Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Baseball Journal May-July 2023 Part 2


6-11-23

Chihuahuas vs OKC Dodgers.  It was a record loss for the pups at 24-5.  Worse, it was a national TV game on Stadium.  What’s amazing was that there were still fans there at the end and they were cheering any good play.  Catcher Michael Cantu pitched a scoreless ninth with a 40-mph . . . umm . . .  I’m not sure what to call it.  He flung ball in the general direction of home plate. 

 

Broadcaster Tim Hagerty tried to answer a question about the highest-scoring minor league baseball game ever in the bottom.  Some team in the 1800’s scored 200+ runs, however that wasn’t the official record-holder.  Unfortunately, the game ended before he could finish the story.  [Note added later: Unfortunately, I think this game functionally broke the Chihuahuas this.  They haven’t recovered from it since.]

 

6-12-23

Rockies vs Red Sox.  Tied in the tenth at 2 in Boston in downpour, the Red Sox first baseman, Triston Casas, made a rain-induced error on a grounder that scored the Rox’s second run of the inning.  Then the umps stopped the game for an hour and a half.  For the bottom of the inning, all of the remaining fans at Fenway were standing behind home plate.  These were the hardcore Sox fans and they were cheering, booing, and groaning on every pitch.  It was kind of great to see.  Unfortunately, they weren’t able to will their team to victory, as the Rockies won, 4-2.

 

6-18-23

Blue Jays vs Rangers.  I don’t really have a game report on this.  I was still suffering with a bad case of heartburn from enjoying a local race last night when the game came on.  I finally laid down to nap in the afternoon, hoping to recover, with the game on the radio.  In and out of sleep, I heard the Rangers go down 6-0.  Semi-conscious, I thought I heard the Rangers were suddenly back in it.  Finally, I got up, feeling much better, and the Rangers had won 11-7.  I missed a heck of game.

 

6-20-23

Chihuahuas vs Tacoma Rainiers.  It was a high-scoring game to begin with, but when the pooches scored 4 in the seventh to put the team up 10-5, it looked like it was going to be the Chihuahuas’ night.  Gag!  Then the Rainiers scored 6 in the next inning to put them up by 1.  With two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, Taylor Kohlwey improbably hit the right field line and scored both runners on base.  Luis Liberato unnecessarily executed a belly-flop slide to win the game for the pups, 12-11.  I watched the hit a couple of times on Twitter and never saw the ball hit the line.  The whole ball must have directly bounced on the line.

 

6-22-23

I watched 9 scoreless innings between the Phillies and the Braves.  There were some great defensive plays in the game, as you might expect.  The Braves did bust it open in the tenth to finally win it. 

 

6-23-23

On Friday, unbeknownst to me, former Aggie star, Nick Gonzales, was called up to the Pirates and scored a run in the game.  I found this out Saturday evening.  Dad had mentioned something about a call up earlier (it was on the local news), but didn’t have the name right.  I later tuned in to Stadium’s Minor League showcase game to see Nick playing with the Indianapolis Indians, when I remembered what dad had said and then got the news off Aggie Baseball Twitter.

 

It’s been a full day of baseball this Saturday.  I started out watching the London game between the Cubs and the Cardinals with dad.  There was a great crowd there.  A groundout to short to start the game brought out a huge cheer.  Unfortunately, only the Cubs showed up to play and won, 9-1.  I got back home just in time to start listening to the Rangers play the Yankees on the radio and was highly disappointed by a 1-0 loss by Texas.

 

I decided to watch the MILB Indians game over the Internet right after, even without Nick being there, since I enjoyed their commentators the last time I’d heard them.  They’re a good mix of an older guy and a younger guy doing the call.  It was a tight, close game, and I enjoyed it, but I may have missed out not watching the Dodgers and Astros on Fox.  The Dodgers went up by 3 right off the bat.  The Astros stormed back with 7 runs, but then the Dodgers came back.  In the eighth, the Dodgers took the lead and the win, 8-7, on a balk.  I started watching right after that happened.  The Astros’ pitcher was infuriated with the ump after the inning. 

