9-24-18
Today’s MLB.TV free
game was a big playoff implications matchup between the Brewers and the Cardinals
in front of a full house in St. Louis.
To start the game, Brewer manager Craig
Counsel changed pitchers after the first batter. I had heard a couple of years ago that
celebrity personality (I don’t know what else to call him) Kato Kaelin was a big Brewers fan and
routinely wears out Counsel on his Twitter feed. This seemed like a moment that would elicit a
comment, so I checked out his feed.
Nothing yet. He’s apparently at a sci-fi convention. I kept the feed up, waiting to see what would
develop.
In the meantime, Ryan Braun homered in the second and Matt Carpenter drove in a run in the third,
so we were tied at 1. In the sixth,
Braun walked with bases loaded and Mike
Moustakas hit a sac fly to make it 3-1 Brewers. In the bottom, Brewer ace reliever Josh Hader came in. Jose
Martinez immediately homered off him.
With a light rain falling, Marcel
Ozuna followed that with a two-run homer and came out for a curtain call. 4-3
Cardinals.
Oh, there’s a new tweet from Kato.
Quit talking how great Hader is- HE SUCKS
RIGHT NOW & PROBABLY BLOWN THE SEASON. Hader is OWNED by @Cardinals & they’re in his
HEAD. Hader GET OFF THE MOUND. Counsel WHY IS HE STILL IN? @Brewers SUCK & 3-1 was 2
good 2 b TRUE. PURE VOMIT SQUAD
Okay, they weren’t kidding about him and the Brewers and Counsel. (I’m still chuckling actually. Twitter text at its finest.) My Aunt Judy in Missouri had written me
earlier. I wrote back and said I was watching
the Cardinals (she’s a big fan) and included the
tweet. She asked, “Who’s Kato?” (He was a witness at the OJ Simpson trial. I know it’s been a long time.)
He would continue firing off tweets for any bad plays by the team for
the rest of the game.
In the seventh, Christian Yelich got an RBI on a
fielder’s choice to make it 4-4. The Cardinals’
play-by-play guy I was listening to sounded like Matt Vasgersian, but with Joe
Buck’s brain. Every time
Yelich came up, he mentioned that he was an NL MVP candidate. We heard you the first time, sir. Do you not know anything else about him? #showprep
The rain finally
got heavy enough to cause a short delay.
Back from the break in the eighth,
Moustakas was hit
on a pickoff throw to first. Eric Thames scored from third to make
it 5-4 Brewers. The inning apparently ended
after a fielder’s choice caught a runner in a rundown
at home. The runner on first got picked
off right after for the third out.
However, the home plate ump had called time after the run down, so the
inning continued. The passionate (though
diminished after the delay) crowd was really unhappy about that call. I’m sure they all tweeted about it. (Kato had complained earlier about only
getting one run with the bases loaded.)
In the ninth, Yelich
(NL MVP candidate) doubled in Lorenzo
Cain to make it 6-4 Brewers, which would be the final score. The crowd and the announcers expressed their
displeasure with the home plate ump.
They did not like his strike zone in the bottom of the ninth.
And Kato says:
9-25-18
I had the TV
in the break room on at work on to watch The
Gifted. It’s an interesting show,
essentially X-Men without the
X-Men. I’m not sure about Season 2
though. They seem to have eliminated the
human elements of the cast to just focus on the mutants. I thought the intimate look at the contrast
between the humans and the mutants made the show somewhat fascinating. I’ve made a post mentioning The Gifted before, (12-26-27).
As long as the
TV was on, I flipped over to the MLB
Network. I wasn’t entirely expecting
a game, but they were showing the Rockies
and the Phillies. Not only does this game have playoff
implications, I’m pretty sure they usually blackout Rockies’ games in my area. I kept the game on and checked in on it,
though I wasn’t really able to sit and watch.
There was a
big passionate crowd there in Denver. Trevor Story was back in the
lineup. The Rockies were having a
bullpen day. In the third, I think they
were already on their third pitcher.
They ended up using eight in total.
Ah, September call-up baseball.
By halfway through the game, the Rockies had built up a pretty good
lead, but every time a pitcher got in trouble, he got yanked. In the eighth, it was 10-3, but when the
bases were loaded with Phillies, in came a new pitcher. The announcers were even nervous, until a
double play ended the inning.
