Baseball Journal May 9-18, 2018

5-9-18

I totally forgot about Aggie Baseball on 5-8-18.  They beat the Lobos in Albuquerque 4-3.  They swept them this season.  I think this was the first time ever.  I can’t believe I forgot about the game.  I’d even written it on the calendar.

Before going to the WAC Softball Tournament, I listened to the Rangers versus the Tigers in a day game.  Well, I tried to.  Reception was not good.  I did hear a report that the Mets today batted out-of-order twice.  The players were following the lineup posted on social media, which disagreed with the lineup handed to the umpire.  The Rangers’ game was a pretty tight, which I didn’t get to hear the end of.  From watching the news on Stadium that night, I saw that Nomar Mazara won it in the tenth on a home run.   

5-11-18

After four games at the WAC Softball Tournament today, I was totally spent.

5-12-18

After seeing an Aggie championship-winning victory in softball (Game 10) today, I listened to a bit of baseball on the radio in the evening.  The Rangers played the Astros, but the main story was Eric Nadel doing limericks for National Limerick day.  Jokes aside, he was very good at it.  Meanwhile in Reno, the Chihuahuas played the Aces.  Franmil Reyes hit a home run, but unfortunately, that was all of the pups’ scoring as they lost 2-1.

5-13-18

Much like after last year's softball tournament (5-13-17), I couldn't generate any enthusiasm to watch or listen to any baseball right afterward.  Too emotionally drained.  Not to mention, I was writing up recaps for 10 softball games!  Today, the Chihuahuas faced the Reno Aces and Clay Buchholz.  It was raining in Reno.  That's all my notes say.  Must have been a great game.  I missed the Rangers' game flat out. 

The Diamondbacks got a rare ESPN Sunday night game spotlight playing the Nationals.  Mark Reynolds, a free agent who didn't get picked up in the offseason, debuted with the Nats and came out swinging with a pair of home runs.

5-14-18

It had to happen.  Franmil Reyes was so hot that he got promoted to the Padres.  They were playing the Rockies tonight, but I wasn't able to get good reception on the game until it was nearly over.

5-15-18

My last day of vacation and I got to listen to an afternoon Chihuahuas game against the Aces.  They were in Reno, playing in front of a large group of school children.  The pups lost to continue their losing streak.  The game took two hours, three minutes.

I looked at my Rangers' schedule three times today and came up with three different answers.  Vacation had thrown me off so bad, I couldn't figure out what day it was.  I'd already missed their Sunday game because I'd written down the wrong time on my viewing schedule.  I eventually found today's game against the Mariners.  The big news was that Robinson Cano, who had already just gone on the DL, was now suspended as well for chemicals in his piss. 

In the ninth, Jurickson Profar scored from second as the pitcher was late covering the bag to get Joey Gallo at first.  Don't ask me how.  This tied the score at 8.  By the eleventh, Eric Nadel made up and recited a Gallo limerick.  The eighth M's pitcher entered the game.  Matt Hicks hoped he has a short name, because he was out of space on his scorecard.  The guys were getting punchy.  The Rangers lost 9-8.

5-16-18

Before I went back to work today, the Rangers played the Mariners in a day game.  I thought there was no way I'd be able to hear the whole game, but there was no score through seven innings.  With the game flying by, it suddenly seemed possible.  Limericks are still flying in the broadcast booth.  Jared Sandler and Matt Hicks both offered up some rhymes for Eric Nadel on his birthday.  

Delino Deshields broke the seal with a double in the eighth.  At this point, a parade of relievers came in and brought the game to a crawl.  Bartolo Colon made it into the bottom of the eighth before being relieved. 

The Rangers added to the score in the ninth.  Get this, bases loaded, 2 out, and a passed ball on a dropped third strike, that would have ended the inning, let in two runs.  Four unearned runs would score.  The final, which I had to look up at work, was 5-1 Rangers.  Ranger-killer Kyle Seager had a home run in the ninth.

5-17-18

Aggie Baseball began their final WAC road series playing the UTRGV Vaqueros.  The Aggies were playing for a share of first (with some help) or at least second place.  The Vaqueros were playing just to get into the tournament.  The Aggies did well.  In the second, they put up seven runs with two home runs and never looked back.  Kyle Bradish, with Braden Williams catching, set an Aggie strikeout record and had 12 today.  The Aggies won 14-3 in eight on a run rule. 

I was able to watch video of the game.  The stadium in Edinburg, which apparently isn't conveniently located even for the locals, is very impressive.  It was a $5 million dollar facility for an independent league team that folded soon after it was built.  The college is the only team that regularly uses the facility.  The field looked okay on camera, but Adam Young reported that it was in bad condition, which resulted several bad hops on the infield.

5-18-18

Game 2 with Aggie Baseball against UTRGV.  I was watching over the Internet.  In the first, Caleb Henderson hit a monster home run.  The fielders simply turned and watched it go without moving.  In the sixth, Logan Ehnes drove in Henderson and himself with a double and an error.  Nick Gonzales had a home run in the seventh to make it 4-0. 

Defensively, Jonathan Groff had a no-hitter through 6 and 2/3.  It was broken up by an RBI hit.  The Aggies won 4-2.  Groff tied the Aggie season record for wins and Brock Whittlesey got the season record for saves.

I tuned into the Chihuahuas playing the Grizzlies late.  The pups tied it in the ninth to force extras.  Down by a run again in the tenth with two outs, Diego Goris, with two strikes, drove in a pair of runners to win it 8-7.  It was the Chihuahuas’ first walk-off win of the year.

Meanwhile, Aggie Softball played Arizona State at the NCAA Tournament.  There was no coverage of the game, except for ESPN3 over the Internet, if you have a cable subscription.  There wasn’t even a Statcast.  I followed over the girls’ Twitter page and had to read about it in the paper later. 

The Aggies lost 2-0.  Analise de la Roca was the surprise starter.  She only gave up two runs in the first, but that was enough.  The Sun Devils had a perfect game going through five innings.  Kelsey Horton, of course, broke up the no-hitter in the seventh, which led to the bases being loaded, but a double play ended the game.  I noticed Sarai Meija was the starting DP. 

This game ended maybe an hour after the Aggie baseball game.  The guys tweeted out this picture to them.  I never know how much they get involved with other Aggie teams (other than going out with some of the girls), so this was really great to see.  The girls did tweet back to them (and their phone numbers, just kidding).