8-12-18
Apparently, it was a much less threatening day in New
York City, though the crowd was noticeably smaller. Once again, Giancarlo Stanton started off the game with another solo home
run. The guys in the booth were
impressed with it at 112mph, 413’, and a 17 degree launch angle. (Those numbers don’t mean a lot to me. I’m not sure why I recorded them.) 1-0 Yankees.
In the second, Miguel
Andujar committed an error, there was a blown double play, and Joey Gallo got an infield hit (!) after
a poor throw by CC Sabathia. The net result of all that was no runs. The Rangers got more runners on in the third,
but still didn’t score. In the fifth, Didi Gregorius did made a spectacular
play at short on Delino Deshields to
shore up the Yankee defense. In the
bottom, the wheels came off on Martin
Perez, the Rangers’ starter. The big
blow was a two-run homer by Gregorious.
It was now 6-0.
In the sixth, Eric
Nadel talked about Sabathia’s problems, including recovering from alcoholism
and his weight. Eric thought it was
interesting that the current career wins leaders in the Major League baseball
were CC and Bartolo Colon, a pair of
rather stout fellows. Andujar made a two-base
error to put Elvis on second, but he was stranded there. Perez came back out in the bottom, but was pulled
after getting hit some more. A run
scored after he came out to make it 7-0.
CC left in the seventh, having given up 1 hit, though
the Rangers had had their chances. Sonny Gray came in and gave up a couple
of hits. Yankee fans immediately started
booing him. Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in a run on a fielder’s choice. Gregorius made another great play to get him
at first. Deshields drove in Gallo on an
infield hit. Yankee fans were audibly
grumbling some more. The play at first
was reviewed, but Delino was still safe.
This brought out another loud outburst from the crowd. This is the problem with being a Yankee fan;
up 7-2 in the seventh and you’re angry it’s not a shutout.
In the eighth inning, Gray gave up two more hits and was
pulled. The crowd gave him the business
on the way out. Maybe it’s just personal
between him and Yankee fans. The Rangers
loaded the bases with two outs, but left all of them stranded.
The Yankees won
7-2, but the Rangers did get one good highlight. In the bottom of the eighth, Gallo went over
the wall and robbed a home run from Austin
Romine. Eric kept hesitating on the
call as Joey delayed showing the ball in his possession. In the postgame, Matt Hicks mentioned that Joey had words with fans out there after
the catch. He then threw ball into
second deck to some Ranger fans. Given
the way the outfield wall is at Yankee
Stadium, I’m surprised he didn’t have to slap the fans away from the ball
to get it.
The Chihuahuas
versus Rivercats’ game started a bit
before the Rangers and Yankees ended. I
flipped back-and-forth for the first two innings and didn’t think I’d missed
much. In the postgame, I found out I’d missed
Forrestt Allday robbing Gregor Blanco of a home run at the wall
and some strange mayhem on the basepads that helped the Chihuahuas out.
I did hear the Tim
Hagerty calling two kids colliding with each other trying to catch a foul
ball on the grassy knoll in the outfield in the first. The crowd got a good laugh out of it. Tim got a chuckle in the third over a bunch
of kids chasing another foul ball there.
Sacramento was also played The Price
is Right theme as bumper music one inning.
Maybe there was a fan contest that inning. Tim didn’t offer a badly needed explanation.
In the third, Cesar
Puello drove in the first run of the game for the Rivercats. In the sixth, fighting sleepiness (not
because of the game, just tired), I took a nap with the game on. I was listening, but I totally dropped out at
some point. When I woke up, it was
1-1. Once again, I had to wait until the
postgame to find out how it happened. Luis Urias got a hit, Francisco Mejia drove him to third, and
Ty France sacrificed him in.
In the bottom, Shane
Peterson made a great jump catch near the wall. In the bottom of the seventh, the defense
shined again on three good plays on grounders.
France did well there too. The
Chihuahuas’ defense in general has really been sparkling lately.
