Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, 5-26-19

Continued from Saturday.

90% chance of rain in Indianapolis today.  That had been the forecast all week and even when I tuned in to the coverage for the prerace Sunday morning.  The sky was indeed overcast over IMS.  By the time the race was over, nary a drop had fallen and there were blue skies overhead.  This years’ race was NBC’s first crack at the Indy 500, since acquiring the rights from ABC/ESPN.  In spite of my general hatred for ESPN, I had to admit that they did really good job on their last race (5-27-18).  It actually kills me to admit to that, so you know I mean it. 

NBC had a lot to live up to given their competitor’s history.  You could best sum up their attempt with one word: cringy.  Here’s a few more: smiley, happy, no depth, embarrassing.  Here’s the biggest race of the year and the prerace is like an hour of the Today Show.  I guess you’re trying to appeal to the normies, but they don’t watch the race.  The fans do.  When I tuned into qualifying last week, they did a great job of setting the storylines for the day.  If it hadn’t been rained out, I would have watched.  So, they could have done a better job of setting the stage for the race, but instead did a segment on milking cows for the Victory Lane milk. 

Our expert commentary for the prerace was provided by Danica Patrick.  Once again, it was the Danica Show.  I should have known better than to think that we were rid of her.  Like much of the prerace, what was frustrating was that she was insightful during the race, once she stopped talking about herself, which took a while.  Also present was a damn-glad-to-be-there, Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Who is this guy?  Was he ever this happy racing?  He also drove the pace car, still smiling, and was surprisingly cogent talking about the race.  Also present was my favorite pit reporter, adorable Kelli Stavast.  The dulcet British tones of Leigh Diffey provided the play-by-play.  It was odd hearing him doing an American open wheel race, instead of F1, but I got used to it.

But, the important thing here is lunch.  McAlisters was featuring a new sandwich on their website, which I scouted before I decided to go there for lunch, the Chicken Avocado BLT.  It was a good-sized meal and very tasty.  It did fall apart a bit as I was eating it.  The Avocado didn’t quite hold it all together.  It was served on two oversized slices of white bread.  The bacon was good.  I was worried the chicken might be poor, but it was fine.  I’m trepidatious about any fast food chicken except for Chik-fil-a, Raising Canes, and What-a-burger (their Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich exclusively).  Every place else and every other chicken item is on probation with me, because they’re not only not as good, they’re usually just bad. 

Of course I had the M-F’ing tea.  (That meme is probably dead by now.)  I was offered a cookie or a brownie, which I wish I’d gone ahead and bought, but I didn’t know what the price was.  Instead, I went back out about an hour later to Orange Leaf for froyo.  I got cookie dough with peanut butter cups added in.  I also tossed on some Twix, but those don’t work with ice cream, because the caramel goes hard instantly in the cold.  That pretty girl was back working there.  I’ve seen her several times.  I don’t know what to say to her to chat, even when we’re there alone.                                 

Back to the race, pit lane mishaps were the story.  Colton Herta had electrical issues, I think, and came to a halt on pit lane.  Helio Castroneves had contact on pit lane with another car.  Last years’ winner, Will Power, missed his spot in the pit box.  Another driver hit one of his pit crew.  Kyle Kaiser, the last driver to make the field who bumped Fernando Alonso, lost his car coming out of pit lane. 

Alexander Rossi, who won in 2016, had a fueling problem on one of his pit stops.  He was completely infuriated, banging on his steering wheel, while the crew worked on it.  I’m told he’s never normally that angry.  Well, Rossi went on a rampage trying to get his lost positions back.  He nearly ran over a lap-down Oriol Servia, who was holding him up.  They exchanged hand signs at over 200mph as they passed one another.  Rossi, passing like a madman, made it back up front.

The Big One happened on Lap 178.  There had only been three retirements beforehand.  There were five more with this wreck.  Graham Rahal chewed out Sebastien Bourdais on track while Bourdais was still sitting in his wrecked car.  (How humiliating for a four-time Champ Car champion.)  Rossi had just passed polesitter and Indy GP winner Simon Pagenaud for the lead as the race was red flagged.

The race was restarted with 13 laps left.  Pagenaud immediately passed for lead, but Rossi was back in the lead by the next lap.  They would end up trading positions five times before the end.  Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy winner, came back from a lap down to third place with 10 to go and pressed the both of them.  Rossi had the lead with three to go.  Pagenaud passed on the outside with one lap left.  There was lots of swerving on that last lap, but Pagenaud held it and won.

Pagenaud gave Penske another trophy and got to keep his seat.  Simon stopped in front of the grandstand to salute the fans and he also thanked them again after splashing himself with milk in Victory Lane.  (I hate the milk drinking bit here, because I love milk and these guys nearly always waste it.)  What a month at Indy for Simon: GP win, pole, led the most laps, and won the big race.  Regardless of the prerace, as long as you’re showing the race, you really can’t screw up the coverage.  It will make its own drama, regardless of attempts to enhance it.  The story is always the same: triumph for one driver, tragedy for 32. 
           

Two other events started before Indy finished.  On a Mexican station, the Dodgers and Pirates were on.  During yesterday’s MLB game, they’d promoted that they were going to be broadcasting another game today.  I’d checked back repeatedly at the advertised time, but it wasn’t on that I could see.  I joined the game in the fifth with the Dodgers up 4-2.  The Pirates were in their horrible 70’s throwbacks.  I like several teams’ retro uniforms, but this one is way too gaudy.   

