Baseball Notebook for August 2016 Part 3

8-8-16

This is out of order, and I missed this when it happened.  Brandon Crawford got 7 hits in a 14-inning Giants win.  We’re going to have to polish these little bright spots, because it hasn’t been good for the Giants after the All-Star break.

8-9-16

Steve Kaplowitz joined Tim Hagerty in the Chihuahuas’ booth for the game versus Fresno.  This is always a good time as Kappy loves talking baseball, but isn’t able to do it on his own local afternoon sports talk show very often.  Two topics that stood out for me were the discussions of ERA of infinity (a pitcher comes into a game and gives up runs without recording an out) and that Shea Stadium was a dump.  Tim kind of stood up for the place, but he’d never been there.  Kappy had.  The pups win 5-1 and are up 8 in the standings.

The Rockies host the Rangers for a day game in Denver.  Again, the Rangers come from behind late.  It was 5-2 in the 8^th when the Rangers scored 4 to win 7-5.  For the Rockies, Arenado had two RBI’s and David Dahl extended his rookie hitting streak with two runs scored.

8-10-16

The Rangers do it again to the Rockies, this time in Arlington.  Down by a run in the 8^th, they come back and win 5-4.  Lucroy gets another RBI for the Rangers.  David Dahl gets another hit and two RBI’s.  Of course, the big Ranger news was the injury retirement of Prince Fielder.  For a fan, he’s been good and he’s been frustrating.  For the team, he was a good guy that was well-liked in the clubhouse.  For management, his contract was insured and the Tigers are still paying part of his enormous salary.  If he wasn’t able to play at a high-level, this was probably the only possible good outcome for the team.  For Prince, his and his kids’ press conference tears obviously meant he still really wanted to play.  He’s only in his early 30’s after all.  The one good thing about just being a fan, we always get another season.  The players don’t.  And, Brandon Crawford hits a walk-off homer to win for the Giants.  BC for MVP!     

8-11-16

It was 100+ degrees in Arlington and I presume with high humidity.  What a better time to play a four-hour day game for the Rangers.  Their new retractable roof stadium cannot be built soon enough.  I got to hear a couple of static-filled innings before I went to work.  After three come-from-behind wins against the Rockies, the Rangers kind of had today coming.  While they had a big 7^th to take the lead, the Rox had a bigger one in the 8^th and won 12-9.  Beltre, Odor, and Blackmon had great offensive games.  David Dahl’s rookie hitting streak goes to 17 games in a row. 

The Chihuahuas had a rare night off.  (Triple-A teams get like one day off a month.)  The game of the day was the Brewers vs the Braves.  Not that it was particularly significant, or even close as it was 11-3 Brewers.  More rare than a perfect game, the Brewers managed to score in every inning they had an at-bat.  This was only the 16^th time this had ever happened in MLB history.  There’s a lot of 1 run innings, and they got some help off of errors, and they only had to bat for 8 innings, but yikes!  Apparently, everything has to go your way for this kind of event to happen.  

It took awhile, but I finally remembered an oddly reminiscent incident to Chris Sale’s attack on the White Sox throwback uniforms.  Somewhere in the late 90’s or even early 2000’s, the Dodgers briefly experimented with a solid blue top.  Yes, I know.  Hersey!  It’s like when the Yankees tried out a sliver-billed hat.  (Yes, it was in the regular season, not a Spring Training game.)  Don’t mess with a classic.  In the Dodgers case, I think they lost every time they wore the alternate top.  You know how superstitious ball players are.  The whole thing ended with high-priced, low-performance free agent Kevin Brown making his only contribution to the team.  Him and some others took the tops behind the bullpen and set them on fire before a game. 

8-12-16

I watched a Yankee game.  The Chihuahuas were on, but they were getting blasted in OKC.  The Rangers/Tigers game was in a delay.  Okay, I had to see A-Rod’s last game.  The Yankee announcers were fans, but deeply ambiguous about this event.  The fans in New York weren’t.  They stood and cheered for him for every appearance.  Alex Rodriguez goes 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI.  His last AB was a groundout to Short.  In the 9^th, with the Yankees up 6-3, Alex was put out at third for one batter and then taken out, so he could get a send-off coming off the field from the crowd.  After the game, he got a big ovation and grabbed a handful of infield dirt to take with him.  Afterward, he thanked the fans and apologized in general for his scandals.  So ends the A-Rod saga. 

