NM State Aggies vs UTRGV Vaqueros Volleyball 10-21-17 Part 2

Continued from Part 1

(There’s a little bonus NM State Baseball coverage at the bottom.)

Halftime

The team went to the locker room.  Injured Brielle Sterns was now on a scooter for her bad knee.  Hannah Combs changed court sides and sat down over a couple of chairs.  I think I saw her laughing a little, which was good sign.  Today’s entertainment featured a bunch of young people serving over the net, trying to hit sweatshirts laid out on the other side.  It was a “Catur-day” promotion with Chester Cheetah on the sweatshirts.  It was a bit disorganized, but spirited.  A texting-based contest was announced for a private showing of the new Star Wars film for “you and 99 of your friends.”

The UTRGV Vaquero girls were out dancing on their end of the court and practicing their moves.  It’s hard to work up any animosity towards these young women.  With 30 seconds left before the next set, I saw the PA nervously looking down the tunnel, wondering where the Aggies were.  They finally came out and went directly to the court without much of a warmup.  As Adam Young on the radio call put it, “Coach Mike Jordan was using every last second to instruct his team.”  As it turned out, it was time well spent.

  

Set 3: Aggies 1, Vaqueros 1

Bridgette Lowe was out starting this set.  A couple of her fingers were wrapped, but I didn’t see the rest of her hand wrapped like before.  The third set started with a bang as Lia Mosher hammered a shot, 1-0 Aggies.  5-3 Bridgette got her first kill on an awesome shot.  6-4 KC Tohm got her first kill of the set.  9-4 Megan Hart was in and came up with a kill.  10-4 Megan cranked another one.  Adam (and myself) called that shot, “The best swing of her career.”  (Spoilers, she wasn’t done yet for the day.)  12-6 Lia and Sasha-Lee Thomas combined on a block. 

14-12 the Vaqueros started a comeback.  Timeout Aggies.  16-12 a Tatyana Battle shot that went out was called an Aggie point on a touch.  The Vaqueros were stunned.  I wouldn’t have blamed their coach for complaining enough to get a yellow card on that point.  Maybe Coach Jordan was right about the officiating.  18-13 Bridgette got a kill on a mis-hit.  She couldn’t help smiling at her luck.  18-14 Barbara Silva got a tip kill for the Vaqueros.  She got revved up on the point.  She is their sparkplug.  19-15 Sasha came right back with one of her usual rally-killing spikes.  21-15 Megan Hart with another kill.  Timeout Vaqueros. 

The music volume seemed to get turned up during the break with the crowd into it.  23-15 the Vaqueros put in Talita Olveria from the reserves, perhaps conceding the set.  The Brazilian girl was very tall at 6’3”, but waifish-ly thin and way too fragile-looking to be playing.  She also had a bit of a hunchback.  I do not say any of this in criticism, but rather in admiration, and dare I say, she’s a pretty girl.  25-15 Aggies for the final in this set. 

      

Set 4: Aggies 2, Vaqueros 1

The players changed sides again.  Hannah Combs painfully crossed the court again.  I’m sure she was hoping more than anybody in attendance that the Aggies would end the match quickly.  Jordan Abalos was chatting with a little girl as she crossed, maybe a coaches’ daughter.  I noticed Brooke Salas and Sara Lopez from the Aggie Women’s Basketball team in the student section (and probably a couple of other members that I didn’t recognize from a distance).  After the match, I saw an Aggie football captain, Dalton Herrington, on court, chatting with Adam, so there were probably some other football players there.  The girls on the Vaquero bench were still dancing to the PA music and working it.  These girls are probably fun dates.      

This set started off on a bad foot right from the start.  At 0-2 Vaqueros, Coach Jordan argued a point.  He sent Tatyana, as current court captain, over to talk to the up official.  The ref had had enough and issued a red card.  I’d wondered what would happen if somebody got a red card, which I hadn’t seen happen before.  Now I know; the other team gets a free point.  That’s a pretty good discouragement, 0-3 Vaqueros.  Coach Jordan continued to stand at the side of the court during play.  At 0-5 Lia missed a set into the net.  The girls looked discombobulated.  The coach finally sat back down.

Tatyana scored the first Aggie point at 1-5.  3-6 Megan Hart made a solo block.  4-6 KC powered a shot through the defenders.  5-6 the Vaqueros were called for being out-of-rotation again, while the Aggies were serving.  I swear I didn’t see this called all last year and now I’d seen it three times in one game.  Things must be tense.  6-6 Megan and KC teamed up on a block.  7-7 Megan slammed a confident kill.  I knew she could be good.  She just needed two legs underneath her and some regular playing time.  8-7 Aggies, KC got fired up after a kill.

It was all Aggies after getting the lead.  12-9 Megan and Sasha on a block.  14-10 Tatyana with a kill.  16-11 Lia with her tenth kill.  17-12 Lia went crosscourt for a kill.  19-13 another kill for Lia.  She came out.  Associate Coach Ben Wallis gave her a big smile as she went to the bench.  19-16 KC missed on a bad set.  This was another thing I kept seeing this morning that I’d pretty much never seen.  The star player on the Vaqueros, Bojana Mitrovic, was also firing shots into the net on bad sets.  It was happening on both sides of the court.  More tension, I guess. 

20-16 “roofing” was called on the Vaqueros (hitting the top of the ball going over the net).  I called it too.  I must finally be learning the rules here (except for the mysterious “net violation”).  21-17 KC put one down with some heat.  22-17 Megan got a block.  23-17 Megan got her eleventh block.  23-18 “lifting” was called on the Aggies.  I didn’t call that one.  I think it’s hitting the bottom of the ball going over the net.  25-20 the Aggie girls roared on the court with the set and match win (3-1).  This match had to be emotional in about every way: big game with the conference leader, dramatically losing a player, and getting big performances from Lia and Megan.

After such a hobbled start, it seemed unlikely the Aggies would get the lead and pull away in the final set, but that’s what they did.  Adam suggested they were rallying for the coach.  I certainly give Coach Jordan credit for some tremendous halftime adjustments.  I don’t think the Vaqueros got tired or mentally broken.  It seemed more like confusion.  They were very prepared Tatyana Battle and might have been okay with KC Tohm (led with 16 kills) and Sasha-Lee Thomas getting points, but didn’t foresee freshman Lia Mosher killing them (second with 12 kills).  They were also not prepared for Megan Hart being a factor (4 kills, 11 blocks!).  If it’s possible to a hide 6’5” girl and surprise an opposing volleyball team with her, the Aggies did it. 

After this match, I don’t think other teams will be overlooking Lia and Megan, but with all the Aggies’ attacking and blocking options, they’re going to be hard to game plan against.  And, I’m still convinced Julianna Salanoa (3 kills) will click and be a force before the end.  If you’re going to lose your star player and two other starters, you may as well try and win by throwing the kitchen sink at your opponents.  For the moment (pending tonight’s games), the Aggies are tied for first.                 

During the match, they were promoting the next game with a video image featuring Hannah’s picture.  I don’t know if it was a bad coincidence or they quickly put one together for her.  She was out on the court on crutches, while the other girls were settling down for autographs.  Hannah didn’t look happy, but at least she didn’t seem traumatized (unlike myself).  I’m going to guess what she was thinking: I was finally starting and doing well!  This sucks!  Hang in there.  You can come back from this, and you’ve shown the coach you can play. 

In the post-match interview, Coach Jordan wasn’t happy.  Man, if there was ever a time to give your girls a little pat on the back, this was it.  Sheesh.  You really got some stepping up from your players in the face of adversity.  He singled out Julianna in his grumbling, but at least he thought she had some use.  For my part, this was a great game, a great win, and was totally terrible being there.  Even if I’d just been listening over the radio, I still would have heard that scream that I was hearing in the back of my head for the rest of the afternoon.  That’s always a risk.  You never know what’s going to happen at a sporting event, good or bad.

 

     

This doesn’t really merit a separate post, so I thought I’d stick it here, since it ties into the volleyball.  I decided to check out the Aggie Baseball inter-squad scrimmage at the nearby ballpark, since I’d finally gotten the times for their games.  I’d gotten cold at the Pan-Am center, maybe from some shock, and thought some fresh air and warm sunshine would be a good idea.  I was more than surprised to find the parking lot full and a couple of RV’s parked there.  I couldn’t hear much going on from outside the stadium, but inside, there was a good crowd.  I heard someone say there were 101 people there for Family Weekend.  I think there were more.  I may have seen fewer fans at actual games.   

I took the opportunity to sit in the reserved section behind home plate.  (By the way, the seats at the ballpark are more comfortable than those at the Pan-Am Center.)  It was higher up than I usually sit, but it was a better view of the field.  There were definitely moms and dads and brothers and sisters there.  Drinks were flowing with the moms and dads.  Hot chicks in little shorts were in attendance.  (These ball players have it good.)  The crowd had a lot of chatter going, but they were fairly quiet in terms of game cheering.       

The players mostly wearing the same uniforms and all those were without numbers.  I’d brought a roster from last year, which was no help.  A couple of players were doing the umpiring.  One player stood behind the pitcher to call balls and strikes.  I had no idea what the score or inning was with the scoreboard off.  After I’d been there for a while, it was a bit like The Sandlot reenacted (without the dog), an endless game, played seriously, but for fun.  Without any names, I can’t give much of a scouting report.  There was a home run to right center that got the crowd going.  Marcus Still, the one guy I could identify, made it to third base on a bad throw to first on a grounder.  His mom shouted out, “He gets that from me!” 

