7-25-25
Another shoe drops. Ryan McMahon goes to the Yankees for prospects from the Rockies. That’s par for the course for Colorado.
I was listening to the Chihuahuas’ game against the Space Cowboys tonight, but not really into it. An MLB.TV extra innings Free Game came up with the Diamondbacks and the Pirates tied at zero in the tenth. I flipped to it, though it was audio-only.
Corbin Carroll would score for the DBacks in the eleventh after being sac’d over twice. I got to hear Aggie great, Nick Gonzales, bat for the Pirates in the bottom, but it was an out. AZ wins, 1-0. Don’t feel bad, Nick. The rest of the team did no better, as they only mustered one hit for ten innings. I heard during the game that the Tigers lost again. This is getting worrying. They were playing the Blue Jays, who are leading the AL East.
I was also busy at work, but finally tuned back to the Chihuahuas. They were down 4-0 after two innings, which was probably why I lost interest, but came back to tie it in the next two innings. Nobody scored for the next five innings.
It was still tied in the bottom of the ninth. Clay Dungan walked and stole second. He wasn’t able to advance on a ground out, but attempted to steal third and was thrown out. The large crowd was really into it, as the game went to extras. Eduarniel Nunez worked around a leadoff walk in the tenth with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout. In the bottom, Forrest Wall drove in the automatic runner for a 5-4 Chihuahuas win. The crowd there went nuts.
7-26-25
This was pretty much a wasted day. I was going to visit dad and watch the NASCAR Xfinity race. Instead, the station was off the air all day. Instead, I tried to get an old computer working to play an old game on it, but couldn’t get it to work. At one point, it crashed so hard, the computer turned itself off and wouldn’t come back on until I’d unplugged it and plugged it back in.
What did work today was my trip to Raising Canes for lunch. I’d wanted some for the last two weeks. I’d had recent discussions with two different people who didn’t like Cane’s. I question their taste. This just made me want to go. What also worked today was the baseball.
The Braves were visiting the Rangers in the evening. Ranger starter, Kumar Rocker, worked into trouble and loaded the bases in the first. He got two outs, but gave up a single. A run scored, but the trail runner was thrown out at the plate on appeal. They scored again in the second to make it, 2-0 Braves.
The Rangers struck back in the bottom of the second. Adolis Garcia was driven in by Evan Carter on a triple . . . err, double . . . err, triple. (The scoring changed a couple of times on the play causing the broadcasters some consternation.) Josh Jung, back in the lineup, tied it at 2 on a single. With Corey Seager on, Marcus Siemen was hit on the head by a pitch. He stayed in. (This would prove fortunate later.) The Braves’ pitcher was still erratic and a wild pitch moved them up, where Adolis cashed them in to make it, 4-2 Rangers.
In the fourth, the Braves scored to make it, 4-3. In the bottom, the Rangers loaded the bases with two outs. Siemen got some revenge for being hit, when he hit the pitcher on a comebacker. Unfortunately, the ball deflected to a fielder for an out. Marcus slammed his helmet down in frustration. Also frustrating, was an out-of-town scoring update. The Tigers lost again to the Blue Jays. Their record is 1-10 lately. I think the Blue Jays may have the best record in baseball, taking over for the Brewers in that category.
The Braves loaded the bases in the fifth with one out. Jung triggered a double play at third to end the inning. The Braves weren’t done. Michael Harris homered to tie it at 4 in the sixth. He was 3 for 3, only needing a single for the cycle. Jon Gray was also back with the Rangers. He gave up that homer, but struck out the side in the eighth.
Harris tripled for start the ninth. That was his fourth extra base hit. (Forget the single.) Wyatt Langford dove for the ball in center and it got past him. The broadcasters were not down on him for going for it, as he’d been making those plays all season. Harris was sac’d in to give the Braves a 5-4 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jung worked a walk. I hope Ranger fans are happy to have him back after this game. Sam Hagerty came in as a pinch runner and stole second. Jonah Heim doubled him in. That was the sixteenth blown save this season for the Braves. A DP line out ended the inning, but it was now tied at 5. In the bottom of the tenth, Marcus got his final revenge by driving in the winning run. 6-5 Rangers. I was a winner, too. The station stayed on until the game was over. They usually power down as the sun goes down.
One game at a time today. I then turned over to check out the Chihuahuas’ game with the Space Cowboys in progress. It was 2-1 pups in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, they got some insurance with Forrest Wall hitting a two-run double. There was a play at the plate on the trail runner, but the ball got away from the catcher. The Chihuahuas added another to make it, 5-1. The Space Cowboys had a bases loaded threat in the eighth, but the Chihuahuas got out of it and preserved the 5-1 win.