Wow, I wish I hadn’t scrambled my notes together from four different events.  Let me untangle this.  I saw Joc Pederson homer to make it 5-3.  By the time I’d tuned back, it was 9-3 in the sixth, but the Pirates did make a comeback to make it 10-6.  The Dodgers scored again in the seventh on a missed catch.  This broadcast was the Dodgers’ video feed.  They showed fans already leaving over the Roberto Clemento Bridge.  The Bucs scored in the ninth, but lost 11-7.  I’m sorry there was so much going on.  This would have been an entertaining game to have watched instead of just peeking in on.

Meanwhile, the F1 Monaco race had started on ABC.  This was on delay, but “Thank you,” NBC for not spoiling the race during your Indy broadcast.  Last year, ABC had shown the F1 race right after Indy without any prerace.  There was one this time and they announced that there was a 90% chance of rain there in Monte Carlo.  For an F1 race, impending rain is good news, since that often makes the race more interesting.  I had to miss the most of the prerace to see the end of Indy, but I did make sure to watch the start of the race and the hard right-hander into Sainte Devote.  Having seen this race before, I know that that first corner is functionally the whole race. 

No rain fell in the principality either today during the race.  Here in the Las Cruces, there was a 5% chance of rain today.  Suddenly, I’m hearing thunder.  The wind had kicked up hard outside and it was overcast.  It would eventually start raining a bit for a short while.  This is the way I would have wanted it, rain here instead of at Indianapolis.  It would have been ironic though if the lightning had gotten bad enough that I’d had to turn off the TV before Indy finished. 

I flipped between the F1 race and the ballgame.  The coverage featured some hysterical Sky Sports announcers.  Not hysterically funny, just hysterical like a panicked woman.  I’m missing the BBC guys.  ABC also inserted random commercials into the race, since the original broadcast didn’t have any breaks.  There was a woman with ESPN, who came on and assured viewers that they wouldn’t miss any of the race.  Well, that’s nice at least. 

So, Lewis Hamilton started on pole, led coming out of the first turn, and won the race.  How does Monaco keep delivering these surprises?  Actually, Lewis and Max Verstappen did touch in the closing laps, but didn’t crash and maintained their positions.  I wish they’d use karts for this race instead of F1 cars.  The drivers might go for it, if it didn’t affect the points standings.  It would be like the most glamorous Mario Kart race ever.       

Sure, let’s check out what’s on the radio too, specifically the Rangers and Angels and the Chihuahuas were scheduled to play.  The pups were not on, which was okay, because I was getting twitchy enough just changing TV stations.  I found out later that they’d been rained out in Fresno.  In LA, it was actually raining lightly there.  Ranger announcer, Eric Nadel, couldn’t remember ever seeing rain at a game there.  The field in Anaheim wasn’t built with good drainage, so a hard shower might end the game.  His partner, Matt Hicks, was worried about the open-air pressbox and all of their electronics.

The rain continued into the eighth, but never affected play.  It didn’t hurt Mike Trout as he homered in the first to make it 1-0 Angels.  The fans were unaffected too.  Matt called a fan in a suite with a mitt making a great catch on a foul.  Shin-Soo Choo homered in the fourth to tie it.  Hunter Pence also homered to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.  (I was on the phone and missed it.)  It was Hunter again in the sixth driving in a run with Logan Forsythe then driving him in.  The Rangers built up a 5-1 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, a double play ended the inning, but the Rangers stayed on field, apparently they’d all forgot the number of outs.  I kind of wish I was watching this game.  Ranger starter, Ariel Jurado, came out in the seventh and the Angels tee’d off on the Rangers’ relievers.  Trout doubled in a run.  Shohei Ohtani tied the score on a sacrifice.  Two wild pitches brought in two runs and gave the Angels a 7-5 lead.  After that catastrophe, the Rangers made a comeback in the ninth.  Choo doubled in Ronald Guzman, but was left stranded at third.  7-6 Angels was your disappointing final.

Before getting into the afternoon NASCAR race, I have to mention a movie.  Flipping around, I ran into a 50’s gem on Comet, The Beast of Hollow Mountain.  I was confused when I saw it because it looked like a Western.  It was.  The caption summed it up succulently: A Tyrannosaurs Rex terrorizes a Mexican village.  It’s like the Magnificent Seven, but with a dinosaur.  (Not really.)  It was an exciting seamless blend of stop-motion puppetry and practical effects (namely shots of a guy wearing big T-Rex feet or giant claws fumbling at the actors).  This concept seemed familiar somehow.  It was.  Last year on Comet, I’d seen a 2015 film called Cowboys vs Dinosaurs.  Not quite the same premise, but close enough. 

The Coca-Cola 600 prerace had my full attention.  I was riveted watching Shannon Spake stuffed into a hot, off-the-shoulder dress.  This was my favorite part of the coverage.  Shannon did spoil the end of the Monaco race, which had quite yet finished on the other network.  I’ll forgive her (mostly because the outcome wasn’t in much doubt). 

