NM State Volleyball Crimson and White Scrimmage 8-12-23 Part 1

What a fun picture.  There's Darian Markham hitching a ride with Ryleigh Whitekettle.

I finally had to sign-on to Twitter to get information about this weekend’s Aggie Volleyball scrimmage.  I didn’t want to do it (for various reasons), but the online schedule was a bit tardy in disclosing info on this game.  From an Aggie podcast, I learned that there were inside renovations going on to the Pan-Am Center.  This explains why this match would be played in the practice gym attached to the arena. 

 

This wasn’t the first time the team has played a match in the gym.  In 2021, they played there in an exhibition against Texas Tech.  You can read about the circumstances in my post from that time.  The short version is that I didn’t get to see the match.  I didn’t know what to expect, except for the words “limited seating,” in the promo.

 

I went really early just to make sure.  I ran into fan Danny out in the parking lot at the rear of the Pan-Am and we entered together.  We saw former players Tatyana Battle (Ops Director) and Molly Johnson (Grad assistant) in the hallway.  I waved to them.  (I really hoped I could talk to Molly and tell her that I wanted her back playing.  One year with her wasn't enough for me.)  The small practice gym inside was not made for spectators.  Two rows of seats were on the far side of the court.  On court, the girls were warming up.  This was definitely a lot closer than the fans usually are when the team is playing.

 

In fact, too close.  I got hit on the leg by a ball after I sat down.  I found myself deflecting balls away from Danny on occasion during the match.  Danny immediately befriended an adorable chatty little girl with rosy cheeks sitting next to us.  She was 7 (as she told everyone) and, I think, the daughter of an official, of which there weren't any present for this game.  (PA Ed Caranathan was there to call the match.)  Coach Jordan came by and individually greeted the fans that had shown up early.  The little girl told him that she wanted to play for him someday.  He had to tell her that he planned on retiring probably before she'd be old enough.

 

I'd impulsively brought a piece of charcoal and some paper to draw on before I'd left.  I thought maybe I could draw some action poses and the girls relaxing on the sidelines.  That was a great idea, if I had more talent.  Also, I didn't count on being cramped in my seat with the crowd.  I wished I brought a normal pencil.  Charcoal wasn't the right tool for this.  I might try it again sometime.

 

The people kept coming.  The seating ran out and people were standing until more chairs were brought in.  People still ended up sitting on the court.  Some members of Aggie Soccer came in, including Xitlatly Hernandez and Loma McNeese (both looking glam).  Several Football players were there.  There were a couple of windows overlooking the gym from the second story.  There was a crowd of people, who might have been athletes, watching from there as well.  

 

As for the team, Ryleigh Whitekettle was as striking as ever out on court.  She also had the hardest hit ball that I heard that evening, though it was during warmups.  Newcomer Starr Williams was also a presence with her height and her amazingly long, thick braided hair going down her back.  Local girl and senior Kaitlyn Espiritu was on the sidelines and not suited out to play.  I've despaired of ever seeing her in a game.  Alexandria Connatser was back with shorter hair.  I think she needed to put a little more weight over the summer.  She seems too thin for her position.       

 

After what happened last year, Coach Jordan brought in two more setters to join Bianca Perez and Rilen Garcia.  Bianca was still wearing a thumbguard (as was Ryleigh).  From a podcast interview, the coach still really loves Rilen's effort, but she is pretty undersized for the position.  Aspen Aldous is a junior transfer and Peyton Castillo is a sophomore from Western NM.  I think Aspen is meant to the primary.  She's 6'2” and can block (and is well built).  Peyton also has some height (and is really pretty with a killer smile).  There's probably going to be some real competition over the setter position, because they're all capable.

 

I'm sorry Ron wasn't here.  He would have loved seeing the girls.  He would have been close to his favorite, Morgan Stewart, from court level.  This isn't a beauty contest, but I really liked Maggie Lightheart.  She's cute as heck and a local girl that’s new to the team.  She got a lot of playing time in the match and played well with a lot of hustle.  The coach was likely mostly testing out the newcomers as much as possible in this match.  I'll mention a lot of the other players during the recap.

 

Set 1

It seemed like most of the presumptive regular starters were on the White team and much of the reserves were on the Crimson team.  Starr made an authoritative straight down dunk at the net to start the match for the White.  Ryleigh followed that up with a kill.  Kacia Brown had a solo block and a shared block with Ryleigh.  Anji Vishwanathan, PA Ed's favorite name to announce, came back for the Crimson with a tip kill to make it 5-3 White.  Another Las Cruces player, Jacqueline Gomez-Gallegos, made a solo block for the Crimson and teamed up transfer junior, Aleka Darko, for a block.  (There was a post-match interview with Aleka.  She seems like a sweetheart.)

