Baseball Journal August 6-9, 2018

8-6-18

I finally figured out that I was using the wrong e-mail address to log into MLB.com Friday.  No wonder it wasn’t working.  I still don’t know why it was demanding that I login.  Ironically, I was too busy tonight to watch the free game, Tigers versus Angels.  What little I did watch was two out-of-contention teams going through the motions while playing in front of a lousy crowd in Anaheim.  It was kind of depressing.  The Angels had such high hopes this year.  Now they have the final indignity of their manager, Mike Scioscia, denying reports that he’s retiring, while the baseball media is writing retrospectives on his career.  I don’t want to feel sorry for these guys, but it’s kind of hard not to.

In El Paso, the Chihuahuas continued their series against the Round Rock Express.  The pups came out swinging.  In the first, Luis Urias hit a two-run homer.  Auston Bousfield nearly hit another, but still doubled in two runs.  Javy Guerra drove him in with a triple off the wall.  The crowd moaned.  They wanted him to go for an inside-the-park home run, but settled for a 5-0 lead.

Call up, Cal Quantrill started for the Chihuahuas.  The Express loaded the bases on him in the fourth and got a run, but Cal got a double play next to end the inning, 5-1.  In the fifth, the Express again went to a four-man outfield for Raffy Lopez.  Hanser Alberto, playing nowhere near third base, got the out standing in the outfield.  Round Rock scored in the sixth to make it 5-2, but the Chihuahuas loaded the bases in the bottom.  Raffy got a RBI on a walk.  Brett Nicholas got another on a fielder’s choice, 7-2.

Tim Hagerty got a weather report from Omaha where the Storm Chasers were playing the Bees.  It was raining and the game was official.  He was hoping for a rainout and it happened later, so the pups would be gaining a game on the Bees tonight.  On the subject of the Angels’ affiliate, Tim talked about Scioscia retiring.  Seriously, the last quote I’ve seen from Scioscia was that he wasn’t leaving.

I was having déjà vu in the seventh, Raffy drove in another run on a bases loaded walk.  Forrestt Allday and Nicholas also drove in runs to make it 10-3 Chihuahuas, which was the final.  That’s six wins in a row!  Cal got the win.  Eric Yardley, the only other pitcher used, got a three-inning save. 

8-7-18

Once again, I was too busy to watch the MLB.TV free game.  It was the Cardinals versus the Marlins.  I like the Cards, but this wasn’t the most relevant matchup for potential playoff baseball.  There wasn’t a great crowd there in Miami, and it looked like there was quite a bit of Cardinal red in the stands.  The announcers even mentioned a family they’d met that follows the Cards around for road games.  I’m still amazed by how pleasant Tim McCarver is during the Cardinal broadcasts I’ve seen him on, totally unlike his broadcasts with Joe Buck.  The Cards got a good 3-2 comeback win, though I can’t honestly tell you how it happened.

I’m going to have to talk to somebody about not being to get Chihuahuas’ games at my other workstation.  It’s killing me and affecting my work.  I listened to the end of a Flying Squirrels’ game.  I missed apparently the play of the game where a Rumble Ponies’ player successfully stole second and was then ejected.  I didn’t get an explanation in the postgame. 

The Chihuahuas played the Round Rock Express in their final game of their series.  The puppies (I’m just going to keep trying to find another nickname for El Paso) got the scoring started in the third with an error and Francisco Mejia and Raffy Lopez driving in runs.  Raffy was thrown out at the plate on an Allen Craig single, but three runs scored in the inning.  Round Rock came back in the fifth with a two-run homer and then tied it on another run. 

The Chihuahuas came right back in the bottom, as Craig doubled in two to make it 5-3.  The Express intentionally walked Raffy to pitch to him.  They seemed scared to death of Raffy at the plate this series.  However, the Express went through two Chihuahuas’ relievers in the seventh to take the lead with three runs, 6-5 Round Rock. 

The bottom of the seventh got interesting in a different way.  El Paso manager, Rod Barajas, started giving the ump grief from the dugout during Forrestt Allday’s leadoff at bat.  Allday struck out, made a quick comment to the ump, and was immediately ejected.  Barajas charged out the dugout and threw down his hat and was also ejected.  The fans cheered him on.  After he left the field, Barajas threw another hat out on the field for good measure.  Luis Urias then struck out and had words with ump, but remained in the game.  Mejia then struck out to end the inning.  No arguments there and not unexpected given how the inning started.

In the eighth, Shane Peterson made a great jumping catch of a foul in the outfield.  In the bottom, Deolis Gurrea, the Round Rock pitcher from the last inning, finished out his line with five strikeouts, one walk, and one groundball.  In the top of the ninth, Brad Wieck started complaining about the strikezone from the mound along with one of the coaches in the dugout.  I’m guessing the game was being poorly called, but that’s a dangerous way to live as a pitcher.  Babe Ruth, as a pitcher, got tossed for arguing like that. 

Bottom of the ninth, down one run.  No problem.  Javy Guerra bunted his way on to first.  Dusty Coleman then doubled into the corner to put the both of them into scoring position.  Brett Nicholas, facing his old team, singled.  Guerra scored to tie it and Dusty came in under the tag with the winning run.  Chihuahuas 7-6 to complete a four-game sweep.  Not to mention, they did it off RJ Alvarez, the best closer in the league.  Oh, the Chihuahuas must be hating that they’re getting a day off tomorrow when they’re this hot.

8-8-18

Day game today in Arlington between the Rangers and Mariners.  It wasn’t blisteringly hot there, but was very humid without a breeze.  The Rangers had five rookies in the lineup, I guess to see if they can really play or not.  I joined the game (or rather my local affiliate joined the game) in the first with the M’s up 1-0.  Adrian Beltre drove in a run on an error.  Joey Gallo singled (!) to drive in another.  He now has one more single than home runs (that’ll change here shortly).  It was 2-1 Rangers right off the bat (see what I did there).   