7-27-25
Happy Birthday! It isn’t my birthday until later in the week, but dad wanted to do it today. His neighbor, Lamae bought a huge lunch for us this afternoon from Bubba’s. It was good pizza and garlic knots and she also bought dessert. I couldn’t even eat more than a couple of bites of a small brownie cake.
Dad gave me a gift: a new iPad. This was probably the most expensive gift he’s ever given me. I’d also told him not to buy it for me a couple of weeks ago when he asked. It might go back. It might stay at dad’s apartment. We’ll see. (I wish he’d just gotten me a couple of baseball display cubes like I’d asked for.) Yesterday, I mentioned my old computer wasn’t working. Later in the evening, my cell phone crashed and no longer works. A new iPad isn’t my chief technology concern right now.
We were also all together to watch the Savannah Banana’s game this afternoon on the CW. I think they were both pretty skeptical about this spectacle. It was a full house there in the Philadelphia. Ominous large clouds were in the background, however. There was a half-hour pregame and the rules for Banana Ball were presented. Mostly, they’re to speed up the game or make it more exciting. From watching, there were two play reviews, and though they were limited to only a minute each, they did stop the game cold. They might want to get rid of them or have entertainment ready for them.
I’m obviously not doing play-by-play on this. I’ll just offer a few observations. Many of the guys were wearing their shirts open. In fact, one pitcher took his shirt off for one inning. One of the guys made an entrance and came down from the crowd. A woman appeared to hand him a note, which I wouldn’t doubt contained a phone number. In other words, Banana Ball seems to have a pretty good appeal to women. Many of the guys can dance. That gets a woman’s attention, too. Actually, one of the best dancers on the field was the ump. He worked it in between pitches.
Several players did trick plays in the field, mostly successfully and sometimes not. There were stats on them at the end of the game. They said they’re working on a way of working them into the actual scoring. The best stunt for this game was entirely unintentional. One of the players made his entrance from the outfield. The cameraman that was walking backward covering the player, tripped on the mound, and him and his camera went tumbling. The broadcasters laughed their heads off and promised to never let the guy forget this.
The rain came in the fourth. One of the emcees announced the rules for rain delays, one of which was, “No complaining; complaining sucks.” The quick delay ended with a princess singing a rain delay song to restart the game. The Bananas were out in front, but their opponent, the Texas Tailgaters, scored out of the break. One of them broke out a fiddle and performed at home plate with the team.
In the sixth, the broadcasters spoke to a pitcher, while he was working on the mound. The famous Stilts Man came to bat. Dad and Lamae found this guy amazing. In the eighth, with less than an hour left on the clock, there was a second rain delay. At this point, the game was official and was called, 4-2 Bananas. Philly Fans finally showed up and booed this result, but otherwise they probably got what they came for.
This turned out to be my only game of the day. I’d brought my portable radio, but thought the better of trying to listen to it at Lamae’s apartment with the game on TV. The Rangers won that one, 8-1, over the Braves. Another encouraging score I got was the Tigers winning, 10-4, over the Blue Jays.
The most interesting baseball news happened yesterday and I was unaware of it though I did hear about it. Ranger broadcasters, Matt Hicks and Eric Nadel, had a discussion about whether there were more 4-home run games or more 6-run games by a single player in a game. (6-run games are more rare.) I’d missed why they were talking about this. A’s rookie, Nick “Big Amish” Kurtz, went 6 for 6 with 4 home runs and he scored 6 runs in the A’s 15-3 win over the Astros. Fudge! (Only I didn’t say, “Fudge!”) This may have been the best offensive performance ever in a baseball game. Looking in my season preview magazine, Kurtz was #2 of the A’s Top 10 prospects.
There was a short storm after we left Lamae’s apartment. Apparently, it was more intense and longer in El Paso. Tim Hagerty came on the radio to announce the lineups for tonight’s Chihuahuas’ game. He came back from the break and said they were putting the game in delay and the players were taken off the field. 50 minutes later, Tim came back on and said they’d called the game. The Chihuahuas win the series with the Space Cowboys, 4-1.
I tried to watch a Mexican League game on TV. The Chihuahua Dorados team was playing. They have the rear end advertising for Carl’s Jr. on their uniforms. I was checking in and out of the game and suddenly halfway through, the programming went to a Sunday church service. I don’t know what happened there. Maybe another rain delay? Apparently so, since the game came back on a couple of hours later. Amazingly, the large crowd was still there and the game was going to run well past midnight. These guys are more hardcore than I am, as I went to bed.
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