 

On our side of the court, we could hear Assistant Coach Whitis talking to the Crimson team.  Sometimes instructions, sometimes encouragement, and sometimes taunting.  There was also a couple next to me that was scouting the players like a couple of coaches and looking at the girls' strengths and weaknesses.  I'm guessing they're boosters.

 

Ashley Herman was my favorite freshman to watch on the sidelines last year.  She was a bundle of energy and always cheerleading.  I hope she'll be playing this year.  She was taking swings for the White today.  After being denied on a couple other points, Ashley fired a fastball to make it 11-8 White.  She went crosscourt for a kill on the next point.  Ash made a nice save a couple points later and Mari Sharp got a kill to make it 14-9 White.

 

Starr made another kill and had an overpass kill to make it 20-11 White.  For the Crimson, Anji made another tip kill.  Sydney McIntosh fired a kill through a block for the Crimson.  There was a little comedy, as Morgan and Maggie fell on each other at the net for a dig.  24-15 was our first long rally.  Sydney finished it with a kill.  White would finish out the set 25-16.

 

Set 2

Molly and surprise guest former player, Lia Mosher, went out on court between sets to toss t-shirts to the crowd.  I didn't quite recognize Lia before she was announced.  She was like Clark Kent wearing nerdy glasses with her hair pulled back.  One of her shirt bundles came apart in flight.  PA Ed told her, “Nice try, Lia.”  (She was his favorite name to announce, “Lia Mooooooosher!”)

 

The teams came back out mixed up, as the coach experimented with different lineups.  Mari with the Crimson started the set with a pair of kills and also had an ace.  It was a different perspective on serves from the floor level.  I also got a sense of the speed of the ball as a ball whizzed over my head during a point early in the set.

 

Crimson ran up the score to 7-1, as Starr slapped another overpass kill.  Ashley and Kacia teamed for a block for the White.  Ash hit a kill and may have had another kill maybe overturned on a roofing call (?).  (The players were making their own calls on the other team.)  12-7 Crimson, Starr tooled the block after a long rally.  13-8 Maggie buried one for the White.  Coach Jordan at the far end of the court immediately piped up with some instructions.  Everyone got quiet.  He apparently didn’t like the defense on that shot.

 

On the next point, Coach Whitis gave his team a long set of instructions.  Unfortunately, Bella Castro, another local player, tripped after serving and White took the point.  Crimson won the next point to lead 16-10.  Morgan, on the White team, made a couple of diving saves on the point.  Coach Whitis called a timeout.  Anji and Alex teamed up for a block to take the next point.  I thought Coach Whitis was about to jump out on to the court to play with the girls on that point.  (Him and Assistant Coach Hertel, who was coaching the other team, must have had a bet on the outcome of this match.)

 

The White team started a comeback.  Maggie got another kill, Ryleigh and Kacia made a block, Maggie served an ace off the tape, and Kacia had a kill to make it 19-15 Crimson.  Bianca and new freshman Mia Daniel made a block for Crimson 23-17.  White kept coming and closed to 24-22.  Morgan had another great off court save.  At 24-23 Coach Whitis took a timeout, but White tied it at 24.  Rilen was on a great serving run for them.  Crimson finally sided out.  The set ended 26-24 Crimson with Mari making a solo block on Ryleigh.

 

Continued in Part 2.

NM State Aggies vs Cochise College Apaches Soccer 8-10-23

It’s our first Aggie sporting event of the season.  We come into it with a somewhat heavy heart after the death of Thalia Chaverria from the Soccer team last month.  (Her cause of death still hasn’t been publicly disclosed.  I’ve checked about every day.)    In a nice gesture, Thalia was voted on to the C-USA preseason all-league team.  She was also still listed on the roster today. 

 

I decided to take the day off from work to see the team’s first game to see if they’d being doing a tribute to her.  Otherwise, I might have skipped this exhibition match.  (I’m really asking for it taking any time off.  The day before, I watched three of my co-workers pass the buck around on who would be covering for me.)  There was no tribute at tonight’s game, but I had a decent time anyway.

 

There have been chances of the rain lately.  I said I wouldn’t take time off if it was raining today.  There was a welcome stiff cool breeze blowing around game time, which everyone appreciated.  There were also some dark clouds in the area.  As the evening wore on, there was rain to the north and a storm going to the south.  (After halftime, I saw lighting there.)  But other than a few blown drops, no rain spoiled the game.  

Some dust from a work area by the field did kick up a couple of times and blow over the field.  They’re putting in a rock logo on the far side of the field, but it’s not done yet.  

What is done is a new turf football practice field next door.  Unfortunately, it makes the soccer field, with a several yellow patches, look even worse.  At least it smelled nice like they’d just mowed it. 

