NM State Aggies vs Seattle U Redhawks Softball Game 1, 4-28-18

After last night's losses, I wasn't entirely looking forward to today's double header.  The Aggies now needed to win both games against Seattle U to win the regular season WAC title.  This was the team that was three outs from a championship, up 3 runs in the seventh, and lost to the Aggies in last year's tournament (5-13-17), so they are aching for revenge.  Ron was in a much better mood thankfully when he picked me up.  After a tasty lunch at Schlotzsky's, we were both in a good mood.  During this time, Aggie Baseball started their game against GCU in Phoenix.  The Aggies went up an early 3-0 when I started listening on the radio.  With that, we made our way to the softball field.

Pulling into the parking lot, I noticed people out on the next door soccer pitch.  A mixed group there was practicing driving with their golf clubs.  (There’s a totally vacant practice field on the other side of the softball stadium.  I don’t know why you wouldn’t use that instead.)  After parking, I saw an Aggie Soccer player in uniform going towards the field, but I never saw anyone playing.  (I’ve been checking their Twitter feed to see if they’ll be playing an exhibition game this spring.)  I got to chat with the pretty ticket taker from the baseball stadium (4-15-18) for a moment.  Inside, they were handing out tickets for a tandem field seat giveaway, and there was the final Aggie pennant giveaway.  I didn’t get one there, but Ron did.  I got one as I was leaving the stadium when I found a discarded one. 

It was a warm, sunny day in the high 80's, but with a good breeze blowing in, so it wasn't uncomfortable.  It particularly wasn't too bad since I was sitting in Ron's shadow while he was holding an umbrella.  Out on the field though, Aggie pitcher Kayla Green looked hot.  Well, you can take that statement however you want.  The girls gathered together after warming up, and as the Aggie fight song played, they uncharacteristically clapped and sang along with it.  There was a good crowd on hand to watch this game.  As it was Senior Day, Amy Bergeson’s dad was there.  He threw out the first pitch and got a huge cheer from the crowd and players.

Samaria Diaz started for the Aggies and worked a quick first.  Rachel Rodriguez got it started for the Aggies in the bottom.  The dugout had an abundance of spirit going right from the beginning and were in fine voice with their singing.  (So were the Redhawks.  They have their own rituals.)  Aggie Baseball was now up 6-0 in the fourth (yes, we were still listening to that game on the radio).  The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, giving some relief from the heat.  Rachel singled up the middle.  An error at second on Kelsey Horton's at bat put two on.  Fahren Glackin walked next to load the bases. 

Victoria Castro singled to drive in one run.  Amy hit a weak grounder on the infield.  The throw came home, but the catcher, Bailey Thompson, missed touching the plate and another run scored.  (She’s also one of the tallest players on the team.  Another tall catcher.  Also, good looking.)  Next, Shelby Shultes' liner was dropped by the first baseman, Madison Cathcart, by the base.  Amy started to go back to the base, thinking it would be caught, as Madison stepped on the bag for one out.  Amy took off for second and was thrown out there.  Inning over.  2-0 Aggies.

What happened next, I've never seen or heard of happening before.  Some fans started yelling at the ump.  Motioning at the scoreboard, they yelled, “That should be three, ump!”  This was said a couple of times, before ump looked at the scoreboard and then motioned to the pressbox.  He held up three fingers.  The scoreboard changed to 3-0 Aggies.  What I'd interpreted as bad baserunning by Amy (and maybe it actually was), had allowed the inning to continue long enough for Fahern to cross the plate before Amy was out.  How about that?

There were some SU fans around us and some more came in and sat by us.  One lady had a foam finger and pom-poms no less.  There weren't any problems, but we were surrounded by people cheering for the other team.  They had something to cheer for immediately as Kaylee Ree hit a leadoff homerun.  After a hit batter, a throwing error on a comebacker, and a walk to load the bases, it looked like Sam was on the ropes.  She got it together with a strikeout and a popup to end the inning.  3-1 Aggies.

Back in Phoenix, Caleb Henderson homered to make it 9-0 in the fifth.  Back to Las Cruces in the bottom of the second, Caity Szczesny hammered one off her foot.  The ump took a ball out to the pitcher to let her walk it off.  Rachel came up with two outs and hit a grounder up the middle, right where she did the last inning.  Kelsey came up next and homered.  I’m out of things to say about Kelsey’s greatness.  Suffice to say, exactly nobody is surprised when she homers.  In the stands, a guy that’s probably another Aggie athlete, fired a bubble gun into the crowd to celebrate.  I thought this was a gun-free zone.  I’m traumatized.  I need a safe space and holistic healing.  Fahren came up next and collected another bruise from a pitch.  She’s a magnet.  5-1 Aggies.

