Rangers vs. Mariners. Martin Perez vs. Felix Hernandez looked like a mismatch on paper. And indeed it was on the field, just opposite of expectations. Perez goes six innings and gives up nothing. King Felix goes four innings and gives up six runs. When I was listening to the first three innings at home, before going to work, the Rangers had managed to score the first run of the game without a hit and it looked like another tight game was in order. Congrats to Eric Nadel for calling that steal of second from the booth. Perhaps he’s actually the secret manager of the club.
When I got to work, things had changed dramatically. I’d wondered if Carlos Gomez had broken his slump yesterday, and he had with two hits. Today, he followed that up with a grand slam. Not to be outdone, his teammates piled on. Ryan Rua, Adrian Beltre, and Roughned Odor (twice) all homered. (When I got to work, I also got to see Rougie’s game winning homer yesterday. Manager Jeff Banister was jumping up and down like a little kid. Odor must be a heck of a golfer to have hit that low pitch.) Our final was 14-1 Rangers. As Lonestar Ball put it, “Rangers tramp dirt on freshly buried Mariners.”
Serious Tim Hagerty was in the booth again this evening as the Chihuahuas took on the 51’s. This time a possible division clinching was on tap, as the Isotopes were playing a double header tonight. The dogs needed a win and an Albuquerque loss to do it. The Chihuahuas did what they could. In the 2nd, call up Austin Bousfield hit his first Triple-A home run. Tim mentioned during the game that the Padres organization had brought up some promising lower level players to the help the Chihuahuas in their playoff run. (I wonder if there are some Padres who wouldn’t mind going back for a couple of weeks to help too. It’s not like they’re doing anything important.) In the 3rd, Hunter Renfroe hit a two-run homer, and in the 6th, the pups added two more runs. As the 51’s hadn’t answered, Tim pronounced, “Things are starting to get real.”
Meanwhile in Denver, the Rockies and Dodgers were playing their own double header. Stephen Cardullo hit his first major league home run in game one. He followed that up with a grand slam in game two. These games did have an impact in the minors. The Rockies would have been able to call up an extra player for these two games. But, the Isotopes were also playing a double header tonight. I suspect this may have ended up hurting both teams. The Rockies and Isotopes won game one. In game two, the Rockies coughed up five runs, including a grand slam, to lose game two.
By the 8th, I’ve got the Albuquerque game on Gameday. The Isotopes were well behind in their second game. The Chihuahuas have things well in hand and would win their game 5-0. After the game, many fans would be sticking around and the players would be hanging out in the dugout. The Isotopes game feed was put on the video board at the stadium. Tim and the board op would be vamping a bit after the game, hoping to get in the final before the end of the broadcast. The Isotopes put a furious charge in the 9th, but came up short, 5-3 Salt Lake. You could hear the cheers in the stadium as the final out in that game was recorded. The Chihuahuas win the division and are going to the playoffs! Tim and the crew there were tried to work some interviews before the broadcast ended, but they’d delivered the important news. Now we look forward to another PCL Championship run.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 30, 2016
The Yahoo free game was Cubs vs Pirates. I saw Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer to right field in the 1st, but didn’t catch much else of the action. It’s almost boring watching the Cubs win this season (though last night’s 13-inning game was apparently pretty exciting). They’re making it look too easy. The stadium was packed there, as it’s been all season. The fans in Chicago can almost taste it. I feel bad for the Pirates. Their window of opportunity may have closed for this group. I’m sure their fans are dreading the possibility of enduring another couple of decades of losing baseball. I almost want to suggest that they deal McCutchen for a crop of really good prospects in the off season and reload for another run in a few years. The final was 3-0 Cubs.
I switched over to listening to the Chihuahuas vs the 51’s. Admittedly, I had a hard time concentrating on the game at work. Tim seemed very serious in calling the game tonight. It was a pretty tight affair. The dogs went down by a couple of runs early, but came back with three in the 2nd to take the lead. Austin Hedges hit what seemed like a back-breaking two-run homer in the 7th for a 6-2 lead. But, the 51’s are a good team. Michael Conforto, who was on Mets’ World Series team last year, hit a two-run home run to bring the score to 6-5 in the 9th. But, a new reliever for the pups came in after that and shut the door for the win. Moments after this win, the Isotopes lost their game tonight. The Chihuahuas’ magic number is two with six games left.
I think I saw on the website that Carlos Asuaje was named PCL Rookie of the Year. I went back to my scorecard from earlier in the year to get the spelling on that. I saw him go 4 for 4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s that night. Ah ha! I knew I’d heard Stephen Cardullo’s name before when I heard it on the Rockies broadcast yesterday. He was on the Isotopes that night and he’d hit a home run.
The Rockies were rained out tonight, but baseball goes on in Arlington between the Rangers and the Mariners. Cole Hamels had a bad outing, giving up six runs, but the Ranger offense never gave up. I kept checking in on score before finally putting on Gameday for the 9th. Down a run, Adrian Beltre (who else?) gets it started with a single. Roughned Odor then steps to the plate. Even just watching the pitching tracking and reading the play descriptions, what happened next was special: two-run walk-off home run. Rouggie! Your happy totals are Rangers 8, Mariners 6. If this team wins the World Series, I highly suspect these two will be the carrying the team to the trophy.
I switched over to listening to the Chihuahuas vs the 51’s. Admittedly, I had a hard time concentrating on the game at work. Tim seemed very serious in calling the game tonight. It was a pretty tight affair. The dogs went down by a couple of runs early, but came back with three in the 2nd to take the lead. Austin Hedges hit what seemed like a back-breaking two-run homer in the 7th for a 6-2 lead. But, the 51’s are a good team. Michael Conforto, who was on Mets’ World Series team last year, hit a two-run home run to bring the score to 6-5 in the 9th. But, a new reliever for the pups came in after that and shut the door for the win. Moments after this win, the Isotopes lost their game tonight. The Chihuahuas’ magic number is two with six games left.
I think I saw on the website that Carlos Asuaje was named PCL Rookie of the Year. I went back to my scorecard from earlier in the year to get the spelling on that. I saw him go 4 for 4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s that night. Ah ha! I knew I’d heard Stephen Cardullo’s name before when I heard it on the Rockies broadcast yesterday. He was on the Isotopes that night and he’d hit a home run.
The Rockies were rained out tonight, but baseball goes on in Arlington between the Rangers and the Mariners. Cole Hamels had a bad outing, giving up six runs, but the Ranger offense never gave up. I kept checking in on score before finally putting on Gameday for the 9th. Down a run, Adrian Beltre (who else?) gets it started with a single. Roughned Odor then steps to the plate. Even just watching the pitching tracking and reading the play descriptions, what happened next was special: two-run walk-off home run. Rouggie! Your happy totals are Rangers 8, Mariners 6. If this team wins the World Series, I highly suspect these two will be the carrying the team to the trophy.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 29, 2016
Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners. What a treat this is. The MLB.tv free game is the one I wanted to see. Not only am watching the video, I figured out I can switch the audio feed, and I’m able to listen to Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks call the game. I felt bad about that last post, since I’d clearly not sufficiently detailed a lot of the action. This isn’t a play-by-play blog and, owing to some bad reception, it’s hard to tell to what’s going on. Well for this post and with clear audio and visual, let’s do a little better today. Thankfully, it’s a quiet night at work.
I’m already happy with being able to watch. The broadcast starts off showing an attractive blonde woman with a scorebook behind the Rangers’ dugout. Where are these women, who obviously love the game, when I’m at the ballpark? (Mostly, the good-looking women are groupies. And where do you get those professional scorebooks?)
Our starting pitching matchup has an Oriental flavor with Yu Darvish vs Hisashi Iwakuma, a pair of World Baseball Classic teammates for the Japanese team. Carlos Beltran breaks the seal in the bottom of the 1st with a no doubter into the upper home run porch. 1-0 Rangers. There’s a short conversation about Roughned Odor, wondering what he’s really like in the clubhouse. The report is generally that he’s a good guy with his teammates and well-liked. There was a “ding” sound effect as Eric used the word, “Excoriate.” The guys on the broadcast are into using cool, obscure words.
Okay, pay attention here, this is where it gets interesting. Nomar Mazara triples to drive in Elvis Andrus, who was on base. Ian Desmond then doubled in Maz. With Adrian Beltre on deck, doing his usual video-bombing in the centerfield camera frame, Beltran doubles in Desmond, and this is all before the first out. Jonathan Lucroy then begats another run, driving in Beltran. Jared Sandler chimes in with an update and uses the word, “Bumfuzzled.” Ding!
