5-29-18
It was the Chihuahuas versus the Fresno Tacos. Admittedly, the alternate name thing is kind
of cute, but I hope they don’t go all the way with changing the name. This was a day game, but not a school kid
game. Fresno had a good Anthem singer
today. He almost got the lyrics
right. I may be wrong, but I think the
PA was playing walkup music for the Chihuahuas during the game. It wasn’t insulting music (as I’ve heard
during a promotion where fans could donate to hear various songs for the
opposition), but it also wasn’t their usual music.
Me writing about
sports seems to be interfering with me actually watching or listening to
sports. I was editing while the game was
on and barely paying attention to it. Tim Hagerty had some interesting
commentary during the game. He had a
discussion about the oldest ballpark in the country. Five different places claim the title. After an odd play on a batted ball, an
obscure rule came up. Some of the
batter’s box is actually fair territory.
Tim had at first questioned the ruling on the play, but then was amazed
that the umps were correct. (And Tim
must be very quick in looking stuff up in the rule book.)
Catcher Stephen McGee injured himself on a
swing in one of his at bats. He had to
come out mid-at bat. His replacement
struckout, but the strikeout went to the line of the original batter. The bullpen catcher was the replacement. Brett
Nicholas is the backup catcher, but was the DH. If he came in to play a position, the
Chihuahuas would lose their DH and the pitcher would have to bat. Between at bats, Nicholas had to go to the
bullpen to warm up pitchers.
In the fifth,
Manager Rod Barajas was nearly
tossed for arguing a play. He was
correct though. A runner at first tried
to advance on an overthrow and was doubled off.
The umps missed it. Are you fully
edified on weird baseball rules yet?
It’s been a rules–heavy game today.
Our pivotal inning was the seventh with the pups down 2-1. The Chihuahuas loaded bases on three singles
to start the frame. An infield fly, a
strikeout, and a fly out ended the inning.
The Tacos won 2-1, but the
Chihuahuas have still had a winning road trip.
At work later, I
got the Cardinals and the Brewers in the MLB.TV free game. They were in Milwaukee and Front Row Amy’s cleavage took center
stage. This was the Cardinals’
broadcast, and it was hard not to notice that they were working in close-ups of
the display as much as possible in the background. I was perhaps distracted from really paying
attention. It was 5-0 Cardinals for much
of the game. Late, the Brewers made a
comeback. They got in a run and had two
in scoring position, but Lorenzo Cain
struck out looking to end the inning.
The final was 6-1 Cards, but
I think we were all winners here for watching thanks to Amy.
5-30-18
I caught a bit of El Paso Sportstalk before the
game. Steve Kaplowitz had some interesting conversations going. In relation to the Chihuahuas’ tribute to The
Sandlot, a caller talked about being an extra for a scene in The Bad News Bears Breaking Training
that was filmed in El Paso. And there
was some trivia. The Golden Knights would not be the first
expansion club to possibly win a major championship. The 1950 Browns
in the NFL (pre-merger) did it first
(with some poached star players).
The Chihuahuas
came back to El Paso and assumed their alternate identity as the Diablos for
today's game. 80’s music was played
during the breaks at the stadium. Their
opponents were the Rivercats. The Giants’
Triple-A affiliate is set to be rehabbing several guys from the big-league
club. Tonight, Hunter Pence was in the lineup.
A fan called in before the game and wished he’d known about it
beforehand so he could have gotten tickets.
I would have liked to have seen the Motivational Man (he did directly
help the team win a World Series with his words) and “Buster Posey’s good friend,” according to Jon Miller (on an infamous muffed home run call). I did see him play in person a couple of
years ago (5-29-16).
Hopefully Southwest University Park made a good
impression on Hunter. Tim Hagerty mentioned he met one of the
umpires in passing before the game. He
asked him what he thought the facilities.
The ump thought they were tremendous and looked forward to the trips
here. (He said that before he went
outside to work in the 100+ degree heat.)
The umps got an
early chance to shine in the second. Brett Nicholas attempted to throw out a
run and instead held on to the ball. He
claimed interference by the batter. The
umps gathered and then agreed and sent the runner back to first. The scoring didn’t start until the
fifth. After two deep fly balls outs by
the Rivercats, including one by the pitcher, the third batter sent one
out. It seemed to be carried by a
friendly wind. 1-0 Rivercats.
