NM State Aggies vs Yale Bulldogs Baseball 2-24-19

 This picture came up on the MLB website last year after President Bush’s death.  It’s a young George H. W. Bush on the Yale Baseball team receiving an award from Babe Ruth.  That’s a pretty good pedigree for a baseball program.  I was feeling much better today after nearly contracting a cold at yesterday’s game.  Ron picked me up early to go to today’s game.    

It was bright and sunny and warmer than yesterday, but there was still an occasional cold breeze.  I thought I was overdressed out in sun without the wind, but I was otherwise appropriately dressed sitting in the shade with occasional wind gusts.  Broadcaster Adam Young was out mingling in the parking lot at one of the RV’s.  I felt like I’d let Adam down a bit, since I didn’t stay for the second game, though I said I’d try to when I met him before Game 1. 

The William Tell Overture (or the Lone Ranger theme) was going as we entered the stadium.  The Aggie team was out on the field hustling to bring in the batting cage and other equipment off the field.  The PA had the music volume up to an ear-splitting level during the teams’ warm-ups.  There also seemed to be some fighting over the music as tunes were changed out in the middle of the song a couple of times. 

It was double dog day at the park.  It was $1 hot dogs at the concessions.  I’ll eventually break down and get one, though it will be disappointing.  Fans were also encouraged to bring in their dogs.  The first I saw were two fluffy chows.  There was a cute service dog that I’d seen before with a pretty young woman.  The scene-stealers were a couple that came in later, an adorable spotted Welsh Corgi and a beautiful mixed Australian Sheppard dog, who both sat down behind us.  The pretty blonde owner was okay, but I kept looking back to see that Sheppard dog.  Woof!

The sudden playing of the Anthem caught Yale by surprise and some of them had to scramble to get in line.  A darling little two-year-old girl threw out the first pitch to the cheers and “Awww’s” of the crowd.  It was an announced 55-degrees with no wind in Las Cruces.  It was 32-degrees and foggy in Yale’s home in Connecticut.  The crowd got a laugh over the weathercast.  It was a great crowd, by the way, with plenty of Yale fans and even more Aggie fans.  There were also lots of pretty girls today mostly dressed in yoga pants.  (I think I’ve finally identified what yoga pants look like.  I’d heard about them without ever knowing what they were.)  

Yale came out swinging against Aggie starter, Chance Hroch.  Three hits and an error in right gave them a 0-2 lead.  In the bottom, Joey Ortiz had an interesting foul ball that went straight back and bounced straight back on to the field.  He got on via a hit-by-pitch.  Adam had a rules-change discussion.  If a batter leans into a pitch, it’s a strike.  Caleb Henderson struck out in Game 2 last night because of that new rule. 

To start the second, a cute Asian Yale fangirl fan came by with a $1 hot dog and, my favorite, corn-in-the-cup.  Unlike my cup last weekend (2-15-19), there was plenty of cheese on hers.  Now I was unhappy with my bowl of Cap’n Crunch this morning. 

On field, Braden Williams was again hit behind the plate.  It was just like yesterday, but worse.  This time he was hit on the top of the helmet on Dai Dai Otaka’s backswing.  Braden went down immediately.  He went though the concussion protocols with the trainer, but stayed in.  Otaka fist-bumped him as play resumed and would single afterward.  On the next batter, the Yale third base coach missed catching a foul grounder and got booed from his own dugout.  Braden did throw out Otaka on an attempted steal, so he got a bit of revenge.

Strangely also like Game 1 yesterday, Tristen Carranza got the scoring started for the Aggies with a solo home run in the bottom of the second.  Before that hit, he’d taken a massive swing-and-miss on an offspeed that got an “Oooh,” out of the Yale fans.  1-2 Yale. 

To start the third inning, Eric Mingus at third got a high, slow bouncer that resulted in him making a hurried throw to first.  It went over Henderson’s head and became a two-base error, which scored on the next batter.  1-3 Yale.  Between innings, a little boy won at the glass-toss strike-throwing game on field.  Even more lucky, he got to hang out with the attractive marketing intern, Emerson. 

Mingus singled to start the bottom of the third.  Joey hit a deep fly to center that the centerfielder couldn’t track down and became a run-scoring triple.  Nick Gonzales cashed him in with a single.  Logan Ehnes advanced Joey to third, where he scored on a wild pitch.  The Aggies were now in the lead 4-3. 

To start the fourth, two adorable little girls won the Best Dressed Aggie competition.  They were quite natty in their matching crimson and white scarves.  The wind had picked up and it was getting colder.  Adam said the new conference flags on the grandstand had been requested by Coach Green to help fielders gauge the wind’s speed and direction. 

Hroch got in a groove pitching for the next three innings.  Adam speculated that he’d been told he needed to stretch out this outing till at least the seventh to save the bullpen with four games this weekend and a game Tuesday.  A double play ended the fourth.  The throw to first pulled Henderson off the bag, but he managed to just tag the dodging runner on the line.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Aggies scored three more runs.  Logan Bottrell drove in one, and Nick doubled in two more.  One double in the inning dropped between the centerfielder and right fielder.  Centerfield apparently didn’t see it and right field couldn’t get to it.  7-3 Aggies. 

In the fifth, Ehnes singled through a wide-open gap on the left side of the infield.  Adam was irate with Yale.  They’d been massively over-shifting for no apparent reason this series.  This finally offended Adam’s baseball sensibilities to the point of outrage.  Yale reliever, Bobby Cecere, made a great play on a comebacker to the breadbasket by Braden.  He stuck with it and got the out at first.

In the sixth, I had the item with me for the “What’s in Your Pocket” contest (earbuds), but again wasn’t interested in the prize.  I want my meeting with Emerson, who was handing out the prizes, to be special.  Certainly, it wasn’t going to be special when I was un-showered and wearing yesterday’s clothes.  (When you wake up a half-hour before you’re picked up for a game, your grooming and wardrobe options are limited.)  I don’t think I smelled or looked any worse than usual, but I’ll wait until I’m wearing a suit or something for that magical first meeting where I sweep her off her feet.

(When I make comments like this, I do need to say I’m just making a joke?  I do think she’s definitely pretty.  In this case, this will probably be a running gag for the rest of the season, because I’m amused by it.  That’s all it really is.) 

