Baseball Journal August: Chico Traded!

8-4-26

Tonight’s MiLB Free game was the Ashville Tourists versus the Winston-Salem Dash.    An hour delay for rain may have scared away the crowd.    It was an okay stadium.    It was kind of small looking, as it appeared to be a neighborhood park surrounded by green hills with apartment buildings in the background.

Roch Cholowsky, the number one pick of the draft last month by the White Sox, had just been called up to the High-A Dash.    He struck out in the first.    In the third, he got on via a fielder’s choice.    He did hit a 110mph foul ball.   

I think they had video problems.  The game dropped out.    I was busy at work and in and out of the room.  I was watching in the ninth with the score tied at 2 when the video dropped again.    I rejoined with Tourists up 5-2 in tenth for the final out.

The Reno Aces were trolling the El Paso Chihuahuas before their series tonight.    For the Trade Deadline, they claimed they’d traded for Chico, the pup’s mascot.    They already have a bat-retrieving dog, Lambo.

Every time the Aces scored, there was a honking clown horn that you can hear clearly on the broadcast. It was another Chihuahuas’ loss, 6-3.    They did rally in the ninth down by 4 and had the tying run on base.

8-5-26

We had a day game on the radio, the Giants versus the Rangers.    Ezequiel Duran was the hero last night in the walk off win to break a 6-game losing streak.   He calls himself, “The Solution.”     The Rangers had lost the lead twice in the game.  This occurred after the “worst game of the season” according to the manager.    The team got over being swept by the Astros and the Trade Deadline disaster with management trying to get rid their best players.       

Ranger starter, Cody Bradford, was back from rehab from 2024 today.    Brandon Nimmo drove in Wyatt Langford for a 1-0 Ranger lead in the third.  Broadcaster Matt Hicks was lamenting the Orioles being depleted from trades on Monday.  I don’t think that’s entirely the case.  They still have good players.    In the fourth, Justin Fosque tripled in two runs and Elias Diaz brought in a run as part of 4 consecutive hits that gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead.    Bradford came out in the fifth after a scoreless outing.

   

Later in the game, the guys talked to Hunter Pence in the Giants’ booth.    Hicks had worked with him before in Corpus Christi with the Hooks.  The final was 6-0 Rangers and they took 2 of 3 from the Giants.    They were doing some scoreboard watching of the Astros’ game against the Blue Jays.    They were rooting on the Jays, who did win.    It was a nice quick game that I could hear all of before going to work.

Tonight’s MiLB Free Game was the Single-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels versus the Bradenton Marauders in the Gulf Coast League.    The stadium had palm trees behind the outfield wall, along with a boardwalk and a vacant lot next door. The guys in A-ball are a bit raw, but boy did they hustle.    I wasn’t really able to watch this game, though.

   

The Chihuahuas continued their series in Reno.  The team released Dustin Harris after he was Player of the Week.  There wasn’t an explanation.  Broadcaster Tim Hagerty thought they were maybe giving Harris a chance to sign on with another team.

It was 7-3 Aces in the ninth.    The Chihuahuas got the tying run to the plate and scored two.    A close play at first ended the game, 7-5 Aces.    The pup’s manager was angry and argued.   They didn’t show a replay at stadium either it was a bad call by the ump or because it no longer mattered.  It was the Chihuahuas’ eighth loss in a row.

8-6-26

The Altoona Curve played the Lake Erie Sea Wolves in tonight’s Double-A action.  It was a full house on a Thursday night.    The highlight of the game was a couple of tomatoes sitting down the third base line.    They must of have been player wives or girlfriends.    The stadium didn’t have outfield seats, but had enclosed suites over a high left field wall.    There was housing behind the field.    Apart from the girls, I wasn’t entirely paying much attention to the game.    I noticed one of the team’s third basemen was short-arming his throws to first.    He was getting outs.

There was a bonus Triple-A Free game with the Rainiers at the Aviators in Las Vegas.    Dallas Keuchel was the starter for the Aviators trying to make a comeback.    He didn’t make it out of the first after 3 walks, 1 run, and 45 pitches.    Attendance was 4,986, even with $2 beer night.    10-6 Rainiers was the final.

