Baseball Journal July 16 to 29, 2023

Admittedly, I’m just posting this as a prelude to my MLB Trade Deadline report and a trip to see the El Paso Chihuahuas on the 30-th.

 

7-16-23

Hee, hee, hee. . .

The Rangers were down 5-2 to the Indians in the eighth.  The Rangers scored 4 in the bottom, including two on a hit by Josh Jung, which put them ahead, 6-5, for the win.

 

I wasn’t sure my baseball day could get any better, but I picked up the end of the Rockies vs the Yankees on MLB.TV.  The Rox were down 3-1 in eighth, when CJ Cron hit a grand slam for a 5-3 lead.  (I actually missed hearing that.)  The Yankees came back to tie it in the ninth.  After a scoreless 10-th, the Yankees scored 2 in the top of the eleventh. 

 

I could hear a large crowd at the game in Denver.  (I was getting the radio call.)  There were over 47k there.  At least half of them were Yankees fans and they were happy, but it wasn’t over yet.  In the bottom for the Rox, Nolan Jones hit a tying 2-run homer.  Alan Trejo then came up and hit his first homer of the season.  Rockies win, 8-7! 

 

Jack Corrigan on the broadcast shouted, “And the Yankees fans go home . . . unhappy!”  He’s usually fairly gracious, but after three days of large crowds rooting against the home team, he probably couldn’t resist giving them one final shiv going out the door.  The lowly Rockies actually took 2 of 3.  The Yankees also wasted a great starting pitching performance from their ace, Garrett Cole.

 

Hee, hee, hee. . .

 

7-18-23

I didn’t actually see or hear any of these games, but 12 teams in 8 MLB games scored 10 runs or more setting a modern record.  I’ve questioned if offenses have really been helped by this years’ rules changes, but today at least, it was a fire sale at the lumber yard.

 

7-19-23

Another domino falls.  MLB.TV has taken over the Arizona Diamondbacks’ broadcasts.  I took advantage of this today as they offered free D-Backs games through the weekend.  I could actually watch, since the game wasn’t being blacked out.  Given that this was our local team on cable, this was the one blackout I understood.  The Rockies, Astros, Rangers, and Padres also being blacked out I did not understand.  (Las Cruces, New Mexico is nowhere near any of these teams.) 

 

The D-Backs games will still be on cable locally, somehow.  The announcers have said that the blackout, however, is over and that their games will be nationally broadcast.  I feel like this is all leading up to something, but I don’t know what. 

 

I came into tonight’s Chihuahuas’ game late.  They were down 2 to the OKC Dodgers, but managed to tie it in the eighth.  They then went on to score 7 runs in the top of the ninth.  Hold on to your stomachs.  The pups then coughed up 7 runs in the bottom.  There were even runners on second and third with only 1 out, when 2 strikeouts ended the frame. 

 

The dogs scored 2 in the tenth, but the Faux Dodgers came back with a run in the bottom and again had two in scoring position with 1 out, before the Chihuahuas finally got 2 outs end the game, 11-10.  It almost ran four hours, but there were diehards there in OKC cheering at the end.  (To explain that duration, there were 25 combined walks in the game.)  I feel like I can sum up this teams’ problem in one word: pitching.

          

7-27-23

I was wrong.  We were all wrong.  The Angels are keeping Shohei Ohtani for the season.  Right after announcing that, the team went out and picked up Lucas Giolito from the White Sox to bolster their pitching staff (and plucking him away from a multitude of other more competitive teams).  The next day, Shohei tossed a 1-hitter complete game shutout and then hit two home runs in the second game of the double header.  He’s inspired. 

 

I applaud the Angels’ gumption here.  Myself (and everyone else) still thinks that this is a terrible decision.  They’ve only got a marginal chance of making the playoffs, even when Mike Trout comes back from injury.  It’s a good sign that they’re doing a positive trade deal, but why haven’t they been doing this all along?  It’s a little late now.  They should have been assembling a better team during the offseason.  Is this really going to convince Shohei to resign with the team at the end of the year?  Could they even afford to sign him as a free agent and still put a competitive team around him?  (Can anyone given the price he’s going to command?) 

 

Part of me thinks that the Angels just never got a serious offer for Shohei, or not what they expected.  Given that he’s threatening a home run record this season, it was certainly better for attendance to keep him, along with a multitude of Japanese stadium advertisers.  So what happens now?  The Angels miss the playoffs and it’s not even close.  Shohei signs with another team in the offseason.  The Angels’ farm system will be decimated (because they’re probably not done trading).  Mike Trout will be miserable for the rest of his career.  But, we’ve all been wrong recently.  Who can say?      

 

Later in the evening, I had my first triple play.  Unfortunately, it was Round Rock turning it against the Chihuahuas, so the play call was a bit understated.  Still, this was the first time I’ve ever heard one live and the first one ever in a Chihuahuas’ game.  Just yesterday there was a TP in the MLB.  The Braves turned it against Boston yesterday.   The play scoring went 8-3-5 making this uncommon play exceptionally rare.

 

The rest of the Chihuahuas game lived up the excitement.  Down 4 in the ninth, the pups sent 10 to plate to tie it.  The Express loaded the bases in the tenth, but failed to score.  The Chihuahuas wasted no time with a run-scoring single by Kevin Plawecki to win 10-9.  This happened after a walk off home run yesterday by Ben Gamel, who hit two homers in the game. 

 

There may have also been a foul ball in the broadcast booth, but I missed hearing it.  I’m still not sure if that happened.  One thing that did happen the next day was that Plawecki was traded by the Padres to the Rangers, who then assigned him to the Express.  Kevin dutifully gathered his gear and traded dugouts on Friday before the next game.

 

7-29-23

The Rangers acquired Max Scherer today for prospects.  I have mixed feelings.  Scherer is a very good pitcher, but likely well past his prime.  I also think he’s a jerk.  The Mets had traded David Robertson the day before and Scherer more or less asked to be traded.  I hope he helps.  The Rangers would be swept by the Padres this weekend.

   

The Chihuahuas were down 1-0 to Round Rock in the eighth tonight.  The pups got two on in the bottom in part thanks to a 5-ball walk to Tim Lopes?  5 balls?  Somebody apparently lost count.  That has to be embarrassing.  Even more embarrassing, after an intentional walk to load the bases, a wild pitch scored Jose Azocar from third to tie the score.  The dogs would go on to win 2-1 on a run-scoring single in the ninth by Austin Nola.  That’s five-in-a-row over Round Rock!  Three have been 1-run games.  The pups will go for the 6-game sweep on Sunday and I will be there rooting them on.