Baseball Journal September 2023

MLB.TV kind of stopped doing daily free games during the month.  The Rangers’ radio coverage started becoming spotty with the start of Football season.  The El Paso Chihuahuas continued to slide into oblivion.  I didn’t have a lot to report on as the regular season ended. 

 

8-29-23

Admittedly, I’ve gotten a bit lazy covering baseball stories lately.  There was a potentially interesting development in the post-trade deadline player market.  This was the last day of the season that teams could cut players and make them available to other teams.  It’s more complicated than that (I’m writing this a month after it happened), but any team willing to take on a released player’s salary could have them without a trade.

 

The Angels took advantage of this and unloaded everyone they traded for to give Shohei Ohtani a chance to compete for the postseason.  (Of course, him and Mike Trout were injured by this point.)  The Yankees also cut loose Harrison Bader.  He was good there when he was healthy, but couldn’t stay that way. 

 

Some Player Union Reps were disturbed by this mass dumping that done purely for salary purposes.  Get used to it.  Later in the season, teams want that waiver trade deadline that was done away with and this is how they’re getting it back.       

 

9-2-23

I was watching the MILB Showcase game on Stadium between the Triple-A Norfolk Tides versus the Worchester Red Sox to see Joey Ortiz.  In the seventh, the coverage kept showing the WooSox mascot, an anthropomorphic steam whistle.  He was going to be doing something between innings and was in the tunnel, but he was constantly in the shot in the background of the batter.  He was having a good time interacting with the fans, so they kept focusing on him in between pitches.  [By the way, the Tides would go on to win the Triple-A Championship.  The Orioles have a lot of talent sitting in Triple-A.]

 

9-8-23

Daniel Johnson had some magic tonight as he hit a walk off laser beam home run in the ninth with two outs for the Chihuahuas.  Great to see DJ doing well. 

 

Not so magical were the Rangers tonight.  I watched the scoreboard with increasing apprehension as they lost to the A’s.  Not a big deal except for losing three to the Astros at home this week and all three losses were nearly by double digits.  Worse, with the football season starting, I can’t even listen to them on the radio on weekends anymore.  They’re fading fast.

 

9-15-23

Daniel Johnson is still putting on a show.  He hit a three-run homer in the eighth to tie the score.  (The Isotopes still won the game.  Sigh.)  Single-A call up Jose Sanabria impressed with his first hit, a steal, scoring a run on an infield single, and playing well on defense. 

 

The Rangers have now lost three ace pitchers this season with Max Scherzer going down.  Well, stick a fork in them . . . Wait, they’ve just won six in a row, including a three-game sweep against the Blue Jays, whom they were chasing.  Is this going to be like the Rays?  They’ve lost pitchers all year long and lost Wander Franco to scandal and are now only one game back of the Orioles for the AL East lead.   

 

9-15-23

Rangers’ winning streak ended in Cleveland.  An oddity of the game was backup catcher, Austin Hedges, becoming the pitcher in the bottom of the eighth with the Indians up 12-0.  Hedges had a scoreless inning pitched, but in the top of the ninth, the light-hitting player drove in two runs.  With the advent of the universal DH, these were two rare runs driven in by a pitcher (not named Shohei Ohtani).  The game was so out of hand, I actually missed all of this, but heard about it in the postgame show. That was interesting in itself, as the guys were way too giddy and had communications issues between them.  Weirdness.  Also, the Rays beat the O’s again.  The AL East lead is tied.

 

9-16-23

Shohei Ohtani has been shut down for the season.  His arm injury was keeping him from pitching, but his oblique injury was what sidelined him completely.  Shohei also cleaned out his locker before the announcement.  I’m not betting on the Angels re-signing him in the offseason.  I’m not betting on Mike Trout still being an Angel next year if the rumors are true.  Owner Arte Moreno should be forced to sell the franchise for wasting all the best years of the two best players in baseball for their generation. 

 

Actually, I’m wondering who’s going to want Shohei.  No matter how much Baseball beat writers hype up his free agency, Shohei is a huge risk at this point to commit the kind of the money his agent will be looking for.  He’s likely going to be on the shelf most of next season as a pitcher.  Logically, he should take a short-term, somewhat modest deal, and bet himself to get the big contract after he’s proved he’s healthy.  Keep dreaming.  It’ll be 10 years, $600M and probably result in complete franchise destruction for any team not named the Dodgers or the Yankees.  (I’m looking at you, San Francisco.) 