Bottrell made a great hustle double to start the sixth and was cashed in by a Henderson single.  8-3 Aggies.  Reliever Rohan Handa came in and worked quick, a bit too quick.  He fired one off before the ump was ready and the pitch was waved off.  Mingus had another error to start the seventh, which came around and scored.  It was originally, and inexplicably, scored a hit, but was changed later.  8-4 Aggies. 

Jake Gehri was again slighted by Adam, as yesterday, when he came in as a Bulldog pinch hitter in the seventh.  He missed him again in the eighth.  I almost think Adam had something against him.  Mingus came up with another hit and an RBI in the bottom of the seventh.  Bottrell drove in a run on a single.  Nick doubled to drive in two more.  Right fielder Brian Ronai nearly came up with ball on a dive, but it popped out.  (A similar play again happened yesterday.  This game wasn’t a repeat, but it sure rhymed.)  Ronai did get an assist in throwing Nick out at third when he tried to stretch it.  12-4 Aggies.

Hroch was stretched to the limit.  He came out for the eighth and hit the first batter and gave up a single.  Chance got a strikeout looking, but Mingus made his third error trying to collect a sac bunt, which let in two runs.  12-6 Aggies.  Wyatt Kelly had to come in to finish the inning. 

Henderson began the bottom of the eighth with a triple and was knocked in by Ehnes.  A Yale double play and a great play on a foul by the left field Diamond Club by Alex Stiegler (yesterday’s Game 1 starter) ended the inning.  Mitchell Allen closed it out for the Aggies in the ninth on a double play.  Aggies win 13-6.

Chance Hroch scattered 10 hits over seven and 1/3 innings for 1 earned run.  Nice job.  The other five Yale runs came via four Aggie errors, three by Eric Mingus, who also went 3 for 4 with an RBI out of the nine spot.  The coach said that Eric is in the lineup for his defense.  So . . . I don’t know what to make of that today.  Nick Gonzales was still stellar going 3 for 5 with five RBI’s.  I’ll also single out Benny Wanger on Yale for his 4 for 5 batting today.      

What have we learned after this weekend?  The Aggies will rake on anything less than excellent pitching.  For their own pitching, Coach Green probably mandated cutting down on walks today, which did happen.  I don’t know what happened with the fielding today though.  If the coach told Mingus to do better hitting, he got it, but not in the way he wanted.  Normally, teams don’t win when they give up four errors that result in five runs.  See Point #1 as to why the Aggies won today anyway.        

It was another tidy three-hour game.  We hope this becomes normal, along with the Aggies continuing to win.  Ron had to leave about halfway through the game for an emergency with his caretaking job.  Later in the game, I got a bit nervous, as he was my ride, but he came back.  As we drove out of the parking lot, we went by where the Yale fans were tailgating.  There was a box there full of large empty hard liquor bottles.  The Yale fans were probably enjoying the game a lot more than the Aggie fans this weekend regardless of the results.  Our dinner was courtesy of Jason’s Deli.  It was okay, but unfortunately, it was only a poor substitute for the dearly departed Schlotzsky’s Deli.  

NM State Aggies vs Yale Bulldogs Baseball 2-23-19

There was snow on the tops of the Organ Mountains this afternoon.  Amazingly, it wasn’t that cold.  It was also sunny with no clouds in the sky.  This was a good change from last night and much better than the forecast earlier in the week.  It was supposed to be raining all day.  However, there was still a cold breeze going.  It felt colder than the announced 46 degrees.  It was better than Connecticut, where Yale is from, where it was 34 degrees with a 50% chance of rain.  

Ron was busy with his caretaking in the morning, but said he’d make it over later.  I drove into the parking lot and noticed a men’s team going to the soccer field.  I don’t know who they were.  The baseball side was filled.  There were several school busses there, though it turned out there weren’t any students inside the stadium.  There was a knot of Aggie fan RV’s and a big tailgate with Yale fans.  Like two years ago when they were here, the Yale fans do travel well.  It was a decent crowd inside with the Yale fans making up nearly half of it.   

I ran into Adam Young in the bathroom.  Yes, just how you think, at the urinals.  That’s really not the best place for conversation, but I wanted to tell him about Braden Williams’ home run ball reaching the softball field last Sunday (2-17-19).  I also asked him about the Cardinals’ chances this year (his favorite team), since they’d picked up some good free agents.  Adam was cautiously optimistic.  I did find out how he can call a four-hour game.  Adam has the bladder control of that alien character from The Orville, who only has to pee once a year.  Adam only has to go once per game for about two-straight minutes.      

Two Aggie Basketball greats threw out the first pitches.  When the catchers went into a crouch, they motioned for them to stand up.  The guys at least did know how to throw a baseball.  I’ve seen a few otherwise excellent male athletes go out and throw like girls.  (No offense to the Softball team.  If they’d been watching, they’d said the same thing.)  

Game 1

The game started frighteningly for the Aggies.  Catcher Braden Williams got hit on the knee by a backswing and went down.  He stayed in to a round of applause.  Starter Justin Dehn gave up an opening walk, but got the next three batters.  Bulldog starter Alex Stiegler got a pair of strikeouts for a 1-2-3 first.  Leadoff Logan Bottrell got a wave from the Aggie dugout to start his at bat.  The Yale catcher, Cal Christofori, actually tried to run off on a ball he thought was the final strike of the inning, but got called back.  The inning ended on the next pitch.

Adam interviewed Reggie Jordan, one of the Aggie Basketball players who threw out a first pitch, during the radio call of the game.  Jordan was being inducted into the Aggie Hall of Fame tonight at the basketball game.  Dehn was a bit wild in the second, but escaped without any damage.  Logan Ehnes singled, but was then picked off to start the bottom.  Tristen Carranza broke the seal of the game with a liner that just cleared the left field wall.  1-0 Aggies.  Right after on the next batter, the Yale part of the crowd started getting unruly disputing the ump’s ball calls.  A strikeout resulted anyway.  Maybe he was listening. 

“What’s in your pocket?”  This contest is back.  I had a pen with me (two, actually), but I wasn’t interested in the free cup for a prize.  I am interested in Emerson, the attractive marketing intern who was giving out the prizes.  I’m waiting for the “Win a Date With Emerson” contest.  Somewhere around this time, Ron showed up, but then left to chase foul balls. 

