Midsummer Sports Report 2021 Part 3

Part 2

6-22-21

I was distracted by three other games going on this Monday (D-Backs broke their 17-game losing streak, and Padres beat the Dodgers in a national ESPN game), but I picked up a little of the Chihuahuas and the Skeeters.  It was another blowout loss for the pups, so it didn’t keep much of my interest.  Tim turned most of the game call over to another announcer.  He did that last week, too.  However, I did catch the aftermath of a play that sent Tim over to the official scorer for an explanation.

 

There was a balk, but the pitcher delivered the ball and the batter made the third out.  The game call went to commercial.  They came back and the inning was still going.  The Chihuahuas had been called back to the field to play.  In such a balk situation with a play involved, it’s up to the batting team whether they want to keep the result or have it declared a no play.  This is sort of like when a team bats out of order.  It’s up to the opposing manager to bring it to the umpire’s attention.  They’ll do so after seeing the result of the out-of-order batter first.  As Tim said, “However many times you come to the ballpark, you’ll probably see something new every time.”

 

6-23-21

I wasn’t expecting a free game on MLB.TV today after getting three games yesterday (including a Youtube game), but there was a Giants/Angels game in the bottom of the ninth.  It was a 1-1 tie game, but I wasn’t expecting to be watching for long.  Jon Miller and JT Snow were calling the game for the Giants, so I was pleased with that regardless of how long I was able to watch.

 

By the twelfth inning, the Angels had their left fielder catching, as they’d burned their backup catcher pinch hitting and Kurt Suzuki then came out after a shot to the head.  A pitcher was put in left field.  This lead to the situation in the bottom where an American League team sent two pitchers up to hit in the inning.  “I’ve never seen this,” said Snow.  In the next inning, the Giants scored seven runs to win it.  Mike Tauchman hit a three-run homer after having struck out five times in the game before that.

 

I found out later, this game was unique for another reason.  Shohei Ohtani was the starter and for the first time, an American League pitcher hit for himself in a game.  I would have thought this had happened before with him, but it hadn’t.  He only gave up one run in six innings, but went 0-3 hitting.  I doubt this experiment will proceed.  Nine players, an entire starting lineup, ended up getting subbed in for him in the game when he came out.  I realize there were several extra innings, but they literally ran out of players late in the game and lost because of this gambit.       

“Sweep LA!”  The Padres had a good week.  The scuffled badly on their last road trip and returned home to full capacity and a full house.  They proceeded to take four from the Reds and three from the Dodgers.  Those last two wins were pretty nervous, but the Brown was clutch.

 

6-25-21

The Chihuahuas were playing Round Rock tonight in El Paso.  I’d been listening on-and-off all evening.  The pups had gone down three runs going into the bottom of the ninth.  I was aware that the Chihuahuas were threatening, but was busy with work when I suddenly heard Tim Hagerty screaming, “Walk off grand slam home run!”  Patrick Kievelhan had won the game after three consecutive walks proceeding him.  The opposing pitcher was described as bent over at the waist, hanging his head, and staring at the ground.  During the post-game recap, Tim maybe seemed a little embarrassed by his hyperbolic call.  It was quite a moment though.  Too bad my co-worker, who’d gone to a game recently, wasn’t there for that grand slam.

 

6-29-21

The world of baseball was three outs away from totally upending this season.  German Marquez stood on the mound at Coors Field to start the ninth inning for the Rockies.  He had eight shutout innings behind him as ineffective Pirate batters could only flail in frustration.  I was picking up the game as a live look-in on the MLB website.  The possibility of a no-hitter in Denver was enough to get me to drop all pretext of doing work. 

 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the bid ended on the second pitch of the inning with a sharp liner to the outfield.  It was a great effort though.  I do say, “fortunately,” because if a Rockies pitcher had pitched no-hitter at home, after all the other no-hitters this season, MLB would have introduced either a new T-Ball or only-BP-fastballs mandate the next day. 

 

Meanwhile in El Paso, it wasn’t the baseball Apocalypse, but you just got a glimpse of it.  The final was 2-1 for the Chihuahuas over Round Rock.  What were the odds of a pitcher’s duel at Southwest University Park and a near no-hitter in Colorado in one night?  (Okay, that’s it.  I’m sick typing out a sentence to write the name of the stadium.  El Paso, from now on, your ballpark is officially “The Dogbowl.”)    

