Baseball Journal May 5-8, 2018

5-5-18

After Aggie Baseball in the afternoon, I came home and started listening to the Chihuahuas playing the Isotopes.  In the fourth, Franmil Reyes hit another home run.  If it seems like I’ve been writing that sentence a lot, it’s because that was his seventh in four games!  Tim Hagerty was pretty sure that’s tied a professional record. 

Unfortunately, the radio signal dropped soon after.  While I would have liked to have heard the rest of Franmil’s at bats, I turned over my Rangers night time station.  It was 5-5 after 7 and a half versus the Red Sox.  In the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers had runners at first and third with nobody out.  Bad reception.  Now, bases loaded with two out.  Bad reception.  Jurickson Profar struck out.  No runs scored.

I switched rooms and got better reception, slightly.  The Red Sox got a triple and a sac fly to take the lead.  The Rangers went down in the ninth.  The Red Sox won 6-5.  Joey Gallo had two home runs in the loss, including a tape measure shot.  I flipped back to the Chihuahuas’ game, but it had just ended with the Isotopes winning 4-1.

Since I didn’t see an MLB game on a Mexican station in the morning, I’d hoped that maybe they were carrying the Dodgers/Padres game, since the series was taking place in Mexico.  It wasn’t on anywhere, so it probably wasn’t on.  However, baseball was not over for the night for me.  There was a Mexican League game on.  It was the Tijuana Toros versus the Saltillo (?).  The Toros actually have a “TJ” logo on their hat, which is odd, because that’s what Americans living near Tijuana call it.  

They have a nice stadium there in Tijuana.  Some luxury seats were behind home plate.  There was a big video board in the outfield and a large crowd there.  A ballpark reporter sampled some ballpark food on camera.  There were some other more interesting features.  It was hard to notice the constant music between every pitch.  Actually, they’d pause the music when the pitcher actually pitched and start it again right after. 

There was an ump-cam behind the plate.  There was a guy in a chimp suit with a straw hat dancing on the foul lines.  (The two other costumed mascots didn’t get as much air time.)  There were male dancers in the crowd, who got money stuffed into their pants.  There were cheerleaders.  Finally, there was a midget bat boy.  But just like the majors, they had instant replay reviews.  I don’t know where the home office is that does their reviews.  TJ won the game 7-1, if you needed to know.    

Oh, and for Cinco de Mayo, the main boxing match of the night featured Triple-G versus not-Canelo.  I ran into it in the first round and proceeded to flip around the stations to see if anything better was on.  Not finding anything, I went back and they were already replaying the knockout.  G used this guy as a speedbag.  I was counting and I think he hit him in the head 10 times in 10 seconds.  This is what you get when you cancel the scheduled fight and then pull somebody out of the crowd as the opponent.    

5-6-18

After I got home from today’s Aggie Baseball game, I flipped on the radio to listen to the Chihuahuas playing the Isotopes.  I’d missed most of a wild one.  It was 12-10 pups in the seventh.  They’d trailed 8-2 at one point in the game.  Both teams had a grand slam, and Franmil Reyes had hit another home run.  That’s eight for him in five games!  Regrettably, the Isotopes’ grand slam came in the seventh and they won 14-12.

After this game, the station went directly into the ESPN Sunday night game pregame.  It was the Cardinals versus the Cubs tonight.  Yadier Molina was out for a month for the Cards after a very hard shot to the groin.  Nolan Fox mentioned this during the Aggie game, as Adam Young is a Cardinals fan.  More pressing to everyone was the weather with storms in the St. Louis area.

The first rain delay happened in the bottom of the first.  By the time the second one happened, the radio station had powered down for the night and I was getting poor reception.  I watched a movie, but came back to the game, which was still going late.  The worst thing for the fans there or watching was that the game was tied and went to extra innings.  I thought I was over extra innings games after running into several last month.

In the fourteenth inning, Javier Baez homered to give the Cubs a 3-2 lead.  In the bottom, Harrison Bader got on via an infield single with two out.  Dexter Fowler came up next, and with two strikes, hit a walkoff homer.  There was a delay on the call for some reason, but it stood.  4-3 Cardinals final.  The game finished about midnight my time, so it went about six hours.