No changes in the third.  Dehn also cruised through the fourth.  In the bottom, Adam interviewed the commissioner of the WAC, who was probably around since the Aggie Men’s team was about to clinch the conference.  He talked about growing the conference and increasing its status as you’d expect.  On field, the wind had picked up, which made me rather miserable in the increasing cold, but allowed Nick Gonzales a leadoff homer.  It flew to right and just kept carrying on the wind.  There was, I think, a scout, who I heard ask another fan if that was wind-aided.  I think it was, but the scout thought it would have gone out anyway.  The inning ended on a double play.  2-0 Aggies.

In the fifth, the ump was still having issues with the Yale fans and now the coach over the count.  Regardless, a single, a stolen base, and a double got the Bulldogs on the board.  2-1 Aggies.  Ron returned out-of-breath, but he’d gotten a couple of foul balls.  I don’t know why he’s doing this.  He’s got a huge number of balls by now.  He had to leave shortly thereafter and didn’t come back before the end of the game.  This would have serious consequences later.

The Aggies would have their big inning in the bottom.  Joey Ortiz doubled off the centerfield wall and cleared the loaded bases.  Nick came up after and homered to drive him in.  Carranza then hit a two-run homer of his own.  Both homers went out to center and were probably also wind-aided.  (Hey, the wind was blowing out for the Bulldog’s at bats too.)  That was a seven-run inning and a 9-1 Aggie lead.

Eric Mingus made a great spinning catch deep in the hole at third to get the second batter of the sixth inning.  Thanks to that, Dehn blew through another inning.  In the bottom, a hit batter and a walk were driven in on a double by Nick.  Bulldog Tim DeGraw made a good diving attempt on the ball, but it popped out.  11-1 Aggies. 

Dehn finally ran out of gas in the seventh.  He gave way to Chris Barraza, but between the two of them, six runs came in.  Three walks in the inning hurt.  Junior transfer Aldo Fernandez came in to get the last out.  11-6 Aggies.  Almost worse, Adam missed a pinch hitter, Jake Gehri, who was announced.  He usually picks up defensive changes in the outfield that I never notice, but somehow blitzed on this one.  He even missed him again when he came up later.  The Aggies went down in the bottom on another double play and a good dive stop at first by Benny Wanger.       

Fernandez got a double play behind him for a quick eighth.  In the bottom, I noticed the guys in the dugout were bopping to Mingus’ walkup beat.  They love it.  I saw an older man in the crowd doing same earlier.  Maybe we’ll all be doing it before the end of the season.  Joey drove in two runs with a double, and Ehnes sac’d in another run to make it 14-6 Aggies.  Of note, this was the first time I saw an automatic walk issued in a college game.  They’ve adopted the MLB rule. 

Fernandez closed out the ninth 1-2-3.  Aggies win 14-6!  How great is Aggie hitting that Tristen Carranza with two home runs was only their third-best hitter of the game?  Nick Gonzales went 3 for 4 with 6 RBI’s, and Joey Ortiz went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI’s.  These two are quite the duo.  Justin Dehn did a good job getting the win giving up 4 runs in 6+ innings.  I was impressed with Aldo Fernandez going nearly three innings without giving up anything.  For Yale, it’s hard not to be impressed with Simon Whiteman going 3 for 3 with three stolen bases. 

Game 2

I did not attend this game.  By the end of Game 1, the cold and wind had totally gotten to me.  I was actually filling out my scorecards in the later innings with my Isotoner gloves on.  Given my usual penmanship, it’s hard to tell how much worse my writing was.  Ron hadn’t come back.  I was hungry and feeling sick, so I left.  When I got home, I called him.  I found out he’d just missed me.  Worse, he’d brought pizza back with him for the break.  (And by the time he’d found me, I would have already bought a crummy hot dog.) 

I ate ramen at home instead.  Thrilling.  I also had a headache, which resulted in me taking a couple of things and going to bed early.  I couldn’t even write.  On the radio, I switched between the baseball and the Men’s Basketball coverage.  I came at about halftime of the basketball and stuck with it mostly when it was on.  I’ll cover that elsewhere.  Oddly, the starting temperature of Game 2 was actually higher than Game 1 and the wind died down.  The game even finished in three hours.  Unfortunately, this wouldn’t have made any difference, I was shot and had to leave.  I have no regrets on that decision. 

I was sorry that I didn’t get to see the Yale staff ace, Scott Politz.  I’d heard good things about him and he was as advertised.  He went into the eighth inning and only gave up two unearned runs in the first.  The first baseman, Benny Wanger, came on in relief.  He is actually their very good two-way closer and he did just that.      

Aggie starter, Chris Jefferson, did well until the sixth and left with the bases loaded.  Two runs came in, which gave Yale the lead.  Mitchell Allen pitched out of an inherited jam in the seventh, but Yale added another run in the eighth and won 2-4.  I think the Aggies just ran into some really good pitching in the nightcap.  Nobody goes through a baseball season undefeated.

Sports Journal February 7-17, 2019

2-7-19

So Aggie Women’s Basketball had a great win earlier in the evening, which I attended.  The Aggie Men’s Basketball team had just started playing the CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners on the radio after I got home.  I was planning on noting the score and maybe a couple of details to add to the end of my Women’s coverage, but events got way interesting than that.

As I tuned in, Eli Chuha had just banked in a shot to make it 8-4 Aggies.  “The bank of Redlands is open,” proclaimed Jack Nixon, working Chuha’s hometown into the call.  Ivan Aurrecoechea was there, but was not suited out to play.  I’m using cut-and-paste on that name every time.  Jack has to pronounce it all the way.  He might be slightly glad when Ivan’s out.  With eight minutes left in the half the Aggies were up 20-6!  Holy cow!  They were doing it with some high-pressure defense and rebounding.

During a timeout, the actual Roadrunner team, who’d been delayed in traffic, showed up.  They subbed out the JV team and took over.  Suddenly, it was 26-20 Aggies at the half.  That’s a 14-point lead reduced to six over just a few minutes of game time. 

During halftime, the Aggies loaded up on some bad concessions.  They each had a large serving of garlic fries and chili washed down with a Mr. Pibb in a big souvenir cup.  I’m not going to say that they were intentionally poisoned, but the NCAA should be looking into this.  This really showed up in the second half as the Aggies puked all over themselves.  They coughed that slim lead right up.

The Roadrunners took the lead and the Aggies were down five on the backend of the second half.  It got worse.  They were down by 10 with two minutes left.  I was mentally deciding not to listen to the postgame with Coach Jans because I didn’t want my ears getting blistered like the blistering the team was about get. 

