10-4-23
It was an afternoon Wild
Card Series game to start the postseason.
I went over and watched with my dad before going to Aggie Volleyball. The Rangers won 4-0 over the Rays. Rays had 4 errors and a run-scoring WP in the
game. The score could have been worse,
as the Rangers left 13 runners on base. Offensively, the Rangers got one run off the
wild pitch and an unearned run.
Elsewhere, the Twins finally
won a playoff game after 18-straight defeats with their win over the Blue Jays today.
10-5-23
Well, that was over quick.
All of the Wild Card series
were over in two: the Phillies over
the Marlins, the Twins over the Blue Jays, and (shock) Dbacks
over Brewers.
I watched the afternoon game with dad game. The Rangers
rolled over the Rays, 7-1.
The main drama of the game was whether the Rays would score before they
set a new playoff record for scoreless innings.
(It went to 33 2/3 innings before they scored in the seventh.) 21-year old rookie in the league for a month,
Evan Carter, was on base 7 of 8
plate appearances with a home run.
The main news of this series in St. Petersburg was that
these two games had the lowest playoff attendance since 1919. The broadcasters said it was more of a
“group” than a crowd. One of them agreed
with my take: Why are they building another stadium next
door to this one that isn’t drawing fans?
I saw Rays’ other mascot DJ Kitty a couple of times during the broadcast. Admittedly, he’s kinda cute. (I want a doll of him.) I didn’t see their official main mascot, Raymond, who is frankly just
weird.
10-13-23
I listened to several of the Division Series games via ESPN
Radio. I just didn’t write about
them at the time, so this is a recap.
I had terrible mixed feelings about the Orioles and Rangers series. I like the
O’s. Adley Rutschman is my favorite player. And of course, former Aggie, Kyle Bradish is their star
pitcher. On the other hand, I’ve been a
Ranger fan longer and I listen to their games all the time. The Rangers’ offense came back to life in a
big way to win the series. Their
starting pitching was good, but that bullpen . . . scary shaky.
The Orioles seemed overwhelmed by the moment, but their
fans were great. O’s were 24-th in
payroll and had 101 wins. They have
nothing to be ashamed of. Hopefully,
this team will improved over the offseason.
The Twins put
up a fight against the Astros, but
were overwhelmed. It’s going to be and
all-Texas ALCS. As I thought, the Phillies beat the Braves. I don’t think one
little taunt by Orlando Arcia caused
Bryce Harper to go off, but it sure
made it sweeter.
But most importantly, the Dodgers will no longer be irritating me in the postseason thanks to
the Diamondbacks. In the closeout game, the D-Backs scored all
of their runs of the game via four solo home runs in the third inning. That fourth homer was memorable. Catcher Gabriel
Moreno hit one by the foul pole that was initially ruled fair, but then the
umps quickly realized their mistake.
(They should have an extra ump down the foul line for the playoffs . . .
oh, wait.) The very next pitch, Moreno
hit it harder and knocked it clean out.
10-25-23
I’ve been mostly listening to the League Championship, but I’ve been so busy at work and other things
that I wasn’t taking notes. Most of the
games were on cable, so didn’t get to watch a lot. Darn.
These were a pair of great seven-game series.
First up was the Battle of Texas between the Rangers and the Astros. Texas won the first
two on the road at Houston. They then
lost all three at home and were crushed in the first two. Game 5 was devastating. Adolis
Garcia hit a go ahead three-run homer.
His next at bat, he was hit by Bryan
Abreu. It seemed like ill-timed
revenge at the time for Adolis’ home run trot.
Curt Shilling said the next
day that he was definitely hit intentionally.
This did result in a benches clearing brawl and both players in the
incident getting ejected.
On the radio, the ESPN color commentator was angry about
the ejection of the Astros’ pitcher. He
predicted that Jose Leclerc, the
Rangers’ closer, would blow the save because of the delay. He was right.
Leclerc gave up a three-run homer to Jose Altuve and I was pissed at the commentator.