As usual, I
missed the bulk of the scoring in the middle innings. It was 3-3 going into the bottom of the
ninth. Diego Goris led-off with an error-aided triple (not technically a
triple, but it sounds better than a single and a two-base error). The wind again may have influenced the ball’s
carry as the fielder misjudged it. Javy Guerra came up with the crowd
chanting “Javy!” He delivered for them
with a game-winning single. 4-3 Diablos. Let’s hope they can keep winning at home when
they put the Chihuahuas uniforms back on.
The MLB.TV free game was the A’s versus the Rays. Yeah, who cares? Later, I checked the scores and found out
there was a no-hitter progress there.
Sure, when I’m not watching that happens. I brought it up. The Rays’ Nathan Eovaldi, in his first start of the season, had a no-hitter
through six. I guess he was on a strict
pitch limit for his first outing and didn’t come back out for the seventh, when
I started watching.
The A’s
broadcasters didn’t make anything of the pitching change. Switching broadcasts wasn’t an option given
tonight. I would have liked to have
heard the Rays’ guys’ reaction. Jed Lowrie, second batter of the
seventh, broke up the no-no. What few
A’s fans were there on a very chilly night in Oakland were happy. The next batter got robbed on a near home run
with an excellent catch at the wall by Mallex
Smith. That was as close as the A’s
got to scoring.
In the eighth, a
Rays’ homer was thrown back on to the field.
There were barely any fans in the outfield, so the ball had to be chased
down. The remaining crowd gave out a
cheer when it came back. I’ll say this
much for the people in the stands there; those are some hardcore fans. Their broadcasters were also defiantly
homer. Tampa Bay won 6-0. They only
gave up one hit. The A’s had 4 errors in
the game.
5-31-18
Now this was a
great MLB.TV free game matchup. It was Clayton
Kershaw and the Dodgers versus Aaron Nola and the Phillies. It was every bit
the pitcher's duel you'd expect. I
picked up the game about in the middle.
Kershaw went into the fifth and was pulled for a pinch hitter. He gave up one run and the score was
1-1.
I missed the
Philly run, which had some controversy.
The runner, Maikel Franco,
never touched home plate. The catcher, Yasmani Grandal, didn't actually catch
the throw to the plate, but was blocking it.
The ump was right there watching.
Both sets of broadcasters noticed Franco not touching the plate as he
dodged Grandal and went right to the dugout.
I went to my rulebook and I'm still not sure what the ruling should be
in such a situation.
In the seventh, Yasiel Puig made a misplay in the
outfield that allowed a runner to score from first to make it 2-1
Phillies. Nola came out after 7 innings,
only giving up 1 run and 2 hits. Seranthony Dominguez (Sir Anthony, like
royalty) came in to pitch in the eighth with a 0.00 ERA. Aaron
Altherr made a great sliding catch in right field in the inning. I noticed Joc Pederson's walkup music was The
Middle, a definite Top 40 sugar Pop song.
That's a bold choice, leaving one's musical tastes wide open to
questioning. (Maybe he's dating the
singer?)
Seranthony
(loving that name) closed out the ninth for a two-inning save. Scott
Kingery, after an error earlier in the game, made a great play at short to
get Justin Turner at first. Initially, I thought he had no chance to get
him. The Dodgers asked for a review, but
it was upheld. 2-1 Phillies in a quick two-hour, 40 minute game. Worse news for Dodgers' fans right after the
game. Kershaw was going for an MRI for
back problems.
I really enjoyed
this game, even in an interrupted fashion.
It felt like a big game and Dodger
Stadium seemed very pleasant in the early evening. The organ player, Dieter Ruehle, was having a good time. I caught the Twin Peaks theme once, going into the rally riff. Orel
Hershier and Joe Davis did a
good job in the booth. Joe is not Vin
Scully, but certainly has a great voice.
One reason I
stuck with the MLB game was that the Chihuahuas'
game tonight was not going well for the pups.
The Rivercats loaded the
bases in the first and got two runs and never looked back. They won 7-3. All three Chihuahuas’ runs came in the ninth.
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