Much like
last year, I wasn’t sure about continuing to do this journaling. Looking back, I noticed my month-by-month
journal kept getting bigger with every month.
As long as Aggie Baseball and
Softball are going on, I’m not
interested in doing detailed accounts of other games. For now, I’ll just make notes on things that
happen during games that I find interesting, even if it’s not on-field
action. Honestly, if you’re going to
enjoy baseball, you have enjoy the silly, weird nonsense that surrounds the
sport.
4-5-18
This was the first day since Opening Day that I was really able to get into some games. I’d been watching or listening to bits of
games every day though. I’ve even been
watching some replays of games from last year being broadcast on the Stadium Network. Earlier in the week, they showed Nolan Arenado hitting for the cycle on
Father’s Day and finishing it off with a home run. Friday (4-6-18), they showed Edinson Volquez’s no-hitter. It was interesting to watch knowing the
outcome ahead of time. Volquez was injured
covering first on the first batter of the game.
There were several great plays in the field early on and a
review-overturned infield hit to keep it going.
Up to halfway through the game, the big news for the broadcasters was
that it was “Bark in the Park” day there in Miami with dogs everywhere.
After getting new tires in the morning
(after getting new brakes and shocks the day before), I picked up a great lunch
at Raising Canes, a new chicken
strip place that opened up nearby, which nearly made up for my monetary
hemorrhaging. Back at home, thanks to
the quick and friendly service at Discount
Tires, I was in time to catch the Rangers
playing the A’s in a matinee in
Oakland. Curiously for a weekday
afternoon, they had 10,000 in attendance, the largest crowd of the series. Unfortunately I missed the last inning due to
the length of the game and having to go to work. The Rangers
would win 6-3, though it was closer than that when I left.
I found myself tickled by an exchange
between Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks calling the game for the
Rangers. Today was the Philadelphia Phillies home opener. Their new rookie manager, Gabe Kapler, was boo’d when
introduced. Matt: “Isn’t that a term of
endearment in Philadelphia?” Eric: “One
Opening Day, the fans there rolled out a banner in center field that read,
‘Just wait till next year.’” Kapler’s
had a rough week as he’s been blamed for the team’s losses due to his strategy
of constantly bringing in new pitchers into the game. Nothing against him, but I hope this scheme
fails terribly. It’s resulted in some
very long games.
The upper deck seats at the coliseum
have been un-tarped for this season, giving them a bunch more seats
available. Matt chuckled about seeing
three fans sitting up on “Mount Davis” last night. He was worried that they were trapped there
in the snow cap. There’s a “free” game
scheduled in Oakland this year to give back further to the fans, who are going
to be losing their football and basketball teams shortly. Even hearing that statement clearly over the
radio, I’m still having a hard time believing it. I don’t want to predict a riot, but let’s
make sure there’s a profound police presence at the park that day. The A’s ownership is committed to staying in
Oakland for now and hoping to win over the fans in town and maybe get a new
stadium there.
After getting to work and checking the
final score, I put on the Tigers
versus the White Sox on MLB.TV.
It was the Sox Opening Day. It
was 40 chilling degrees in Chicago at first pitch, and 35 when I joined the
game in the eighth with the Sox up 7-3.
During the game, I saw a first baseman helping a runner at first put on
a thermal hood, like he was dressing his kid for cold weather. I’m sure the last two things fans there
wanted at that point was a loss and extra innings. The Tigers would tie it and win 9-7 in the
tenth. It was a four-hour game. I felt bad for the fans. Strangely, this was my second extra innings
game of the young season, as I’d seen the Red
Sox and Marlins play extras earlier
in the week.
Later in the night, the El Paso Chihuahuas had their first game
of the season. They were starting on the
road in Las Vegas against the 51’s. This would be the last Opening Day at Cashman Field downtown. They were getting a new stadium in the
suburbs next year. Hopefully, they’ll be
getting a new name with it. Tim Hagerty mentioned that the team was
using a bat-retrieving dog. That seems
hard to believe, but I’ve got try and find video of that. The PA at the stadium kept playing music
during pitches. The new reduced time on
the pitch clock may have been throwing him off.
The umpire was getting repeatedly annoyed.
During the game, the Chihuahuas loaded
the bases in the seventh with no outs and failed to score. They ended up winning the game though, 4-2.
Well, this result was in direct opposition to the stat I’d heard during Aggie Baseball (3-29-18) that teams
doing that nearly always lose. So much
for statistics.
4-6-18
It was a double win for the Aggies
tonight. Aggie Softball won 4-2 over
Bakersfield. I watched part of
the game on TV. In Bakersfield, Aggie Baseball beat the Roadrunners
9-3. Kyle Bradish went 6 innings and only gave up 2 runs. Joey
Oritz had 5 RBI’s and a home run. David Bellamy also had 2 RBI. I was surprised NM State covered softball for
the weekend instead of traveling and doing radio for baseball. The Chihuahuas
lost their second game 5-2 to the 51’s.
Zach Wheeler was on rehab
pitching for Las Vegas and looked good.
There was a Star Wars themed
fireworks show afterward.
4-7-18
Before I went to Aggie Softball in
the afternoon, I caught a Red Sox
versus the Rays game on Mexican
TV. I only found the game flipping
around the stations. I’m going to have
to start checking the TV schedule better.
This was a NESN/Red Sox
broadcast, not a Fox one. Fox was
showing a UFC documentary instead
baseball Saturday. The Sox won in a blow
out on a bright, sunny freezing cold day in Boston. When I got home from softball, I caught the
very end of a Rockies game. They won it off a walking walkoff as the
winning run was forced home on a base on balls.
I swear they didn’t mention who they playing until after the game. The big baseball news of the day was Shohei Ontani. After hitting three home runs for the week,
in his second pitching start, he had a perfect game going through 19 batters
and struck 12 to get the win. I’m
starting to believe.
4-8-18
I almost entirely missed the Chihuahuas beating the 51’s today. I didn’t even get down the final score. Between watching my sports paramour Alex Morgan scoring a couple of goals
in a 6-2 trouncing of Mexico by US Women’s soccer and watching some of the Masters with my dad, all I heard was little snippets. I did hear that the pups scored 6 runs in the
last two innings for a come-from-behind win.
I got some Raising Canes
chicken strips for my dad. He was
impressed with them too.
Later in the evening, I ran into my
third extra innings MLB game of the
season, as the Mets beat the Nationals 6-5 in a series sweep in
DC. The best part was the ESPN announcer
telling a story about Bryce Harper. He had asked Joey Gallo of the Rangers,
who had played with him in Little League, to tell his best Harper story. Bryce was a pitcher and threw so hard that
only Gallo volunteered to catch him.
After Harper had struck out to end an inning, he came out to the mound
and warmed up angry. He threw the ball so hard, he hit Gallo. Joey started crying and they took him out of
the game. They gave him ice cream and
sat down between his mom and Mrs. Harper and watched the rest of the game and
never tried catching again. I can barely
type this for laughing so hard.
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