Sports Journal September 1-6, 2018

9-1-18

The MLB game of week on Televisa (Mexican TV) came on Saturday evening, instead of in the morning.  It was the Nationals and Brewers.  The Brewers are at least playing for something.  The Nationals are probably going to be in their franchise death throes in the offseason.  Gio Gonzalez, who now plays for the Brewers, was warmly welcomed back in DC last night by the crowd.  The Brewers won that game in a pouring rain. 

They were picking up the MASN feed.  The Nats have some interesting promotions.  They're giving away kid's pj's and hoodies on different nights.  Stephen Strasburg started for the Nats.  He was looking good.  In the fourth with two on, Strasburg fanned Ryan Braun to end the inning.  In the fifth, Jonathan Schoop hit a hot shot off the third baseman's glove that dribbled off behind him.  Mike Moustakas scored from first.  Christian Yelich drove in a run as well to make it 2-0 Brewers. 

The Nationals would score 1 in the bottom, but Manny Pino homered in the seventh to make it 3-1 Brew crew.  In the bottom, the fans suddenly started stirring as a good rain started falling.  By the eighth, it was pouring and the fans were deserting.  The tarp came out too late as the infield looked destroyed.  The Mexican broadcast ended at that that point.  Over an hour later, I saw the ticker on the Stadium network and the Nats actually came back and won.  I'm more surprised they were able to play more tonight on that soggy field.   

I briefly listened to the Rangers playing the Twins and heard Ronald Guzman hit a three-run homer.  Poor reception had me changing the station to hear the Chihuahuas and the Rainiers.  Tacoma went up 2-0 on a homer in the third that went out of the stadium.  Francisco Mejia answered in the fourth with his own two-run homer.  Dusty Coleman batted in two to make it 4-2 pups.  The defensive play of the game was by Shane Peterson in the fifth, who laid out to catch a liner.   

The Rainiers tied the score by the eighth.  In the ninth, Kyle McGrath gave up a single, balked the runner over, and Mejia made an error throwing to second, which moved the runner to third with nobody out.  McGrath got two strikeouts and a ground out to get out of it.  In the tenth, Gordon Beckham drove in the automatic runner to give the Rainiers a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom, Mejia reached first on a passed ball strikeout and the automatic runner, Carlos Asuaje, made it to third.  Manager Rod Barajas questioned the count on Ty France next and got it changed.  France walked to load bases with no outs.  Peterson grounded into a fielder's choice and Asuaje was out at home, but the bases were still loaded.  Unfortunately, a double play by Brett Nicholas ended it.  5-4 Rainers.  The Chihuahuas' home winning streak ended at 18.  Their good luck had to take a bad turn at some point.  At least I won't have to worry about breaking a streak because I'm there on Monday.

9-2-18

There was a baseball/volleyball double header this afternoon.  Stadium had a women’s college volleyball match on and the Rangers were playing the Twins on the radio.  The volleyball match featured #25 Colorado State versus TCU.  Yes, I was kind of cheating on the Aggie girls by watching a couple of other teams play. 

No, actually I was totally cheating, because I was seriously fascinated by #13 Kirstie Hillyer on CSU.  She’s 6’6” with a great build, long honey blonde hair (with a stylish braid in front), and sweet pretty face.  Put her on your promotional posters CSU.  Not to mention she could really wail on the ball, as you might guess.  I don’t know why she was only in for about half the points; TCU could not stop her.  The Rams won 3-1 and I really enjoyed the match.  There was only one lowlight when the announcer said, “The Horned Frogs have jumped ahead.”  Groan.  Thanks to Stadium for not stiffing me, as they have several times before with various scheduled college games.

So I was distracted from the listening to the Rangers’ game, though I did have it on in the background the whole time.  I’d mute the TV whenever Eric Nadel or Matt Hicks sounded excited.  The final score was 18-4 Rangers.  If you were trying to keep track of the scoring, this wasn’t a good game to be half-paying attention to. 

Before the volleyball came on, I did get to hear Eric talking about the Twins’ pitching arrangement today.  They were using an “Opener.”  This is a reliever that starts the game and then hands it over to the “Primary” pitcher after an inning or two.  The Rays have been using this strategy to good effect this season.  I’d heard something about their pitching this year, but hadn’t realized this was what they were doing.  The Rangers are actually scheduled to try this themselves on Monday.