I couldn’t get the Chihuahuas versus the Aces over the Internet.    It occurred to me to try the Aces’ feed.    I liked the guy doing the call.    He sounds like a stereotypical jock, but is professional and doesn’t take himself too seriously.    On the team’s Twitter feed, he’s going around the PCL and trying out the Kid’s Zones at various ballparks.    It was pretty funny.

In the bottom of the sixth, there was 1 out and the bases loaded with Aces.    The EP pitcher couldn’t find the strikezone.    He came back with 2 strikeouts, but it was still 6-4 Reno, which would be the final score.    The pups lost their ninth in a row.

A couple of other things.    The announcer mentioned Nick Pratto on the Chihuahuas was in the Little League World Series for Huntington Beach, which had been mentioned on an El Paso broadcast, but the Aces’ guy added that Pratto had won the championship with a walk off single against Japan.    He also gave some scores at the end of the game, “Let’s take a look around our favorite league.    Sugar Land loses, America wins.”

8-7-26

It was my second night listening to Reno Aces’ radio broadcast, since I couldn’t get Chihuahuas’.    It was Paw Patrol Night and would be Cars Night tomorrow with a truck giveaway Saturday night.    In other baseball news, Mrs. Met was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.   

The Chihuahuas homered twice in the second to take a 3-2 lead.    The third inning, Ethan Salas hit a 3-run homer to make it 8-2.    That inning had six hits in a row and then an error.    In the bottom of the sixth, suddenly the Aces were back in the game.    They loaded the bases with no outs.    A run was walked in.    After a change of pitchers, a single drove in 2, but the pups held on and won, 8-6.    They finally got tired of losing and broke their losing streak.

During the game, there was a visit from the team’s marketing guy.    He was promoting Cosmic Baseball.    It’s baseball in the dark? The stadium will be lit in black light with the players, baselines, bases, and balls all covered with reflective paint.    Also in November on Black Friday, they were going to set up a massive Christmas display on the field.    Very interesting.   

There was a Single-A Free Game on between the Great Lakes Loons at the Dayton Dragons.    I wasn’t able to watch much, but it looked like another lovely stadium.

8-8-26

I was interested in today’s Orioles versus Rangers matchup.    It was Kyle Bradish versus Jacob deGrom pitching.    While I’m more of a Rangers fan, I’m happy to hear the exploits of former Aggie great, Bradish.

  

In the second, broadcaster Jared Sandler was talking about how good Bradish is at holding on runners.    Bradish promptly threw the ball away on a pickoff throw to first for a 2-base error.    That one’s on Sandler.    Ezequiel Duran may have hurt himself running on that play, but he dove home on a fielder’s choice tie it at 1.    Gunnar Henderson wasn’t able to get Duran at home on the play.    On another play, Evan Carter scored on another fielder’s choice and this one was on a bad throw by Gunnar.    Bradish was near 100 pitches in sixth when he left with 2 unearned runs (granted one off his error).    Corey Seager hit a 3-run homer in the eighth for a 5-1 Rangers win.

For tonight’s game between the Chihuahuas and Reno, Dustin Harris was back on the team.    I guess no one picked him up and the pups were glad to take him back.    He tripled in a run in the third. Ethan Salas drove in another run to make it, 5-1 Chihuahuas.    In the fourth, a Reno grand slam tied it at 5.    A sac fly by Nick Solak in the eighth brought in Harris, who had taken third on an error, 6-5.    The pups put across 3 insurance runs in the ninth for a 9-5 win.   

Actually, the big news today was that I actually had a date this afternoon with a sweet, pretty girl named Zanaya.    We went to the craft faire at the mall and went to Bubba’s for lunch and had a pizza.    It was very nice.    Little wonder I wasn’t really into writing a detailed recap for these games.

8-9-26

Plenty of baseball today.    I was invited to Buffalo Wild Wings to see Jake Misiorowski and the Brewers against the Twins by my neighbor, Monty.    It was a full house there in Milwaukee for the game, maybe not so much at the restaurant.    I had a hamburger and it wasn’t that great, which might explain the lack of patrons.

Former Aggie great, Joey Oritz, was not playing for the Brewers today.    He wasn’t in uniform, so he might have been injured.    The Miz looked sharp early.    Jackson Chourio hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first.

