Baseball 2017 Rewind Part 2

August

8-1-17--Ray’s pitcher, Chris Archer, and Astros’ mascot, Orbit, began hostilities with a declaration.  Tim Hagerty was looking forward to the team’s first meeting with the New Orleans Baby Cakes.

8-3-17--War broke out between Archer and Orbit with water balloons.  People get wet.  Meanwhile, Joey Gallo on the Rangers put a couple of batted balls in orbit.  Our first meeting between the Chihuahuas and the Baby Cakes was canceled for rain.  The question of which team with the worst name would win had to wait.  On the blog, I took a shot at Colin Kaepernick and did not receive a +1 on a blog entry for the first time in years.  

8-4-17--Yesterday’s rainout caused a late double-header to be played tonight between the Chihuahuas and the Baby Cakes.  Very late.  1:35 am CST to be precise.  Even with a pair of seven-inning games, the second one went into extras, increasing the agony. 

8-6-17--Another rainout forced another double-header between the Chihuahuas and the Baby Cakes.  The pups ended up losing both games to the worst team in the PCL.  This was where they hit bottom.

8-7-17--Former Chihuahuas’ teammates faced each other in the majors.  Patrick Kivelhan took Phil Maton deep for a grand slam.  The Chihuahuas themselves got a great win over the Grizzlies.  This was where they started their comeback.

8-8-17--The Fresno Tacos ran out an unknown pinch hitter in the ninth.  Who was this mysterious identified player?

8-11-17--“Folk hero” Cody Decker made his return to El Paso with the Las Vegas 51’s.  Even better, he brought his fiancée, Jenn Sterger, who acted as co-host on local sports talk that afternoon.

8-12-17--So much for weather forecasting in Arlington.  Unexpected rain delayed today’s Rangers game, but after honoring Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez on field.  The Chihuahuas had a great comeback win in the ninth.

8-14-17--Cody Decker was still the talk of the town, and I posted a link to the video where Jenn Sterger was on El Paso Sports Talk.  Tim Hagerty had a great conversation with a Chihuahuas’ super-fan during the game.

8-15-17--I took another shot at Kaepernick and the sports media and ceased to receive any more +1’s on my blog entries (or at least ones that registered on my end because I keep seeing where people have done it, but it doesn’t show on the blog stats).     

  

8-16-17—Here, I made the prediction that the Chihuahuas’ alternate identity next year will be the Chimichangas.  It was another big series with the Isotopes, this time for second place.

8-18-17--Tim Hagerty made a rare opinioned take on El Paso Sports Talk, saying he didn’t like a Tom Petty song.  With Petty’s death a couple months later, no doubt Tim, being such a nice person, feels terrible now.  The Chihuahuas took second place from the Isotopes.

8- 19-17--The Padres sent down Hunter Renfroe to the Chihuahuas today.  He would proceed to go crazy on Triple-A pitching for the rest of the season.  This was the Padres’ best move of the year.

8-21-17--Eclipse Day!  Tim Hagerty was in the path of totality, but missed it.

8-27-17--The Rangers were swept by the A’s, the worst team in the AL West.  They were now done for the season.

8-29-17—A 13-10 Chihuahuas win.  They were closing in on first, but after a second half freefall, the Bees were matching the pups, win-for-win.

8-30-17--Tim Hagerty was joined by a sponsor in the booth and a huge Chihuahuas fan.  After 14 hard innings, the Chihuahuas refused to lose.

8-31-17--The Chihuahuas finally took first place.

September

9-2-17--The Stadium Network debuted locally here.

9-3-17--The Chihuahuas clinched the division.  Tim Hagerty had the day off before the day before, so they had to wait for him to get back.  They were 8 games out halfway through the season with no more games scheduled against the leader.

9-4-17--The Chihuahuas lost the last game of the season in completely horrific fashion.  I’m still not over the shock.  Thankfully, it didn’t matter and didn’t carry over into the playoffs.

9-8-17--The Chihuahuas moved on to the PCL Championship series.

9-14-17--Delayed by weather, Game 2 of the PCL Championship series was a day game.  It was an improbable 0-0 in the eleventh, before the Memphis Redbirds won it on a solo home run.

9-15-17--The Cleveland Indians 22-game winning streak came to an end.  The Dodgers, whom SI jinxed by calling “The best team ever,” also had an incredible losing streak during this time.  Not baseball-related, but I loved the Boise State/Minnesota volleyball game that night.

9-17-17--The PCL Championship came down to a decisive Game 5.  The Chihuahuas lost, but it was an awesome season.

9-26-17--I’m done with the NFL.  Long live baseball!

9-30-17--Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants pitched his last game and retired.