The Rangers went up 5-0 through five with a pair of two-run homers by Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos.  Nomar Mazara was back in the lineup and made a great sliding catch.  Ronald Guzman threw out a runner at home as part of a double play.  Chirinos made a good tag there.  Everything was coming up Rangers to this point.

Then came the bottom of the sixth where the Rangers exploded for 9 runs!  I definitely lost track of the scoring at this point.  Well into the onslaught, Adrian Beltre was hit.  The pitcher was tossed, though it might not have been intentional.  Manager Paul Molitor may have been tossed too.  It was confusing.  Jurickson Profar greeted the replacement pitcher with a home run.

Chris Gimenez, former Ranger and Twins catcher/first base, pitched the eighth and gave up five runs.  In the ninth, he came up to bat and got a couple of those back with a two-run homer.  So, does this mean the “Opening/Primary” pitcher thing doesn’t work?  Too soon to tell.  Several teams have tried to make a six-man rotation work for years.  No pitching scheme is going to work without decent pitching and certainly not behind the three errors the Twins had today.            

The Chihuahuas played their penultimate game of the regular season against the Rainiers in the evening.  The pups started in the first with four straight singles and scored two runs.  Francisco Mejia scored on a hit by Dusty Coleman to make it 3-0.  In the second, Mejia hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, and Brett Nicholas added an RBI to make it 6-0.  It was batting practice at the Doghouse.

The Rainiers put up a run in the fourth, but in the bottom, the Chihuahuas loaded the bases with nobody out.  Brett Nicholas grounded into a DP like just last night’s final play, but this time a run scored to make it 7-1.  In the fifth, Chihuahuas’ starter Cal Quantrill and a Rainiers’ batter had words after a strikeout.  Tim Hagerty didn’t figure out what the argument was about. 

In the sixth, Carter Capps came in in relief.  The first batter grounded out and then started yelling at Capps.  The ump told the batter to get back to the dugout, but other than that, there was no drama this time about Capps’ delivery.  The Rainiers scored three more runs over the next two innings to make it 7-4.  But the Chihuahuas weren’t done.  In the eighth, Carlos Asuaje doubled in a run, Mejia got another hit to go 4 for 5 tonight, and Ty France got an RBI on a fielder’s choice.  Our final was 9-4 Chihuahuas.  Let’s hope they keep hitting tomorrow and that I’m there to watch in person.

9-3-18

Oops.  After getting back from seeing the Chihuahuas today, I remembered that the Rangers were on the radio, but it was the time between the local affiliate powering down and the Amarillo affiliate coming in.  By the time I’d remembered to check back, it was a couple of hours later.  I actually wanted to tune in to see how the “Opening Pitcher/Primary Pitcher” thing was going to work for the Rangers.  I know they lost tonight, so it wasn’t a complete success.  I totally forgot about the Rockies game that I might have gotten, depending on reception.  They won at least.

9-4-18

I got back from Aggie Volleyball unexpectedly early.  Once again, I was waiting for the sun to go down for the nighttime stations to come in.  I watched a lousy show on the CW in the meantime and wish I’d tried the radio earlier.  KOA out of Denver unexpectedly came in listenable tonight.  Usually, it’s pretty bad.  I came in in the eighth with Rockies up on the Giants 6-2.  With the game pretty in hand, the announcers spent a bunch of time scoreboard watching other games.  Right now, the Rockies are on top of the NL West.  Between them and the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers, nobody’s taken control of the division yet.  I’m definitely rooting for the Rockies here.  The Rox did finish the game out.  It was a good come-from-behind win.  I even got to hear the call-in show afterward, which they do on a somewhat random basis.  Well, it was a bit of baseball today.

9-5-18

Playoff baseball has arrived!  Tonight, the Chihuahuas took on the Grizzlies in El Paso.  It was sprinkling there during batting practice and there was weather all around, but the rain stayed away.  It actually started raining soon after the game was over.

The game didn’t start promisingly for the pups as the Griz put up four runs right off the bat.  (See what I did there?)  Walter Lockett gave up two walks and hit a batter to load the bases and they all scored.  Tim Hagerty took a moment to say, “Hello,” to a group of the Grizzlies fans in Fresno, who were watching the MILB feed at a bar there. 

He also went over some call-ups for the Chihuahuas, which included Rowan Wick, Luis Urias, and starting today Francisco Mejia was also gone.  Tim mentioned that the Grizzlies had also lost a couple of good players to the Astros, who are fighting for the AL West.  The Padres aren’t even in a fight to stay out of last place, so their call-ups hurt worse. 