There was no rain in Charlotte, but it was very hot.  The drivers were concerned.  Another hot Charlotte, WWE wrestler Charlotte Flair, joined Michael Waltrip on the grid walk.  The drivers they met seemed genuinely awestruck by the overwhelming blonde.  I think they were WWE fans.  Charlotte would drive the pace car.

A Marine general gave the command.  He brought his own hype-man, a master sergeant, to introduce him and he did so with a flourish.  The cars went into a three-wide formation on the pace lap.  I was listening to the baseball at the time, so I’m not sure why they did that.  It was good practice for later in the race.

I really meant to sit and watch the race, but the Braves and the Cardinals came on ESPN Radio after the Rangers’ game was over.  I’m not sure what inning the game was in, but I heard Harrison Bader drive in the first run and be driven in to make it 2-0.  The story of the game though was a guy holding a baby, reaching over the rail for a foul ball.  The announcers wet themselves.  Mom immediately came over and took the child away and they all left shortly thereafter.    

We’ll skip to the ninth with the Cardinals up 3-0.  The Braves came up with a run and got two on with nobody out.  Another hit made it 3-2.  Andrew Miller came in.  He gave up the tying hit.  I wanted to start watching NASCAR, but these guys were not cooperating.  In the tenth, the Braves’ go-ahead run was walked in.  They won 4-3, as KROD went on autopilot and I missed all of the bottom of the tenth except for the final out.   

Back at the race, there were 10 cautions through the first two stages.  It seemed like a bunch of blown tires, maybe due to the heat.  Before the race, my dad had pointed out a picture of Jimmie Johnson’s paint scheme in the newspaper.  It looked good there and on track with the desert camo.  If only they still sold little affordable diecasts.

I was watching Stage 4, as two large wrecks messed up the field.  On the final restart with six to go, I finally turned up the sound as the baseball game was in commercial.  The cars were going four-wide and banging off each other in the final laps.  Martin Truex fended off Joey Logano for the win.  And I got to see a little more Shannon Spake.  Yay.  I feel like I cheated myself not watching more of the race. 

My last viewing of the day was a Comic-Con documentary on TBD.  That was pretty interesting.  A guy proposed to his girlfriend at a Kevin Smith panel, which was sweet.  Funny how the comics are almost the least of it there now.  With that, we pack it in until tomorrow.

On to Monday.  

Memorial Day Weekend Saturday, 5-25-19

I’m pretty sure I overdid it this year.  Like the last few years (all Memorial Day posts), I went on a sports-watching binge for the three-day weekend.  This time I’m not even going to count the number of events.  I was kind of thinking I wasn’t going to be doing much sports writing this summer, because of some burnout over doing Aggie sports this year.  I may have subconsciously decided to go out with a bang.  This is what happens when I don’t have an Aggie game to go to. 

I started off with a splash at noon watching Women’s Diving.  This is because I have fetish issues.  One quick cure for that was the looks of the competitors.  There was only one attractive diver out of 12 and no underwater cam, so I lost interest pretty quickly.

Did you know there was a National Lacrosse League?  I found this for reals while flipping stations.  Instead of playing on a field, they were playing in converted hockey arena.  This was a championship game.  The game was sponsored by a beer company and there were a bunch of people there.  They were even running special lacrosse commercials.  Living in the Southwest, I’m not familiar with how big the sport is in the Northeast.  Unlike the field sport, the goalies are decked out like hockey goalies with massive pads, and there’s a shot clock.  I don’t know how anyone scores.  I missed the end of the game, so I don’t have a final outcome.   

Now this was really unexpected from just scanning the channels: Women’s College Softball from Mexico.  It was Chihuahua versus Tamaulipas.  Unlike Mexican League Baseball, there wasn’t any advertising all over their uniforms.  The field they were playing on wasn’t that great.  It seemed like a converted Little League field.  The field had the dimensions of one.  The mound was flattened and the circle was put out in front of it. 

What was the same were the girls and the fans.  They were loud and into it.  I saw one thing I’ve never seen.  A pitcher hit a batter on the head with a pitch.  The batter took first, and the pitcher went over to check on her and bumped fists with her.  Not to say the game wasn’t unapologetically rough too.  On a play at the plate, the catcher and runner were both flattened and trainers had to come out for them.  Later, another girl may have gotten hit in the face by a foul liner while she was a runner at third.  She had to come out of the game.  The Chihuahua team made a comeback in the seventh, but lost 7-4.  A guy ran out waving a big team flag.  The girls lined up and shook hands, just like here.

Meanwhile, I finally found an MLB game on Mexican TV.  I’d started watching games on a Mexican network on Saturdays last year, but I couldn’t find the games this year, except totally randomly.  I found the Reds and Cubs playing on a different Mexican station than last year.  I’m not sure when these games are on, because I can’t find a schedule for this station.  Though I’d been scanning around this afternoon, I didn’t happen on the game until it was in the third inning, Cincinnati up 2-1.

The wind must have been flying out of Wrigley, because homers were rampant.  Yasiel Puig hit one out on to Waveland Avenue behind the stadium, which was filled with fans.  Yu Darvish pitched into the eighth for the Cubs, but came out with the score tied at six after giving up another home run.  The Cubs won 8-6, though they worked into trouble in the ninth before closing it out.