The tandem stadium seat giveaway happened before the fourth.  We didn’t win.  I would have asked if we could sit in the outfield on it.  That would have been great.  Sam was really throwing hard this inning.  They had a radar gun at the table behind home plate, but no crowd display for the readings.  I could hear how hard she was hitting the catcher’s mitt.  Tori made a pair of great catches in deep centerfield to end the inning.  She came up first in the bottom and beat out an infield single.  Cathcart actually did the splits at first, trying to stretch and get the out.  Caity would drive her in later.  6-1 Aggies. 

“Logan Ehnes has hit one to his old front yard in Phoenix!”  That was apparently a tremendous home run for the Aggies there.  They won 13-1 in a seven-inning run-ruled game.  Jonathan Groff got the complete game victory.  I put the radio away and concentrated on the game in front of me.

Caity would come up big in the fourth with running catch on a liner in front of her.  In the bottom, Fahren got on without getting plunked via a hit.  Nikki Butler drove her and herself in with a line drive home run to left field.  8-1 Aggies.

Sam started off the fifth by spearing a liner, but then walked the next two batters.  Analise de la Roca came in in relief.  She threw hard as usual, but worked in an offspeed.  It wasn’t a great one, but kept the hitters a little off-balance.  Amy made a great running catch on a foul to help end the inning.

Not that there’s a huge amount of tension in an 8-1 game, but the crowd was anticipating a possible run-rule win with one more run.  Shelby led off with a single.  Jeanelle Medina sacrificed her over.  I think she lost her bubblegum cards out of her back pocket running to first.  (Are her and Kelsey trading cards between innings?)  Caity walked next.  Rachel came up and the dugout was clapping for her.  The Redhawks played the outfield on the infield for her.  She lined out to the pitcher.  Kelsey was given a semi-intentional walk to load the bases.  Fahren came up and did what she does best: get free passes to first.  In this case, it was a walk-off walk that forced in the winning run.  Aggies win 9-1.

Let’s handout gameballs to Kelsey Horton and Nikki Butler for driving in two runs each.  Samaria Diaz got the win, throwing 4 1/3 and only giving up two hits and one run.  She looked good and didn’t get rattled.  Good defense also helped.

Now it was down to one game to decide the WAC regular season champion.

On to Game 2.     

Baseball Journal April 23-27, 2018

4-23-18

I tuned in to the Giants versus the Nationals on MLB.TV and saw Lars Ulrich of Metallica doing the final bars of the Star-Spangled Banner on a Giants-themed guitar.  Apparently, he’s a big fan of the team and has done this annually.  Unfortunately, that was about all I got to see of the game.  The Giants did surprisingly win 4-2.  Meanwhile in Las Vegas, the Chihuahuas completed a sweep of the 51’s with a 6-3.  It’s their seventh win in a row.

4-24-18

“Grand slam, Trevor Story!” And here I thought I was going to get shutout on baseball coverage today (see what I did there).  The Chihuahuas had an off day and the MLB.TV free game was a Rockies game.  The video was blacked out, but this time they were nice and put up the radio call.  I didn’t get to listen to much of it, but did get that Story highlight in the second.  The Rox won 8-0 over the Padres in a quick two and a half-hour game.  Actually, if it weren’t for a 45-minute rain/light snow delay, I wouldn’t have gotten to hear the ending.  Pitcher Kyle Freeland went seven good innings for the win.

4-25-18

I’ve been really busy the last three days at work.  I started with the Chihuahuas pregame and learned that the Triple-A schedule had been cut by two games.  This was the first I’d heard of that.  That’s about all I really heard until the eighth.  The Salt Lake City Bees loaded the bases with one out with the pups leading 6-4.  Pitcher Kyle McGrath worked his way out of it.  In the ninth, Nick Shultz made a sliding catch for the first out and two more good plays in the field sealed the win.  6-4 Chihuahuas was the final.  The pups started their homestand with their eighth win in a row.

Meanwhile, the Aggies were playing Arizona State in Phoenix.  It was 97 degrees there at the start of the game.  What a change from chilly Greeley, Colorado last weekend.  I started listening and then missed all of the Aggie scoring later.  When I picked up the game again, it was 8-4 Aggies in the fifth.  I switched over to the ASU video feed of the game.  Their play-by-play guy was young, but sounded like a baseball announcer from the 40’s, which kept giving me giggles.

In the sixth, Marcus Still fouled a ball directly back into the radio booth.  When I was away from my desk and switched back to the radio call, Adam Young talked about nearly making a play on the ball.  In the bottom of the inning, big AJ Castillo pitched a scoreless inning.  A couple of runners got on, but he worked through it.  I like him.  He’s got good stuff. 

Chance Hroch came in for the seventh and got roughed up.  Matt Perea came in and finished, but the Aggies were now down to a one-run lead.  Perea worked the eighth and handed it to Brock Whittlesey in the ninth.  With two on and two out and a full count, Whitt got a strikeout looking to end the game, 8-7 Aggies.  That was the Aggies’ first win against ASU in Phoenix, a great win.