 

Unfortunately, the result of the two-way experiment is going to make a byword of Shohei’s name.  “Nah kid, you ain’t gonna hit no more.  We just want you to pitch.  We don’t want to Shohei you.”  This has already happened with Hunter Greene on the Reds.  I’m not saying the Unicorn isn’t going to come back to form after recovering from his injuries, but enjoy whatever you’re going to get from Shohei Ohtani in the future and don’t look for a third coming (Babe Ruth being the first). 

       

9-20-23

This is a story I can’t quite wrap my head around.  The Tampa Bay Rays got a new stadium in St. Petersburg.  Wait.  Isn’t this the reason given for their poor attendance? They’re not actually located in Tampa Bay and fans have to drive across this long bridge to get to games?  (There’s reportedly a sign on the bridge telling motorists to make sure they’re got enough fuel to cross it.)  This is also going to be built next to the current stadium and is just going to be another domed stadium without a retractable roof?  I just don’t understand this.   

 

With the A’s more-or-less committed to moving to Las Vegas, that does fix the worst stadium situations in the league and open the door to MLB expansion.  Those two teams’ stadium problems were the only thing holding that up.  But, now I’m hearing about other teams crabbing about their stadiums.

 

I’d already heard about the Royals wanting a new downtown stadium after Kaufman Stadium had been refurbished before their two recent World Series appearances.  Suddenly, the White Sox want to move.  Their recently remodeled stadium (whatever the name currently is) isn’t good enough.  The Brewers are citing structural concerns with their retractable roof.  The Orioles ownership, in the midst of packing their classic ballpark from finally having a winning season, also wants a county-paid-for remodeling, or they’ll move.  I want to say I also heard something about the Diamondbacks and Chase Field.  Why not? 

 

There seem to be two drivers here: demand and opportunity.  There are cities wanting a franchise, like Nashville and Salt Lake City.  They’d probably prefer a new one, but there are other cities that would lose out and gladly take somebody’s castoff.  So there’s demand.  The opportunity is the success of Atlanta’s Battery District next to their new stadium.  The new stadium in Tampa Bay plans to include a residential district with it.  In Arlington, there’s a whole entertainment district that was built with the new ballpark.  The revenue from the real estate around the ballpark can make these publicly-financed stadiums a lot more palatable to the citizens.         

 

9-23-23

After coming home happy from Aggie Volleyball, I managed to catch the bottom of the ninth with the El Paso Chihuahuas playing at the Sugarland Space Cowboys.  The pups were up a run and three batters later, they’d lost.  This was their seventh loss in a row, a team record.  Also Tim Hagerty hasn’t been calling the games this week.  I wonder if he’s out sick.  [I sent him an e-mail.  Tim was being honored by Vermont State University.]  The Chihuahuas did win their last game of the season the next day.  The broadcast ended with a heartfelt prerecorded message from Tim.  He spoke about the season highlights and thanked the fans.

 

 

9-27-23

I almost missed it and I was so pissed at myself.  MLB.TV has been a bit stingy on showing free games for the last two months.  Tonight, there was a relevant game on and I didn’t tune in until the seventh.  The game was the Cubs and the Braves.  Chicago is fighting for a Wildcard slot. 

 

I’d seen a clip from last night’s game, where Seiya Suzuki dropped a flyball, which led to the Braves winning.  In this game, I saw the Cubs make two bad errors, which let the Braves back into the game.  Usually, the Cubs only have this kind of self-inflicted drama in home games, but this was in Atlanta.  The Cubs did not roll over though, until they ended up losing in the tenth.  That was after Ronald Acuna Jr. stole his second base of the game and was then driven in as the winning run.  I did miss that steal, which was historic.  Acuna became the first MLB player with a 40 homer/70 stolen base season.  That’s what I get for stepping out the room for 30 seconds. 

 

Also, the Padres managed not to set an MLB record by finally winning an extra innings game tonight.  They had been 0-12 this season up to this point.  Meanwhile, Nathan Eovaldi has made it back into the Rangers’ rotation.  He’s not 100%, but can still pitch.  Max Scherzer is rehabbing in hopes of making it on to the team for the postseason.  The Rangers need to win two games of their last four to win the AL West (along with several other scenarios, but this is the easiest one).