 

I don’t think you can really see it in the picture, but there was a partial rainbow over the mountain.  So much for my crappy photography.

 

I put on the 2022 WAC Soccer Aggie championship t-shirt I’d bought last year to wear to its first match.  At the Soccer Complex, the courtesy table had two poster schedules, but neither were for soccer.  They were both Football.  One featured Quarterback Diego Pavia, whom I met at the Football Rally, and the other was of Offensive Lineman Shiyazh Pete, whom I met at Softball.  I picked them and I’m still debating where to put them up. 

 

The Aggies’ Soccer roster had a few hard subtractions from last year.  Star goalie Makenna Gottschalk and star defender Landy Williams have graduated.  They’re both playing on the same team in Europe now.  Bella Garcia was also not on the roster.  Damn, I’ll miss seeing her lovely self.  (I thought I might have seen her working for the team as an assistant, but I’m not sure it was her.)  A lot of the rest of team did return, including Loma McNeese, who is the preseason offensive player of the year in conference.  A bit troubling is the goalie depth.  There are two new freshman and a returning redshirt freshman, Valerie Guha, who was the starting goalie tonight.  (She was nice when I met her last year.  She comes all the way from Germany.)

 

The crowd was a little sparse as I showed up early.  There was a little tailgate going on in the parking lot with a high school girls soccer team (I think).  A really good crowd filled in the stands right when the game started.  I ran into fan Danny and sat him and we chatted before the match up until halftime when he left.  (It was past his bedtime.)  He brought up that another college soccer player had died this week.  (I’m sure all these athlete deaths have nothing to do with getting injected with something experimental recently.) 

 

The Football team came in and sat around the stands, but mostly in the southern support stand, which they filled.  The Baseball team might have been there.  (I couldn’t positively identify them.)  I noticed a few girls from the Volleyball team at the other end of the stands.  

 

First Half

Danny said that tonight’s opponent, the Cochise College Apaches, were pretty good at the junior college level.  (They’ll be changing their name to the Guardians or the Commanders shortly after Twitter discovers them.)  CCA did not start the game off well.  41’ left in the half, Speedy Sydnee Johnson rushed the net.  An Apache player tried to kick a pass away and put it right into the Apache’s goal.  The own goal made it 1-0 Aggies.  The offending player visibly grimaced right after it happened.

 

40’ Valerie picked up a slow roller at the Aggie net.  That was all the work she did for the match.  From here, most of the action took place in the CCA end of the field.  36’ Loma and an Apache player collided in the box.  They both got up slowly and shook hands afterward.  It was generally a friendly game to this point.  The crowd was kind of quiet for most of the half as the Aggies got off a few shots without success.  18’ Syd passed to Loma in front of the net and she buried it.  The Football team pounded their stands and started singing.  2-0 Aggies.

 

16’ Xitlaly Hernandez collected an out-of-bounds ball from the Football team.  For a moment, I thought they might not let her come back on the field and would keep her.  15’ the Aggies subbed out most of the starters.  The subs looked generally taller than the starters.

 

12’ Bianca Chacon took a shot from the wing.  Apache goalie Faye Jones made a great hand save on the shot.  She was briefly hurt and the trainer looked at her.  Faye was holding her back for the next several minutes.  (She’s from England.  Half of their roster is foreign.  The other half is all from Arizona.)  The Football guys posed for group selfie during the break.  They did give Faye a round of applause for staying in.

 

9’ Meredith Scott got a shot past Faye.  It seemed like she should have been able to stop it, but she wasn’t able to dive for it.  3-0 Aggies.  Afterward, Mya Gonzales made a great fake out move on a defender and the Football team hooted in approval.  8’ Blakley Edgar made a chip shot over the goalie to make it 4-0.  7’ Meredith (I think, I didn’t get a good look and the Football team was howling covered the scoring announcement) fired a missile from outside the box over the goalie.  5-0 Aggies and that was how the half ended.                    

 

Second Half

Karolanne Lafortune went into the Aggie net to start the second half.  The reserves were still in.  In fact, I think anyone able to play off the bench was inserted in.  The stands cleared out a bit with the possibility of approaching weather.  Most of the Football team changed ends to sit behind the opposing goal.  If they were heckling the goalie from there I couldn’t hear them. 

 

There were some Football players sitting behind me that I could hear more clearly with less crowd noise.  They were repeatedly using a word most people would be unlikely to use in mixed company.  (That word that rappers like.  By the way, I’m reminded that the pregame hip hop music sucked.)  We did find common ground on a new sub in the game.  #22 for the Aggies was tall, pretty, and had long silver hair.  Every time she ran by, the guys were talking about her (and I was certainly thinking the same things).  There was no #22 on the program roster.  From the website, #22 is Kennedy Herrera, however the girl pictured had dark hair, so I’m not sure if that was her.

