9-1-17
Waiting for the late Chihuahuas/Rivercats
game in Sacramento, I checked out the MLB free game, which was the Royals and the Twins in Minneapolis. I
stuck with the hometown feed, which actually talked a lot about the
Royals. They had just broken a 45-inning
scoreless streak, which nearly tired a record.
That is an epic cold snap on offense.
There was also talk about what impending free-agent players, if any,
they’d keep at the end of the season. Now
that they’re out of contention, I’m surprised they didn’t trade some guys off,
like the Tigers just did (Justin
Verlander to the Astros, Justin Upton to the Angels, who also picked up Brandon Phillips). No offensive problems today, as the Royals
won 7-6. Actually, their problems were
with their relievers, who loaded the bases in the ninth and almost lost it.
I wasn’t having a good day at work and had trouble paying
attention to anything. (Aggie Volleyball was also on TV.) There
wasn’t a lot to report on in the Chihuahuas’ game until late. Nick
Buss tripled in a run in the third.
The Rivercats homered in the fifth.
It was 2-1 Rivercats in the eighth when Buss again tied it on a
fielder’s choice. In the bottom, Franchy Cordero missed a diving catch,
but came up throwing to third and got the tag on a runner, who had initially thought
that he’d caught the ball and was running off the field. The game went to the tenth and the Rivercats
doubled in the winning run on a play at the plate. 3-2 Rivercats final. There was a big, loud crowd there waiting for
fireworks, who were happy about the outcome.
The Bees also lost, so no
change in the standings with the Chihuahuas on top. Peripherally, the Chihuahuas have a secured a
winning season regardless.
9-2-17
Right after I got back home from the volleyball match,
I tuned right into the Chihuahuas/Rivercats
game. “That’s not Tim,” I immediately
said after listening to the coverage.
The voice was familiar sounding, but it wasn’t Tim Hagerty. I kept
listening for several innings before the broadcaster identified himself (with
poor reception, I didn’t catch it) and said what happened to Tim. He was out for an “important” event. Child birth?
(Doesn’t he already have two little kids? Tim’s been getting busy during the home
stands.) In any case, I had an anxious
hour wondering where he was.
The score of the game was less dramatic; the Chihuahuas were
up 7-0 in the fifth. I’d obviously
missed most of the excitement. A
shattered bat flying into the field during Chihuahuas’ pitcher, Dillon Overton’s at bat was the main
action I heard initially. But then there
was the big announcement of the night around the seventh inning; Salt Lake City had lost their
game. With two games left in the season
and an impending one game lead and the tiebreaker, the pups are looking
good. In the eighth, the Rivercats
loaded the bases, but didn’t score. 8-1
Chihuahuas was the final. The Sacramento
PA played the intro from For What It’s
Worth by Buffalo Springfield
(you’d recognize it immediately) during a pause. That actually worked pretty good. Other ballparks might consider it.
Meanwhile on television earlier in the day, I’d discovered a
new digital channel had sprung up; Stadium. So far I’ve seen a couple of NASCAR ARCA races and rebroadcasts of
some college basketball games from last season.
There used to be another over-the-air digital sports network. They’d show off road racing, rugby,
Australian Rules football, and there was pro softball show I liked (and an
off-topic video game review show). I’ll
keep an eye on this.
Flipping around during the Chihuahuas’ game, I stumbled on a
baseball game on a Juarez station. It
was the Juarez Indians versus the Parral Miners for the Independent League
State Championship as near as my limited Spanish could discern. I don’t think this is part of the Mexican
League, whose All-Star Game and Home Run Derby I’d watched in June (I think was
part of the Mexican League anyway). US
Minor League baseball actually lists Mexican League scores on their website and
classifies them as a Triple-A equivalent (maybe, Japanese baseball is also
thought to be at that level). The
quality of play in tonight’s game did not seem to be at that level, so it was probably
was a lower level.
Regardless, the game was some sort of championship and the
people of Juarez showed up. Their
ballpark has a large grandstand and there were a bunch of people there. Southwest University Park probably couldn’t
accommodate all the people. The Sun Bowl
might have been necessary for this crowd.
Even though the game ran late into the night, they stuck around. (Pace of play in any Mexican baseball I’ve
seen hasn’t been an issue. They’ve all
dragged on terribly. Their fans are okay
with it.)
I came in very late.
The Miners were up 4-3 in the eighth.
They loaded the bases in the ninth.
I think they attempted a suicide squeeze. The batter missed and the catcher got the guy
at third in a rundown. Unfortunately,
that was only a temporary reprieve. The
Miners scored three for a 7-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. The Indians got on a couple of runners on when
a batter came up and hit a three-run home run to left center. The next batter got another home run to tie
it at 7. (Yes, there was lots of bat
flipping.) The crowd went crazy.
In the tenth, the Miners came back with a run, 8-7. In the bottom, the Indians tied it
again. A runner on second ran home on a
shallow single to center. He just made
it in past the tag. There was an
intention walk to the next batter. They
actually had to throw the pitches. The
next batter bunted. The Miners threw to
third, but didn’t get the out, bases loaded.
At this point, there was a 10-minute delay as the Miners argued. I think their catcher was ejected, but their
manager might not have been. The police
were sent into the crowd behind their dugout and some fans were taken away I
think. Back to the action, the winning run
scored on a bobbled fielder’s choice to the drawn in infield. 9-8 the Juarez Indians won some sort of
championship. Everybody celebrated. One of the party girls from Chic Music
interviewed a player on field. The
players even hugged the mascot.
Two live volleyball matches, Chihuahuas’ baseball, a Mexican
baseball game, and a new sports network.
What a day in sports for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment