Baseball Journal July 18-20, 2018

7-18-18

No Major League Baseball for the next two days.  I tried watching the MLB Network tonight, but I think I missed their mid-season report special.  I’ll check again tomorrow night.  There’s a bit of a buzz in Albuquerque, where the Chihuahuas and Isotopes will be playing tonight, over last night’s All-Star Game.  They’re excited over their hometown boy, Alex Bregman, winning the MVP award and he’s planned to come there over the break. 

I’m sure I’d heard that he was from Albuquerque, but I’d forgotten all about it.  I doubt he’ll be having a formal public event, but he’ll be out somewhere (like maybe the ballpark) and might sign a few autographs or maybe do an interview with a local radio station.  I like Bregman a lot.  He seems more like he should be from New York and starring in a WWII movie than a ball player from Albuquerque though.

The game started with a great electric guitar version of the Anthem.  That was the last part of the game I enjoyed.  The Isotopes started off with a two-run homer in the first.  By the third, they’d scored three more runs after three walks by Joey Lucchesi.  Even the opposing pitcher got a hit, his second of the year.  Lucchesi had to come out.  The inning ended on an infield hit with a runner getting thrown out at the plate.

It would have been nice to have been there though.  It was 50 cent hot dog night (limit six).  There was a hot dog eating contest between innings.  All of the Chihuahuas’ offense was Matt Szczur driving in a run in the fourth.  The Isotopes turned four double plays in the game to kill virtually any rallies.  I’m still trying to figure out a play in the second when catcher Brett Nicholas tried to steal second and was thrown out to end the inning.  Chihuahuas’ relievers did a good job.  Kazuhisa Makita came in with a submarining 59mph breaking ball.  The final was 7-1 Isotopes.  So much for baseball today.     

7-19-18

Big news to start today’s matinee between the Chihuahuas and the Isotopes.  The Padres finally traded their All-Star closer Brad Hand.  Him and another reliever are going to the Indians for Francisco Mejia, their number one prospect and the top catching prospect in professional baseball.  I’m pretty sure this helps the Indians.  Honestly, the Padres seemed to have plenty of good catching talent from what I’ve seen go through El Paso.  At least they got something good for Hand.  Mejia will be coming to the Chihuahuas.  Let’s hope that helps the pups in their tight division race.

Jordan Lyles came out for the Chihuahuas tossing batting practice.  He gave up three home runs in the first, including David Dahl hitting the pole on the hill, 4-0 Isotopes.  The Chihuahuas scored in the fourth on a fielder’s choice, but the Isotopes turned their third double play of the game in the process.  Colin Rea did a good job in the bottom by striking out the side.  In the fifth, a glove flip mishap by the shortstop put runners on corners for the pups, but a bunt by Rea led to an out at the plate.  A hit batter loaded the bases, but another double play ended the inning.

Rea didn’t do so good in the sixth.  The Isotopes opened it up with a three-run hr and a solo shot.  By the time they’d batted around, it was 9-1.  In the eighth, the Isotopes turned their fifth DP.  Tim Hagerty was looking up records earlier, but figured it was safe for today. 

In the bottom, I barely noticed that Diego Goris, a position player, was pitching.  With two vacancies at the Major League level, the Chihuahuas were probably limited in who they could pitch in the game.  He gave up his first runs while pitching, seven of them.  They must have scouted him.  Finally, him and Brett Nicholas exchanged places on the field.  Brett came in with a knuckle ball.  That didn’t work out too well either.  I actually started laughing.  The final out was recorded after seven runs, 14 batters, and the bases left loaded.

Needless to say, the Chihuahuas lost, 16-1, their largest margin of defeat in franchise history.  Dad called right after the game, “Is there a reason you wanted me to listen to the worst ballgame ever?”  “I don’t know.  It was kind of funny there by end.”  There were 5,000 in attendance for this afternoon game, including some kids groups.  It lasted two hours, 40 minutes, but seemed much longer.  

I admit I’ve been kind of enjoying Isotope, Daniel Castro’s Mariachi walkup music.  It was Adrian Gonzalez’s too.  I’m going to have to finally say something.  They are still running NHL Stanley Cup commercials during the game!  Has no one else noticed this?

There actually was an MLB game on tonight between the Cubs and the Cardinals.  It was kind of random given that that was the only scheduled game.  You’d think they would have promoted it.  If it was on TV, I don’t know where and it wasn’t the MLB.TV free game.  Too bad, since I would have watched it and it seemed like a pretty good game with the Cubs winning 9-5.

There was still baseball available though.  I got the Richmond Flying Squirrels and the Akron Rubber Ducks over the Internet.  When I came in, the announcer was talking about Francisco Mejia.  I think he must have seen him play, since he had some in depth scouting on him.  Sportstalk in the afternoon also talked about him.  All of this concurred with my baseball preview, which said Mejia’s offense was better than his defense and game calling.  A move to third was being experimented with. 

“The Squirrels are bracing themselves for Tebow-mania,” the announcer (really should have gotten his name) said, as Tim Tebow was expected to be playing for the opposition in the next homestand.  He also talked about the other Giants’ affiliates and mentioned Jerry Sands was hitting .400 for the Rivercats.  Oh, oh.  That’s the Chihuahuas’ next opponent. 

He also talked about the game, which was a pretty good one.  The team has a player named Logan Ice.  “Ice is cooling this inning down.”  I guess all announcers hit the pun bag on occasion.  The Squirrels have a pitcher from South Africa.  He was in the Futures Game over the weekend.  “He allowed a home run, but who didn’t?”  I guess he has dual citizenship since he had to ask which team he was picked for.  There was also a player named Luigi Rodriguez.  (Parents were Super Mario Fans perhaps?)

The Squirrels “let a good crisis go to waste,” as they left the bases loaded in the eighth.  Down three in the ninth, they came back and took a one run lead.  However, they lost it in the bottom as the Rubber Ducks came back and won 12-11.  I could hear the crowd chanting, but couldn’t make it out.  The announcer said they were quacking.  “Quack!  Quack!”  What a rally cry!       

7-20-18

I didn’t believe it when I saw it yesterday, but there it was today.  MLB.TV was offering all the games for free this weekend.  Of course, the blackout rules were still in effect, and I wasn’t going to get video of anything I wanted to watch.  I picked the Padres and the Phillies so I could listen to Uncle Ted Leitner’s radio call. 

Sitting down to type this, I suddenly realize that I didn’t take much in the way of notes.  The Padres racked up four runs in the first and the Phillies didn’t look good in letting them score.  You could clearly hear the infamous Philly fans opinion on their team’s performance.  “The boo birds are out!  The sounds of Philadelphia!” said Ted.  After the final out, there were “Cheers of derision.”  My next door co-worker Mike came into my cubicle in amazement, “You . . . weren’t kidding about Philadelphia fans.”  I’d been making jokes about them for years.  Apparently, he thought I was exaggerating.

We boo them to make them better!  Mike Schmidt never would have amounted to anything without us booing him!  We boo’ed our loser Eagles into a Superbowl victory this year!  We were totally vindicated!  We’re going to boo more now!

As much as wanted to keep listening, I had to work away from my desk.  I could have paused the game, but I anticipated wanting to listen to some of the other games that were coming on later.  Even Mike was enjoying Ted’s commentary before he left for the evening.  I caught bits and pieces later.  Ted and his co-announcer credited the Triple-A El Paso coaches (without saying the name “Chihuahuas”) with improving the players that had been sent down.  Ted said he was contractually obligated to be sarcastic.  He even started singing a commercial jingle.

By the fourth, the Padres were now down 7-4.  They loaded the bases, but only got one to make it 7-5.  There was discussion about fan fights in the stands being much less common.  The co-announcer (never got his name) thought it was because people were too busy playing with their phones.  In the eighth, the Phillies put up four runs to make it 11-5.  The crowd cheered for real this time.  That would be the final.  In the last inning, the guys were talking about a showboating player.  Ted said, “There’s not enough mustard to cover that hot dog.”  What a treat to hear this guy.

The Chihuahuas were coming home to play the Rivercats today.  There were some definite hardships for the fans today though.  The freeway was closed in both directions due to a couple of terrible accidents, including a semi catching fire.  A team marketing person was on Sportstalk beforehand telling fans they should leave early for the game.  No mention was made of the temperature, which was 100 degrees at first pitch. 

The most impressive play I heard was in the third.  A foul ball went into a neighboring pressbox and someone there made a one-handed catch outside the window.  The crowd applauded.  Francisco Mejia was still not in the lineup.  The Padres guys mentioned that the organization now has three of the top prospects in baseball.  For the Rivercats, Evan Longoria was playing for them on rehab.  He doubled in a run in the third and was driven in by a home run to make it 3-0.  In the bottom, pitcher Walter Lockett walked to load the bases with no outs, but the pups just got one on a fielder’s choice, 3-1.

Back at my desk, I had some important decisions to make.  (Oh, and the air conditioner went out in the computer room and a server crashed while I was working.  It took a couple of hours to sort that out.)  The Padres game was over.  I brought up the Chihuahuas’ game on Gameday, but didn’t bring up the audio.  I brought up video of the Giants and the A’s, and I brought up the audio of the Rangers and the Indians (my only option). 

Ultimately, I just got to watch a little of the Giants, if for no other reason than the A’s were wearing eye-hurting Irish green jerseys.  The Oakland Coliseum was hosting a great crowd for the rivalry game.  I saw Andrew McCutchen making a tremendous sliding catch to end the fourth inning with score tied at 1.  Derek Rodriguez was pitching for the Giants and doing a good job.  In the fifth, Ryder Jones hit a home run for the Giants to give them the lead.  I had not heard of him before, but what a great name.  I wonder if that was his first homer, as the dugout and even manager Bruce Bochy looked happy for him.  The Giants would go on to win 5-1.    

For the Rangers’ call, Eric Nadel was there, but Matt Hicks wasn’t.  Jared Sandler was filling in again.  Eric read Jared’s effort at a limerick today.  The Indians were leading comfortably in the seventh, until they put in their new reliever, Brad Hand.  Joey Gallo hit a massive two-run homer to make it 7-6.  Their other new reliever from the Padres, Adam Cimber finished the inning.                 

I talked to a co-worker earlier who’s a huge Padres fan.  I asked her how she felt about them trading their All-Star closer, Brad Hand.  Her face lit up and she smiled.  She’d watched him blow too many saves this year; she was sick of him.  I told her they were getting a catching prospect in return.  This might put her crush, Austin Hedges’, job in jeopardy.  She was not as excited about that.  

In the ninth, the Indians scored on a misplay by Delino Deshields to make it 8-6.  In the bottom, Robinson Chirinos homered with two outs.  Gallo then tied it on another homer that went into the second deck.  Willie Calhoon, just brought up, struck out to end the inning with a runner at second.

I’d been checking up on the Chihuahuas.  They were down 6-2 until they made a comeback in the eighth to make it 6-5.  I totally missed how it happened.  In the ninth, while the Rangers’ game was also in the ninth, I brought up audio of the game.  The crowd chanted for Cory Spangenberg, who was leading off.  He walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a passed ball in short order with nobody out.  Crushingly, the next three batters all made unproductive outs and the Rivercats won 6-5.

In the tenth with the free runner at second (I’m just kidding), the Indians scratched out a run in the top.  The Rangers started their inning with three straight singles.  That third single wasn’t deep enough to send the runner on.  Jose Ramirez made a great play at third for the first out.  Then there was a strikeout. 

Then Gallo came up.  One of foul balls hit right above the pressbox.  Jared asked Eric if he flinched.  “No.  I was hoping it would blow fair.”  After a lengthy battle, Gallo struck out to end the game.  9-8 Indians final.  Yandy Diaz in his MLB debut for the Indians went 4 for 6 with 2 RBI’s.  It was 107 degrees at first pitch, a record, and the game took nearly five hours.  I wished I could have watched more (I was good and busy most of the night too), but I enjoyed having a pick of games tonight.  That was fun, even if I didn’t get all the results I wanted.