8-19-18
The Rangers played
the Angels in Arlington. Matt
Hicks was doing the commentary with Jared
Sandler. Eric Nadel was out for the weekend.
It was overcast there, but they didn’t seem worried about the weather,
especially after the two-and-a-half hour rain delay last night. I couldn’t get that game to come in later in
the night, but I wasn’t trying too hard either. Too bad I missed it. The Rangers
won 11-6.
In the first, Roughned
Odor drove in Shin-Soo Choo. Ruggie has really got it turned on. Late last night, Matt did a limerick in honor
of Bartolo Colon, who was honored
before the game. He has the all-time
record for wins for a Latin player. Matt
said he’d never worked harder on a poem.
He was still revising it right up until when he read it.
Yovani Gallardo started
for the Rangers. He struck out the side
in third. In the fourth, the Angels scored
a run on a play at the plate. The runner
got around Isiah Kiner-Falefa taking the
throw. Shohei
Ohtani, who hit a three-run hr last night, scored on a double
play to make it 2-1. The fans at the
park suddenly applauded. The announcers
figured it was for the clouds completely covering the sun and providing some
shade.
In the fifth, the fans were probably not quite as
pleased with the weather. Severe winds
kicked up, even blowing a fair ball foul.
The guys had trouble keeping their notes from flying away. Unsurprisingly, rain started up soon after,
delaying the game for 20 minutes. I took
a nap. Play resumed and a bit more rain
fell in the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, it was full-on raining
again. Ruggie came up with two on and
jacked out a three-run homer. The crowd erupted. Jared Sandler gave a tremendous call of the
play. It was now 4-2 Rangers. With the rain increasing, the grounds crew dragged
out the tarp with two outs in the inning.
Matt and Jared admitted to being lost in predicting the weather, because
Eric was the one with the magic weather app.
During the hour delay, Matt composed a limerick about the rain and
Ruggie’s home run, which he read in the eighth.
In the ninth, Jose LeClerc made
short work of the Angels for the save and a 4-2 Rangers’ win.
That was a long broadcast, but I was busy during it
writing. About an hour later, the Chihuahuas played Las Vegas. Steve Kaplowitz and Butch Henry were again doing the
commentary. A lovely cello version of
the Anthem started the proceedings. I
could hear some dogs barking, so it was obviously a Bark at the Park game.
In the first, catcher Raffy Lopez threw out a runner to end the inning. In the bottom, Luis Urias was hit by a pitch and was then doubled home by
Raffy. Brett Nicholas drove him in to make it 2-0 pups. Kappy had dropped an eggroll in the booth
during dinner. He was sure Tim Hagerty would be furious when he
got back. In the second, a single and an
error by Forrestt Allday got the
51’s a run, but the batter was thrown out trying to advance to end inning, 2-1. Javy
Guerra came right back with a homer to make it 3-1. In the third, a balk moved up Raffy on base,
who was then driven in by Shane Peterson
to make it 4-1.
The fifth was special for a couple of fans as there was
a proposal between innings. (She said,
“Yes.”) In the sixth, Dusty Coleman made a diving catch in
the outfield. He’s been making some good
plays out there for an infielder. The 51’s
scored later in the inning to make it 4-2.
Guerra did it again in the bottom by driving in two to make it 6-2.
In the seventh, Patrick
Kievelhan, former Chihuahua, hit a two-run homer. It seemed to carry in the wind. Another run scored on a double to make it
6-5. Jerry Keel had been pitching since the fourth, but there was no
relief in sight. He came back out in the
eighth and got one more batter before he was taken out. Kazuhisa Makita came in and gave up a two-run homer
and the lead, 7-6 51’s.
It was looking
bad in the ninth. Allday was on first,
but there were two outs and two strikes on Luis
Urias, whose hitting streak was on the line. He tripled to tie the score. Ty
France came up after an intentional walk.
He banged one off the wall to bring in Urias to win it 8-7.
Wow! This call-up kid Ty is
impressing the heck out of me. Games
like this are why I never get tired of baseball.
8-20-18
I’d been watching
(well, mostly listening, because I was busy with work) Gibi on Twitch playing
Fortnight for a while, when I
checked the MLB website for the free game. It was the Giants and the Mets and
it just started. However, I just
couldn’t tune away from Gibi.
Today’s stream
was titled, “If I don’t win a solo match today, my family disowns me!” She came in second in one match and screamed
and fell out of her seat and kept screaming.
She started talking to herself, “Gibi, stop looting. You’re going to get yourself killed.” The funny thing was that she wasn’t listening
to herself and continued to loot. Gibi
came in second twice, but didn’t win and her family disowned her. I should have posted a marriage offer to give
her a new family. (I can already sense
this blog is going to turn into a daily Twitch-watching summary in the
offseason.)