Still tied at one, we went to the ninth. France led off with a single. Brett
Nicholas struckout. Peterson drove
France to third. Raffy Lopez struckout. With
two out, Javy Guerra came up big
with a single and brought France in and gave the pups the lead. Allen
Craig came up as a pinch hitter and drew a walk to load the bases. Allday (and all night) singled to right and
scored two more. The ‘Cats finally
brought in a new reliever to finish off the inning. (See, this in-depth coverage totally makes up
for me falling asleep earlier.)
Up now 4-1, Rowan
Wick came in to close in the bottom.
He allowed a leadoff double, but got the save. Chihuahuas
win 4-1! This has been one
tightly-played series in Sacramento. I’ve
been impressed with the team’s composure over these four games. They couldn’t bash their way to victory as
they usually do, but found a way anyway.
I can’t believe there has been nothing on TV today, and
I’ve been listening to baseball games on the radio all day. Let’s keep going. KROD
obligingly went right from the Chihuahuas to the ESPN Radio pregame coverage before the Cubs versus Nationals’
game. They spent way too much time
talking about who should be the NL MVP
this year. Their picks are Javier Baez and Max Scherzer, both of whom were playing tonight, and Nolan Arenado on the Rockies. This seems terribly irrelevant with a month
and a half left before the playoffs. The
most interesting man in baseball, Bryce
Harper, wasn’t even mentioned. They
barely mentioned him at all during the game.
Tonight’s pitching matchup was between Scherzer and Cole Hamels. The announcers mentioned how much better
Hamels has been pitching since he was traded from the Rangers. That’s just great. He only pitched the Rangers into last place
in their division. Scherzer set the tone
for his performance tonight with his first pitch, which brushed Anthony Rizzo back off the plate.
In the second, Mark
Reynolds sacrificed in a run to give the Nats a 1-0 lead . . . for the next
seven innings. Perhaps sensing a
pitcher’s duel, the hosts talked about wins being meaningless in awarding the Cy Young Award. Of course, Cy Young ironically holds the record for most wins pitching, but
don’t let that bother you. They did
offer a recent quote from Jayson Werth,
“Super nerds are killing the game.” [Tim
Hagerty did an interview with Jayson in Triple-A a couple of months ago (6-3-18).] They also talked about
Anthony Rizzo’s recent pitching performance in a blowout. When asked if he had a memento from getting out
the one batter he faced, Rizz said, “I have a 0.00 ERA.”
Hamels went seven innings, only giving up 1 hit and 1
run. In the bottom of the seventh, Albert Almora Jr. hit a double and
Wrigley erupted and I wrote in my notes, “Like a grand slam.” (Foreshadowing.) The Cubs got a couple on, but Scherzer
slammed the door with his eleventh strikeout to end the inning.
In the ninth, Trea
Turner tripled as Kyle Schwarber
misplayed the ball in the outfield. (Is
it too late to use him as a catcher? Or
is he a bigger liability behind the plate?)
Juan Soto walked. Ryan
Zimmerman then doubled them in to make it 3-0 Nats. But this is Wrigley. Remember, games there are like an opera and
everybody dies in the third act.
With an anxious Bill
Murray looking on from the owner’s box, the Cubs got two runners on off Ryan Madson. He got the next two outs, but then hit Willson Contreras to load the
bases. Please note that this sequence of
events took approximately 20 minutes to play out. Two words: pitch clock. In the time it took to get to this point, the
Nationals could have called up a reliever from Triple-A to enter the game. An unassuming David Bote then came into the game to pinch hit. Fed up with the pace of play, Bote promptly
jacked out a walkoff grand slam to end the game. The Wrigley
Field faithful erupted like Albert Almora Jr. just hit a double. 4-3
Cubs win! Cubs win!
Admittedly, this wasn’t the greatest game to listen to,
but what an ending! Meanwhile in the
Nationals’ locker room, Bryce Harper wished he’d been traded before the
deadline. Meanwhile, Nationals’
ownership wondered if they can still trade Bryce Harper for more than a bag of
chips. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer looked in
the mirror and wiped away a tear as he said to himself, “I’m gonna be the MVP
because wins don’t matter. Sniff.
They don’t matter.”
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