Suddenly, the game ended.  I don’t know what the score was or who won.  As the crowd slowly dispersed, I noticed three members of the volleyball team were there.  Well, I definitely had something to say to them.  I caught up with Megan McGuire, Kiley Tonge, and Savannah Davison and congratulated them on their win.  Megan spoke up for the group, and they were indeed happy.  Of course, I asked next about Hannah Combs’ condition.  The doctor on site didn’t think anything was torn in her knee, but they’d be checking with an MRI.  Hannah sounded like her soul was being torn from her body after the injury, so this was encouraging news.  Megan sounded so professional and polite speaking to me about the game, I wonder if the girls take a “charm” class in dealing with fans and the media (or maybe some Jordan Abalos rubbed off on the team). 

Okay, interesting morning and afternoon at the university and a lot to digest (and write).  It was a good time with a very bad moment mixed in.  I went to What-a-burger afterward and finally used that free burger coupon I’d gotten at baseball in the spring.  It was great, and I told the guy at the counter.  “Of course,” he said.  Now that’s a great attitude.              

NM State Aggies vs UTRGV Vaqueros Volleyball 10-21-17 Part 1

Ever have one of those days where you get everything you wanted handed to you in the worst possible way?  Read on. 

Today’s match had an early start time, which was a change made last week.  A good crowd showed up on time anyway for this big match up with the current conference number one, the UTRGV Vaqueros.  The Aggies were playing for a share of that first place.  In their first meeting, the Aggies lost in five.  Coach Mike Jordan partially blamed the officials for that loss in the pre-game interview.  That seemed like a risky position to take with the referees before a match.  Not to mention, I’d think the WAC wouldn’t take kindly to those kind of comments to the media either.  More troubling, the coach didn’t sound very confident going into this match.        

I saw Jordan Abalos’ grandma at the ticket office.  She was wearing a shirt pretty much identifying her.  Jordan herself looked good spirits, chatting with fellow injured players, Brielle Sterns and Jordan George.  The two injured “Jordans” would be helping out during practice.  There was an announcement about Jordan during the game, but I didn’t really hear it with the radio call going in my ears.  I think it was about her grandmother and breast cancer awareness.  The “Pink” campaign seems to be winding down this year.  I realize I’m spending way too much space on somebody who isn’t playing, but Jordan’s my favorite. 

On one level, I hate the UTRGV Vaqueros because their nickname and school name are a pain in the ass to type.  There’s no easy abbreviation for them either.  I have no idea where they’re from.   On the other hand, they’re a good team.  Last year, they beat the Aggies in the WAC Tournament here on their way to winning the whole thing.  They also remind me of the Aggies, in that they’re an interesting-looking team with a variety of appearances and sizes.  Teams where all the players look alike seem to have some inherent weaknesses in play and in appeal.  (Except for UCLA. They were awesome and very easy on the eyes.)  The team is composed of a very international cast with 11 of their 16 players from outside the US.  (I doubt anybody in the US knows where UTRGV is, much less foreign nationals.)  To add to the compliments, their girls are having fun on the court and the sidelines, which is good to see.  They also play with high socks.  The look works for them.

To be totally treasonous, I have to pick Barbara Silva on the Vaqueros as one of my favorite enemy players.  I remember her from last year.  She’s fairly tall with a healthy build, but really cute and very passionate.  I guess with Carol Grasso gone, Barb’s my new favorite hot Brazilian player.  Also of note on the Vaqueros was Veronika Jandova.  She’s a tall, lean blonde from Prague.  The European blondes just always look different from American ones somehow. 

Up front at the Pan-Am entrance, a couple of sharp-looking new Aggie Men’s Basketball posters were being given out.  I skipped the Concessions again since I’d just had breakfast.  For player introductions, I noticed that the Vaqueros line up their entire team on court, not just their starters.  For the Aggies, their intro music went back to Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song.  The arena staff also got the spotlights figured out and shined them on the players as they were introduced.  The Vaqueros watched the Aggie team video and seem to enjoy the show.  The crowd was good-looking and enthusiastic and ready for volleyball.

Set 1

The match started off tight, as I’m sure most people there anticipated.  3-2 Aggies, KC Tohm had already gotten her second kill and she was pumped.  4-2 Aggies got the point on some good blocking.  The Aggies were going “tall” with Megan Hart, Lia Mosher, and Hannah Combs starting.  5-3 Another Aggie point.  Megan didn’t get the kill, but had two good swings during the point.  This was looking like a good match. 

On the next point, there was a joust at the net.  Suddenly, one of the girls went down.  Above the din of the crowd, a scream seemed to fill the entire building.  The crowd went dead silent as the scream continued.  I had my earplugs in, listening to Adam Young’s radio call.  Five seconds later with the delay, I got to hear it all over again.  It was Hannah that was hurt.  The training staff and a doctor (there’s always a doctor there during events) tended to her.  The Aggies on court huddled up in prayer.  Eventually, the staff was able to help Hannah up and off the court.  I’d assumed they were going to be taking her directly to a hospital, but instead took her to the side of the court to work on her, more or less out of sight.    

No matter how gruesome, seeing somebody injured in a recorded clip is nothing compared to seeing it live.  This is always the worst part of watching women’s sports.  When one of the girls gets injured, it hurts ten times worse than watching a guy in a similar situation.  It’s one of the reasons why female race car drivers have had problems getting sponsors: they don’t want their name on the car in the event of a fatal wreck with a woman driver.  If and when it happens, you’ll see why, because it will be an entirely different reaction than a male driver dying in a race. 

I’m sure I wasn’t the only fan there that was rattled.  Both teams, to their credit, refocused quickly.  Given that kind of accident could happen to any of them at any time (and has happened to some of them), you couldn’t play if you couldn’t completely put that out of your mind, even after just seeing it happen.  Julianna Salanoa came in for the Aggies.  As much as I wanted to see her get some playing time, this wasn’t how I wanted it to happen.  The point was actually replayed.  That is a good and fair rule for such a circumstance.  After a couple of points, KC cycled out and ran over to check on Hannah.  The Aggie reserves could see her clearly where they were standing and kept looking back at her treatment.  I swear all I could hear for the next five minutes was that scream.

Well, back to the game recap.  7-7 Vaquero point.  Coach Jordan got a yellow card for arguing a questionable call.  Surely this wasn’t the same crew from the last time these two teams played, but their relationship picked up right where it left off anyway.  7-8 Vaqueros’ point on a good block.  They are a really good blocking team.  This is why Coach Jordan wanted more blockers; it’s intimidating.  Ask Tatyana Battle, one of the Aggies’ leading scorers.  She had five swings in a row blocked. 

Even this early in the match and set, the points were really hard fought.  8-8 Sasha-Lee Thomas did what she does best, score big points.  10-10 Lia got a kill for another big point.  11-10 Tatyana finally broke through with her first kill.  13-10 Aggies, after an Aggie ace, the Vaqueros were called for being out-of-rotation.  That is a hard-to-believe call on such a good team.  15-10 Julianna and Megan combined for a block.  Timeout Vaqueros.  15-15 Vaqueros went on a run, punctuated by an ace.  Timeout Aggies.  18-17 Aggies, Sasha put it between two blockers for the kill.  18-19 Vaqueros’ point.  Timeout Aggies.  When the team returned to the court, they actually huddled up for a moment for a couple words of encouragement. 

19-23 the Vaqueros continued their run.  Taty was blocked again.  They had her played well.  20-23 another big kill for Sasha, trying to hold off set point.  20-24 Barbara Silva got the Vaqueros to set point with an emotional outburst.  Oh, this one wasn’t over yet.  22-24 this was an ugly-looking point, but the Aggies took it on a block.  23-24 timeout Vaqueros.  24-24 Tatyana didn’t give up and got the kill to tie it.  25-24 Aggies, timeout Vaqueros again.  We’re going to extra points.   

I apologize that events were coming so fast and so dramatically that I couldn’t keep taking notes and watch.  Megan got a big block on one of the extra points.  26-26 Tatyana may have gotten the dig of the year here.  Bojana Mitrovic, the Vaqueros’ standout player, slammed a monster kill that Taty somehow managed to return.  I was ducking for cover on that swing.  27-27 KC forced it through the Vaquero blockers for a kill. 

With another set point, Coach Jordan sent in freshman reserve player, Jordan Pleasants, to serve for it.  Adam tagged her as one the team’s best servers in practice.  29-27 the Aggies finally took it on a long point that involved Julianna saving a ball that bounced off the net.  With Hannah’s injury, the hard-fought play, and that thrilling final point, the crowd was amped up and exploded with the win.  That may have been the loudest I’ve heard a volleyball crowd at the Pan-Am.     

Set 2: Aggies 1, Vaqueros 0

The teams switched sides.  Hannah Combs came slowly across the court on crutches to join the team at the other end.  Her knee was bandaged up pretty tightly.  Of course, she got a round of applause as she crossed.  I’m sure everyone watching was in some measure of sympathetic pain.  At least she was still there and not being carted off to an emergency room. 