I’d noticed on the TV schedule earlier in the week that the WNBA season opener was on Saturday between the Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury.  I’d marked it to watch, because I was hoping to see Brooke Salas on the Storm.  Researching their roster later, I found out that she didn’t make the team.  They had an article about it.  They were basically full at the guard position already.  Watching a little of the game, I have to admit that all of the players looked significantly bigger and taller than Brooke.     

I did have Aggie Baseball at in the WAC Tournament playing on the radio later in the afternoon.  However, I was watching more MLB on FOX in the evening.  The Red Sox and the Astros were playing . . . for the second week in a row.  (The Red Sox will be on for a third time next week.)  George Springer had just gone out with hamstring injury for the Astros before this game.  However, Red Sox starter, David Price, left the game in the first with flu-like symptoms.  Back in the day, that meant he was hung over.  

I missed him leaving the game.  I wasn’t paying close attention.  I also missed the first scoring in the game in the bottom of the sixth by the Astros.  I missed the Red Sox scoring in the seventh, but I did see the Astros score in the bottom.  I actually thought the biggest story of the game to that point was Josh Reddick’s new shave and a haircut.  He was almost unrecognizable.  At some point, I did actually really watch the game and take note of the score.

Roberto Osuna blew his first save with the Astros since being acquired last year in the ninth.  Wasn’t this the guy that people were #metoo protesting?  Funny how winning fixes that.  He loaded the bases and allowed two runs to score, which tied the score at 3.  He then reloaded the bases, but got out of it.  In the bottom, the Red Sox’s closer, Matt Barnes, loaded the bases with nobody out.  Carlos Correa singled to win the game, 4-3 Astros.  The Red Sox are not missing Craig Kimbrel at all.  (In fairness, they might not have brought him in with the score tied in the ninth.)     

Late in the MLB game, almost unbelievably, college baseball came on the Stadium Network as scheduled.  I’ve had my issues with the network not showing scheduled college baseball games.  This was the Mountain West championship game between UNLV and Fresno St.  Their tournament is like the WAC tournament being double elimination.  However, the Mountain West only invites four teams, not six.  One other difference between the tournaments, the Mountain West does have the run rule in tournament games.  I seem to remember, the WAC doesn’t.  

I guess I should have been rooting for UNLV to win, since that would have forced a Sunday game, which was also scheduled.  UNLV had just beaten Nevada on a walkoff homer into the wind to advance right before this game.  There wasn’t a much of a crowd for the game.  That’s another thing, Nevada was hosting the tournament.  I’m thinking that means they don’t have a central tournament site like the WAC.  However, it’s a very nice facility.  Maybe this is their central site.  In any case, the home crowd just left with their team’s defeat.  It was also cold and windy.  There was snow on the mountains in the distance.  Not surprisingly, the field features a turf mound and field.     

The two team’s announcers traded off doing the game call, which was nice for a championship game.  The Fresno St starting pitcher had big hair.  Between his pitching motion and the stiff wind, he kept losing his hat.  Finally, the pitcher and two infielders did a three-way hat swap to find one that would fit him more securely.  Only in baseball, folks.  The Bulldogs built up a four run lead early, but UNLV tied it later on a blown double play that scored two.

Fresno bounced back in the fifth and scored a run to take out the UNLV starter, 5-4.  Later in the game, Fresno brought in a 6’9” 220 lbs reliever, or a center off their basketball team by mistake.  The guy was seriously huge.  Fresno scored again in sixth to make it 6-4.  In the seventh, Fresno got a leadoff triple that was cashed in with a ground rule double.  The Bulldogs scored 6 in the inning to make it 12-4, close to a run rule.  The game did go all nine and Fresno St won 12-6, for their first conference championship.  My favorite comment by the announcers was a hirsute Fresno player being said to have an “All-Conference mustache.” 

The MLB.TV free game today was unexpectedly a late game between the Rangers and Angels.  I was planning on trying to listen to that on the radio anyway, so I watched instead.  Or tried to.  What happened was I had to manually reload the page about 50 times as the MLB connection kept dropping.  Their website is not that great without a real steady connection.

I wouldn’t have been trying so hard to watch, except it was the Rangers and it was a really close game.  Ranger starter, Mike Minor, gave up a solo home run to Kole Calhoun in the third.  That was all of the scoring until the ninth.  In the fifth, the Angels did load the bases with two outs.  Mike Trout popped up to end it.  Angels starter, Tyler Skaggs, was chased in the sixth after hitting Joey Gallo in back and leaving two on.  The reliever walked the next batter to load the bases with two outs, but a popup ended that inning as well.  I did learn that Shohei Ohtani uses Game of Thrones walkup music.

In the ninth, Ronald Guzman doubled in a run to tie it for the Rangers.  Hansel Robles blew his first save of year for the Angels.  (It was a bad day for closers.)  A sub .200 hitting Roughned Odor singled the Condor in for a 2-1 lead.  There was a popup on the infield earlier that the fielder dropped to in order to throw out the lead runner.  Apparently, I still don’t understand the infield fly rule.  The Rangers brought in Shawn Kelley in to close.  With a runner on, Calhoun doubled in a run, as Luis Rengifo ran through a stop sign to score easily.  (It was a really bad day for closers.)  Elvis Andrus then dropped a popup behind third, which allowed Calhoun to score the winning run, 3-2 Angels.  How disappointing.

I actually missed a game today.  The Chihuahuas were playing Fresno late.  I was saturated with content at the time.  I tuned in for the end of the game, but the stream cut off before the last out.  The pups lost 5-2.  Did any of my teams win today?  Ouch! 