4-26-18

The Chihuahuas put up four runs in the first and lost 6-5 to the Bees.  Their winning streak has ended.  Well, so much for baseball tonight.  Here’s an awesome link to the MLB event of the year: Foodfest!  All of the best ballpark food in the country was gathered under one roof.  Oh, I missed out on this one.

4-27-18

Just as I brought up Aggie Softball playing Seattle U on WAC Digital, Kelsey Horton came up to bat and promptly crushed one to the opposite field.  It was the fourth inning and Seattle was up 2-0.  The Aggies would tie it by the end of the inning.  Unfortunately, Seattle piled on in the next inning to make it 6-2.  The Aggies would make a bit of a comeback, but the final would be 7-4 Seattle.  Kayla Green went 6 2/3 and took the loss.  Kelsey went 3 for 4 with a homer.  This loss is bad.  This series is for the regular season championship.  The Aggies will have win twice tomorrow to take it now (with me hopefully in attendance).

Aggie Baseball started their series in Phoenix against Grand Canyon University.  Adam Young was amazed by their refurbished stadium.  I started watching on GCU’s Youtube channel.  The place is like a Double-A stadium, if not better than the Diablos’ old Cohen Stadium.  Their scoreboard is built into the left field wall.  Not only that, it’s free admission for the games.

Today, 25-30 scouts were reported to be there to see a marquee WAC matchup between aces Kyle Bradish of the Aggies and Jake Wong for GCU.  It was not the pitcher’s duel we were expecting.  GCU scored twice in the first.  The Aggies tied it in the second, but the Lopes put up two more in the bottom.  By the third, it was 5-2 GCU, but the Aggies had their chances.  They loaded the bases in the fourth and in the fifth, but came up with nothing.  GCU came up big later.  I bailed when it was 9-2 in the sixth.  The final was 13-3 GCU in a run-rule in the eighth.  Not a good start there either.

MLB.TV blocked the video of the Astros/A’s game, but still put up the audio.  I listened to the last two innings, but it wasn’t much of a game as the Astros lost 8-1.  I totally missed the Chihuahuas tonight.  That’s okay.  They lost too.  What a night!

Baseball Journal April 21-22, 2018

4-21-18

The Yankees were playing the Blue Jays on Mexican station this Saturday morning.  Lacrosse, Supercross, and Hockey were on as well.  But I was going to a movie in the afternoon, so I didn't get too attached to anything.  I did see the Yankees win 9-1.  Aggie Baseball against the Northern Colorado Bears should have started before I left, but it didn’t come on.  The campus radio station was instead running a vinyl record marathon.   

Without any in-person Aggie sports going on this weekend, I asked Ron if he wanted to see Ready Player One.  So, we decided on Saturday afternoon.  I’d turned him on to the book a couple of years ago without having read it myself.  He loved it.  I ended up hearing the audiobook version read by Wil Wheaton.  I liked it, kind of.  Maybe it was Wil’s reading, but the female heroine, Artemis, came off as a total bitch later in the book.  You had to wonder why Wade was trying so hard with her.  Thankfully, she was a lot more likable in the movie. 

I enjoyed it, probably mostly because my expectations were so low to begin with that it didn’t have to do much to make me happy.  It had some wonky movie “logic,” and the characters and their relationships weren’t well developed, but it was fun.  Mecha-Godzilla was my surprise star of the movie.  I called a Godzilla-loving friend immediately afterward to tell him to go see the movie.  He’ll love it.  My main question about the film was, “How could you do a Buckaroo Banzai reference and not do the line from the movie?”  (You know, “No matter where you go; there you are.”)  I was a bit disturbed by the funeral scene with the Star Trek “casket” with my initials out in front of it.

Before the movie we sat through the commercials and the trailers.  I loved the little PAX East report/commercial featuring Jessica Chobot, whom I adore watching on the Internet.  I got vertigo watching the totally-not-a-Die Hard-remake.  The totally awesome Avengers Infinity War trailer came up.  Ron was completely unmoved and instead wants to see Solo: A Star Wars Story, in spite of how lame the last three Star Wars movies have been (less one enjoyable half-hour at the end of Rogue One).  I think we’re going to be seeing separate movies this spring.                 

Aggie Baseball must have been delayed by weather as it was on when I got home after the movie.  It was 9-9 in the eleventh.  The Aggies had a 9-5 lead in the eighth and blew it.  Kinda glad I wasn’t listening to that.  Coach Green had been ejected from the game in the ninth for arguing balls and strikes.  Once again, without lights at the stadium and a late game, darkness came into play.  Adam Young and Matt McHugh calling the game were sure the umps would call it after 10.  In the top of the eleventh, Joey Ortiz drove in a run.  He should play with a sore hand all the time.  His hit one to the outfield that was likely darkness aided as the fielder never saw it.  The Aggie dugout went crazy yelling.  Trey Stine drove in two more for a 12-9 Aggie win.

