Baseball Journal July 16-17, 2018

7-16-18 Home Run Derby

Okay, no Giancarlo Stanton, no Aaron Judge, no Mike Trout, no Chris Berman, but we’re still doing this.  Well, at least the commentary was as inane as ever.  The crowd there in Washington DC really came out anyway.  It was basically a full-house for the event.  I wasn’t able to watch all of it, but wandered into the break room as much as possible until I could sit down for diner.  To my surprise, the Derby was also being shown on the MLB.com website.  I would think ESPN would be upset with that.  (It’s too much to hope for that the All-Star Game will also be on over the Internet.)

I don’t know how they choose the batters for the competition.  I’m thinking whoever draws the short straw.  I think the players love the spotlight and adulation, but hate the actual event.  They’re convinced it messes up their swing for the rest of the season.  It’s hard to say.  At least it’s a good excuse for not performing well after the break.  The current timed head-to-head format is much more friendly to TV viewing, but a lot more pressure-packed for the players and does preclude another Josh Hamilton-like moment happening. 

Alex Bregman was the only American League participant.  I got to watch his turn.  He seemed to have the crowd behind him as he tried to tie Kyle Schwarber’s score.  Unfortunately, he came up just short.  I made sure to watch Bryce Harper’s turn at bat.  He said beforehand that he was only going to the event if he was voted on the All-Star team.  The whining campaign worked and here he was with stars and stripes on his sleeve, headband, and his bat.  (They should stars and stripes for the regular Nationals’ uniform.)  He advanced convincingly.

Rhys Hoskins from the Phillies got 20 on his second round turn, but Schwarber got 21 on a last second swing.  The final would be Schwarber versus Harper.  Fatigue would become a factor.  Schwarber hit 18.  Harper had 9 with one minute to go.  His dad pitching to him even seemed to have some problems getting it over the plate.  However, Harper put on a show for 60 seconds and tied it with nine runs on nine swings, and won it in his bonus time.  I have little doubt that Bryce is only playing in the Derby and the ASG in hopes to getting a bigger free agency contract, but I must say, he really came through for the hometown fans tonight.    

My co-worker Mike came back from vacation today.  He was at Dodger Stadium on the Fourth for fireworks, and he brought me back another cool Dodger Yearbook, like he did last year (7-4-17).  Before he left, I’d shown him the concessions menu at the stadium and he was excited for the trip.  I even showed him the Diamondbacks’ since him and his girlfriend would be staying over in Phoenix.  However, he ended up just having a Dodger Dog.  He didn’t even send me a picture of it.  Mike had a good time, but didn’t elaborate on the game or have any pictures, so, unfortunately, no remote game recap this year.      

Meanwhile in Albuquerque, the Chihuahuas were playing the Isotopes.  The game started with a short delay as it had rained before the game.  It may have been a good thing they weren’t playing here, since it rained a bunch in El Paso (but not here).  Mike did mention one thing about his trip.  At one point, it was 118 degrees there in Los Angeles.  They looked up the weather here in Las Cruces and it was 80.  (We were probably getting rained on.)  So much for a getaway from the heat. 

I’m not going to fake it.  I didn’t really start paying attention to the game until the sixth inning, after the Derby.  I noticed “The Lab” there has an interesting female PA.  Her voice was like something you’d hear an airport.  Tim Hagerty also mentioned the stadium has a live organist.  He seems to really like the facility.

The Chihuahuas had gone down a bit early, but come back to make it 4-2 in the sixth.  Kazuhisa Makita came on in the bottom with his 60mph breaking ball.  He had a shutdown inning.  In the seventh, Walter Lockett came in to pinch hit for him and worked a walk.  Lockett is a starting pitcher, but they like his bat too.  The Isotopes homered in the eighth to make it 4-3.  Shane Peterson, who’d hit a home run earlier, may have saved the game with a leaping catch at the wall to rob a sure double and RBI.

In the ninth, Auston Bousfield drove in Forrestt Allday.  He was ruled safe on a play at the plate.  The crowd reaction didn’t seem to back that up, but Tim assured us that it was the correct call.  Cory Spangenberg drove him in.  Bousfield would have been out at the plate, but the catcher clanked on catching the ball (though later, it was not ruled an error).  The Chihuahuas would win 6-3, breaking their losing streak.  Their starting pitcher tonight, Brett Kennedy, went to 8-0 on the season.

7-17-18 All-Star Game

Tonight was a night I definitely hated being at work with a game on.  Like Opening Day and the World Series, the All-Star Game is a baseball holiday.  I know that if I’d taken the night off, it would have been a lousy game.  I would have liked to have been able to watch the red carpet ceremony before the game that the MLB Network broadcasts.  But if I was home, I don’t get that channel, so I wouldn’t have been able to watch anyway.

The ceremonies and game started without me as I was busy working.  Aaron Judge homered in the first off NL starter Max Scherzer.  This would set the tone for the night.  In the second, Mike Trout homered off of Jacob DeGrom.  In the third, Willson Contreras homered to get the National League on the board, 2-1 AL.  I sense a pattern here.

As I finally got to sit down and watch in the fifth, Joe Buck reported that weather was on the way.  Oh, boy.  Yadier Molina came up to bat and gave Salvador Perez a hug at the plate.  He flew out deep to center, just missing a home run.  I wrote my Aunt Judy to see if she was watching her favorite player.  She missed him, watching the news. 