 

6-30-21

“It’s a special kind of strike.  We call it a ‘ball.’”  Youtube was doing a free game today between the Florida/Buffalo/Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners today.  (Actually, the Blue Jays may finally be allowed back into Canada soon, but considering the travel restrictions there, I’ll believe it when I see it.  For tonight, they’re still in Buffalo.)  Brian Kenny was leading a little roundtable of two former players (including one with a jarring Australian accent) and a stat-head lady with the game call.  Wow, was this one fun to listen to.  The game was good, but having four baseball fanatics sitting on a couch calling the game is without question how every future national baseball broadcast should be done.

 

Even the game dragging early just left more opportunities for the panel to discuss more baseball issues.  “This game may go seven hours.  I think we’ve got time to debate and solve all of baseball’s problems.”  Kenny, as a big believer in Sabermetrics, even admitted that him and his ilk had essentially ruined the game.  He wanted to fix it.  Former Chihuahua hero and current Mariner player, Ty France, was mic’d up for the game and provided the crew a good deal of entertainment.  He’s one of those chatty first basemen, who likes to talk to opposing players.  

 

Oh, if only there hadn’t been quarter end processing tonight, and I could have just sat and watched the whole thing.  Actually, that would have been laborious too.  Including two half-hours of pre- and post-game shows, the broadcast probably went five-and-a-half hours.  Even with my limited viewing, this was an obviously irresistible format for baseball.  Having a one or two-man crew for local broadcasts is fine, but national broadcasts need to be more like this.  More audience participation, beyond running little polls and having selected content creators in the chat room, would also be a plus.

Part 4

Midsummer Sports Report 2021 Part 2

Part 1

6-12-21  

Saturday night and there’s a race on.  Unfortunately, it’s not NASCAR.  They’ve been on the back of a milk carton for the last couple of months on FOX.  This was the debut of the SRX Racing series on CBS.  It’s sort of like the old IROC series, where a bunch of past champions from various series raced against each other in identical cars.  This series is planning on running on short tracks for the next six weeks. 

 

There was a full house for the inaugural race featuring champs such as Helio Castroneves, Tony Stewart, Tony Kanaan, and Bill Elliot.  Greg Biffle and Marco Andretti were there, along with some other drivers I didn’t know or remember when I started writing this.  If these guys were giving autographs, I can easily see a bunch of people showing up for the race. 

 

The broadcast crew seemed to mostly be ESPN’s old crew.  (CBS is rumored to be going after NASCAR coverage at some point.)  Alan Bestwick called the race.  He looked damn happy to be back in front of a microphone.  Lindsey Czarniak, looking very hot, was the host.  The pit reporters were familiar (and I’ve forgotten who they were, wait, Brad Daughtery was one).  Danica Patrick was the effusive color commentator.  We were all asking the same question: Why wasn’t she racing?

 

Admittedly, I don’t have much to say about the race.  I was flipping back-and-forth with FOX’s MLB game, and I was listening to the Chihuahuas on the radio.  There was an interesting play at the plate during that game.  The throw bounced in the dirt and hit the umpire on the nose.  He had to get treated and have the blood cleaned up before the game could continue. 

 

Back at the race, Danica told a story about having to race at the Eldora dirt track, which is coming up on the schedule.  She felt she had to do it because her boss, Tony Stewart, owns the track and invited her.  She didn’t want to since she’d never been on dirt before.  She admitted that she didn’t practice beforehand just to have an excuse for doing badly, which was what happened.

 

The winner of the race was the local ringer.  They’d left a spot in the grid just for a local.  He got out of his car afterward and fell on his rear.  The guy said he was okay with looking like a dummy if he could promote the track.  I’d have to think this would be a great career accomplishment for him given the field.  I’ll keep tuning in when I can for this series.   

  

6-15-21

I’ve been under limited Internet access at work this work.  It’s really sucked.  I could still listen to Chihuahuas games.  I found Tim’s commentary a bit more compelling than the game.  He mentioned a score from Las Vegas from the previous night.  They scored 11 runs in one inning . . . and still lost the game 21-16 to Reno.  And here I thought that Chihuahuas loss on the fifth was terrible to sit through.  It could have been worse.