On another TV, the Cubs were playing the Royals.    There was a Cubs fan cheering in the back after the Cubs loaded the bases in the first, though they only got a run out of it.    Back in Milwaukee in the second, a Twins player tried to bunt a 100+ mph pitch from the Miz and thought the better of it. Behind the plate, the ump kept missing calls on high strikes.    It looked bad and it was surprising the players weren’t challenging more.

In the third, the crowd applauded the Miz after his first strikeout of the inning, which was his 200-th of the season.    In the fifth, a Twins’ solo home run tied it at 1.    In the bottom, Jake Bauers answered with a solo home run to give the Brewers back the lead.    The ball seemed to be carrying really well with the roof closed.    (I think it was raining outside there.)    The Brewers added another run to make it, 3-1.

In the sixth, after the first walk given up by the Miz, he yielded 2-run homer to tie it.    Luis Lara made a tremendous leaping catch in center at the wall to end the inning without further damage.    Lara even got a round of applause from the people in the restaurant.   

I checked up on the Rangers/Orioles game I was missing.    I probably could have asked for them to put it put on a TV, but didn’t want to be more overstimulated than I already was.    (They had an A’s/Red Sox game on also.    The A’s won, 4-3.)    It was 5-0 O’s in the third, so I wasn’t missing much.    (The Orioles won, 10-5.)    Of note elsewhere, I saw that the Yankees and the Braves were scoreless in the seventh.   

Also on a TV was ESPN8, “The Ocho.”    Okay, honestly, I didn’t know this was a real channel.    I’d heard of it, but I thought it was an in-joke.    What were they showing?    There was competitive dodgeball and a game where people were shooting padded arrows at each other.    Then there was some kid’s competition, which I could only describe as being something that might have been broadcast from Epstein Island.    This TV was directly in front of me.    I couldn’t really avoid it.    I could only be uncomfortable.                   

The Brewers lost a couple of base runners that were caught stealing, which kept them from taking the lead.    In the sixth in Kansas City, it was 7-2 Cubs over the Royals.    Bobby Witt Jr. got caught in a ridiculous rundown that took like 5 throws to get him.    Witt got his steps in today.    The Cubs fan came over to chat with Monty.    Their two teams are fighting over the NL Central.    The guy was wearing a Kyle Tucker Cubs jersey.    I chose not to ask him about it.    It might be a sore spot, since Tucker is now on the Dodgers. The Cubs won, 10-2.

One of the TV’s started showing the Braves at the Yankees.    It was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth and went to the tenth.    In the top, Michael Harris II drove the in the Braves’ auto runner to make it, 2-1 Braves.    A strikeout and caught stealing double played ended the inning.    There was no drama in the bottom and the Braves won it.

Back to our prime game, in the seventh, Jiwan Bae got his first MLB hit running out a beautiful bunt, but wasn’t driven in.    In the eighth, new Brewer pitcher, Abner Uribe, threw 8 balls in a row, made an error on a comebacker, loaded the bases, but got out of it.

By this point, Monty was on his third beer.    He was getting loud and a bit handsy with the waitress.    (As a gregarious 70-year old, this only elicits a giggle.)    There were shots of young people at ballpark keeping scorecards.    These Brewer fans are good baseball fans.    The Brewers threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but it went to the tenth.    I could not stay any longer, since I was supposed to see dad this afternoon.    The Brewers won it in the tenth, 4-3, with Bauers driving in the winning run.

Over at dad’s, I listened to the Chihuahuas playing Reno while helping with the laundry.    The pups were up 4-3 in the seventh.    After 3 walks, a triple by Carlos Rodriguez scoring them, and an Ethan Salas’ 2-run homer, it was 7-3 Chihuahuas.    Joe Musgrove, on rehab, started the game with 3+ innings and 1 run.    JP France from the Astros, who is the second JP in bullpen, closed it out, 7-4 Chihuahuas.   

In the evening, the NBC game was the Astros at San Diego, in front of a full house.    In the fourth inning, down 2-1, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 3-run homer to suddenly give the Padres a 4-2 lead.    He reached out and flipped the ball over the left field fence into third deck.    I was on a call with Zanaya during the game and told her about it.    She looked him up.    I let out a few exclamations while watching, including a catcher getting a foul tip to a sensitive area.    I was giving her some baseball commentary whether she wanted it or not.    The Padres tacked on a couple more solo homers for a 7-2 win.    One of those homers featured an awesome, juggled fan catch.

Baseball Journal August: Traders!