There’s a giant red Ranger hat sitting with a couple of fans behind home plate. It’s confusing the hell out of me. Is it a cut-out? An image on a blanket? The most awesome sports novelty item ever? A giant hat! I never figured out what it was before it disappeared. With Iwakuma getting knocked around, Pat Venditte starts warming up in the Mariner bullpen. This guy is the fabled “switch-pitcher,” that we heard about a couple of years ago. They had to make a new rule to deal with unbelievable phenomena. The broadcast guys are fascinated. They’re wondering how he warms up both arms.
Meanwhile, we’re still in the 3rd, Carlos Gomez is at bat. After a home run in his Rangers debut and some sterling defense, he’s hasn’t hit since. Watching his swing, I can see why. Gomez is flailing so hard, he’s almost falling down with every swing. He works a long at bat against Iwakuma. Eric: “(Venditte’s) got time to warm up a third arm.” Gomez makes an out. Our score is 5-0 Rangers.
Adam Lind doubles in a run in the 4th to bring the score to 5-1 Rangers. Then Venditte enters the game. Indeed, he pitches righty to Elvis and lefty to Maz. It’s amazing. The TV view shows a young mom and her adorable daughter taking a selfie in the stands. TV directors, always do cute kids and happy family shots during a game. Fan cam should be mandatory on baseball broadcasts.
In the 5th, Darvish’s curve is working as he strikes out the side. (Crap! I forgot to get his total strikeouts. It was about eight. Edit: It was nine.) In the bottom, Venditte is back out. Eric has broken out some baseball encyclopedia research on ambidextrous pitchers. This guy is only the second one in the “modern” era. There were three others before that in the “old-timey” era, including some guy nicknamed, “Icebox.” Before Venditte came into a game in Boston, the organist played Joni Mitchell’s “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.” Talk about opposition research.
The afore mentioned new rule states that the pitcher must declare what arm they’re going to use before the batter chooses a box. Beltre comes to bat and flips his helmet around like he’s going to bat from the other side. That gets a laugh out of everybody. He then hits a double and makes it to third on a passed ball. Yesterday, there were 11 total hits. All of them singles. It was the first time that had happened at the ballpark in Arlington. Today, the ball’s getting slapped around harder. Ruggie sacrifices him in. The crowd goes into an “Ole” chant. I hadn’t heard that before in a baseball game. I don’t know if it’s a tradition or new. 6-1 Rangers.
Yu is out after 7 2/3 innings and leaves with two on. Matt uses the word, “Felicitous.” Ding! Jake Diekman comes in and gives up a double, scoring two, and a walk. The guys lamented the loss of Jeremy Jeffress here, who’s still on restriction. Keone Kela comes in and strikes out Nelson Cruz (who is either getting boo’ed or “Cruuuzz’ed” when he comes to bat, it’s hard to tell). 6-3 Rangers.
In the 7th, we get the defensive play of the game as former Ranger, Leonys Martin, fully goes over the wall to rob Desmond of a home run. The new Seattle pitcher is Arquimedes Caminero. He throws 100+ mph and doesn’t allow any further dramatics. Kela shuts down the 8th, and Sam Dyson finishes it off in the 9th. Our final is 6-3. Yea! There were a few hiccups in the video and audio feeds during the game, but I overall enjoyed the show.
Back at home, I tune into the Chihuahuas game. I’m in time for the post-game. The dogs have lost 6-3 to the Las Vegas 51’s. I flip over to the Rockies and it’s the bottom of the 8th versus the Dodgers. I missed the fireworks as the Rockies easily won 8-1. I get to hear a rookie named Stephen Cardullo get his first major league hit. The broadcast was really happy for him as he apparently was an extreme longshot to make it to the bigs. They also mentioned Albuquerque won tonight. They’re 4 ½ back with seven to go.
I’m already happy with being able to watch. The broadcast starts off showing an attractive blonde woman with a scorebook behind the Rangers’ dugout. Where are these women, who obviously love the game, when I’m at the ballpark? (Mostly, the good-looking women are groupies. And where do you get those professional scorebooks?)
Our starting pitching matchup has an Oriental flavor with Yu Darvish vs Hisashi Iwakuma, a pair of World Baseball Classic teammates for the Japanese team. Carlos Beltran breaks the seal in the bottom of the 1st with a no doubter into the upper home run porch. 1-0 Rangers. There’s a short conversation about Roughned Odor, wondering what he’s really like in the clubhouse. The report is generally that he’s a good guy with his teammates and well-liked. There was a “ding” sound effect as Eric used the word, “Excoriate.” The guys on the broadcast are into using cool, obscure words.
Okay, pay attention here, this is where it gets interesting. Nomar Mazara triples to drive in Elvis Andrus, who was on base. Ian Desmond then doubled in Maz. With Adrian Beltre on deck, doing his usual video-bombing in the centerfield camera frame, Beltran doubles in Desmond, and this is all before the first out. Jonathan Lucroy then begats another run, driving in Beltran. Jared Sandler chimes in with an update and uses the word, “Bumfuzzled.” Ding!
There’s a giant red Ranger hat sitting with a couple of fans behind home plate. It’s confusing the hell out of me. Is it a cut-out? An image on a blanket? The most awesome sports novelty item ever? A giant hat! I never figured out what it was before it disappeared. With Iwakuma getting knocked around, Pat Venditte starts warming up in the Mariner bullpen. This guy is the fabled “switch-pitcher,” that we heard about a couple of years ago. They had to make a new rule to deal with unbelievable phenomena. The broadcast guys are fascinated. They’re wondering how he warms up both arms.
Meanwhile, we’re still in the 3rd, Carlos Gomez is at bat. After a home run in his Rangers debut and some sterling defense, he’s hasn’t hit since. Watching his swing, I can see why. Gomez is flailing so hard, he’s almost falling down with every swing. He works a long at bat against Iwakuma. Eric: “(Venditte’s) got time to warm up a third arm.” Gomez makes an out. Our score is 5-0 Rangers.
Adam Lind doubles in a run in the 4th to bring the score to 5-1 Rangers. Then Venditte enters the game. Indeed, he pitches righty to Elvis and lefty to Maz. It’s amazing. The TV view shows a young mom and her adorable daughter taking a selfie in the stands. TV directors, always do cute kids and happy family shots during a game. Fan cam should be mandatory on baseball broadcasts.
In the 5th, Darvish’s curve is working as he strikes out the side. (Crap! I forgot to get his total strikeouts. It was about eight. Edit: It was nine.) In the bottom, Venditte is back out. Eric has broken out some baseball encyclopedia research on ambidextrous pitchers. This guy is only the second one in the “modern” era. There were three others before that in the “old-timey” era, including some guy nicknamed, “Icebox.” Before Venditte came into a game in Boston, the organist played Joni Mitchell’s “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.” Talk about opposition research.
The afore mentioned new rule states that the pitcher must declare what arm they’re going to use before the batter chooses a box. Beltre comes to bat and flips his helmet around like he’s going to bat from the other side. That gets a laugh out of everybody. He then hits a double and makes it to third on a passed ball. Yesterday, there were 11 total hits. All of them singles. It was the first time that had happened at the ballpark in Arlington. Today, the ball’s getting slapped around harder. Ruggie sacrifices him in. The crowd goes into an “Ole” chant. I hadn’t heard that before in a baseball game. I don’t know if it’s a tradition or new. 6-1 Rangers.
Yu is out after 7 2/3 innings and leaves with two on. Matt uses the word, “Felicitous.” Ding! Jake Diekman comes in and gives up a double, scoring two, and a walk. The guys lamented the loss of Jeremy Jeffress here, who’s still on restriction. Keone Kela comes in and strikes out Nelson Cruz (who is either getting boo’ed or “Cruuuzz’ed” when he comes to bat, it’s hard to tell). 6-3 Rangers.
In the 7th, we get the defensive play of the game as former Ranger, Leonys Martin, fully goes over the wall to rob Desmond of a home run. The new Seattle pitcher is Arquimedes Caminero. He throws 100+ mph and doesn’t allow any further dramatics. Kela shuts down the 8th, and Sam Dyson finishes it off in the 9th. Our final is 6-3. Yea! There were a few hiccups in the video and audio feeds during the game, but I overall enjoyed the show.