 

42’ Meredith took a hard check in the CCA goal and went down.  The Football team barked at the refs.  40’ Megan Ormson took a long shot that was just off and tipped out.  35’ Apache Sabrina Ramos-Camatta made a nice shot in the middle of the Aggie box over Karolanne to put them on the board with their first shot on goal.  5-1.  I hope the Aggie girls aren’t going to be forced to run laps until they all puke tomorrow because of this defensive breakdown. 

 

33’ Mya G answered right back with a bomb from downtown to make it 6-1.  30’ there was a hurt Apache on the field.  Unfortunately, it took a minute for the refs to notice her down.  She had to be helped off.  29’ the Aggie starters came back in, including Mya Hammack.  Admittedly, she’s my favorite and was now playing on the near side of the field.    

 

21’ Loma soon enough fired one in to make it 7-1.  Faye made another great hand save on a follow up shot right after.  Ariana Leamons then made a great move on the Aggie end of the field with the ball and took it all the way downfield.  The Football players approved of her great broken field running. 

 

18’ Ariana took a shot that was caught.  16’ Syd took a shot with Ariana running interference on the goalie, but it was stopped.  15’ an out-of-bounds ball went under the south stands.  A Football player there searched and retrieved it for the players.  13’ Diana Martinez came in as the goalie to give everyone some play time. 

 

11’ Faye stopped a point blank header.  I didn’t see the Aggie player taking the shot at the far end of the field.  6’ Hannah Draper made a flying header shot off a corner kick.  That was brave and it was good to make it 8-1.  5’ there was a cheap shot on Loma.  3’ there was a hard collision at midfield, but both players were okay.  Tempers are fraying by this point.  2’ easy pass by Syd to Loma in front of an open net, 9-1.  1’ a CCA free kick outside the Aggie box.  The shot went over the net.  This was the first time I heard Coach Baarts during the game as he was shouting to position the girls on defense.  Diana made a last second save to end the game.  Aggies win 9-1.

 

The girls took care of business.  It was pretty dominating.  Shots on goal were 18-1 and corner kicks were 10-1.  They’ve got a return engagement game against Portland State and a tough game against Texas Tech to start the season.  After that, it’s Arizona State at home, probably the biggest name the program has ever attracted here.  I’ll probably try to go to that one, since ASU will likely bring a bunch of fans with them.  I tried to get a pic of the team waving to the crowd, but wasn’t quick enough.  I’ll try it again next time.  

Card Show: Birthday 2023

I considered it a successful birthday this year.  I went a Chihuahuas game (although I did pay for that one.) and got some cards and gifts.

   

Dad took me out for lunch.  I suggested getting trying the sub sandwiches at Dion's Pizza.  I'd been eating leftover pizza from them all week that I'd gotten at work.  Their sandwiches were as good as their excellent pizza.  I'd never had them before and was really impressed and so was dad.  I complimented the kitchen afterward.

Aunt Judy sent me a gift card to 5 Guys, which I live next door to, so that was pretty useful.  I used it next Saturday and got me and dad another lunch.

The Friday before my birthday, nobody said anything at work.  (I wasn't bitter or anything!  Actually, I said I didn't want anything beforehand.)  I came in on Monday and they gave me a sack full of all of my favorites: pistachios, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Skittles, a bag of garlic parmesan chips, and a slice of chocolate cake.  I'm not even sure how they knew what my favorites were.  The card is cute.  The deer in the middle is spring-loaded.

       

Another friend at work gave me a card and a League of Legends Ultimate Coke.  She'd given me a Starlight Coke a couple of years ago, which I liked.  I'll try this Coke the next time I bring a burger home.  I've watched people play League of Legends on Twitch and cannot for the life of me figure out what the game is about.  It doesn't make any obvious sense to me.    

MLB Post Trade Deadline Report 2023

I’m running a little late on this, but I assure you, I was on top of this MLB Trade Deadline.  I listened to a bunch of podcasts.  I watched MLB Network’s live coverage the day of and Stadium’s wrap up show that happened right after the deadline expired.  I would like to consider myself an expert this year, but it really just feels like a confusing jumble of random trades.

   

The story of the 2023 Trade Deadline was the trades not made.  I already mentioned Shohei Ohtani not being moved.  That was a surprise (and likely a terrible mistake by the Angels).  Two other good pitchers everyone assumed were going, Eduardo Rodriguez and Dylan Cease, stayed put.  Orioles, in spite of contending and having an abundance of prospects, did not make a big deal for either of them.  The Dodgers tried to get Rodriguez, but he blocked it.  (Everyone is questioning that decision.)