Early on at 2-3 Vaqueros, Julianna got her first kill.  She looked as upbeat as she usually does with the reserves.  When she got called back to the bench, Julianna had an animated conversation with Associate Coach Ben Wallis, not an angry or defensive one, but an edifying one.  I really like her attitude.  In the meantime, Coach Jordan received another yellow card for arguing.  He was not letting up on the officials. 

7-11 KC got in a kill to break up a run.  8-11 Julianna got an overpass kill.  11-11 KC tied it on a kill.  Timeout Vaqueros.  12-16 an out-of-rotation call was made on the Aggies.  This was entirely uncharacteristic.  It seemed to be on Julianna.  The coach didn’t argue it.  15-19 the Aggies got a dump shot to break up a run.  16-19 Lia got an overpass kill.  17-21 Lia again with a kill.  Timeout Vaqueros.  18-22 Lia with another kill, but the Vaqueros would take the set 20-25.  The Aggies had some good moments here, but UTRGV had recovered from Set 1 and their game plan looked pretty solid.

 

Continuedin Part 2

Sports Journal October 15-21, 2017

10-15-17

I tried.  I really tried yesterday.  NASCAR’s Talladega race just didn’t keep my interest.  I used to be a big fan.  I don’t know what happened.  Was it the constant green flag commercial breaks?  The Chase?  The yearly alterations to the Chase?  The ugly cars?  Another five-hour broadcast (without even a rain delay)?  Dale Earnhardt Jr’s comments supporting the NFL kneeling didn’t help.  I don’t think they hurt him with the fans, since he’s retiring anyway.  Certainly NBC supported him during the race.       

This morning on the radio, an ESPN (The Conscience of American Sports) host was actively egging on NFL players to boycott a game and cause a forfeit.  The purpose of this would be to hurt their remaining fans to make them part of the struggle.  Yeah, the logic was convoluted.  Go ahead guys.  Do it.  The host specifically said that the purpose of the protest was policy brutality.  Okay, right after that boycott, if you gentlemen still have jobs and decide to grace your fans with another game, I say the police should make an announcement the night before.  A virulent case of the “Blue Flu” will preclude them from being able to provide security for that game.  Have a great day.  Let’s see if either the fans and the players show up under those conditions.

(Watch some tool at ESPN somehow find this post and suddenly the network starts using my “conscience” gag as their actual slogan.)

Sunday night, the Dodgers beat the Cubs again on a walk off home run by Animal (Justin Turner).  I only saw highlights on Stadium.  I never got a whiff of the game live anywhere.

10-16-17

Aggie Volleyball took on the UNM Lobos Monday night.  It was even on TV.  I was busy with work though.  The best I could do so sneak in a few glances at the game.  (Also, there were technical difficulties with broadcast that I can guess originated with the Pan-Am Center facilities.)  The Aggies took it in straight sets: 25-18, 25-16, and 28-26.  I did get to see the end of the third set.  That one was a fight.  Aggies were down for much of it.  Both teams fought off a couple of set points before it ended.  The girls took care of business.  Since I didn’t see most of it, that’s as much analysis as I can offer.

1,196 were in attendance.  A lot of girls from local volleyball teams were there.  Tatyana Battle led with 19 kills.  A bunch of the kid players were mobbing her afterward.  Sasha-Lee Thomas and KC Tohm also had double-digit kills.  KC was sitting on the bench during those extra points in the third set.  I hope she’s okay.  Lia Mosher had a monster game with 8 blocks.  Natalie Mikels did most of the setting in the match over Briana Ainsworth.  I don’t know what that means.

Adam Young had a lovely former Aggie player named Kelsi Meredith as his color commentator.  At one point, they showed Jordan Abalos on the bench and talked about her.  They said was dealing with the injury well and looking at another surgery.  She looked about as happy as she could be watching the game, instead of playing in it.  Watching her team play well probably helped. 

I was also flipping over to the ALCS during the match.  By the end of the volleyball, it was 8-0 Yankees in the sixth.  I decided not to watch anymore.  8-1 Yankees final.  Astros still lead the series 2-1.

10-17 to 19-17

Okay, let’s not fake it here.  I was watching and listening to the ball games intermittently and wasn’t really taking notes.  The Yankees would win two more games in New York and go up 3-2 in their series with Houston.  I give a lot of the credit to those home town fans there.  The full Yankee Stadium mystique was on display for their three victories. 

There was a funny moment in Game 4.  In the fourth, Aaron Judge was doubled off first on a good catch in the outfield.  Upon review, he was deemed safe at first.  However, Judge had failed to retouch second on his way back.  The Astros somehow muffed the appeal at second after the review.  Judge then suddenly took off for second during the deliberation and was thrown out.  Only in baseball.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers took care of the Cubs in five games.  Yu Darvish did well in his outing in Game 3 with Andre Ethier coming off the bench to chip in a home run.  I’ve had trouble taking Ethier seriously after that hysterical stare-down incident he had with an umpire a few years ago, but I was actually glad to see him do well.  The Cubs won Game 4 to give the Wrigley Field fans a little something for the series.  There was a guy in a tux behind home plate for that game.  The Dodgers took care of business 11-1 the next day.  Kike Hernandez hit three home runs in the process.    

10-20-17

“I literally love Kate Upton!” exclaimed Jose Altuve after the Astros’ 7-1 win over the Yankees.  Who can blame him?  Kate pitched seven scoreless innings as her exuberant fiancée, Justin Verlander. watched from a skybox.  She’s been a tremendous acquisition for the team for this playoff run.  This win forces a decisive Game 7.  I hope the Astros win this series, so we can all see more of Kate.

10-21-17

Hmmm.  Rereading that last entry, something seems off, but I can’t put my finger on what.  Oh, well.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to catch any of Game 7 between the Astros and Yankees.  FOX buried it on FS1 so they could show college football in the evening.  Thankfully, a Juarez station was carrying it, and I could get a weak signal from KROD for English audio.  Yea, no Joe Buck.

Charlie Morton for the Astros went five scoreless innings.  His only real problem was when he was told to stop touching the gum in his mouth by the umpire.  Evan Gattis put the Astros up first in the fourth with a solo home run.  A great play at home plate in the fifth between Alex Bregman and catcher Brian McCann kept Yankee Greg Bird from tying the score.  Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez keeps looking worse and worse. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Jose Altuve hit a solo home run and McCann doubled in two runs.  Four runs for the Astros would be enough for the win and to advance to the World Series.  The Astros organization now owns an AL pennant and an NL pennant.  Justin Verlander was named the series MVP for giving up only 1 run over 16 innings.  Aaron Judge on the Yankees did get one more highlight for the season, as he did a great job stealing a sure homer by Yuli Guriel.

Sports Journal October 12-14, 2017

10-12-17

I finally found that slip of paper with last week’s TV schedule that I’d lost.  I knew I’d find it eventually when I no longer needed it.  It was in my baseball season preview magazine that was sitting on a shelf.  No wonder I couldn’t find it.

I basically missed the Nationals and Cubs game at work.  I was busy, but had the game on TV.  On the one hand, at over four and a half hours, it was on long enough for me to watch some of it.  On the other, what I saw consisted of a relief pitcher diddling on the mound and the batter fouling off his eventual pitch.  I’d leave and come back five minutes later, and the same at bat would still be going on.

That said, it was a great game.  First, the TBS cameramen kept finding honeys in the crowd to zoom in on.  Well, at least that filled the dead time between pitches.  More seriously, just check out the line score.  Second inning-Nats up 4-1.  Fifth Cubs up 7-4.  Sixth 8-6 Cubs.  Seventh 9-7 Cubs.  Eighth 9-8 Cubs and that was the final score.  Max Scherzer even came in as a reliever for the Nationals, though he ended up being the hard luck losing pitcher.  Speaking of hard luck, the Nationals, in spite of their wealth the talent over the years, are still looking for their first playoff series win.  They’re rapidly taking the Cubs’ place as baseball’s lovable losers.  What’s their curse about?  Leaving Montreal?             

10-13-17

Game 1 of the ALCS between the Astros and Yankees.  Here’s a couple of baseball’s great, young charismatic teams meeting in the playoffs.  This should be a great series.  Pity it’s on FS1 where no one will see it.  The crowd at the stadium may be larger than the TV viewing audience.  Oh crap!  Joe Buck is doing the call with John Smoltz.  Now we’re going to get treated to some borderline retarded game calling.  (“No, JDH417 tell us how you really feel and without the PC filter.”)  Now I have no enthusiasm for this.  It’s “Mute Button Baseball” for the best of seven.     

What’s that from the audience?  Yes, actually I could do better job myself.  I could NOT do as good a job as my local guys calling baseball games, Adam Young or Tim Hagerty, but the Fox Clown Posse, sure.  Oh, and that was cute.  Fox used the new batter’s eye at Minute Maid insert an ad logo on screen, while simultaneously having problems getting back to the actual game on time from overly long commercial breaks.  TBS isn’t any better either.  Yesterday, Ron Darling was insisting that Bryce Harper had to hit a home run with his team down a run in the ninth.  There are other options there, Ron, where Bryce could help team in that situation.  Swinging for the fences and striking out wasn’t one of them.     

