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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