Thursday, June 7, 2018

Memorial Day Weekend 2018 Part 1

5-26-18

It's my favorite holiday again.  Frankly, every other holiday on the calendar has generally been ruined for me, but not this one, not yet.  Even when I've had bad moments, I've still been able to kick back and enjoy some sports.

Today was a baseball day.  I was a bit late starting it, as I’d gone out with my dad to the bookstore and a meal at McDonald’s.  That sheet of coupons they sent out actually paid off for them, because otherwise, I’d never have gone there, much less three times in three weeks.  The quarter-pounders were okay.  (Still not good enough to make me go back without a coupon.)  I began in the morning watching the Braves and the Red Sox on a Mexican station.  Before the season, this might not have looked like much of a matchup, but here in May, it's battle between two teams contending for their divisions.  From what I saw, both teams were hitting really well.  Neither team had great pitching, at least not today. 

For Atlanta, Dansby Swanson looked very smooth at short, though I think he was hitting below .200.  Wunderkind Ronald Acuna Jr. would hit a home run off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, but he had a couple of misplays in Fenway's tricky right field.  The Red Sox won 8-6.

The Rangers and the Royals came on the radio next.  I missed the initial scoring in the third, 3-1 Royals, when I was running an errand outside, but I still got plenty of action.  In the bottom of the fourth, Jurickson Profar tripled.  He seems to be doing well this season with a starting spot.  He also got a double later.  Joey Gallo doubled him in on a near home run.  A sac, a muffed safety squeeze, and a popup ended the inning with two runners on, 3-2 Royals

I found out that Royal Whit Merrifield had a College World Series-winning walkoff single.  He was making a spot start in center today.  In the fifth, he made a great backhanded running catch at the wall.  Ronald Guzman for the Rangers tied it (the Rangers are dipping deep into their prospects this season), and in the tenth, Shin-Soo Choo hit a walk-off homer to win it 4-3.

In the evening, FOX finally decided to show a baseball game.  There was some European soccer championship on earlier.  I guess there wasn't any more soccer to show until the World Cup.  I figured I'd get the Astros game, but that was in a rain delay, so they went to the Yankees and the Angels

What a surprise, a Yankees' game being nationally broadcast.  In this case, even though I hate both teams, I was kind of interested in seeing this.  Shohei Ohtani wasn't pitching, but was in the lineup.  The Yankees hit three home runs over the course of two innings and it was 4-1 Yankees.  The Angels loaded the bases in the third.  Albert Pujols struckout and just as Ohtani was coming to bat, boom, Fox broke away to go to my regional game.  I can't believe the day came where I was yelling at the TV wanting to see the Yankees and the Angels playing.  The Angels won 11-4.  I don't know how it went down, since I got no other details on the game.           

By this point, Aggie Baseball came on the radio and I was very preoccupied with it, but I still watched the Astros and the IndiansJacobs Field (or whatever it's called, they're not paying me to promote their sponsor) looked really different with the new giant video board and a new paint job inside.  The Indians cut Chief Wahoo from their uniform, at least for tonight.  Just change the name of the team already and go all the way with it.  How about the Flaming Lakes or perhaps the Lebrons or the Social Justice Warriors?  Oops, still too Native American on that last one.  The Social Justice Advocates.

I wasn't really taking notes on this one.  Astro Yuli Gurriel had an error at first at one point.  Starter Lance McCullers showed some anger about it.  After the inning, Jose Altuve went over to him and told him not to do that on field.  Altuve then hit a two-run homer in the bottom to give the Astros a lead.  There's a team leader for you.  McCullers got chased from the game after giving up three home runs.

In the seventh, Michael Brantley homered onto the centerfield porch and hit an old guy on the face.  Hopefully, he was okay.  They didn't show him again.  The drum guy is still there, beating on the Indians' rallies.  He was wearing a Chief Wahoo hat.  The Indians won 8-6 in a back-and-forth game.      

I totally missed the Chihuahuas today.  I did peek in on a Mexican League game.  It was between the Bravos and the Diablos.  The stadium and the field were not as nice as the Toros' facility that I've seen the last couple of weeks.  The Diablos won 15-6.

Part 2

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