Perhaps that thought motivated the team as well.  The Aggies went to a lockdown defense, as the Roadrunners suddenly started breaking down.  Two of their players fouled out.  Their lead was down to five with under a minute.  Terrell Brown got a steal and a layup to tie it at 62.  The Roadrunners missed their last shot and we went to a most unexpected overtime.

The Roadrunners were up by two with 9 seconds left.  Trevelin Queen got the ball and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.  The refs had to confirm the shot, but Jack was pretty sure it counted without much consternation.  Aggies win 71-70!  Queen led the team with 13 points tonight.  With a GCU loss earlier, the Aggies were alone in first place.

“I think my stomach is somewhere in Fresno.”  Jack Nixon had run the gauntlet of emotions tonight, but he was a happy Jack at the end.  Coach Jans seemed a bit shocked during the postgame as well.  This team is wearing him out with all of these games going down to the last moment.  These Aggies are learning well how to win close games.  “You can’t teach experience,” said the coach afterward.  What a win! 

2-14-19

I’m not sure what I was thinking.  Or rather, apparently, I wasn’t thinking.  For the life of me, I don’t know why the Aggie Women’s Basketball team was playing Utah Valley at 11:00am this morning (or worse, 10:00am in Utah).  More quixotic than that though, I thought that the game was on local radio.  Given that Adam Young was set to call the Aggie Baseball home opener on Friday, who did I think would be calling this basketball game?

So, all I got was a final score and some stats later in the afternoon.  It 72-63 win for the Aggies.  Brooke Salas sat out most of with the first half with foul trouble, but came back with a vengeance with 13 points in the third quarter.  The Aggies had a big lead going into the fourth thanks to that outburst, but the Wolverines made a run late to make it close.  Brooke finished with a double-double, 21 points and 12 rebounds.  Gia Pack was the high-scorer for the game with 23.  Adenike Aderinto came on with 12 points.  

 

Tonight’s Men’s Basketball game here in Las Cruces was definitely on the radio.  I just kind of forgot about it.  I was busy at work and then I got distracted (more later).  I did remember it about halfway through the second half.  It was a two-point lead at halftime, but the Aggies had it pretty well in the hand after that.  The Aggies won 84-77.  Five Aggies finished in double figures.  Eli Chuha led with 21 points.  The overall team stats were close, but mostly because Wolverines came on late.  In the postgame, Justin Hawkins compared Coach Jans to Coach Rick Majerus.  Jans thanked him and immediately told him not to do that again.

The distraction was mostly in the form of Twitch, as usual.  Pokimane was doing a Valentine’s Day special playing Apex (not terribly romantic).  Then she did an “Ask Dr. Poki” segment, where she took calls from the lovelorn (frankly, it was disturbing at times).  Actually, it was entertaining and Poki is rather appealing (even though she’s probably pretty fake).  She had over 10,000 viewers.  That’s a lot of lonely hearts. 

Meanwhile, Starcraft player, Livibee, was on the Twitch front page and had 3,000 viewers, which was huge for her.  She was amazingly pretty and charming tonight, and was giving away skins in between her games.  Those games didn’t go well for her.  She lost three very intense matches when I was watching.  Livi said she was nervous about playing in front of so many people.  Still, the smile never left her face. 

Elsewhere, on Youtube, Lord Doomcock was also doing a Valentine’s special.  He was ranting for hours about science fiction and pop culture, decrying the outrages thereof.  There were more lost souls, including myself, watching as well.  Its good there’s something out there for us. 

2-16-19

After a cold afternoon at the Softball Complex, the Aggie Men’s Basketball team played the Seattle U Redhawks in the evening.  I wanted to go, but not by myself, definitely not for a Pack-the-Pan-Am game with 11,000 people in attendance.  The last time I did it, I just didn’t enjoy it.  Since Ron couldn’t go, the free tickets from work had to go back. 

I was perfectly comfortable listening to the game at home over the radio.  Sort of.  I was typing out a recap of today’s softball game while the game was on.  The Aggies were playing in an uninspired fashion or alternately, had stage fright playing in front of a big home crowd.  Between these two things, I wasn’t listening much.  By halftime at least, they’d closed to within 7, with the Redhawks up 22-29.

At the start of the second half, the Aggies even went down even further.  I mentally tuned out.  As it turned out, the team only needed one thing to get them going, a Johnny McCants jam!  This got the large crowd into it finally and the Aggies rallied.  They were down by nine, but the Aggies got it to within 1 on a Terrell Brown three with eight minutes left.

The Aggies tied it at 47 with six minutes left, and then Clayton Henry gave them a 50-49 lead with five minutes left on a three.  The Redhawks started losing players to fouls.  They lost their first shortly after losing the lead.  With about a minute-and-a-half left, the Aggies were up 56-51 and a second Redhawk fouled out.  Their third player fouled out with the Aggies up 3.  Eli Chuha made it a 4-point lead after making a free throw with 24 seconds left.  Henry was fouled and iced it with a pair of free throws

Aggies win 59-53.  “Ugly as a bowling shoe,” said Jack Nixon.  It looks good in the win column at least.  Trevelin Queen led the team with 13 points.  The team was 12 of 14 for free throws in the second half.  That was pretty clutch.  Meanwhile in Seattle earlier, the Aggie Women won 83-72.  The recap said they trailed for three quarters, but came on big in the fourth to win it.  Brooke Salas led with 27 points and 10 rebounds.  Gia Pack had 25.  The team shooting was 49% from the field.

2-17-19

After an exciting, but cold afternoon with Aggie Softball, it was race time with the Daytona 500.  But first, it was time for some lunch.  Ron and I were still together after the game.  We brought back some Raising Canes to my apartment to watch the race.  Ron was slightly amazed.  He told me that he doesn’t watch TV anymore, just shows and movies online.  I had to explain “Stage Racing,” as we starting watching just before Stage 2 ended.  (There is no explanation, not really.)  Neither of us were really familiar with most of the new drivers. 

So we got in about half the race.  I left briefly to go get froyo at Orange Leaf next door, because I have to have dessert with every meal.  After a couple of minor wrecks, we had “The Big One” with 9 laps left.  I was hooting and hollering like a redneck at the spectacle as the entire top lane was taken out with 19 cars damaged.  This wasn’t the last wreck and the race went into overtime.  Denny Hamlin, one of three cars left undamaged during the race, won.  Owner Joe Gibbs was emotional afterward as the race had been dedicated to his recently deceased son. 

