8-10-25
It was a busy day consisting of me going out for food, mostly unnecessarily. I decided to try out the barbeque place, Smokey Sensations. A couple of years ago, they moved into the building where the dearly departed, Day’s Hamburgers was. I hadn’t tried them there, but suddenly they moved to a location nearby me. It was really good, especially, surprisingly, the fries. My dad was interested in going, but I didn’t get a hold of him before I left. On my recommendation, he went over there himself with Lamae and enjoyed it as well. The owner was a really nice guy and had the MLB Network on one of the TV’s there.
I was in a bit of a hurry. I was trying to get there and back before the noon Chihuahuas’ game versus the OKC Comets in their series finale. It was 92-degrees in El Paso and probably with some humidity. In the first, Chihuahuas’ hurler, Randy Vasquez, started off with three walks. He got away with only giving up two runs, but on no hits and no errors. It was all self-inflicted damage.
The pups would score a run in the first, but the Comets kept adding on until it was 5-1 in the third. The Chihuahuas managed to score a couple more runs over a couple of innings, but couldn’t get a rally going. It was 6-3 Comets in the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tim Locastro ran around a tag on a bunt single and missed the bag, but was ruled safe. The umps talked it over and called him out. The Chihuahuas’ manager was ejected for arguing the decision. The team did manage to score and then loaded the bases with two out. Nate Mondou took it to a full count and fouled off a couple of pitches, but finally popped out. That was their last real threat. 6-4 Comets was the final. The two teams split the series.
Meanwhile, the Rangers were trying to avoid a home sweep by the Phillies. This game started about a half hour after the Chihuahuas’ game. In spite of what I’d told myself about multi-tasking, I ended up trying to listen to both games at the same time.
It started off fairly well for the Rangers. DH Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer in the first. In the second, Wyatt Langford made a great play in the outfield just missing teammate, Adolis Garcia, for the catch. Adolis would end the inning with another great play. He bobbled a catch and re-caught it with his bare hand.
However, the Phillies would come back and score in the middle innings and take a 3-2 lead. Their centerfielder, Harrison Bader, robbed a home run in the sixth. Corey Seager would nearly homer on another play, but the hard-hit ball would go just foul. The Phillies added an insurance run in the ninth and the Rangers were unable to score in the bottom. Phillies win, 4-2. Oomph. I shouldn’t have bothered hurrying in the morning to get back for these disappointing games and listening to these two games at the same time didn’t really ruin the experience this time.
I went over to the mall for a bit. I’m not sure why. I guess I was looking for a book or a magazine, but ended up with two more Archie digests. They at least look good. They weren’t even carrying the title I was looking for this month. I also came home with dinner (that I shouldn’t have bought), a snow cone, and some cinnamon-roasted nuts. (The guy at the nut stand knows me from how many times I bought nuts from him for Christmas over the last couple of years.) I did my part for the economy today.
Again, I was trying to get back in time for the ESPN Radio game with the Cubs at the Cardinals. Unfortunately, the game was delayed for an hour for rain. I ended up not being that interested when it finally came on. The Cards took a 2-0 lead on home run, which the Cubs answered later with their own two-run homer. There were enough fans of both teams you almost couldn’t tell where they were playing. (It was in St. Louis.)
The station powered down as the sun went down later in the game. The Cardinals drove in a run in the seventh to take the lead, 3-2. Reception started getting really bad. I think the Cubs got two runners on in the ninth, but weren’t able to score. Cardinals win, 3-2. Okay, this wasn’t a great day of baseball for me, but it was interesting anyway.
8-11-25
My only game of the night was the MLB.TV Free Game with the Diamondbacks at the Rangers. It was audio-only, but that’s okay, since I like the Rangers’ radio broadcasters. Unfortunately, Nathan Eovaldi, the Rangers’ starter, had a bad outing. He gave up a solo home run in the second and a pair of two-run homers in third. It was 5-0 AZ just like that. Corey Seager doubled in a run in the third to get the Rangers on the board.
After a couple of scoreless innings, Blaze Alexander homered in the top of the sixth to make it 6-1. (What a name! Seriously.) In the bottom, the broadcasters were talking about Wyatt Langford’s home run drought. He heard them and promptly jacked out a three-run homer to make it, 6-4. (I’ve seen this happen a few times this season. Is there actually a reverse Broadcaster’s Curse?) Adolis Garcia brought in another run on a double play to make it, 6-5.
Some Ozzy Osbourne music was playing in the stadium. Maybe it was somebody’s walkup music or just some something playing during a delay. Broadcaster Jared Sandler remarked, “The Rangers hoping for No More Tears on this homestand.” In the bottom of the ninth, Rowdy Tellez led off with a tying home run, 6-6. Adolis doubled next, but the Rangers failed to move him over correctly, so we went to extras.