8-2-26

Lots of baseball today.    There were three games on at noon.    The Dodgers are planning on having their victory parade on Monday after trading for Tarik Skubal.    It’ll be like watching satan’s legions marching.    We’re only waiting to see who will get the consolation prize.    I’ll cover the games one-at-a-time.

Chihuahuas versus Isotopes

I think the Anthem singer got the words wrong again, like on Saturday (8-1-26).    The ‘Topes scored 3 in the top of the first and I mostly gave up on this game.    Charlie Condon hit a home run into the parking lot in the inning. The Isotopes ran up the score to 9-2.    The Chihuahuas fought back and scored 3 in the eighth to make it, 9-5. 10-5 Isotopes is the final.    The pups lost all 6 games in this home series.    There were 4,265 in attendance braving the heat today.

Rangers at Astros

The Rangers’ pregame broadcast was not mentioning the Skubal trade.    The Astros left the bases loaded in the first, but broke through in the fifth to make it, 3-0.    In the bottom, the Rangers finally broke up a potential no-hitter and scored 2 to make it, 3-2.

Brandon Nimmo tied it in seventh, 3-3.    Broadcaster Matt Hicks got so excited making the call, he got tied up in his cord.    Right before the Seventh Inning Stretch, Ranger manager Skip Schumacher was arguing with the ump over a called third strike.  Both of them stopped and stood at attention for God Bless America. They resumed arguing right after and Skip got ejected.    The Astros took the lead in the bottom and busted it open for a 7-3 win.    The Rangers were 1 and 5 on their road trip and played themselves out of first place and possibly out of contention.

Yankees at Cubs

This game was on a Mexican TV station.    It was overcast with the wind blowing in there in Chicago.    Jesus was sitting in the front row.    This guy was featured on camera for most of the game and announcers did say something.     It was probably something along the lines of, “It’s not the Second Coming.    He just wanted to take in a game.”   

The Yankees scored in the first on a solo home run, but don’t take that to mean there’s any divine favoritism towards the Yankees!    In the sixth, the Cubs loaded the bases with 2 outs.    Yankee starter Garrett Cole was taken out with 99 pitches.    The Yankees’ catcher, Austin Wells, challenged 3 pitches and was wrong twice, but the Yankees got up of it with a popup to the outfield.   

In the top of the ninth, Miguel Amaya, the Cubs’ catcher, made a tremendous play on a foul ball swirling in the wind.    In the eighth, Cubs runner, Justin Dean, stole second by sliding between the defender’s legs.    The Cubs had two on in scoring position with two outs, but a pitching change closed the door on them.    The Cubs lost 2-1.           

I might have enjoyed just picking one game to watch or listen to at a time.    Then again, given the results, it probably didn’t matter.    All the games finished at the same time and left me profoundly disappointed, though not as disappointed as walking out in the very hot sun to get barbeque and finding out the restaurant wasn’t open.    After a long walk back, I had no trouble talking myself into going to McAlister’s and gulping down two cups of their famous sweet tea.

Red Sox at Dodgers

This was the evening game on NBC.    Broadcaster Jason Benetti was quoting Dodger manager, Dave Roberts, before the game, “You can’t win every day and be prepared for the playoffs.”    Translation: “We could win every day.” A Japanese company has bought the naming rights for the field.    I don’t think the national announcers ever use it because nobody knows how to pronounce it.     

The Marlins Man was behind the plate for the game.    I haven’t seen him for a while.    I wonder where he’s been.  The Dodgers lost the first two games of this series, so it was imperative for them to get Skubal.    (Are they 20 games up in their division yet?)

The Red Sox scored twice in the first to get the lead.    In the second, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out.    A fielder’s choice brought in a run and then Shohei Ohtani was given a walk to reload bases.    Andy Pages drove in more 2 runs with a single to make it, 3-2 Dodgers.    Ceddanne Rafela homered to tie it right back up.    On the next pitch, Wilyer Abreu homered and Masataka Yoshida followed that with a solo homer, 5-3 Red Sox.    That ceremonial Wally head that they wear after hitting a home run was getting damp.

In the third, Skubal arrived in the Dodger dugout in uniform and hugged Roberts and his new teammates.    In the fourth, Bob Costas defended the Skubal trade, saying that the small market Rays and Brewers are competing just as well as the Dodgers.    He had to admit that those teams can’t hold on to any of their star players.    The coverage showed a graphic for most hits since July 1 and Nick Gonzales was at the top of list.    Let’s hear it for the former Aggie star.   

