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.

El Paso Chihuahuas versus Albuquerque Isotopes 8-1-26

 

I was at work till nearly 2:00am on Friday, but on Saturday, the hard work paid off. The company picnic this year was at an El Paso Chihuahuas game. I was going with my co-worker Toni and her fiancé Nico. I’d bought some comics for them recently (7-30-26).  I own a Chihuahuas shirt and an Albuquerque Isotopes shirt, but I was going to the game debuting my new Expos shirt (7-1-26), which they’d bought for me on a trip to Montreal. I still had on my Chihuahuas hat.

We left Las Cruces with a heavy rain cloud behind us to the north. The weather forecast for the evening was not promising. I did mention to my hosts that last night’s game had had an hour rain delay (8-4-26). It was certainly very hot and sunny for now. I also mentioned that the Chihuahuas had lost four in a row to the Isotopes this week. Toni has gone up to see the Isotopes and likes them, too.

There was some scary, busy traffic in downtown El Paso. Nico is a good driver. I was glad I wasn’t driving. I paid for the parking garage, so Nico was glad I was along. We walked over a bridge over the road from the parking garage to the stadium. I got a program and a lineup card at the courtesy booth. There is a scorecard on it, but the program is printed on slick paper, which you couldn’t use pencil on. I’d brought my own scorecards, anyway.

The team shop was next door and full of fans. I offered to get Toni something for her birthday this week, but she didn’t see anything. I got large magnet for a girl. I thought about a stuffed Chico, but it didn’t look that good. A stuffed baseball was cute, but I didn’t know if she liked baseball or not. The guy at the register liked my Expos shirt. They had team baseball card packs behind the counter, but I guess I was serious about not getting any cards. The fans in the store were wearing a whole variety of jerseys, including MLB, throwback Diablos, various Chihuahuas from over the years, and even a Juarez Indios jersey.

It was Eddie Guerrero bobblehead night. I’d head the name, but wasn’t familiar with the pro wrestler. He’s from El Paso. We didn’t get anywhere near getting one. It was a very hot item locally. There was wrestling ring set up by the front gate with local wrestlers performing in front of a good crowd. (Toni and Nico were not interested in standing around in the sun and watching them.) The player pictures they put on the video screen had all the players dressed up as famous wrestlers. (One Isotope was goofy villain, Danhousen, which got a laugh out of me.)

The Locomotive soccer team store was open. We went in (it was air-conditioned) and were the only ones there with a lonely salesman. A few years ago, I had made a suggestion to an attendant to have it open (7-16-22).  (I’m sure the Chihuahuas’ teamshop is open during Locomotive games.) Apparently, they took that seriously, so I felt obligated to buy something. I got an okay shirt. Maybe not quite what I really wanted, but it was in my size and $30 for a t-shirt was plenty. I didn’t want something more expensive.

The field was in decent shape, probably due to the rain lately. The Chihuahuas were in black tops with the howling dog logo. The Isotopes were in Rockies’ purple tops. There was a great crowd of 8,630 present. The Anthem singer got the words wrong, but really belted it out.

We were in the shade in the open Santa Fe pavilion. There was a video screen beside us, which was good, since our view of the deep outfield was occluded. I’d brought my AM radio with me, but they were playing Tim Hagerty’s commentary for the whole game with the video. (Usually, they don’t for some reason.) I still listened to my radio and almost immediately got a weather alert, thankfully not for El Paso.

There was a scoring change in the second inning from a hit to an error that messed up my scoring. Me and Tim both saw the play as a double, and I don’t think he corrected the scoring later. Otherwise, these basically added up. I was struggling to fill out the lineups until I remembered I’d picked up a printed lineup before the game. I was uncertain with the pitchers, since not all of them were on the printed roster, and I was concerned I wasn’t catching every pitching change.

First inning, first pitch and it was a 425’ home run to center by Isotope Adael Amador. This wasn’t a good sign for the Chihuahuas. Starter Sean Boyle finished off the rest of the inning in order. Dustin Harris led off the bottom with a single. I pointed out the Padres’ top prospect, Ethan Salas, just as he grounded into a double play to end the inning. I jinxed him. 1-0 Isotopes.

