5-11-25
What a night of baseball! I don’t have this exactly in chronological order, but I got to see a bunch games tonight. It started with the Chihuahuas in Las Vegas playing the Aviators. The pups went down 8-0 in the first inning with 6 of those runs being unearned, as they occurred after a two-out error. By the eighth, it was 17-2, and the Chihuahuas brought in a position player to pitch. The player gave up a three-run homer on his first pitch. It was that kind of night. That was a 20-2 loss.
I switched over to the Padres and the Angels, which was going on at the same time, but kept getting distracted by a slew of extra innings games. First, I tuned into the Red Sox at the Tigers. A surprise two-run homer in the eleventh by the Red Sox put them up. Even more surprising, Javier Baez came up in the bottom with two on and blasted a three-run walkoff. 10-9 Tigers win. Baez is finally having some rejuvenation in his career.
Another then another extra innings game came on: White Sox at Reds. The Sox scored four in the tenth including a three-run homer to win, 5-1. Back in San Diego, the Padres were down 4-2 in the eighth. An RBI single and a wild pitch brought in the tying run. In the ninth, Fernando Tatis Jr. walked it off with a two-run homer. He stood there for a moment to admire the shot and soak in the adulation from the full-house crowd. 6-4 Padres.
A third extra innings game popped up. (Thank goodness for the free runner at second rule.) The Yankees were at the Mariners in a 1-1 tie in the tenth. The M’s would win it, 2-1, in the eleventh. The Mariners’ announcer called it a win over the “Evil Empire.” Meanwhile, another game with another evil empire also went final. The lowly homeless A’s beat the Dodgers in LA, 11-1! Justice is served.
One consistent topic in these games with the commentators was Pete Rose. The Commissioner ruled today that players who had received a lifetime ban would be lifted from that status if they were deceased. This allows for Rose to finally be voted into the Hall of Fame. I have mixed feelings about this, but I’m in the minority. I think most fans will be overjoyed with his election and certainly his playing accomplishments merit it.
5-14-25
Yu Darvish made a sudden rehab start for the Chihuahuas tonight against the Aviators. It was a surprise to me, otherwise would have tuned in and listened on time. Darvish gave up a two-run homer in the first, but otherwise went four good innings and finished strong.
It seemed like Las Vegas had an opposing batter walk-up song promotion going, but I wasn’t sure. I kept hearing music for Chihuahuas batters. One clever song I heard was for a looking strikeout when they played U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. It was a 6-4 loss for the pups, but they did make a ninth inning comeback. Announcer Tim Hagerty talked about a left-handed catcher late in the game, but I missed the details. I don’t think such a unicorn was in today’s game, but somewhere else.
Meanwhile, the MLB.TV free game was the Marlins versus the Cubs. The Marlins won to sweep the Cubs, but both teams were fighting the elements. There was a fog/mist/smoke over the stadium for the game that kept getting worse as the game went on. By the ninth, I could hardly believe they were still playing. A popup in the outfield nearly hit the fielder after he got under it.
5-16-25
Last week, I got that free day off from a gas leak at work. Today was the day I finally caught up from that day. I guess I paid for that. I don’t know how I got any work done because it was a FREE Weekend on MLB.TV! And it was Rivalry Weekend as well! Yay! You bet I took full advantage of this. I started off with the Indians at the Reds. The Reds were up 5-0 when I started watching, but ended up squeaking out a, 5-4, win.
During the Reds game, the marquee matchup of the night started, Mets at Yankees. It was a friendly “Welcome home!” from the Bronx crowd to Juan Soto, who had left the Yankees to play for the Mets this season. They gave him a loud “cheer” every time he came to plate. The Bleacher Creatures in the outfield would give him a “standing ovation” when he’d take his position there. If you can imagine an entire section of fans turning their backs to the field, that was it. I wasn’t entirely pleased either with Yankee free agent acquisition. Paul Goldschmidt is currently batting .346 with a .901 OPS. Why didn’t you bat like that with Cardinals! (Answer: Because he wasn’t behind .400+ hitting Aaron Judge there.) Yankees win, 6-2.