   

The only inning I really got to sit down and see was luckily the most pivotal one.  In the fourth, Jose Altuve got an infield hit, stole a base, and got knocked in with a hit.  Another run scored by moving that runner over with a productive out, and then driving him in with a single.  The Astros had a two-run lead thanks to fundamental baseball. 

Altuve made a rare error next inning which led to having two on.  Aaron Judge singled up the middle to nearly drive in a run, but George Springer got the ball, came up firing, and got Greg Bird at the plate.  Then there was the annoying challenge, like Joe Girardi will ever leave a close call unchallenged again.  I left the room rather than deal with Joe Buck and John Smoltz dissecting the various angles for the next 10 minutes.  He was out.  Bird would actually get that run back in the ninth on a home run, but 2-1 Astros was the final.  Dallas Keuchel went seven scoreless innings.  Jose Altuve went 3 for 4 like a champ.  

    

10-14-17

It was a great day for Aggie Athletics.  I saw the volleyball team win.  They announced that the soccer team had won during the match.  Later in the afternoon, I listened over the radio to the football team win over Georgia Southern 35-27.  While I did hear the whole game, I didn’t take any notes.  (I’m going nuts enough taking notes at sporting events.  Let me just sit back and enjoy something.)  Suffice it to say, in the fourth quarter, they came back, took the lead, used up most of the clock adding to that lead, and the defense held.  It was a great win.

Coming back from the volleyball game and a late lunch, I picked up the Astros/Yankees game in the seventh, tied 1-1.  Justin Verlander was still pitching for the Astros.  He ended up going the distance for nine innings and 13 strikeouts.  Aroldis Chapman came in for the Yankees for the ninth.  Jose Altuve managed a single off him.  Carlos Correa came up next and doubled into the right field gap.  The throw went into the second, but Altuve never stopped running from first and was waved in by the third base coach.  Didi Gregorious made a great turn and throw to the plate from second, but catcher Gary Sanchez dropped the ball.  Altuve slid past him and slapped the plate.  The Astros won 2-1, going up 2-0 in the ALCS.

The Yankees fans who were calling for Joe Girardi’s head in the last series, now want Sanchez’s.  This is why being a Yankees fan must suck.  Even winning isn’t good enough.  The team has to win perfectly, without any setbacks.  Every season has to result in a championship.  Every playoff series has to be a sweep.  Each game in every series has to be a 9-0, errorless effort.  Fire the fans next time.  Sanchez gave an apology and explanation through a translator afterward.  He’s not an American?  He’s named “Gary.”  How can this be?  This is making my head hurt.  Stupid Yankees.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers beat the Cubs, 4-2, in the NLCS.

NM State Aggies vs Grand Canyon University Lopes Volleyball 10-14-17

Unlike the last volleyball post, no rants this time and I was there.  Our last opponent was undefeated in conference.  This time, the opponent, the GCU Lopes, was winless in conference.  Over the course of Adam Young’s radio call, he emphasized that they have played everyone tough, but just haven’t been able to come away with a victory.  Going into this, I was also smelling a trap.  A lowly opponent after a big win, usually seems to bring out the worst in a team.  In the pre-game interview, Coach Mike Jordan called his team “the Mother Theresa of volleyball charity,” for their numerous errors.  I wonder if he was concerned about this matchup too.      

I showed up thinking, I’m missing playoff baseball for this.  This had better be good.  My loyalty to the girls overpowered my love of baseball this afternoon.  My favorite, Jordan Abalos, was still on the bench, injured.  However, she wasn’t on the crutches anymore and could walk.  She also seemed in better spirits, chatting with some of the girls on the bench.  Jordan was sitting next to a young girl, probably . . . oops, wait . . . that’s Brielle Sterns.  She looks way younger with her hair down.  Brielle is also injured and she’s on crutches.  As good as she was, I wonder if they can red-shirt her, so we can get four full years with her.  Unfortunately, Adam seemed to indicate that they’re both done for the year.

It was a good crowd, reported to be just under a thousand, but I didn’t know how good until the Anthem.  There was some sound system problems.  Everyone was standing for about 30 seconds in silence until an older fellow nearby me started singing.  Given that he had a great singing voice, there was no embarrassment on his part about going a cappella.  Of course, the rest of the crowd and myself joined in.  I couldn’t see the Aggie players from where I was facing, but the GCU players all turned around as the singing started.  I had my earplugs out, so I didn’t hear whatever Adam said afterward.  For anyone wanting to protest the Anthem, this is what you’re up against: everyone else.  Great patriotic moment, but these technical glitches at the Pan-Am Center are kind of mortifying in front of opposing teams and occasional national audiences.  Work out the bugs and be better prepared, guys.    

The player introductions were different.  The music for the Aggies’ intro video was changed from Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song to Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic.  I’m mentally hearing a needle scratch an LP as I write that.  Just a bit of a tonal shift.  It’s not a bad song, very catchy, upbeat even.  The lights went down and spotlights careened across the arena, which was new, but they didn’t focus on the girls as they were being introduced.  This didn’t entirely make sense for an introduction. 

     

Set 1

This was a good start.  Hannah Combs got a kill for the first point of the match.  This was her second appearance of the year, as she did well in the previous game versus Bakersfield.  Megan Hart and Lia Mosher joined her in starting, so the Aggie went “tall,” but lots of substitutions went in and out on the floor.  3-4 GCU, KC Tohm got her first kill, continuing her good play over the last several games.  6-6 Ari Sierra served up an ace.  It was looking tight so far, but the Aggies seemed flat-footed and were making errors and having net violations.  (I still can’t figure out what is and isn’t a net violation.  The players are hitting the net all the time.)        

9-10 GCU point and Associate Coach Ben Wallis was out on the floor getting frustrated.  9-11 this was a long point won by the Lopes.  Kaylee Neal made a great save in the middle of it to keep the point going.  9-15 the Lopes made an error leading into a media timeout.  Coach Jordan started in on the team.  Once again, I could hear him pretty easily, well away from the bench and over the ambient noise.  As poorly as the team was playing, I’d judge him to be somewhat restrained in this circumstance. 

10-18 KC was blocked on a shot and the Lopes’ bench erupted.  11-18 KC whistled one through the blockers on the next point.  12-19 KC again with the kill.  13-20 Lia pounded one into the floor for her first kill.  Sasha got into the act with three kills in a row to bring the score to 16-20.  On the next point though, GCU was basically unblocked and hit in an easy kill.  Adam seemed concerned about the lack of defense on that point.  One can only imagine the coaches’ thoughts.  GCU would take the set 19-25. 

Set 2: Aggies 0, Lopes 1

Since the team is missing key players and having to use some new ones and doing lots of cycling in and out, the girls were trying to figure things out . . .  in the middle of the season . . . during a game . . . with the coach screaming at them.  I give them lots of credit for not crumbling.  Meanwhile, I experienced my own hardship with two pen malfunctions during the set and had to go to the pencil.  Always have a backup.       

Bridgette Lowe started with her hitting hand still bandaged.  (Is using the left hand out of the question?)  The Aggies looked even more confused at times early in this set, with the girls having trouble on court coverage, but they kept the score close.  3-2 Aggies Hannah got another kill.  5-3 was an Aggie point where KC completely laid out for a dig.  7-5 Lia and Sasha combined on a block.  8-7 Sasha on a solo block.  13-9 Hannah on an overpass kill.  15-10 Lia on a block.

16-11 KC powered one between two blockers.  16-12 was a Lopes’ point where KC appeared to have jammed her fingers on a mishit.  She got a kill on the next point, but came out right after, holding her fingers.  In her absence, GCU went on a three-point run.  Timeout Aggies.  On the video screen, a little girl was shown dancing to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off.  Too cute.  19-16 Sasha broke up the run with a cross-court kill. 

22-20 Lia and Tatyana Battle ran into each other going for a tip.  The Lopes players started to get really enthusiastic.  Timeout Aggies.  23-21 KC got a clutch kill.  Timeout Lopes.  The GCU girls gave a big shout coming out of the huddle.  23-22 Lopes got an ace as KC shanked the dig.  24-22 side out Aggies on another KC kill.  25-22 it’s all KC here as she served for the set.  Sasha got the kill to finish it.  We’re tied in sets.

Halftime

As I went out to the bathroom, I was walking behind some younger girls, who might have been there for a volleyball clinic earlier.  They were jumping around, pumped up, and ready to play.  If you have any more injuries, put me in Coach!  Future Aggie stars.  Back at my seat, I could see the DJ in the corner dancing while working the music.  It wasn’t my usual aisle seat and that cost me right before the next set.  Jordan Abalos unexpectedly came down the stairs.  (Don’t they have bathrooms in the locker rooms?)  If I’d been where I usually sit, I could have said, “Hi, how you doin’ Jordan?”  At the bottom of the stairs, she messed with Adam while he was on the air.  I guess she’s in good spirits at least.

Set 3: Aggies 1, Lopes 1

I’ve saying how the Aggies were having problems, but most of what I’ve been listing has been Aggie highlights and how close the match has been.  The Lopes played pretty steady ball, while the Aggies played good and bad.  Set 3 was another a tight, close affair.  3-3 Hannah was back to serve and hit the tape on the net.  The ball fell over on the GCU side.  She’s had some serving issues (as has some other Aggies), but after this lucky shot, her later serves easily cleared the net.  6-5 Aggies, KC got her first kill of the third set.  10-8 on a long point, Sasha finished it definitively. 