 

A literal arms race developed in the AL West.  At the Mets’ fire sale, the Rangers picked up Max Scherzer.  The Astros countered by plucking his teammate, Justin Verlander, for a return engagement with Houston.  They also picked up pitcher Kendall Graveman.  I saw graphic that listed the Astros now taking over for the Mets with MLB’s biggest payroll.  That won’t last long.  They don’t have those kind of deep pockets.  Regardless, Framber Valdez celebrated the deadline by throwing a no hitter that night for the team.  They may also be getting some key injured players back soon.

 

The Rangers had already gotten Aroldis Chapman earlier in the month.  They also picked up Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton from the Cardinals, and even Austin Hedges from the Pirates, just for his pitch framing abilities.  Unfortunately, these moves were really precipitated by injuries.  Ace Jacob DeGrom has been gone for most of the season.  Nathan Evoldi is on an extended rest, probably trying to avoid surgery.  Star catcher Jonah Heim is hurt and his return schedule is unknown. 

            

Compared with all this, the Angels move of keeping Ohtani, snapping up Lucas Giolito (from a more deserving contending team) and acquiring alumni CJ Cron and Randal Grichuk looks laughable.  Even getting Mike Trout back in the near future will only bring up questions as to whether they can trade him or not.  The Mariners gave up and were sellers this season.  They didn’t do anything in the offseason to build on their playoff team.  The A’s are so bad (-268 run differential), they only made one notable trade. 

  

In the AL East, the O’s did get Jack Flaherty from the Cards and reliever Shintaro Fujinami from the A’s.  These did not seem to be especially bolstering moves.  At least if there are any injuries, they’ve got plenty of good prospects they can bring up.  The    Rays picked up Aaron Civale, a good starter.  Trading off a bunch of their good prospects is not their team philosophy. 

 

The Blue Jays added closer Jordan Hicks.  With an injury to Bo Bichette the day before, they quickly added Paul DeJong from the Cardinals.  The Red Sox and Yankees basically did nothing.  For the Yankees, it’s almost the equivalent of a tear down, since the NYC media would roast them to death for actually doing that.

 

The AL Central is an embarrassment.  White Sox still have Dylan Cease, so this deadline was a failure for them.  Likewise for the Tigers hanging on to Eduardo Rodriguez.  The Twins are leading the division, or should I say, first among the losers.  They did nothing.  Cleveland sold off, though even minimal effort trading might have given them a chance to catch the Twins.     

 

As for the NL, you have the Braves standing pat.  Why mess with perfection?  Everyone else seems to be kidding themselves, except for the Mets.  They had a terrible strategy of trying to buy a championship this year, but least salvaged a huge haul of good prospects from their trades.  They also dumped salary.  Someone suggested they might take that money to go after Shohei in the offseason, though the team told Scherzer before they traded him that they were rebuilding for 2025.   

 

In the NL West, the Dodgers got Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Amed Rosario, and a returning Kike Hernandez, but have to be gritting their teeth at losing Eduardo Rodriguez.  He was their Win Button.  The Giants are in second place, but you’d never know it from their Trade Deadline activity.  The Diamondbacks have faded, but picked up Paul Sewald, a good closer, and Tommy Pham.  Who am I forgetting?  Oh yeah, the Rockies.  At least they had some players worth trading. 

 

Then there’s the Padres.  Add to the list of non-trade surprises Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Blake Snell, who will be free agents at the end of the season.  The Friars are not competing for the division, but still have a chance to get a wild card.  They did bolster their lineup a bit via trades for Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi.  If they can play up to the level of what the back of their bubble gum cards say they can, they could make it in and nobody would want to face them in the playoffs.  If this doesn’t happen, there’s going to be some hard questions for GM AJ Preller.    

 

In the East, the Marlins were the only team making a move for this season, albeit only for a wild card, by getting closer David Robertson and hitters Josh Bell and Jake Burger.  In the Central, the Reds are still leading, but were idle in trading.  The Brewers, right behind them, picked up hitters Mark Canha and Carlos Santana.  The Pirates sold, but did keep David Bednar.  They think they’ve got future to build on.  As for the Cardinals, enjoy your new prospects from all those trades. 

 

Let’s add two more to the list of players that were expected to be traded, Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellinger from the Cubs.  Northside management looked at their division and that they are the only team with a positive run differential and said, “We’re still in this.”  With that, they added Jeimer Candelario, maybe the best hitter available.  The Cubs responded by scoring 20 runs that night.

 

I don’t know if any of these moves are World Series winning, except for maybe the Verlander one.  I could see him really making a difference on what was already a great team.  The Ranger moves were basically just to keep themselves competitive after injuries.  We won’t know for a couple of years if the Mets and Cardinals actually made the best moves of this Trade Deadline.  In the meantime, it feels like everyone who was good before is still good and everyone else is still bad.  

