I brought a couple scorecards with me, but was relieved to not have to use them. The game programs weren’t being handed out at the gates. I found them at the Customer Service booth, along with a starting lineup. I saw that “Eggie” Rosario’s name was actually spelled “Eguy.” Both teams were wearing black tops, which was a little confusing.
I was eating when the game started. They had just brought out the food. I had a cheeseburger. There were chips, watermelon, fruit cocktail, cookies, lemonade, and sweet tea. Ron also had the barbeque brisket. I didn’t think it looked good, but he went back for seconds. I was underwhelmed with the burger, but it was free. For the first couple of innings, I was busy getting food and stuffing my face, but still kept up my scorecards. That was pretty easy, since not much happened. I wasn’t taking notes, but I was fascinated at one point as a large airliner floated in the sky overhead.
In the top of the second, Chihuahaus pitcher, Pedro
Avila picked off a runner on second.
It was the team’s 23-rd pickoff of the year, according to the radio
broadcast, to lead all of baseball in that category. The scoring started in the bottom. Rosario singled and went to second on a bad
pickoff throw. CJ Hinojosa drove him in with a home run to left. My view was blocked of the shot. 2-0 Chihuahuas. Also in this inning, a foul ball went into a
ladies’ souvenir nacho dog bowl. The
crowd around her reacted.
I didn’t say anything to anybody at work or Ron, but I
knew the stadium was getting close to admitting its four millionth guest. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. It did happen that night. A 10-year old kid was it. In the fourth inning, Tim Hagerty on the radio talked to him and really enjoyed it. The kid was really poised and
well-spoken. He’d been to games before
and actually had two foul balls. Tim
talked to his older sister in the bottom of the inning. She was very nice. Was she jealous? “Oh, no.
My brother’s so sweet. He
deserved this. I love him.” Awwww.
I don’t know what the prize was.
Either they didn’t say, or I missed it.
Meanwhile on field, I noticed the crowd along the first
base line kept going crazy after some strikeouts of the opposition. I don’t know why and there was a delayed
reaction when it happened. That is the
section where the “Locos” sit during
soccer matches behind one of the goals.
They are known for their enthusiasm.
The Round Rock Express scored
in the third on an RBI single. The
Chihuahuas’ infield did make two great dive stops for outs to contain the
damage. 2-1 Chihuahuas.
Chico made
an appearance in the pavilion, along with my friend, Mike, and his girlfriend,
Laiza. While chatting with her, I missed
an out. (The horror, but it was worth
it.) Laiza then went over and flirted
with Chico. Shameless. The Chihuahuas struck back in the bottom of
the third. A double, a wild pitch, and
an RBI single by Rosario scored a run to make it 3-1 Chihuahuas. I also couldn’t see the last out of the
inning. I was blocked where I was
sitting.
Avila made an impressive play on the first batter of the
fourth on a comebacker. The ball knocked
off his mitt, but he still managed to grab the ball and throw out the
runner. In the bottom, the Chihuahuas
opened it up. A hard luck error on the
Express shortstop scored a run with two on.
Brent Rooker then swatted a
three-run homer to make it 7-1 Chihuahuas.
The homer went to center and I still didn’t see it. When the sun went down, the stadium seating in
front of me filled up. I decided to stay
where I was, just inside the pavilion with the bad view. Where I was and seats below me had counters
in front of them to put your food and scorecards on.
I’m going to take out the drama here. For the next five innings, nobody
scored. With the score where it was, I
guess the teams made an arrangement to finish quickly to get to the
fireworks. Noteworthy events still
happened. Another co-worker arrived,
Taylor, with his girlfriend, Maria. I
was wearing my Chihuahuas hat and shirt (8-11-15) and she liked it,
immediately getting on my good side. I
was glad I’d recommended that Taylor get serious about her. Given how late Mike and Taylor showed up,
this was why I didn’t want to try and get a ride to the park with them.