It was fine. The
Rangers proceeded to crush the Astros over the next two games and Adolis won
the series MVP. Adolis was also getting
a stadium full of boo’s in Houston. In
Game 6, he struck out four times and then hit a grand slam homer in the
ninth. Who would have thought that having
a losing record at home might come back and bite the Astros in the
playoffs?
In the NLCS, the Phillies
crushed the D-Backs so bad in the
first two games nobody could believe that this series would go to six
games. The D-Backs won the third game, 2-1,
in a tight pitcher’s duel with a single by Ketel
Marte in the ninth.
In Game 4, the D-Backs made a stunning comeback with a
three-run eighth to tie the series. The
Phillies took the next game heading back to Philly only needing to win
one. Once there, the Phillies only
scored three runs over the next two games, as the D-Backs’ pitching held them
down. “Boooo!” goes every Philly
fan.
Okay, who had the Rangers and the Diamondbacks meeting in
the World Series? Both teams are a bit
unlikely participants as they both got in via the wildcard. “I guess we’ll have to come up with a new
format to punish the wildcard teams further,” says MLB.
The Rangers kept losing pitching all through the season
and then losing the AL West on the final day of the regular season. The D-Backs led the NL West for quite a while
before a bad losing streak allowed the Dodgers
to pass them. They finished the season
getting swept by the Astros.
I’m rooting for the Rangers, but I’m good with either team
winning. It’s an interesting
matchup. It’s #9 in payroll (the
Rangers) versus #21 in payroll (the D-Backs).
Just to mention it, Arizona did beat the #4 (the Phillies) and #5 (the
Dodgers) payroll in the playoffs already.
(The Mets, Yankees, and Padres are #1, #2, and #3.
Look what all that payroll cost bought you. Nothing.)
The Rangers seemed jubilant after winning. The D-Backs seemed shocked and stunned. They’re both good on defense. The Rangers have the better hitting. The D-backs probably have better
pitching. (They really should send the Mariners a fruit basket for sending
them Paul Sewald to close for them.) Youth and speed are going for the
D-Backs. The Rangers have the experience
and the established stars.
Who’s going to win?
Who can say? Neither of these
teams should logically be here. The
Diamondbacks team got here way too early according to the experts, but who
needs more payroll when you have talent?
(Their team has a negative run differential for the season.)
The Rangers are deeply flawed, but have Bruce Bochy guiding the ship. He’s got three rings already. (Madison
Bumgarner, who the D-Backs released earlier this year, offered to come back
and pitch for him. Amazingly, he’s still
the highest paid player on the D-Back’s payroll this year.) The Rangers are the No Pride team in the
league, so that’s enough for me to root for them.
I feel good for Eric
Nadel, the Rangers’ Hall of Fame radio broadcaster. He missed the start of the season from a
mental breakdown and came back halfway through the season. Eric probably can’t believe his good fortune
at being able to call another World Series.
If the Rangers want to win it for anybody, win it for him.
10-27-23
World Series Game 1
Offseason moves happening now before the World
Series. Astros’ manager Dusty Baker
has retired again. It was definitely worthwhile
for him to have unretired, as Baker finally earned a World Series ring. Padres’
manager Bob Melvin has gone to
the Giants. Gosh the Giants almost hired a woman for the
job. Whew! I don’t know, though. I think Melvin’s reputation has been soiled
by his tenure with the Padres, but I may be in the minority. We’ll see how he does with the Giants.
Let’s cut to the chase.
Corey Seager hit a two-run
homer to tie it in 9-th. Talk about clutch. “The only park that could have held that one
in would be Yellowstone,” said an ESPN commentator. I had the game on while at work, but just
missed seeing it live. In the 11-th, Adolis Garcia hit a solo homer to win
it. He had taken a hit on the hand in a previous
at bat. Stop making the man angry! He hits better.
The Rangers were up early, but the D-Backs took the lead,
5-3, before Seager’s blast. The Ranger
bullpen pitched over six scoreless innings in the 6-5 win. Jon Grey was back and was effective in
relief. D-Back Tommy Pham homered off Nathan
Evoldi. In his dugout interview, Pham was amazingly complimentary of Evoldi,
who was his former teammate. This
characterized much of the series: mutual respect.
