6-22-21
I was distracted by three other games going on this Monday
(D-Backs broke their 17-game losing
streak, and Padres beat the Dodgers in a national ESPN game), but I picked up a little of
the Chihuahuas and the Skeeters. It was another blowout loss for the pups, so
it didn’t keep much of my interest. Tim
turned most of the game call over to another announcer. He did that last week, too. However, I did catch the aftermath of a play
that sent Tim over to the official scorer for an explanation.
There was a balk, but the pitcher delivered the ball and
the batter made the third out. The game
call went to commercial. They came back
and the inning was still going. The
Chihuahuas had been called back to the field to play. In such a balk situation with a play involved,
it’s up to the batting team whether they want to keep the result or have it
declared a no play. This is sort of like
when a team bats out of order. It’s up
to the opposing manager to bring it to the umpire’s attention. They’ll do so after seeing the result of the
out-of-order batter first. As Tim said,
“However many times you come to the ballpark, you’ll probably see something new
every time.”
6-23-21
I wasn’t expecting a free game on MLB.TV today after getting three games yesterday (including a Youtube game), but there was a Giants/Angels game in the bottom of the
ninth. It was a 1-1 tie game, but I
wasn’t expecting to be watching for long.
Jon Miller and JT Snow were calling the game for the
Giants, so I was pleased with that regardless of how long I was able to watch.
By the twelfth inning, the Angels had their left fielder
catching, as they’d burned their backup catcher pinch hitting and Kurt Suzuki then came out after a shot
to the head. A pitcher was put in left
field. This lead to the situation in the
bottom where an American League team
sent two pitchers up to hit in the inning.
“I’ve never seen this,” said Snow.
In the next inning, the Giants scored seven runs to win it. Mike
Tauchman hit a three-run homer after having struck out five times in the
game before that.
I found out later, this game was unique for another
reason. Shohei Ohtani was the starter and for the first time, an American
League pitcher hit for himself in a game.
I would have thought this had happened before with him, but it
hadn’t. He only gave up one run in six
innings, but went 0-3 hitting. I doubt
this experiment will proceed. Nine
players, an entire starting lineup, ended up getting subbed in for him in the game
when he came out. I realize there were
several extra innings, but they literally ran out of players late in the game
and lost because of this gambit.
“Sweep LA!” The Padres had a good week. The scuffled badly on their last road trip and returned home to full capacity and a full house. They proceeded to take four from the Reds and three from the Dodgers. Those last two wins were pretty nervous, but the Brown was clutch.
6-25-21
The Chihuahuas
were playing Round Rock tonight in
El Paso. I’d been listening on-and-off
all evening. The pups had gone down
three runs going into the bottom of the ninth.
I was aware that the Chihuahuas were threatening, but was busy with work
when I suddenly heard Tim Hagerty
screaming, “Walk off grand slam home run!”
Patrick Kievelhan had won the
game after three consecutive walks proceeding him. The opposing pitcher was described as bent
over at the waist, hanging his head, and staring at the ground. During the post-game recap, Tim maybe seemed
a little embarrassed by his hyperbolic call.
It was quite a moment though. Too
bad my co-worker, who’d gone to a game recently, wasn’t there for that grand
slam.
6-29-21
The world of baseball was three outs away from totally
upending this season. German Marquez stood on the mound at Coors Field to start the ninth inning
for the Rockies. He had eight shutout
innings behind him as ineffective Pirate
batters could only flail in frustration.
I was picking up the game as a live look-in on the MLB website. The possibility
of a no-hitter in Denver was enough to get me to drop all pretext of doing
work.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the bid ended on the second
pitch of the inning with a sharp liner to the outfield. It was a great effort though. I do say, “fortunately,” because if a Rockies
pitcher had pitched no-hitter at home, after all the other no-hitters this
season, MLB would have introduced either a new T-Ball or only-BP-fastballs
mandate the next day.
Meanwhile in El Paso, it wasn’t the baseball Apocalypse,
but you just got a glimpse of it. The
final was 2-1 for the Chihuahuas over Round Rock. What were the
odds of a pitcher’s duel at Southwest
University Park and a near no-hitter in Colorado in one night? (Okay, that’s it. I’m sick typing out a sentence to write the
name of the stadium. El Paso, from now
on, your ballpark is officially “The
Dogbowl.”)
6-30-21
“It’s a special kind of strike. We call it a ‘ball.’” Youtube was doing a free game today between
the Florida/Buffalo/Toronto Blue Jays
and the Seattle Mariners today. (Actually, the Blue Jays may finally be
allowed back into Canada soon, but considering the travel restrictions there,
I’ll believe it when I see it. For
tonight, they’re still in Buffalo.) Brian Kenny was leading a little
roundtable of two former players (including one with a jarring Australian
accent) and a stat-head lady with the game call. Wow, was this one fun to listen to. The game was good, but having four baseball
fanatics sitting on a couch calling the game is without question how every
future national baseball broadcast should be done.
Even the game dragging early just left more opportunities
for the panel to discuss more baseball issues.
“This game may go seven hours. I
think we’ve got time to debate and solve all of baseball’s problems.” Kenny, as a big believer in Sabermetrics,
even admitted that him and his ilk had essentially ruined the game. He wanted to fix it. Former Chihuahua
hero and current Mariner player, Ty
France, was mic’d up for the game and provided the crew a good deal of
entertainment. He’s one of those chatty
first basemen, who likes to talk to opposing players.
Oh, if only there hadn’t been quarter end processing
tonight, and I could have just sat and watched the whole thing. Actually, that would have been laborious
too. Including two half-hours of pre-
and post-game shows, the broadcast probably went five-and-a-half hours. Even with my limited viewing, this was an
obviously irresistible format for baseball.
Having a one or two-man crew for local broadcasts is fine, but national
broadcasts need to be more like this.
More audience participation, beyond running little polls and having
selected content creators in the chat room, would also be a plus.
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