 

9-29-23

The Giants suddenly fired Gabe Kapler today as manager.  Admittedly, he was personally the reason why I haven’t been rooting the Giants the last couple of years.  His proud Anthem knee-taking made it impossible for me to root for them.  That said, it was hardly his fault that the team didn’t land Aaron Judge or Carlos Correa.  He also didn’t let the team languish in the offseason or at the trade deadline.  This was a deflection by Farhan Zaidi and Giants’ management.  Rehire Kapler and then fire him for the right reason.       

 

10-1-23

I got to listen to the Rangers on Thursday.  The announcers sounded so confident, as any combination of two wins/two Astros losses would give the Rangers the AL West.  They took a one-run lead into the ninth against the Mariners.  Aroldis Chapman put the next three M’s batters on base.  Relief pitching managed to get two outs, but finally gave up two runs on a double and they lost. 

 

Friday, the Rangers lost 8-0.  They did come back and win on Saturday, which I got to watch Saturday night.  On Sunday, I went over to see dad and watch the NASCAR race and watch some of the Cowboys game.  By doing so, I passed on the final free day on MLB.TV.  On the other hand, at least I didn’t have to listen to the Rangers lose 1-0.  (I did hear the very end of the radio postgame.)  They lost three of four to a team they’d swept last week.  Meanwhile, the Astros won four in a row against a DBacks team that was playing for something.  And that’s how the Rangers lost the AL West.  (In fairness, the Mariners were also playing to get in, but didn’t.)   

Boxing Report: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo

 

Given that my co-worker, Mike, was going to Las Vegas for the fight with his Canelo-loving girlfriend, Laiza, and she didn't get him a ticket was telling me something.  That Mike didn't bother telling me anything about the fight was telling me the rest.  This was not going to be worth watching (or reading, up front apologies).

 

Wait.  I've already written about two fights this year (5-11 and 4-16).  I don't need to write about any more fights this year to maintain my sports writing credentials.  (Here are my credentials: I have a computer, somewhere to post, and an opinion.)  Well, I took notes.  I'm not doing anything else.  I guess I'll do this.  And that's as enthusiastic as this post is going to get. 

  

This Super Middleweight championship fight was at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.  Canelo's punching bag tonight would be Jermell Charlo with a 37 (50% KO)-3-1 record.  He's a US boxer, but of course, he would have no home ring advantage.  TV Azteca did lots of crowd shots, so I was scanning for Laiza.  I only noticed musician, Steve Aoki.  For that matter, Canelo came out with a couple of rappers singing.  It wasn't much of a walk-out.

 

Round 1

Let's do this.  (Whatever.  I guess.  I'm watching the Cowboys game and a NASCAR race right now at dad's and wishing I was home watching the last weekend of the MLB regular season.  Or not, as the Rangers lost.)  I don't think either fighter threw a punch for over 30 seconds.  I was instantly regretting my decision to watch.  Eventually, they were mixing it up.  Canelo took a big swing that hit the ropes, but was pushing Char into them a couple of times.  Both fighters wrapped up before the bell.  Canelo took the round.

 

Round 2

Char stuck his arm out and probed.  This is not to be confused with punching.  Canelo got in some good exchanges while again putting Char into the ropes.  The ref broke up a wrap and warned Canelo.  Char went into a couple of headlocks.  Canelo got in a tremendous ab shot.  The crowd let out an “Ooooh!” like they'd taken the hit.  Canelo.

 

Round 3

The round started with an immediate headlock.  Both fighters then leaned into each other and were broken up.  Canelo forced Char back into the ropes.  Char bowed down and buried his head into Canelo's groin.  I felt a bit uncomfortable with this.  Canelo.

 

Round 4

Char came out more aggressive.  The crowd responded positively (while not actually rooting for him).  Char still ended up in a couple more headlocks.  He completely doubled over at one point.  Canelo.

 

Round 5

Canelo came out slugging harder.  The two wrapped and were broken up.  Canelo then leaned on Char and looked tired.  Char got in a couple of good hits and the crowd roared.  Me and the coverage gave this round to Char.

 

Round 6

They started off dancing around and then wrapped up again.  Char took a headshot before ending up in a headlock.  Canelo was warned.  The fighters wrapped up twice and were broken up.  Canelo got in a good shot and the crowd responded.  Canelo then pushed Char into the ropes and then held him there while punching him.  Canelo.

