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.