8-13-18
It was a perfect storm.
I was overwhelmed at work and I walked into four baseball games on TV
and radio. Simply, the work overcame me,
along with some equipment issues, and I basically only got peeks in on the
games and missed a bunch. The multiple
games were my fault at least, as were my scattered notes. All the games inconveniently overlapped each
other. I’ll take each of them
separately.
My first game of the night was actually by
happenstance. The TV in the breakroom
had been left on, so I flipped over to see who the Diamondbacks were playing.
It was Rangers. While the Chihuahuas’ game that was on was
more important to me, I couldn’t resist actually watching a game in
Arlington. It was 4-3 Texas in the
seventh when I came in. Zack Greinke just came out. Robinson
Chirinos had hit a three-run homer earlier, along with a Ronald Guzman solo shot. The D-Backs’ announcers were impressed with
the Rangers’ power.
They mentioned a curious roster fact that Arizona was
carrying three catchers, while the Rangers only had one official catcher in
Chirinos. Isiah Kiner-Falefa is their backup, and he’s good, but he also plays at
other positions. Chirinos drove in Adrian Beltre in the eighth to make it 5-3 Rangers, which was the final. I missed the ninth. That’s pretty much how my night went. The stadium and the fans had a classy moment
in the eighth. Jake Diekman, who was traded to the
D-Backs from the Rangers at the trade deadline, was warming up in the
bullpen. When he got up, his Ranger
highlights were played on screen and he got a nice ovation from the crowd.
Hey,
I wonder what’s on the MLB Network? I thought as the Ranger game went to a commercial. It was the premier matchup of the night
between the Giants and Dodgers with Madison Bumgarner and Clayton
Kershaw facing each other. Though
the game was in Los Angeles, they were carrying the Giants’ feed, which
included Jon Miller doing the
announcing. How I would have loved to
have watched this game, but I couldn’t.
Bumgarner went six innings and gave up two runs, while
Kershaw went eight with one run. I
stepped in to the breakroom in the top of the ninth. The Dodgers were up 2-1 with two outs and two
on. The Giants just loaded the bases
when I stepped back out for a minute.
(On Twitch, Dizzykitten was playing with one of
her cats onscreen and I couldn’t look away.)
When I came back, the Giants had just taken the lead on a pinch hit
single by Nick Huntley. After another single and an error, it was 5-2 Giants, which would be the
final. Dodger fans were devastated. They had all been standing and clapping when
the Giants were down to their last strike.
Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas
were playing the Bees in Salt
Lake. This series was the last meeting
between these two teams who are at the top of their division. Not being able to listen at my other
workstation caused me to miss the beginning of the game. I picked a good moment to start listening in
the third with two on and two outs. Luis Urias got knocked down by a pitch,
but came back swinging on the next. Urias
hustled an infield hit into a single. Auston Bousfield on second, who was off
with the pitch, managed to score for the first run of the game.
The Bees managed to score twice in the fifth to make it
2-1. In the eighth, while I was
distracted by Dizzy and posting to my blog, I heard Francisco Mejia hit a home run to give the Chihuahuas the lead,
3-2. I’d missed Urias hitting a
sacrifice to tie it earlier.
The game wasn’t over yet. In the bottom of the eighth, pups’ starter Jerry Keel came out. TJ
Weir was in with two on and one out.
There was a mound visit during which the PA played Stand by Your Man. Weir got
two outs and got out of it. In the ninth
though, Weir was left in for a second inning and got one out, but the Bees made
a successful comeback. They tied it, and
then won it in a walkoff. 4-3 Bees. I was too busy with work to be sad.
I still had another game option. The MLB.TV
free game was the Padres versus the Angels.
It was audio-only and in the eighth, but I went ahead and listened. Ted
Leitner was again not doing the commentary, but Jessie Agler and Tony Gwynn
Jr. were. I’m not sure what his
playing status is, but Gwynn sounds just like his old man. What I heard of him, I liked. On the subject of high fastballs, he said,
“It’s like Chocolate Mousse. It looks so
good, but it’s so bad for you.”