11-9 Hannah put a beauty of a kill into the corner of the court.  12-9 she came back with a tip kill.  13-11 Megan Hart, who’d been in and out for much of the match, got her first kill.  14-14 an Aggie error tied the game.  16-15 Aggies, this was another Aggie error.  The players even complained about the call as the crowd joined in.  “The boo-birds are out,” as Adam said.  18-16 a GCU ball dropped between three Aggies.  Ari actually ran into Hannah in the confusion. 

18-18 Timeout Aggies.  The score tied three more times.  22-21 Aggies, KC pounded a nail into the court and pumped her fists afterward.  23-21 KC again and she was fired up.  During a break, the PA gave an Aggie soccer update.  They were winning 2-1 in Seattle.  A cheer went up from the crowd.  24-21 Natalie Mikels dropped in an ace.  Somewhat like the team, Nat’s serving goes from good to bad.  She also worked hard on the setting today would lead team in that stat by the end.  25-22 KC finished it with her seventeenth kill.  2-1 Aggies in sets.

Set 4: Aggies 2, Lopes 1

During the break, a promo was shown for the Aggies’ Downtown Rally later this month.  The spot featured Pistol Pete.  Some young girls down in front were trying to figure out the Macarena.  Another group in the student section had it going.  I’m getting exhausted just watching this match.  It’s been tense. 

The first point was an ace by Briana Ainsworth.  (The PA loves saying her last name.)  Or was it?  The point was called for the Lopes.  One of their players had kicked the ball off the ground on the serve.  Another player one-handed it over the net, while the Aggies were celebrating, and it dropped in behind them.  The referees conferred and wisely gave the point to the Aggies before a riot broke out.  Adam was a bit despondent, “If that play had stood, it would have made it on to Sports Center tonight.”  (Maybe the crowd doing the Anthem would have gotten on too.  Oh, wait.  It’s ESPN.  The “Conscience of American Sports” wouldn’t have been interested in that.)

The teams matched each other early, point-for-point.  The Aggies got a lead at 8-7 on a Lopes’ error.  8-8 usually solid Ari served one out.  Adam reported Coach Jordan tossing his playbook into the air.  Service errors and net violations abounded in this match and neither team was immune.  9-8 Aggies, Sasha got a sweet tip kill.  As hard as her shots are, that’s a great way to mix it up.  10-9 ugly point, but Aggies got it on a block.  11-9 Hannah again on a hard kill.  14-13 Lia put in a tip kill after missing hard on the previous point.  15-13 KC kill, her twentieth.  Media timeout.  There was an announcement that Aggie soccer had won their match.       

17-13 Sasha-Lee went crosscourt for the kill.  Timeout Lopes.  The young girls up front had no trouble going Gangnam-Style during the break.  18-14 KC fired a cannon shot into the floor.  The Lopes didn’t even react to it.  This was the first point that I thought they looked tired.  Earlier in the set, Adam had called it.  The team was coming off of a hard, five-set loss on Thursday, and he wondered when it would catch up with them.  19-14 Sasha again.  20-14 Sasha!  Boo-yah!  24-18 here was a great kill by the Lopes, but it was ruled out late.  That didn’t seem right, but it wasn’t their day.  25-18 for the set and 3-1 Aggies for the match.

Adam Young had been emphasizing that Grand Canyon was a good team in spite of their record.  He’d said they hadn’t been swept in any of their matches.  From what I saw today, they are a hard-luck 0-7 in conference.  I have to think, if the Aggies had played the same and the Lopes had come in fresh, this probably would have ended differently.  After Set 1, I was ready to blame an Aggie loss on the weird new player intro production.      

Coach Jordan had calmed down for the post-match interview, but he said he was furious with the team in the first set.  They were not following the scouting reports and their assignments.  This was correct.  Everyone could see that the team was a bit disorganized.  I’m sure they practiced a lot with the new personnel changes, but doing it for real in a game was going to be a different experience.  There was going to be an adjustment period, especially with all the players that were moved in and out in the first set.  By the end of the match, play was better, but I’m sure they’re not done with the awkward moments and confusion from changes and experiments.

I thought this was another good win.  They lost a set, but still won the match.  You can’t expect to sweep every opponent.  You’re not playing cardboard cutouts on the other side of the net.  The other team wants to win too.  I thought it was also good that a bunch of girls got some good playing time.  Sticking with Hannah Combs definitely paid off today and should in the future.  She’s been on the team all season (though she might have been injured earlier for a bit).  She just needed some play time to shine.  I think some other girls on the bench could do the same, but they’ll be rough at first.  You’d have to have the patience to let them play through it.        

 

Here and now, it looks like KC Tohm has taken over in leading the team.  Whatever happened after that bad game against the Roos, flipped the switch and she’s been on fire.  Sasha-Lee Thomas is great, but I think her time on court is still limited by nagging injury.  Tatyana Battle, also great, isn’t a senior and still has some areas that need work.  KC finished with 21 kills.  Sasha ended with 14.  Taty had 11.  Hannah came in with 7.  Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come from her. 

I think the team needs one more good player at the net to win the conference.  (I say this mostly because I doubt the Coach is going to change anything in the back row or setting.)  Lia Mosher is solid, but is a raw talent right now.  Megan Hart still seems tentative, whether from injury or lack of playing time.  I think Bridgette Lowe could contribute, but not with a bad hand.  Julianna Salanoa had a rough outing on the road and didn’t appear in this game.  She needs more playing time to develop.  Is Savannah Davison able to play?  I thought she looked like a smart player in the Scrimmage.            

While the girls were doing interviews and sitting down for autographs, I watched a guy at the Scorers’ table.  He was doing a magic trick for some little kids.  I was just seeing it from the back, but he must have been doing a good job because he had all of their attention.  Coach Jordan was also doing interviews.  He stopped to talk to some young girl volleyball players, who seem to gravitate around him.  No doubt they’re dreaming of the day when he could be yelling at them on the bench.  Before he left, I caught the guy who started the Anthem earlier and congratulated him.  He’d almost forgotten doing it.  I was satisfied with watching a good match today.  Schlotzsky’s for lunch! 

NM State Aggies vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners Volleyball 10-12-17

I feel like this report is a bit dishonest because I wasn’t actually at this game.  I wasn’t able to see it either.  The WAC Digital Network didn’t work for me, and I think AggieVision wasn’t showing it on TV.  Though I was at work, I was able to listen to the whole match on the radio and look at the Statcast, so I was virtually there, kind of.  

As you can see, I took copious notes on the match, so I decided this merited a full post.  If you ever wondered how these get written, I look at my notes and wonder myself.  This sheet is actually much worse my usual notes, since it includes several different games and sports from a couple of weeks of activity.  Like every report I do, most of the work is deciphering my random scribbles and then rifting off them.

To provide some context for tonight’s match, Aggie volleyball went one and one on their recent road trip.  The bad news was that freshman standout, Brielle Sterns, was injured.  I’m presuming it was during a match, instead of the usual practice-related injury.  I’m also guessing the injury happened during the win on the trip.  More bad news happened on the loss that occurred in the next game.  They lost another five-set match.  They’re 0-4 on the season for those.  Most of the team’s wins have come in straight-set victories.  If the team can’t dominate an opponent, they have problems.      

                  

From listening to Coach Mike Jordan on the Aggie Coaches Show, I learned that the girls have three-hour practices and whoever practices best, gets playing time.  This is illuminating on all the team’s practice injuries.  Of course, the girls who’ve had plenty playing time, probably practice the best too.  He was also thought the team was lacking in offensive options.  This came into play in longer matches.  After three sets, the other team has seen pretty much everything the Aggies have.    

At the beginning of the season, the coach obviously felt set on attacks and digs.  He immediately put in the freshmen, Brielle and Lia Mosher, to shore up the blocking game, which was seen as the main deficiency.  Unfortunately, losing Jordan Abalos and some nagging injuries to others, have really hurt the offense.  Tatyana Battle has stepped up.  Sasha-Lee Thomas is great, but her playing time seems to be limited.  (I wonder if she’s in some real pain out on court.)  KC Tohm had a great road trip, leading the team in kills in both games, including a career high.  She’s gotten over whatever problem she in the last home game, and that’s an awesome bounce back. 

But, the team really needs a couple more reliable options without Jordan.  Losing her was like losing three starting players on the team.  It’s not an easy switch out.  You can’t anticipate injuries, but it seems like a good like idea to get as many players as possible into some actual games, even for a couple of points, just to give them some experience.  I was pleased to see Julianna Salanoa got into the action on the road.  It was a rough outing, but I’m sure she learned a lot more than in practice.  (Yes, I know.  She’s my pet project.  I’m sure she’s going to be great at some point.) 

This team carries a large roster, but seems thin.  To be overly honest, even with six other defensive specialists on the team, if anything happens to Ari Sierra, they’re probably screwed.  Ari is tremendous.  She’s so good at her position, she probably gets double the number of digs as anyone else in any given game, especially with Jordan gone.  Could anybody else make up some of the difference if she was gone?  Who knows?  The most of the other DS’s aren’t playing.  What’s going to happen next year with Ari and Kaylee Neal gone?