I was glad to see Trevor Story in the game in the sixth, though he made a bad play throwing to first.  Down in the AL dugout, Ken Rosenthal was asking Manny Machado what it was like to be on the verge of being traded.  That’s real reporting there.  Next, he asked Trout for a weather forecast.  Apparently, it’s a big hobby for him, and he was right about the weather.  And I couldn’t believe it, but I was getting poor reception on the cable.  I don’t know if it was from the source or the local cable company.

In the seventh, Christian Yelich lost a fly ball in the lights.  He looked like a Little Leaguer trying to avoid getting hit by the ball.  The pitcher threw up his arms and smiled as the ball dropped in front of Yelich.  There was a tantalizing glimpse of a catcher cam in the bullpen, but they broke away before a pitch was thrown.  The Army Chorus came out to do a powerful version of God Bless America for the stretch. 

During the break, there was a hysterical Geico commercial showing a play getting interrupted by Alexander Graham Bell receiving a couple of phone calls.  What cracked me up was the old fashion ringing from a wall-mounted phone and Bell answering with “Ahoy!  Ahoy!”  This was the original phone greeting before the word, “Hello,” was invented.  Before getting back to play, there was a spot showing some players expressing their love for the game Fortnite.

Francisco Lindor was mic’d up on the field to talk to the booth guys.  Certainly he’s got a great personality, but I have to question having the shortstop doing an in-game interview.  “I talk out here all the time.  I talk to my third baseman.  He ignores me.  I end up talking to myself.”  He made a comment on his pitcher, Charlie Morton’s curve ball, amazed to see it from behind the mound.  He even mentioned it to JT Realmuto when he made it to second.

Story came up and hit a homer to tie it at 2.  Buck made an offhand comment about the absurd height of the pressbox there in Washington like every announcer does.  Eugenio Suarez got hit on the thigh at the plate.  He made it over to second and Lindor went over to him and asked him where he got hit.  Lindor kissed his fingertips and pressed them against the spot, “Don’t cry.  It’ll be okay.  Be tough.”  He got the last out on an infield popup shouting, “I think I got it!”

For the eighth, Charlie Blackmon in the center was interviewed on the field.  They showed shots of him with and without the beard.  He was unrecognizable without it.  He said it was a bit of a superstition for him, since he’d grown it right when he was first called up.  They asked why he kept looking around between pitches.  Charlie said he was keeping himself entertained looking at the video board, the crowd, and the opposing bullpen.  (Actually, he’s probably looking at the flags to see where the wind was blowing and where the other two outfielders were positioned.)  There’s no one to talk to out there, “In the outfield, you got no friends.” 

Normally sure-handed Joey Votto missed catching a foul ball third out at the dugout railing.  Jean Segura made that costly with a three-run homer to make it 5-2.  Buck apologized to Charlie for the bad luck.  “If this next batter isn’t a double play, we’re done,” he said.

In the bottom of the eighth, Yelich homered to make it 5-3.  In the ninth, Scooter Gennett tied it on a two-run homer.  I seem to be typing the word, “homer,” a lot.  The tenth inning started without me while I was working.  I missed Alex Bregman homering to start the inning.  When I stepped came back in, George Springer had just done the same.  Ross Stripling, working his second inning, gave up four hits in a row.  Another run came in with a sacrifice.  Yes, that was the first and only, run of the game not brought in by a home run.

In the bottom of the tenth, I was on time watching, but FOX came back late from commercial and missed Votto hitting a leadoff home run.  However, that was it for the night as the AL won 8-6.  There were 10 home runs in the game.  I’m sure there’s some serious analysis that could be done on that stat.  Alex Bregman won the MVP.  Given the choice of vehicles, he said he had to pick the Camero.  His dad wanted the truck, but mom wanted the sportscar and he gave it to her.  She came running out on to the field after the interview.  What a great game!  And a bunch of idiot commentators didn’t even want to play the game because they didn’t think it could top Home Derby yesterday.       

I was listening to the Chihuahuas and Isotopes playing before I focused on the All-Star Game.  Tim Hagerty wasn’t complaining, but did say he was usually watching the game too.  MLB had moved the game at Washington DC’s request.  Usually, there’s no other baseball going on during the break. 

The game started off nervous for both teams.  In the first, Cory Spangenberg took second on some hustle and the ball getting away from a fielder.  He took third on a passed ball, and then scored on a wild pitch.  In the bottom, a runner got on via an error by Javy Guerra.  That runner scored when pitcher Jerry Keel threw the ball in to the stands trying to make a pickoff throw. 

Guerra broke the tie in the second with a home run.  In the third, Keel doubled for his first pro hit.  Auston Bousfield doubled him in and Luis Urias, finally back in the lineup, hit a two-run homer to make it 5-1.  In the fourth, backup catcher AJ Kennedy got his first home run to make it 6-1.  Keel walked in that inning, obviously they were pitching around him.  In the bottom, the Isotopes hit two doubles to score a run to make it 6-2.

I wasn’t listening by this time, but in the ninth the Chihuahuas added to the lead with a Spangenberg two-run homer.  Forrestt Allday hit a single in the inning.  Out of nine hits in the game, that was the first single hit by team tonight.  The Chihuahuas won 8-2.