They started serving food in the pavilion in the second inning. I got a chicken sandwich with ranch sauce and some chips. It tasted pretty good, but was a bit stringy. The other option was a hot dog, which apparently wasn’t much better. I also had a couple of cookies and some lemonade, which I was tasting for the rest of the night. Boyle had a 1-2-3 top of the second inning. There was a new on-field MC between innings, not Andy Imfield. The new guy had a wrestling announcer’s attitude for the game.

In the bottom, Chad Stevens made a nice running putout from third base to start the inning. From there, the pups busted out. A single and two walks followed. During Nick Pratto’s at bat, there was confusion on number of balls, since there was an auto ball issued for a violation. Romeo Sanabria came up with the bases loaded and unloaded them with a 433’ homer to right. It was just fair. We had to watch it on the video screen. The crowd went crazy, as you’d expect.

Harris came back up and hit Nate Mondou, who was injured and working as the first base coach. Harris got on and went to second on an error by Vimael Machin at first. The Isotopes brought in a new pitcher. Mascon McCoy cashed in Harris and Nick Solak singled in McCoy. It was an 11-batter inning and 6-1 Chihuahuas. This was looking good.

Chico, our lovable mascot, also came by during the inning. Happy fans mobbed him for pictures. Toni was all over him. She almost took him home with us or nearly got handed a restraining order. Chico’s handler was barking at him to move along. He’s an important person at the park and has many responsibilities.

The ‘Topes struck back in the top of the third with a single and a double. Ryan Ritter doubled in both runners. 6-3 Chihuahuas. The pups got a couple of walks in the bottom, but left them stranded. Between innings, fans were doing wrestling poses for the camera. Tim mentioned that Pratto was in the Little League World Series when he was a kid and there’s video of him being interviewed there.

There was more trouble in the top of the fourth. Two doubles and a single brought in two more Isotopes’ runs. 6-5 Chihuahuas. The pups only managed a walk in the bottom, but with two strikeouts. The video board cut away to the wrestling ring. Chico was wrestling a guy in an alligator suit there. Awesome!

I took a bathroom break between innings. They went back to the ring on the video board after I left, and I missed Chico finally taking down the alligator to the cheers of the crowd. I did see a jacked up lowrider bouncing around out on the street below playing music. It wasn’t a great trade, but I got something (and relieved my bladder after two lemonades). Boyle gave up a double in the top of the fifth, but no one scored. In the bottom, some co-workers brought in big churros from the concessions with sauce on them. I thought I saw lightning, but apparently not, so play on. The pups went down in order.

Before the top of the sixth, there was kid’s race wearing inflatable dog suits, which deflated as they got to the finish line. On the radio, there was a weather alert for flooding in Las Cruces. It still wasn’t raining in El Paso. We were sweltering at ballpark with no breeze blowing.

Miguel Cienfuegos came on in relief. Toni questioned why Boyle was left in so long. Looking at the line score, I told her it was because, while he’d given up 5 runs, he hadn’t given up any walks. Miguel ripped a 1-2-3 inning. The Isotopes also brought in a new pitcher in the bottom of the sixth, Andrew Baker. He gave up a walk and had two strikeouts.

Cienfuegos had a strong second inning of work in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts. In the Stretch, Chico did a mariachi dance on field that the crowd loved. The Isotopes brought in another pitcher in the bottom. He gave up two singles and balked them into scoring position. The infield fly rule was invoked on a soft liner to second that was dropped on purpose. All we needed was a detached equipment call to complete the trifecta. The runners were left stranded after a strikeout. This might have been the turning point in the game.

Before the top of the eighth, a cart came blasting out and went around the stands tossing t-shirts. They did not have a t-shirt cannon, though. The wind was picking up and everyone was smelling rain. The breeze was nice. The Chihuahuas brought out a new reliever, Ty Adcock. He gave up a wind-aided popup double. Three fielders made a campfire around it. There was a walk with two outs, when back-to-back singles drove in two runs to give the Isotopes the lead. Bryce Johnson made a sliding catch in left field to end the inning and save any further damage. 7-6 Isotopes.

Johnson led off with a single in the bottom of the eighth. Harris made a great bunt and ended up getting an infield single off it. McCoy bunted the both of them into scoring position. The crowd was up for Salas. He’d had a tough day at the plate tonight, but hit a liner to right to sacrifice in the tying run, 7-7. Solak made the final out at the plate. He thought a tapper at the plate was foul and stood there while he was thrown out at first.

