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.