The Rox won by
that 10-3 score and moved ahead of
St. Louis, who lost tonight. David Dahl had four RBI’s, including a
home run, which a fan caught over the fence, just over the leaping
fielder. The guys in the booth were
attentively scoreboard-watching a couple of other meaningful games and giving
updates. They were also having a
generally good time as the Rockies pulled ahead. They even teased the attractive female
ballpark reporter. She admitted that one
of them had once almost convinced her that he used to be a doctor. (I’m actually chuckling writing this.)
While at my other
work stations, I listened to KMOX
out of St. Louis over the Internet.
They’ve been broadcasting Blues
pre-season hockey. I just randomly stumbled into the coverage; I
wasn’t looking for it. I kind of enjoy
the guys calling it, an older veteran play-by-play guy and a younger former
player. They have a good chemistry. The color guy even gives blow-by-blow hockey
fight coverage like a boxing commentator.
Anyway, even they were watching the Cardinals’
game going on nearby and giving updates.
The MLB.TV free game was one of the other
meaningful games, the Dodgers versus
the Diamondbacks. The game video was blacked out, but the radio
call with Greg Schulte
was on. Also, the game was on cable here
on FOX Sports Arizona. I had both on, though I was busy and didn’t
pay close attention to either. I did
hear Greg actually hoping to help out the Rockies tonight when he found out
they’d won.
This was a really tight game. Though the D-Backs have been eliminated, they
were playing it like a playoff game. The
Dodgers were playing very clutch as well and managed to tie the score in the
eighth when they were down a run. It
sounded like they brought their fans to Phoenix too. Both teams seemed to be getting equal
cheering. It must have been nice there
too, since the roof and panels were open.
In the bottom of the ninth, Eduardo
Escobar ended it on a walkoff home run for a 4-3 Arizona victory. This
may all go down to the final day of the season.
Thanks to the MLB
for showing some meaningful games this week.
9-26-18
I was super
busy at work and missed the free game, which didn’t have anything to do with
the playoffs anyway. The Brewers and Cubs both clinched, though their positions haven’t been
determined. The Rockies won and the Diamondbacks
beat the Dodgers again. It’s crunch time indeed.
9-27-18
I took the day off to see Aggie Volleyball. Since
it started early, I’d hoped to catch a ball game when I got back. Unfortunately, the Rockies played a day game, but the good news was that they won to
keep their winning streak going. My
likely last chance to hear the Rangers
this season on the radio went by the wayside as well. The game was on the west coast and started
shortly after I got home, but then I made a couple of phone calls and forgot
about it. That’s okay. When I tuned in, they were carrying Thursday Night Football, which I kind
of expected.
9-28-18
The Brewers
versus the Tigers. This was a tremendous game which I can sum up
in three words: Front Row Amy. Whew, she was looking good and in a low-cut
shirt there behind home plate. She
looked really happy too, which was good to see.
Usually she’s kind of expressionless.
The Brewers went down 3-0, but came back to lead 5-3, then
coughed it up in the eighth. (Kato Kaelin must have been furious.) In the ninth, Ryan Braun hit what was likely a shot that would have hit the top
of the wall. Nicholas Castellanos jumped for the ball and tipped it on to
the padding. The ball rolled on top and then
fell over. There was a classic delayed
reaction from everyone watching it. 6-5 Brewers win.
Amy says on her Twitter:
Ryan Braun!!!! Wow. He is in postseason form right now. Love to see THAT! Big crowd tonight! Love to see THAT too! Get em AGAIN tomorrow #Brewers!!!! Hopefully @Cardinals will help us out as well. Let’s Goooooooooo!
The Rockies
also punched their post season ticket with a win today.
9-29-18
The Rockies were beaten by the Nationals 12-2. I heard the end of that one. The Dodgers
won, which eliminated the Cardinals
and put them into a tie with the Rockies. The Brewers
and the Cubs are also tied. It’s coming down to the wire. It’s good thing we’re at the end of the
season, because I’m about to run out of sports clichés.
9-30-18
And we
finished the regular season with the Dodgers
and the Rockies and the Brewers and the Cubs tied in their divisions.
We go to Game 163 to settle this.
If only I’d found out when they were playing.
No comments:
Post a Comment