Thanks to a two hour, 40 minute rain delay, I was able to catch about half of the Rangers game when I got home.  (Strangely, it was also raining here.)  I joined the game with Rangers up big.  By the 6^th, after a Carlos Beltran home run, it was 8-1 with bases loaded and no outs.  However, they didn’t score any runs.  In the 7^th, Rangers’ starter, Yu Darvish, ran out of gas, or alternately ran out of the patience after a bad error, and got run out of the game.  The team’s defense unfortunately didn’t improve and the Tigers scored 4 runs to make it interesting.  Thankfully, Sam Dyson came in in the 9^th and locked it down.  Rangers win 8-5.  Awkwardly during the game, Sean Tolleson and Prince Fielder are still doing commercials for the team, though they are not with the club anymore.  

8-13-16

This was a poor Saturday.  Unfortunately, the baseball didn’t help.  The Chihuahuas were still in Oklahoma City playing the Dodgers.  I’d missed last night’s game.  Apparently, Yasiel Puig went 3 for 4.  He’s hitting well, but still has baseball acumen issues, such as getting thrown out at home in the 1^st. 

Annoyingly as usual, the Rangers were on at the same time.  I flipped over to listen to the first half of the game.  Cole Hammels didn’t have his best stuff and kept getting into trouble.  Unlike last night, the defense behind him was stellar.  In the 4^th, Profar got his first outfield assist and then Choo threw out a runner at home to end the inning.  Around the 6^th, I lost signal on the El Paso station as the sun went down.  I heard the Tigers score, breaking the 0-0 tie, but not how many runs they scored.

Back to the Chihuahuas.  In the 7^th, OKC takes the lead.  Puig gets thrown out trying to steal home.  The Chihuahuas lose 4-2.  By this time, I was able to pick up another Texas station, and I’m in time to listen to the Rangers lose 2-0.  The Tigers get two runs on 14 hits.  I completely forget about the Rockies game this evening, but it was likely just about over by the time I’d be able to get KOA anyway.  Ironically, I had just bought a Rockies pennant today at Hastings.  (They’re going out of business.  It’s pretty sad going there.) 

While flipping radio stations, I got a Dallas station and was able to amazingly hear the end of the post-game, loud and clear.  I even got to hear Jared Sandler doing his post-game call-in show finally.  A Cowboys pre-season game had knocked the Rangers off FM and onto AM.  I could have heard the game on a much clearer signal.  Sigh.  I also wish I could have heard the call-in show after a win where presumably there might have been callers.  Once again, no recap of the day’s other games.  It’s just weird that they won’t give out all of the scores after a game, just division opponents.  I hope tomorrow is better all the way around.

8-14-16

I should have appreciated Beltran’s home run Friday night more.  I didn’t realize it was going to be the last time I was going to hear the Rangers score this weekend.  After three day games and no days off last week, the team may be fatigued.  Their defense certainly showed signs of a lack of mental and physical sharpness again today. 

Given a 21-inning scoreless streak, you might infer that the Rangers lost today.  The Tigers won 7-0 as their pitcher, Michael Fullmer, threw a complete game shutout.  The Rangers didn’t show up at all, but at least the game went quickly.  Come out to the ballpark later this week for the Elvis Lan-drus-rissan Star Wars bobblehead giveaway.  It’s sure to be a fan-favorite.

The Oklahoma City Dodgers manager took the blame for Yasiel Puig getting caught trying to steal home yesterday.  It was part of complex situational play that Puig apparently didn’t understand when the manager called for it.  So, Puig isn’t stupid because he tried to steal home; he’s dumb because he didn’t understand the signs.   

After a couple of close calls from foul balls, the pressbox finally took a direct hit in the 5^th.  Much like a couple of years ago in Iowa, there was a sound of crashing and then ominous silence for a few seconds.  Finally, a slightly shaken Tim Hagerty resumed calling the game.  He gave a thumbs up to the crowd, who applauded his valor.  There was a knocking sound on the window that confused him for a moment.  A guy in the suite next door was asking for the ball. 

It was that kind of game in OKC today.  A Dodger runner scored from second on a bad throw to first.  A ball fouled off at the plate, bounced up and hit the Chihuahuas batter on the top of the helmet.  The Chihuahuas lose 13-2.  There’s nothing to talk about.  It’s been a crappy baseball weekend.

Hey, show up at the Cohan Stadium next month for Beerfest.  Bring the kids.  Yes, the old Diablos stadium is still in use.