6-23-18
It was good
news/bad news on Saturday morning. The
good news was that a Mexican TV station was picking up the Rangers playing the Twins,
and I’d be able to listen to the game in
English over the radio. But, this meant
I wouldn’t be getting two different games. Also, there was a 30-second delay on the TV,
and the radio reception was poor.
The Twins went up
2-0 off a first inning homer. The
Rangers loaded the bases in the second.
A walk to .198 hitting Robinson
Chirinos forced in a run, and that was with a wide strikezone today. Delino
Deshields singled and drove in two. Shin-Soo Choo got a ground rule double
to drive in another. He has a 30+ game
on base streak going. Normar Mazara drove in two more. Finally, a new pitcher came in after the
starter had thrown 60 in an inning and 2/3.
6-2 Rangers.
I can’t believe it. I’m getting soccer updates from the radio guys about Germany
and Sweden. I had the TV sound off; I
don’t know if the Mexican announcers were
talking about it or not. What is wrong
with me that I’m not interested in an international
soccer tournament where a US team isn’t playing? I guess I’m
not hip and trendy enough to appreciate a sport I don’t like, featuring teams I don’t
care about, unlike all these professional sportscasters.
In the third, Joey Gallo hit a double directly into
the fielding shift against him. The
Twins had nearly all the fielders to the right of second base. Chirinos then hit a two-run homer. Hmm, on second thought, maybe you should be
careful pitching to the guy with a .198 average. 8-2 Rangers.
In the fourth, Adrian Beltre
hit a home run to make it 9-2. I’m enjoying this. In
the sixth, Beltre struck out to end the inning and then argued with the ump
that he wanted an appeal to first. The
ump was too busy laughing to argue back.
Yovanni Gallardo had had a pretty good game, but was
pulled in the sixth after giving up another two-run homer, 9-4. In the seventh, Jurickson Profar was hit for the third time in the game. It seemed pretty intentional, though it took
three pitches. The guys on the radio
were baffled as to why he was being singled out. A few words were exchanged from the
dugout. Oddly, this was the second time
this year Profar had been hit that many times in a game (6-9-18).
In the bottom of
the seventh, Delino made a running backhanded catch that saved a run, which
proved to be important in the ninth. The
Twins loaded the bases with one out. Keone Kela had to come in for a
save. He gave up two runs on a double. The bases were reloaded with two outs before
Kela got a strikeout to end it. 9-6 Rangers final.
FOX’s game in the evening was the Dodgers and Mets with Clayton Kershaw
versus Jacob DeGrom. I didn’t feel bad about not getting the Astros’ game under these circumstances. It wasn’t quite the marquee matchup
though. Kershaw was making his first
start coming off an injury, skipping any minor league rehab starts.
The scoring
started in the first with a Max Muncy
home run to the second deck for the Dodgers.
(I don’t know who this guy is either.) It may have been an enemy ball, but the fan
who got it up there was very happy.
Actually, there were plenty of Dodger fans there in Queens. In the second, Chase Utley was boo’ed as he came to the plate. Ah, that made me feel good to know that I’m not the only person still holding a grudge against
him. Kershaw gave up a couple doubles to
tie the score at one.
The Mets
scratched out another run in the third to make it 2-1, but Chris Taylor doubled in two in the fourth to make it 3-2
Dodgers. Kershaw came out after three
innings in good spirits.
Flipping around,
I noticed a Mexican League baseball
game on. It was the Monterey Sultans versus the Yucatan
Lions (I think). The Sutans’ logo and pinstriped uniforms strongly suggest a Yankees’ influence. If you need an argument against putting
advertising on uniforms, you can check out what a Yankees uniform would look
like with it. (Whew! It’s really bad.) Sultan Stadium (I have no idea what it’s actually called) is pretty nice with two large video
screens in the outfield and two animated video boards behind home plate. That was all I saw of the game, it went
pretty quickly, unlike most Mexican League games.
Back in New York,
Michael Conforto clanked on a fly
and gave up a triple. Before the game,
they were talking about a great play he made yesterday with a running,
backhanded catch. Another defensive
lowlight was Mets’ catcher Devin Mesoraco taking a foul ball off the cup. In the bottom, the Mets got two on with no
outs and came up with no runs.
Degrom came out
after six innings. Brandon Nimmo tripled on a whiff in the outfield by Cody Bellinger with no outs. They still didn’t
score. In the eighth, the Dodgers scored
on a squeeze play (see, that’s one way you can score a guy from
third) and on a grand slam by Matt Kemp. Jose
Bautista homered for the Mets late, but the game was functionally over with
the Dodgers winning 8-3.
While this was
going on, the Chihuahuas played the Rivercats again. Johnny
Cueto made a rehab start for the ‘cats.