The game,
meanwhile, moved pretty quickly and was already official by the time I tuned
back. I felt a bit bad for not watching,
but I could listen to the red-hot Chihuahuas
later anyway. I looked at their
schedule. Oops. They’re off today. This was my only game. Nevertheless, I regret nothing. (Gibi was so fun today.)
Actually, my
viewing of the game never got on track.
It was 1-0 Mets for most of the game.
This was the Giants’ feed of the game.
Rich Waltz and, former
player, Javier Lopez were doing the
call. They were doing a good job. Javy had a very relaxed, conversational
style. I came in in the middle of a
discussion about position players pitching.
60 different players have done it so far this year. They thought there should be an award for the
best one.
They had quite a
bit of discussion on the Giants’ hitting woes.
They’ve tried all the “voodoo” stuff and a “Come to Bochy” meeting to
break the collective slump. Eventually,
the Giants did manage to scratch out a run to tie it tonight. Mr.
Met was shown working the crowd.
Javy mentioned he was a Mets’ fan as a kid, watching them on WOR on
cable. (I saw them there too.) Jon
Miller came in to work with Javy later.
Even with the close score, I still wasn’t really paying attention. I kept assuming it was going to be over soon. It wasn’t.
Let’s jump ahead
to the thirteenth inning. In the top of
the inning, the Mets made two errors, had a wild pitch, and allowed a stolen
base without a throw. All that said, the
Giants only scored because two fielders collided on an infield popup by Brandon Crawford that allowed Andrew McCutchen to score from
third. “It’s better to be lucky than
good,” observed Javy. The Giants won 2-1 in a tidy four hour, 20
minute game. I think the only people
left there at Citi Field were the
group of Giants fans who came together on a charter bus from their hotel.
8-21-18
When I got into
work yesterday, I asked some co-workers how the Chihuahuas’ outing went. There was apparently a good turnout for
it. The hour delay wasn’t too bad and
the rain was pretty quick. I asked if Chico came by. He did and played catch with one of them. An opposing player even tossed a ball into
their section. The fireworks show was
spectacular. All that said, I-10 was
indeed closed that night. Getting back
home, especially given the late start and the fireworks, was a long, difficult
process for some. I’m still okay with
not going, though playing catch with Chico would have been cool.
Before tonight’s
Chihuahuas’ game, I heard a couple of interesting baseball interviews. On El Paso Sportstalk, Tracy Ringolsby,
Rockies reporter, was a brief
guest. Boy, is he smart about the team
and baseball. I wish Steve Kaplowitz had had more time with
him. Ringolsby also offhandedly dropped
at the end of the interview that he knew Don
Haskins well and had some stories about him, so he’ll be invited back.
Meanwhile on the Flying Squirrels’ game, they
interviewed an umpire, whose name I unfortunately missed. (I’ve got to start writing down names
better.) His knowledge of baseball was
real deep and fascinating. The announcer
asked the ump to explain a “fourth out." I’ve never even heard of this.
Even after looking at the Wikipedia entry, I still don’t understand
it. Did you know that there’s a
difference between the “hitting stance” and the “batting stance?” It makes a difference in calling high strikes
how the batter stands when he actually swings, as opposed to how he just stands
in the box. And in answer to the question,
“Do umps do makeup calls?” The answer
was a resounding “No.” (They only do
that in the NBA, which is a reality
show, not a real sport.)
Tonight in El
Paso, the Chihuahuas were taking on
the Isotopes. The Rockies affiliate featured one of their
top prospects, Brendan Rodgers, and
distinguished veteran, Matt Holliday. Tim
Hagerty was particularly excited to talk about Holliday during the
game. (Good to have you back, Tim.) I missed the first half of the game. Chihuahuas’ starter, Walter Lockett drove in a run in the second. Matt Holliday drove in a run in the third.
I basically
joined the game in the fifth with the score 3-3. In the sixth, El Paso got two runs, one on a
double play and another on a single by Forrestt
Allday. The crowd hadn’t finished
cheering when a large clap of thunder suddenly stopped play. The umps cleared the field and the tarp came
out as rain was incoming.
During the one-hour,
21-minute break, I found out about Nationals
giving up on the season and sending Daniel
Murphy to the Cubs. I’ve seen this guy do well in the
playoffs. This move might be a big deal
later on. Even more shattering was that
they’d put Bryce Harper out on the
waiver wire. I’m not sure if it was
surprising or not that he fell all the way to the Dodgers, who also refused to take him. The Nats waited too long. They couldn’t even give him at this
point. Now Harper just walks away.
Play resumed in
El Paso. In the seventh, Rodgers drove
in a run on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-4.
Shane Peterson made a sliding
catch to end the inning and saved a couple of runs. In the bottom, Ty France homered to make it 6-4.
Where did this kid come from?
RBI-landia? In the ninth, Colten Brewer came on. He put two on with nobody out, but got the
next three batters without letting a run score.
6-4 Chihuahuas and 14 home
wins in a row. The fans are getting
spoiled.
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