In the sixth, Jarren Duran added a solo home run to make it, 6-3 Red Sox.    They were also doing it with the glove by turning all the balls on the infield into outs.    In the bottom of the seventh, dugout broadcaster, Clayton Kershaw, was talking to Mario Lopez, who unfortunately didn’t come on.    Benetti called him, “AC Slater,” so maybe that was a good thing.  Pages drove in another run with a double, 6-4.

In the eighth, the Red Sox had two on with no outs.    Duran bunted up the runners.    A wild pitch brought in one run and a passed ball brought in the other.    Mookie Betts then had an error at short.    8-4 Red Sox was the final and it was a three-game sweep.    Cancel the victory parade.    The Dodgers are done.    (They could lose every series from here out and still breeze into the playoffs.)       

8-3-26 Trade Deadline

Okay, let’s deal with it.    The Dodgers got Tarik Skubal from the Tigers.    There is a conspiracy theory by Players’ Union apologists that the other owners colluded to hand the Dodgers the Win Button to this years’ World Series in order to implement a hard salary cap.    It seems unlikely, but so what if they did?    The system is broken, as is. It’s a constant churn of small market teams preparing star players for their big contracts with the Dodgers and Yankees.   

They said that the Brewers or Rays could have gotten him, but at the cost their best prospects, which is the only reason why these small market teams are competitive.    Some teams have to destroy themselves for the future to have a chance to win it all.    Some teams pick up the best players at the trade deadline that they didn’t even need and don’t have to worry about the future.   

The MLB sells competition amongst peers, theoretically.    In reality, most teams have to suck to get high draft picks, hope they pan out, make a few moves, make a run at being competitive for a championship, and repeat the cycle.    A handful of teams are always competitive and are always favored for every big free agent, every big trade, and to win the World Series.    If they don’t make the playoffs, the MLB will add more playoff spots to help them get in.    That “handful” is getting smaller and smaller and may have been reduced to a single team, who has broken the system.    Just to the Players’ Union, I don’t see how this system benefits most of the players, much less the fans.

The Tigers’ window has shut, as they also traded Casey Mize.    They did bring up Max Clark, who rakes.    Maybe they should have brought him up earlier in the season and tried to save it.    Detroit did get Zyhir Hope for the Skubal trade.    I don’t know if its spin, but some analysts seem pretty high on him.   

The Rangers are a game-and-a-half out of AL West lead and tried to trade their best players: Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, and Nathan Evoldi.    Either they couldn’t get an offer or the player refused the trade.    That sweep by Astros last week broke their will.    The Rangers did trade Josh Smith to the Blue Jays.    The Astros picked up Dalton Varsho.    The Blue Jays aren’t blown up yet but seem to be conceding on this season.

   

Mets did blow it up and lost Freddy Peralta to the Rays, Clay Holmes to the Cubs, and Luke Weaver, possibly the best relief arm available to the Pirates, who also got Kirby Yates for their bullpen. The Red Sox got Adley Rutschman and the Mariners got Taylor Ward, who were both traded from the Orioles.    The O’s aren’t executing a fire sale just yet.   

The Rockies dealt Antonio Senzatela to the Brewers, Victor Vodnik to the Marlins, and Brenton Doyle to the White Sox, but kept all-star catcher, Hunter Goodman.    The White Sox also got Luis Castillo.    The Phillies added steady hitting with Luis Arraez, though they have to position shift 3 players to accommodate him.    Padres added pitching with Robbie Ray and Casey Mize.    The Brewers added Dustin May for their staff.     

“Will any of these trades make a difference?” is the real question.    Given the Dodgers were already set up to win the World Series, I guess not.    Apart from that, maybe the Padres did the best to improve their chances this year.    Other than Hope to the Tigers (who were hopeless after losing Skubal), I’m not sure much in the way of top prospects changed hands, so this trade deadline might not even affect future competitiveness.      

Comics Review: Captain America Epic Collection--The Bloodstone Hunt

I allowed myself to go to Zia Comics after finally finishing catching up on reviewing all my comics. I had told myself not to buy any more until I had. I had to go to work that day without a holiday for Independence Day. (It was on a Saturday, so we didn’t get Friday off.)