In the second, there was an uncharacteristic error on a foul ball by Ronald Guzman, but no harm was done.  In the bottom, Willie Calhoon took first after being hit by a pitch, maybe.  Or did ball hit the bat and was it an out?  The umps conferred about it and didn’t change anything.  Then Mariners’ manager, Scott Servais, came out and complained.  Calhoon was called out.   Unsurprisingly, the Rangers’ manager, Jeff Bannister, came out and asked for a challenge.  Eric Nadel called this whole incident a “fiasco.”  Calhoon was obviously hit in the replay and stayed at first.  “We have been subjected to four minutes of twittery,” declared Eric. 

It was Gallo again in the third with a two-run home run.  Guzman joined in by driving in another run, 5-1.  The Rangers were getting their hits today.  In the fifth, Mike Zunino homered to the tune of one of the longest home run calls ever.  Eric kept hesitating, because it looked like it might get caught by Carlos Tocci at the wall, 5-2.

Then that Gallo guy came up again in the bottom with a leadoff home run.  It was his 31-st of year.  He probably has more homers than singles again.  There was also another long home run call as the ball just tucked around the pole.  Matt Hicks was convinced that the pitch was so inside that it should have hit him.  How did he hit that out?  The Rangers keep hitting and scored another run on a double play, 7-2.  In the sixth, Roughned Odor tripled.  He hit it right into the shift and it still fell in.  Ruggie ended up getting caught in a long rundown on an Elvis Andrus hit, who made it all the way to third during the play.  The M’s pitcher somehow got injured on the play and had to come out.     

Yovani Gallardo went six strong innings for the Rangers in sweltering conditions.  In the seventh, the Rangers gave up a run on bad defense and had to go to a second reliever, who gave up two more.  Suddenly it was 7-6.  No worries.  In the bottom, Guzman drove in Isiah Kiner-Falefa with a double.  Isiah got on after Dee Gordon took a ball in the face from a bad hop.  Calhoon then doubled in Guzman, and Jurickson Profar drove in a run.  What was in the water today! 

It was a long hot inning.  A new M’s reliever came in.  With Profar at second, Kyle Seager somehow brain farted on an Andrus’ grounder and everyone was safe.  I was listening and I’m still not sure what happened.  No error was charged and Elvis got on via a fielder’s choice.  Seager had had a rough series with three errors and a mental error over the last two games.  Beltre drove Profar in to make it 11-6 Rangers.

In the eighth, Eric read a fan submitted limerick and encouraged others to send theirs’ in.  I’ll get my quill out and start scribbling later.  In the ninth, Zunino hit his second homer to lead off, but that was the last score of the game.  11-7 Rangers!  The boys pounded out 19 hits today!  Well, that was fun.  That was also my only game of the day, except for a little Flying Squirrels’ action.  In the postgame, they promoted the next game featuring “Fireworks in your face!”  No explanation was given.  Before the game, some of the players will also be doing faith testimonials for the crowd.  I hope these two events don’t end up being connected in some tragic way.

8-9-18

The Blue Jays faced the mighty Red Sox in Toronto in the MLB.TV free game.  It was already 3-2 Jays in the second inning.  It looked like a great game.  If only I had time to watch.  (Not to mention Gibi on Twitch was playing Monster Hunter, which dropped today.)  I did see a beauty of a catch by a fan of a Teoscar Hernandez home run.  The fan reached over (but wasn’t interfering with play like he would be in Yankee Stadium) with his mitt and backhanded it.  He then handed it to his boy sitting next to him.  Awesome.  The Blue Jays won 8-5 in a good, back-and-forth game.

I have to mention the Flying Squirrels’ game tonight.  In the eighth, their announcer made the comment that the Rumble Ponies’ manager was “Treating this like Game 7 of the World Series.”  There were three runners on base, all of them put there by different pitchers.  A fourth pitcher came in and struck out Jonah Arenado to end the inning.  In the postgame, I could hear the explosions and terrified screams of agony from the Squirrels’ “Fireworks in your face” promotion.  Like the event organizers, I’m shocked that this turned out so badly.  Who could have guessed?

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas played the Rivercats in Sacramento.  There was a haze in the air from the California wildfires.  (When is the whole state finally going to burn down?)  The game in Fresno was actually delayed for poor air quality.  Kelby Tomlinson was playing for the ‘Cats tonight, down from the Giants.  Tim Hagerty talked about the Rivercats being affiliated with the Giants because they were more popular than the A’s in Sacramento.  Tonight’s team had posted three rosters before the game, leading to speculation about some possible movement with the big league club. 

The Rivercats scored first on a home run in the second.  Ty France, in his first game up with the pups from Double-A, homered to tie it in the fourth.  Tim gave his background and mentioned Ty, who was playing third base, got a win pitching with his last team.  In the sixth, Ty and Allen Craig collided on a popup.  Craig caught it and neither was the worse for wear.  Earlier, Craig had laid out for a catch at first.

I was still a bit distracted.  (DizzyKitten was also playing Monster Hunter on Twitch.)  In the seventh, the Rivercats got another solo home run to take a 2-1 lead.  In the eighth, Hunter Strickland came in and worked an uneventful inning (unlike most of his appearances with the Giants).  In the bottom, Dusty Coleman threw out a runner at second from centerfield trying to stretch a single.  Francisco Mejia picked off a runner at second, who’d doubled.  It was an odd inning with two hits, but only three batters. 