Is this a rant or a game report?  Play-by-play has never been my specialty.  Tonight’s opponent was CSU-Bakersfield.  Last year’s meeting at the Pan-Am Center was an Aggie loss.  Moreover, the Aggie girls had a long conference home-winning streak snapped, didn’t clinch the conference regular season championship that day, and the Bakersfield girls pretty much rubbed the Aggies’ noses in it.  Celebrating after the win would have been fine, but they did it all during the final set, when the Aggies clearly had no answer for them.  (I wonder if they knew that three of the Aggies best players had the flu the day before.)  If this were baseball, the Roadrunners could have expected one in the ribs for that display.  Neither team made it to the conference tournament final, which would have been a great re-match.  (No guarantee for the Aggies there either.  By the end of the season, they were really physically hurting.)      

Oh, this is embarrassing.  Here I’d been looking forward to this game since last year and it literally snuck up on me.  Until Adam Young announced tonight’s opponent on radio, I totally didn’t realize that this was it.  Crap.  I don’t think I could have taken the night off, since I just got back off vacation.  If I’d known, maybe I would have changed my vacation dates, maybe.  As treasonous as this admission is, I kind of wanted to see the Roadrunners again.  They were an attractive, charismatic team, especially Carol Grasso.  She made me actually wonder if there was any way to meet an opposing player for an autograph and a little chat.  Wait, what?  Carol’s not on the team anymore?  She graduated?  Aww, man.  This is just one blow after another. 

This current Roadrunners team was second in the WAC with a 5-0 record.  The Aggies were missing two starters.  Adam, somewhat incredulous and apprehensive, announced their starting lineup with Kaylee Neal, Bridgette Lowe (with a bad hitting hand), and Hannah Combs, who was making her first appearance in a game all season (she may have also been injured earlier in the season).  For such an important game for the Aggies, this was a curious set of starters.  You can literally see all of my game notes up top, so this game recap will not be terribly detailed.  

Set 1 was defined by one epic point.  This may have been the longest point I’ve heard the Aggies play.  It went on long enough that I thought Adam was about to run out of breath calling it.  The Aggies took the 8-4 point.  It reminded me of a Colorado State/Boise State (10-5-17) point, where the crowd got quieter and quieter in awe as it went on.  (That one was in the fifth set in extra points.)  The Roadrunners did not recover.  They even got called for an out-of-rotation serve.  25-14 Aggies for Set 1.  I’ve seen good teams kind of give up if they go down big in a set, and seem to mentally prepare to do better in the next one. 

Lia Mosher got in some good points blocking.  Lia’s already a good player, probably on the way to being great.  I see her showing up a lot in Aggie promotional pictures on the team Twitter feed and the newspaper.  The camera loves her, not just for being attractive, but for looking great in action poses.  We await seeing her on a schedule poster someday.

The Aggies did what they could to hand Set 2 to the Roadrunners.  They had 7 service errors.  Even the cheerleaders were having problems and accidently interfered with an out-of-bounds save.  Bakersfield for its part was serving up ace after ace.  (Boy, is the team missing Jordan Abalos’ return of serve skills.)  The Aggies trailed for most of the set, but were never put of it. 

I don’t know if the line scoring would back me up on this, but I put the turning point of set on Hannah Combs.  (Great picture on the autograph poster by the way.)  She got a couple of kills and an ace.  (And I seem to remember her getting a dig.  Tall girls getting digs is great.)  Like Bridgette Lowe’s contribution in the UNLV game, reserve players doing well really seems to rally the team.  (Another reason to let them play.)  The Roadrunners got to 23, but the Aggies reeled off four straight points to pull rug out from under them.  Set point was another epic one with the crowd and even Adam roaring.  25-23 Aggies and up 2 sets to none.   

In Set 3, the Aggies went up big and never looked back.  The Roadrunners made a run at it late, but it was too late.  25-14 Aggies take the set and the match, 3-0.  Jordan Pleasants and Kiley Tonge made brief appearances in the set from the bench.  Kiley’s a bit tall for a DS on this team, but probably a bit short to play at the net.  I wonder how well she can jump and if she could be a setter.

Tatyana Battle, Sasha-Lee Thomas, and KC Tohm all finished the game with double digit kills.  Just from listening, Sasha’s kills seemed to be particularly crowd pleasing.  In Coach Jordan’s interview after the match, he praised Bridgette for making a go of it with a bad hand.  He was reasonably pleased with a three-set win over a tough foe.  There was some room for improvement.  While the team had 6 aces, they also had 10 service errors.  At times, the Aggies seem more capable of beating themselves than the other team doing it.

I’d say this was sweet revenge, but this didn’t feel like a payback game.  While Aggies didn’t graduate anybody, the Roadrunners lost quite a few players.  I remember Sydney Haynes from last year, who was still playing, but that was all.  The Aggies lineup looked different too, especially losing Jordan Abalos.  Worst of all, I feel dumb for not even knowing that this matchup was coming up (or that Carol Grasso was gone).  Regardless, this was a really good win for the team.  They showed a good ability to come back in a tough set and to close out a match.  I think they’ve found something in Hannah Combs too.  None of these girls are on the team by accident.  It’s just a question bringing out their best and giving them a chance to shine.

Sports Journal October 6-11, 2017

10-6-17

I got back from Aggie soccer in time to miss most of a Patriot League women’s volleyball match on Stadium.  Somebody was already winning 2-0.  I missed the rest of it, making a couple of phone calls.  Right after that, the SDSU Aztecs were playing the SJSU Spartans in women’s soccer.  Again, I missed most of it, though when the announcer says, “This is one of the most exciting nil-nil matches you’ll ever see,” I didn’t feel too bad about it.  There was even a missed penalty kick for both teams.  After two overtimes, double zeroes was the final score.  At least the tie game I went to had some scoring.  Once again, I do like the guy doing the game call.  They didn’t really show the crowd there in San Diego, except for the lower stands and some people milling around the sidelines.  In the background, there were some fire trucks and ambulances with their lights going and firemen were walking around.  It seemed like that was the real story, but it was unexplained.  Cool player name of the night: Aztec goalie Gaby English.

In baseball, which I only got a recap of (thank you Stadium, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten anything), the Astros whipped the Red Sox again, the Cubs beat the Nationals, and the Dodgers beat the D-Backs.  The most amazing result was the Indians over the Yankees.  The Yanks had a five-run lead in the sixth and coughed it all up to lose in extras.  One of the hosts wanted Joe Girardi fired for not challenging a close HBP call, that lead to a grand slam homer later.  

10-7-17

Double defeat for the Aggies today as the football team and the volleyball team both lost.  The football team was up late in the fourth quarter and the volleyball team was up 2-1, but neither could finish out.  I was listening to the football, and they gave updates on the volleyball.  Appalachian State was clearly reading something off of Tyler Rogers and was picking him off at will (6 times).  Depressing.  A Juarez station was also broadcasting the Dodgers and the D-Backs tonight.  I didn’t know about it and missed basically all of it.  Dodgers won their game, and the Nationals beat the Cubs.

10-9-17

I got a bonus day of vacation today.  Thank you, Columbus!  KROD was nice enough to carry the Red Sox and Astros Game 4 in the late morning/afternoon.  I came in late, not realizing it was on.  Given the steady rain in Boston for the whole game, everyone was lucky it finished.  Chris Berman and Rick Sutcliffe did a crappy job on the game call, but the game was so good, it completely overshadowed them.  Hand it to the Red Sox faithful, who endured the elements and cheered like crazy for the whole game.   

It was 2-1 Astros when I joined in the second.  The Astros left the bases loaded.  The Red Sox also left the bases loaded in their half.  Dustin Pedoria nearly tossed arguing balls and strikes.  Manager John Farrell got booted instead.  It took nearly an hour and a half for two innings.  Pace of play in the league would be great, if you threw out all the games involving the Yankees and Red Sox. 

In the third, Red Sox Mitch Moreland was thrown out at home.  Chris Sale came in for the fourth for the Sox.  Justin Verlander came in in the sixth for his in first ever relief outing.  Verlander gave up a two-run homer to Andrew Benintendi to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.  Alex Bregman tied it on a homer in the eighth.  There was ballgirl interference on an Evan Gattis hit.  Josh Reddick drove in the go-ahead run and Carlos Beltran added an insurance run.  It wasn’t over.  The bottom of ninth started with a Red Sox inside-the-park home run.  (I never caught the player’s name.  I hadn’t heard it before.)  But the Astros took the game, 5-4 and the series to advance.

Admittedly, I haven’t really been following the baseball playoffs.  I’m not a huge fan of any of the teams left.  The Dodgers finished off the D-backs to move on.  The Yankees and the Nationals won to continue their series.

10-11-17

Yesterday’s Cubs/Nationals game was canceled because of rain.  KROD decided to pick up their game this afternoon.  (ESPN Radio’s alternate programming is so bad, Steve Kaplowitz was complaining about it.)  Unfortunately, family events caused me to miss it.  Nothing like sitting in a waiting room for two hours.  The Nationals won to force a Game 5 on Thursday. 

