Continued from Game 1.
During the intermission, we went back to Ron’s car. He ate his overloaded footlong sub sandwich,
while I wished I had something sweet to drink, or snack on, or a dessert. Ron devastated his sandwich instantly. He played part two of the “Origin of the high
five” story. Mike Rowe had expressed some regret over putting out the story,
because as part of it, he’d said Billy
Martin, the A’s manager, had
introduced the g*y player to the team as a “f*ggot.”
Billy Martin’s son had protested this allegation, so Rowe
went back and did more research and found there was only one source for that
story, a reporter. The other players in
the locker room at the time, and the g*y player in his published autobiography,
never mentioned this ever happening.
This is only an issue because Billy Martin isn’t yet in the Hall of Fame as of this 2020 podcast. This blows my mind. Anyway, this apparently fake news could be
used to keep Martin out. Rowe felt like
he was an unwitting accomplice in perpetuating this story. Since the main participants are dead, there’s
no asking them for clarification.
If there’s moral to this, Rowe probably shouldn’t have
pushed the virtue-signaling part of this story so hard in his original
version. This isn’t even the first time
something like this has happened from bad reporting. Ty
Cobb is usually dismissed in his baseball accomplishments because he was a
reported racist. It turned out that all
accounts of that trace back to one book written by a reporter who didn’t like
him. Cobb was the grandson of an
abolitionist. He frequented Negro League games and is even quoted
as saying that blacks should have been allowed to play Major League Baseball. Don’t
believe anything a reporter says without independent verification.
It rained briefly while we were in the car (as we completely
ignore my little rant, like it never happened).
When we came back in, a hot blonde girl had taken the dog’s owners’
seats, so there was no more petting. (Somehow
that doesn’t sound well phrased.) That
wasn’t a good trade, frankly. Adam had
blessedly announced that this was going to be a seven-inning game, since the
first game had gone to extra innings.
Ron was clearly in agony from his bad back. I don’t know why he didn’t bow out for
today.
Britt
Graham would be in for the Aggies as catcher for Game 2. The sky was still overcast, so the lights
were on. My notes for this game are a
bit sparse, so it wasn’t that interesting and I was tired of writing by this
point. (This might explain the opening digression. I had to do some padding.) Game 1, even with the delay, didn’t take that
long, but double headers are exhausting even before they start.
Sammy Natera started for the Aggies and worked a quick first with a couple of strikeouts. Harrison Spohn made a good play on a Zerek Saenz liner to start the bottom. Spohn might have been hurt a bit on the play. He had a little trouble on Kevin Jimenez’s infield hit on the next play. KJ was called out on a stolen base attempt on the next batter by the ump at second, but only because he hadn’t heard the home ump call a foul ball. In this game, the Aggies finally cashed in some runners. Brandon Dieter drove Zerek and KJ in with a single. 2-0 Aggies.
The Aggies’ very attractive blonde trainer ran across the
field between innings. I think every guy
in the stands and the opposing dugout watched her. She is built to heroic proportions. Natera cruised through another inning. The bottom of the Aggies’ lineup went down in
order in the second.
Marty Munoz drew a leadoff walk for the Lancers to start the third. Their dugout erupted. I don’t know if it was because he was popular there or because he’d worked the walk. A very slick double play ended the inning. There was an extended family sitting below us. In the bottom of the third, grandpa took his granddaughter down to the bottom of the stands to more carefully explain the finer points of the game to her. She started pawing at his mask until he took it off for her. The Aggies also hit into a double play in their third.
Emerson made an appearance for Aggie trivia. The sun came out, but then Emerson left for
the day. Darn. Adam
Young, on the radio call, kept warning the listeners that Natera tended to
only be good for limited number of innings.
This was the limit. The fourth
started promisingly with KJ making a diving slide to field a grounder and get
the first out. The next out came 8
batters later. In between, there was a
walk, a double down the third baseline, a double steal, two hits, a walk, a
bases-clearing double hitting the left field line, and a walk. Then there was a flyout for the second out,
and then a three-run homer. At this
point, the coach finally put in a new pitcher to finish the inning. 8-2 CBU.
Well, a lot of the tension in the game suddenly went
away. The Aggies didn’t give up at that
point. Dieter tripled. The fielder lost his hat and hit the wall
trying to field the ball. Ronnie Allen drove him in. CBU brought in a new pitcher, Jacob McCarvel. That sounded familiar. Adam reminded us; McCarvel had pitched in
Game 1. Tommy Tabak drove in a run with a single, and Zerek drove in a run
with a blooper. 8-5 CBU.
Boom! Spohn spoiled the comeback vibes quickly with
a leadoff homer in the fifth. Zerek
jumped for it at the wall. There was a
delayed reaction by the umps to call it, as Zerek didn’t make the no-catch
apparent by slamming his glove to the ground.
There’s a reason for that tradition.
It was one run, but it was enough to hurt the Aggies’ feelings. Before the bottom, the PA committed the
unbearable sin to playing a Taylor Sh*t song,
Bad Blood. I almost feel another rant coming on. I used to be a fan. Damn her and her politics! I even liked this song. Uninspired, the Aggies only managed a single
in the bottom of the fifth. I blame the
song for the aborted comeback. 9-5 CBU.
The Lancers scratched out another run in the sixth to make
it, 10-5. The dog got close to the
good-looking blonde that had taken his seat and successfully flirted with
her. (I’m not actually sure of the dog’s
gender. He was really furry. Whatever.)
Zach Smits homered to left in
the bottom of the sixth. 10-6. One t-shirt was tossed to the crowd. They’re scrimping a bit. Nick
Plaia in center made a great diving play to end the inning.
Spohn homered to start the final inning. Joey
Arellano, who came in to pitch the inning, did redeem himself a bit by
picking off a runner. The Aggies went
down quietly in the seventh. CBU wins 11-6. Yay!
It’s over!
I’ll quickly hand out some gameballs. For the Lancers, Ulises Caballero (love the name) had the initial big blow with his
three-run double. John Glenn had the killer blow with his three-run homer in the same
inning. Harrison Spohn went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and two home runs, which
were soul-crushing. For the Aggies, I
can only single out Zach Smits for
going 2 for 3 with an RBI from a solo home run.
I was at least encouraged that they made a legit comeback attempt after
that terrible sixth inning.
Ron was standing for the last inning. He couldn’t sit anymore. He was hopped up on painkillers, but they’d
worn off. I wasn’t confident he’d be
available for tomorrow’s game. We drove
past the football stadium and there was some event going on there. There were ticket takers, so we didn’t think
it was graduation related (which was going on this weekend). It’s a mystery.
After I got home, I tried listening to the Rockies and Rangers’ games on the radio, but neither of their out-of-town
stations were coming in well. I gave up
and just listened to the Chihuahuas. Tim
Hagerty, on the radio call, was in a state of shock. The pups were actually flirting with throwing
a no-hitter at home. It got broken up
late, but given the usual scoring at Southwest
University Park, it was amazing it lasted that long.
Meanwhile, I had to watch the latest Ring of Honor wrestling episode.
Quinn McKay, who’d gone from
hosting to wrestling last week, was not there to intro the show. She was still recuperating from her
match. There was a short backstage
segment with her, but I’m not sure if that was shot before she had her
match. I’m clearly fascinated with this.
Okay, we’ve got one final home game to go. We’re not feeling confident.
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