 

The OKC Dodgers won tonight’s game, but the pups at least split with the series with them.  Tim noted a Dodgers reliever was playing catch with some kids above the bullpen.  That’s sweet.  Their starter breezed through one inning in four pitches.  Tim was aghast.  He didn’t even have time to finish his commentary on MLB’s new rule against pitchers using foreign substances.  We go straight back to the future as the “spitball” (or “spider-tack” ball) is once again illegal.  Tim said it had been up to opposing managers to police this, but no one wanted their own pitchers busted for calling it out. 

 

Meanwhile on TV, the Giants were playing the D-Backs.  I’d caught the first inning when Arizona went out to a 4-run lead.  I’d had to skip out at that point to work, but left the game on and kept checking in.  The lead increased to 7-0, before the Giants started making a comeback. 

It was 8-5 when I wandered in in the bottom of the eighth and stopped to watch.  The Giants were up with two outs and the bases loaded.  Mike Yastrzemski battled at the plate until he got a down and in pitch right in his left-handed sweet spot.  The ball started hooking.  I immediately began to move down an imaginary first base line trying to wave it fair with my arms flailing.  It just cleared the pole and splashed into the drink of McCovey Cove.  Yaz was amazingly composed and barely cracked a smile as he crossed home plate.  The Giants won 9-8.   

 

6-18-21

After a two week road trip, the Chihuahuas returned home.  The crowd there sounded big and enthusiastic over the radio.  Unfortunately, they lost a lead late to Sugar Land and lost the game.  Tim was amazed by one play in the game that he’d never seen before.  There was a dropped third strike on a Skeeters batter.  He thought it was a ball and stood there.  The El Paso catcher was injured on the play.  The pitcher actually got the ball and tagged the batter for the out.

 

The parent club, the Padres, came home after losing three in a row to the Rockies.  (The Rockies?)  There were two free games today online which I watched (Cubs/Mets and Tigers/Angels), but I kept an eye on the Padres’ game with the Reds tonight.  They took a two-run lead into the ninth.  The Reds came back with four runs.  I turned on Statcast for the bottom just after Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer to tie it and kept watching as Victor Caratini hit another two-run homer to win it.  The sweet part is that their stadium was finally at full capacity tonight.  The highlights looked like a World Series game with the fans going crazy.

 

6-19-21

Finally.  The Chihuahuas beat the Sugar Land Skeeters.  They it well, too, 15-2.  They’re now 1-7 against them.  A co-worker and her dad went to the game.  I’m sure she brought them the good luck they needed.  She’d been thrilled seeing a grand slam home run during the game.

 

6-20-21

I thought the highlight of tonight’s game between the Chihuahuas and the Skeeters was going to be Tim Hagerty’s in-booth guest.  For Father’s Day, Tim had brought on his little son.  It’s been so long, I’d forgotten that he usually brought on a kid guest for Sunday home games.  This lead to this exchange.  Tim: “You’re four years old.”  “I’m five.”  “You’re five?  When did that happen?”

 

As it turned out, a full inning of Sonny/Daddy time was not the most noteworthy event of the game.  The Skeeters started off the game scoring four runs before their first out.  This included two home runs.  Coincidentally, there was a ferocious gusting wind kicking up ahead of a . . . weather occurrence that resulted in no rain.  (We’ve been a little dry out here in the Southwest this year.)  It seemed like it was going to be one of those games where the pitchers run and hide.

 

I’ll cut more-or-less to the chase.  Sugar Land was up at one point 10-4.  In the bottom of the sixth, with the crowd all into it, the Chihuahuas closed it to one run, 13-12.  Unfortunately in the seventh, El Paso went through two pitchers as the Skeeters scored three more runs.  Position player, Matt Batten, came in to pitch.  A groan went through the crowd, including myself. 

 

Tim had to explain.  The Padres parent club had just called up a called up a couple of pitchers.  They’d sent a couple down, but they weren’t in town yet.  El Paso was out of available pitchers.  Batten has had quite a bit of experience pitching, unfortunately.  He induced a double play on an eephus pitch to end the inning and got a roar out of the crowd.  Events did not go well for his next two innings though.  The final was 24-15.  Yeah, forget all about yesterday’s blow out win. 

