6-12-25
Way too busy at work to keep track of any games, but I had a day game today before I went to work. It was a dark, gloomy day in Minneapolis for today’s Rangers/Twins game. Josh Smith homered to start the game for the Rangers, but the Twins tied it in the bottom. Jake Burger homered to start the second. Kyle Higashioka drove in a run, and then Wyatt Langford hit the pole for a three-run homer to make it, 6-1 Rangers. Who are these guys in the Rangers’ uniforms?
Ranger starter, Patrick Corbin, loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second. He got out of it undamaged. The broadcasters were talking about him being a hard luck loser of several low-scoring games where the Rangers scored 1 or nothing. They weren’t sure if he knew how to pitch with a lead.
Evan Carter homered to start the fifth and drove in another in the sixth. Burger singled in two more runs and it was 10-1. Adolis Garcia then greeted a new relief pitcher with a huge three-run homer, 13-1. Again, where has this team been all season? Corbin came out in the sixth, after giving up a run and a run charged to him. It was 13-3.
By the seventh, the broadcasters were looking at the sky for expected rain. The Twins walked the bases loaded with two outs. A reliever came in and a pop up on the first pitch ended the Ranger threat. By the eighth, it was drizzling, but not enough to stop play. The Twins put in a position player to pitch the last two innings. The Twins’ pitcher gave up a three-run homer to Sam Hagerty to make it, 16-3. In the bottom, Ezekiel Duran was in pitching for the Rangers and lobbing it in at 45-mph. He had a clean inning. The Rangers scored 16 in the first game of this series. Did Brett Boone, the new pitching coach, finally figure out what to say to these guys?
6-12-25
Craig Kimbrel debuted in the Rangers’ organization for Round Rock tonight against the Chihuahuas. The next night, Jason Heyward played for the pups on rehab from the Padres. Broadcaster Tim Hagerty mentioned Heyward being a World Series hero for the Cubs in 2016. He, of course, gave that inspirational speech during the Game 7 rain delay. Hunter Pence in 2012 may have motivationally speech-ed the Giants to a World Series win. “We few! We band of brothers!” Never underestimate the value of a good speech.
6-14-25
Nobody wanted to win this game! The White Sox played the Rangers this afternoon, while I was over at dad’s watching a NASCAR Xfinity race in Mexico City. (Congratulations to Daniel Suarez for coming from the rear to win in front of his home crowd.) I was listening to the game on radio with the race on TV. The White Sox had a one-run lead late, but the Rangers tied it on a wild pitch and later took the lead on an error. For their part, Ranger relief pitching had two blown saves trying to finish the game off. The Rangers had their first extra innings game of the season and won it, 5-4, on a walk off by Adolis Garcia.
The Chihuahuas finally beat Round Rock tonight, 8-0. However, the highlight of the game occurred during an unexpected pitching change for injury. Broadcaster Tim Hagerty waved off a commercial break to chat with his young son. I think they spent the day at the water park and had a good time. The kid is rapidly maturing over the years as Tim has brought him on. He likes to talk. I think he’s got a future following in his old man’s footsteps.
6-15-25
The most interesting sports event of the day for me happened in line at Subway. I was there with dad for lunch. Coach Hertel from Aggie Volleyball stepped into the line behind me. I greeted him and chatted about Volleyball for a while. He wasn’t with the team last year. I didn’t ask why, but since he was hired back, I assume there were no hard feelings or maybe he had to leave for personal reasons. He did say Tatyana Battle had left the staff to be with her husband in Texas. I was sure she’d be a coach somewhere soon. We both agreed she’s pretty extraordinary.
After talking about last year’s team, I asked Coach Hertel about WKU’s success. He said that they’re in a regional volleyball hotbed of recruiting there. Everybody that doesn’t go to Kentucky or Louisville, ends up at WKU. The coach felt that if Ryleigh Whitekettle had been able to play last year, the Aggies would have beaten them. (I’m gonna say that they would have had a chance.)
The team did recruit a bunch of the hitters for this year. I asked about my sweetheart, Maggie Lightheart. He said they’d given her a scholarship yesterday at a youth camp (in front of her two little sisters). However, she was going earn her playing time with some heavy competition. I told him my little story about OH Tess Fuqua (10-5-24). He found that pretty amusing.
I told him that the team had started last season with five setters and ended up with only having two available by the end of it. The coach said they were going to load up again. He said Claudia Rossi was coming along well. I mentioned sitting with Nellie Reese’s parents at baseball. He was amazed by how different Nellie was from her mom in personality. (Me, too. She’s not even like her dad, either.) However, he did say that Robin has a ferocious competitive streak. I asked about Rilen Garcia. The coach admired how she kept getting into the lineup. He said that she’s so smart and athletic, but is in the wrong sport. If she were in soccer or softball, she’d be a star.
Yeah, spoke for a while. There was only one person working at the Subway and even servicing a few people in line was taking a long time. Coach Hertel finally gave up and left. Dad and I eventually got a footlong to split and returned to his apartment. I’d gone over to watch some more NASCAR. For the first time season, I was able to watch the Cup Series race thanks to the race being on Amazon Prime and having Internet access at dad’s apartment. I got the most pressing question about Prime’s coverage answered: Yes, they show commercials during green flag racing. (It was at least picture-in-picture.)
I had arrived there in the morning just as the F1 Canadian Grand Prix started. Dad was already watching a golf tournament. When I checked back a little later, the race was already over. I don’t know how I lost track of time so badly. The NASCAR race was in Mexico City, as yesterday’s Xfinity race was. This was the first points-paying race for the big series outside the US since the 1950’s. Shane Van Gisbergen dominated the race even with a raging case of Montezuma’s Revenge. I missed about an hour of the race getting that sandwich, though.
Meanwhile on the radio, the Rangers were a 2-1 winners over the White Sox. That was a sweep and the Rangers are now at .500. In interesting baseball news today, the Red Sox swept the Yankees, but traded star Rafael Devers to the Giants for nearly nothing. Broadcaster Tim Hagerty mentioned this during tonight’s Chihuahuas game. He cited Devers’ unwillingness to change positions for the team as the reason. The Chihuahuas beat Round Rock tonight, 7-1. Craig Kimbel struck out the side in the eighth for the Express, and Jason Heyward doubled in a run for the pups in the ninth.
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