Back at home, I tune into the Chihuahuas game. I’m in time for the post-game. The dogs have lost 6-3 to the Las Vegas 51’s. I flip over to the Rockies and it’s the bottom of the 8th versus the Dodgers. I missed the fireworks as the Rockies easily won 8-1. I get to hear a rookie named Stephen Cardullo get his first major league hit. The broadcast was really happy for him as he apparently was an extreme longshot to make it to the bigs. They also mentioned Albuquerque won tonight. They’re 4 ½ back with seven to go.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 26, 27, 28 2016
August 26, 2016
For our third, pivotal game between the El Paso Chihuahuas and the Albuquerque Isotopes, I’m watching the Gameday tracking. No radio. The Internet feed was pre-empted for High School football coverage. I got really depressed when I realized that next Friday, when my co-workers are at the game, I won’t even be able to listen.
The worst of it was that this looked like a heck of game. The Isotopes went up 3 runs in the 1st. The Chihuahuas answered in the 2nd with 3 runs of their own. No tight pitching battle for 5 innings this time. Watching Gameday is hard, especially when you’re at work, working. The dogs managed to pull away later in the game and won 10-4. Austin Hedges came up big with 3 RBI’s and a home run. It’s also hard to write up Gameday viewing and have any hope of making it interesting.
The MLB.tv free game, that I found myself turning to, was the Mariners vs the White Sox. It was Elvis night on the South side of Chicago. The camera kept picking out the people with the big sideburns and wigs and sequined jumpsuits to the amusement of the audience. In spite of 13 strikeouts by Chris Sale, it was a 3-1 Mariners win. Where’s Hawk Harrelson? I thought he was still doing games. It just wasn’t the same without a “ducks on the pond” or a “He gone.” At least those phrases will live on with other broadcasters.
Let’s look at the scoreboard. Kansas City beat Boston 6-3, but they don’t gain any ground as Cleveland rocked all over Texas, 12-1. Corey Kluber versus Martin Perez was not going to be a good match up for the Rangers. I didn’t mention it last weekend, but Perez was pretty much blamed for the bad loss to Tampa. He’s not looking good for the rotation. On the back end, Jeremy Jeffress was picked up for DWI. His future is uncertain. We have pitching issues.
8-27-16
With nothing better to do or watch on Saturday afternoon, I watched the Little League World Series. Sigh. Am I really doing this? I understand most people like this event. I used to. I’m not sure what happened. We likely start with this being an ESPN production. “Let’s see if we can turn a 7 inning game with kids into a 3-hour, highly sponsor-friendly, well-padded typical ESPN sports showcase.” The announcing doesn’t help. The guys doing MLB games are typically more light-hearted and having more fun. It all feels a little too serious. Maybe I’m not taking it seriously enough. Who can say?
The International championship lost me immediately. First, the South Korean coaches were complaining to the ump about the Panamanian pitcher. Then, there was a catcher’s equipment failure. When a pitch was finally thrown, the ump blew the call and it had to go replay. I gave up for the morning on it. South Korea won big. I tuned back in for the consolation game, also called the American championship. This might be another reason why I dread the LLWS: my team doesn’t win it often enough for me to get excited for it.
The game was more involving this time, but hugely more disappointing. This was entirely because of the ESPN news ticker running below the action. In between international soccer scores (how does an American go about choosing a favorite English, Spanish, Mexican, or German soccer team?), the lead story was that Tony Romo is out basically out for the season with a broken back. My Cowboys season is at least ended before it had a chance to hurt me worse later on. Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to do weekly NFL posts. Anyway, the story for game was New York pitcher, Michael Mancini. His line was 11 K’s, 1 hit, 1 walk before being taken out for his pitch count. Tennessee mounted a comeback in the 7th, but New York prevailed 4-2, and will go on to the championship tomorrow.
I got to hear a couple of innings of the Rangers vs the Indians, owing to bad reception, possibly weather-related (it rained all evening here). But, I got to hear the best of it. Through the static, Matt Hicks in the 1st (where’s Eric?) called Mitch Moreland hitting a grand slam. The Rangers lead 5-0 after one. (Annoyingly, I didn’t get a final score that night. It was 7-0.)
Good thing the Chihuahuas were playing in Albuquerque tonight. They wouldn’t have gotten the game in here with the rain. Up north, they only had a half-hour rain delay. 12,000 fans were crammed into the Lab tonight, including a small, but noisy contingent of pup fans. A lead-off homer gave them something to cheer about. Unfortunately after the 1st, the Chihuahuas didn’t get another hit for 7 innings. In the meantime, the Isotopes tied it and then went ahead by a run. They then put up 3 runs in 8th to make the score 5-1. The top of the 9th started with a single. That runner scored on a triple went off the center field wall and then rolled down the hill. Another run scored on an infield single, and all of this was before an out was recorded. Another runner scored with two out, but the game ended on a diving catch going into the gap. Final score, 5-4 Isotopes. Ever since the team has been on their winning streak, the Isotopes throw a party in their clubhouse with a disco ball and smoke machine. Well, get the DJ ready, they’re coming to party tonight.
8-28-16
I’ll kill the suspense right here. The Texas Rangers and the US New York Little League teams both managed to win their games 2-1. It was an interesting experience having these two games on at the same time, namely my notes interleave both games together. Let’s see if I can separate this.
Obviously the kids somehow knew what I wrote yesterday and were determined to make me eat my words. You’re welcome. Proper motivation is so important. The action is pretty easy to sum up. The US scored twice in the 4th. One of those runs came on a dropped third strike that got away from the South Korean catcher. There was a solo home run in the 5th, but the US starter went the distance for the win. (I didn’t get his name. I was listening to Ranger game on the radio, so the sound was off on the TV.) There was also a great play in the outfield to rob South Korea of a home run. Of course the best play was in the pressbox, as the play-by-play guy (again, didn’t get the name) caught a foul ball that ricocheted inside.
I enjoyed the game more with the sound off. Granted, this caused problems, such as not understanding why they only played six innings. I thought they played seven in Little League? Unfortunately, I was still getting visuals didn’t want. I don’t want to see the crying parents and kids in the stands. Then there’s the one bad thing about a US team this event: watching the Asian team stand on the foul line and begin ritual crying. You feel bad for them, not to mention, “There’s no . . .” I am not doing that movie quote. It’s not even correct. I’ve never even the movie. Okay, U-S-A, U-S-A!
In Arlington with 35,000 in attendance this afternoon, we’re mentioning newly acquired Carlos Gomez again. He made two great catches in the left field today for the Rangers. Given how close the score was, that was important. I may have to give Jon Daniels a lot of credit here. He’s been plugging in pieces from the minors and other teams all year, making up for injuries. The team has been getting these little jolts all year.
Derek Holland looked good out on the mound (figuratively speaking, since I was only listening), going six innings, allowing one run. Danny Salazar for the Indians also looked good with 10 K’s over 5 1/3 innings. I like to say the pitching was great all the way through, but the Rangers relievers provided way more drama without even giving up anything. In the 7th, Jake Diekman came in and issued seven straight balls, before getting a double play and out of trouble. In the 9th, Sam Dyson said, “I can do better than that,” and threw nine straight balls and loaded the bases. He got a strikeout and a fly out to end the game. Whew! Pitching coach, Doug Brocail, earned his pay today and got a workout going back and forth to mound.
That’s three of four from the second best team in the league. Strangely, the other three games were blowouts. The Rangers somehow have the best record in the American League (remember, they’re -2 in Run Differential). They’re also up 8 ½ on the Astros and Mariners, who both lost today. After the game, Jonathan Lucroy, Rangers catcher, was asked what he said to the struggling relievers when he went out to the mound. Basically, he doesn’t tell these guys how to pitch. He just tells them to relax and focus on hitting his mitt. Don’t you wish we all had someone like that in our lives? My favorite call of the game came from Matt Hicks (again without Eric Nadel), “The scoring goes 6-5-3. It’s complicated, but it’s a double play.” No updates on the Little League World Series or any games other than the Mariners and the Astros during or after the game.
The last out of the game was Abraham Almonte, former El Paso Chihuahua. Speaking of which, game five of the dogs versus the ‘Topes was tonight. There was a 20 minute delay for a few ceremonies before the Isotopes’ last scheduled home game of the season. The team won an award for best groundskeeping. If they’re doing a better job than in El Paso, it must be special. They also welcomed their 8 millionth fan this evening since the opening of the ballpark. Jessica Pacheco gave a stirring rendition of the National anthem. And with that, we were underway.