The final was 2-1 Rivercats.  It was a well-played game, if not a lot of offense.  Credit the pitching.  Starters Dillon Overton for the pups and Chris Stratton for the ‘Cats, along with the relievers, did an excellent job.

Baseball Journal August 4-5, 2018

8-4-18

It’s another game at Wrigley for the MLB Mexican game of the week, featuring the Cubs versus the Padres.  It was a beautiful day in Chicago, bright and sunny.  The wind was blowing out and most of the players were wearing stylish sunglasses, even while batting.  Highlights of Friday night’s game looked excited, so we’re hopeful for a good game today.

Walter Lockett was pitching for the Padres.  He was called up from the Chihuahuas, perhaps on very short notice.  It’s hard to understand the commentary.  I don’t understand the Mexican announcers and I can just barely hear the American ones.  A couple of current Chihuahuas were mentioned during the game, including Francisco Mejia.  Nobody said “Chihuahuas” though.  I was disappointed. 

Behind home plate were a couple of adorable little girls in Cubs hats with eye black on.  I saw a couple Padres fans, though they were wearing the cool 90’s jerseys.  More than perhaps any other stadium, Wrigley Field is great for just watching the crowd.  The WGN broadcasts focused on fans all the time.  Cubs’ games are now on a regional NBC Sports affiliate.  I don’t know if that messes up the Cubs’ victory song or not.

The scoring started in the second with a Kyle Schwarber solo home run.  There was a cut-away shot of the Cubs’ bullpen under the bleachers, where the guys were dancing.  This may be a new tradition.  Then Addison Russell drove in a run.  Then Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer.  Ben Zobrist doubled him in and Jason Heyward drove him in.  5-0 Cubs.  This wasn’t looking like the Padres’ day.

Whoa!  There was a remote with the Cubs’ ballpark reporter.  She is gorgeous!  I need to do some more research on this.  Now, I’m really hating that the Cubs’ daily games aren’t shown nationally anymore.  There were also a couple of shots outside the stadium showing a grassy park.  I have no idea where that is.  It must be new.      

In the fourth, Manuel Margot drove in a run with a ball that disappeared into the ivy.  Hunter Renfroe then sacrificed in a run.  Austin Hedges came up and nearly cleared the stadium with a home run.  The ball was thrown back to the cheers of the crowd, but a fan might have been injured in the scrum for the ball.  5-3 Cubs.

In the fifth, Cory Spangenberg made another great, acrobatic throw to first to end the inning.  He’s been diving and flying around the infield all game.  Eric Hosmer and Renfroe got on in the sixth.  Hedges sac’d in a run to make it 5-4.  It was hard not to notice that the ump was calling high strikes today.  The batters were getting pissed, but he was consistent about it.

The Mexican network coverage showed the Seventh Inning Stretch.  They’re definitely baseball fans there.  In the bottom of the seventh, Jose Castillo came in for the Padres.  He gave up two singles and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out.  Got to give Castillo credit, he buckled down with an infield fly, a strikeout, and a grounder to third to get out of it.  Phil Maton worked the eighth.  He made a good play to first coming off the mound.  However, the Padres went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game.  5-4 Cubs was the final.  That was a fun game to watch.

During the game, there was a NASCAR Xfinity race going on at Watkins Glen.  On one of my look-ins, it was raining like heck there, but they were still racing.  The cars had wipers going and rain tires on.  They even turned on their headlights.  (I’m just kidding.  I know they’re decals.)  The race had enough delays that I was able to watch the end after the game.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was more pumped up doing commentary than I’ve ever heard him anywhere else.  He’s really into it.  I plan on watching the Cup race tomorrow.

The Rangers were playing the Orioles in the evening, I think.  The reception wasn’t good.  As soon as the Chihuahuas’ game against the Round Rock Express came on, I switched over to it.  Both games were pretty scoreless to start frankly.  In the fourth was the first serious threat by the Express, but Forrestt Allday threw out a runner at the plate.  In the bottom, an error loaded the bases for the Chihuahuas with nobody out.  Diego Goris walked and a sacrifice from Auston Bousfield drove in two runs, but a great catch in the outfield ended the inning without further damage. 

More great defense, Francisco Mejia threw out a base stealer to end the fifth.  In the bottom, Allen Craig grounded into a double play, but scored a runner from third.  Next, Raffy Lopez doubled and Shane Peterson drove him in to make it 4-0.  Chihuahuas’ starter Jacob Nix worked six scoreless innings in his first appearance with the Ears.  Mejia singled in a run in the bottom, though Luis Urias got caught in a rundown to end the inning.  He made it last for a few throws to the delight of the crowd (and consternation of scorekeepers).

In the seventh at 5-0, the Express finally got going.  They loaded the bases with no outs and scored two, and got a third run on an error.  Peterson jumped into the wall for a catch to end the inning and save another run.  5-3.  Hanser Alberto is the only name I recognize in the Express lineup.  I think all their good players are already up with the Rangers.    

Brad Wieck worked a scoreless eighth with three strikeouts.  Another wick, Rowan Wick, came in in the ninth with one on.  He let on another runner, but closed the game out with a strikeout.  5-3 Chihuahuas was the final.  The pups are on a definite roll.

8-5-18

NBC finally put on a NASCAR race on their over-the-air network, so I started watching it before the Rangers and Orioles game started.  Not only were those two events on this afternoon, but there was another drag race (FOX seems fairly committed to NHRA until football starts) and there was a Gary Anderson Sci-Fi puppet show marathon going on the Comet Network.  (Okay, and Yvette Hernandez was on Pasion Deportiva at the same time too.)  The marathon included the Thunderbirds movies and several other TV shows.  I’m still amazed by the puppets and the props used in those productions, very detailed and stylish.