 

Round 7

More dancing.  Char took a hit while on the ropes.  He staggered then momentarily fell to a knee.  The crowd exalted, but then Char got back up and the fight (unfortunately) continued.  Char was pinned and punched again on the ropes.  Char got warned on a punch and lost a point.  Canelo.

 

Round 8

The crowd was chanting something as the round began, probably, “We want our money back!”  There was a vicious exchange in the ring.  Canelo pushed Char off him into the ropes.  Char stumbled throwing a punch.  Canelo had a little reach around on Char.  Canelo.

 

Round 9

Char’s corner had to be wiped up before the round could start.  He seemed to get a second wind and Char got in some good exchanges.  After taking a barrage of blows, Canelo looked annoyed.  I had Char.  The TV coverage still had Canelo.

 

Round 10

Canelo chased Char around the ring.  More headlocks.  At one point, Canelo was just standing there with Char under his arm.  Canelo got in a good gut shot.  Char took a huge swing at Canelo’s head, but missed.  Canelo.

 

Round 11

Canelo drove Char into a post.  They have to be broken up a couple of times.  Both fighters were looking tired, as was everybody watching, which you might guess from the yawning.  Canelo.

 

Round 12

More headlocks.  The fighters were leaning on each other.  The crowd was booing a bit, as they now all realized they’d been had.  Char did unload at one point and the crowd took to its feet.  Finally, the fighters just sort of stood around (literally) and ran out the clock.  Canelo.

 

Well, at least everyone got what they wanted, except for a good fight, and that was a Canelo victory.  He posed at the turnbuckle and got a cheer from the crowd.  There was a unanimous decision and everyone agreed that the fight sucked.  Then the judges unanimously ruled that Canelo won (duh).  TV Azteca talked over the Jim Gray interview.  One of the commentators then talked to Canelo over the ropes afterward.  The interviewer called the fight “Absolute domination.”  Canelo said the key to his victory was “Patience.”  I’d also add the audience’s patience.  

Comics Review: Sabrina the Teenage Witch Complete Collection Vol. 1 Part 2

In Part 1, we looked at the nascent Sabrina character.  (And that’s only a quarter of this book and I didn’t cover everything.)  The character was still fairly sketchy in concept.  

The familiar classic Sabrina character suddenly came into sharp focus in 1969 in Archie’s T.V. Laugh-Out #1.  With the success of Filmation’s 1968 The Archie Show cartoon, a Sabrina cartoon would follow in 1970.  This comic book seemed to be testing out the cartoon concept.  (And the cartoon version of Sabrina is quite charming, by the way, and has a breathy Marilyn Monroe-like voice.)

 

This would be your standard look for Sabrina through the 70’s and 80’s.  Aunt Hilda and a new character, Cousin Ambrose, were her family.  Sabrina was totally integrated into the Archie Gang and she’s also having to keep her witch heritage a secret.   

    

In the same issue, Aunt Zelda is introduced, she’s not used a whole lot in these stories, and Harvey, Sabrina’s new regular boyfriend.  Harvey is mostly a foil for irritating Aunt Hilda, like Archie and Mr. Lodge.      

In the second issue, Salem, the other regular cartoon cast member, is introduced.  The cat was only in Sabrina’s first two comic book appearances and then dropped.  Salem is a girl in this and mostly teased Hot Dog in the cartoon show.

Old School Ethel has got issues, especially when you put her next to Sabrina. 

 

Great Archie artist, Harry Lucey, does a couple of stories in this volume.  I hadn’t seen this one before. 

 

Two Archie (The Archies band), Sabrina, and Josie and the Pussycats stories were in Laugh-Out #7.  This couldn’t happen in animation at the time, since Josie was being produced by Hanna-Barbera and the other two by Filmation.  The stories were a bit unwieldy, but it’s fun to see all of the main Archie characters together.     

Sabrina was (sort of) given her own title in the Archie Giant Series.  Two issues made an odd diversion into Gothic-like horror.  This only sort of works when Sabrina forgets she’s a witch and when her powers don’t work or can’t use them.  I think the modern day Sabrina Horror comic probably showcases this better, but that’s straight-up horror (and really uncomfortable to read).    

I feel like Sabrina works better in lingerie than the other Archie girls.  There are three cousins introduced in various stories.  (Not pictured.)  They’re basically all various shades of hippies.  I’m not sure if they were trying them out or just there to make a story.  Since they don’t show up again, I guess that answers the question. 