Tim Hagerty’s call of the game was pretty serious, but informative, as he chatted about the various players. I noticed that the PA there was doing an ad spot when there was a strikeout. Another reason to like the Chihuahuas, they have so far resisted such annoyances. Nick Torres got the scoring started in the 2nd with a home run to the deepest part of the park. Nick would tack on another homer later and the Chihuahuas would keep scoring. With the score 5-2 in the 8th, the centerfielder fell down on the hill in the outfield trying to catch a flyball, which would later lead to two runs scoring for the Isotopes. But, 5-4 was as close as they got with a four run top of the 9th by the pups. 9-4 Chihuahuas was our final. The Chihuahuas take three of five from the Isotopes and go up 5 ½ games with only eight remaining. Sal, the board op, breaks his eight game losing streak and is allowed back in the broadcast booth if the Chihuahuas make it to the playoffs.
Time to be honest. High school football started on Friday. College football kicks off this week. The NFL returns the week after. (I’m not even sure I have a local radio affiliate to listen to their games now, since that station went to an Oldies format. Not sure I even want to, since Colin Kapernick just became the official league spokesman. Thank God, he's not on my team. I'll take Tony Romo and his broken back, instead of this clown.) The Chihuahuas season is also about to end, though it may continue through October, if they win the important games coming up. My baseball listening over the radio is about to get chopped, probably along with the near daily blogging.
For our third, pivotal game between the El Paso Chihuahuas and the Albuquerque Isotopes, I’m watching the Gameday tracking. No radio. The Internet feed was pre-empted for High School football coverage. I got really depressed when I realized that next Friday, when my co-workers are at the game, I won’t even be able to listen.
The worst of it was that this looked like a heck of game. The Isotopes went up 3 runs in the 1st. The Chihuahuas answered in the 2nd with 3 runs of their own. No tight pitching battle for 5 innings this time. Watching Gameday is hard, especially when you’re at work, working. The dogs managed to pull away later in the game and won 10-4. Austin Hedges came up big with 3 RBI’s and a home run. It’s also hard to write up Gameday viewing and have any hope of making it interesting.
The MLB.tv free game, that I found myself turning to, was the Mariners vs the White Sox. It was Elvis night on the South side of Chicago. The camera kept picking out the people with the big sideburns and wigs and sequined jumpsuits to the amusement of the audience. In spite of 13 strikeouts by Chris Sale, it was a 3-1 Mariners win. Where’s Hawk Harrelson? I thought he was still doing games. It just wasn’t the same without a “ducks on the pond” or a “He gone.” At least those phrases will live on with other broadcasters.
Let’s look at the scoreboard. Kansas City beat Boston 6-3, but they don’t gain any ground as Cleveland rocked all over Texas, 12-1. Corey Kluber versus Martin Perez was not going to be a good match up for the Rangers. I didn’t mention it last weekend, but Perez was pretty much blamed for the bad loss to Tampa. He’s not looking good for the rotation. On the back end, Jeremy Jeffress was picked up for DWI. His future is uncertain. We have pitching issues.
8-27-16
With nothing better to do or watch on Saturday afternoon, I watched the Little League World Series. Sigh. Am I really doing this? I understand most people like this event. I used to. I’m not sure what happened. We likely start with this being an ESPN production. “Let’s see if we can turn a 7 inning game with kids into a 3-hour, highly sponsor-friendly, well-padded typical ESPN sports showcase.” The announcing doesn’t help. The guys doing MLB games are typically more light-hearted and having more fun. It all feels a little too serious. Maybe I’m not taking it seriously enough. Who can say?
The International championship lost me immediately. First, the South Korean coaches were complaining to the ump about the Panamanian pitcher. Then, there was a catcher’s equipment failure. When a pitch was finally thrown, the ump blew the call and it had to go replay. I gave up for the morning on it. South Korea won big. I tuned back in for the consolation game, also called the American championship. This might be another reason why I dread the LLWS: my team doesn’t win it often enough for me to get excited for it.
The game was more involving this time, but hugely more disappointing. This was entirely because of the ESPN news ticker running below the action. In between international soccer scores (how does an American go about choosing a favorite English, Spanish, Mexican, or German soccer team?), the lead story was that Tony Romo is out basically out for the season with a broken back. My Cowboys season is at least ended before it had a chance to hurt me worse later on. Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to do weekly NFL posts. Anyway, the story for game was New York pitcher, Michael Mancini. His line was 11 K’s, 1 hit, 1 walk before being taken out for his pitch count. Tennessee mounted a comeback in the 7th, but New York prevailed 4-2, and will go on to the championship tomorrow.
I got to hear a couple of innings of the Rangers vs the Indians, owing to bad reception, possibly weather-related (it rained all evening here). But, I got to hear the best of it. Through the static, Matt Hicks in the 1st (where’s Eric?) called Mitch Moreland hitting a grand slam. The Rangers lead 5-0 after one. (Annoyingly, I didn’t get a final score that night. It was 7-0.)
Good thing the Chihuahuas were playing in Albuquerque tonight. They wouldn’t have gotten the game in here with the rain. Up north, they only had a half-hour rain delay. 12,000 fans were crammed into the Lab tonight, including a small, but noisy contingent of pup fans. A lead-off homer gave them something to cheer about. Unfortunately after the 1st, the Chihuahuas didn’t get another hit for 7 innings. In the meantime, the Isotopes tied it and then went ahead by a run. They then put up 3 runs in 8th to make the score 5-1. The top of the 9th started with a single. That runner scored on a triple went off the center field wall and then rolled down the hill. Another run scored on an infield single, and all of this was before an out was recorded. Another runner scored with two out, but the game ended on a diving catch going into the gap. Final score, 5-4 Isotopes. Ever since the team has been on their winning streak, the Isotopes throw a party in their clubhouse with a disco ball and smoke machine. Well, get the DJ ready, they’re coming to party tonight.
8-28-16
I’ll kill the suspense right here. The Texas Rangers and the US New York Little League teams both managed to win their games 2-1. It was an interesting experience having these two games on at the same time, namely my notes interleave both games together. Let’s see if I can separate this.
Obviously the kids somehow knew what I wrote yesterday and were determined to make me eat my words. You’re welcome. Proper motivation is so important. The action is pretty easy to sum up. The US scored twice in the 4th. One of those runs came on a dropped third strike that got away from the South Korean catcher. There was a solo home run in the 5th, but the US starter went the distance for the win. (I didn’t get his name. I was listening to Ranger game on the radio, so the sound was off on the TV.) There was also a great play in the outfield to rob South Korea of a home run. Of course the best play was in the pressbox, as the play-by-play guy (again, didn’t get the name) caught a foul ball that ricocheted inside.
I enjoyed the game more with the sound off. Granted, this caused problems, such as not understanding why they only played six innings. I thought they played seven in Little League? Unfortunately, I was still getting visuals didn’t want. I don’t want to see the crying parents and kids in the stands. Then there’s the one bad thing about a US team this event: watching the Asian team stand on the foul line and begin ritual crying. You feel bad for them, not to mention, “There’s no . . .” I am not doing that movie quote. It’s not even correct. I’ve never even the movie. Okay, U-S-A, U-S-A!
In Arlington with 35,000 in attendance this afternoon, we’re mentioning newly acquired Carlos Gomez again. He made two great catches in the left field today for the Rangers. Given how close the score was, that was important. I may have to give Jon Daniels a lot of credit here. He’s been plugging in pieces from the minors and other teams all year, making up for injuries. The team has been getting these little jolts all year.
Derek Holland looked good out on the mound (figuratively speaking, since I was only listening), going six innings, allowing one run. Danny Salazar for the Indians also looked good with 10 K’s over 5 1/3 innings. I like to say the pitching was great all the way through, but the Rangers relievers provided way more drama without even giving up anything. In the 7th, Jake Diekman came in and issued seven straight balls, before getting a double play and out of trouble. In the 9th, Sam Dyson said, “I can do better than that,” and threw nine straight balls and loaded the bases. He got a strikeout and a fly out to end the game. Whew! Pitching coach, Doug Brocail, earned his pay today and got a workout going back and forth to mound.
That’s three of four from the second best team in the league. Strangely, the other three games were blowouts. The Rangers somehow have the best record in the American League (remember, they’re -2 in Run Differential). They’re also up 8 ½ on the Astros and Mariners, who both lost today. After the game, Jonathan Lucroy, Rangers catcher, was asked what he said to the struggling relievers when he went out to the mound. Basically, he doesn’t tell these guys how to pitch. He just tells them to relax and focus on hitting his mitt. Don’t you wish we all had someone like that in our lives? My favorite call of the game came from Matt Hicks (again without Eric Nadel), “The scoring goes 6-5-3. It’s complicated, but it’s a double play.” No updates on the Little League World Series or any games other than the Mariners and the Astros during or after the game.