Just as I tuned in, Justin
Upton robbed Eric Hosmer of a
home run at the wall. He stole it from a
fan even. However, it worked as a
sacrifice and brought in the tying run for the Padres to make it 2-2. Upton led off the ninth with a double, but
fan-favorite (judging by the cheers of the San Diego crowd) Kirby Yates struck out the next three
batters, including Albert Pujols.
In the tenth, the Angels mounted a rally. Christian
Villanueva made a great throw to Freddie
Galvis covering third to get the lead runner there. Shohei
Ohtani came in as a pinch hitter. I
left the room and it was 6-2 Angels when I came back. Okay.
Hosmer got his homer in the bottom, but 6-3 Angels was the final. Oh,
to have gotten so much baseball tonight and to have it be all so
unsatisfying. Even the results I liked,
I didn’t get to see the end of the game.
We’ll hope for a better day tomorrow.
8-14-18
Yeah, I pretty much did the same thing again today. At least I got caught up with my work. I should have listened to the Chihuahuas
again, but I knew the Rangers and
the Diamondbacks were playing on TV
and couldn’t resist. Of course, what I
also couldn’t do was sit down and watch very much. It was 5-1 D-Backs in the sixth. Elvis
Andrus got a hit and I’d never heard this over the radio before, but the PA
in Arlington played an Elvis Presley
fanfare right after. It was
awesome.
The Rangers managed to score a couple of runs to make it
5-3. Joey Gallo struck out to end the inning. One of the Arizona commentators noted that
the pitcher could throw to that low and away spot a hundred times and Gallo
would never hit it. I can believe
that. I saw Roughned Odor make a great dive and toss to second for a force out
to end the inning in the eighth and save a run, but that was about all. 6-4
D-Backs was the final. Jon Jay, in the gray AZ pjs had the
snazziest light blue shoes to with them.
The Cardinals
and the Nationals were playing in
the MLB.TV free game earlier in the
evening. I still didn’t get to see more
than a glimpse. I couldn’t even write my
Aunt Judy to see if she was watching the game back in Missouri. Matt
Adams came to the plate for the Nats when I started watching. Yadier
Molina delayed the game for a minute so that the crowd could applaud the
former Cardinal. I missed Cardinal pitcher
John Gant getting his first hit, a
home run, but I did see an usher negotiating for the ball.
In the eighth, I saw Bryce Harper hit a high and away pitch to the opposite field for a
homer. Marcel Ozuna in left field stood there in shock after watching it
go out. Yadi just sat there on a knee at
the plate like a statue as Bryce trotted by and patted him on the
shoulder. The Cards won 6-4. That’s seven
in a row for them, but they’re still in third in the Central.
I listened to a bit of Flying Squirrels playing the Baysox. They were in the middle of a double header
and they were playing to see who would be in last place in their division. It was kind of sad.
I came into the actually-important-to-me Chihuahuas versus Bees game late and did a poor job of listening. I basically missed all the scoring, but here
it is. Javy Guerra hit a two-run homer in the third and Ty France doubled in a run to make it
3-0. In the bottom, the Bees came back
to make it 3-2. It was Javy again in the
fourth with a fielder’s choice RBI to make it 4-2. The Bees came back again with a homer,
4-3. Luis Urias scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the
seventh to make it 5-3.
Okay, I was really listening the ninth (sort of). Francisco
Mejia doubled and Allen Craig
drove him in to make it 6-3. In the
bottom, the Bees got two on with one out.
Jabari Blash, I think leading
the league in home runs, came out on deck to pinch hit and the crowd
roared. Travis Radke came in to face him in his Triple-A debut. He got him out on one pitch and got the
save. Nice going. The Chihuahuas
won 6-3. One more game in Salt Lake
to see if the pups can expand their lead in the division.