He looked good, giving up 1 hit in 3 2/3. Cueto smiled and waved to the Sacramento
crowd when he came out. The Rivercats
had a one-run lead, but the Chihuahuas tied it in the fifth, but missed taking
the lead then on a failed squeeze (take some lessons from the Dodgers). Carlos
Asuaje would triple in a run in the sixth to give the pups the lead and
they’d win 3-1. Tim Hagerty was surprised to see a youth Chihuahuas team at the
stadium. Up to a certain level, kids’ teams can use minor league logos.
6-24-18
Before today’s Rangers and Twins game, I heard a little of ESPN Radio. An Irish commentator was doing World Cup coverage. I couldn’t resist listening to his lilting
poetic accent. Today’s games were so exciting that he was going to watch some
boring baseball to chill out. Gee, was
there a game where three whole goals were scored?
Actually, he may
have had a point about today’s Ranger game. The first run didn’t come across until the fifth. The second one didn’t come in until the sixth.
That was it. Rangers lost 2-0.
Bartolo Colon pitched pretty
well for seven innings, but Jose Berrios
did better in six with 12 strikeouts and no runs. Fernando
Rodney struck out the side in the ninth to close out the win. Eric
Nadel had exactly zero enthusiasm in announcing the final score. He was disgusted with the game too.
The Chihuahuas played the Rivercats for the final game of their
road trip. The pups got a 3-0 lead early,
including Forrestt Allday scoring
from third on a wild pitch. Later, Carlos Asuaje dropped a popup in the
bright sky, which led to a Cat run, 3-1.
In the fourth, pup pitcher Walter
Lockett doubled and drove in a run with the outfield playing him shallow. 4-1 Chihuahuas, but they left the bases loaded.
In the fifth, an
error loaded the bases. Javy Guerra drove in a run, Lockett was
walked to drive in another, and a double by Luis Urias brought in two more. 9-1 Chihuahuas with only five of those runs
unearned. Urias missed a fly ball in
that bright sky and the Rivercats started making a comeback with three runs
scoring, 9-4.
Lockett went back
out in the sixth and gave up a leadoff triple, which scored. With Gregor
Blanco coming in to pinch hit, Lockett came out. The bases were then loaded with Kelby Tomlinson up and the crowd
cheering. A wild pitch brought in a run,
but that was all. Tim Hagerty started having flashbacks of the Labor Day game last
year, (9-4-17) where the Chihuahuas were up 9-2 in the eighth and
lost. (I’m
still traumatized.)
Franmil Reyes drove in a run in the eighth, and the
pups put up three more in the ninth, which pretty much sealed it. Allday made a sliding catch to end the game, 12-9 Chihuahuas. It was a three hour, 22 minute game and a
four game sweep by the Chihuahuas. The
game’s length actually put it in danger of
running into a travel curfew, which made Tim nervous. He had a quick story about the Padres, who were playing in San Francisco. There was a mis-schedule with their team bus
to get to the ballpark. A staff member
flagged down an empty sight-seeing bus nearby and made a quick deal. So the team rode to the stadium, waving at
people from the open upper deck of the bus.
ESPN Radio Sunday Night Baseball was the Nationals versus the Phillies. The announcers were worried about a rain
cloud beyond centerfield right at the start.
One of the guys was mad about his new pinpoint weather app not
predicting rain, which was clearly on the way.
Rhys Hoskins hit a monster
two-run HR to start the scoring. He taunted
Washington fans before going back to the dugout. I want this guy to do well, since I have his
rookie card.
By the fourth
inning, it was raining. The announcers
weren’t sure how hard, since it was happening
below the pressbox. (Visiting announcers
are always complaining about how high up the pressbox is at Nationals Park.) Anthony
Rendon homered for the Nats 2-1. The rain seemed to be bothering pitcher Nick Pivetta as three more hits scored
another run. Finally, a delay was called
with the score 2-2.
40 minutes later,
the game resumed. (I did nothing of note
in the meantime.) Pivetta came back in
to a two on, no out situation and struck out the side. The rest did him good. In the fifth, a triple by Odubel Herrera drove in two to make it
4-2. Nick Williams added a two-run homer to make it 6-2.
The Nats left the
bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, but in the sixth, they cashed in. Trea
Turner hit an RBI triple and nearly tried for an inside-the-park home
run. Bryce Harper doubled in a run and Anthony Rendon doubled him in to make it 6-5. With the bases loaded in the eighth, Daniel Murphy hit a single to drive in
two runs to give the Nats a 7-6 lead.
Another run added to it. And then,
KROD ran a commercial break on autopilot and I don’t know what happened, except in pieces. The Nats
won 8-6. What a downer way to end
the weekend in sports.
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