8-14-17
The pre-game for tonight’s Chihuahuas/51’s finale was pretty interesting. Steve Kaplowitz mentioned that on Saturday he was able to hang out with Cody Decker before the game. During, he sat with Cody’s mom and with his finance’ Jenn Sterger. (Today, I got to see the video of her sitting in with Kappy on Friday. Yikes! Now we all want to be Cody Decker.) Tim Hagerty (and I’m disappointed he didn’t get Jenn with him in the booth to call a couple of innings) said the Chihuahuas had given Cody a Diablos t-shirt. Cody admitted he was embarrassed by the ovation he got for his first at bat in town. As a visiting player, he didn’t know what to do in such a situation. It’d never happened to him before. I admit this is a lot of adulation for a guy who doesn’t play for the home team, but what can you do, he’s iconic.
Oh, I talked to my co-workers who went to the game on Saturday. They all had a good time. My boss did leave the game early and found out about the exciting end she missed later. “Why did leave early? Didn’t you did know there was going to be fireworks afterward?” I think she blamed her boyfriend for wanting to beat the traffic. Those who wisely stayed, thought the game was boring until that ninth inning, which made up for everything (which was also how I felt). One lady was very impressed with the fireworks show. “It was better than the Fourth of July.” If you’re sitting in the outfield, however, you will be somewhat frighteningly close to where they’re being shot off from.
For tonight’s game, Chase d’Arnaud got the scoring started by tripling in a run in the first. The Chihuahuas would take a 2-0 lead. This would not be the end of the scoring. The 51’s tied it in the second. Cody Decker doubled in one of the runs. Rafael Ortega slammed into the wall, going after a liner. He was shaken up, but stayed in to a round of applause from the crowd. In the bottom, the Chihuahuas scored three for a 5-2 lead. A couple of fans were really letting the opposing pitcher have it, commenting on the size of his posterior.
In the third, Tim was joined by Ponchy Herrera (maybe I’m spelling that right). He’s a season ticket holder that was invited up to the booth as part of fanfest earlier. I doubt they could have picked a bigger pups’ fan. His team knowledge may well have rivaled Tim’s, no small feat. He remembered the first Chihuahua to get a hit from listening to the first radio broadcast. He was at the first game at the new park. The bathrooms weren’t finished at the time. After that game, Ponchy said everyone was so happy, nobody wanted to leave. They finally had to push everyone out.
Ponchy’s a big Astros’ fan. He attended the Triple-A Championship game that was hosted in El Paso and got to see their affiliate, the Grizzlies, win. After the game, the players tossed some of their gear to the Astros’ fans there, including him. With his seat along the first base line, Ponchy has gotten to chat with several visiting players, including Cody Decker. He even got to talk to Tim Lincecum during a rain delay. He said Tim was a really nice guy and tossed balls to the fans. This is really good to hear, since I like Timmy. Ponchy also did what all of the fans listening wanted to do and that was thank Tim Hagerty for his wonderful radio call of the games.
Much like the Cody Decker coverage, it may seem excessive to talk this much about a guy that’s just a fan, but it was a fascinating and joyful half inning of listening. Unfortunately the downside of the top of the third was that the 51’s scored three to tie the score at five. In the bottom, Chihuahuas’ pitcher, Dillon Overton, drove in two runs. It was just that kind of game, where even the pitchers were going to get their knocks. 7-5 pups. In the fourth, I stepped away to do some work. When I came back, the Chihuahuas had scored two more, 9-5. In the fifth, no runs scored. Not one for the entire inning.
In the sixth, the Chihuahuas tacked on another run for a 10-5 lead. The 51’s led off the inning with a home run. A bunch of little kid’s boo’d the heck of it. Cody then got his third hit of the game. With two on and nobody out, the Chihuahuas managed to limit the damage to one run, 10-7. Franchy Cordero got his fifteenth triple of season in the eighth. I like that. Triples usually show off hustle by the player. The ninth got hairy. The 51’s loaded the bases with one out and Cody Decker at the plate. The crowd really started getting into it here. Cody struck out and immediately started arguing with the ump. (I’m sure Jenn was yelling at him too.) The last out was a grounder to the pitcher. Whew. 10-7 Chihuahuas final.