The Cup race was at a sold out Watkins Glen.  There weren’t any weather issues like yesterday’s Xfinity series race.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was up in a tower, calling the race at the Bus Stop chicane.  Before the race, he was talking about how he used hear all the people partying in the infield on the Saturday night before the race.  Junior vowed that when he stopped racing he was going to join those folks having a good time at the race.  Today, driving over to his perch, he counted over 400 coolers in the infield and here he was stuck in a tower.  Dale hasn’t quite achieved his goal yet.

Just to briefly recap the race, it was pretty hard-fought in the opening laps.  After some attrition of contenders, it was Chase Elliot and Martin Truex Jr. fighting for the win at the end.  Truex ran out of gas on the last lap, but was close enough to coast over the finish line.  Elliot got his maiden win in this 99-th start.  He also ended a Hendricks’ extended winless drought that gave the team their 250-th win.  Jimmie Johnson came around to push Elliot’s stalled car back to the finish line.  Bill Elliot was his son’s spotter and congratulated him in Victory Lane.  It was a great race.  My dad mentioned that the France family may be trying to sell the series.  Hmm.  One wonders how somebody else run the show.

Meanwhile in Arlington (and here in Las Cruces), it was hot as heck.  When the new stadium opens there, fans are going to be so happy, regardless of the product on the field.  The jetstream was also blowing out.  Mark Trumbo on the O’s took advantage of that with a first inning home run.  The Rangers came right back in the first.  Joey Gallo, hitting .194 with 30 home runs, walked to load the bases.  Robinson Chirinos came up and drove in two as Jurickson Profar just got in under a tag at the plate to make it 2-1 Rangers.

In the second, the Orioles got three runs on one hit to make it 4-2.  In the bottom, Shin-Soo Choo sacrificed in a run and an Elvis Andrus’ fielder’s choice tied the score.  Gallo then singled in the go-ahead run with a broken bat.  (He still has more home runs than singles.)  However, the bases were left loaded to end the inning.  That lead didn’t last long as Trumbo hit a two-run home run to make it 6-5 O’s.

In the sixth, the Orioles got another home run to make it 7-5, but the scoring had cooled off a bit.  With the nearly historic losing record by Baltimore this year, the guys started discussing all-time losing teams.  The Cleveland Spiders (they may as well change the name back to that after they retire the Chief) were so bad that the owner cancelled their last month of home games.  They were making more money just playing road games.  They even recruited a hotel bellhop to pitch for them. 

Then the radio station went out for about 20 minutes.  Their signal had kept fading in and out during the game like they were powering down for the night.  I left the radio on, hoping it would come back.  When it did, I was just in time to hear Trumbo hitting his third home run to make it 9-5.  The Rangers managed to get a run without a hit in the eighth, but that was all.  9-6 Orioles final.  Maybe I should have just watched the race.  

  

Later in the evening and about 100 degrees later, the Chihuahuas played Round Rock Express.  A 13-year old Chihuahuas’ fan came on to start the game and read the lineup.  The kid apparently does his own pregame show before games and caught the attention of the team and they invited him to come on the radio. 

Kyle Lloyd, in his first game back from injury, started for the Chihuahuas and went three scoreless innings.  In the third, Forrestt Allday was picked off first, but Francisco Mejia doubled, and then Raffy Lopez singled him in for a 1-0 Chihuahuas’ lead.  In the fourth, a new pitcher from High A-Ball, Emmanuel Rodriguez, entered the game. 

Also entering the booth was a Chico’s Kid’s Club member.  He was 5-years old and wearing his ballpark food, which he enjoyed.  The kid unintentionally quoted from Bull Durham, “Sometimes you win.  Sometimes you lose.  Sometimes it rains.”  The Express got two on, but the kid called the final out.  Tim was loving it.  He loves having enthusiastic, chatty kids on.    

In the fifth, the ump redrew the back line of the batter’s box and made an Express batter stand in front of it.  He did it again in the eighth.  In the sixth, the Express set up with a four-man outfield as a shift.  In the seventh, the Express tied the score on a couple of hits.  Rodriguez came out after four innings and only one run given up.  In the eighth, Kazuhisa Makita came in and worked a scoreless inning.  Tim was amazed by a kid in the upper deck catching a ball.  He hoped the TV crew caught it on video.  In the bottom, a ball hit a bad spot on the infield and Mejia got on, but was stranded.

In the ninth, Javy Guerra committed an error which put two runners on, but the Express did not score.  In the bottom, the Chihuahuas got two on with two out.  Dusty Coleman came up and hit a monster fly ball.  Tim went crazy as ball seemed to hang up in air forever.  Eventually, the outfielder gave up on it, as the ball flew over the fence and maybe out of the park.  The 9,000+ crowd erupted.  That was a three-run walk off homer that gave the Chihuahuas a 4-1 win.  That’s five home wins in a row from the team that couldn’t win in El Paso earlier in the season.

Baseball Journal August 1-3, 2018

8-1-18

The MLB.TV free game featured the uninspiring matchup of the Rays versus the Angels.  Thank goodness fans on the east coast will be able to see the greatness that is Mike Trout, whom none of them have ever heard of.  Only people in southern California and baseball experts have ever of this guy.  It’s a pity that this fellow who’s often in the running for league MVP is so unknown.  If only he’d promote himself more by making controversial statements and getting into trouble like NFL and NBA players.  The baseball media has done all it can by even making up and an entire stat, WAR, to mathematically prove that Trout is the greatest baseball player of all time. 

Or maybe, he plays for a team that is under the curse of Albert Pujols, or more specifically Pujols’ contract, which has hamstrung the team from being really competitive.  No matter how great a player you are, you only win and lose as a team (right, Lebron?) and if you’re on a .500 team, you don’t matter.  Unless your entire sport is actually a reality show, starring you, and the game results don’t matter (right, Lebron?).  Yes, I’m apparently feeling feisty this month. 