I picked up the end of the Rockies beating the Cubs 5-2.  I flipped over to the Chihuahuas versus the 51’s.  It was 4-3 Chihuahuas there.  When I tuned in, Travis Jankowski dropped a flyball for a double.  On the next play, a groundout to first turned into a double play, as Brett Nicholas at first threw to third to get the runner advancing there. 

Tim Hagerty was excited again.  Another no-hitter was in progress.  It was certainly an unlikely one.  The pathetic A’s were playing the Red Sox, who have the best record in baseball. But tonight, Sean Manaea had it working, and the Sox had to come back down to earth with their 17-2 record.  Manaea finished it off.  Fourth time’s the charm for me.  Unfortunately, I had no way of watching this one.

I was able to pick up my after dark Rangers affiliate at this point.  The Rangers were up 6-4 over the Mariners after six.  Regrettably, I decided to listen to the seventh.  Within minutes, the M’s rattled off five hits in a row, including two home runs.  It was 9-6 Mariners when the dust settled.  The Rangers had a long bottom of the inning without scoring.  Eric Nadel took over the mic in the eighth.  He thought that Matt Hicks’ call of the seventh may have lasted an hour. 

Back in Las Vegas, it was 6-4 Chihuahuas.  I’d only missed their starter, Walter Lockett, hitting a three-run homer.  I found myself fighting poor reception on both stations and kept flipping back and forth.  In the bottom of the ninth in Arlington, the Rangers loaded the bases.  The M’s closer threw 9 balls in a row as he couldn’t find the strike zone.  Unfortunately, it ended on a flyout and a 9-7 Mariner win.  Everyone and myself were disappointed.  Even Eric was disappointed.  “What a heartbreak!” he exclaimed.  In Las Vegas, the Chihuahuas in the ninth dropped 7 runs on the 51’s and sent 11 batters to the plate and won 13-4, to close out my baseball for the day. 

4-22-18

Wow, did I wake up without any energy today.  All I did was sit around, watch TV, and listen to baseball on the radio, completely exhausted.  I did get up and exercise right after waking anyway.  I turned on the radio, and oh my goodness!  ESPN Radio was talking about baseball!  They were discussing Sean Manaea’s no-hitter.  There was some sort of controversy with it (what a surprise).  A hit earlier in the game was later changed to an error.  Manaea didn’t know about the scoring change until later.  He was able to relax, thinking he didn’t have a no-hitter going.  When he found out later in the game, then he got nervous.  The ex-football player commentator said a baseball no-hitter wasn’t as good as getting a shutout in the NFL.  Then they switched to draft talk.  It was priceless entertainment.

Thankfully, the Aggies were playing the Northern Colorado Bears a little later in the morning, so I had something intelligent to listen to.  It was 40 degrees to start the game there in Greeley, Colorado, but at least the sun was out and an encroaching sunset wouldn’t be an issue.  The Aggies scratched out a run early.  By the third inning, the Aggies had their third hit batter against a Bears’ pitcher, who hadn’t hit anybody all year.  Apparently, it’s a strategy.  (There ended up being at least four hit Aggies in the game.)  Oh, and this disappointing news was reported.  Joey Ortiz’s three-run inside-the-park homer from Friday had been rescored a single and a three-base error.

There was some good defense in the game by Marcus Still.  In the bottom of the third, he threw out a runner at third, who had just knocked in the tying run, and had a diving catch in the bottom of the fourth.  In the eighth, the score was tied at 2, after Alex Pinedo came out after pitching 7 2/3, probably his longest outing this year. 

By the ninth, two other games on the radio had started, but I kept with this one.  A bases loaded walk gave the Aggies back the lead in the top.  Tristen Carranza then drove in two.  The crowd went wild with these developments.  The Aggies must have brought some fans with them.  It was 6-2 going into the bottom.  Brock Whittlesey, who’d thrown one pitch in the eighth and 53 pitches yesterday, came in to finish it.  A run scored and the bases were loaded, but Whit got all three outs for the win.  6-3 Aggies, final.  The Bears aren’t a good team.  Losing one of these three games and winning the other two with great difficulty, isn’t making me believe in the Aggies this year.

Though the game went a bit more than three hours, those last two innings went about an hour and a half.  It was already the fifth in both of the other games on.  The Rangers were beating the Mariners 4-2, and the Chihuahuas were beating the 51’s 2-1.  I decided to mostly listen to the Rangers, since I’d be listening to the pups during the week.  Shin-Soo Choo drove in a run to make it 5-2.  He’s on fire lately.  In Las Vegas, Brett Nicholas drove in two.  He’s also on fire. 