To the bottom of the tenth, Seager correctly moved the automatic runner, Sam Hagerty, over to third. Pinch hitter, Jake Burger, brought Sam home with a single to win it, 7-6 Rangers. After the last series with Philadelphia, it was heartening to see the Rangers finally score some runs. On the other hand, the DBacks apparently have a really bad bullpen. At least the Rangers were able to take advantage of that.
8-12-25
The Chihuahuas started their series against the Aces tonight. Broadcaster Tim Hagerty’s mic was excellent there in Reno. I’d never heard him so crisp and clear. Do they have better equipment there?
The pups sent 9 batters to the plate in the second and got 3 runs, but lost Yonathan Perlaza for injury from fouling one off his foot. Tirso Ornelas was back in the lineup and hit a two-run homer. There were a few Padre/Chihuahuas fans there cheering. In the bottom of the second, Cristian Pache hit a two-run homer over scoreboard for the Aces. Statcast lost track of the ball, so there wasn’t a given distance for it. 3-2 Chihuahuas.
Tirso homered again in the third for two runs and Nate Mondou doubled in a run in the fourth. 6-2 Chihuahuas. I got busy and distracted at work. The Chihuahuas ran it up to 9 runs, but the Aces came back with four runs and it was 9-6 Chihuahuas.
We had some drama in the bottom of the ninth. The Aces scored. On another at bat, there was confusion on the count and the umps had to meet to sort it out. Down 2 runs, with two on, and one out, Pache was up against Ron Marinaccio. Mason McCoy made a dive play to catch a hard liner from him. The game ended with a strikeout on a foul tip. The fans got all over the ump for the call. Chihuahuas win 9-7.
8-13-25
We got some afternoon baseball today. The Rangers and the Diamondbacks were playing and the local affiliate was carrying the game this time. Ranger starting pitcher, Merrill Kelly, was facing his old team for the first time. While the Rangers had won on Monday, on Tuesday, Ketel Marte hit a game-winning second deck homer to give the Dbacks a 3-2 win. It was another frustrating night for the Rangers’ offense. Did I hear this stat right? The Rangers haven’t had a grand slam home run this season.
Small oddity in the top of the first, Josh Smith recorded all three putouts in left field. In the bottom, Evan Carter, who’s back in the lineup, drove in Smith to give the Rangers the lead. Marte drove in a run in the third to tie it at 1. Jake Burger hit a two-run shot in the fourth to put the Rangers back up, 3-1.
The Dbacks came back in the fifth. Geraldo Perdomo homered and three more hard hits followed. Ezequiel Duran threw out Marte at the plate to end the inning. 3-2 Rangers. The Rangers threatened in the sixth, but a double play ended the inning. In the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers had a two-out rally. Burger singled after hitting a foul that dropped between three fielders. Josh Jung doubled him in after the ball got past Corbin Carroll in the outfield. 4-2 Rangers.
Things took a sour turn after that. Phil Maton was in for a four-out save. He gave up a solo homer in top of ninth with two outs. After letting on two runners, Marte was up. Once again, he hit a big homer and brought in three runs. In the bottom, a sliding catch ended the game. I could hear boos from the Arlington crowd, as the broadcasters gave the final score, 6-4 Diamondbacks. This was pretty disappointing.
As much as I was praising the broadcast last night, the Chihuahuas’ broadcast wasn’t listenable tonight. There some kind of echo effect going on. At some point, I had the thought that maybe I should try the Aces’ broadcast. Duh. That worked fine.
I joined the game in the seventh and hadn’t missed much. Luis Campusano had a solo home run in the sixth and that was the only score. The Chihuahuas added on to that. They loaded the bases with one out. Tim Locastro singled in a run, Tyler Wade singled in two, and Will Wagner singled in a run. Finally, Campusano had a two-run homer off the batter’s eye. It was 7-0 Chihuahuas.
I appreciated the Aces’ announcer. He was enthusiastic. He reported on some puppies resting on the berm after running around for most of Bark at the Park night. In the bottom of the seventh, the Aces scored on a double and got another run on a sacrifice to make it, 7-2. The crowd went wild. The announcer gave the standings earlier and the Aces are a last place team, which would likely mean they’re pretty bad. There was a promo for Throwback pricing tomorrow night with $2 Coors Light. This might explain lot.
The pups didn’t stop. In the eighth, Clay Dungan drove in a run and Wade singled in two more. A reliever came in and threw one pitch and got a double play to get out of the inning, 10-2. The announcer was anticipating a position player coming in for the ninth and, indeed, the Aces’ second baseman was pitching in the ninth. He loaded the bases with no outs. He finally got the first out on a sac fly. “Painful, painful ending to this game,” said the announcer. The position player only ended up giving up 2 runs. The Aces did score in the ninth and most of the crowd still seemed to be there. Chihuahuas win, 12-3.
In other news, the Twins’ sale has been canceled. Current ownership brought in some new partners and decided to keep the team. The fans aren’t exactly thrilled with this development.
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