The Rays put their new acquisition, Tyler Glasnow, right on the mound today.  Kole Calhoun greeted him with a leadoff home run that went into the Ray tank in the outfield.  Plop!  In the third, Ray Mallex Smith was almost driven in on a single, but tripped and fell at third base.  The inning ended with a double play and nothing coming across.  Glasnow only went three innings, but this is a pitching strategy by Rays’ management, and not because of a bad start.  I don’t know what to say about this theory yet.  Others have tried it unsuccessfully, but the league seems to be trending in this direction anyway.

In the fourth with the Angels up 2-0, Tommy Pham, who I thought was on the Cardinals but is now on the Rays, tripped rounding second.  He would have scored otherwise.  It seemed like this wasn’t the Rays’ night, but on the next play Pham advanced to third on a liner to the outfield.  Andrelton Simmons was running over to cover the base and was smiling at Pham about to talk to him, when suddenly Luis Valbuena threw the ball in his direction.  It was a poor decision that caught everyone off guard.  There was no chance of getting Pham at third and no chance of getting him at home as the ball went out of the field of play. 

The Rays would then go ahead and tie it and take the lead on a Mallex Smith triple, 3-2.  The Rays kept hitting.  They loaded the bases in the fifth without scoring.  Willie Adames homered in the sixth to make it 4-2.  Then, they got three in the eighth to make it 7-2, which was the final.  The Rays’ announcers during the game seemed convinced that their team was ready to win now with their current team.  Not in AL east they’re not, but I wish them luck.  This organization seems to stay competitive all the time with innovative strategies and doing more with less.  Meanwhile, the Angels, with more cash, in a bigger media market, and in an historically easier division, seem to do less with more.

The Chihuahuas’ broadcast was blocked at my other workstation.  Hmph, the nerve.  The Flying Squirrels weren’t playing and FOX Sports Radio was doing endless moralizing over a personal situation in college football, which has now become national sports news.  See, this is the kind thing that Mike Trout needs to get involved in.  This would really raise the raise the profile of baseball in general.  Actually, there is one with the Astros trade of Ken Giles to the Blue Jays for Roberto Osuna.  Osuna has an unresolved domestic abuse trial hanging over him.  Hopefully, this too will reach the level of a national hand-wringing scandal. 

I got a Papa Johns pizza over the weekend.  I wanted a good pizza, but there’s some scandal in management there.  I’m not sure, if by buying the pizza, which side of the situation I was supporting.  Now I’m conflicted if I should have gotten the pizza or not.  Now this scandal-driven society is starting to hit me where I live with my precious pizza.  I don’t like a bunch of amoral, unethical, un-virtuous sub-humans pronouncing judgment on what they find unacceptable in society, especially when they cover for others of their degenerate kind when it benefits them and their Agenda.  The media is about to create a society that nobody can live in. 

I joined the Chihuahuas versus the Baby Cakes, henceforth referred to as New Orleans, under overcast skies in El Paso halfway through the game.  Undefeated Brett Kennedy was on the mound, but New Orleans was up 3-0 in the fourth.  Javy Guerra doubled in a run in the frame.  Tim Hagerty gave a great call as the ball headed foul and somehow landed fair.  The pups scored again, but left the bases loaded, 3-2. 

Brad Wieck came in in relief for two scoreless innings and with five strikeouts. Allen Craig led off the eighth with a double that made took an odd bounce off the outfield wall.  Raffy Lopez then came up and hit a monster two-run home run that went over the batter’s eye and out of the ballpark.  4-3 Chihuahuas with extreme prejudice.  Trey Wingenter closed it out with three straight outs, though the final two batters did drive it to the warning track. 

The Rangers and Diamondbacks were probably playing tonight on TV, but I was busy and, frankly, the Rangers aren’t worth making an effort to watch.  They traded Jake Diekman at the deadline to the D-Backs, so he changed dugouts during the series.  I noticed that Ranger closer, Keone Kela, was also traded to the Pirates.  Given how the Rangers keep burning out their closers, at least until they get the new stadium with a roof, this was likely a good move for everyone involved.  The Pirates’ pitching has definitely been upgraded.

8-2-18

It was a light day for baseball for me, not really voluntarily.  The MLB.TV free game was during the day and I missed it.  I’m still blocked on getting Chihuahuas’ games at my other workstation.  I tried getting the other team’s broadcast, but it was blocked too.  I did listen to some more Flying Squirrels baseball, but I’ve decided that unless something really interesting happens during their games, it’s not worth writing about.

So, I joined the Chihuahuas versus New Orleans late.  I did walk in on Franmil Reyes hitting a three-run homer in the first, but it was in the third when I finally sat down and started listening.  By this time, the game was basically over at 7-0 pups and that wasn’t even the end of it.  The inning went 13 batters.  Three more runs scored as the NO outfielders lost a couple fly balls to make it 10-0. 

In the eighth, Jumbo Diaz (his actual name) came in as a reliever for NO.  I remember Tim Hagerty calling him pitching before in 2017 (and I think I wrote about him and I can’t find the entry, damnit).  He’s still in fighting trim at 350 lbs.  The main drama in the inning started with the first batter, Diego Goris, getting called for a penalty strike for not being in the box when play started.  The ump endured a small amount of heckling from the dugout before tossing someone.  It might have been Brett Nicholas, who wasn’t even playing today.  Goris ended up doubling and Auston Bousfield drove him in.  The final was 11-4 Chihuahuas.  It was a good win, but I wasn’t totally into it.  Hey, Gen Con is on Twitch this year!  (They were showing a Pathfinder 2 demo.  I didn’t care.  Oh, well.  No point in linking to it; it’s over.)

