have a better argument. Not a good one, but a better one, because I’ve got more bullets to shoot at this nonsense.
Boy, was I busy working tonight. I really had trouble had trouble keeping up with the game, but it was pretty interesting when I did. In the third, the pups loaded the bases. The ICubs pitcher had to come out for injury. The Chihuahuas got a run in on a bad pickoff throw to first and lead 3-1. The score was tied in the seventh by the ICubs. The lead run was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice, but an error later in the inning gave Iowa the lead.
Then the radio call went out, apparently for everybody. Tim came back and had to describe what would have been an awesome play to have heard live. An ICubs runner at third tried to steal home. The catcher missed the tag, but the runner missed the plate, and was then tagged out. In the eighth at 6-5 ICubs, Nick Buss tripled with one out, but was stranded.
In the bottom of the ninth, Tim suddenly got excited. Though the Chihuahuas were down to their last out, a PCL record was about to be tied. And with the final out, a strikeout, the ICubs had gotten 20 strikeouts in the game. Tim was a bit embarrassed for not calling attention to it earlier, but he said this snuck up on everybody, because the Chihuahuas had struck out 9 times in the last three innings of the game. Before that, it had been a fairly normal strikeout total. Three true outcomes? Tonight, it was more like one true outcome.
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