Before the game, ESPN Radio’s hottest topic of discussion was the US Men’s Soccer team getting eliminated from the World Cup.  The hosts were of two minds in that one, it was soccer and it didn’t matter, but two, it was hugely important to the network, which would be broadcasting the now meaningless Cup games in America, not to mention, promoting soccer is an important Agenda item for the media.  In any case, they were pissing all over themselves in general soccer ignorance, while trying to sound knowledgeable.  Between this and listening to hosts literally screaming about Trump, it’s unintentional comedy at its finest.            

I caught the end of the Indians/Yankees game on TV.  Again unfortunately, the closers were in for both teams and the game dragged out to a hellish degree.  Pace of non-play was atrocious.  The Yankees won in a tight affair.  I really thought this game being in Cleveland would help put the Indians over the top, even after losing two games to force this fifth game.  The Yankee fans and various hosts wanting Joe Girardi’s head for Game 2 were forced to swallow a victory instead.  That doesn’t sound that bad.  The players apparently rallied to save Joe.

NM State Aggies vs Eastern Arizona College Gila Monsters Softball 10-8-17

Hey, I finally got their name thanks to seeing it on the back of a cap worn by one of their fans.  The Gila Monsters are also the only softball team I’ve seen that plays with their pant legs down.  Everybody else plays with the high socks.  This exhibition double-header was delayed by the nearby soccer match.  They were afraid of foul balls going into the soccer grandstand.  I haven’t seen any fouls have that kind of distance, but it allows fans the opportunity to see all of both events.  I was delayed coming over, since I was getting player autographs and then took the poster back to my truck.  Hopefully, the softball girls understood.  (I’m still waiting for an opportunity to get softball player autographs at a game.)  A nice breeze had picked up to cool things off.

The Aggies’ lineup featured Samaria Diaz pitching (the girls in the dugout called her “Ria,” why not “Sam?”), Nikki Butler at first, Kelsey Horton at second, Jeanelle Medina at third (I heard her called “Nellie” from the dugout), Rachel Rodriguez at short, Brandy Hernandez in left (her way too accurate nickname is “Little B”), Victoria Castro (“Tori”) in center, and Caity Szczesny in right.  I think the DP was Merina Illi.  She wasn’t wearing a jersey with a number.  Our catcher was number #32, who I identified as having nice hair last time.  There isn’t a #32 on last years’ roster, so I don’t know who it is. 

Lastly, I kept looking for Kayla Green in the dugout.  As the tallest player on the team, she’s not hard to spot.  It wasn’t until after the game, I saw her out of uniform at the scorers’ table.  Hopefully she’s not injured from running into an opposing player in the last game.  Alternately, she might be in Coach Kathy Rodolph’s doghouse for running into that player.  I’m sure Kayla will be playing next year.

From crowd chatter, I figured I arrived in the second inning of a scoreless game.  (The scoreboard wasn’t on for this exhibition.)  I decided I’d just note interesting plays and scoring plays.  That came quick.  With runners on second and third, Caity hit a pop up right behind second base.  It dropped in between three players.  Two runs scored (2-0 Aggies) and Caity took second.  Even having seen it, I still don’t know how it happened.  Seriously, the ball dropped right behind second base.

In the third, Brandy came up to bat.  Being a local girl, she had several fans in the stands.  Behind me, there were a couple of guys, who may have been scoring the game for the Gila Monsters.  I wasn’t there for the first, but the Aggies seemed quiet.  The Arizona team was pretty vocal by comparison.  They also had an older guy in the dugout, who was one of the coaches, who worked up a steady chatter of encouragement for the girls.  The team had several fans in the grandstand.

In the fourth, Kelsey hit the light pole on a foul during her at bat.  I’d seen her almost do that before, which is why I’ve called her “The Natural.”  (Well, that and her great playing ability.)  She still looks a little tender when she’s sprinting, but moved well otherwise.  Caity scored on an error this inning, 3-0 Aggies.  The girls finally started singing a bit in the fifth.  A pinch-runner (unidentified) on third took home on a wild pitch, 4-0.  Tori drove in Brandy to make it 5-0.  

A new Aggie pitcher came in for the sixth.  She was a blonde lefty and wore a facemask when pitching.  A new catcher also came in.  She also had great hair, but it was so long, it covered her number.  I don’t know who it was.  The Aggies had their defensive play of the game as Caity made a catch in right field and then threw out a runner at home, who was tagging up from third.  Again, I’m not sure how this happened, but it was a great play. 

It was Caity’s day for unlikely plays until the bottom of the inning.  The Gila Monsters had their best play on a comebacker to the pitcher with Caity on third and Kelsey on second.  Caity was caught in a rundown, trying to take home.  Kelsey was then caught in a rundown, trying to take third.  The Arizona fans cheered the double play.  Merina, the batter, did reach and was driven in by Nikki, 5-0 Aggies, which was the final score.

Events were much less contentious today than last time.  Between innings, one of the umpires briefly danced in the circle, before dusting the rubber.  The home plate umpire talked to some Aggie fans in the grandstand, “Are we having fun?”  For the seventh, I noted that the new Aggie pitcher could really whip it up there.  You can tell by the sound of the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt.  They did play out the unnecessary bottom of the seventh before taking a break between games. 

While it was reasonably nice out and the first game went pretty quick, I’d been outside for quite awhile already with the soccer match.  I was also hungry, so I went ahead and left.  I did catch up with Aggie fan Danny from the soccer match, who was also at the softball and about to leave.  We had both invited new soccer fan Marty to see the softball (which she probably would have liked), but she’d had to leave.  This was the last exhibition for the girls for the year, so we were going to have to look forward to next season to see the softball girls again.  They looked good from what I saw.

NM State Aggies vs Grand Canyon Lopes Soccer 10-8-17

Wow, I did it.  I went to three soccer matches (10-2-17, 10-6-17) during this vacation.  Two years ago, I would have found this development very unlikely (and my previous self would be slapping my current self).  What can I say?  It’s been kind of fun and certainly been more entertaining than staying home.  Respecting the streak (a win and a tie?  Well, no losses anyway), I wore my “Los Aggies” shirt for a third time.  (I promise to wash it before wearing it again.)    

I could already see a big crowd in the stands forming when I pulled in.  The parking lot was also a bit full.  (I think there was a soccer camp for little kids before the game.)  There was a tailgater there.  I could hear the clack of a BBCorr bat hitting a baseball in the distance at the ball field.  The lines were also freshly drawn on the softball diamond, so there’d be a game there later.  I ran into Marty, who I met at the last game, at the courtesy table.  The girls must have talked her into coming back.  Marty said she’d read my blog, which I doubt because she was still speaking to me.  She called it, “Pithy.”  That’s close.  I’d sum up my 1,000+ posts with a word that rhymes with that, but starts with “Sh.”  She gave me a tube of lip balm that was part of a product line she was selling.  Let’s go ahead and try it now while I’m writing about it.  Whoa!  That is minty.  The label was not kidding.  I feel very kissable all the sudden.      

Though I was sitting near the bottom of the stands, there was a lady in front of me with an umbrella, just about blocking nearly all of the Aggie end of the field for me, including Dmitri Fong (who’s great to watch in net).  I’m not complaining though.  I told myself I was going to stop doing this in the blog, but I can’t help it this time.  While I had trouble seeing the field, whenever I looked in that direction, I could see this extremely beautiful woman in the stands nearby.

She was perfectly bronzed and toned and proportioned.  Her tank top and shorts let you get a good look at those features.  No trashy tats marred that light caramel complexion with some foolish act of transitory rebellion.  Her short, sassy haircut looked practical at first glance, but was so precisely styled and colored to belie any ease of upkeep.  Mirror shades masked her eyes and probably the unknowable mystery of her soul.   Impossibly, this mortal Venus came in unescorted and unmarried with a bare ring finger.  Too mature for a student and too young to be the mother of one of the players.  An enigma, she sat alone and attentive, yet seemingly dispassionate about the events on-field.  Her only outburst was a hearty round of applause at the end of the match.  Not once did I see her afflicted with malaise of this age: staring blanking into a smartphone.  This heavenly creature must surely have been a figment of my undeserving imagination for she could not have been real.

The NM State Soccer sign on the south wall had been fixed.  It was warm and sunny, without a cloud in the sky.  An occasional breeze cooled the stands.  A little girls’ soccer team formed a double line out of the locker room for the Aggies to run through coming on to the field.  They also accompanied the starters out for introductions.  Devin Hart was introduced as captain, which I don’t think I’d heard before.  Congratulations.  We’re ready for soccer.

(Admit it.  That wasn’t bad prose for girl-watching.  Yes, she was fully worth poetry.)

First Half

The teams spent most of the first 15 minutes feeling each other out.  I have the first serious chance at 38’ left in the half, where Dmitri made a diving stop.  At 32’ Aileen Galicia charged the Lopes’ net and passed to Devin Hart coming up the middle.  GOOOOOOAL!  That looked good, 1-0 Aggies.  Shortly after, 28’ Jody Hernandez took a shot from outside the GCU box.  A minute later, 23’ the Lopes attacked inside the Aggie box for a goal.  Dmitri just missed pushing it out.  I couldn’t hear the PA call, but paper identified McKenzie Cook with the goal, 1 All.   