 

This was the most runs given up, the highest total score, and longest 9-inning game for the Chihuahuas ever (four+ hours).  I never got a final count on the number of home runs for the game.  (I think it was 11.)  It was after 10:15pm and Tim mentioned that there were kids out running the bases, as per the usual Sunday promotion.  

Part 3 

Midsummer Sports Report 2021 Part 1

This was going to be a Fourth of July Sports Report.  Then I wrote out 12 pages before the Fourth and this became the “Midsummer” Report.  Interesting sports events (mostly baseball) kept happening, and I kept compulsively writing them down.  (I’ll stop as soon as interesting things stop happening.)  This is going take a few posts.  It all started with a Chihuahuas game I’d rather forget, but can’t.  

 

6-5-21

This was a memorable Chihuahuas game for all of the wrong reasons.  Simply, El Paso had a 9-0 lead in the fourth inning in Round Rock.  Two innings later, the Express had the lead and went on to win 12-9.  At the end of the inning where they took the lead, the crowd gave them an ovation.  Tim Hagerty on the radio call was so even and optimistic in his game call, you probably wouldn’t have known the score just from his inflection of what was going on.  Indeed, when the Express suddenly took the lead, I was like, “What the hell just happened!”  I’m sure the Chihuahuas felt about the same.

 

6-6-21

I’ve been enjoying these Weekend Binges on the Decades channel lately.  They were doing a marathon of Sledge Hammer this weekend.  Not only has this show aged well, it’s actually even funnier today than it was in the 80’s.  I was still flipping around between commercial breaks though.  Mexican TV was all about two events going on today.  One, it was national election day there.  Two, the US and Mexico were playing a match today for the CONCACAF championship.  (I’ve never been able to figure out what that is.)  They were playing at Mile High Stadium in Denver.  So as usual, the US would be the visiting team in front of a hostile Mexican crowd.

 

There’d been constant PSA’s on Mexican television emphasizing how fair and honest their elections are in the run up to the election.  You won’t see commercials like that on US TV; we all know our elections are a fraud.  It seemed like there’s an embargo on election results until the early evening.  All the stations ran the same show with the totals.  I noticed the time.  The soccer match was about to begin and all Mexican TV was doing election results.  I could only imagine a nation of angry Mexicans throwing chips and salsa at their TV’s.  Imagine Sunday Night Football being interrupted for election results.  Yeah, then it’s not so funny.

 

Regardless, I turned over to Univision, which is technically a US network, to start watching the match.  I think I was actually just waiting for something else to come on and thought I’d watch this in the meantime to see how it went.  It went poorly.  Mexico scored in the first minute.  They scored again shortly thereafter.  My God!  It’s like a 9-0 lead in a baseball game.  This one is over.  I thought.

 

I went back to watching Sledge Hammer.  During a commercial break, I flipped back over to see what the further damage was.  The score was listed as 1-1.  Okay, this was an odd turn of events.  I’m guessing that second Mexican goal was waved off and the Americans had scored.  I’m surprised there wasn’t a riot going on in the stands.  I’d like to say this score intrigued me, but it didn’t.  I went back to Sledge. 

 

Next time I tuned back, it was 2-2 at the end of regulation.  At this point, I actually felt bad that I had bailed on this match so early.  I still couldn’t be persuaded to sit and watch though.  I checked back a half hour later.  It was still going!  All I’m seeing is the referee running back-and-forth across the field handing out cards.  I can’t watch.

 

My last check in, I see that the US had taken the lead.  They’re still playing, of course.  Soccer can’t do their timing right (like stopping the clock instead of doing extra time), hard-to-come-by goals are routinely waved off, and overtime doesn’t end with the first goal; they play out the whole period.  Alright, I’m invested by this point.  I’ll watch. 

 

Extra time is added to the overtime.  This game will not end.  It’s going on forever.    Mexico scores the equalizer!  But then it’s waved off.  I’m waiting for gunfire to erupt from the stands.  Why is there a black bald chick dressed as a line judge there?  There are fans suddenly running across the field getting tackled by security.  Their goals are getting waved off too.  Players are trying to do a throw-in from the sidelines and getting hit by bottles from the stands. 