 

Sabrina is featured in a story in Archie’s Christmas Stocking in 1971.  In 1972, she’d have her own Christmas special with Sabrina’s Christmas Magic.  She goes off to find Santa Claus in one story.  Another has Aunt Hilda finding religion at Christmastime.      

Oooh, boy.  What did I say about Big Ethel earlier?  Here she falls for Hot Dog, who Sabrina has transformed into a groovy hippie.  Yeah, Ethel really got rimmed in these old comics.

 And here’s how Sabrina keeps her shapely figure over the holidays.

 

Almost needless to say, I recommend this book for any Sabrina fan.  It’s very entertaining and informative about the development of the character.  There’s no Volume 2 of this that I can see.  I don’t know if I’d want that one, because chronologically, Sabrina definitely enters a dry spell (pardon the pun) of creativity from the material I’ve seen from the rest of the 70’s and 80’s.   

 

Again, you can check my previous “comprehensive” post about the history of the character.  This book has been an education in the early days of the character.  My post pretty much picks up where this leaves off. 

 

From reading this, I ask the question, how much do we owe our conception of Sabrina to the 70’s cartoon?  I think Sabrina would have eventually been a character with her own title without it.  Sabrina had an instant appeal when introduced.  She might have had a more varied background, but probably would have ended up in about the same place.  Sabrina just got there quicker via the cartoon.  

Comics Review: Sabrina the Teenage Witch Complete Collection Vol. 1 Part 1

I mentioned picking this book up at Coas Books in August.  This is why you go to used bookstores: you never know what you might find.  And what a find this was!  500 pages of Sabrina!  (This was why it’s taken me so long to do this review.)  Even though it’s a comic book, it still took me a while to read.  Beyond the page count, this is a slightly larger than digest-sized book.  The pages are newsprint and it is in black and white.  The original price on the back was $9.99.  It was a bargain.            

 

The last time I’d written about Sabrina, it was about her Super Special.  (I also did a post on a recent trade paperback.)  I thought what I wrote at the time was a fairly comprehensive exploration of the character.  Then I got this volume.  I didn’t know the half of it.  It was not a straight line from Sabrina’s iconic first appearance and her 70’s Filmation cartoon version that more-or-less became the standard.

 

This volume covers Sabrina’s appearances from 1962 to 1972.  There’s Mad House and T.V. Laugh-Out stories, along with title appearances in Archie Giant Series, and a couple of Christmas specials.  There are even all of the cover appearances on various titles.  (I still think she was the host of a classic Archie Horror comic, but if she was, those stories aren’t reprinted here.)  For this review (spoilers: I’m recommending this), I’m going to be going over some highlights (and weird sidebars) from these early days of Sabrina.  

Here we have the panel that launched the franchise.  How totally irresistible.  Here we have the very pretty teen witch, who’s quite modern and hip compared to her elders.  We also meet her cat and familiar, Salem, and her also glamorous mentor, Head Witch Della.  In the story, Sabrina’s main thing is playing tricks on other teens, since witches are supposed to be bad.  It establishes that she’ll lose her powers if she ever falls in love.  “And that would be bad . . . I think?” 

 

Aunt Hilda makes her first appearance in this one-page gag (more-or-less) in Sabrina’s second appearance a year later.

In the same issue, Della has Sabrina hex the hockey team.  Sabrina becomes infatuated with a player, Donald, but can’t go out with him.  Meanwhile, Della makes out okay. 

 

Della then sicks Sabrina on another girl to break up her relationship with a boy.  She doesn’t tell Sabrina that this girl is also a witch.  This is one thing Sabrina hasn’t had much of in these classic stories: a recurring rival.  The good news for Sabrina is that she’s now allowed to date, which is a positive development for her character.  

 

In recent stories, Sabrina has had to deal with a teen rival and even a trio of rivals.  Actually, Sabrina hasn’t had much in the way of regular girlfriends either.  This may be an unstated intrinsic part of her personality.  Her status as a witch, especially having to hide it, makes having friends difficult.  Hiding it from a boyfriend is different though.  As the character seems to draw inspiration from I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched, it’s a great opportunity for comedy.  (Yes, Sabrina predates both shows, but probably borrowed from them later.)     

 

Now that she can date, the next two stories have Sabrina trying to get with a guy.  We are introduced to Greta, her fairy witch mother.  This character more-or-less gets repurposed into being Aunt Hilda later. 