El Paso Chihuahuas vs Round Rock Express 7-30-23

[I’m running late on this report, which isn’t a good sign for the upcoming Aggie Sports season.  My excuse is that I’ve watching a rebroadcast of Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary series, so it was baseball-related.]

 

What a swell birthday gift!  Actually, it was a coincidence.  The trip came together pretty quickly when I ran into a co-worker, Chuck, the previous week and he expressed a desire to go.  He’d talked to his brother-in-law, Manuel, shortly after that, who’d never gone to a Chihuahuas game.  Chuck asked me and another co-worker, Jacob, right before the end of the week and we all agreed to go on Sunday.  I had been following the team winning five in a row this week and was eager to see the finale.  Chuck did ask about Ron, as we’d all gone together last year.  Ron is on the road doing his truck driving job now.

 

The road was not our friend.  We’d left for the game a little later than I would have recommended, but there weren’t any giveaways tonight.  We did not count on the interstate being shutdown for construction before entering El Paso.  Thankfully, Chuck found a way to the stadium, but we were running late.  While we were waiting in line to enter, we could hear Tim Hagerty’s radio call over the speakers outside.  (There are places in the stadium where you can hear the call, but not everywhere.) 

The game was going on while we walked through the concourse.  Damn.  I’d suddenly become one of those late-arriving fans that I look down upon.  I picked up a scorecard and lineup at the courtesy booth.  We decided to find our seats first, instead of getting food (which I would have recommended).  We evicted the ballpark MC, Andy Imfeld, as he was sitting there waiting to do the next between innings bit.   The seats were four rows up from the Chihuahuas’ dugout with a great view of the field.  Jacob said to me, “How about these seats?”  I’m thinking, If only we’d gotten here on time and been settled before the game started. 

 

We were in time for the second inning.  I made an attempt at starting the scorecard and filled it out in the wrong column.  I couldn’t get the radio call to come in well and had to give up on it.  I was a mess. 

 

The Round Rock Express were up a run from scoring in the first.  In the top of the second, Evan Mendoza made a great play on a hot shot to third to start a double play.  There had been confusion yesterday on a 5-ball walk.  Today, there was nearly the same on a 3-ball walk.  There was an inning-ending popup that was waived off on a balk, but another popup ended the inning anyway.  In the bottom, Tirso Ornelas singled, but was thrown out trying to hustle to second.  He got a round of applause coming back to the dugout.

 

At this point, the guys wanted to go get food and I gave up on the scorecard.  I was hungry.  I ended up getting a hamburger and fries.  I kind of looked around for something else, but the hamburger and fries there are really good.  I ran into Andy Imfield again by the concessions, literally.  I have no peripheral vision with my new sunglasses.  I was absorbed in eating for the next inning.  Since I was just a regular fan at this point, why not?  I got up again for dessert, but settled on a small bag of kettle corn.  Still, I lament my unfilled out scorecard.  It’s a crime against baseball. 

 

I should mention the fashion at the ballpark this evening.  There were two guys in Padres Hawaiian shirts in the line when we came in.  I think those were giveaways in San Diego this season.  There was a guy on our row in a dark Navy blue 90’s Padres jersey with Tatis Jr. on back.  Later on camera, there was a couple wearing matching yellow throwback Diablos jerseys.  I never made it into the team shop today.

 

There was a good crowd at over 6,600.  I saw a really hot blonde girl a couple of times on the concourse.  She was part of some large group of girls, who were all wearing the same t-shirt.  It was easy to notice there was a full house in the Wooftop suite on top of the Big Dog House.  That looked like a fun place to see a game.  Chuck said the bank where we work wasn’t planning on an outing at the ballpark this year.  They blamed bad attendance, but since they may not be doing an Aggie Football tailgate either, I suspect the decision may be more financially driven. 

 

Having given up on the scorecard, I resigned myself to just scribbling a few notes.  The game itself cooperated with me, as not much happened while I was finally getting settled in.  In the top of the sixth, there was a grounder that went through the infield as short and third got crossed up.  Another Round Rock run scored, but the batter was thrown out trying to take second, 2-0 RR.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, Eguy Rosario smacked a solo home run to left to make it, 2-1.  He was sprayed with a water bottle when he got back to the dugout.  The next inning, the umpire got hit with a foul ball.  A very pretty Chihuahuas trainer came out to tend to him.  By this point in the game, the crowd was getting a little unruly.  The injured umpire got heckled.  The heckling continued on any poor or disappointing play for the rest of the game, and it was male and female hecklers.    