On to Sunday.

Aggie Baseball at the WAC Tournament

Regular Season Recap here

Before the tournament, the Aggies made out like bandits in the conference player awards.  Joey Ortiz was the Player of the Year.  What a non-shock.  Also on the First-Team All-WAC was the rest of the Aggie infield, Tristan Peterson, Nick Gonzales, and Eric Mingus.  And let’s toss in outfielder Tristen Carranza and starting pitcher Chance Hroch.  Wow, what a team! 

I’ll personally add that Logan Bottrell has been playing at a high level as a centerfielder and leadoff batter with an injured back.  Logan Ehnes has sparked the offense with some truly clutch hitting in big games.  Not to mention, Braden Williams was on a national watch list for catchers.  Jason Bush also did a good job catching, and I just like him because he looks good as a ballplayer.       

5-23-19 vs Utah Valley Wolverines

It sounded like a good crowd there at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, AZ.  Brock Whittlesey was starting for the Aggies versus Paxton Shultz for the Wolverines.  I was kind of busy at work during most of the game.  That was okay from a scoring standpoint, because there wasn’t any.  It was a classic pitcher’s duel.  Perhaps the closest call came in the top of the sixth.  The Wolverines had a runner on with two outs.  There was a deep drive to right and Logan Ehnes made a great running catch to end the inning.

In the seventh, there was Ehnes again as he beat out an infield hit.  The crowd started chanting for the Aggies.  (I hope Emerson was there.)  Tristan Peterson, continuing his hot streak, hit a big double to bring Ehnes home.  That ball probably would have been out anywhere else.  1-0 Aggies.  In the eighth, Whitt was finally taken out with one out and runners on the corners. Keaton Graf came in and worked out of it.  Nicely done.  Whitt came out of the dugout to congratulate him afterward.

In the bottom of the eighth, Braden Williams singled and was moved over by Logan Bottrell.  Conference MVP Joey Ortiz singled Braden in to make it 2-0.  Joey stole second and took third on a wild pitch.  Nick Gonzales walked.  Tristen Carranza was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Shultz was taken out after 120 pitches.  What tremendous efforts by both starters tonight.  Adam Young, on the radio call, reported that some UV fans were already leaving. 

There was Ehnes again, as he drew a walk to force in a run to make it 3-0.  Peterson brought in another run on a sacrifice, 4-0.  Caleb Henderson pinch hit.  Earle had spent most of the season on the shelf, but kept rehabbing was cleared to play this week.  He got a standing ovation from Aggie fans in the crowd and got a bloop single to make it 5-0.  Adam was completely stoked doing the call.  He was rooting for him.  Eric Mingus then tripled in two more to make it 7-0.

Graf started the ninth and let on a couple of runners.  Aldo Fernandez came in and allowed a run, but finished it out.  7-1 Aggies win!  Tonight was definitely the kind of the pitching performance the Aggies will need to win here.  As is often the case, it was very hard to shutout the Aggie offense and showing any pitching weakness to them is lethal.  In spite of the final score, this was a very tight game.  Aggie pitching came through here until their mighty bats could come around. 

5-24-19 vs GCU Lopes

Next up, the Aggies played the more-or-less hometown Lopes.  It sounded like a big crowd there in Mesa.  Chance Hroch started for the Aggies.  Caleb Henderson was in at DH and Braden Williams was back catching.  The Aggies were the visiting team for this game.

GCU got the scoring started in the second off a two-run homer by Kona Quiggle.  This was after an error by Nick Gonzales.  In the third, Eric Mingus hit a leadoff homer.  The Aggies got two on after, but a good play in the outfield ended the inning.  2-1 GCU.  In the sixth, after a single, Chance uncorked two wild pitches that advanced the runner to third.  Hroch then got two strikeouts, to set a career high at 10, and escaped without harm.

In the seventh, Logan Bottrell singled to drive in Mingus.  Joey Ortiz then singled to drive in another run.  GCU starter, Jake Schiedner, was chased from game as the Aggies took a 3-2 lead.  Reliever, Coen Wynne, came in and got two strikeouts to leave two Aggies stranded.  In the bottom, Joey committed a second error.  The runner then advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw.  A base hit tied the score.  A double by catcher, David Avitia, drove in two.  Avitia is a .196 hitter.  Adam Young and Jerry Lujan on the radio call were just talking about what a terrible hitter he is before that. 

After another RBI double to make it 6-3 GCU, Chance came out after throwing 100 pitches.  Sure, take him out early last week when he was cruising, but take him out too late here when he’s obviously getting hit hard.  Good thing you coaches saved his arm for this, instead clinching sole possession of the conference championship.  Wyatt Kelly finished the inning off.  The Lopes tacked on in the bottom of the eighth with a homer and an RBI double.  The Aggies lost 8-3.  The team committed three errors and left eight on base.

5-25-19 vs Sac St Hornets

The Aggies fell into an elimination game against the Hornets on Saturday, also facing elimination.  Justin Dehn was pitching for the Aggies, who were the home team.  Kevin Jimenez was in at DH and Jason Bush was catching.  The Hornets’ staff was theoretically depleted as they’d lost their first game and had to use ten pitchers to get to this point.  However, it was a #1 seed versus a #3 seed matchup. 