Aleck Jacob pitched a 3-batter, scoreless top of the ninth. There was a Dizzy Bat Race on field. An attendant mentioned a guy once proposed to a girl at one of those events and had worked it out with the staff. He probably would have already been on his knees from spinning around. In the bottom of the ninth, Nico and Toni saw a little bird on the field. It looked like a quail, which it surely couldn’t have been. Security tackled the bird and escorted him from the facility. The section behind home plate got up and started cheering the Chihuahuas’ batters, but it was another 1-2-3 frame. Fireworks would have to wait while this game got settled.

That didn’t take long. The first pitch in the top of the tenth was a double that scored the automatic runner. (I wasn’t sure how to score that. This couldn’t have been my first extra innings game with an automatic runner.) Jacob got the next two outs, but a low dying liner got past a diving Harris in centerfield. That doubled in another run. (Two days later, one of my co-workers was still bitter about the play. Hey, he gave it his best shot to catch it.)

Another double brought in another run. A run-scoring single followed, along with a run down, which resulted in the ball being thrown away for an error. After a walk, a new pitcher was finally brought in to finish the inning, but the damage was done. 11-7 Isotopes.

In the bottom of the tenth, Tim forgot the challenge rule in extra innings. (You get a new one in extras.) It’s hard to keep track of the new rules. He then reported that the Dodgers had just traded to get Tarik Skubal. I threw a fit in front of everybody over that news. I won’t get into it here, but that was the worst thing that happened during the game as far as I was concerned. Harris came up with two outs and hit a 425’ 2-run homer. I could hear it hit the walkway between the pavilion and the bar. A daughter of a co-worker got it. It was likely wind-aided. That was the Chihuahuas’ final outburst, as the Isotopes won, 11-9.

Out of 10 innings, the Chihuahuas scored in 3. The Isotopes scored in 5. It’s kind of amazing the Chihuahuas even forced an extra inning. Still, it’s not the offense; it’s the pitching. The best they can do limit the damage and hope that the bats keep connecting.

Let’s hand out a few Gameballs. For the Isotopes, the bottom of the order really did in the pups. Conner Capel, Braxton Fulford, and Drew Avans all went 3 for 5 and drove a combined 7 runs. For the Chihuahuas, Dustin Harris was 3 for 6 with a 2-run home run.  (He was Player of the Week.)  Romeo Sanabria was 1 for 4, but that 1 was a grand slam home run. Miguel Cienfuegos was the most effective pitcher of the night with 2 scoreless innings and 3 strikeouts.

The extended game time went for 3 hours, 19 minutes. The fireworks were worth the wait. That were loud and right there in front of you. I was really impressed with these whistling, spiraling shots that went off together. I couldn’t hear the music (or the radio for the postgame). Maybe you could hear it in the stands.

Light sprinkles began as we walked out of the stadium. The dome held for the game and that was what was important. A car show was finishing next door with classic cars being loaded on to trailers. It took a while to get out of downtown and on the Interstate, but it was a lot quicker than last time (7-30-23). It was raining by this point and we got slowed down by an accident, but traffic kept moving.

The rain got worse outside of the city with lightning and thunder overhead. I was crabbing about the Skubal trade on the way back to explain my behavior in the tenth. I was delivered back home. Once again, Nico is an excellent driver. Hat’s off to him. Inside, I was completely exhausted like I’d run back home from the stadium. I checked the weather and it was 65% humidity, which is way above my normal operating conditions.

Didn’t quite get the result I was hoping for (the Chihuahuas lost on Sunday for a 6-game sweep), but it’s so nice to be out for a game and Southwest University Park is wonderful. I told Toni and Nico I’d take them for an Aggie ballgame next year. That’ll likely be a letdown by comparison, but we’ll see what they think of it.

Baseball Journal July: Harry Potter Night

7-24-26

The MiLB Free Game was the Syracuse Mets versus the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders.    I’d seen the Railriders’ stadium, PNC Field, before and loved it.    It’s nicely modern, but set in a hollow with a granite hill and a forest beyond the outfield.    There are unfortunate large black sheets on poles forming the batter’s eye in front of hill.