Back from injury, Delino DeShields looked good in center field as he robbed a wind-driven home run ball at the wall in the sixth.  Jake Diekman came in for the seventh.  The bases were loaded, but he got out of it with a pair of strikeouts.  Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas were winning 6-1 in the seventh, though Nicholas got thrown out at the plate trying to score on a sacrifice.  Base running might not be his best skill.

            

Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in two runs in the eighth to make it 7-4 Rangers.  Who?  I’d heard this guy mentioned several times over the last couple of Rangers games I’ve heard.  The announcers like his game, though I don’t think they’ve settled on how to say his name.  I got the name from my baseball preview (which I still haven’t finished), otherwise I’d never have been able to spell it from hearing it.  He’s on their 40-man roster, but not a top 10 prospect.  Keone Kela worked the ninth.  He let on two, but got a pair of strikeouts before Jurickson Profar made a great catch at second to end the game.  7-4 Rangers was the final.    

I picked up the Chihuahuas game in the bottom of the ninth.  Las Vegas scored four runs, three off a home run.  But, the pups safely won it anyway 9-6.  It was their sixth win in a row.  They have a 13-5 record this season.

A half-hour later on the same station, the ESPN Sunday pre-game came on.  The big news was Brandon Belt having a 21-pitch at bat at the beginning of a game that lasted 13 minutes.  It ended in an out, but he homered later and the Giants beat the Angels.  I may have been baseball’ed out today by this point.  (Though I was still disappointed that the scheduled college baseball game that was supposed to be on Stadium this afternoon never came on.  That’s about the third time they’ve disappointed me on this.)  I had the game on this evening, but wasn’t really listening because it was the Dodgers and the Nationals and don’t like either team.  This was too bad, because it was a good game.  The Dodgers beat the Nationals with a comeback in a close game.

Baseball Journal April 19-20, 2018

4-19-18

I was intensely busy in the early part of my work day (evening).  I put the Braves versus the Mets on as the MLB.TV free game.  At least they’re not blocking eastern teams for me this season.  Though the Mets are looking good so far, Matt Harvey appears to be the weak link.  He gave up six runs over a couple of innings while I was watching (well, mostly listening).  Still, he stayed in for six innings to save the bullpen.  Harvey looked noticeably thinner, maybe it was from shaving the beard.  Meanwhile, former Chihuahua Matt Wisler went seven innings for the Braves and only gave up one run.  12-4 Braves was the final.

Oops, I forgot all about Aggie Softball.  They played a double header at Arizona this week.  I’m sure the Wildcats streamed a video feed that I could have watched.  The Aggies lost both games, and the second game badly on a run-rule.  I’m actually having trouble keeping track of all the games at night.  I’m also having a hard time deciding about going to WAC Softball Tournament in a couple of weeks.  It’s an investment of time and money and that session pass earlier in the year didn’t entirely work out.  As much as I’d enjoy watching the games, I’m not sure if I can physically tolerate being out there for four days.  I have to let them know at work about taking a vacation, and I’m afraid of the workload I’ll come back to after a vacation.

It was another somewhat unpleasant night in Reno for the Chihuahuas and Aces game, but at least the sun came out briefly during the cold.  The pups built up a 5-0 lead by the fifth with big leaguer Kris Medlen going for the Aces.  Yasmany Tomas, on rehab, was playing first for them.  He had priority in playing time over Cody Decker.  I’d wondered why he was just pinch hitting in this series.

The Chihuahuas got an interesting run on a sacrifice.  Socrates Brito (love that name) made a catch at the outfield wall.  It was initially ruled a catch, but then an ump called it live, thinking he trapped it against the wall.  Finally, the umps had a conference and ruled it a straight catch.  In the sixth, Tim Hagerty on the call exclaimed, “It’s a new Reno team.”  Suddenly, the lethargic Aces started hitting and it was only 6-5 Chihuahuas.  The outburst was short-lived.  El Paso pitching managed to nurse that one-run lead to a win.

4-20-18

Lord, my notes for today are a mess.  It may take more time to decipher this, than write it.  Take everything I’m writing about Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with a grain of salt.  I don’t even want to try and after-the-fact fact-check all this.   

The Aggies played the Northern Colorado Bears today in Greeley.  It was my fourth afternoon game of the week, which has been a nice treat.  This one was by necessity, since they don’t have lights at the stadium there.  The park is daytime only and very home run prone.  The ball travels well to left, even when it’s not windy.  Today, it was 50 degrees and windy there to start with rain a possibility, even snow later.  Several of the Aggie players wore face masks while out playing. 