There was another good crowd, but since this was a day game, they’d moved into the shaded upper deck to avoid the sun.  This put them closer to Adam Young’s radio broadcast.  There was an annoying tapping sound by one of the fans banging on something during most of the game.

Kevin doubled in the second, as Adam reported that his family had just come in the stadium.  Adam was able to crowd-watch a bit as they were all nearby.  Some former Aggie players came in for the game.  Joey Ortiz got a hit in the third to tie the school record for hits in a season.  Nick Gonzales drove in Logan Bottrell with a sacrifice to make it 1-0 Aggies.  With the bases loaded, Logan Ehnes singled to score Joey as he tied another school record for runs.  2-0 Aggies.  Sac St put in a new pitcher, who got a double play to end the inning.

At this point, I impulsively walked over to the mall next door to get dinner at Chik-fil-a.  The round trip took 20 minutes, with a quick detour to Barnes & Noble, but I did work up an appetite.  When I got back, it was 4-3 Aggies in the fifth.  I’d missed a two-run homer by Nick.  The Aggies had loaded the bases with Jason up.  The Hornet centerfielder made a great diving catch to end the inning.

Dehn came out in the sixth, after he’d let on two runners.  Aldo Fernandez came in and let in a run to make it 4-4.  That was it for the scoring for a while.  Much like last year in the Saturday game in the tournament (5-26-18), this game went to extras.  The Hornets took the lead in the tenth.  Brock Whittlesey came on in relief, but surrendered an inherited run.  The Aggies came up in the bottom and a double play ended the game.   

6-4 Hornets was the final.  The Aggies’ season came to an end.  The Aggies actually played a cleaner game as they had no errors, while Sac St had two.  The Aggies left 12 on base, but the Hornets left 10.  Sac St then went on to win 4-3 in 11 over GCU that night, and won on Sunday 5-4 to take the championship.  After playing six games in four days, they’d certainly earned it. 

I have to admit to not wholeheartedly rooting for the Aggies to win this game.  I truly doubted their chances of winning that night against GCU, much less tomorrow.  I didn’t want a seemingly inventible loss dragged out over two more games (not that Sac St had any trouble doing that).  I really hate this double elimination format for the tournament.  I know that sounds like sour grapes, but I’ve never liked it in softball and even less in baseball.  My coverage of these two games was really spotty because of what I was doing at the time.  You’ll understand when I post my Memorial Day coverage of multiple other games and sports. 

  

All I can say is that the Aggies were not able to clutch hit in these last two games.  They certainly scored a lot of runs this season, but there were several telltale games where they left runners all over the bases.  For fielding, their last game was good, but in that GCU game before, they’d shot themselves in the foot.  They’ve had error-prone games before this season.  Aggie pitching has generally not been their strong suit this season.  I thought they did okay here in the tournament, considering they were generally used to more run support. 

      

How to sum up the season?  Pretty much everything I said in the Regular Season Recap still applies, so I’m just going to leave it at that.  Braden Williams and Brock Whittlesey made the All-Tournament team.  I think Whitt actually hasn’t given up a run of his own in the tournament, this year or last.  That’s a big game pitcher.  I’m going to add Logan Ehnes to this list for his efforts too.  The result for the season was a step back, but overall I don’t think this will hurt the program.  Coach Green will not have any trouble recruiting hitters for one of the best offensive teams in the nation.  That may help recruiting pitchers too.  Who wouldn’t want to play behind those big bats?  I think we can still look forward to another good team next year.   

Baseball Journal May 20-22, 2019

Short entry to clear these posts before Memorial Day weekend.

5-20-19

It was 40 degrees and wet and damp in Albuquerque.  “That’s hittin’ weather,” said the Chihuahuas and the Isotopes as they scored a combined 31 runs.  The pups won 21-10 and hit five home runs.  I said I wasn’t planning on doing anymore random baseball coverage, but I’ll make an exception when I hear or see something interesting happen on field.     

5-21-19

As great as the Chihuahuas’ offense was yesterday, they were actually completely upstaged by another PCL team that night, the Reno Aces.  They scored 25 runs.  Yasmany Tomas hit four home runs to go into the record books for that achievement. Matt Szczur hit for the cycle. 

The Padres’ radio broadcast was talking about these two teams playing each other tonight, while their parent clubs are playing each other too (the Padres and the Diamondbacks).  The Chihuahuas did lose to the Aces in El Paso, 10-7.  Tomas homered again and the pups had three.  They are averaging over two homers a game and are on pace to shatter the professional home run record.  Tangential trivia, two of three Aces’ outfielders were former Chihuahuas.

5-22-19

Two quick day games were on this afternoon.  The Aces beat the Chihuahuas at home 9-1.  Aces had four home runs, including one by Yasmany Tomas and one by baseball legend Cody Decker, who was pinch hitting.  The pups’ only run was off a home run.  Co-worker Chuck went to the game.  He’d been looking forward to it, but came back disillusioned.  He did like the hot dog meal he got there.  Dear Aggies Sports, take notes.  Good concessions can smooth over bad losses by your teams.