Given my commitment to Aggie Sports and the general shunting of the NASCAR coverage to cable networks, I don’t know how many more races I’ll be watching.  Though the late red flags and an anti-climatic ending drained out a lot of excitement, I felt like I got what I came for.  They’re going to be using a new car package next week.  I’ll be curious to see it when I can.    

NM State Aggies vs Bradley Braves Softball 2-17-19

One more day of ball.  Aggie Softball had two scheduled games today, but one was canceled yesterday.  Aggie Baseball had one more game.  Ron and I picked the softball game, since it would probably be a bit quicker.  The Daytona 500 was also this afternoon.  Just watching the softball, we could probably get back in time to see the end of the race.

The weather today was colder at 50 degrees, but bright and sunny.  (The PA announced it was 24 degrees in Peoria, IL, where our opponent Bradley is located.)  I actually got sunburned yesterday, even though it was pretty cold.  The unfortunate problem though was again the wind.  It was stiff and cold and a good deal colder than 50 degrees.  I was bundled up, so I was comfortable for most of the game, until the seventh, but we’ll get to that.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we heard a big cheer go up from the grandstands.  Texas State was playing Montana.  The crowd was letting out as we walked in.  I ran into Danny, who’d watched the game.  Texas State won and ended the game on a great catch by their shortstop.  The teams were out front too.  #13 Caitlyn Rogers on the Bobcats immediately caught my eye.  What a spectacular redhead!  Sorry, she wasn’t in yesterday’s game.

On field during the break, I saw Coach Rodolph and pitcher Kayla Green talking.  I thought Kayla would be starting today because of that, but Analise de la Roca would be in the circle.  She was also batting eighth.  Okay, I knew she could hit.  However, Kennedy Johnson was in as DP.  This meant Sarai Meija in right field was not in the batting order.  So, the DP isn’t taking the place of the pitcher in the lineup, but the pitcher is taking the place of a position player, and I officially don’t understand softball rules.  Also of note, Caity Szczesny was in left field, instead of Brandy Hernandez.   

At the top of the first, we got a good taste of what was to come.  While Analise started off with a strikeout, most of the rest of the time, she was getting squeezed pretty badly by the ump.  This resulted in a home run to the third batter, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead.  For the rest of the game, pitchers would be guessing at the strike zone.  The homer went to left where the wind was blowing.  The last flyball out went to deep right and the wind kept it in.

In the bottom of the first, the Bradley starter was hittable.  In spite of the wind direction, Kelsey Horton led off with a line drive homer to right, just inside the pole for a tying home run.  Victoria Castro singled after her.  Mya Felder was serenaded with a new song from the dugout and she singled.  Next, Nikki Butler was hit. 

The Bradley coach had seen enough and brought in a new pitcher.  Kayla Bowen, who was also sang to with new song, singled in a pair of runs to make it 3-1 Aggies.  Though the Aggies loaded the bases, a pair of strikeouts and a line out ended the inning.  Julie Kestas, the Braves reliever, actually walked off after her second K, forgetting the number of outs.  She came back well from that embarrassment. 

During this time, Aggie Baseball came on the radio.  Me and Ron were listening.  The pregame mentioned that the Aggies had outscored Texas Southern 82 to 16 over three games.  I could just see home plate through the tree screen from where I was sitting.  This would prove to be a distraction at times.

In the second, Caity made a good diving effort on a single in left.  Unfortunately, this made for a two-homer with the next batter to tie the score at 3.  There was a final t-shirt toss for the tournament.  The crowd got up and was energized.  The PA complimented everyone on their enthusiasm.  Kelsey doubled to start the bottom of the second and advanced on a wild pitch, but was stranded there.

Coach Rodolph stuck with Analise as long as she could, but a leadoff home run to start the third finally ended her outing.  Chloe Rivas came in and would take Analise’s spot in the batting order.  Actually, she came in on a three-ball count on the next batter and walked her (it’s on Analise’s line).  She showed some good awareness in getting the lead runner at third on a comebacker.  Chloe gave up a walk and a run on a single, but finished the inning with a pair of strikeouts.  3-5 Bradley. 

Brandy came in as a defensive replacement for Caity in left in the fourth.  Chloe got a good strikeout looking to end a two-on threat.  She also had a tremendous 1-2-3 fifth with the dugout cheering her on.  Oh, seems like I’m skipping something here.  Yeah, nine-straight outs by Aggie hitting.  Kestas was mowing them down.  Kelsey swung at the first pitch to end the fourth on a lineout. 

Things changed in the bottom of the fifth.  Tori came up and was serenaded from the dugout with Gary Glitter’s Hey.  The girls couldn’t quite sing it on key and ended up laughing.  Tori slapped some hard fouls back.  One actually flew into the opposing bullpen and the warmup catcher almost caught it.  Tori doubled after a lengthy battle.  Mya followed that with a double that hit the center field wall with a liner.  This chased Kestas from the game.

Taise Thompson, who had been playing third but was taken out from there earlier, was brought in to pitch.  Meanwhile on the radio, Aggie Baseball had a big third inning and was now leading 7-1.  Nikki came up and hit a massive foul ball that got the crowd going, but Mya actually got driven in thanks to a couple of passed balls (which I scored as wild pitches.)  The Braves catcher, Kealia Wysocki, took a bouncer to the nuts in one at bat.  She had to walk it off.  The coach came out and got her to laugh.  The PA and the crowd gave her a round of applause for staying in.  5-5 after five innings.

In the sixth, Chloe loaded the bases with a double and two walks.  She was really having trouble with the ump’s calls.  There were two outs.  Brandy made a great running backhanded catch for out number two.  Kayla came into the game to pitch.  Chloe went to right field to replace Sarai (who I feel bad for, since she never got an at bat).  Kayla gave up a sure gapper to left center.  Tori came on and laid out for it, catching it on a dive.  The crowd and the team went nuts.  If that ball had gotten past her, it would have been a bases-clearing triple. 

Bottom of the sixth, Chloe started off the inning with a single.  Shelby Shultes pinch hit and singled as well.  This brought on another Braves’ pitcher, Emma Jackson, who’d handled the Aggies pretty well on Friday, to face Kelsey Horton, who she struck out three times.  Emma and Kelsey had an epic battle with several monster foul balls.  Kelsey would get on via a fielder’s choice. 

