7-6-25
Is this Day Four of Baseball Palooza, aka Independence Day Weekend? If I’d been disappointed by the relative paucity of Baseball content on Memorial Day Weekend, this has more than made up for it. No hot dogs today. I talked dad into going out for lunch. We had a coupon-induced choice of chicken sandwiches at either KFC or Jack-in-the-Box. We chose Jack, since we hadn’t had them before. Bottom line: KFC’s sandwiches are better and their fries are much better, but the Jack clerk allowed a substitution for a chocolate shake for dad without extra charge. Thank you, Jack.
The impossible choices continued back at dad’s apartment. For the Amazon Prime free games there were two obvious contenders to watch. The Yankees were playing the Mets and the Tigers were playing the INDIANS! (Would you prefer me calling them what they are, “The Skinsuit Indians?” They have the same colors and style, but a different name.) I deliberated on this for a minute before picking the Tigers.
Good choice. (Although the other game was good, too. Some of the other games were interesting, as well, and consequential. The Nationals lost today and their World Series winning manager and GM were both fired.) Tarik Skubal was pitching today for the Tigers. I didn’t know this ahead of time, but I knew it was a possibility. This was the Cleveland broadcast, but you almost wouldn’t know it from the way they were glazing Skubal. These guys were definitely from the Vin Scully School of Broadcasting, where you know more about the opposition than they know about themselves. They were giving detailed technical explanations of Skubal’s pitches.
Regardless, the Indians were on a 9-game losing streak and desperate for a win. Gavin Williams was matching Skubal. He only gave up a walk early, while Skubal was giving up nothing. Our old hirsute friend, Austin Hedges, was catching for him. He’s batting all of .107, but is there to call a good game.
In the top of the third, Steven Kwan made a great play jumping into the left field wall for a catch. In the bottom of the fourth, he got the Indians’ first hit. He beat out an infield hit before Skubal could cover first. In the fifth, the Tigers managed a bases loaded threat with two walks and a single with two outs. Williams got out of it with a strikeout.
Bottom of the fifth, Parker Meadows (love that name) made a great jumping catch in center for the Tigers. The broadcasters were talking to retired player, Austin Jackson, at the time. He played for both teams and had made a spectacular catch in the ninth of that near perfect game for Armando Galarraga. Bottom of the sixth, Kwan is on via a blooper. It’s the Indians’ second hit of the game. He’s again left stranded.
For the top of the seventh, Williams was out after throwing about 100 pitches. Skubal was still in and had only thrown about 70. In the bottom of the inning, Angel Martinez doubled with two outs. A foul tip strikeout ended the inning. The crowd booed. Are we in the Philadelphia suddenly? Meanwhile, I got a scoring update from NYC. Aaron Judge had homered and the Yankees were up, 5-2.
You’ll notice I haven’t given a score on this game. In the bottom of the eighth, Skubal was out. He’d given up 3 hits, no runs, and had 10 strikeouts. Hedges got a hit with one out and was replaced with a pinch runner. That hit was statistically unlikely and that sub would have consequences later. After a walk, there was Kwan again. He doubled in the runner. The crowd of 31k finally had something to cheer. A new pitcher came in. He got a strikeout. Slugger Jose Ramirez was given a pass to load the bases, but Carlos Santana was out on a popup. 1-0 Indians.
For the top of the ninth, closer Emmanuel Clase came in. He hit the first batter, but then got a fly out. A pinch runner was called out trying to steal second, but the call was overturned. A ground out off mound followed. The runner advanced to third. There was a crowd shot. They were on their feet. There were a few Indians shirts mixed in.
And then the unexpected. A wild pitch went through replacement catcher, Bo Naylor’s, legs to the backstop. (Would Hedges have stopped that one? Actually, Bo is the regular catcher. Hedges is the backup.) The runner trotted home to tie it. A looking strikeout ended the inning. 1-1. One of the broadcasters said, “We go to extras . . . err . . . the bottom of the ninth.” I think he was questioning the team’s ability to score and assuming the worst.
Well, Angel Martinez doubled to start the inning. The next batter bunted him over to third. Oh wait, that would have been the game winning call. Instead, the batter swung away on every pitch and popped up. Why were the broadcasters not questioning this? Nope, the Indians didn’t score. Now we go to extras.
We were in the tenth. The Yankees and the Mets were in the seventh with the pinstripes up, 6-4. We were all surprised for a final time by what happened next. The inning began with an automatic runner and the first batter singled. Trey Sweeney then hit a big foul ball to left . . . that hit the foul pole! Three-run homer! The next batter got on via an overturned call, the third of the game.
A “Let’s go Tigers!” chant went through the park, as Indians fans started deserting. There were plenty of Detroit fans there. Riley Greene then hit a two-run homer. That’s six runs before even the first out. A comebacker then hit the pitcher and he had to come out adding injury to insult. The Tigers finished the inning up, 7-1. Reminder, this game was scoreless through seven-and-a-half innings.
In the bottom, Kwan, our player of the game, drove in a run on a sacrifice. The remaining Indians fans sarcastically cheered. 7-2 Tigers was the final. This was the game of the weekend, as far as I’m concerned. Sorry to the Indians. That was a hard luck loss for their tenth in a row.
