Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the Rangers and the Nationals featured Washington ace, Max Scherzer, versus Texas rookie Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Austin, making his second big league start, gave up a leadoff home run and gave up another hit. After that, he got 19 straight outs. Scherzer was also dealing, and he only gave up a single run. In the fifth, when Max left the game, the Nationals’ bullpen gave up four runs on one hit. 5-1 Rangers would be the final, completing a three-game sweep of a much better team. However, “It’s not who you play; it’s when you play them.” The Nationals were continually distracted by this weekend’s odd start times and a team fan event on Saturday. They’re also in the middle of a death march of a schedule.
During the game, Matt Hicks reminisced about living in DC as a child and being a Senator’s fan. He was at their last game and had cried his eyes out over the team leaving town. (I’m not sure if this was the Twins or the Rangers version of the Senators.) After getting a big lead, young Matt was at least happy that they were going to win their last game. Unfortunately, fans prematurely stormed the field in the ninth, looking to take souvenirs. Because of this disruption, the game ended in a forfeit and a loss for the Senators.
There was some major disappointment in the morning. I turned on the TV to see the US Women’s Soccer team play. No, actually I tuned in to see Alex Morgan. She was not there. It turned out later, she was injured. Carli Lloyd only barely put in an appearance, as this was a “friendly.” The US won 1-0 over Norway anyway.
This was part of a Foxsports double-header with the US versus Mexico coming on later. That game wouldn’t actually count for anything either, but it was being held in the ultimate hostile environment in Mexico City. In the Fox pre and post game shows, Fernando Fiore was there and speaking in English.
The Canadian F1 GP was a highly event-filled contest. Unfortunately, I wasn’t taking notes. There were really just two interesting stories. Late in the race, Fernando Alonso’s engine blew and he came to a stop in front of a grandstand. He went up into the crowd, slapping hands, and giving hugs. He tossed his gloves into the crowd. F1 drivers never do this. Fernando’s Indy experience apparently really brightened his outlook towards the fans.
Sir Patrick Stewart came out to conduct the podium interviews, including race winner, Lewis Hamilton. Prompted by Stewart and the crowd, Daniel Ricciardo did his podium ritual of drinking champagne out of this shoe and then threw it into the crowd. He asked Patrick if he’d like a drink. “Sure!” Patrick cheered. Daniel took off his other shoe and obliged him. “I don’t care if I have to drink it from a shoe! I’m having champagne on the podium!”
After the Rangers’ game, Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, the US versus Mexico soccer match, and the Chihuahuas’ game all came on at the same time. The pups went down 9-0 early and I tuned them out. They lost 11-5. Boo.
The US team scored early, but Mexico answered later in the half. 1-1 ended up being the final. It was a tie in what was meaningless game, since both teams have already qualified for the World Cup (I think, some other tournament?). Typical soccer. I’m glad that I didn’t really bother watching. It was raining there in Mexico City. At the end of the match, debris was also raining down from the stands. The Mexican fans were not happy with this result. Both teams probably had a nervous exit from the stadium. Boo.
In Nashville, the neighborhood around the arena was literally filled with people. There was even a concert on a rooftop playing for them. Incredibly, there was more scoring in the soccer match. Though I haven’t watched much of the Stanley Cup final, for the second time, I saw the Predators have one of their goals waved off in the first period. This time, it was definitely on a bad call (an early whistle) by a ref. In the third period, the Preds weren’t even able to score on a 5 on 3 advantage. The Penguins won on a late goal (that was also questioned by the refs). The final was 2-0 after an empty-netter. Penguins win the championship. Boo.
6-13-17
Today I had a real quandary between choosing games to listen to. With a massive flip in my work schedule, I was at home in the early evening listening to baseball. I started off listening to the Rangers and Astros, but as the signal went bad, I flipped to the Chihuahuas’ game. Tim Hagerty was joined by Steve Kapolwitz from the local El Paso sports talk show. I was sorry I’d missed some of their conversation, as they’re friends and apparently neighbors. They were having a good time and loved talking baseball. Tim, in particular, was displaying a great sense of humor that doesn’t usually come out in his solo broadcasts. They even blew off a commercial break to continue a talk about Cody Decker. (Neither were invited to his upcoming wedding.) I know Kappy has his own show to do, but I hope they can bring him on more and have him do a couple of innings of game call to help save Tim’s voice.
But, I really wanted to find out how that Texas matchup went, so I flipped over a Rangers’ nighttime station. The Rangers won 4-2, an unlikely second win against the Astros and their fifth in a row. I missed Ruggie getting them the lead. Flipping back again, the Chihuahuas were just finishing up a 3-1 win over the Rainiers. There was some drama in the ninth to make it interesting. That was a quick game. It started an hour later than the Rangers’.
6-14-17
During the Ranger’s loss to the Astros, Jared Sandler talked about the MLB draft. To my surprise, Marcel Renteria of the Aggies was mentioned. Well, it wasn’t totally surprising that he was picked, though he came up because he was one of many legacy players chosen in the draft, which did surprise me. Marcel is actually related to a couple of professional ball players. The game was a 13-2 whooping by the Astros. Elvis Andrus wasn’t in the lineup. That didn’t help.
6-17-17
Rangers versus Mariners. After the Rangers started off with a five-run lead, the M’s came back on a three-run homer to bring the score to 5-4. In the sixth, the Rangers unloaded another five runs, including three home runs. That would be a 10-4 Rangers’ win.
Annoyingly, the Fox Saturday game wasn’t the Astros’ game. (It ended up being a blow out win over the Red Sox anyway.) Their game was the Cubs versus the Pirates. Cubs’ pitcher Jake Arrieta hit a two-run homer, but they lost 4-3. John Smoltz was confused during one at bat when there were batters in both batters’ boxes. That was the result one of those new automatic intentional walks.
Not really interested in the game, I started flipping stations and ran into a Mexican baseball league home run hitting contest. Yes, it was just like the MLB, except Chris Berman wasn’t there saying, “Back, back, back!” It was a packed house at the stadium. There were a bunch of costumed team mascots on the field. The guys hitting there could definitely mash. They were using the old-style home run derby rules. They advertised their All-Star game for Sunday, so I’ll have to look for that.
In Fresno, an electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix-inspired National Anthem started the game. Unfortunately, the Chihuahuas seemed to be sleepwalking and lost 6-1. Tim Hagerty got irritated by the constant and weird sound effects by the PA.
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