Meanwhile, and irritatingly at the same time, the Rangers were playing the Mariners.  When they said Joey Gallo and Willie Calhoun weren’t playing today, I went back to the Chihuahuas.  But, when that game quickly turned into a beat down, I tuned back to the much tighter Major League game.  The Rangers won 2-1.  Hunter Pence scored both runs, one by a solo homer and by being driven in by Nomar Mazara for an unearned run.  The Rangers made good use of an opener and the bullpen did well.  It was a quick two-and-a-half hour game.  I’m not anticipating a good season here, so I’ll note these victories when I can.

At work later, MLB.TV had a second free game for the day on.  (I didn’t bother with their afternoon game, since I was already listening to two games on the radio.  Also, I can’t get MLB.TV to work at home worth a crap.)  I watched a bit of the Yankees beating the Orioles.  Then I heard a bit of Flying Squirrels baseball.  Judging from what I’ve been hearing the last couple of years, the Giants farm system is crap.  And, yes, I am bragging about watching and listening to all this baseball.

Aggie Baseball Regular Season Recap

This season recap went way long, as I commented on games I wasn’t even at or watched or listened to.  That might be questionable.  I’m not any sort of baseball analyst, but I’ll make some general observations.  The team was 38-15 overall and 19-8 in conference.  I wish there was a run differential stat available on their website, because I’m sure it will show fairly easily how the Aggies won most of their games: by pounding their opponents into submission.

That said, I wish they could have had Caleb Henderson for the season, because they could have been much better.  There were many times they put a lot of runners on, but had trouble bringing them in.  Starting pitching was good.  I just wish they’d had even just a marginal starter on the team for those mid-week games.  Relief pitching had their moments, but were mostly leaning on the Aggie offense to carry the team to victory or, unfortunately, giving up the lead.  Aggie fielding was atrocious at times with too many errors.  These guys were a team.  In all aspects, they tended to succeed or fail as a unit.

My favorite games this season were Opening Day and the game against the Lobos here in Las Cruces.  They were festive fun atmospheres with lots of happy fans.  Overall, I’d pick the Xavier win, the win over the Lobos in Albuquerque, and the April 30 win over Arizona as the team’s best wins.  Their best series was definitely against Seattle U.  The low points were, for me, that run rule loss at home to UTRGV and that final game loss to CBU.

Regular Season Recap

2-15-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: I was there for Opening Day!  It was the first of the cross-scheduling issues with Softball.  The Aggies won in a blow out.  Nick Gonzales and Joey Ortiz set the tone as they both went 5 for 5.

2-16-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: I was at Softball because of cross-scheduling.  The baseball team scored 24 and 38 runs respectively to win their DH.

2-17-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: Again I was at Softball.  The game was interrupted by a Braden Williams’ home run coming on to the field.  TS agreed to a run rule before this game, which was a good idea as the Aggies routed them again.

2-22-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: Huge winds were blowing for this game.  Then it started raining and then the temperature dropped below zero.  I was glad I wasn’t there.  The Aggies still crushed it. 

2-23-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: First mention of Emerson in the blog.  The Aggies won Game 1 in a blowout.  Nick and Joey were still lighting it up.  Unfortunately, it was so cold, I got sick and ended up going home between games.  I listened to the Aggies lose a low-scoring game over the radio in Game 2.

2-24-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: Aggies got an unearned blowout win after committing four errors.  Chance Hroch was steady pitching though.

2-26-19 at Texas Tech: The Red Raiders did the impossible and shutout the Aggies.

3-1-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: Wow!  What a uniform!  For a team with a weird name, they’ve got some fashion sense.  The Aggies took out their frustration over that shutout loss on the Blue Hens with a clubbing. 

3-2-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: Ron and I missed Game 1 to be at Women’s Basketball.  It was a blowout.  We got there for Game 2.  The Blue Hens had another great uniform on.  The Aggies won this one in another blowout.  Chris Jefferson pitched well here as the starter.  What happened to this guy during the rest of the season?  He basically disappeared.

3-3-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: After seeing yet another great uniform, I wanted some Blue Hens merch.  Really, you guys looked good.  The Aggies came on late to win this one going away.

3-8-19 vs La Salle Explorers: Another game that was best watched over the Internet because of poor weather.  There was even a short rain delay before the end.  This was a good back-and-forth game, but the Explorers prevailed by a run. 

3-9-19 vs La Salle Explorers: The Aggies won Game 1.  I praised the bullpen in my post.  They won again in Game 2.  Tristen Carranza hit two homers in the game.  Logan Bottrell was 7 for 7 at one point in the double header. 

3-10-19 vs La Salle Explorers: I formally met Associate AD Herb Taylor.  He thought I worked for the team.  Under a threat of rain, the Aggies blew this one out late in the game.  Joey had two home runs and Jason Bush hit a big three-run homer.

3-13-19 at ASU Sundevils: The Aggies ran out three of their starting pitchers for this game in limited outings, but lost.

3-15 to 17-19 at Nebraska Cornhuskers: (No coverage) This series was canceled for snow.  The Aggies were probably hoping to get at least win one and boost their RPI.  Without this series, the program may not have played enough games to even be considered for an at-large NCAA bid.

3-17-19 at Xavier Musketeers: This was a pickup makeup game as both teams happened to be in the same area in Arizona at the same time.  This was a great win against a flamethrower future Major League pitcher.   

3-19-19 at Arizona Wildcats: The Aggies lost a slugfest in Tucson.