Adam Young was joined by Matt McHugh for the broadcast.  Odd that they took an analyst for this trip given that they didn’t broadcast several road series this season.  I think they took a plane for this trip, but I’m not sure.  Matt is a really good and insightful commentator.  I enjoyed his in depth insight on the team and baseball strategy over the weekend.  Nobody was enjoying the cold.  Adam thought the weather was probably better in Las Cruces.  Not so much actually.  It was cold and windy here too.

Aggie ace Kyle Bradish started and gave up a run in the first, but the second inning was a nightmare.  The Bears loaded the bases with two outs.  Catcher Mason Fishback dropped a foul popup that would have ended the inning.  That along with another error led to three runs scoring.  Another run scored on a play at the plate.  A misplayed flyball brought in another run.  It was 6-0 Bears, 5 of those unearned, when the inning mercifully ended.  (Never make a two-out error.)  In a small bright spot, Joey Ortiz was back in the lineup.  With his left hand still hurting, he drove in a run in the third.

In the fourth, Adam commented on the sound of a train going by in the distance.  Over the radio, it sounded more like it was going across the infield.  This happened several times during the game.  More importantly, Joey came up and hit a three-run inside-the-park home run.  He might be batting with one hand, but there's nothing wrong with his wheels.  6-5 Bears.

At this point, my commentary becomes more speculative than fact-based due to my lack coherent notes.  In the bottom of the fifth, Bradish came out after giving up another run, 7-5.  He yielded seven walks today.  There were reportedly several scouts in attendance, no doubt freezing and disappointed.  It ended up being a five-run inning for the Bears.  Mason Fishback did homer for the Aggies later.  I heard several girls screaming afterward.  Did he bring a fan club with him? 

By the eighth, there was a meeting between the coaches and the ump about the oncoming darkness, but they kept playing.  13-7 Bears was the final.  Matt pointed out their somewhat absurd winning stat line: 13 runs, 6 unearned, 9 hits, 15 strikeouts.  The Aggies definitely hurt themselves in this game.  It also ran long at over three hours, 20 minutes with an attendance of 129 hearty souls. 

 

On MLB.TV, the Giants and Angels free game was not blocked.  Swell.  I finally got a live look at a Shohei Ohtani at bat right when I tuned in.  He has a great stroke and got a hit.  I need to see him pitch sometime.  In the fifth, I did see good old Al Pujols field a ball and make a light toss to an uncovered first base for an error.  Oh, that just warmed my heart.  Later in the game when it was basically over, he got a double.  The crowd added another number to his 3,000 hit board, at which point he was taken out of the game.  And that's what he's good for at this point: a future Hall of Fame prop.  (And I'm pretty sure he's going in as a Cardinal.)

Starting at the same time, I turned down the sound of the video and brought up the audio of the Chihuahuas versus the Aces.  Brett Nicholas hit a three-run homer fourth to make it 6-0. Reliever Eric Yardley got his second career hit in the sixth, so you know the pups were hitting. 

 

Though the Chihuahuas’ game was functionally over with a 9-0 lead late (and Andrew McCutchen’s three-run homer put the Giants up 7-0 late), Tim was excited.  A possible no-hitter was in progress for the Padres against the Diamondbacks.  The Padres are the only team without a no-hitter.  As Tim mentioned, they’ve played over 7,800 games.  I bailed on both my games to go to MLB.com, as they had a live look-in available for the Padres’ game.  I think every other time I’ve turned on the TV for a possible no-hitter, it was immediately broken up, so I was hoping it might be different over the Internet. 

Tyson Ross was well over 100 pitches in the eighth.  He was running on fumes and having trouble finding the strikezone.  He got two outs, but let on a runner with a walk.  Coach Andy Green went out and talked to him.  I’m sure Ross said something to the effect of “Let me either do it or lose it.”  The score was 1-0 Padres, so this wasn’t an easy decision.  Ross stayed in and gave up a double on the next batter and the runner scored to tie it.  At least the Padres at least ended up winning 4-1.  This was the third possible no-hitter of the season I’d watched.    

The Giants won their game 8-1.  Back in Reno in the seventh, an Aces runner was thrown out trying to take home on a shallow hit.  Not a great decision.  The biggest cheer of the night came in the top of the ninth.  Reno had put a position player out to pitch and he had 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.  The final was 11-3 Chihuahuas, a four-game sweep.

Baseball Journal April 14-18, 2018

4-14-18

Got back from Aggie Baseball in time for Chihuahuas baseball.  Chihuahuas went down 7-0 to the 51's after two innings.  I watched a TV show for a half hour.  When I turned the game back on, the pups had tied it in the fourth.  A couple of errors helped.  They took the lead in fifth, 8-7.  In the sixth, the Chihuahuas took an improbable 11-7 lead, which would be the final score. 

4-15-18

I got back home from Aggie Baseball and a late lunch/early dinner only in time to get the final score between the Chihuahuas and Las Vegas.  It was a 10-0 win for pups.  These guys can hit.   