By this point, there were several games going. The Tigers were at the Blue Jays. I saw Javier Baez make a diving catch in the outfield then double off a runner at first. He just started playing in the outfield this season and I was impressed . . . until missed on a line drive in the ninth. But, Tigers win, 5-4.
The Braves were at the Red Sox. The Sox were wearing their new Green Monster green-colored City Connect jerseys. They were very sharp. It was 2-1 Braves in the top of the ninth, where Sox pitching walked in two runs to give the Braves a 4-2 win.
By this point, I had at least four games going. MLB.TV had caught on and wasn’t letting me open up any more games. The only reason I got this many was because I had the games going in four different browsers.
The hands-down heartbreaker of the night was the Nationals at the Orioles. Mackenzie Gore started for the Nats. He had 9 strikeouts, but gave up 10 hits, but for only 2 runs. He came out in the fourth inning having thrown over 100 pitches. The O’s had hit 26 foul balls off him. But did they win? No. The Orioles lost, 4-3. They left 15 runners on base and led 14 to 5 in hits. This loss would have ramifications (see tomorrow’s entry).
Elsewhere, the Pirates were at the Phillies and were tied at 0 into the fifth. I got to see Bryce Harper get his 1,000-th RBI on soft single. The Phillies ended up running away with the game. The A’s at the Giants was more like the A’s versus Wilmer Flores. He had a grand slam home run and a 3-run homer for a 7-RBI career night. Giants win, 9-1. The last game to finish for the night was the Angels beating the Dodgers on the road, 6-2. Take that Evil Empire West!
I did sort of neglect the Chihuahuas during all this. The pups took an early big lead in their game against the Aviators. I tuned in late to hear them finish a 12-4 win. Las Vegas actually made a bit of a comeback while I was listening. Amusingly, whenever LV won a pitch challenge, the PA played Styx’s Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.
5-17-25
“Are they going to be doing this for the next 15 years?” ESPN Radio was playing the Mets at the Yankees this morning. One of the announcers asked that question having heard the Bronx’s jeering reception towards Juan Soto for the last two days. Unlike yesterday’s blowout, this one was tight and low-scoring. There were very tense bases-loaded situations for both teams late. Finally, the Mets took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The final batter was Aaron Judge himself. He struck out on a high fastball to end the game.
I started listening to that game at home. I took a portable radio to my dad’s apartment and kept listening to the game, while we watched a couple of TV episodes (Almost Paradise and Nikita). On dad’s TV, I saw a sports ticker that reported that the Orioles had fired their manager after yesterday’s game and a disappointing season altogether. Boy, was that a bad loss yesterday.
We visited his neighbor, Lamae, to walk her dogs and I took the radio with me. When we returned, she heard the game I was listening to and brought the game up on her TV, so I got to watch the end of the game. She kind of wanted us to stick around while she was waiting for someone, so we looked in on a couple of other games.
The Rays were at the Marlins facing Sandy Alcantra. He didn’t have his good stuff and got clobbered in his final inning. At least the Marlins looked good in their new Miami Vice-inspired City Connect uni’s. We briefly found and then lost the White Sox at the Cubs. (There were some issues with the remote.) At that game, they were filming an episode of Reacher. The big guy and his recurring comrade were sitting in the bleachers in the outfield with a cameraman next to them doing a scene. This was kind of fascinating. (Was there a guy with a mitt sitting in front of them, just in case?)
The person Lamae was waiting for arrived and I went ahead and left. (Otherwise, I would have been there watching games all night and been a terrible guest.) Though I’d had Raising Canes earlier, I went over to the Mall looking for a new Archie digest (found it and something else, I’ll review these later) and picked up Chicken Teriyaki noodles for dinner.
I was back home in time for the Astros at the Rangers on the radio. The game started with Matt Hicks praising tonight’s umps. The home plate ump had called the third perfect umpire game ever, since they started tracking that. (He called all of the balls and strikes correctly.) Another ump on the field had called the second perfect game. Wow! Of course by the third inning, everyone was complaining about the strike zone. Regardless, the Rangers’ bats woke up today and they won, 5-1.
Later, the Chihuahuas were playing the Aviators in Las Vegas . . . in the rain? It was brief, but sent fans scurrying for cover. Regardless, it was a 6-4 for the pups.
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