8-3-18

Time to rant some more, but I have reasons this time.  In addition to losing Chihuahuas’ games at my other workstation, MLB.TV suddenly started giving me crap about my login.  The site wanted my login and password, which it then rejects.  When I try to reset the password, it rejects the password it just gave me to reset it.  This has come up before, but isn’t an issue on a daily basis.  In any case, I can’t watch or listen to any the games there today.  Let’s hope this sorts itself out. 

There also wasn’t any Flying Squirrels baseball on.  All of sports talk on all three radio networks (ESPN, FOX, CBS) were discussing a spousal abuse issue.  At no point was it explained to me how this story was any of my business.  Nor did they explain how this involved the Ohio State football coach (excuse me, THE Ohio State), who wasn’t the one beating his wife, but simply MUST resign anyway.  I assume the d*ckheads at the NCAA are getting ready to vacate wins and championships from the university.  (I don’t even like THE Ohio State.  I’m more of a Michigan fan.)

Between this kind of stuff and the NFL kneelers, we may be only a few months away from the end of all major sports as we know them.  We may already be there.  As I said, the NBA is a reality show.  Their games are irrelevant.  The NFL has all the sporting integrity of professional wrestling.  Its only real entertainment value, like horse racing, is betting.  You know we could replace all these jerkoff players with some Korean kids playing Madden on Twitch.  The only difference would be that the games might not be fixed. 

Wait, let me give some love to my former favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys.  Yes, up until last year, even with my love for baseball, the Cowboys were my favorite team.  On some level I should thank the kneelers.  I was really sick of watching my team lose, but still getting talked about all the time.  The Cowboys are like the Lebron James of football. 

I give no props to Jerry Jones for his recent comments, but Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot both came out and said the Cowboys will stand as a team.  Elliot said something like, “We’re America’s team.  We stand for the Anthem.”  Thanks, guys.  I’ll consider watching and listening to the Cowboys this year just for that, but I have a feeling this kneeling thing is being primed for a bigger political protest in the near future (which is what the protest is really about). 

Oh, I could go on (last month’s recaps ran out to 50 pages), but let’s get to tonight’s baseball game.  The Chihuahuas were playing their last game of the series against New Orleans.  (Don’t get me started on their team name, and Chihuahuas isn’t exactly a great name either for that matter.)  NO took the lead in the first, but Forrestt Allday did make a great jumping catch on the warning track.  Basically, that’s all I heard of the first half of the game.  Francisco Mejia did tie the score in the bottom with his first Chihuahuas’ home run.

I started listening again in the fifth with the score 3-2 New Orleans.  The wind started picking up at the park.  You could hear it whipping on the mics.  The Chihuahuas started a rally, but I had to step away to work.  When I came back a couple minutes later, the Chihuahuas were now up 5-3.  This just wasn’t my night for baseball. 

In the sixth, Auston Bousfield made another jumping catch on the warning track.  The wind seemed to be carrying the ball.  It carried a monster home run by NO on to the Big Dog house to make it 5-4.  In the bottom, their catcher made a visit to the mound to allow the ump to regroup after getting hit.  No mound visit was charged, so there’s still courtesy visits allowed between the guys behind the plate even with the new rule.      

Trey Wingenter was charged with a pace of play violation, but still got the outs in the eighth.  The Chihuahuas put two on in the bottom with nobody out, but failed to plate any insurance runs.  There was a little drama getting the final out, but Rowan Wick closed it out in the ninth for a 5-4 Chihuahuas win.  That’s a home sweep for the pups and nine errorless games.  They are looking good.

Baseball Journal July 29-31, 2018

7-29-18

I feel like I should apologize, as I was way too distracted while writing this.  The game on the radio was the Rangers against the Astros.  I hadn't noticed yesterday, but Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Brian McCann were all out the Astros' lineup.  The Rangers definitely caught the Astros at the right time.  Tyler White, who I hadn't heard of on the Astros' roster, got the scoring started with a home run in the second, 1-0 Astros.

I had to see it to believe it as I turned on the TV an hour later.  There it was, ESPN on ABC broadcasting Overwatch League.  Yes, a computer game competition was being shown on over-the-air television.  I know that Disney XD on cable had been showing video game competitions, but this takes it to a new level.  Is it for real?  Well, the two international, corporate-sponsored teams were playing in a sold-out Barclays Center in front of a full-house of screaming fans. 

The ESPN commentators were as cringe-y as you'd expect in the introductory segments, but it was informative.  I've watched Amourettie on Twitch for months without really figuring out how Overwatch works.  Now, I have some vague idea of what's going on.  The two teams in the championship were London versus Philadelphia, or rather, a bunch of Koreans playing against each other.  Like I said, the crowd was really into it.  I thought it was interesting, but I couldn't really follow the action very well.  (Starcraft I can follow.)  London won, if you needed to know. 

In any case, I was watching and sometimes listening to the TV with the radio in the background, so I wasn’t paying close attention.  In the fourth, Delino Deshields tied the score for the Rangers with a ground-rule double.  I'm not sure how the play went, but Robinson Chirinos got sent back to third because the ball was trapped.  He would have been the go-ahead run.

In the sixth, Jurickson Profar doubled and drove in a run, but paid the price as he got cut on the cheek by Yuli Gurriel's spike as he was late covering the bag and jumping over him.  Profar got patched up and stayed in the game.  Gurriel next whiffed on a grounder by Isiah Kiner-Falefa that allowed another run to score.  Can you tell that Yuli hasn't played second base much and that the Astros are low on personnel?  Ronald Guzman doubled him in to make it 4-1 and chase Lance McCullers from the game.