The radio station did carry Sunday Night Baseball with the Rangers versus the Astros.  Justin Verlander was going for Houston and Bartolo Colon was on for the Rangers.  The Rangers had had a “shocking” five-run comeback yesterday and won it in ten innings.  Today was Jackie Robinson day in Major League Baseball.  Players had been asking Colon, who’s 44, what it was like to pitch to him. 

Robinson Chirinos homered early for a 1-0 Ranger lead.  Well, let’s fast forward.  Colon took a perfect game into the eighth.  He lost it on a walk to Carlos Correa.  A hit followed that to break up the no hitter. Yuri Gurriel sac’d Correa in to end the shutout and tie the score.  The Houston crowd gave Colon a hand as he left the field after a 7 2/3 1 hit, 1 run performance.  Reception got a bit fuzzy as my station powered down after sundown.  I think Verlander had a similar line, but neither of them factored into the decision.

I finally remembered to switch to my after dark Rangers’ affiliate in the ninth and kept with them.  In the top of the tenth, Chirinos doubled in two runs for a 3-1 Rangers lead.  There was some high drama in the bottom, but that was the final score.  I am losing track of all the extra inning MLB games I’ve heard and watched this year.  This is getting absurd.

4-16-18

My dad showed me the front sports page of the Las Cruces Sun-News last week from Thursday and Friday.  Aggie Coach Brian Green had just won his one-hundredth victory against the Lobos on Tuesday. 

Here’s Thursday’s sports page.

And here’s Friday’s.

You might not notice unless you look carefully, but there’s a small typo in the Thursday article.  I make mistakes here too.  I don’t have an editor either.

Lobos . . .

Day game!  Day game!  The Chihuahuas played a morning game against the 51’s.  A bunch of schoolkids were there having a good time and cheering.   The 51’s scored early with a run.  The Chihuahuas tied it thanks to an error.  In the sixth, the 51’s plated two.  In the bottom, Allen Craig hit a two-run homer to tie it again at 3.  The 51’s scratched out a run in the seventh.  Brett Nicholas started off the bottom of the inning with a pinch hit home run to tie it at 4.  Are we seeing a pattern here? 

In the eighth, Las Vegas had runners at first and third with no outs, but a strikeout and a double play ended the threat.  In the ninth, the 51’s scratched out another run and took the lead.  In the bottom of the ninth, Nicolas started off again.  He got on and moved to second with no one out, but was stuck there for two outs.  Franmil Reyes came up hit a single off the wall to score Nicholas and tie it.  This was their fourth comeback in the game.  Reyes was picked off to end the inning. 

The new minor leagues extra innings rule, finally came into play for the Chihuahuas.  The video board gave the fans there an explanation to the new rule.  The tenth started with a runner at second with no outs for both teams.  The Chihuahuas picked off the “automatic runner” on second in the top.  They got two runners on in the bottom, but failed to score.

Unfortunately, the 51’s finally busted out and scored four times in the eleventh.  The Chihuahuas would easily score a run in the bottom, but used two outs to do it.  The somewhat disappointing final was 9-6 Las Vegas.  Tim Hagerty supposed that the visiting team would likely usually play for multiple runs in extras, since the home team would have a normally have a big advantage, only needing one run with a runner already on second.

Good thing I got to hear that ballgame.  At work later, the Diamondbacks weren’t on, the ESPN Monday game wasn’t on, the MLB Network blacked out their two games, and MLB.TV also blacked out their free game.  The blacked out games were the Astros and Mariners and the Padres and Dodgers.  We don’t get any of those teams’ games here locally.  This isn’t selling MLB.TV to me if I’m not going to be able to get any of the teams I like. 

 

4-17-18

While the Aggies had two entertaining wins over the weekend, they were not convincing wins.  Today's matinee against Division III Sul Ross State was a chance for a good win.  The coaches had even agreed to use the run-rule for the game right before they started.  I was at least happy to have a game to listen to, though I wasn't sure anything would happen that would be worth writing.      

It was a warm, sunny afternoon, but the wind was blowing pretty hard.  This was a “brotherly” game.  The Sul Ross Lobos had a pair of brothers.  The Aggies were putting in some reserves and were starting both Braden and Brenden Williams.  And both teams had a Munden brother.  The boys' family showed up from El Paso to root them on.  Their mom was wearing gear for both teams.

The Aggies jumped out to a five-run lead.  It looked good early to this point.  In the third though, in spite of a runner's interference double play, Justin Dehn didn't make it out of the inning.  He gave up five runs while he was in and Wyatt Kelley allowed another of his runners to come in to give the Lobos a 6-5 lead.  (I'm calling them “Lobos” so this doesn't sound as bad as it is.  DIII is probably like the equivalent of an area high school all-star team.)