Finally, for whatever reason, the game finally ended.  The US wins.  I’m laughing my ass off.  What a ridiculous, yet tremendous, spectacle this has been, and now I’m waiting to watch Mile High Stadium be destroyed from the inside out by angry Mexican fans.  Meanwhile at the US border, thousands of furious Mexicans stormed across in an invasion.  Oh wait, that’s every day.  No change there.  How did the Mexican’s lose?  They’d injured the US goalkeeper and almost took out his substitute. 

 

I called Mike.  I knew his girlfriend would be watching this match and who she’d be rooting for.  I was calling to say “Goodbye,” to my friend.  He was still alive, but this was only because he’d locked himself in his office.  Back at the stadium, there were actual cheering US fans there.  The team saluted them.  None of these people will make it out of the parking lot alive.  Later, the Mexican team will hijack their own flight and try to make it to Bolivia.  There’s nothing but a death sentence waiting for them in Mexico.  Well, this was actually an entertaining match, even if it wasn’t so much for the actual competition.  I might have to watch more soccer.

                

6-7-21

Or thereabouts.  I didn’t actually write down the date for this.  Tim had a great deal of consternation in calling this game between the Chihuahuas and Round Rock.  In the first inning, either there was an immediate substitution after a half-inning or there was a change from the announced lineup to the actual lineup.  Tim was obviously frustrated and confused trying to figure out the batting order and who was in the field.  As a person who likes to keep a scorecard at games, I completely understood his discomfort.  Tim eventually got it straightened out and passed his corrected lineup to the PA, since the announcements were also off.

 

6-8-21

This follows up on the previous entry.  In today’s (or thereabouts) Chihuahuas/Express game, an unknown El Paso pitcher started an inning.  Obviously, this put Tim in a bit of a pickle trying to do the game call.  The player number wasn’t listed the on roster and Tim didn’t recognize him.  After a few batters, Tim finally got a name and an explanation.  This was an MLB waiver claim player from another team, who’d been sent straight to Triple-A.  Tim credited a fan who runs a Padres fansite for identifying the player.  The information was also passed along to the confused official scorer.  Another note about this series, Tim noted that, for whatever reason, the Chihuahuas have a large number of fans in the Austin area, and they came out to support their team. 

 

6-9-21

(Or thereabouts.)  In Oklahoma City against the Chihuahuas, an odd play led Tim to question the official scoring.  I forgot the details of the play, but the ruling on the scoring could have gone a couple of different ways.  Between innings, the official scorer polled Tim and the OKC broadcaster on their opinions.  Sometimes, the scoring on a play changes after an inning, so now I know how that happens.

 

I don’t remember if this particular incident happened here or on another day, but right before the pregame chat that’s part of Steve Kaplowitz’s Sportstalk show, his co-host Adrian Broaddus mentioned that he was proudly wearing his Kaplowitz 20-th anniversary shirt.  Steve has been doing the El Paso talk show for quite a while.  (I do remember listening to the guy who preceded him in the 80’s, John Tischer.)  Tim came on right after and started off by saying, in a thoroughly indignant tone, “I’m waiting for my t-shirt.  I’m sure it was just delayed in the mail.”  I don’t even think he was kidding about being annoyed.      

      

6-11-21

This time I’m sure of the date at least.  It was a triple-header of hard defeats tonight.  It seemed so promising to begin with.  The MLB free game was the Padres against the Mets, which I was glad for.  Of course, the game video was blacked out, since we’re in the Padres’ viewing area (?).  Still, I enjoyed the radio call.  Unfortunately, Jacob DeGrom outdueled Blake Snell in a close game and a Mets win. 

 

Right after that, I noticed that there was a second free day of the day and it was a Rangers game.  This must be my lucky day.  Of course the game video was blacked out, since Las Cruces, New Mexico is practically a suburb of Arlington.  Since we lost our El Paso Rangers’ radio affiliate this season, I was just glad to get the radio call.  I was glad until I started listening and Dodgers completely destroyed the Rangers.  They were getting hammered so bad, it tested my loyalty and had me looking over to tonight’s Chihuahuas’ game versus the OKC Dodgers.  It was the same story there.  Darn Dodgers! 