     

5-7-18

It was another Kids Day day game for the Chihuahuas, but this one was in Albuquerque against the Isotopes.  The big story today was “Is Franmil Reyes going to hit another home run?”  In the second inning, the Isotopes had an inside-the-park home run.  Tim Hagerty gave a very enthusiastic call of the play.  Dusty Coleman was making his first ever start in centerfield.  The hill in the outfield came into play.  I don’t think he misplayed it, but it is a difficult outfield to make your first start in.

The Isotopes had another homer in the inning to make 8-1.  In the fifth, Dusty made a diving catch, and in the sixth, he hit a three-run homer to make it 9-6.  In the ninth, Franmil drove in a run.  It was his second hit of the day, so he kept a multi-hit hitting streak going.  The Isotopes won 11-7.  Tim had an interesting story about Nolan Arenado’s cousin and brother both being in professional baseball.  They all got together and played a wiffle-ball game live on Periscope.  A UPS driver stopped to watch, and they brought him into the game too.

At work later, I put on the MLB.TV free game.  It was the Giants and the Phillies playing.  The Giants seem to be getting on the free game a bunch this season.  They were already losing when I tuned in.  It just kept getting worse.  In the fifth, Gorkys Hernandez jumped at the wall for a home run ball.  He had it in his mitt but lost it.  8-0 Phillies at that point.  After, Gorkys laid flat on his back on the warning track, covering his face.  We all know that feeling.  11-0 Phillies was the final. 

5-8-18

I’m here at work and about to go on vacation tomorrow.  I’ll be at the WAC Softball Tournament, likely burning alive in 100 degree heat.  When I get back, I’ll have plenty to post from the hospital.  Checking out the team’s Twitter for the latest tournament news, what do you know?  At the banquet tonight, Kelsey Horton won her second Player of the Year award.  I’m sure this surprised exactly nobody.  When she won last year, I think she was a bit gimpy walking.  Now, she seems good and healthy.  All you girls on the other teams, sleep well tonight.    

For now, tonight’s MLB.TV free game was the Brewers and Indians in Milwaukee.  The roof was open and it looked lovely there, mostly because Front Row Amy was gracing us with her presence.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get Bob Uecker’s commentary.  My co-worker is still convinced he’s deceased and I wasn’t able to prove him wrong.

The Brewers were in their semi-throwbacks.  They’ve got the awesome “MB” logo and the yellow trim, but using their current blue color and Milwaukee script.  I got to see the first inning, where Travis Shaw demonstrated that he still owns Corey Kluber by hitting a homer off him.  There goes Bernie Sanders down the slide . . . wait, no . . . that’s Bernie Brewer.  I’m sure I’m not the first-est person to make that mistake.

Let’s pick it back up in the eighth, when I was able to rejoin the stream.  The Brewers were up 3-2 with two out and the bases loaded.  Manny Pina came up for a 15-pitch at bat.  The fans started loving it the longer it kept going.  People were laughing.  Front Row Amy was clapping.  Pitch #14 was fouled off and Edwin Encarnacion clanked on it.  It didn’t hurt though as Pina struck out looking on the next pitch.  The Brewers won anyway 3-2.

The Chihuahuas were playing the Rainiers in El Paso tonight.  The main attraction was Jayson Werth playing for Tacoma in all his mountain man glory.  In the pregame, Steve Kaplowitz was actually at the ballpark.  I missed his interview with hitting machine, Franmil Reyes.  I heard his at bat in the third.  He just missed another home run, but doubled off the outfield wall.  That was his second hit of the game, adding to his multi-hit hitting streak. 

I picked up the game again in the fifth when a complicated play gave Tacoma the lead.  In the sixth, Tim Hagerty had resorted to the rule book to try and explain the scoring.  It involved a force out, an error, and two runs scoring.  In the seventh, Brett Nicholas tied the game at 6 for the pups with a homer.  Unfortunately in the ninth, the Rainiers pushed across four runs and won 10-6.