The hosts, a man and woman, were talking about trade deadline.    They mentioned that the object of everyone’s desire, Tarik Skubal, has said he’d like to stay in Detroit.    Tomorrow night was going to be busy at the ballpark with a Venezuelan relief drive, along with a Christmas in July toy drive.    (Bring a toy; get a free ticket.)    Also, there’s a Hawaiian shirt giveaway.    Whew!

In the fifth, a Railrider outfielder lost a flyball in the twilight.    The Mets got two on.    The Railrider pitcher had a runner picked off, but both runners took off both ended up safe.    A single to the wall brought them in to make it, 5-1 Mets.    In the bottom, the Railriders loaded bases with 2 outs.    There was a pitching change.    The pitcher being taken out was all smiles.  He just seemed happy to be there.    There was a big flyball afterward, but the ballpark held it.

The broadcasters were still talking about the Trade Deadline.    The female announcer was offering herself as part of a deal for Mason Miller, Adley Rutschman, or Skubal to get them to the Yankees.    (That sort of trade has happened once.    It brought Ernie Harwell to the Dodgers from the Atlanta Crackers.)    It was 8-1 Mets late and the announcers were discussing LeBron James going to the 76er’s and basketball in general.    In the ninth, a Railrider player forgot the number of outs and tried to run off the field after the catch.  The announcers were like, “Nice try.”    8-1 Mets final.    The Yankees’ Triple-A players have some fielding issues.

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas were at Las Vegas.    In the second inning, the EP catcher called for time for a bird in front of home plate.    The umps had discuss this and I think the pitcher was charged with a step off.    LV loaded the bases, but the pups got out of it unharmed.  Protecting the bird bought them some good karma.    However, their luck ran out in the third with an 11-batter/7-run Aviator inning.    The Chihuahuas lost, 15-9.    It was not that close, as it was 15-3 until the seventh.   

7-25-26

The Rangers beat the Mariners today, 7-1, after winning yesterday.  It was good win over a team chasing them in the AL West.    Even better, I had full reception for the whole game, mostly because it only lasted two-and-a-half hours and finished before sundown.

The good fortune continued.    As that game finished, the Chihuahuas at Las Vegas began.  Even better, KROD didn’t power down their station at sundown, which occurred right after the game started.    They tried to power it down a couple of times, but it stayed up.  There were 7,800 at Las Vegas Ballpark for Harry Potter Night and presumably fireworks.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty gave out the disturbing stat that the Chihuahuas had left 45 runners on base in first four games of the series, 3 of them losses.

In the seventh, a ball got stuck in the wall, which robbed Chihuahua Nick Pratto of an inside-the-park home run.    The ump actually jogged to the outfield to test that the ball really was stuck.    Pratto was left stranded.    It was that kind of night, as the Chihuahuas lost, 5-1.    At least the crowd had a good time with an enthusiastic sing along to Sweet Caroline between innings.

I was about to go to bed, but noticed a Juarez Indios game going on versus Madera.    It was 9-9 in the eighth, so I couldn’t go to sleep.    Madera scratched out a run in the top to take the lead.    In the bottom, the Indios had runners on the corners.    A low dying liner was caught with an impressive diving catch, but the tying run scored.    The runner at first stole second and then stole third.    He came home on a wild pitch.    The large crowd went wild.    I think I saw priest cheering.    The game ended in the ninth on a caught stealing.    11-10 Indios and I’m going to bed.       

7-26-26

It was Mariners versus Rangers today.    I was getting the TV coverage on a Mexican channel and the radio call in English, so that worked out well.    It was Harry Potter Day in Arlington, like it was in Las Vegas last night.    It must be a promotion for the upcoming cable show, which will disappoint everyone.    (That’s not much of a prediction given how the entertainment industry is going.)    In the pregame show, they were sorting players into different Hogwart houses.    The Rangers were wearing their powder blues with their regular blue hats, but with black bills.    I like that hat.    (Those powder blue uniforms look like pajamas.)    They had a huge crowd there today in Arlington.