Part 2

The Elvis Collection: Newspaper Clips 29

Here we finally come to the end of the Elvis collection.  We'll start off with some merchandise.  Collector plates are a big deal, but would seem to me way too fragile to display.  

Elvis commemorative steins. 

 

And an Elvis commemorative quarter.

I gave mom a printed article I found about Captain Marvel Jr. and Elvis on the Internet.  Elvis was a big fan of Jr.  Maybe it was his somewhat dark origin story.  

    

Elvis had one of his suits designed after his outfit.   

Elvis' Taking Care of Business in a Flash logo was inspired by the Marvel lightning.

Captain Marvel Jr. returned the favor in Alex Ross' Kingdom Come series.  Here's future Freddie Freeman in costume.  (Yes, he has the same name as the Braves' MVP first baseman.)   

And here, our odyssey finally comes to an end.  There's probably not much to distinguish this newspaper insert coupon ad for an Elvis commemorative half-dollar, except that I clipped this one myself.  It's from March 2021.  Yes, actual paper newspapers are marketed to an older crowd, but it's  amazing that Elvis is still being mass merchandised.  

 

How can I possibly sum up this collection in a couple of sentences?  It was definitely a labor of love by my mom, as first a teen crush and then trying to keep his memory alive.  Posting this all here is a way of keeping mom's memory alive as well.  She collected a lot of things, but after her genealogical research, I'm pretty sure this Elvis collection was her favorite.  Doing all this has deepened  my appreciation for him and her.

The Elvis Collection: Newspaper Clips 28

This first one is an odd grab bag.  In an attempt to draw out Elvis after his death (?), a pass was left for him for a football game.  Also, Elvis somehow endorses Clinton from beyond the grave.  Oddly, in a fictional Elvis bio I read, Elvis beats out Clinton for the democratic nomination.  At the bottom, Elvis didn't take Nixon's suggestion to do a jailhouse concert like Johnny Cash.   

A shot at Lisa Marie and a shot by Pravda at Elvis.  You can also buy a copy of Elvis' will.  The Elvis Estate signs on to bringing an NFL franchise to Memphis.

Introducing the Elvis furniture suite.

Another Elvis birthday celebration, Elvis era car rentals, and a Graceland book.

More articles about Graceland celebrations.

Graceland added to the National Register of historic buildings.  Eddie Rabbitt was a host on the MDA telethon.  He wrote a couple of songs for Elvis in addition to being a successful singer in his own right.  Mom was big fan of Eddie too.

One more article about the annual Graceland remembrance.  

The Elvis Collection: Newspaper Clips 27

The director of the movie was an Elvis fan, but got completely sick of him after making a movie in Memphis.  

 

Article about the actress playing Priscilla in the mini-series based on Elvis and Me.  

And they also profiled the actor playing Elvis.

Erma Bombeck on the "Elvis is Alive" story.  Mom was a big fan of Erma.

Here, Grizzard compares Elvis to 2 Live Crew in terms of societal shock value.  He says in 20 years, 2 Live Crew will seem "Absolutely harmless."  Almost.  I don't even remember anything about them and probably nobody else does either.

 

Greene came back from Elvis week with an idea of turning Graceland into a cemetery where fans could be buried with him.  

 

Grizzard talks about hip hairstyles starting with Elvis.

An editor talks about seeing Elvis on his "Comeback" tour.  He almost passed it up because Elvis wasn't as popular as he used to be.  After going, he was really glad he went.

This is not the back of that article like I thought it was when I posted this.  Anyway, it's a little time capsule of movies in El Paso in the 80's.  Wow, these were terrible movies, especially Caddyshack 2.  I probably shouldn't have posted this.

The Elvis Collection: Newspaper Clips 26

Well, this is going to start off bleak.  The "Elvis is Alive" story forced an official statement.

Elvis' death was hotly disputed to be a drug overdose.

 

Here's the low-down on how Elvis is actually still alive.

And here's some articles discrediting said theory.

Ann Landers weighs in on the Elvis is Alive story.

Carl Perkins is forced to comment on whether Elvis is alive or not.  He's not pleased.

Here's a memorial to Otis Redding.  The only Elvis connection is that Otis won Male Vocalist of the Year over Elvis in Melody Maker magazine.  Great music really isn't a contest.  There's always room for more greatness.