I listened to the Rangers’ call-in radio show afterward. Broadcaster Jared Sandler’s nephew called.
The exchange was hysterical. “Hey,
Uncle Jared! I just got back from the
game. It was crazy there tonight!” “Is that all you got?” The kid asked if Adolis or Seager was the
better player. Jarred instead asked him
who he liked best and then added, “It’s past your bedtime.” “Okay, Uncle.
Love you.”
10-28-23
World Series Game 2
Well, this one was brutal: 9-1 D-Backs. Merrill Kelly pitched 7 innings and
only allowed 1 run. To this point, Arizona
was looking stronger, as the Rangers had only won Game 1 with heroics.
10-30-23
World Series Game 3
I missed most of the game to go watch Aggie Volleyball. No regrets.
(Sort of.) The Rangers won 3-1, but lost Max Scherzer, tonight’s starter, and Adolis Garcia to injuries for the rest of the series. Marcus
Semien got his first RBI of series and Corey
Seager hit a two-run homer. Jon Gray pitched three innings in
relief of Scherzer, who had to come out of the game after three. The key play came in the second. D-Back Christian
Walker ran through a stop sign and was thrown out at home by Adolis from
the outfield. That said, please don’t
blame individual players (or fans) for playoff losses.
10-31-23
World Series Game 4
It was month end processing at work. There was no chance of me being able to stop
and take notes. I was lucky that I got
listen to the early part of the game.
That was the pivotal part, as the Rangers had two 5-run innings in their
11-7 win. Travis
Jankowski, replacing Adolis in the lineup, delivered a 2 for 4 performance
with 2 RBI’s. Semien, who’d been so
quiet in the playoffs, roared with 5 RBI’s and a homer. The Rangers went up 10-0. The D-Backs’ comeback came off of the bottom
of the Rangers’ bullpen. I wasn’t too
concerned about that, but Jose Leclerc
was used to get the final out making him unavailable for the next game.
11-1-23
World Series Game 5
5-0
Rangers. They take the World Series 4-1. The final numbers do not reflect the game or
the emotions. Zac Gallen no hit the Rangers into the seventh before finally
surrendering a hit to eventual World Series MVP Corey Seager. Mitch Garver drove him in for a 1-run
lead. Meanwhile, Nathan Evoldi had nothing but trouble for five innings with runners
on base, but somehow didn’t give up a run.
His last inning, the sixth, was his only 1-2-3. In the eighth, a Jonah Heim hit and an error scored two and a two-run blast by
Semien gave the Rangers their 5-run lead.
Josh Sborz worked a no-drama
bottom for the win and the championship.
I got to hear broadcaster Eric Nadel’s immortal call of the final out later, “It’s over! It’s over!”
After 40+ years, he finally made it to the Promised Land. Listening the Rangers’ radio postgame between
him and Matt Hicks and Jared Sandler may have been the best
part.
Matt, after so many years of calling minor league baseball
(including the Diablos where I’d
heard him daily), had gotten called up to the big leagues in 2012. He’d never been to a World Series game
before. Jared, Metroplex native and
boyhood fan of the team, had been ecstatically interviewing team members. When asked what the win meant to him, Jared
paused for a long time and then it hit him.
Later, he was in tears crediting hearing Nadel’s broadcasts as the
reason for him entering the field. Eric
said, “I don’t have any children, but working with you is like having a son
with me.”
In the other broadcast booth, Greg Schulte, the Diamondbacks’ radio voice since their creation in
1998 had announced in April this would be his last season. I used to listen to him every day when a local
station carried their games. I heard his
last words. Schulte was in his final
professional voice, before finally wavering at the very end.
I’m getting a little choked up myself. I’ve been listening to Ranger games here for
the last few years. For most of my
baseball fandom, I admit, my favorite team is whoever I get to hear or watch
the most of during a season. I seriously
doubted this would be the year for the Rangers early on. I’m so glad to be so wrong.
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