3-22-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: This game went back-and-forth a couple of times.  Ultimately, the Aggie bullpen couldn’t stop CSUB from scoring and the Aggies took the loss.

3-23-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: After that hard loss last night, the Aggies came back with a 23-1 win.  Let that sink in.

3-24-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: Chance had a rare bad outing.  The bullpen had issues, but Aggie bats hammered out a home run barrage to win this four-plus hour game.

3-26-19 vs UNM Lobos: Wow, I was there on a weeknight for a packed house rivalry match.  It was awesome.  The Aggies started the game with a Tristan Peterson grand slam.  The Aggies crushed the Lobos.  I got to listen to some co-ed girls talk about their sex lives.

3-29 to 31-19 at Chicago St Cougars: (No coverage) The Aggies took two of three.  That third game was a run rule shutout.  It may have been Chance’s best start of the season, only giving up one hit.

4-5-19 vs GCU Lopes: Errors did the Aggies in tonight as the Lopes took the first game of this big series.

4-6-19 vs GCU Lopes: I missed seeing more of Basia Query playing softball next door for this game.  At least the Aggies won this one to make me feel a little better.

4-7-19 vs GCU Lopes: This was a one-run game until the bottom of the eighth, when Logan Ehnes broke it open with a grand slam homer.  Chance nearly worked a complete game.  (Apparently this game was more important than the last home game, where the Aggies could have won sole possession of a regular season championship.)  Ron recovered Ehnes’ ball and returned it to him.  Logan then kissed his girlfriend Emerson.  I was heartb . . . nah, not really.  It’s cool.

4-9-19 at Texas Tech: The Aggies showed some fight here, but against the #11 team in the nation, Red Raider pitching and hitting mostly dominated.

4-12-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: Bear Jack Pauley hit the first ball I’ve seen go over the batter’s eye.  The Aggies came back four times in the game to win a close one.

4-13-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: Carranza put one over the batter’s eye to start the game.  Pauley’s shot yesterday must have inspired him.  Justin Dehn won a shutout here.

4-14-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: We had a Brooke Salas sighting at the ballpark today.  The Aggies started off the game with a nine-run first inning, which included a grand slam.  Unfortunately, that was not the end of this very long error-prone game as the Bears came back.  At one point, there were 21 total runs scored, 15 were unearned.  The Aggies won on a run rule in this four-hour game.

4-16-19 at UNM Lobos: This five-hour epic took ten innings to decide.  The Aggies got out to a big lead, but gave it all back.  Coach Green got ejected arguing a call.  Ehnes had two clutch hits in the game. 

4-18-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: The Aggies won in a run rule rout in this one.

4-19-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: Five errors did the Aggies in in this close game for a loss.  I was listening to this game with Ron after we’d watched Softball in the evening. 

4-20-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: I listened to the end of this game at while at a Softball game because it ran so long.  The Aggies kept getting the lead in this game, but couldn’t put the Wolverines away until the very end and by only a run.

4-23-19 vs Sul Ross State Lobos: Grrr . . . This game never happened, literally, as far as the record books are concerned.  Let’s just move on.

4-26-19 at Sac St Hornets: This was another big series for top spot in the conference.  I found out they have food trucks at the Sacramento stadium and I’m still jealous.  Brock Whittlesey maybe pitched his best game here, but the Hornets won.  Aggie relief pitching and an enormous number of Aggie runners left on base were the problem here.   

4-27-19 at Sac St Hornets:  No problem with the offense here as the Aggies pounded out an easy win.

4-28-19 at Sac St Hornets: The Aggies won a low-scoring super-tight game. 

4-30-19 at Arizona Wildcats: The Aggies won an epic four-and-a-half hour slugfest 15-13.  I have to put the score here, because was so excited I apparently forgot to do so in my original post.  This was probably the team’s biggest win of the year.  TC had the big blow with a three-run homer.  Whitt probably saved the day with a critical late relief appearance.    

5-3-19 vs vs UTRGV Vaqueros: It was another big series.  There were several good teams in the WAC fighting for first.  The Aggies went down by five early, but came back to win huge. 

5-4-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros: How do you score 11 runs in a game and still get run ruled in your own park?  It was not a banner day for Aggie pitching. 

5-5-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros: Ron and I were at a Chihuahuas game during this one.  Chance came out and pitched a seven-inning shutout.  The Aggie offense scored 10 runs in this bounce back, run rule win.

5-10-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: The Aggies killed it today with 21 runs in a runaway win.

5-11-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: Another double-digit win for the Aggies.

5-12-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: Yet another double-digit win for the Aggies.  The SU announcers and myself were very impressed with the team in this series.

5-13-19 at Washington Huskies: Back to earth with this loss to the Huskies.  The Aggies did put up a heck of a fight though and made it close at the end.  A little better pitching and they would have had a chance.

5-16-19 vs CBU Lancers: I met Chico, the Chihuahuas’ mascot, at the game.  Who would have figured on that happening at an Aggie game?  The Aggies lost a close one.

5-17-19 vs CBU Lancers: I met Striking the Wonder Dog at the game.  My life is now complete.  The Aggies won this one in a run rule blowout.  This win would secure the #1 seed at the tournament and a regular season co-championship.

5-18-19 vs CBU Lancers: Blurgh . . . And there went my lunch.  I don’t even want to discuss this loss.