As you can tell from all these stories, Dan DeCarlo really enjoyed drawing Sabrina.  As if Betty and Veronica weren’t glam enough, he created a sort teen Marilyn Monroe character.   

And here we start getting weird.  Without DeCarlo, Sabrina is just a recurring novelty character in Mad House.

Here’s Dan again on Sabrina.  What a panel!  Here we finally have Aunt Hilda being properly introduced.  

The next section was a bit startling.  Artist Bill Kresse takes over.  This is a very 60’s art style.  Interestingly in these stories, all of Sabrina’s friends seemed to know that she was a witch. 

 

She’s still going out with this Donald guy.  Like from That Girl?  (Again, his introduction predates that show.)  He knows that she has magical powers like in Jeannie and Bewitched.  

 

Then the weirdest thing: this nearly completely off-model Sabrina by Chic Stone.  There’s actually a couple of stories like this.

Here’s another first, its Aunt Zelda’s first appearance.  This does sort of establish that Sabrina’s two aunts are responsible for her, thus implying her parents aren’t around.  That’s another low-key essential part of the character. 

 

In Part 2, we get to a more recognizable Sabrina, but this part was really interesting, because I hadn’t seen most of this material before.  

NM State Aggies vs Middle TN Blue Raiders Soccer 9-24-23

Brooke Schultz had a good game tonight.

 

I was literally flat on back in bed or in the bathroom sick for all of Saturday.  Somehow on Sunday, I was at Aggie Soccer.  I’d missed Aggie Volleyball and team autographs, but I wasn’t going to miss another game if I could help it.  I was actually feeling fine, but a little fragile.  I would be doing no cheering for this game, just shaking my cowbell. 

 

While I was laid out, I didn’t watch or listen to anything and didn’t have the computer on.  I was too sick to even bother listening to Aggie Football versus Hawaii starting at 10:00pm.  I was awake the whole night, but didn’t want to be.  Just as well, the Aggies lost 20-17.  They had the lead going into halftime, but did not score in the second half.      

 

It was a beautiful night and a great crowd of 620 for the game.  (The Cowboys were losing badly late in their afternoon game, so no reason not to show up.)  I picked up a $1 hot dog and a tea for dinner.  They were not selling chips, though.  The Band was here.  Fan Tom was here, so me not cheering would not be missed.  (Tom yelling at the top of his lungs is not my fault.)  Fan Danny was also here, so I sat next to him.

 

First Half

The Aggies got an early corner with 42’ left in the half.  Ariana Leamons took a chip shot that was just high.  This describes much of the game: the Aggies having corners and taking shots that just miss.  40’ Middle Tennessee had a free kick on the wing that went out.  Hey, I didn’t just see MT?  I wonder if they were on the same flight as the Volleyball team.  37’ Aggie goalie Valerie Guha fell on a long pass into the Aggie box.

 

35’ Bianca Chacon had a good look on a shot, but it was caught by MT goalie, Hannah Suder.  34’ an Aggie corner resulted in an Aggie throw-in from the other side of the field, but the shot was caught.  32’ Ari made a nice defensive stop by stripping the ball from the attacker.  31’ the Aggies got two corners on the same possession, but came away with no shots.  A fan ball got loose on the field during the play.  An alert Blue Raider player kicked that ball off field quickly.

 

28’ off an Aggie free kick, the ball flew across the net, but nobody could deflect it before it went out.  Tom was shouting, “We want a goal!”  The Aggies had dominated the game up to this point.  The crowd agreed.  27’ an Aggie free kick at the top of the MT box and a player was knocked down before play started.  I wouldn’t call this a chippie game, though.  It was about the usual.  Ari had a follow up kick that flew high into the scoreboard.

 

26’ the Aggies had another good attack.  A couple of Aggies were right in front of the net, but Suder fell on the ball.  A kid sitting behind me asked his dad if he could keep the ball if it came into the stands.  The dad said, “No,” and got really grouchy about it.  These kind of exchanges would continue.  24’ MT got a shot off.  Val caught it. 

 

18’ a family came in late.  They stood directly in front of me deciding where to sit as an Aggie attack was going on.  They moved away as Meredith Scott took a shot that was caught.  The Aggies made some subs.  17’ Meredith had a midfield strip on defense.  Shila Rasoul, who just came in, took a great shot from the outside wing.  Suder had to handle the ball twice before corralling it.  14’ Mya Hammack, playing up field from defense to offensive, took a booming shot that hit the sidebar.