The last out of the game was Abraham Almonte, former El Paso Chihuahua. Speaking of which, game five of the dogs versus the ‘Topes was tonight. There was a 20 minute delay for a few ceremonies before the Isotopes’ last scheduled home game of the season. The team won an award for best groundskeeping. If they’re doing a better job than in El Paso, it must be special. They also welcomed their 8 millionth fan this evening since the opening of the ballpark. Jessica Pacheco gave a stirring rendition of the National anthem. And with that, we were underway.
Tim Hagerty’s call of the game was pretty serious, but informative, as he chatted about the various players. I noticed that the PA there was doing an ad spot when there was a strikeout. Another reason to like the Chihuahuas, they have so far resisted such annoyances. Nick Torres got the scoring started in the 2nd with a home run to the deepest part of the park. Nick would tack on another homer later and the Chihuahuas would keep scoring. With the score 5-2 in the 8th, the centerfielder fell down on the hill in the outfield trying to catch a flyball, which would later lead to two runs scoring for the Isotopes. But, 5-4 was as close as they got with a four run top of the 9th by the pups. 9-4 Chihuahuas was our final. The Chihuahuas take three of five from the Isotopes and go up 5 ½ games with only eight remaining. Sal, the board op, breaks his eight game losing streak and is allowed back in the broadcast booth if the Chihuahuas make it to the playoffs.
Time to be honest. High school football started on Friday. College football kicks off this week. The NFL returns the week after. (I’m not even sure I have a local radio affiliate to listen to their games now, since that station went to an Oldies format. Not sure I even want to, since Colin Kapernick just became the official league spokesman. Thank God, he's not on my team. I'll take Tony Romo and his broken back, instead of this clown.) The Chihuahuas season is also about to end, though it may continue through October, if they win the important games coming up. My baseball listening over the radio is about to get chopped, probably along with the near daily blogging.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 25, 2016
Game 2 at the Lab in Albuquerque between the Chihuahuas and the Isotopes. A barbershop quartet singing the anthem got the proceedings started. (Some interesting anthem singers lately.) The crowd was again large and loud. Much like yesterday, both teams were playing tight, and there was no scoring for the first half of the game.
Tim Hagerty was a lot looser today calling the game. After one break, he came back on chuckling. “If you get caught laughing on the radio, you should explain why.” Unfortunately, game action was going fast and he’d already told this story earlier on an El Paso sportstalk show, so I was having trouble following the thread. The PA at the stadium was playing the Gin Blossoms between innings. Earlier in the season, I think the Albuquerque’s radio announcer had bet Tim that Isotopes would catch the Chihuahuas in the standings. Like 17 games back, that was a pretty safe bet at the time. Tim likes the Gin Blossoms (me too, they’re one of my favorites), so I think the other guy, who hates them, has to sing one of their songs in public (I think). The PA apparently found out about this and was having a good time with it. The other announcer was in an uproar in his booth. Tim’s end of the deal was that he’d have catch a bullpen session with a pitcher who throws 99 mph. He has a definite personal stake in the Chihuahuas winning.
Meanwhile, the MLB.tv free game was the Royals vs the Marlins. I would have liked to have watched more, but being at the same time as the all-important Chihuahuas game and other distractions, I was only catching bits of it. I did see Jeff “Frenchy” Francoeur on his new team after a trade, the Marlins, beat out an infield single pinch hitting. His teammates were amazed and amused. I wonder if there’s a chance he’ll end up back playing with the Chihuahuas at some point in his career. The Royals won 5-2. They’ve won 10 of 11. Can they catch the Indians?
Well, the Rangers helped them out with a 9-0 win over the Indians in Arlington. Cole Hamels, no doubt wishing they were in the National League so he could hit one out like Yu Darvish, had to settle for pitching 8 shutout innings. Carlos Gomez, recently let go by the Astros and picked up by the Rangers, made a good impression on his new team, hitting a home run and driving in 3 runs. There’s been some real animus towards Gomez from the fans and within baseball. Honestly, I don’t know what the problem is. I haven’t followed his story at all. As long as he hits and doesn’t cause any problems, I’m good with him.
Back in Albuquerque, Tim has threatened the board op, Sal, with being barred from future broadcasts for being a jinx. The team has lost 7 in a row when he’s been working the studio and Tim can’t afford any more losses. He was just kidding. However, after an error, the Isotopes opened up the scoring in the 5th with an unearned run. They’d score twice more and win the game 3-0. Rockies pitcher, Christian Bergman, pitching tonight went 7 scoreless innings and drove in two runs. He may be back in the majors soon. The Isotopes are now 4 ½ back of the Chihuahuas with 7 more head-to-head games left. (Cue the Jaws theme.)
Tim Hagerty was a lot looser today calling the game. After one break, he came back on chuckling. “If you get caught laughing on the radio, you should explain why.” Unfortunately, game action was going fast and he’d already told this story earlier on an El Paso sportstalk show, so I was having trouble following the thread. The PA at the stadium was playing the Gin Blossoms between innings. Earlier in the season, I think the Albuquerque’s radio announcer had bet Tim that Isotopes would catch the Chihuahuas in the standings. Like 17 games back, that was a pretty safe bet at the time. Tim likes the Gin Blossoms (me too, they’re one of my favorites), so I think the other guy, who hates them, has to sing one of their songs in public (I think). The PA apparently found out about this and was having a good time with it. The other announcer was in an uproar in his booth. Tim’s end of the deal was that he’d have catch a bullpen session with a pitcher who throws 99 mph. He has a definite personal stake in the Chihuahuas winning.
Meanwhile, the MLB.tv free game was the Royals vs the Marlins. I would have liked to have watched more, but being at the same time as the all-important Chihuahuas game and other distractions, I was only catching bits of it. I did see Jeff “Frenchy” Francoeur on his new team after a trade, the Marlins, beat out an infield single pinch hitting. His teammates were amazed and amused. I wonder if there’s a chance he’ll end up back playing with the Chihuahuas at some point in his career. The Royals won 5-2. They’ve won 10 of 11. Can they catch the Indians?
Well, the Rangers helped them out with a 9-0 win over the Indians in Arlington. Cole Hamels, no doubt wishing they were in the National League so he could hit one out like Yu Darvish, had to settle for pitching 8 shutout innings. Carlos Gomez, recently let go by the Astros and picked up by the Rangers, made a good impression on his new team, hitting a home run and driving in 3 runs. There’s been some real animus towards Gomez from the fans and within baseball. Honestly, I don’t know what the problem is. I haven’t followed his story at all. As long as he hits and doesn’t cause any problems, I’m good with him.
Back in Albuquerque, Tim has threatened the board op, Sal, with being barred from future broadcasts for being a jinx. The team has lost 7 in a row when he’s been working the studio and Tim can’t afford any more losses. He was just kidding. However, after an error, the Isotopes opened up the scoring in the 5th with an unearned run. They’d score twice more and win the game 3-0. Rockies pitcher, Christian Bergman, pitching tonight went 7 scoreless innings and drove in two runs. He may be back in the majors soon. The Isotopes are now 4 ½ back of the Chihuahuas with 7 more head-to-head games left. (Cue the Jaws theme.)
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 24, 2016
Looking back on my notes, I see why didn’t bother writing for the last two days. The Chihuahuas lost twice. They had an over an hour rain delay on Tuesday, which is newsworthy in El Paso. Steve Kaplowitz was also a guest for a couple of innings. Unfortunately, it was too brief and on field action was actually interfering with an interesting conversation he was having with Tim. The Rockies dropped two to the Brewers. The Rangers lost 3-0 to the Reds, which is so bad, it’s like losing two in a row. Derek Holland at least had a good comeback start.
Today would be different. The Yahoo free game was the Rockies vs the Brewers, which was again blocked due to broadcast restrictions. (Again, the most rest of the state of New Mexico probably gets Rockies games on their cable, we do not here in Las Cruces. We get Diamondbacks games.) The TV was also blocked on MLB.tv, but bless them, they allowed the Brewers’ radio feed.
And there he was. It was the ghostly, disembodied voice of Bob Uecker, calling Brewers games from beyond the grave. And at this point, I have to explain. My co-worker, Mike, keeps insisting that Bob Uecker has passed away (and this is actually just part of an even larger running gag). Unfortunately, he was out to lunch, so I had to explain this to my boss, Ron, and another co-worker, Eric, who then asked, “Who’s Bob Uecker?” Feeling a little older, me and Ron explained Uecker’s fame. Eric seemed amused by the story about Bob reading his mail over the air during a game.