I was wearing my Captain America t-shirt (Issue #427) and I bought this Captain America trade paperback. This was about as fanboyish and patriotic as possible. I additionally bought a Godzilla comic and a Vampirella comic for other people. (I was in a generous mood.) The Vampi issue got me a look from the woman cashier. (Hey, you’re the one selling it and I’m even buying it for a girl, who likes the character.)

I’d enjoyed the previously Captain America trade I’d bought (6-23-26).  This volume is from the same era, but a couple of years before it. The reviews were generally good, so I couldn’t resist wanting to get it.

It starts with a bang. John Walker, the replacement Captain America, is assassinated when he gives back the shield to Steve Rogers at a press conference. The murderer is then killed himself by the villain-killer, Scrooge. This plotline is followed up on by Walker’s partner, Battle Star, in later issues, which is too bad, because this kind of intrigue that made Captain America: Winter Soldier, such an entertaining film.

As is, Cap has to track down his old pal, Nick Fury, who’s listed a rouge agent. He enlists a somewhat frumpy Peggy Carter to help him. (She’s not exactly the MCU Peggy.) She will be a background Avengers staff character in the series. They find Nick, who makes a couple of Donald Trump references. It’s easy to forget how famous this guy was before he was President. Fury took down his own SHIELD organization because it had become filled with corruption. Again, echoes of the MCU. This storyline is also not followed up on in this title.

The World Trade Center appears in the background a couple of times in this book.

Some Soviet superheroes show up on the Avengers’ island (don’t get too attached to this location) while Captain America is holding tryout’s for some other heroes, including Speedball. The Russians are looking for asylum. Instead, other Soviet super soldiers show up in disguise and kill them. This prompts the Captain into taking a trip to Moscow. Surprisingly, he speaks Russian and is quite diplomatic on his mission. The Captain doesn’t quite solve the mystery, but the defectors end up recovering after energy-draining their attackers. Again, this potentially interesting storyline is dismissed.

Issue #354 is an interesting visual experiment as the Captain America is tracking down a mystery on the top of the page, while Battle Star is still trying to find out what happened to John Walker on the bottom. Its two stories at the same time, which unfortunately don’t connect at the end. Battle Star hands off his findings to his government contact, Valerie Cooper. She is then introduced to the new US Agent, who is Walker in a new identity. His assassination was faked and the vigilante group, the Watchdogs, was framed, though his killer getting killed wasn’t fake.

Next, Cap receives a request from his old girlfriend to track down her missing sister. He discovers that there’s been a rash of abducted teenagers and he has himself magically turned into a teen to go undercover. Sigh. All this political intrigue and we’re doing this. Meanwhile, Battle Star meets Falcon in a story that goes nowhere. Whatever this was supposed to set up didn’t happen in this volume.

Interestingly, a member of the Watchdog group is sacrificed here. Nobody likes these guys.

From flipping through the book, I was sort of dreading this teenaged Cap episode. The drugged teens are sent to “Camp Rage,” run by the Red Skull’s daughter, Mother Night, to “Teach you to channel the power of Hate!” So, it’s basically a typical university class and its run by a bunch of feminist women.

This story doesn’t entirely resolve well with Cap unexpectedly getting his powers back and then giving a heavy-handed speech. There is the amusing scene with Cap having to pay back his magical debt to the Eternals’ witch, Sersi, with a date. I think they cut away a little too soon on that scene.

No explanation is given for this odd scene. Another missed opportunity.

This issue also marks the beginning of the Bloodstone Hunt. Baron Zemo’s son and a bunch of losers find the skeleton of Ulysses Bloodstone and plan on using part of his ribcage as a divining rod to find the Bloodstone, for reasons not explained. Diamondback stumbles upon their plans and is subdued and thrown down a pit. Cap rescues her after braving several deathtraps and gets the story. He fashions his own skull detector to follow after the villains. Cap reluctantly takes along Diamondback, who’s obviously crushing on him.

What follows is a world-wide chase for the fragments of the Bloodstone. It is very much like an old-fashioned movie serial with hair-breadth escapes from danger. At one point, Cap is fighting a mummy. In the end, the gathered fragments bring Baron Zemo to life, but as a demon inhabiting his dead body. The Baron and his son end up getting tossed into a volcano with the Bloodstone.

