6-4-25
The MLB.TV Free Game tonight was the Rangers versus Rays. Great. I was again struck by the differences in facilities between Sacramento yesterday and Steinbrenner Field today. Neither are Major League facilities, but the stadium in Sacramento is a dump by comparison. The stadium in Tampa Bay isn’t even a minor league stadium, while Sacramento is a Triple-A facility.
We had some strangeness early on and some of it was uncomfortable. In the first, Wyatt Langford hurdled the first baseman, who was bending over on a grounder. Langford somehow avoided the tag and touched down on top of the base. The ump ruled him “safe,” and then called him “out” on a tag. It was an easy challenge and he was safe. In the bottom of the first, Evan Carter in centerfield, just back from injury, got hit on the nose on a home run ball that hit the batter’s eye over him.
In the second, Rays catcher, Matt Thaiss, took a foul ball to his . . . well, he was squeezing a few tears afterward. “There’s no crying in baseball,” is just a line from a movie. There is crying in baseball. I saw a week ago or so (I should have written this at the time), a long time minor league player, Ronny Simon, was called up to the Marlins and committed four errors in a game, before finally being taken off the field in tears. His teammates supported him and even Fernando Tatis Jr. on the opposing team sent him some encouragement. It seems like the only times you’re not supposed to cry are if you lose or if you’re injured. Well, I’ve seen the kids cry at the Little League World Series and players cry with some injuries, so tears are gonna to fall when they will.
Kumar Rocker, back from rehab, was pitching for the Rangers. In the third, he was late covering first and the runner was safe. Rocker had his back to field after the play and was angry and forgot there were runners on second and third, who both scored. It was 5-0 Rays at that point.
The Rangers weren’t finished. In the fifth, Jonah Heim hit a two-run homer. The Rays’ left fielder just mistimed his jump to get it and was upset with himself. The Rays were making some great plays on defense in the game. The Rangers scored again to make it 5-3 and their relief corps held the Rays down. Rangers reliever, Jacob Webb, had an epic 15-pitch battle with Jake Mangum. Webb finally got the K on an offspeed. In the top of the ninth, an error let on a runner and he was driven in on a double. With the tying run on second, Corey Seager grounded out to end the game, 5-4 Rays. Well, at least the Rangers scored in this game.
In the Chihuahuas’ pregame show, broadcaster Tim Hagerty waxed poetic about the movie, Bull Durham. I’d seldom heard him so nostalgic during a game. He praised the layer of authenticity in the movie. I liked the first half of the movie, but didn’t care for the rest.
Early in today’s Chihuahuas game, manager Pete Zamora thrown out of game. He was arguing after a Chihuahuas batter claimed he was hit. The batter tried to take off his gloves to show the mark, but wasn’t allowed to. The batter ended up singling anyway. The pups had a 14-batter, 9-run fifth and beat the Isotopes, 14-4, after losing in extras yesterday. During the game, Tim mentioned that the Rockies completed a three-game sweep of the Marlins. That puts their record at 12-50.
6-5-25
Tonight’s MLB.TV Free Game began after a three-hour rain delay. There was just a small scattering of hard core fans in Pittsburgh to see the Pirates play the Astros. They would be loud during the game. Unfortunately, many of them were Astros fans, who didn’t have anything else to do while out-of-town. It was announced to the fans there that they’d get a free ticket to another game for their persistence.
I was pleased to see former Aggie great, Nick Gonzales, back in the Pirates’ line up. He’d end up having a tough day, still getting back into shape. The players on both sides were swinging away with the pitchers throwing strikes, so the game clipped along quickly. A double and two groundouts brought in a Pirate run in the third. An Astros solo homer tied it in the fourth. By the seventh, more rain was coming down and it was after midnight there. The Astros put up a bunch of runs late to win it, 8-2. The Pirate batters had 16 strikeouts.
In El Paso, the Chihuahuas were playing behind the Isotopes, 4-3 in the seventh. Albuquerque threatened to add more with the bases loaded and no outs. The pups got out of it with a strikeout and a double play. In the bottom, the Chihuahuas loaded the bases with one out, but didn’t score either. Down 6-3 in the bottom of ninth with the bases loaded and one out, Mike Brosseau got the crowd going with a massive foul ball that would have been a grand slam. He settled for a single that drove in a run, but another runner was thrown out trying to score. 6-4 Isotopes was the final.
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