The radio coverage started just as Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez finished his speech in Arlington. The Rangers were retiring his number tonight. There was a short interview with him afterward. Pudge was clearly overwhelmed. So, tonight’s rivalry game between the Rangers and Astros was delayed a bit. Eric Nadel mentioned that there was a light rain falling on the sold out crowd, but the radar and forecast agreed that there wasn’t any chance of heavy rain. One inning in, Matt Hicks reported on hearing “The sound of 48,000 people fleeing for cover,” as the rain came down. Eric was still sure it would be a quick shower. Unfortunately, I lost the station shortly thereafter, and the Rangers’ nighttime station was carrying the Cowboys' pre-season game. I found out the next day that the Rangers won, but no further details.
In El Paso, my co-workers were among the 9,000+ fans in attendance for tonight’s game between the Chihuahuas and the 51’s. I declined to go for a variety of reasons. The good news for everybody is that the rain in our forecast never materialized so we could all enjoy the game. Proceedings started off with a father and son (though it sounded like more people) harmonizing through an excellent rendition of the anthem.
In the second, Cody Decker came up and hit a single. I don’t think he’s getting cheered as he comes up, but I’m sure everybody still likes him as a person. Jordan Lyles was making his second start for the Chihuahuas, and he’s still a bit shaky. He loaded the bases with two out and gave up a two-run single, 2-0 51’s. The Chihuahuas loaded the bases in the bottom, but Lyles struck out to end the inning. The pups had their best defensive play in the fourth. A runner on third tried to take home on a wild pitch, but was thrown out to end the inning.
The El Paso PA sang a country song between halves in the fifth. Tim Hagerty stopped his intro to let the radio audience hear him. I think the PA was promoting a country/western concert coming to the park after the season. The 51’s loaded the bases again in the sixth and came up with a run before a strikeout ended the inning, 3-0. The Chihuahuas had been so listless to this point that I was sorry that the Rockies game was over and I couldn’t get the Rangers game. In the eighth, the crowd finally got a reason to cheer. Franchy Cordero tripled in a run as the fielder fell down trying to catch his fly ball. Ricky Knapp, pitching for the 51’s, finally came out after 7 2/3 great innings of work, 3-1.
The ninth led off with pinch hitting Ryan Schimpf hitting a home run to bring the score to 3-2. The crowd literally roared. Diego Goris then singled. Then there was a strikeout of Rocky Gale. Jabari Blash then came in as a pinch hitter and also struck out. Nick Buss, who’d come in as a pinch hitter the last inning, singled. Goris fell down at second and stayed there. Travis Jankowski then came up as a pinch hitter. He grounded to second base, who fumbled it. Goris charged home and touched the plate before being the tagged. Tie game! Tim and the crowd exploded. With fireworks afterward, the capacity crowd was all still there. Chase d’Arnaud walked to load the bases. With two out, Franchy hit a single up the middle for a 4-3 win! Shoot off those fireworks!
I will say that the ninth more than made up for the rest of the game. I think Albuquerque dropped a double header and Salt Lake was losing late [edit: they came back and won, down to their last strike], so this was a great day for the Chihuahuas to win. That said, why were so many of the team’s best hitters on the bench for this game? Thank goodness they were used in the end, but I’d think they would done better if they’d been on the field for the whole game.
8-13-17
Eric Nadel was not broadcasting today’s Ranger game. Matt Hicks and Jared Sandler had it covered. Dallas Keuchel was on the mound for the Astros, Andrew Cashner for the Rangers. The Rangers managed their first threat on Keuchel in the third by getting two on, but neither scored. Right after in the fourth, Jose Altuve belted a solo home run, 1-0 Astros. In the bottom, Adrian Beltre got caught in a rundown trying to take second on a single, I think. The coverage back late to the game from commercial, I’m not sure I even heard the end of the inning. I’m not sure if it was me not paying attention or them.
The top of the fifth was eventful. After a hit batter, a warning was issued by the umps, prompting both managers to come out and argue (with different umpires). Jeff Bannister was tossed for whatever he said. AJ Hinch was not. Bannister made a mock motion to toss out the ump as he left the field. Next, Elvis Andrus dropped a liner on purpose to get a force out of a faster runner in favor of putting on a slower one. Then, Matt made an emphatic call as Delino Deshields laid out to catch a liner. Carlos Beltran, on base during the play, had apparently made it safely back to first. However, he’d passed second watching the play, and not retouched it on the way back. He was ruled out on appeal for the third out. Matt and Jared, while still admiring Delino’s play, were completely confused and had to figure things out in the next inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Keuchel got two outs, but then loaded the bases. He managed to end it on a strikeout. The Rangers finally got on the board in the sixth with an Adrian Beltre opposite field homer. “Right over the Jimmy Johns’ sign, and it went out ‘Freaky fast!’” exclaimed Matt Hicks. The score was now tied, and Jared Sandler rolled his eyes at the call.
In the seventh, the Astros scored, making it 2-1. In the bottom, Delino got on, stole second, and took third on a bad throw by the catcher, but he was left stranded. In the eighth, Astro’s closer, Ken Giles, was brought in with two on and one out. He got a double play on one pitch to Joey Gallo. Matt questioned the use of the sacrifice bunt before the Gallo at bat, since the tying run was already in scoring position. So did I. Giles got the save in the ninth, 2-1 Astros final. The Astros broke their longest losing streak of the year at five.
KROD was broadcasting ESPN’s baseball pre-game before putting on the Chihuahuas versus the 51’s. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that until tuning over just before the game started. Given what I had been listening to after the Rangers’ game, I wish I’d known. Anyway, it was Bark at the Park day at Southwest University Park. The Chihuahuas were again wearing their famous special dog face jerseys. There was even a wiener dog race during the game.
Tim Hagerty was still buzzing about last night’s game. He said that was the loudest he’d heard the crowd at the park this year. Things started well. After Chase d’Arnaud got hit on the dog face and let out a grunt loud enough to get picked up by the mics. Franchy Cordero then hit a three-run homer over the centerfield fence, 3-0.
Cody Decker got some love from the crowd in his first at bat in the second. In an interview with the media, he mentioned that his favorite moment in the park was the last home game of the first season. The manager asked the players to tip their hats to the crowd after the game. The crowd went wild. Manager Pat Murphy told him, “Think how these people would react if we were going to the playoffs.”
In the third, Tim talked with a Kid’s Club member. Unfortunately, the four-year old wasn’t terribly cogent. At one point, Tim noticed someone was on first and asked the kid how he got on. Tim wasn’t sure, he’d spent too much time trying to talk to the kid. In the bottom, the pups scored on slow rolling infield hit, 4-0.
The fourth didn’t go well. The 51’s got runners at second and third via two errors by d’Arnoud. Both of them scored on a double. Another run scored on another double. Decker scored on another hit, but the trail runner was thrown out at the plate on by Jabari Blash, 4-4. In the fifth, the 51’s scored twice and scored again in the ninth. The Chihuahuas had no answer tonight. Again, a couple of the team’s better hitters only came up as pinch hitters in the ninth. 7-4 51’s. Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, the last reported score was 22-1 Isotopes. Tim mentioned Ryan Howard was playing for them. That will be cool to see later in the week.
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