Ezequiel Duran sac’d in Joc Pederson in the first for a 1-0 Rangers’ lead. The M’s tied it in the third after a triple and a single.    Ranger fielders had chances on both balls, but couldn’t quite get to them.    The Rangers have a vinyl record giveaway coming up?    Did I hear that right?    (I did and they are.)

In the fourth, there was a routine play at third for Josh Smith, but an errant throw had Jake Burger laying flat out on the ground for the ball.    He was pulled off the bag, but managed to reach back with his foot to tap the base.    In the bottom, Evan Carter drove in a run to get the lead back.    A muffed possible double play went awry and another run came in.    3-1 Rangers.

In the fifth, Wyatt Langford made a great running backhanded catch.    In the sixth, Ranger starter, Jacob deGrom, was chased after letting on two, but they were left stranded.    Suddenly, it all went wrong.    The Mariners took the lead in the seventh on back-to-back pitches from a new reliever on a 3-run home run by Dominic Canzone and then a solo shot to Randy Arozarena.    5-3 Mariners.    Duran hit out a solo shot in the eighth, but that was all.    6-4 Mariners final.    That kind of ruined my afternoon, along with the 100+ degree heat melting my brain.   

It was the Yankees at Philly for NBC’s Sunday Night game.    It’s the Yankees again.    Yay.    What’s up with the Phillies’ hats?    Instead of a cursive “P,” it’s a block “P.”    Surprisingly, there were a bunch of Yankee fans there.    They piped up with the first Yankee hit.    There was some comedy with John Kruk in the booth trying to figure out a Pitch-com device and also trying to figure out putting on a tie.   

   

Bryson Stott homered in the second to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.    In the third, Alec Bohm cleared loaded bases with a double, 5-0.    Joe Girardi in the booth said before the pitch, “This is the whole game right here.”    The guy knows baseball.    The Phils added another run to make it, 6-0.    After scoring 1 run in the last two games against the Yankees, they’d busted it open.   

In the fifth, a bad pickoff throw by Christopher Sanchez brought in the first Yankee run.    The crowd collectively groaned.    More mishaps followed handing out free bases like Halloween candy and it was 6-3 Phillies.    (I saw Halloween stuff out at Dollartree yesterday, by the way.    Way too soon.)    The Phillies busted out again in the sixth with 5 runs to run it up to 11-3.    The final was 11-4 Phillies.    This was like a pre-pitch clock Yankee/Red Sox game, though it was actually about three hours.    It felt longer.

In Las Vegas, the Chihuahuas faced the Aviators’ new starter, Dallas Keuchel.    He signed at 38 years old.    The A’s needed pitching and Dallas wasn’t ready to retire, I guess.    The pups greeted him with 3 runs in the first and a home run in the second to make it, 4-1 Chihuahuas.    Dallas came out after two innings’ work.    In the third, Blake Hunt homered again off the new pitcher for three runs and the pups piled on.    It was a 14-batter, 9-run effort in the inning to make it, 13-1 Chihuahuas.

The station powered down at sundown, but it kept trying to come back to full strength, oddly.    In the bottom of the ninth, there was a near detached equipment error for a three-base error, but that ended up not being the call.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty was disappointed.    The final score was 15-9 Chihuahuas.    It wasn’t that close.    Tim observed Dallas signing autographs for a bunch of people after the game.    There was a late Mexican League game on TV with the Dorados versus the Mineros.    There wasn’t much to report on that.

7-28-26

The Rangers’ game against the Mariners did not come on the radio on Monday at noon.    I had mixed feelings about that, since I had poor reception anyway.    The Rangers won, 7-3, taking 3 of 4 of the series.    Tonight, the Chihuahuas were starting a home series with the Isotopes.    After the first inning, the radio call over the Internet went away and turned into an endless commercial loop.

On the other hand, it cut off before the Isotopes had an 8-run second inning.    The pups came back with 2 in the second and 5 in the third.    Unfortunately, they didn’t effectively stop the Isotopes from scoring and the final was 15-9.    That was quite the barrage to miss.    I hope I’ll have better luck the rest of the week.

7-29-26

Ethan Salas, the Padres #1 prospect, was up with the Chihuahuas tonight facing the Isotopes.    He’s the youngest player in Triple-A.    Salas got a cheer from the fans for his first at bat.    He got a double and would be driven in.    The score was tied at 2 until the sixth, when the Chihuahuas broke through with a run.    Salas came up and tripled in 2 more runs and lost his hat running the bases.    It was 5-2 Chihuahuas, when Brenton Doyle tied it with a 3-run homer in the seventh.