These issues also came out on a bi-monthly basis, so they were a bit rushed. (I remember this with the X-Men, which I was collecting at the time. Two issues a month was a major financial strain on my teenage self and likely kept me from buying some Disney comics I wanted.) There are some real gaps in the story logic that detract from the story. It probably needed the extra pages that were taken up by a backup feature with US Agent. He’s trying to stop Scourge from killing the Power Broker, who has a business power-augmenting people, including himself. The Broker ends up taking himself out.

One loose end of the Hunt is that Diamondback is taken captive by Crossbones, who was also following along in the chase. He takes her to the pirates’ den of Madripoor and summons Captain America to capture him for his employer, the Red Skull. The Skull actually orders Crossbones to let him go for some reason. The backup features follows up on the Power Broker story with a client woman. I thought this was the same woman from the US Agent limited series in the next volume, but she’s not.

Next we go into a crossover event, Acts of Vengeance. Oh, boy. I don’t know anything about this series and I don’t care, since it doesn’t seem to amount to anything. The Red Skull is offered a deal with a mysterious man to join a cabal of supervillains. Cap returns to NYC and finds the Avengers’ island has been sunk. He unceremoniously dumps off Diamondback and ends up in a fight with a mind-controlled Submariner.

The obvious problem with gathering supervillains is that they don’t play well together, especially the Red Skull, former Nazi, and Magneto, concentration camp survivor. This leads to an inevitable confrontation. Heh, heh. Skull makes a good point here with Magneto.

The backup feature in these issues are about Cobra of the Serpent Society. He needs to prove his leadership skills by taking out his previous partner, Mr. Hyde. And there’s also an extremely creepy origin story of Machinesmith.

The Red Skull gets the worst of his meeting with Magneto and gets locked into a dark room underground. Crossbones and the Captain America both end up looking for him. This ends up in a fight in the sewers under the Hellfire Club with the vampire, Selene.

The backup story is more interesting. The Red Skull becomes delusional while essentially buried alive. It is the phantasm of Captain America that convinces him to hang on.

Ron Lim starts doing the artwork later in the volume. It’s a definite upgrade. Crossbones eventually rescues the Red Skull, who’s in pretty bad shape. Captain America is summoned to the Skull’s mansion for a meeting. The Red Skull announces that he has regained the will to live after seeing his eternal foe and dismisses him. Outside, Diamondback tries to figure out for the reader why Captain America is just walking away from this. I guess they didn’t have a story prepared yet for the Red Skull’s big comeback. It’s truly bizarre.

Finally, the one-sided romance between Diamondback and Captain America finally comes to a head. She’s had it with being brushed off. He doesn’t want another partner or a girlfriend, but agrees to be friends. With that opening, she talks him into a date.

Masked romances are a bit awkward.

The fun part of this story is a couple of Diamondback’s girlfriends from the Serpent Society are tagging along and defusing any situations that might disrupt their date. Apparently, there’s a supervillain around every street corner in New York City.

Awww. Yeah, this was my favorite story in the book, possibly the only one I really liked.

I have to compare this volume with the previous one I bought. As uneven as Arena of Death was, enjoying the highs were worth putting up with the lows. Bloodstone Hunt, which chronologically came first, strikes a bit of a monotone. It was mostly not that bad, but not that great either. Many of the issues had a second feature, which cut into the story development. This was even worse with the bi-monthly summer issues. The Hunt storyline should have been epic, but came off silly. Arena was so over-the-top in places and that’s how Hunt should have been.

Hunt does recommend itself in lots of non-stop action, like an old movie serial. The artwork, particularly Ron Lim’s, is pretty good. I kind of appreciate some of the scenes with Cap interacting with his duties that don’t involve superheroics and with the Avengers’ staff members. It makes the setting feel a little more real. Some of the second features are actually a bonus and are interesting studies of minor characters.

Spectacular Pinup in the back

The main problem is all of the missed opportunities for great stories that were simply passed over, especially at the beginning of the book. They didn’t want to commit to any complex stories and settled for pointless action. Future writers would see the potential better and produce some classic stories that would be translated into hit movies.

Arena is better and I’d recommend it, with some reservations, to any comic book fan. Hunt I’d recommend to Captain America fans, but it might not be as entertaining to other comic book fans. It’s fun, but shallow material.