7-10-26
Tonight’s MiLB.TV Free Game featured the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers versus the Knoxville Smokies. The Smokies have a beautiful stadium and they had a great crowd out on Friday. There were shots of the happy crowd during the breaks. They had cheerleaders and a really cute on-field host. The commentators had some degree of southern accent. When I tuned in, they were talking about buying grilled cheese sandwiches from a guy selling them out of the back of a Bronco for a $1. Some kids went tarps off in the eighth when the team had the bases loaded to cheer them on. It looked like a really great place to watch a game. The Smokies won. I didn’t take down the score.
Meanwhile in OKC, the Chihuahuas were down 10-2 in the ninth to the Comets. The pups managed to score 3 runs with 2 outs and loaded the bases. After a comebacker hit the pitcher and the runner was safe and a run scored, the Comets finally brought in a new pitcher to finish it. 10-5 OKC.
7-11-26
I tuned into the MLB Draft this morning. I’m not that interested in sports drafts, but I hadn’t seen one before. It was an excuse to bring out my season preview magazine and track along with their preseason prospects. It was a full house in the Philadelphia venue. A bunch of mascots were in attendance, along fans of every team and a Philadelphia drum corps. Roch Cholowsky taken was taken 1/1 by the White Sox. He was in tears at the announcement though he knew it was coming. A couple of the top ten guys that were taken were outside the top 20 prospects, so their stock rose during the college season. There was only one pitcher taken in top ten.
ESPN Radio was broadcasting the Brewers versus the Pirates. It was a battle between Aggie alums, Joey Ortiz vs Nick Gonzales, who were both playing third. This was the second game of a double header. The Pirates took the first game, 7-6.
Joey made a put out on Nick in the third. Esmerlyn Vadez hit a 2-run homer in the fourth for Pirates. He’d hit a grand slam homer and a solo home run in the first game. The Brewers tied it in the fifth on a double by Brice Turang. Joey just missed a homer in sixth, but was left stranded a second. Bryan Reynolds later drove in Brandon Lowe to make it, 3-2 Pirates. That score held and the Bucs swept the double header. The Brewers left 11 on base for the game. The Pirates will have a better than .500 record going into the break for the first time in years. Paul Skenes and Jacob Misorowski were scheduled to face off tomorrow. I’ll keep an eye on that.
On TV, England beat Norway 2-1 in overtime at the World Cup. A lot of people were sorry to see the entertaining Norwegian fans go. (I didn’t see whatever they were doing to charm everyone.) The Wimbledon Women’s final was on. It was two Czech women that I’d never heard of. I kept the sound off to avoid the grunting and found it to be watchable, barely.
The Rangers and Astros were on the radio. I wasn’t getting great reception, but the game was pretty much a blowout with the Astros winning, 9-3. It was 6-0 in the third with Kumar Rocker not looking sharp. They kept him in to save the bullpen. Surprisingly, the signal stayed up for the whole game, even after 8:00pm. The Chihuahuas had a delayed start for weather in OKC, but later cancelled their game for tonight.
The O’Reilly Series NASCAR race at Atlanta was a crash-fest, including a Big One with 12 laps to go. There were 4 red flags and I lost track of yellow caution flags. Justin Allgaier won in a second overtime with his car spewing a stream of sparks behind him from a previous wreck. The race going late delayed a broadcast of the El Paso Locomotive against the New Mexico United from earlier in the evening. They started the soccer broadcast at 11:00pm. I couldn’t stay up for the end of that tonight.
7-12-26
The All-Star Futures Game in Philadelphia was mostly a showcase for flashy shoes and other gear. One catcher was in cool patriotic gear and another had something like Spider-Man colors. Some Minor League mascots were there. Where was Chico? (Well, there weren’t any Chihuahuas in the game.) There was the Crazy Hot Dog Guy riding an ostrich (a costume, not an actual ostrich) from the Fightin Phils. I recognized a couple of the players by name. It was fun in the game trying to identify the teams by their hat logos.
The American League won 6-1. Manager Larry Bowa used three pitchers to get the final 3 outs in the seventh inning. I hope they told the crowd the game was only going 7, because I didn’t know. Nathan Flewelling from the Rays organization won the MVP for a two-run homer. He had such a free and easy swing. It looked effortless. The crowd was still there after the game. Apparently there were other activities afterward. I was at dad’s apartment watching the game. He didn’t seem to want to get lunch out, so I went back home.
I checked in on the Brewers/Pirates game to see how the Jacob Misorowski/Paul Skenes matchup was going. It was 11-2 Pirates in the fourth. I wasn’t expecting that. Checking the box score, the Miz didn’t start, though Skenes did. I had assumed they’re both going to the All-Star Game to play anyway. The Pirates won 14-5.