Steele
Walker (there’s a name straight out of an 80’s action show) made
a great diving play in left field in the bottom of the fifth for the
Express. Pace-of-play came up in the
inning as well. Express pitcher, Demarcus Evans, a very large,
intimidating-looking individual, made a third step-off to try and pickoff Kervin Pichardo on first. The pickoff failed and Pichardo was given
second on a called balk. From the radio
call, I learned that if the pickoff had been successful, it would have been
out.
In the top of the sixth, Rosario made a great dive stop at
short for an out. There was also a
disputed ground rule double or long foul ball might have been a home run. I was talking to Mike and Laiza as they left
early. “I think the Chihuahuas got this
one,” he said. I’m kicking myself for
forgetting to tell them to stay for the fireworks. Anthony
Rifenburg on the radio call didn’t comment on the play until the next
inning after looking at a couple of replays. (I’m not sure I’m even getting the inning
right on this play. I didn’t write it
down at the time because of the delay and because I was blocked from seeing it.)
Between innings, Chico irritated one of the umps (or a
facsimile thereof). The ump ejected him
from the game. Chico went into the
dugout, grabbed a cooler of water, and dumped it on the ump. The ump then chased him off the field. In the top of the seventh, we had another
pace-of-play violation. The batter
didn’t get into the box on time and received a penalty strike. He already had two strikes on him, so that
was a strikeout. Jose Azocar made a good catch on a dying liner to end the
inning. At the beginning of the game,
after greeting the ump and opposing catcher, he motioned out to former
Chihuahuas’ teammate, Nick Tanielu,
now on the Express.
After the Stretch, one of the people sitting in front of
me got the Express centerfielder, Steven
Duggar, to throw him a ball. That
was nice of former Giant to take
care of the opposing fans. Melika’s
guest also got a fielder to throw her a ball.
She hurt her finger on the catch.
What’s worse is that she was catcher like Melika. (I’m kind of hoping she’s not playing for the
Aggies.)
Okay, enough. The Chihuahuas win 7-1. With this win, they now had more wins than
all of last year and were now in first place in their division (for the
moment). There was a free Papa John’s pizza app offer for the
win, but I assume it was only for El Paso restaurants. Likewise, there were What-a-burger coupons handed out to people leaving that was
probably also only good in El Paso.
My gameballs go to Chihuahuas Taylor Kohlway, who’s leading the league in batting average, for
going 3 for 5, to Brent Rooker for
his three-run homer, and to Pedro Avila for
his four innings pitched, only giving up one run. Frankly, no one of the Express had much of a
game today. Our time of the game was a
very tidy two hours and 28 minutes. The
attendance was over 7,000.
Fireworks
The four millionth fan kid threw out the “last pitch” for
the game. The first pitch of the game
had already been scheduled for UTEP AD
Jim Senter. Three wagons were pulled
out on to the outfield by a small tractor.
A couple of fire extinguishers were place nearby, along with a couple of
other individual fireworks, presumably large ones.
I remember, but can’t find reference to, a baseball
fireworks promotion called, “Fireworks in Your Face.” This spectacle could well be described as
that. I was told during the game that
they change the theme for the display every homestand. (And this was different than two other
displays this year that I’ve heard of.)
This one was a melody of music by Queen.
Every so often, I’d hear some Queen music, but the opening
salvo startled everyone and drowned out most of the songs. The only other thing you could hear was
children screaming. The fireworks went
off right over the stadium spectacularly and were synchronized to the music (I
think). Bohemian Rhapsody, of course, finished the 15-minute (or so)
set. The fireworks slowly petered out as
the song ended. Any way the wind blows . . . BOOOOM! The last huge firework went off and everyone
laughed at being startled. To say the
least, it was awesome. Little wonder
these firework nights are so well-attended.
I think even Tim and Anthony were watching from the press box.
In spite of the large exiting crowd, traffic moved very
smoothly. Ron and I wanted some ice
cream afterward. Stopping in El Paso was
problematical, so we waited until we got back to Las Cruces. Our first choice was closed (at 10:00pm). Sonic’s
ice cream maker was down, so to we went to next door, Freddie’s. Frankly, their
ice cream is a bit disappointing.
Overall, what a great night, even if the food wasn’t that great and the
game wasn’t too exciting. Those
fireworks were going to make the evening no matter what.
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