The Yankees broke their 6-game losing streak by beating the Mets today, 6-4. I turned over to that game right after and only saw part of the bottom of the ninth. I was there in time to see Mets manager, Carlos Mendoza, get ejected for violently arguing balls and strikes. The Mets announcers thought he was right. (Upon replay, he was right.)
The Queens crowd was capacity and into it. A “Let’s go Mets!” chant broke out. Mr. Met was taking in the game from behind home plate. He had a fan was fanning a young lady next to him. A strikeout ended the game. Juan Soto was left on deck. This maybe makes up for the Yankees for a story that I read earlier. Judge had gotten hit in the face yesterday on a ball tossed by a teammate. He was wearing a band aid over the cut.
Decisions, decisions. Well, I like the Rockies, so I went with their game with the White Sox. It was 4-4 in the fifth. I was there in time to see a Rockies runner thrown out at the plate, but no problem. Michael Toglia came up and hit a two-run homer. The Rockies scored 4 in the inning and took a 6-4 lead.
There was a stirring rendition of God Bless America for the Stretch by an airman. Seriously, I’ve never this song so many times over three days. Mickey Moniak got a hit in the bottom of the seventh. The Rockies’ announcers broke into a half-hearted, “Oh, Mickey, you’re so fine.” I guess this is a running gag. They managed to load the bases, but Ryan McMahon struck out.
Rockies backup catcher, Hunter Goodman, was named to the All-Star Game reserves during the inning. This was then announced to the crowd and the broadcasters talked to him in the next inning. Meanwhile, a hand held camera followed a souvenir helmet with ice cream that was delivered to a hardworking cameraman covering the field. In the ninth, the broadcasters were discussing a possible injury, “There’d be some tears for that. That could break your wrists and hurt your feelings.” 6-4 Rockies win.
There was one free game left still going on. It was between the Pirates at the Mariners. It was in the seventh, with the M’s up, 1-0, on a Randy Arozarena solo homer. The M’s were wearing their faux 90’s throwbacks: blue with gold trim on a cream colored uniform. They are extremely sharp, but I question the lack of player names on the back. I barely tolerate the Yankees and Red Sox doing it. (For the Yankees, it’s because no name on the back is going to be bigger than the name on the front. I don’t know what the Red Sox excuse is.)
It was a probably rare cloudless day in Seattle with the roof open. A full house was present. Mariner pitcher, George Kirby, was taken out after giving a hit. He left with 9 strikeouts. The next batter hit a little infield popup. It was dropped by the second baseman. An out was called and I thought it was an infield fly, but the ump came on and declared it an “intentional drop.” Batter out and dead ball. It’s different from an infield fly because the fielder actually caught it. Learn something new about baseball every day.
I got to see Aggie great, Nick Gonzales, in the ninth, unfortunately it was for a strikeout. Mariners win, 1-0. Kirby outdueled Paul Skenes today. Even more surprising, the Mariners had swept the series with three shutouts. This was after the Pirates had swept their previous series against the Cardinals with three shutouts. The M’s broadcasters said this was the first time this had happened in MLB history. I’ll take their word for it.
I returned home. Dad was likely glad to be rid of me after three days of non-stop baseball. I didn’t make a bigger fan out of him. I might have turned him into an anti-fan.
While waiting for a final couple of games on the radio, I tuned in briefly to a US/Mexico championship soccer match. They were playing Houston, so it wasn’t a home game for the US. (It wouldn’t be a home game for the Americans if they were playing on the moon.) There was a heavy smoke over the field from an indoor fireworks display, which I missed. Even with the US team up, 1-0, early, I wasn’t into it. Of course, the Mexicans scored 2 and won, 2-1. The US soccer team is, as usual, a bunch of losers, and Mexico still sucks no matter how many soccer games they win.
The Chihuahuas did not come on, except for a quick message that the game was in a weather delay in Albuquerque. I couldn’t get the Rangers game with the Padres to come in. I’d have to wait until after sundown and try another station. I tried to keep monitoring the Chihuahuas, but after 90 minutes, I missed the start by maybe 20 minutes.
By the time tuned in, the Isotopes were up 3-0 lead in the first. Also, as the sun went down and the radio station powered down, I was getting lousy reception. I kind of mentally tuned out. Broadcaster Tim Hagerty reported that the Padres and Rangers were tied at 1 in the fourth. A couple of Chihuahuas were in the game. He then reported it was 3-1 Padres a minute later. He was later confused that the score was then 2-1. The Rangers’ broadcast would later explain that a run was taken off upon review.
In the fifth, the Chihuahuas finally scored, as Mason McCoy drove in 2 to make it, 4-2. That’s about it until the ninth. With a runner on, a high fly ball was knocked down by the wind. It would have tied it if it had gone out. Isotopes win, 4-2.
I found the Rangers game and unlike last night, this time it was coming in. Actually, it was better reception than the Chihuahuas, so I should have tried earlier. All I heard was the last couple of outs, as the Padres won, 4-1. You could hear the sellout 40k there in San Diego. From the postgame, Fernando Tatis Jr. did everything and was the hero.
How many games was that over a four-day period? [Edit: It was 26.] This might beat my previous record from Memorial Day 2019. Am I feeling guilt and shame for “wasting” my three-day weekend? If I can figure out what I would have done instead of this, maybe. Am I tired of baseball after all of this? No, I’m hoping I can watch more tomorrow.
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