In spite of the drama on the softball field, I have to make a digression to the baseball game as it came into play here.  The Aggies had truly awe-inspiring fifth inning.  Tristan Peterson and Braden Williams went back-to-back in homers.  While the two fields are adjacent to each other, they are not right next to each other.  There is the tree screen and a walkway separating them.  It was surprising then that play was stopped on the softball field to recover a baseball in left field.  The PA did identify it.  It was Williams’ home run ball.  Even with the wind carrying it, I’m not sure how it got there.  It must have bounced off something out there.

Back to the softball, Tori walked next.  Nikki was out on grounder that went off of Jackson’s leg.  It was good concentration by second baseman Vicki Zaluske to get the out at first.  This play did move Kelsey and Tori up a base.  What happened next defies explanation.  On a passed ball*, Kelsey charged the plate and scored.  Tori, stopping briefly at third, came right home and scored as well.  The Braves didn’t call for time after recovering the ball.  Jackson had her back turned while holding the ball.  Tori was really heads up there.  (*I thought it was a wild pitch.  In fact, I didn’t score any passed balls.  Me and the official scorer have a disagreement on this.)  8-5 Aggies.

I was distracted a bit during this inning.  I could see Nick Gonzales taking his at bat through the trees.  Via the radio call, I heard him hit a grand slam home run.  Peterson would then hit a second home run . . . for the inning!  The fifth inning in the baseball game came to an end with the Aggies up 16-1.

The wind picked up by the start of the seventh of the softball game.  It was getting uncomfortable.  “Uncomfortable” would also be a good description of this inning.  Kayla gave up a hit to start the inning.  She got the lead runner at second on a fielder’s choice.  An error at short* on a grounder let on the next batter.  (*Okay, here we have another questionable scoring decision.  It was a slow-developing play, but I had it as an infield hit.  The error was attributed to Kayla Bowen.  However, Casie Roberto had been inserted into short earlier in the inning.  She was removed for KB after that play.)

Regardless, Kayla gave up another hit to score a run to make it 8-6.  She was removed for Samaria Diaz.  Sam got a strikeout, but then gave up a hit that scored another run to make it 8-7.  Not only was the dropping temperature making me uncomfortable, I was getting extremely nervous from the tension.  It is an absolutely helpless feeling there in the stands when you see your team struggling.  Thankfully, Sam ended it with another strikeout.  Nikki flipped the ball in the air with the final call.  Aggies win 8-7! 

I’ve never seen a happy crowd vacate a stadium quicker.  Fans were streaming for the exits to escape the cold wind.  Ron wanted to go immediately.  I barely had time to catch my breath and try to get my heart out of my throat.  Amazingly, Ron wanted to go to the baseball game.  I love baseball, but I’d had enough excitement for the moment and plenty of cold for the day.  Besides, Aggie Baseball wasn’t playing a game; they were taking batting practice.  I talked him out of it, though as it turned out, we would have just been there about 15 minutes.  The Aggies won 16-3 in the seventh on a run rule.  (I guess, Texas Southern had had enough after three games and asked for it before the game.)   

Aggie Softball got away with one here.  It’s a good thing the next game had been canceled.  They wouldn’t have had much pitching left for it, or would have gotten flushed on this one if they’d held back.  While this is a team sport, hand this victory to Victoria Castro.  Her fearless play on offense and defense saved the game.  If Tori keeps this up, she’s going to be WAC Player of the Year. 

There were some good hitting performances today, but I’m going to single out the pitching.  Julie Kestas for the Braves totally shutdown the Aggies four innings.  For the Aggies, Chloe Rivas did a great job in relief.  She just needs to cut down on the walks.  Samaria Diaz was tough as nails.  (I think she warmed up twice.)  I have to give Kayla Green credit too.  I’m pretty sure I saw Kayla get warmed up three times during the game, not to mention she had an exhausting seven-inning complete game yesterday.  Her being out there was pretty gutty.

It feels like this weekend exposed the team a bit.  Right field is up in the air.  Some other positions feel a bit shaky.  The bottom of the lineup is not producing.  I don’t think Kelsey is a leadoff hitter.  Maybe she can grow into it.  Analise and Chloe can hit, but they need to focus on pitching.  Shelby Shultes probably needs to be the regular DP.  Jerking some reserve players out of the lineup after any mistake feels like a bad strategy for player management.  There are a bunch of good players on this team.  They should come together at some point.  

Let me tell you the worst thing about writing this.  I’ve finally got a probably temporary Internet connection at home.  I can’t post from it, but I can look the official game stats . . . which I disagreed with . . . after I’d already written most of my recap.  I made some (a bunch of) edits to this, but I’m sure there’s some discontinuity.  Access to this information may ruin my future posts.  It’s bad enough I wrote about this weekend’s games out of order.  I knew this would probably happen with too many games all at once.    

NM State Aggies vs Montana Griz Softball 2-16-19

It was bright and sunny when I got up this morning, so I was looking forward to going out to today’s games.  However, during a call to my dad, I was informed that there was a strong cold wind blowing.  After poking my head out of the door, I realized this was going to be a long afternoon at the ballpark. 

It wasn’t going to be as long as it could have been however.  First, I had to choose between the baseball and the softball double headers since they overlapped.  Next, Ron had a family function to go to in the evening.  This meant either going separately or him taking me back home and then me going back on my own.  This also meant I had to give up tickets from work to go to tonight’s Aggie Men’s Basketball game.  Given conditions outside, just going to one softball game seemed like the best option. 

One nonnegotiable was lunch.  We’d skipped dinner because of how late the games went yesterday.  I was starving the next morning.  At Jack-in-the-Box, I inhaled an Ultimate Cheeseburger and was still hungry.  Ron produced some chocolate chip cookies in his car, so I could have a quick dessert.  I was still hungry, but I’d live.

At the Softball Complex, we were greeted with a softball landing in front of us at the entrance.  The ushers gave us each a foul ball to return to the press box.  I’d only handled one of these bright yellow balls before, but that was a very used ball from practice.  This game ball was hard, but very light.  It made a nasty sound hitting the pavement.  We gave both balls to a couple of kids playing under the stands, so that they could get the candy rewards.