In any case, Uecker sounded great and gave an enthusiastic call of the game. It was great to hear him. Owing to a light work load, I was able to listen to several of innings. The game was tied at 1 when I started listening in the 5th. The Brewers managed to scratch out a couple of runs, before they sent 9 to the plate in 7th inning and scored 4. I eventually I had to leave, but I left the game running. When I got back, the game had just ended, 7-1 Brewers. Mike was back and when he saw me, the first thing he said was, “I thought I heard Bob Uecker’s voice doing the ball game. Dear old departed Bob. It must have been a replay of an old broadcast of his.” Mike also enjoyed the local Milwaukee sponsors for the game, Badger Insurance and Pop's Drive in and Tavern.
I later took a minute to check the MLB standings. (I really didn’t have much to do at work this afternoon.) Kansas City has won 9 in a row, but they’re still 7.5 games back. I looked at the Run Differential stat that the Sabermetricians love. The Cubs are unsurprisingly the leaders at +214, about 50 better than anybody else. The Braves are last at -151. The Rockies are at +14.
The Rangers are at -2.
Ahem.
I don’t know how they’re leading their division either.
Regardless, there can be only one story concerning the Rangers today. Yu Darvish went yard. It was in Cincinnati, well known as a band box, but his homer went to the deepest part of the park, about 406 ft. Almost needless to say, it was his first career home run. I literally coughed (if I’d been drinking something, I would have done a spit take) when I was looking over the box score on Gameday as the final inning played out.
I immediately went to the video when the game was over. (The Rangers winning, 6-5, with Adrian Beltre knocking in the go-ahead run, is almost inconsequential.) There he was, Yu Darvish smacking a home run. His batting helmet didn’t even fit his head. He had to hold on to it while he was rounding the bases. I’m sure the Reds pitcher must have immediately been taken out of the game and sent down to Double-A. I couldn’t resist checking out the game thread on Lonestar Ball, a Rangers fansite. The early posts are convinced that Yu is not just embarrassing himself at the plate, but he’s going to end up injuring himself. They’re telling him to flat out stop swinging. Then in the 5th, there’s a long series of inarticulate posts where no one can believe what they just saw. Oh, baseball is great!
Things got more serious later with the Chihuahuas visiting the Albuquerque Isotopes, their nearest rival in the division (both geographically and in the standings). The Isotopes were, at one point, 17 ½ games out of first. Now, they’re 4 1/2 games out with 9 games against the dogs remaining. Tim Hagerty credited the ‘Topes resurgence to a great crop of reinforcements from Double-A, the Hartford Yard Goats. No doubt players on that team are playing their hearts out to get a ticket out of that mess. (Their new stadium still isn’t finished. They’ve been playing their entire schedule on the road this season. I don’t even how that would work in scheduling or how the team is making money without any gate receipts.)
I joined the game during the National Anthem. It was a great rendition done by a saxophone player. Tim seemed seriously intense during the broadcast. He was into every play on the field. The crowd there was big and equally involved. The crowd mic had no trouble picking up their every reaction. The whole town was even interested in the series. Tim mentioned a Chihuahuas player in town had gotten the business from an Uber driver coming to the park.
It certainly played out like a playoff game. The game was scoreless for 5 ½ innings. Given the high-scoring teams involved and the high altitude of the park, that’s nothing short of amazing. In the bottom of the 6th, an Isotopes’ home run gave them the lead. It was short-lived. In the top of the 7th, the pups got two runs, one off an error and the other from a wild pitch. In the bottom of the 8th, the Isotopes tied it up again. The 9th would not produce a winner, so on to extras. The Isotopes threatened in the 10th and 11th, but couldn’t get a run across. In the 12th, the Chihuahuas finally broke out with a pair of runs and would win 4-2. We can only hope the next 8 games are this intense between these two teams.
Today would be different. The Yahoo free game was the Rockies vs the Brewers, which was again blocked due to broadcast restrictions. (Again, the most rest of the state of New Mexico probably gets Rockies games on their cable, we do not here in Las Cruces. We get Diamondbacks games.) The TV was also blocked on MLB.tv, but bless them, they allowed the Brewers’ radio feed.
And there he was. It was the ghostly, disembodied voice of Bob Uecker, calling Brewers games from beyond the grave. And at this point, I have to explain. My co-worker, Mike, keeps insisting that Bob Uecker has passed away (and this is actually just part of an even larger running gag). Unfortunately, he was out to lunch, so I had to explain this to my boss, Ron, and another co-worker, Eric, who then asked, “Who’s Bob Uecker?” Feeling a little older, me and Ron explained Uecker’s fame. Eric seemed amused by the story about Bob reading his mail over the air during a game.
In any case, Uecker sounded great and gave an enthusiastic call of the game. It was great to hear him. Owing to a light work load, I was able to listen to several of innings. The game was tied at 1 when I started listening in the 5th. The Brewers managed to scratch out a couple of runs, before they sent 9 to the plate in 7th inning and scored 4. I eventually I had to leave, but I left the game running. When I got back, the game had just ended, 7-1 Brewers. Mike was back and when he saw me, the first thing he said was, “I thought I heard Bob Uecker’s voice doing the ball game. Dear old departed Bob. It must have been a replay of an old broadcast of his.” Mike also enjoyed the local Milwaukee sponsors for the game, Badger Insurance and Pop's Drive in and Tavern.
I later took a minute to check the MLB standings. (I really didn’t have much to do at work this afternoon.) Kansas City has won 9 in a row, but they’re still 7.5 games back. I looked at the Run Differential stat that the Sabermetricians love. The Cubs are unsurprisingly the leaders at +214, about 50 better than anybody else. The Braves are last at -151. The Rockies are at +14.
The Rangers are at -2.
Ahem.
I don’t know how they’re leading their division either.
Regardless, there can be only one story concerning the Rangers today. Yu Darvish went yard. It was in Cincinnati, well known as a band box, but his homer went to the deepest part of the park, about 406 ft. Almost needless to say, it was his first career home run. I literally coughed (if I’d been drinking something, I would have done a spit take) when I was looking over the box score on Gameday as the final inning played out.
I immediately went to the video when the game was over. (The Rangers winning, 6-5, with Adrian Beltre knocking in the go-ahead run, is almost inconsequential.) There he was, Yu Darvish smacking a home run. His batting helmet didn’t even fit his head. He had to hold on to it while he was rounding the bases. I’m sure the Reds pitcher must have immediately been taken out of the game and sent down to Double-A. I couldn’t resist checking out the game thread on Lonestar Ball, a Rangers fansite. The early posts are convinced that Yu is not just embarrassing himself at the plate, but he’s going to end up injuring himself. They’re telling him to flat out stop swinging. Then in the 5th, there’s a long series of inarticulate posts where no one can believe what they just saw. Oh, baseball is great!
Things got more serious later with the Chihuahuas visiting the Albuquerque Isotopes, their nearest rival in the division (both geographically and in the standings). The Isotopes were, at one point, 17 ½ games out of first. Now, they’re 4 1/2 games out with 9 games against the dogs remaining. Tim Hagerty credited the ‘Topes resurgence to a great crop of reinforcements from Double-A, the Hartford Yard Goats. No doubt players on that team are playing their hearts out to get a ticket out of that mess. (Their new stadium still isn’t finished. They’ve been playing their entire schedule on the road this season. I don’t even how that would work in scheduling or how the team is making money without any gate receipts.)
I joined the game during the National Anthem. It was a great rendition done by a saxophone player. Tim seemed seriously intense during the broadcast. He was into every play on the field. The crowd there was big and equally involved. The crowd mic had no trouble picking up their every reaction. The whole town was even interested in the series. Tim mentioned a Chihuahuas player in town had gotten the business from an Uber driver coming to the park.
