Baseball Journal June 19-22, 2018

6-19-18

The Braves are looking kind of for real, at least today in their game with the Blue Jays.  They won 11-4 in a convincing fashion.  Charlie Culberson was a standout.  In the first with two on, he made a great catch at the wall, and in the fourth, hit a two-run homer. 

It was a two-way no-hitter for three innings in El Paso between the Chihuahuas and the Redbirds.  Memphis opened up the scoring in the fourth via an error, a steal, and a fielder’s choice.  They did get a hit to drive in another to make it 2-0.  In the bottom, Luis Urias tripled and was sacrificed in by Austin Hedges. 

Next inning, Forrestt Allday made a catch falling into the stands.  The pups took the lead in the bottom on a two-run homer, 3-2 Chihuahuas.  They opened it up in the sixth with a Diego Goris two-run homer.  The hit was in question as fair or foul, but the umps gave it to him.  Hedges and Brett Nicholas also drove in runs to make it 7-2.

The Redbirds threatened in the eighth with Kazuhisa Makita pitching.  They scored, loaded the bases, then drove in another, but Kaz finished the inning.  7-4 Chihuahuas was the final.  There was a consultant doing a hardware upgrade tonight.  He heard a little of the broadcast and asked, “Why are they talking about ‘Chihuahuas?’”  I had to explain that was the name of the team.  “There are worse minor league baseball team names,” I added.

6-20-18

The streak is broken.  The Chihuahuas were off.  I missed the MLB.TV free game or it was rained out (not sure which).  And the Diamondbacks weren’t on TV either.  ESPN and the MLB Network didn’t have games on either when I was able watch.  On Twitch, I did see one of my favorite Streamers, Dizzy Kitten, accumulate over $10,000 in donations while trying to do ASMR.  It was mostly one guy doing it and others piled on.  Dizzy kept trying to keep going, but was holding back tears while thanking the steady stream of donators.  Finally, she broke up and cried.  It was like watching someone hit the lottery, but they’d had to work hard for it.

6-21-18

      

Pirates played the Diamondbacks on the MLB.TV free game.  It was audio-only.  They finally did the TV blackout correctly, since the D-Backs are shown locally here.  I listened to the Pirates’ broadcast.  I may not have had a choice actually.  I was enjoying their play-by-play guy.  The D-Backs were up 6-0 in the second, and the color guy said, “They don’t have a powerful lineup.  Nobody has double-digit home runs for the year.”  The play-by-play guy said, “They do.  I think you’re looking at our lineup.” 

At 8-0, the Pittsburgh crowd was booing as Chad Kuhl was finally pulled.  The Pirates mounted a bit a comeback later, but not much of one.  Near the end of the game, the play-by-play guy added this sarcastic comment, “Up six, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Tony Lovullo wants a pitching change.”  9-3 Diamondbacks final.

The Chihuahuas were in Sacramento to play the Rivercats.  Jeff Samardzija was pitching on rehab for the ‘cats.  Franmil Reyes was back on the pups.  A kicked ball in the outfield led to a Shane Peterson RBI.  The Chihuahuas took a 2-0 lead.  In the third, the Rivercats left the bases loaded after a sliding catch by Forrestt Allday ended the inning. 

Samardzija came out after four.  The Chihuahuas teed off on his relief.  They loaded the bases off of a hit batter, an error, and a walk.  Austin Hedges doubled in two as part of a five-run inning to put the pups up 7-0.  The Rivercats got one run in the bottom, but left the bases loaded again.  In the sixth, a third error scored another Chihuahuas’ run.  The final was 10-1 Chihuahuas.  The Rivercats had four errors for the game, and the pups finished by getting 14 outs on them in a row.

6-22-18

What a slugfest!  The MLB.TV free game was the Mariners at the Red Sox.  As I joined the game in the first, the M’s put up four runs.  In the bottom, the Sox took the lead with five runs.  The Mariners looked like they had the handle on knuckle-baller Steven Wright, as they put up two more runs in the second and four in the fourth for a 10-5 lead.  Nelson Cruz to that point had two home runs over the Green Monster and 7 RBI’s. 

This was the Red Sox TV coverage.  They showed a highlight from yesterday where Mookie Betts caught a fly ball and barely had to move.  He took his positioning notes out of his pocket and waved them at the dugout.  He’d been studying them.

Away from my desk for a while, it was an hour until the Chihuahuas’ game.  ESPN Radio was as un-listenable as ever.  Blah, blah, World Cup, blah, blah, Lebron, blah, blah, blah, blah.  In desperation, I sought out a FOX Sports Radio affiliate over the Internet.  Not that was expecting them to talk about anything else, but maybe the host would be less of a tool.  Actually, even that’s too much to hope for. 

Imagine my surprise that there was a baseball game on a Richmond, Virginia station.  It was the Flying Squirrels!  Yes, I’ve heard of these guys.  It’s another minor league team with a goofy name.  They are the Double-A affiliate of the Giants, and they were playing the Bay Sox.  The two guys doing the game were pretty lively and there was plenty of commercial sponsorship for the Squirrels.  (How does this Double-A team get two announcers and the Triple-A Chihuahuas only get one?) 

The team had a player named Jonah Arenado, that’s Nolan Arenado’s younger brother.  I missed the festivities in Richmond last night, as Flava Flav threw out the first pitch.  He was reportedly a big hit with the fans.  Trouble was on the horizon, however.  I was only hearing the game because it had been delayed by rain.  The announcers were watching the radar and there was more coming in 20 minutes.  I did tune in a bit later and they were in another delay.  They eventually called the game.

Back in Boston, holy crap!  I picked up watching in the seventh and the Red Sox had tied it at 10 and had the bases loaded.  JD Martinez, who would finish with 5 RBI’s and a homer, drove in two of the runners on a single.  The shock final was 14-10 Red Sox. 

Elsewhere in Sacramento, the Chihuahuas played the Rivercats and won 3-0.  They got some good pitching today and Austin Hedges had 2 RBI’s.  The pups are now .500.