On the radio back at home, the Chihuahuas were at OKC. There was be no double header today to make up for yesterday’s missed game, but the pups will apparently be back in Oklahoma next month and play it then. (A double header before the All-Star break would be a bit inhumane, anyway.) The Comets trotted out a new pitcher every inning and the 9 pitchers used threw a shutout. It was an extreme staff day. I’m sure some player said to the manager afterward, “Hey Skip, we should do this every game.” (The manager then said, “Shut up.”) Broadcaster Tim Hagerty was pretty chatty during this quickly-played game. He mentioned an El Paso high school baseball player was taken in the draft.
I started listening to the Astros at the Rangers on the radio. They were about halfway through the game with the Rangers up. I also started watching the Blue Jays playing the Padres on a Mexican channel. Dad called and wanted to go for a drive and to get ice cream. (Why didn’t we do this when I was over with him and we could have gone for lunch?)
We hit Dairy Queen. My small Blizzard was fine, but dad’s medium dipped ice cream cone had way more ice cream. I was then Shanghaied going back home the long way around. Thankfully, we were listening to the Rangers game during the trip. In the top of the eighth, the Astros had come back and taken a one-run lead. In the bottom, Kyle Higashioka hit a solo shot to tie it.
In the bottom of the ninth, Josh Hader came in for the Astros. He had no losses and no blown saves this season. To the first three batters, he gave up 3 hits. Wyatt Langford nearly scored on the second hit from second base, but inexplicably stopped at third. No problem. Brandon Nimmo singled up the middle to drive him in. Rangers win, 6-5. Dad seemed to enjoy the game there at the end, so it was a good trip, and I had better reception on his car radio than I had on my home radio.
On the trip, I found the cheapest gas in town. Since I needed a fill-up, I went back after I got home. Finally, I got back to the Padres’ game. It was 3-3 in the eighth and the Blue Jays just scored after a bobble in the outfield by Jackson Merrill. No problem. Manny Machado singled in the tying run in the bottom. He was advanced to second and a pinch runner stole third. Ty France sac’d him in to give the Padres the lead. Mason Miller executed a no drama ninth against the top of the Jays’ order. Padres win, 5-4. However, there are rumors that “The Reaper” may get traded at the deadline. This was a surprisingly great sports weekend for me.
7-13-26
Its Home Run Derby time! Withhold your groans. (“Back, back, back, back!”) It will be great this time; they’ve changed the format again. (Okay, now you can groan.) The batters are off the clock this time. There’s no outs. It’s just 20 swings in the first round and 15 in the next two (I think). Ties are broken by distance in the first round and then by a swing-off.
In the first round, Philadelphia home town players, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, went last, but only Kyle advanced. In the second round, Schwarber was playing up to the crowd for their support. Willson Contreras also played up to the crowd, who were mercilessly booing him and cheering his non-home runs. The crowd roared when he didn’t make it to the finals.
It was Schwarber versus Cardinal Jordan Walker in the final. Walker was down by 3 and on his last swing, but Jordan still had the bonus ball, which would let him keep swinging if he kept hitting homers. Jordan went full clutch and hit 4 home runs in a row to tie it and then win it. Even Schwarber was rooting for him on the sidelines. My Aunt Judy was so happy with a Cardinals player winning. I was pretty pleased that I hadn’t wasted my time listening to this profoundly visual event on the radio. We’ll judge the rules change a success this year.
Less pleasing was the absolutely oppressive sponsorship messaging. It was everywhere in the commentary. There was a fan participation moment during the event that was essentially a promo. Even the bonus balls used were colored violet as part of the promotion. Also, the competition was on Netflix, which nobody was pleased with.
7-14-26 ASG
Honestly, it wasn’t much of an All-Star Game. Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal didn’t play. They both pitched on Sunday and their teams are fighting to get in the playoffs, so it’s sort of excusable. Jacob Misorowski and Shohei Ohtani didn’t pitch because of some sort of light injury. I don’t doubt they have some sort of fatigue and they’re being saved for the playoffs. However taken altogether, it looks bad that four of the biggest stars in the MLB weren’t playing in the league’s showcase game. I didn’t even recognize a lot of names of the rosters tonight.
A couple of Yankees jumped on Philadelphia starter, Christopher Sanchez, and the AL took a 3-0 lead in the first. (I’m sure the Philly fans there will remind of this outing during his next start.) We didn’t know at the time that this was essentially the game. Junior Caminero was hit on the hand by a pitch and immediately exited the game. A report came out quickly that nothing was broken, but he was listed as, “day-to-day.”
In the fifth, there was a prerecorded segment showing kids on bikes in something like a tribute to The Sandlot. The kids then rode out into the outfield with the players, while Ray Charles sang America the Beautiful with fireworks going off. The players by the dugouts held sparklers. It was kind of a silly, but nice moment. I wonder why they didn’t do it for the seventh inning stretch.
Another nice moment was Willson Contreras and his brother William on field playing against each other. In the sixth, Tristan Peters came into game. He was introduced as a former Savannah Banana. In the eighth, Miguel Vargas from White Sox hit a solo home run to give the AL a 4-0 lead, which would be the final score. The NL was held to 3 hits with 15 strikeouts, which was nearly an All-Star record for offensive futility. I hope this motivates next years’ team to do better.
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