Thanks to three hit batters in the bottom (the Aggies are second in the nation in that stat), the Aggies retook the lead 7-6.  However, a run was thrown out at the plate on a sacrifice and Trey Stine, who drove in a run, was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.  In the fifth, with a couple of regular starters in, the Aggies hit four doubles in a row (along with a fourth hit batter) and put up six runs to make it 13-6.

In the sixth, the Lobos did score another run, but there was some good defense.  The Williams brothers combined to throw out a runner at the plate.  Brenden also made a great play on a deflection and got an out with pitcher Alex Reyes hustling to cover third.  The wind died down late in the game.  In the eighth, in a nice move by the coaches, the Munden brothers did face each other for an at bat.  Younger brother Matt Munden got the better of his older brother by getting him to line out. 

The Lobos tacked on a home run in the ninth, but the final was 14-8 Aggies.  The Lobos had two home runs, while the Aggie had none, but they did have 8 doubles.  Nick Gonzales went an impressive 5 for 5 hitting.  The attendance was also a surprising 530, which was excellent for a weekday day game against a DIII school.  Again, this was an entertaining game, but not convincing for the Aggies.

For my break at work, I turned on the TV and watched the Giants versus the Diamondbacks.  (MLB.TV was blocking the Astros' game.  Are most of the teams I like going to be blocked this season?)  It was Johnny Cueto versus Patrick Corbin in pitching.  This was a very tight game.  Cueto helped his own cause at one point, as he hustled to get a popup, while the rest of the infield was shifted to the other side. 

By the seventh at 0-0, something was up.  Corbin had a no-hitter going.  The last out of the inning was a leaping, snowcone catch by AJ Pollack of a Buster Posey liner.  By the eighth, the crowd was applauding every out.  At 7 2/3, Brandon Belt broke it up on a check swing with the infield shifted to the other side.  The D-Backs got a 1-0 win.  Corbin only gave up 1 hit for the game.  Obviously, Cueto did pretty well too.

I'd actually forgotten all about the Chihuahuas.  Hey, there was a no-hitter going on!  I picked up the game in the bottom of the seventh with the pups up 3-1 on the Reno Aces.  In the ninth, the Chihuahuas added two unearned runs, thanks to an error.  However, the bottom had some drama.  The bases were loaded with one out.  Cody Decker came in as a pinch hitter, but struckout.  The next batter did drive in two though.  But, that was all.  5-3 Chihuahuas was the final. 

4-18-18

More day baseball this week!  Can you believe it?  It was a Rangers versus Rays match up this morning.  I even had good reception on a weak station today.  Admittedly, the game wasn't action-packed.  My highlight was hearing Eric Nadel, promoting upcoming games, referring to Bartolo Colon by his nickname, “Big Sexy.”  Also, the Tampa crowd was using cowbells during the series and Eric and Matt Hicks were both of the opinion that, “We don't need more cowbell.”

I also didn't recognize several the Rangers players, which is probably a bad sign, not for me, but for the team.  Other than a first baseman making a jump catch and landing on his rear on the base to get the out, the other memorable play was a fan interference call.  It was ruled a double, but might have been a homer for the Rangers.  Chelsea Market upheld the call.  The fan was ejected, though stadium officials went back and forth on that too.  Perhaps they had to get a decision from New York on that one too.  

There was some ninth inning drama, but the Rays prevailed 4-2.  Eric seems pretty loose so far this year.  He may have already written this season off.  I've heard him get more uptight with the team's performance at times when they were expected to win.

“Boy, I hope we don’t have a delay in this game.”  Later in the evening, Tim Hagerty was being as professional as possible in a 30 degree, rainy night in Reno while calling a game between the Chihuahuas and the Aces.  The pressbox there is open air.  (Not to mention, I could hear Reno’s radio announcer in the background for the whole time.)  At one point, Tim said he was having trouble writing on his scorecard from the cold.  I’ve been there too.

The game was in the sixth and official by the time the rain started coming down.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, it didn’t rain hard enough to end the game.  The pups were up 2-0 at the time.  In the bottom, the Aces got three on with nobody out.  After a popup and a double play, they got nothing out of it.  In the seventh, Neftali Feliz came in in relief for the Aces.  Yes, that’s the former Rangers’ closer.  With Allen Craig from the Cardinals playing for the Chihuahuas, it was the 2011 World Series all over again.  (Actually, Craig came out of the game before Neftali came in.) 

The Chihuahuas held a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth.  The first Aces batter walked.  He advanced to third when the catcher slipped on a wet home plate trying to throw him out at second and threw it into centerfield.  So, the tying run was at third with no outs.  He was left stranded and the Chihuahuas won.  What was that stat I reported on?  If you load the bases with no outs and don’t score, you’re probably going to lose.  This time it was right, though when it happened to the Chihuahuas earlier this month, they still won.  The jury is still out on that stat.  So much for Sabrmetrics.