 

A single drove in another run to make it, 3-1 RR.  Chico, our beloved mascot, came over to our section.  He was offered some popcorn by a lady.  He took it and tossed it at his head.  He then went over and massaged a cameraman’s neck, who was sitting below us.  Then Chico went over a made friends with a scared little boy at the father’s request.  During the Stretch, he went out on field and did a Mexican hat dance with a couple of a little girls in costume.  Our mascot is the hardest working dog in the stadium.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Chihuahuas loaded the bases on two singles and a walk.  Round Rock brought out a new pitcher.  Jose Azocar greeted him with a single that scored two runs, 3-3.  Eguy came up.  He shattered his bat and then flied out.  The RR pitcher tried to pickoff the runner on second, but was called for a balk that advanced both runners.  Two balks called in a game?  Are you kidding me?  This one was pretty blatant.  Ben Gamel, who’s been a tear, continued that hot streak with a three-run bomb to center.  6-3 Chihuahuas!  He got the water spray treatment coming back to the dugout. 

 

In the bottom of the eighth, Alex Speas came in to pitch for Round Rock.  I’d heard him pitch last week with the Rangers.  He’d left the baseball for mental issues last year, but he did well when he was called up.  He got a double play in his inning here.  The crowd wanted a challenge, of which there aren’t any in Triple-A.  Taylor Kohlwey had the final at bat in the inning.  The PA welcomed him back to the Chihuahuas.  He’d been optioned back down from the Padres.

 

A section by the visiting dugout, which is where the rowdiest of El Paso Locomotive (soccer) fans sit, made lots of noise a couple of times during the game, which had nothing to do with what was going on on field.  I think they were getting souvenirs thrown at them.  Chico was back out on field between innings.  He raced a little kid across the infield and lost badly.  He’s not the Freeze.

      

Even with a three-run lead, I admit I was worried going into the top of the ninth.  Chihuahuas’ pitching has not been good this season.  Jake Sanchez came in to pitch and quickly gave up a pair of monster home runs to make it 6-5.  He then gave up a double to Kevin Plawecki, who had been a Chihuahua earlier in the week before getting traded.  He even had a game winning hit earlier in the series.  Sanchez was taken out of the game for Jared Koenig.  While Sanchez had been heckled out on the mound, he was given a round of applause when he came back to the dugout. 

 

Koenig induced a grounder for the first out.  On another grounder to short, Mendoza threw to third and got Plawecki.  There two outs.  Jonathan Ornelas came up and battled.  He fouled off several pitches before finally grounding out.  Chihuahuas win 6-5!  The PA announced to the crowd that this was El Paso’s first ever six-game sweep.

 

The time of the game was about two hours and 30 minutes.  That was about as long as it felt like trying to get home.  There was more Interstate construction blocking easy travel.  In spite of this and basically missing half the game, I had a great time.  I might not be back for baseball this season, but Chuck did mention wanting to see a Locomotive game this year, and Jacob and I were on board for it.  I’ve been wanting to get a Loco’s t-shirt.   

Baseball Journal July 16 to 29, 2023

Admittedly, I’m just posting this as a prelude to my MLB Trade Deadline report and a trip to see the El Paso Chihuahuas on the 30-th.

 

7-16-23

Hee, hee, hee. . .

The Rangers were down 5-2 to the Indians in the eighth.  The Rangers scored 4 in the bottom, including two on a hit by Josh Jung, which put them ahead, 6-5, for the win.

 

I wasn’t sure my baseball day could get any better, but I picked up the end of the Rockies vs the Yankees on MLB.TV.  The Rox were down 3-1 in eighth, when CJ Cron hit a grand slam for a 5-3 lead.  (I actually missed hearing that.)  The Yankees came back to tie it in the ninth.  After a scoreless 10-th, the Yankees scored 2 in the top of the eleventh. 

 

I could hear a large crowd at the game in Denver.  (I was getting the radio call.)  There were over 47k there.  At least half of them were Yankees fans and they were happy, but it wasn’t over yet.  In the bottom for the Rox, Nolan Jones hit a tying 2-run homer.  Alan Trejo then came up and hit his first homer of the season.  Rockies win, 8-7! 

 

Jack Corrigan on the broadcast shouted, “And the Yankees fans go home . . . unhappy!”  He’s usually fairly gracious, but after three days of large crowds rooting against the home team, he probably couldn’t resist giving them one final shiv going out the door.  The lowly Rockies actually took 2 of 3.  The Yankees also wasted a great starting pitching performance from their ace, Garrett Cole.

 

Hee, hee, hee. . .

 

7-18-23

I didn’t actually see or hear any of these games, but 12 teams in 8 MLB games scored 10 runs or more setting a modern record.  I’ve questioned if offenses have really been helped by this years’ rules changes, but today at least, it was a fire sale at the lumber yard.