 

12’ Tati Jerman took a shot in front of the net.  Suder made a great save and then caught a follow up corner.  (She was making a difference here.)  9’ Mya took another shot.  It went wide.  7’ it’s another Mya, Mya Gonzales, recently inserted, took a great running shot that flew over the goalie into the net.  Finally.  1-0 Aggies.  Loma McNeese got the assist on the play.

 

There was little time to celebrate.  6’ the Blue Raiders got a corner and Sascha Nielson headed it right in.  1-1.  Tip your hat.  It was a good play more than an Aggie breakdown, though that was MT’s first corner and first Shot on Goal.  Jena Johanes then picked up a yellow card for grabbing a jersey.  Given that the player was on a breakaway and about to run into the Aggie box that was probably a good foul.  The free kick was kicked out.

 

3’ Mya G. made a great pass to Mya H. by the MT net.  The header shot went just high.  2’ it looked like Shila was tripped in the MT box, but there was no call.  The Aggies got a corner, but no shot.  1’ another Aggie yellow card for a shirt grab by Tati.  With under a minute left, Shila took a running shot that was blocked. 

 

Halftime

Danny took off.  I’m not sure if he wasn’t feeling well or was tired.  The Band played for the entertainment and I was seated right up front to watch.  Over at the Football stadium, there was a guy riding a motorized skateboard down the walkway at the top of the berm.  A bit dangerous-looking, but fun.  Your stats to this point are the Aggies up 8-1 in corners and 5-1 in shots on goal, but not up in the score.

 

Second Half

44’ right off the center kick, Megan Ormson took a hard shot out.  Right after, Shila took a shot off the wing and into the net off a pass from Brooke Schultz.  Suder had no chance on it.  2-1 Aggies.  43’ Mya H. took a hard dive into the turf on defense.  She did get the ball back for the Aggies, but was rubbing a skinned elbow for the rest of the game.  39’ off a long free kick, Jessica Oliveras headed it into the Aggie goal.  It was another great shot.  2-2.

 

Okay, now the dad is getting on to the kid for cheering too much at the game.  I’m not sure dad knows why we’re all here.  37’ a shot by Shila sent Suder flying for a save that went just wide.  35’ MT made a good attack on goal, but the ball was kicked out.  34’ Mya H. did a good job breaking up an attack.  (She was playing on the near side of the field now, so I could see what she was doing.) 

 

29’ Jena made a good header on defense in front of the net.  26’ Meredith took a shot that went wide, but before that shot, the crowd was yelling about what looked like an MT handball in the box.  24’ Bianca, the Aggie assist queen, put it on a tee for Brooke to head in.  Yes!  3-2 Aggies!

 

22’ Loma took a hard hip check.  She bent over, but stood up and kept playing hurt.  A couple of minutes later, the ref stopped play to have her taken out.  She’s tough.   20’ a ball came bouncing into the MT box.  Shila took a high kick that went over the net.  14’ Brooke took a free kick that was caught.  13’ MT had a free kick at the top of the Aggie box.  The Wall held on defense. 

 

12’ MT really had a good chance here with an odd-man rush.  Short-handed, the Aggie defense still broke it up without a shot.  9’ I wrote this at the time, “Val’s best save of the game.”  Off an MT free kick, Ari nearly headed it in, as she accidently hit it backward.  Val caught it. 

 

Under 10 minutes left, the angry dad and his family leave.  The kids wanted to stay, of course, knowing it was still close.  4’ great Aggie attack, Shila shot just high.  Under a minute, an MT free kick at midfield sailed out.  That was the last action of the game.  Aggies win 3-2!

 

There were three Aggie goal scorers in the game, but Brooke Schultz also had an assist to win Player of the Game.  Blue Raider Hannah Suder gets a nod for her goalkeeping.  This score should have been worse for them.  The Aggies were up 8-3 in SOG and 8-2 in corners.  I felt like MT’s goals were good and legit, but it once again looked bad that they came right after the Aggies got the lead. 

 

The happy Soccer girls came out and saluted the crowd.  They then went over and saluted the Band.  That was a nice touch.  There were no shots on the Band tonight, just a couple of soft ones into the grandstand.  Health-wise, I think I’m okay after going to the game.  I don’t think I made myself worse and if I did, I probably would have ended up the same, if I’d just stayed home.