The Astros managed to score in the bottom to make it 4-2.  I didn’t note how it happened as an NHRA drag race came on FOX.  Now I was flipping between two shows on TV.  (Thank goodness NBC isn't bothering to broadcast their NASCAR races over-the-air during the summer when I could be watching them.)  I ended up not really watching the drag race, so I don’t have anything to say about it. 

In the seventh, a ball went into Deshield's glove in the outfield and came out.  I briefly thought they'd said the ball had deflected over the wall, but it did result in a runner at third.  Next came the key play of game, Roughned Odor, playing back on the infield, caught a grounder and threw out the runner at home to keep the score unchanged.

In the ninth, they guys were talking about Rod Barajas, manager of the Chihuahuas.  Matt Hicks remembered calling his games when Rod was a player with the Double-A Diablos in El Paso.  I hope those are happy memories for Matt, because they are for me.  Keone Kela came on for the save in the bottom.  He gave up a run and had two on with two out.  George Springer came up and fouled out to Chirinos to end the game, 4-3 Rangers.  Eric Nadel had a great call of ending. 

This three-game sweep by the Rangers was the first series sweep the Astros had had all season.  I'm pretty sure they'll bounce back when they get their injured players playing again.  Shockingly, this was the last meeting of the year between these two division rivals.  Who made up that schedule?

A bit later, the Chihuahuas and OKC Dodgers came on.  I was still distracted.  A Mexican station was showing Ironman 3 and then Guardians of the Galaxy.  Even in Spanish, Guardians was still great.  After that, they showed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while another Mexican station showed X-Men: Apocalypse.  It was a lose-lose proposition, but I picked X-Men, since I hadn't seen that movie.  I wrote a review of Star Wars a while back, but I can sum up both movies in one word: atrocious.  (Except for that one great scene with Quicksilver.)

The crowd was really quiet to start the game.  Tim Hagerty remarked that it was a smaller crowd than the last two days.  Their pitcher walking the first three batters probably didn't inspire the fans much either.  After two strikeouts, the Dodger manager said the wrong thing to the ump from the dugout and was tossed immediately.  What is this magic word that managers keep saying to get such a quick hook?  Not only did the Dodgers escape unscathed in the inning, they took the lead in the bottom on a home run.

Forrestt Allday drove in a run in the second to tie it, but the Dodgers came right back to get the lead, 2-1.  In the fourth, Tim chatted about today's Hall of Fame inductions.  Several of the players had links to the PCL.  Trevor Hoffman is a roving instructor for the Padres and has come by El Paso.  Shane Peterson threw out a runner at the plate from the outfield to keep the score the same in the bottom.

In the sixth, Brett Nicholas crushed a ball.  Tim started doing his home run call, but the ball died on the warning track.  Later in the inning, Dusty Coleman knocked in Peterson, who slid into home under the tag.  Diego Goris hit a fly ball deep in the outfield that the fielder juggled and lost that brought in two more runs.  Goris was thrown out at the plate on a hit to end the inning.  It seemed to be the day for plays at the plate.  4-2 Chihuahuas.

In the seventh, another deep fly ball died on the warning track.  “I don't know how anyone hits a home run here,” said Tim.  There's a lack of elevation and some heavy air there in Oklahoma City.  In the eighth, another sure home run didn't make it to wall.  This one was by the Dodgers and would have tied the game.  Tim tagged this as the critical play of the game.  Rowan Wick closed it out.  4-2 Chihuahuas final.  Hey, all my teams are winning!  (At least for now.  I doubt this lasts.)

7-30-18

I’m hard pressed to say what I was doing at work tonight, but whatever it was, it was taking up all my time.  Trying to follow a couple of games was nearly impossible.  First up, the Chihuahuas were taking on the OKC Dodgers for their final game of the series.  It was 77 degrees in Oklahoma City.  (It was warm and raining here in Las Cruces.)  Franmil Reyes has rejoined the Chihuahuas.

My first note of the game was somewhere early.  Forrestt Allday got hit on the leg.  It seemed like he was legitimately hurt, but he did try to steal second.  I’ve seen players kind of fake injuries after getting hit so that the opposition won’t think they’ll try to steal.  It didn’t work as former Chihuahua, Rocky Gale, threw him out to end the inning.

No one really threatened to score for the first three innings, but Tim Hagerty kept talking about the Chihuahuas winning today and sweeping the series.  He kept going on about it until I was sure he’d jinxed it.  In the fourth, the Dodgers loaded the bases for a real chance, but Colin Rea got a strikeout to end it.  By the fifth, Rea had racked up 10 strikeouts, but he came out after that.

It was still 0-0 like a soccer match in the seventh.  Tim could see Pat Venditte, the ambidextrous pitcher, warming up for the Dodgers.  This guy utterly fascinates every broadcaster who calls one of his games.  Venditte came in in the eighth and mowed ‘em down.  In the bottom, the Dodgers got runners to second and third with no outs.  A hit went just over the head of Diego Goris at third to score a Dodger run.  They got another on a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0.

In the ninth, Tim took a foul off his pressbox window.  I think he had a flashback to a previous game in Oklahoma where we almost lost him to a foul ball (8-14-16).  During the inning, a group of people near a crowd mic started singing loudly in Spanish.  Tim didn’t comment on it.  I don’t know what to make of it.  The pups did make it dramatic by getting two on, but they were stranded.  2-0 Dodgers was the final.

Meanwhile, about two hours after the Chihuahuas’ game started, the MLB.TV free game was the Giants and Padres.  I knew that due to inexplicable blackout restrictions, I wouldn’t be able to watch the video, but both teams are blessed with great radio announcers.  I couldn’t tune away from a scoreless tie (baseball with no scoring is boring up to a point and then it becomes really dramatic late in the game), so I started the Giants’ radio call and paused it until the end of the Chihuahuas’ game.  However, when I picked it up, Jon Miller wasn’t doing the call.  When I switched to the Padres’ broadcast to listen to Uncle Ted Leitner, it jumped the coverage to the fourth inning.  As it turned out, Ted wasn’t there at all.  I switched back again, and there was Jon Miller.  Okay, we’ll go with it.