 

I just about bailed on the Chihuahuas/Rainiers on the radio.  The pups went down 8-3 halfway through the game.  They did not give up.  They put up 4 in the fifth.  In the eighth, Jantzen Witte hit a grand slam to give the Chihuahuas an 11-9 lead and the win.  There was a big crowd there in El Paso for fireworks.  They went crazy for homer, the team went crazy, and Tim Hagerty on the radio call went crazy.  (I didn’t go crazy, but I was pleased.) 

  

Finally, I turned over to the Angels/Rockies game on the radio.  I’d already been warned by Tim, as he was recapping MLB scores.  His last update was that it was 24-0 Angels in the sixth inning.  The Rockies’ experiment in using a batting tee, instead a pitcher, was a disaster.  I came in in the eighth, just as Brenton Doyle hit a home run for the Rockies to make it 25-1.  A large crowd cheered.  (Perhaps they were all waiting for fireworks afterward, too.)  The game took under three hours, by the way.  (And just to irritate Angel fans, the Rockies would go on to win two of three from them in the series.)

 

6-27-23

I got a text from NM State Baseball last night directing me to their Twitter.  (I’m not sure how they have my number.)  Nick Gonzales, in his first home game with the Pirates (and debuting their City Connect uniforms), had gotten his first hit, an RBI triple, and a 442’ home run to center.  Yeah. 

 

6-28-23

Then the next day, NMSU came back down to earth with an $8M settlement with the former Men’s Basketball players suing for sexual abuse.  The possibility of criminal charges are still pending, but they’ll likely be dismissed.  Only the lawyers were made whole.

 

The Chihuahuas beat the Isotopes, 11-8, to start the second half of the season with a new 1-0 record.  (Triple-A has gone to the split-season format.)  Jantzen Witte hit his third grand slam of the season.  However, the pups also gave up a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth.  New record; same old team.

 

The Yankees were playing the A’s in the MLB.TV free game.  It was a game I’m sure nobody was excited for.  When the Yankees went up big early, I sort of tapped out.  A little later, I noticed the “Perfect Game” notation on the scoreboard.  As it was in the seventh, the alert was legit.  I was called out of the room at work, just after Domingo German got the 27-th out and completed the perfect game, so I did get to see it.  The A’s broadcast I’d been watching had been trying to jinx it.  They were even bringing up graphics about perfect games during play.

 

7-3-23

It’s been a little frustrating rooting for the Rangers the last two weeks.  I’d listened to them lose two of three to the Yankees in close games.  They dropped two of four to the terrible Tigers.  I listened to the last one of those.  Then came this important four-game home series against the Astros, who are in second behind the Rangers. 

 

The Rangers had lost of two of the first three by July third.  I was waiting to go to work, unlike a lot of people on that day, and watched the game.  MLB.TV was offering all their games for free for the next few days.  It was third day game in a row and the fourth sellout in a row with a decidedly mixed crowd in Arlington.  Jose Altuve has been getting the loudest boo/cheer every time he comes to bat.    

 

The Rangers immediately went down 6-0 with a grand slam mixed in.  The Astros drove it up to 10-2, before I tapped out and checked out the Cubs at the Brewers, when I remembered Bob Uecker would be doing the call.  The Brewers had also gone down 6-0, but had clawed back to 6-3.  They tied it in the seventh with a loaded bases double.

 

I’d hardly dared to look back at the Rangers, but suddenly they were only down by a run.  Just as I started watching again, Adolis Garcia homered to tie it.  Corey Seager hit a sac fly in the 8-th to give the Rangers an 11-10 lead.  The Brewers scored 2 in their 8-th to take an 8-6 lead and the win.  That worked out okay for them, but the Rangers couldn’t hold their lead.  They gave up 2 in the 9-th and lost 12-11.      

 

The Astros won with 3 errors in the game.  Frankly, neither team really deserved to win.  There was good news for the Rangers.  Travis Jankowski is batting over .300 and had 5 RBI’s in a career day.  His two-run homer in the fifth sparked the comeback.  Who picked Jankowski to be such a key piece for the Rangers this season?  New arrival, Aroldis Chapman worked two scoreless innings in two games since being acquired.  I suspect he’ll be the new closer.

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