The Yahoo game was Royals vs Tigers. While I like this service, I don’t think I can take that Katie Couric promo much longer. It’s about the same with any baseball coverage on any media. If you’re listening to a local minor league radio broadcast, you’re going to hearing the same commercials every inning for the whole season. The best you can hope for is that none of them are too annoying. I remember once on a mid-season Diablos broadcast with Matt Hicks and his co-host, the station wasn’t able play the commercials. During a break, they started to do the spots word-for-word as a joke. The station manager likely immediately stepped in and told them to knock it off. TV isn’t much better. Viagra anyone?
Anyway, I was happy to see the Royals, even if the Sabermetricians are going to be right about their record this season being lousy. Of course, they were only totally wrong about them the last two seasons, and the only reason they aren’t contending now is because of a season-long series of injuries to key players. This was the Tigers’ team broadcast. I was surprised to hear Kirk Gibson as the color commentator. I wonder if this means he’s been totally bounced out of managing? He doesn’t have the best voice for a speaking gig, but his knowledge and resume always make Gibby worth listening to. Rod Allen is still with the broadcast as field reporter. I used to listen to him and Greg Schulte everyday doing Diamondbacks games on the radio. They were pure “homers,” but Rod had definitely toned it down when he went over to the Tigers.
KC wins 3-1, but the story was the praying mantis on their dugout. The cameras were watching it like a hawk. Like a bunch of little kids, the players were trying to catch it. I think I missed the story behind why they were doing this. Something about a “rally mantis.” The players managed to corral it into a cage and kept it under close guard. Only in baseball.
Here’s how you break out of a 24-inning scoreless streak: Adrian Beltre hitting a grand slam. (Actually, Elvis Andrus drove in a run the inning before, but that wasn’t dramatic enough for the lead of this paragraph.) Even over the drought, Beltre’s been getting his hits. It was just a matter of somebody getting on in front of him or driving him in. The Rangers beat the friggin’ A’s 5-2. Though they’ve been beating them on paper, the A’s have been giving the Rangers fits this season.
The Chihuahuas were still in Oklahoma City and clearly wished they weren’t. The final was 8-1. It wasn’t even that close, as that one run came in the 9th. The opposing pitcher had a complete game and a no-hitter into the 7th. That’s a four-game sweep for the OKC Dodgers. No wonder Tim sounded so down during the broadcast.
Things got too quiet at work without a game on, so I impulsively found the Albuquerque Isotopes’ broadcast on the MiLB site. I might be visiting them later this month, so I wanted to check in, and they’ve been in the news lately. Tim had surprisingly mentioned that the ‘Topes were tied in second place in the division behind the Chihuahuas (apparently the Las Vegas 51’s have also faded). Albuquerque was so bad earlier this year with a double-digit losing streak that the Chihuahuas broadcast was actually doing updates on their games and pulling for them to end it. Now, the pups have gone 3-11 in the month of August (it’s finally happening, they’ve had too many good players called up to the Padres), while the Isotopes have had an 8 game winning streak. They’ve picked up 6 games in the standings. However, they lost tonight to end the streak, and they’re still well below .500. I’m not worried yet.
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