After that flurry of activity, the Lopes made most of the attacks for the rest of the half.  21’ GCU had a free kick shot just outside the box.  15’ Aileen made another solo attack that popped up over the net.  14’ GCU had a header that also popped over the net.  8’ the Lopes had a good chance on a roller near the net.  7’ Mariah Baker took one for the team and was knocked down on a corner kick.  6’ a GCU shot went just high and wide.  Before the half ended, 3’ off a goalie kick, a Lopes player had a really good header at midfield and another Lopes player made a great reception of that header downfield.  It was so well done, I’m sure the other players watching were jealous.            

Halftime

The break featured t-shirts being tossed into the crowd and another collection for Puerto Rico.  I made another contribution in hopes of impressing the gorgeous woman nearby.  A herd of kids were out playing on the pitch.  I had chatted a bit with a senior fellow, Danny, seated in front of me about yesterday’s Aggie football loss.  He’d been there for the soccer on Friday too.  Another fan came by talked with him.  I was struck by his hat which partly read “Nut Fry.  Festival of Testicles.”  I hope this was a “Mountain Oyster” festival and not something more hideous.  (What could be more hideous?)      

       

Second Half

“Do something instead of wandering around aimlessly,” said one of the young men behind about the girls.  I hope this guy was actually a player offering knowledgeable, critical commentary, because I think all I heard him talking about otherwise was video games.  A couple of attractive young women came in this half.  They seemed familiar.  After walking by a couple more times, I realized it was Megan McGuire and Briana Ainsworth from the volleyball team.  I didn’t recognize them immediately, since they were so nicely dressed and not wearing team shirts.  I’d heard about their loss this weekend, but they seemed in good spirits.  I wanted to say, “Hi,” but they were busy chatting with other people. 

The Lopes continued on the attack, 39’ Dmitri got a stop on a catch.  Unreadable scribbling in my notes.  Something about Aileen pushing down a girl (I enjoy that way too much) and a chance on a goal on a high kick.  35’ Aileen got a shot outside the box.  The Lopes’ goalie made a great tip to keep it out of the top shelf.  31’ GCU took a high shot over the goal.  28’ Devin may have been tripped in the GCU box, which would have resulted in a penalty kick.   Instead, a free kick was given outside the box.  The crowd was in an uproar over the call.  Jody took the kick and put it right over the player wall.  The goalie made a good catch behind them.

26’ Samantha Afonso “Fonzi” took a shot.  Devin took another shot off the rebound, which the Lopes’ goalie caught.  At this point, I’m sorry I didn’t catch the GCU goalie’s name.  She did a good job.  23’ Aileen, again by herself, got off a falling shot on goal.  Then the GCU offense picked up.  21’ Dmitri blocked a shot, then ran out and fell on it.  20’ the Lopes had a good free kick just outside the box that Dmitri made a great catch on.  14’ Dmitri knocked down another shot.  8’ GCU had an open shot, but the header popped over the net.  3’ Dmitri stopped a roller at the goal.  She must have been exhausted by the end of the half.  Downfield, Aileen had all but stopped moving with her hands on her knees.  She was clearly gassed, and I was afraid she’d cramped up as well.  The half ended, still tied.        

First Overtime

Maybe we should just start calling this “Third Period” like hockey instead of “Overtime,” because it seems mandatory.  Playing their fifth overtime match this season and third in a row, the Aggie girls might agree.  The game got chippier at this point with the players getting physical.  The ball mostly continued to stay mostly in the Aggie end.  4’ I was scribbling and just about totally missed a serious attack.  (When will stop doing that?)  What I saw was Kelly Burton defending the net and running into one of the pipes.  She seemed okay afterward, but I don’t know how.  Hopefully, I just didn’t see that correctly.  A minute later, Devin led coordinated attack on the other end to give the fans something to cheer about.  Still no winner for either team after 10 minutes.       

Second Overtime 

Nobody wants to hear my advice on how to improve soccer, but let’s start with this: make them play without the goalies in overtime.  That should end things quick.  What happened here was quick anyway.  8’ left in the OT, Aileen charged the right side of the box.  She tripped and fell, but got off a pass to Devin coming up the middle just like she did earlier.  Right in front of net, Dev stuck it right in, 2-1 Aggies final.  Gooooooooal!  The PA’s call was actually drown out by the crowd cheering.  That may be the loudest I’ve heard the soccer fans here.  The baseball team, sitting on the grass in front of the stands, was also standing and cheering.  You know you’ve done well, when you impress a team from another sport.  (I keep seeing the guys out here for them, so must like them.)           

Autographs

After the match, the girls came out to midfield gave the crowd a rousing, happy round of applause, which was returned.    Always win on Autograph Day so everybody’s happy.    I did say last time I’d go down and meet the girls for autographs.  I went down with Marty, who was eager to see the girls she knew.  Coach Freddy Delgado stood off to the side of the team, beaming with pride in them.  I went over and shook his hand. 

The girls definitely knew Marty and were happy to see her there.  She introduced me as a guy who was writing about the team in a blog.  They seemed somewhat excited about that.  I spoke to Cristina Bertoldo for a minute, since we had someone in common who was a co-worker with me.  I was a little leery of asking, since I don’t know the family situation, but said co-worker was doing well with her new baby.  Marty left after getting the girls to commit to seeing her for a seminar on natural food and health supplements.  (I just read an article that the various Aggie sports are now working with a nutritionist.)  I stayed for team autographs.   

I thought last year’s autograph signing was a bit disorganized.  They had tables on field, but didn’t have chairs.  This time, they didn’t have the tables and the line was pretty ragged.  The heavier cardstock of the autograph poster being handed out was useful for signing without support.  Also, it was a bit more awkward this time, since just about everyone in line that I saw was a little girl.  Last year, there were adults there.  Okay, I’m here now.  I don’t care how bad it looks that I’m in line with a bunch of 10-year old girls.  I’m getting autographs. 

I missed a few girls for autographs.  I’m not sure if they weren’t there or had wandered off, since I was about the last in line.  I missed getting Jody Hernandez’s autograph somehow, but saw her by the grandstands and congratulated her.  I never saw Audriana Chavez.  I wanted to ask her how she was doing and congratulate her for the winning shot on Monday.  I hope Audrey makes it back, since I’m sure Devin and Aileen would like her help on offense.      

The girls were sucking on frozen fruit pops during the signing.  Some of the girls I didn’t know on sight and some I got tongue-tied on.  Sorry.  I gave one girl my blog address, since she asked.  I said it covered Aggie sports in general.  I also said, “No apologies,” in what was probably a futile attempt at mitigating some of the things I’ve written.  I’m sure my restraining order will be served shortly.

Dmitri Fong was all smiles and very nice.  I don’t know.  I think was expecting her to be gruff and commanding, like when she’s playing.  I forgot to ask Dmitri about the origin of her name, but I’m sure that’s what everybody else asks her anyway.  I also forgot to ask how she was doing after her injury (obviously not too bad given her play this week).  I at least got to compliment her on her playing.  Again, she’s great to watch out there, even when the net isn’t in danger. 

Tuti Tirado may have remembered me from last year when I asked her about playing for the Puerto Rican national team.  I asked her about her pre-season interview.  She had been playing in a semi-pro league during the summer.  In addition to the piles of red curls, Mariah Baker also has cute freckles.  I made sure to get an autograph from today’s hero, Devin Hart.  She was very deservedly happy.  Wearing #13, I should have asked if she was an Alex Morgan fan too.   

Yikes!  Aileen Galicia is cute and sweet.  I’m sure the opposing players she knocks down and runs over might have also thought she was just a “cute little player” before the game.  I didn’t get to talk to her last year, so I didn’t know how nice she is.  I told her she has the “heart of a lion,” which does not fully convey my admiration for her relentless, fearless attacks on goal. 

I went all “sportswriter” for a moment and asked, “You guys played three matches in seven days and they all went overtime.  That had to be the worst case scenario.”  Aileen did confirm she was indeed sucking wind at the end of regulation.  “You have to tell yourself, ‘You’re not tired,’” she said in a happy glow of exhaustion and euphoria, “The coach kept telling us, ‘You’re not tired.’”  There you have it, the embodiment of the POW maxim: You’ll break mentally before you break physically.  She’s a warrior.  

Last in the jumbled line, I found backup goalie, Ashley Martin.  I felt somewhat like I owed her an apology, but instead I congratulated her on her last game, where she’d done a good job.  I couldn’t remember the opponent, but she seemed to know what I was talking about.  In addition to being happy about today’s victory, she was pleased with the recognition.  I even got a jaunty wave from her when she left the stadium with some friends.  I hope I enhanced her day a bit.   

The girls gave everything out on the field today, including being pleasant to the fans afterward.  I kind wish I was recording that little impromptu interview with Aileen.  It’d be great to show to a wider audience around town to sell Aggie athletics, especially to parents, as the girls and many other student-athletes in other sports are natural role-models.  As Marty’s encounter with them at her workplace shows, they can be great grassroots ambassadors for the university just being themselves.  The town rally for NMSU in a couple of weeks seems like a great opportunity to make more fans, so somebody in marketing has figured it out.

I wasn’t sure about going out to all these games this week, but it turned out to be a great idea.  One home game left this season, I’m looking forward to seeing it.