There was a good crowd inside to watch the Texas State Bobcats versus the Bradley Braves.  Wow, those Bobcats uniforms were sharp.  They were like throwback Astros uniforms, but used different shades of crimson in the color bands.  Their batting helmets had gold trim.  We were sitting next to the Texas State fans, who were very vocal.  They were encouraging their pitcher, “Pudge,” and one of their outfielders by name.  (I wouldn’t call a girl “Pudge,” even if it was meant as an affectionate honorific.)  The PA even took notice of them, “I hear you fans!  I love your enthusiasm!”  They even had a special cheer for when the team scored.  I was impressed.   

The wind direction was blowing in and it was playing heck with balls in the air.  Next door at the baseball field, it was therefore blowing out.  We could hearing cheering for homers there.  We may have picked the wrong game again.  Ron checked the score.  It was 15-0 in the third inning!  As for the visitors’ softball game, Bradley won 12-10.  The Braves made a tremendous comeback in the last two innings off a couple of home runs when the wind shifted out.

Between games, the wind ominously picked up.  I quickly had sand in my mouth, but at least I was no longer hungry.  The Griz came out to warmup.  They were in crimson too.  It’s the color for the weekend for everyone, I guess.  A couple of their girls tried playing hacky with a softball, which didn’t work. 

For the Aggies, freshman Alyssa Barela was in to catch.  Perhaps, Coach Rodolph was unhappy with Kennedi Sorenson’s performance yesterday.  Casie (pronounced “KC”) Roberto started in right.  Kayla Green was in the circle for the Aggies.  She started the first with a strikeout and a great catch on a comebacker.  A couple of volleyball players came in at the start of the game.  After a half inning in the cold wind, they came to their senses and left. 

In the bottom, Griz second baseman, Lexi Knauss dropped a Kelsey Horton liner to let Kelsey on base.  Little did I know at the time, this was the start of an epidemic of errors this afternoon.  Knauss started a double play on Victoria Castro to erase the error.  Strangely, this was the start of several good plays in the field to go along with the errors.  An error in left field moved Kayla Bowen and Mya Felder up a base once they got on.  Nikki Butler almost hit one of her coaches a couple of times with foul balls.  She was cringing afterward before striking out to end the inning.

The Aggies looked sharp in the second, turning a double play and Kayla getting a strikeout looking, but went down quick in the bottom.  Kayla worked into some trouble in the third.  The bases were loaded on a hit, an error by KB, and a hit batter with one out.  Kayla got out of it with a strikeout looking and a lineout. 

In the bottom, events did not go well for Griz shortstop, Maygen McGrath.  I’d noticed her at the plate.  She’s an impressive specimen at 6’, even bigger than Kelsey.  Tori doubled and was moved to third by Mya, but she was then doubled off on a fielder’s choice by KB.  McGrath let on Nikki with an error.  Chloe Rivas replaced Nikki on the bases and for the rest of the game at DP.  Next up, McGrath let on Casie with another error, and then threw the ball away at second (which should have been a third error), which scored Mya and KB.  2-0 Aggies.

The wind got worse and started blowing dust on the field from the visitor’s bullpen.  Game 1 of the Baseball double header finished, 24-8 Aggies over Texas Southern.  They still had another 9-inning game to go.  Kayla started off the fourth with another hit batter.  KB made another error that let on another runner.  A single loaded the bases with nobody out.  A single scored a run, but Kayla made a pair strikeouts and Mya handled a ground out to end the inning.  2-1 Aggies. 

The Aggies went down in order in the bottom of the fourth.  Griz third baseman, Kylie Becker, made a great shoe-top catch of a liner.  The PA gave a weather report between innings.  It was 60 degrees and windy in Las Cruces.  Meanwhile, it was 37 degrees and partly cloudy in Montana.  The Griz went down in order to start the fifth.  Jeanelle Medina showed some awesome concentration at second, getting the first two groundouts with massive wind gusts hammering at her. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies had runners at second and third with no outs on a hit and another error.  Michaela Hood in for the Griz in the circle and worked out of it, finishing the inning with a strikeout looking.  Oh my goodness, the bad plays were becoming unavoidable.  Even sure-handed Jeanelle bobbled a throw from Kelsey to let on the first batter of the sixth.  Kayla got a strikeout right after.  Right field defensive replacement, Caity Szczesny, made a spectacular diving catch on a dying liner to end the inning. 

The Griz got two quick outs to start the bottom of the sixth.  I scored McGrath with another error to let Brandy Hernandez on, but the official scorer took pity on her and gave Brandy a hit instead.  This started a two-out rally with Tori driving in our first earned run of the game.  The inning ended with a great catch in centerfield.  3-1 Aggies.

Kayla got her seventh strikeout to start the seventh inning, but she was probably out of gas at that point.  The next batter hit a sky-high flyball to left field.  With the wind moving the ball around in midair, Brandy stayed with it and made the catch.  The next batter singled up the middle.  Maygen McGrath finally got her revenge in this terrible game for her with a line drive homer to center to tie the score at 3. 

What no one probably wanted was more softball, certainly not extra innings.  KB started the inning with a single.  Michaela Hood got a strikeout looking for her eighth of the game and popout.  Kennedy Johnson, I was wondering where she was, got a pinch hit single.  Shelby Shultes stepped in as the next pinch hitter.  Perhaps by this point, Hood was finally winded (pardon that pun).  Shelby absolutely jacked a walk-off homer with an exclamation point.  It was a high-arcing shot to straight left.  Given the wind direction and speed, there’s no way that ball should have been anywhere near fair.  It must have been crushed.  That was a three-run game winner.  Aggies win 6-3!

Seven total errors officially.  (I had 10.)  But, I also have five starred defensive plays, two well-turned double plays, and several otherwise routine plays made spectacular by the high winds.  Kayla Green and Michaela Hood pitched as well as two starting pitchers could in that wind with some uneven defense behind them.  Both pitched to their limit, getting crucial strikeouts when needed.  They only made one real pitching mistake each, but Hood’s came last. 

Offensively, Maygen McGrath was the standout for the Griz, going 2 for 4 with a two-run home run.  For the Aggies, Victoria Castro continues on a torrid pace going 3 for 4 with a clutch RBI hit.  Then there’s Shelby Shultes, she only needed one at bat to be the hitting star of the game with a game-winning three-run homer.            

Part of me wanted to stay and see the Aggies play the San Jose State Spartans.  They came out and warmed up right after in their bright yellow jerseys.  Somebody finally wasn’t wearing crimson this weekend.  But Ron had to go, and I’d had enough of being outside today.  Wow, that took a while to play out with the delay from the preceding game.  As it was after 5:00pm, I was pretty sure it was just going to get colder soon. 