In MLB news (that interests me), I read on a Giants’ fansite that Pablo Sandoval was back on the team. The superfan writer of the piece was deeply ambiguous about this development. At least he can’t hurt the team at this point. The Panda’s message to the fans about his return said that his poor performance with the Red Sox was because he’d “left his heart in San Francisco.” I’ll just let that lie there without further comment.
The MLB free game was the Phillies and the Padres. Please don’t spoil us with these critical, late-season matchups. Of course, I wanted to see my former Chihuahuas playing in the bigs, but I was pretty busy for most of the game. It was 2-2 in the top of the sixth went I turned it on, but I missed all the excitement in the bottom, went the Padres scored four. I did see the ninth. Brad Hand came in for the save. The mission bell rang every time he got an out. With the final out, the announcer shouted, “Talk to the Hand!” 7-4 Padres.
8-15-17
Beautiful rainbows sparkled over Southwest University Park Tuesday night after a short rain shower. I’m sure it was lovely. Thankfully, there was only a half hour delay in starting the game. Not so thankfully, KROD went back to ESPN Radio programming. There, the hosts were haranguing that Ezekiel Elliott’s punishment by the NFL was mild. He wasn’t actually charged with a crime, but the NFL is a private company and can set their own standards of behavior. Meanwhile, they ran promos for another show that was demanding that an NFL team must hire Colin Kaepernick. Well. Even though he didn’t commit a crime, the NFL is a private company that can set their own standards of behavior. So there.
Sports Illustrated has hit this story from every angle. Three months ago, they preemptively called the NFL owners “racist,” because Kaepernick didn’t have a job then. Two months ago, they did an article on the Star Spangled Banner to explain how it’s just a song with some nebulous connection to sports. It was just a tradition to sing it before sporting events and not terribly important. A couple of days ago, they did an online piece carefully explaining how not standing for the anthem is not a sign of disrespect to the country, especially not the armed forces. I’ve heard a suggestion elsewhere that sporting events should just do away with this whole anthem thing to avoid any further controversy. This is a great exercise in social justice: socialists fighting for a dilettante activist millionaire to make more millions. With a cause so righteous, how can it not succeed?
Earlier in the evening, I spoke to another co-worker, who’d gone to the Saturday night Chihuahuas’ game. He’d left early too! They were only down three runs! Chuck knew better. He went back on Monday and got the Hunter Renfroe bobblehead. He already had the Austin Hedges one. Getting them did require him to show up at the ballpark a couple of hours early.
Anyway, this game started a really important series between the Chihuahuas and the Isotopes, the teams in third and second place in the standings, separated by just a couple of games. That said, I didn’t get into the game initially. The half hour delay got me off on the wrong foot. I found myself watching some new Media Day player interviews of the NM State Aggie volleyball team. I’m looking forward to seeing the girls this weekend.
The Chihuahuas scored three runs, one at a time, over the first four innings. In the sixth, the Isotopes scored and put two more on, with one out. Chris Huffman came out and Jason Jester came in. Rocky Gale caught one runner stealing and Jester struck out the batter to end the inning, 3-1 Chihuahuas. In the seventh, Ryan Howard entered the game for the Isotopes as a pinch hitter. That must have been impressive to see a former NL MVP playing in person at the ballpark. This time, he just moved a runner over, who scored off a single from the next batter, 3-2. In the bottom, Travis Jankowski got his third hit of the game, but was picked off with a good move by Nelson Gonzalez.
Bottom of the eighth, Ryan Schimpf homered on a 3-0 count, 4-2. Jabari Blash got picked off first to end the inning by the same pitcher from the last inning. That guy must have a heck of a move. Kevin Quakenbush came in in the eighth and finished out the ninth as well for the save and the 4-2 win. That’s his second save in two days.
No comments:
Post a Comment