It certainly played out like a playoff game. The game was scoreless for 5 ½ innings. Given the high-scoring teams involved and the high altitude of the park, that’s nothing short of amazing. In the bottom of the 6th, an Isotopes’ home run gave them the lead. It was short-lived. In the top of the 7th, the pups got two runs, one off an error and the other from a wild pitch. In the bottom of the 8th, the Isotopes tied it up again. The 9th would not produce a winner, so on to extras. The Isotopes threatened in the 10th and 11th, but couldn’t get a run across. In the 12th, the Chihuahuas finally broke out with a pair of runs and would win 4-2. We can only hope the next 8 games are this intense between these two teams.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Baseball Notebook for August 19, 20, 21, 2016
8-19-16
The MLB Network was showing the Red Sox at the Tigers, and it was the Tigers team broadcast. I wanted to hear more of Kirk Gibson, so I was watching. Him and Rod Allen had an interesting discussion about whether a batter should be given a green light to swing in a 3-0 count. Depends on the hitter, and if they’ve practiced that situation or not.
I didn’t have a lot of time to watch. One thing’s for sure, the starting pitchers, Fulmer and Porcello, desperately needed new hats. Those were hardcore nasty-looking pieces of headgear. The Tigers’ fielders had some good coordination. On a popup, I saw the shortstop call off the 3rd baseman, who was in turn called off by the left fielder. And then later, the shortstop was again called off by the left fielder on a short fly ball. I appreciated how effortlessly they gave way to each other, since, when that doesn’t happen, comedy often ensues. I had to walk away to do some work for 15 minutes. When I got back, the Red Sox had doubled their score. The painful final was 10-2 Red Sox.
They didn’t listen to me at MLB.com. They were putting up the no-hitter alert for Cole Hammels in the 6th inning against the Rays. Of course that jinxed it. That’s okay though. It was a 6-2 win for the Rangers anyway.
Rain canceled the Chihuahuas game versus the Colorado Sky Sox. Given the way the pups are playing, this might have been the best thing for them. At this point I don’t know if or how they’d make up this game given the tight Triple-A schedule and that there’s only a couple of weeks left in the season. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear Tim calling the game off, only that they were in a delay. Unsurprisingly, the Rockies in Denver are also in a rain delay. Given that they’re playing the Cubs, a visiting team that draws really well, I’m sure they’re going to make more of an effort to get the game in.
Since I have a minute, let’s see what else is going on. The Indians won on a walk-off, or rather run-off, inside the park home run against the Blue Jays. The O’s started off their game with four home runs before making an out. Didn’t help. They lost 15-8 to the Astros. The Giants win two in a row for the first time since the All Star break.
Okay, they are playing tonight in Denver after a two-hour rain delay. I check out Game Day at work (I noticed David Dahl hit a lead-off home run) and then pick up the game on the radio when I get home. The announced attendance was 43,000, though many chased away by the delay. They’ve had over 2 million visitors so far this year. Hey, I was one of them! In with the temperature in the high 40’s, it still sounded like there were a lot of people there, and they were rooting on both teams.
The Rockies fell behind in the middle of the game, but kept the Cubs from piling on and slowly chipped away. They managed to tie it on a successful sac fly by Arenado. (Well, after a successful challenge after a bad call by the ump.) The score remained tied after 9.
In the 10th, the rain came back as a steady drizzle, no doubt to comfort of the remaining “real” fans. Being after midnight and tired, I felt like one of them. With extra innings and unfamiliar players entering the game, Jack and Jerry on the broadcast had some trouble pronouncing the names of new Cubs players. The Cubs media guide gave helpful advice on some names, “it sounds just like its spelled.” Right. (AR-enado.) Both teams had runners in scoring position in the 9th and 10th, but it wasn’t until the 11th that the Cubs managed to push across a run to take the lead.
Bottom of the 11th, there’s momentary delay with a bird on the infield. Not sure if he had a ticket, but this late they should be letting anyone in, but not on the field. Aroldis Chapman came in to close for the Cubs. Nick Hundley gets on with an opposite field hit. Ryan Rayburn knocks him in thanks to a misplay in the outfield to tie the score. Rayburn ends up scoring the winning run as an errant throw goes into the dugout and he’s awarded home. Rockies win, 7-6, on the old walk-off error! It’s like the Rockies say at home, “Whatever happens in the game, we get the last at bat.” That was worth staying up past 12:45am for.
8-20-16
Rangers vs Rays. Eric was commenting on the small crowd in Tampa of 16,000. Later, Matt was talking about Roogie’s two-strike troubles and how likely he is to strikeout. Odor proceeds to hit a home run. Matt says afterward, “I hope that since there are so few people in here that Roogie didn’t hear me. ‘I’ll show you a two-strike approach.’”
It was a good game for the Rays, but not anyone else. Even the umps had a bad game with two overturned calls in one inning. It was close, but the Rangers self-destructed in the 7th inning. Bad play, bad decisions, and bad pitching all showed up. In the 9th, Mazara hit a contested home run, caught by a Rangers fan in a jersey, accused of interference. When the call was upheld, the fan then taunted the crowd. That was about the only thing to cheer for as the Rangers lost, 8-2.
The Chihuahuas are back in town to play the Salt Lake City Bees. (Their washed out game in Colorado Springs won’t be made up.) It’s a Saturday night, there’s fireworks after the game, and Tim Lincecum is pitching for the opposing team. Little wonder it was standing room only at the stadium. There was even a helicopter flyover before the start of the game. Let’s run down Timmy’s resume: two Cy Young awards, two no-hitters, four time All-Star, three rings. Little wonder fans were watching him like a hawk in the bullpen.
Not to say it was all serious. There was a dog delay in the 2nd for a wiener dog race on field. That got a smile out of Timmy. His first batter right after that was Hector Sanchez, catcher of one of his no-hitters. Hector got a hit. Rod Barajas, Chihuahuas manager, actually got two hits off Tim when he was playing. He let everybody know about it. Timmy’s line was 6 innings and 1 run. Pretty good.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Bees suck. They couldn’t score more than an unearned run themselves. As for their relievers, well, in the 7th, the pups scored a run off a wild pitch during an intentional walk. That tells you all you need to know. 5-1 dogs win finally!
8-21-16
Rangers vs Rays. Once again, the crowd size in Tampa was an issue. Frankly, were it not for three trips a year by the Yankees and the Red Sox, I’m not sure they’d even have a viable franchise. Of course, this just makes it more aggravating when the Rangers lose to the Rays again. These two losses have really stung for me, since I was here at home, not doing anything else, and was able to listen to the games without any distractions.
So, it was an 8-4 loss. In the 4th, the Rays sent balls flying everywhere for five runs. They even sent a bat flying through the netting, which hit a cameraman with a camera on a stick. “They sell those at the State Fair?” quipped Eric. The Rangers made an effort to get back in it, but a couple of tack-on runs by the Rays ended that.
Later, the Chihuahuas played the Bees in El Paso. Brandon Johnson (ha, I caught the name for a change) did a stirring rendition of the national anthem on electric guitar to start the game. Tim Hagerty had a couple of guests in the 3rd inning. Freddie and Jonathan (I caught a couple more names, I was really on the ball until the radio signal started fading) from Chico’s Kids Club each sat in for a half inning. Freddie got a pleasant grilling from Tim for a long top of the 3rd. The bottom went in about two minutes, so Jonathan got cheated. Tim was clearly having a good time at least. This interlude did delay an explanation of the play that ended the 2nd. Batter Nick Torres (I’m on fire with the names) grabbed what he thought was a dead ball at the plate and was called out for Batter’s Interference.
It was a tight game. There was the usual premature talk of a no-hitter and even winning without getting a hit, after the Chihuahuas scored an unearned run. In the end, the dogs held on for a 2-1 win. (You can guess I was getting bad reception in the later innings.) It’s good to see that the team is able to win these close ones.
Last week, there was a story that Commissioner Manfred was thinking about implementing some more changes to the game next season. I’ll take them one at a time. First, he wants to put in pitch clocks in the majors. Seems like a good idea to me. From listening to Chihuahuas games for a couple of seasons with it, I think it’s improved the pace of play. Unfortunately, the Players’ Union may be standing in the way of this one, but if the NL were to put in the DH in exchange, maybe.
Second, he wants to eliminate defensive shifts. For all of the work that goes into setting up a shift, I don’t think the numbers actually bear out how useful they are. The Sabermetricians will bring up numbers to justify shifts, but teams are still able to score on them about the same as they were before. There’s no point in putting in a rule against them. I think the trend will be towards getting more athletic players.
Lastly, Manfred wants to limit the number of relief pitchers in an inning. Common sense says that this is a bad idea. The reason why this is such a time waster is because of the commercial break every time pitchers are changed. We can bet those commercials won’t be going away for any reason. However, right now a pitcher coming into a game is required to pitch to at least one batter. What if a pitcher was required to pitch to at least two batters, or until the inning ends, whichever comes first? To make it a bit more fair, the batter in the on deck circle when the previous batter’s at bat ends, has to come to the plate, unless the inning ends.