I’d missed former Chihuahua, Chase d’Arnaud hitting a three-run homer to put the Giants up 3-0.  In the fourth, Hunter Renfroe, another former Chihuahua (I should just put that in a macro), hammered a monster home run to make it 3-1.  Derek Holland was starting for the Giants and began to lose it in the fifth and another run scored to make it 3-2.  In the sixth, the Giants lost a runner on an appeal by the Padres and then ran themselves out of the inning on a caught stealing by former Chihuahua Austin Hedges. 

In the seventh was the play of the game (that it involved my favorite player had no bearing on my judgment).  There was a popup at the plate.  Buster Posey, who’d gotten hit on the backswing, had no idea where the ball went.  His pitcher called out the location to him.  Buster looked straight up and caught the ball.  That’s composure.

I think Miller’s time ended by this point, so I switched back to the Padres, which jumped the game forward again (due to some more pausing).  I actually got both broadcasters’ take on the popup.  Both press booths also complained about an inconsistent strikezone, so it was bad, but fair.  In the eighth, former . . . you know . . . Chihuahua (maybe I’ll just stop mentioning past affiliations), Christian Villnueva doubled in Eric Hosmer to tie the score at 3.  Gorkys Hernandez had trouble gathering the ball in the outfield (for the second time in the game).

With a big cheer from the San Diego crowd, the Padres’ new closer, Kirby Yates came on in the ninth.  The announcers liked his work quite a bit too.  Joe Panik came in to pinch hit.  Earlier today, he’d played in Sacramento and was recalled to the Giants.  Newcomer (read: I haven’t heard of him) Ray Black came in to pitch for the Giants.  Both pitchers worked about two innings and did a good job. 

Yeah, it went to extra innings.  In the eleventh, the Padres got runners on the corners with one out.  A safety squeeze was called that didn’t work and nothing came across.  No, I don’t understand that play call either.  By this point, only Giants fans were apparently left in the stands as they cheered on their team.  It was getting late, and I was getting close to leaving.  I jumped ahead on the broadcast one more time to the live coverage and heard the last out.  The final was 5-3 Giants after twelve innings.  Gorkys Hernadez hit a go-ahead home run and Buster got an RBI on a fielder’s choice.  This felt like a long night of baseball with some unexpected results.  It was interesting though.

7-31-18

I’d like to do in-depth analysis of the MLB trade deadline.  I would, but I was busy with month end processing and I only glanced at the headlines.  I am curious about the Chris Archer to the Pirates trade, but other than that, nothing jumps out to me as playoff changing.  You never really know about these trades until the postseason starts anyway. 

With the Chihuahuas off, I picked a bad night to listen to the Flying Squirrels.  I came in in the middle of a seven-run third inning by the Blue Jays’ affiliate, the New Hampshire Fishercats.  The announcer was talking about Vladimir Guerreo Jr.  He was called up from the Double-A Fishercats to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.  The team was planning on promoting him heavily.  He may be a star in the making. 

The Fishercats still have plenty of legacy players on their team though.  Cavan Biggio is in the lineup.  Bo Bichette got an RBI on a bases loaded walk right before a grand slam was hit out.  “The wheels have officially come off the Flying Squirrels’ apple cart,” reported the announcer (whose name I still haven’t picked up) as the score when to 10-4. 

In the eighth, the Squirrels picked up a run off a wild pitch.  If I understood the call correctly, the ball didn’t go that far.  The catcher tried to throw out a runner from first trying to take second, but no one was covering the base.  A runner who was at second scored on that throw to nobody.  The Fishercats still won 11-5.  Jonah Arenado for the Squirrels at least had a good night, going 4 for 4.  He was below the Mendoza Line before the game.

I noticed the TV was still on in the break room later in the evening.  I usually eat dinner at my desk, but I decided to see if the Diamondbacks were playing.  They were, and they were playing the Rangers.  I sat down and took my dinner there.  Bartolo Colon, “Big Sexy” himself was pitching.  Bob Brenly told a story that whenever the manager comes to take Colon out or after the game, he thanks the manager for letting him pitch that day.  What we should all say “Thanks” for is watching him bat in National League games.  His team was all up on the rail smiling, hoping for another improbable home run or at least seeing Colon’s helmet fly off on a swing.

It wasn’t the Rangers’ night as they lost 6-0.  During the Squirrels’ game and this game, the commentators mentioned tonight’s Nationals/Mets’ game.  The final was 25-4 Nats.  The D-Backs’ scoreboard wasn’t even able to display out-of-town scores that high.  Do we want to psychoanalyze this score?  Bryce Harper was on the trading block at the deadline.  Were his teammates happy that they kept him?  Meanwhile, the Mets kept all their good pitching.  Did they want to get dealt?

Over on the MLB Network, they were probably showing the game of the day between the Dodgers and the Brewers in LA.  I think it was Manny Machado’s home debut.  I would have liked to have sat down and watched all of this one, especially knowing the result, but like I said, it was month end and I was really busy.  I checked in on it a couple of times.  It seemed like a close game at the time.  In the bottom of the ninth, I couldn’t believe the score was still 1-0!  I did watch Jeremy Jeffress close it out, including getting Machado.  I’m sorry I have no other details.  Elsewhere on MLB.TV, the free game was the A’s and the Blue Jays.  The A’s are still hot, winning 6-2.  And that closes out July.