 

7-19-23

Another domino falls.  MLB.TV has taken over the Arizona Diamondbacks’ broadcasts.  I took advantage of this today as they offered free D-Backs games through the weekend.  I could actually watch, since the game wasn’t being blacked out.  Given that this was our local team on cable, this was the one blackout I understood.  The Rockies, Astros, Rangers, and Padres also being blacked out I did not understand.  (Las Cruces, New Mexico is nowhere near any of these teams.) 

 

The D-Backs games will still be on cable locally, somehow.  The announcers have said that the blackout, however, is over and that their games will be nationally broadcast.  I feel like this is all leading up to something, but I don’t know what. 

 

I came into tonight’s Chihuahuas’ game late.  They were down 2 to the OKC Dodgers, but managed to tie it in the eighth.  They then went on to score 7 runs in the top of the ninth.  Hold on to your stomachs.  The pups then coughed up 7 runs in the bottom.  There were even runners on second and third with only 1 out, when 2 strikeouts ended the frame. 

 

The dogs scored 2 in the tenth, but the Faux Dodgers came back with a run in the bottom and again had two in scoring position with 1 out, before the Chihuahuas finally got 2 outs end the game, 11-10.  It almost ran four hours, but there were diehards there in OKC cheering at the end.  (To explain that duration, there were 25 combined walks in the game.)  I feel like I can sum up this teams’ problem in one word: pitching.

          

7-27-23

I was wrong.  We were all wrong.  The Angels are keeping Shohei Ohtani for the season.  Right after announcing that, the team went out and picked up Lucas Giolito from the White Sox to bolster their pitching staff (and plucking him away from a multitude of other more competitive teams).  The next day, Shohei tossed a 1-hitter complete game shutout and then hit two home runs in the second game of the double header.  He’s inspired. 

 

I applaud the Angels’ gumption here.  Myself (and everyone else) still thinks that this is a terrible decision.  They’ve only got a marginal chance of making the playoffs, even when Mike Trout comes back from injury.  It’s a good sign that they’re doing a positive trade deal, but why haven’t they been doing this all along?  It’s a little late now.  They should have been assembling a better team during the offseason.  Is this really going to convince Shohei to resign with the team at the end of the year?  Could they even afford to sign him as a free agent and still put a competitive team around him?  (Can anyone given the price he’s going to command?) 

 

Part of me thinks that the Angels just never got a serious offer for Shohei, or not what they expected.  Given that he’s threatening a home run record this season, it was certainly better for attendance to keep him, along with a multitude of Japanese stadium advertisers.  So what happens now?  The Angels miss the playoffs and it’s not even close.  Shohei signs with another team in the offseason.  The Angels’ farm system will be decimated (because they’re probably not done trading).  Mike Trout will be miserable for the rest of his career.  But, we’ve all been wrong recently.  Who can say?      

 

Later in the evening, I had my first triple play.  Unfortunately, it was Round Rock turning it against the Chihuahuas, so the play call was a bit understated.  Still, this was the first time I’ve ever heard one live and the first one ever in a Chihuahuas’ game.  Just yesterday there was a TP in the MLB.  The Braves turned it against Boston yesterday.   The play scoring went 8-3-5 making this uncommon play exceptionally rare.

 

The rest of the Chihuahuas game lived up the excitement.  Down 4 in the ninth, the pups sent 10 to plate to tie it.  The Express loaded the bases in the tenth, but failed to score.  The Chihuahuas wasted no time with a run-scoring single by Kevin Plawecki to win 10-9.  This happened after a walk off home run yesterday by Ben Gamel, who hit two homers in the game. 

 

There may have also been a foul ball in the broadcast booth, but I missed hearing it.  I’m still not sure if that happened.  One thing that did happen the next day was that Plawecki was traded by the Padres to the Rangers, who then assigned him to the Express.  Kevin dutifully gathered his gear and traded dugouts on Friday before the next game.

 

7-29-23

The Rangers acquired Max Scherer today for prospects.  I have mixed feelings.  Scherer is a very good pitcher, but likely well past his prime.  I also think he’s a jerk.  The Mets had traded David Robertson the day before and Scherer more or less asked to be traded.  I hope he helps.  The Rangers would be swept by the Padres this weekend.

   

The Chihuahuas were down 1-0 to Round Rock in the eighth tonight.  The pups got two on in the bottom in part thanks to a 5-ball walk to Tim Lopes?  5 balls?  Somebody apparently lost count.  That has to be embarrassing.  Even more embarrassing, after an intentional walk to load the bases, a wild pitch scored Jose Azocar from third to tie the score.  The dogs would go on to win 2-1 on a run-scoring single in the ninth by Austin Nola.  That’s five-in-a-row over Round Rock!  Three have been 1-run games.  The pups will go for the 6-game sweep on Sunday and I will be there rooting them on.