The game went to a tenth inning.    An error and a near error helped the Isotopes score 4 in the top.    The Chihuahuas scored twice in the bottom.    Salas got his third hit of the game.    With two runners on, a foul tip strikeout ended it, 9-7 Isotopes.   

7-30-26

Happy Birthday to me!    I got a call from my Aunt Judy wishing me well and I got my Ranger game on radio this morning with good reception.    The broadcast began reporting on a trade with the Angels.    The Rangers got catcher Logan O’Hoppe and pitcher Chase Silseth for a prospect.    Yeah, the team actually needed hitting.    In the pregame there in Tampa Bay, the crew gave a shout out to Rays’ mascot, DJ Kitty.    This was the rubber game in their series, as the teams had split the first two games.    Yesterday’s game was the first game since 2012 without a single being hit.   

Shane McClanahan started for the Rays.    He was backed up by great running catch by Victor Mesa Jr. in the outfield that would have brought in a first inning run for the Rangers.    In the bottom, Junior Caminero gave one a ride that was surprisingly caught at the wall.    The broadcast went to commercial too soon.    The Rays challenged that the ball had hit the “D” ring on the roof or a wire.    It was unsuccessful.    Broadcaster Jared Sandler remarked, “If a player hits the “A” ring at the top of the Trop, he should win a stuffed animal.”    His partner, Matt Hicks, commented that they have to review the ground rules at this stadium every series.

In the third, Yandy Diaz drove in the first run of the game for the Rays.    They threatened for more, but Ranger pitcher, Marco Gonzales, got out of it.    In the fourth, McClanahan hit the first batter and walked the next and was suddenly taken out for an injury.    He left the game having not given up a hit.    A muffed double play ball that would have ended the inning, instead brought in the tying run for the Rangers.    In the bottom, the Rays again loaded the bases, this time with one out.    Gonzales got a double play to end the threat.

In the fifth, Wyatt Langford doubled to drive in a go-ahead run for the Rangers, 2-1.    But in the sixth, Jonny DeLuca homered to tie it for the Rays.    In the eighth, Cedric Mullins hit a dinker over the left field wall to give the Rays back the lead, 3-2.    (Did I know Cedric was on the Rays now?)

A drama-filled ninth followed.    The Rays brought in their closer, Bryan Baker.    Nicky Lopez challenged two third-strike calls and worked a walk.    The Rangers’ dugout was barking at the ump afterward.    Another great catch by Mesa robbed Evan Carter of a double.    Langford had a full count with two out and the PA played Final Countdown music, but he walked.    Ezequiel Duran came up with two on, but would strike out.    Rays win, 3-2.    I’d be disappointed, but that was a good game and I was happy to have gotten hear it (and hear it clearly) this morning.   

Later in the evening, the Chihuahuas took on the Isotopes with both teams battling a 102-degree temperature at the start of the game.    Dustin Harris took the first Isotopes’ pitch deep and the pups would take a 3-0 lead in the first.    In the second, EP pitcher, Jagger Haynes, got the yips and balked twice in a row, which sent a runner to third, who eventually scored.   

I was busy at work and had trouble keeping up the game.    The Chihuahuas kept scoring and the Isotopes kept scoring.    I wasn’t able to start paying attention until late.    Ethan Salas doubled in the seventh and drove in a run.    In the eighth inning, he threw out a base stealer from behind the plate and the crowd started chanting for him.    The kid is legit.   

A foul ball went into a suite.    It bounced into another suite and there was a scuffle over it.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty mentioned growing up and going to Red Sox games and seeing two or three fights every game over foul balls.    He thought it was normal.    Unfortunately, the Isotopes tied score and took the lead with an 11-batter, 5-run eighth inning, 12-9.    (Finally, I wrote down the score.)

The Isotopes scored 4 more in the ninth, including one on a passed ball by Salas.    (He still needs some polish before sending him to the Bigs.)    Fans started shaking hands and heading for the exits.    Tim noted that Isotope Charlie Condon has his own booing section in the park.    Salas doubled in another run in ninth, but it was a 16-10 loss for the Chihuahuas.    Interesting stat, umpire Trevor Matthews went 4 for 4 on challenges tonight.