As it turned out, I would have stayed late, froze, and watched a hard 1-3 loss.  Samaria Diaz pitched a good game.  She only had a bad first with a couple of errors behind her, and that was all of the Spartan’s scoring.  The Aggies could only scratch out a run on a Mya Felder single.  The team did get some hits.  Kelsey and Tori both got two hits.  Tori is doing great, but I’m still not sure if leadoff is the best place for Kelsey.  Shelby earned a start behind the plate for this game.  Sarai Mejia started in right.  I think Coach Rodolph is still trying to decide on a right fielder.

As for Aggie Baseball, the second half of their double header was a 38-6 win in a tidy four-hour game in a freezing cold wind.  11 Aggies had at least 1 RBI and a hit.  This kind of offense will not last, but these guys can hit.  It’s hard to judge the pitching given the scores and the opponent.  The team is off to a great start though.

NM State Aggies vs Bradley Braves Softball 2-15-19

Welcome to day one of the Troy Cox Classic softball tournament.  I sort of wanted to come earlier in the day to see the other teams playing each other.  Why didn’t I?  I don’t remember.  I’m literally writing this four days later.  After three days at baseball and softball, it’s all a blur.  After watching a great Aggie Baseball Opening Day game, I was apparently a bit tired.  My notes for this game are real sparse and I only vaguely remember sitting in the stands for this game.  This may not be much of a recap.

Ron and I arrived at the Softball Complex right before the game started.  While in the bathroom, I ran into Fan Mike.  (Yeah, just how you think, at the urinals.)  I asked for a recap of the Aggies’ first game.  They won 7-4 over Texas State in a pretty exciting game.  Victoria Castro hit two home runs and Nikki Butler hit one.  The big cheer we’d heard over at the baseball field was for Tori and Nikki going back-to-back with homers.

Just to mention, Amy Bergeson, dependable left fielder from last year’s team, was working at the scorer’s table.  I think Zory Caldwell, who was also on the team last year, was working with her.  Last week, I’d noticed a pretty blonde checking in with them.  From an interview with Coach Rodolph, it was Karysta Donisthrope.  She was a pitcher on the team a few years ago, when I first started going out to the softball games, and was one of my favorites.  She’s back as a pitching coach.     

Tonight’s opponent, the Bradley Braves, gathered together and started off the game with a scream.  They also sang a lot from their dugout.  Their signature song was Tequila.  The scoreboard was more-or-less working again, so we were good to go. 

It was a bad start for Aggie starter, Samaria Diaz.  She threw the ball away after fielding it on the first batter trying to make a play.  The batter went to third and was cashed in on the next batter.  Allison Apke homered next.  We found out that at least half of the crowd was for the Braves judging by the cheering.  Next, Stacia Seeton hit the light pole on a foul, but would take a walk.  Mya Felder ended the inning on good catch of a liner.  0-2 Braves.

The Aggies returned the singing, apparently inspired to take back their field.  In the bottom of the first, they only managed a couple of walks.  Catcher Kennedi Sorensen clanked on a foul popup to start the second.  No harm done though.  Emma Jackson had a good second for the Braves with a couple of strikeouts. 

Sam gave up a single and a walk to start the third and was taken out for Chloe Rivas.  Sam had pitched the last two innings of the last game.  She was probably gassed.  Chloe gave up a hit, but Brandy Hernandez threw out the runner at home trying to score from second.  However small she looks out there, do not run on this girl.  Brandy has a very strong and accurate arm.  She also caught a deep flyball to end the inning.  The wind had started up a bit and was blowing in.

And I took no notes on the bottom of the third.  Good thing I have the scorecard.  Brandy led off with a single and stole a base.  Tori moved her over to third and Mya drove her in on a fielder’s choice.  1-2 Braves.  Chloe worked a scoreless fourth, getting  around a couple of hits.  The Aggies also didn’t score in the bottom.  Kayla Bowen got on with a single and was out on a force at second, except she was ruled safe.  Bradley fans were in an uproar.  The umps got together and made the correct call.  It was a bit inexplicable. 

The Aggies turned a double play to end the Braves’ fifth.  Shelby Shultes pinch hit a double to start the bottom of the inning.  Brandy resumed her spot in the order as the runner.  Tori doubled her in to tie it at 2.  Nice.  It was still nice at the stadium.  The PA gave the temperature at 60 degrees.  It was 18 degrees in Illinois, where Bradley is. 

Chloe started off with a hit batter in the sixth.  She might have been rattled at that point and gave up a home run to the next batter.  3-4 Bradley.  Jackson made a good play on a comebacker to get the lead runner in the bottom.  She worked around two singles for another scoreless inning.

Chloe was back out to finish the game.  She gave up a lead-off hit, but retired the rest of the side.  (Wow, doing recaps without talking about hot chicks in the crowd or on field or goofy stuff going on in the stands is boring.)  Kelsey Horton led-off the bottom of the seventh with a single.  After three straight strikeouts, I can’t imagine her level of frustration.  Mya got on with a single.  KB then singled in singled in Kelsey to get the Aggies to within one.  The bases were loaded after a walk to pinch hitter, Alyssa Barela, with two outs.  The girls in Aggie dugout were singing up a storm.  Unfortunately, Kennedi came up and struckout looking.  3-4 Braves was your disappointing final.    

Let’s hand it to Bradley pitcher, Emma Jackson.  She went the full seven, only giving up three runs and scattering 10 hits with six strikeouts.  Three of those strikeouts were Kelsey Horton, no mean feat.  (Apropos of nothing, I dig the Braves’ shortstop’s name, Lucy Mead.  It rolls off the tongue well.)  Aggie freshman Chloe Rivas did well going five innings and only giving up two runs.  Regrettably, she had one bad pitch.  Victoria Castro went 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead Aggie hitting. 

Not only was the result disappointing, it was disappointing for the late finish.  We didn’t leave until about 10:30pm.  It had been a long Friday evening at the Aggie Baseball/Softball Complex.  After two long games, I was beat and it was too late for dinner.  It had also gotten cold by the end, so I was glad it ended when it did.  I got home and just had a bowl of cereal.  I even knocked off early to be ready for tomorrow’s games, instead trying up write up the day’s action.  In retrospect, I should have mixed in some more modest meals over this little vacation.  On Monday, after yet another burger (which was great), I’m actually cringing over the thought of eating any more greasy food for a while.