In the second, Allen Craig hit a solo homer.  Dusty Coleman followed that with a two-run homer to make it 4-3.  Tim and the crowd totally got into it at this point.  In the third, Shane Peterson threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double.  In the bottom, Ty France hit an RBI single to tie it at 4.  I missed the start of the inning going outside to take out the trash.  It was lightly sprinkling here.  The Chihuahuas managed to load the bases with one out.  Brett Nicholas hit an RBI single to make it 5-4, but left them loaded.

In the fifth with a Griz runner at third, a wild pitch on a walk scored the runner to tie it again.  Then there was a two-run homer to make it 7-5 Grizzlies.  Lockett came out after giving up a walk after that.  In the seventh, the Chihuahuas did it again.  They loaded the bases with no outs.  Raffy Lopez hit an RBI single and then Coleman hit a sac fly to tie it at 7.

The Chihuahuas had another opportunity in the eighth.  They had two on with one out and then bases loaded with two outs, but didn’t score.  During the ninth, Tim got confirmation from the PCL front office: There are no automatic runners in extra innings in the playoffs.  Okay, this makes less sense than having the automatic runners to begin with.  I don’t even feel like discussing it.

In the tenth, the Griz got two on and scored one on a single to make it 8-7.  They lost a runner out in a rundown between third and home.  The bottom of the tenth got interesting.  France singled off the wall with one out.  He should have made it to second, but he thought he’d hit it out.  Auston Bousfield replaced him as a pinch runner.  He made it to second anyway on a wild pitch.  Craig walked next, but Nicholas struck out to end the game.  The Grizzlies won 8-7 and went up 1-0 in this best of five. 

That was a heck of a game, even with the disappointing result.  It also took over four hours.  It felt like a long game, but very tense and interesting.  Attendance was 4,000, about half of what they’ve been getting normally.  I kind of expected this would be the case.  There are various reasons for this, but really no excuse given how many Chihuahuas fans there are in the area.  This is a bit presumptuous, but if the Chihuahuas are in the playoffs again, maybe I should try to talk Ron into going to one of those games.  It would at least be easier to get a decent seat.

9-6-18

“Plenty of seats still available,” stated Tim Hagerty before tonight’s continuation of the PCL Division playoffs between the Chihuahuas and the Grizzlies.  Given last night’s attendance and that a storm just went through the area, I can believe it.  It was still cloudy in El Paso.  Chihuahuas players lost two balls in the overcast early on. 

In the first, one of those lost balls didn’t hurt as a Griz runner at first was thrown out at second after the drop.  Next in the second, a runner from another lost ball came around to score on a ground-rule double that hopped over the wall.  The Griz scored another to make it 2-0.  “Sounds like one of the Grizzlies has a friend down there,” noted Tim.  The crowd mic was picking up a fan wearing out one of the players during his at bat.

In the bottom of the second, the Chihuahuas got a couple of hits, but a pair of strikeouts ended it.  Trent Thornton was dealing for the Griz.  He had 6 strikeouts after facing 9 batters to that point.  In the third, the pups got two on again, but a double play ended the inning. 

The Grizzlies added another run on a solo homer to make it 3-0.  In the bottom, Javy Guerra scored on a hit by Ty France to make it 3-1.  But in the sixth, the Griz put up another solo shot, 4-1.  The seventh started well as Forrestt Allday bunted for a single.  He fell down rounding first and still managed to make it to second.  France drove him in to make it 4-2.               

In the ninth, the Griz scored another run to make it 5-2.  Then they loaded the bases and got two more off a hit and it was 7-2.  The trail runner was thrown out to end the inning.  To start the bottom, Tim tried to talk the fans into continuing to believe.  The Chihuahuas got two runners on in scoring position with nobody out.  France again drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, 7-3.  There were two out with two runners got on when Brett Nicholas drove both of them in with a double, 7-5.  Raffy Lopez, the tying run, hit a liner that was caught to end it.  7-5 Grizzlies, who are now up 2-0 with all the remaining games in Fresno.  

Thornton had an impressive game with 15 K’s through eight innings.  Ty France went 4 for 5 and drove in three runs to lead the Chihuahuas.  It seems like the dogs’ home winning streak finally caught up with them at a poor time.  There were 5,000+ at the game tonight, so it was a better crowd.  This was the only game of the night for me with the Rangers and Rockies both off.