The MLB Network was showing the Red Sox at the Tigers, and it was the Tigers team broadcast. I wanted to hear more of Kirk Gibson, so I was watching. Him and Rod Allen had an interesting discussion about whether a batter should be given a green light to swing in a 3-0 count. Depends on the hitter, and if they’ve practiced that situation or not.
I didn’t have a lot of time to watch. One thing’s for sure, the starting pitchers, Fulmer and Porcello, desperately needed new hats. Those were hardcore nasty-looking pieces of headgear. The Tigers’ fielders had some good coordination. On a popup, I saw the shortstop call off the 3rd baseman, who was in turn called off by the left fielder. And then later, the shortstop was again called off by the left fielder on a short fly ball. I appreciated how effortlessly they gave way to each other, since, when that doesn’t happen, comedy often ensues. I had to walk away to do some work for 15 minutes. When I got back, the Red Sox had doubled their score. The painful final was 10-2 Red Sox.
They didn’t listen to me at MLB.com. They were putting up the no-hitter alert for Cole Hammels in the 6th inning against the Rays. Of course that jinxed it. That’s okay though. It was a 6-2 win for the Rangers anyway.
Rain canceled the Chihuahuas game versus the Colorado Sky Sox. Given the way the pups are playing, this might have been the best thing for them. At this point I don’t know if or how they’d make up this game given the tight Triple-A schedule and that there’s only a couple of weeks left in the season. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear Tim calling the game off, only that they were in a delay. Unsurprisingly, the Rockies in Denver are also in a rain delay. Given that they’re playing the Cubs, a visiting team that draws really well, I’m sure they’re going to make more of an effort to get the game in.
Since I have a minute, let’s see what else is going on. The Indians won on a walk-off, or rather run-off, inside the park home run against the Blue Jays. The O’s started off their game with four home runs before making an out. Didn’t help. They lost 15-8 to the Astros. The Giants win two in a row for the first time since the All Star break.
Okay, they are playing tonight in Denver after a two-hour rain delay. I check out Game Day at work (I noticed David Dahl hit a lead-off home run) and then pick up the game on the radio when I get home. The announced attendance was 43,000, though many chased away by the delay. They’ve had over 2 million visitors so far this year. Hey, I was one of them! In with the temperature in the high 40’s, it still sounded like there were a lot of people there, and they were rooting on both teams.
The Rockies fell behind in the middle of the game, but kept the Cubs from piling on and slowly chipped away. They managed to tie it on a successful sac fly by Arenado. (Well, after a successful challenge after a bad call by the ump.) The score remained tied after 9.
In the 10th, the rain came back as a steady drizzle, no doubt to comfort of the remaining “real” fans. Being after midnight and tired, I felt like one of them. With extra innings and unfamiliar players entering the game, Jack and Jerry on the broadcast had some trouble pronouncing the names of new Cubs players. The Cubs media guide gave helpful advice on some names, “it sounds just like its spelled.” Right. (AR-enado.) Both teams had runners in scoring position in the 9th and 10th, but it wasn’t until the 11th that the Cubs managed to push across a run to take the lead.
Bottom of the 11th, there’s momentary delay with a bird on the infield. Not sure if he had a ticket, but this late they should be letting anyone in, but not on the field. Aroldis Chapman came in to close for the Cubs. Nick Hundley gets on with an opposite field hit. Ryan Rayburn knocks him in thanks to a misplay in the outfield to tie the score. Rayburn ends up scoring the winning run as an errant throw goes into the dugout and he’s awarded home. Rockies win, 7-6, on the old walk-off error! It’s like the Rockies say at home, “Whatever happens in the game, we get the last at bat.” That was worth staying up past 12:45am for.
8-20-16
Rangers vs Rays. Eric was commenting on the small crowd in Tampa of 16,000. Later, Matt was talking about Roogie’s two-strike troubles and how likely he is to strikeout. Odor proceeds to hit a home run. Matt says afterward, “I hope that since there are so few people in here that Roogie didn’t hear me. ‘I’ll show you a two-strike approach.’”
It was a good game for the Rays, but not anyone else. Even the umps had a bad game with two overturned calls in one inning. It was close, but the Rangers self-destructed in the 7th inning. Bad play, bad decisions, and bad pitching all showed up. In the 9th, Mazara hit a contested home run, caught by a Rangers fan in a jersey, accused of interference. When the call was upheld, the fan then taunted the crowd. That was about the only thing to cheer for as the Rangers lost, 8-2.
The Chihuahuas are back in town to play the Salt Lake City Bees. (Their washed out game in Colorado Springs won’t be made up.) It’s a Saturday night, there’s fireworks after the game, and Tim Lincecum is pitching for the opposing team. Little wonder it was standing room only at the stadium. There was even a helicopter flyover before the start of the game. Let’s run down Timmy’s resume: two Cy Young awards, two no-hitters, four time All-Star, three rings. Little wonder fans were watching him like a hawk in the bullpen.
Not to say it was all serious. There was a dog delay in the 2nd for a wiener dog race on field. That got a smile out of Timmy. His first batter right after that was Hector Sanchez, catcher of one of his no-hitters. Hector got a hit. Rod Barajas, Chihuahuas manager, actually got two hits off Tim when he was playing. He let everybody know about it. Timmy’s line was 6 innings and 1 run. Pretty good.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Bees suck. They couldn’t score more than an unearned run themselves. As for their relievers, well, in the 7th, the pups scored a run off a wild pitch during an intentional walk. That tells you all you need to know. 5-1 dogs win finally!
8-21-16
Rangers vs Rays. Once again, the crowd size in Tampa was an issue. Frankly, were it not for three trips a year by the Yankees and the Red Sox, I’m not sure they’d even have a viable franchise. Of course, this just makes it more aggravating when the Rangers lose to the Rays again. These two losses have really stung for me, since I was here at home, not doing anything else, and was able to listen to the games without any distractions.
So, it was an 8-4 loss. In the 4th, the Rays sent balls flying everywhere for five runs. They even sent a bat flying through the netting, which hit a cameraman with a camera on a stick. “They sell those at the State Fair?” quipped Eric. The Rangers made an effort to get back in it, but a couple of tack-on runs by the Rays ended that.
Later, the Chihuahuas played the Bees in El Paso. Brandon Johnson (ha, I caught the name for a change) did a stirring rendition of the national anthem on electric guitar to start the game. Tim Hagerty had a couple of guests in the 3rd inning. Freddie and Jonathan (I caught a couple more names, I was really on the ball until the radio signal started fading) from Chico’s Kids Club each sat in for a half inning. Freddie got a pleasant grilling from Tim for a long top of the 3rd. The bottom went in about two minutes, so Jonathan got cheated. Tim was clearly having a good time at least. This interlude did delay an explanation of the play that ended the 2nd. Batter Nick Torres (I’m on fire with the names) grabbed what he thought was a dead ball at the plate and was called out for Batter’s Interference.
It was a tight game. There was the usual premature talk of a no-hitter and even winning without getting a hit, after the Chihuahuas scored an unearned run. In the end, the dogs held on for a 2-1 win. (You can guess I was getting bad reception in the later innings.) It’s good to see that the team is able to win these close ones.
Last week, there was a story that Commissioner Manfred was thinking about implementing some more changes to the game next season. I’ll take them one at a time. First, he wants to put in pitch clocks in the majors. Seems like a good idea to me. From listening to Chihuahuas games for a couple of seasons with it, I think it’s improved the pace of play. Unfortunately, the Players’ Union may be standing in the way of this one, but if the NL were to put in the DH in exchange, maybe.
Second, he wants to eliminate defensive shifts. For all of the work that goes into setting up a shift, I don’t think the numbers actually bear out how useful they are. The Sabermetricians will bring up numbers to justify shifts, but teams are still able to score on them about the same as they were before. There’s no point in putting in a rule against them. I think the trend will be towards getting more athletic players.
Lastly, Manfred wants to limit the number of relief pitchers in an inning. Common sense says that this is a bad idea. The reason why this is such a time waster is because of the commercial break every time pitchers are changed. We can bet those commercials won’t be going away for any reason. However, right now a pitcher coming into a game is required to pitch to at least one batter. What if a pitcher was required to pitch to at least two batters, or until the inning ends, whichever comes first? To make it a bit more fair, the batter in the on deck circle when the previous batter’s at bat ends, has to come to the plate, unless the inning ends.
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