8-15-18
There was just one game on today for me, so there was no
excuse for me not to concentrate on the big rubber game between the Chihuahuas and the Bees tonight. (“Big
rubber?”) Of course, I was still being
bombarded with actual work while at work (the nerve) and my attention just
wasn’t there. Also, it seemed like the
Chihuahuas were doing all of their scoring while I out of earshot. The good news was that they scored plenty
tonight, but the downside was that I didn’t get to hear it.
Actually the only thing I got to completely hear on the
radio (an actual radio, not an Internet stream) was the first Aggie Coaches Show for the school year. It was good to hear Adam Young again talking about NM
State. He had football coach Doug Martin on for most of the
hour. The coach seemed very cautiously
optimistic about the team. I didn’t
realize their season started early next week.
They’re at home and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN 2.
Yes, I’d like to go, but it likely won’t happen unless I can go with
someone. While the team went 2-2 and I
froze my butt off at times going with Ron a couple of years ago, I did enjoy
the spectacle, even during the bad losses.
I’ll probably at least be listening in on the game.
In Salt Lake City, Jabari
Blash was starting for the Bees tonight.
He is leading the PCL in home
runs, but I think he’s too injured to really play at the moment. Tonight, he went 0-3. Having seen the guy in person (6-15-16), Blash is a heck of physical specimen. The Bees’ manager may have been desperate to
get him into the lineup for some possible run support. Speaking of interesting lineup moves, the
Bees brought out a new pitcher in the second inning. Tim
Hagerty didn’t think the starter was injured. He did notice that the reliever was throwing
with a different hand than the starter, thus screwing up the Chihuahuas’
lineup. Gamesmanship?
Tim sounded serious tonight. This was the last meeting between these two
teams in contention to win the division, and winning or losing meant a pretty
big swing in the standings. In the
bottom of the second, a ball took a bad hop on Allen Craig at first and a run scored to give the Bees a 1-0
lead. In the third, while I was out of
the room, Francisco Mejia doubled in
a run (boy, that trade for him is looking better all the time) and Craig
singled in a run to make it 2-1.
In the fourth, Shane
Peterson dove for a ball and came up juggling and finally dropped it. He just missed throwing out a runner at
second right after the drop as Luis
Urias came off the bag to catch it. On
the next batter, catcher Raffy Lopez picked
off the runner at first, so the defense was still on point for the pups.
In the fifth, Forrestt
Allday was hit on the hand and ran around the grass in pain, but stayed in
the game. The Bees went to their third
pitcher, so maybe it was just an unannounced bullpen day (which would still be
gamesmanship to have not announced it).
Allday would score on a hit by Ty
France (another good new addition to the team). Raffy doubled in a run and Peterson also
drove in a run. 6-1 Chihuahuas.
In the sixth, the Chihuahuas got caught in an odd
rundown that didn’t involve any running, but the Urias still drove in a run
that inning to make it 7-1. At this point,
Tim loosened up considerably and became his more usual conversational
self. By the ninth, the Bees were using
their centerfielder to pitch, Bo Way. Just hearing that name, I had assumed he was
Asian, until I looked at the spelling and saw his picture. He hit Peterson, but struck out two and was
throwing at 89mph, so he had some skills.
The Chihuahuas won 7-1 and
were now up four-and-a-half games in the standings. Woo hoo!
There was one other game on that I could watch. Once again, somebody left the break room TV
on, so I flipped over to the MLB Network.
Later, they again showed the Dodgers
and Giants playing in Los
Angeles. It was again the Giants’ feed,
which still surprises me. I’d briefly
check in on the game during the night.
It was 0-0 in the sixth, before the Dodgers scored one. In the seventh, they put up two more to make
it 3-0. In the eighth, Andrew McCutchen hit a three-run homer
to tie it. I watched the extra innings a
little more, but missed the Dodgers winning, 4-3, on a sacrifice in the twelfth. I noticed most of the crowd also missed the
end as the stadium was nearly empty by then.
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