7-31-26

There was an MiLB Free Game tonight with the High-A Rome Emperors versus the Hub City Spartanburgers.    I checked.    That is their actual name and not some alternate identity.    Their logo is an anthropomorphic hamburger.    I didn’t see their mascot, Mayor McCheese.    Hey, he’s had some hard days since McDonald’s fired him and the rest of the McDonald Land characters.    Of course, Grimace got that lucrative gig with the Mets a couple of years ago.       

It was another sweet-looking stadium.    It was very comfortable-looking. There were tables behind home plate. The camera views around the stands showed a bunch of happy kids and a pretty blonde reporter in the dugout.    Later, there was shot of fans wearing foam hamburger hats, before the Hamburglar ran off with them.    It was another Christmas in July game with Christmas music playing between innings.    Is this becoming an official holiday, along with Harry Potter Night?

The Emperors were starting the Braves’ top prospect, Cam Caminiti.    He is a cousin of big leaguer, Ken Caminiti, but never met him as he’d passed away when Cam was a baby. In the second, an Emperor runner at second strayed too far, tripped, and got picked off by the catcher.    In the third, another Emperor runner stole second and then stole third, but was nearly picked off third straying off base.   

The announcers had a couple of interesting guest/sponsors in the booth for a couple of innings.    The ballpark is in the Morgan Square Entertainment District and an ombudsman was talking about the bars and restaurants in the area.    Next, they had a lady from a local grocery store talking about grilling.    I’m sure it was informative, if you own a grill.

In the fifth, the Emperors scored 4 with the help of a bases loaded walk and then an infield hit. Caminiti finished his night going 6.2 innings with 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 14 strikeouts!    He’s moving up in the near future.    There was a shot of guys warming up in the bullpen with a football.    I saw them do that in the Aggie bullpen this year.    It was a 6-2 Rome win, their fourth in a row, but I’ll bet the Spartanburgers had a great postgame meal at the grill.

The Chihuahuas faced the Isotopes again tonight.    There was a violin Anthem before the game.    It was raining here in Las Cruces, but not in El Paso, though it was cloudy there.    The pups were in their alternate identity as the Bootmakers.

In the top of the first, the EP starter got two visits from the trainer.    They were seeing something from the dugout and finally had to take him out.    Our storm seemed to be moving in, as the wind there suddenly picked up. The Isotopes would score 4 in the inning with the wind and the unexpected pitching change.

The Isotopes added to their score after an error in the fourth.    The Chihuahuas struck back in the bottom with a solo home run by Dustin Harris.    In the fifth, Isotope Zac Veen hit a light tower shot to make it, 6-1.    Officially, it was 412’, but broadcaster Tim Hagerty was skeptical that it wasn’t longer.   

In the bottom of the fifth, a roll of thunder got a cheer out of the crowd. The Chihuahuas loaded bases with no outs.    The crowd also cheered that. A wild pitch brought in a run, there was a fielder’s choice RBI, a single brought in a run, two runners advanced on a stolen base, and there was an error on the catcher. A light rain ended the inning with the score, 6-4 Isotopes.

Back from commercial and it was suddenly pouring.    It seemed to catch everyone by surprise. It was an official game by this point, but play resume after a bit more than an hour.    I rejoined the coverage in progress.    The Isotopes added 2 more runs to make it, 8-4.    I think a good deal of the crowd was still there waiting for fireworks.    In the bottom of the sixth, the Chihuahuas loaded the bases again with no outs.    There was a sac fly for a run.    The bases were reloaded, but a double play with a rundown ended it.    Another run did score thanks to that rundown, 8-6.   

The Isotopes scored 3 more in seventh and scored in the eighth and ninth.    14-8 Albuquerque was the final.    For the Chihuahuas, Dustin Harris had 4 hits, including a home run.    Nick Solak reached base 4 times, also including a home run.    Offense is not the Chihuahuas’ problem.    The over 7,000 crowd had thinned out by the end.    There was loud music coming from outside the stadium.    It might have been from the car show next door.    Tomorrow, I will be reporting on a Chihuahuas game in person.