Baseball Notebook for July 2016 Part 2

7-16-16

Back to regular baseball.  The Rangers are playing three day games against the Cubs at Wrigley.  Yu Darvish returns to action and strikes out the side after issuing a walk in the first.  Several Rangers fans in attendance were cheering.  In the second, Eric and Matt were complaining about the new scoreboard.  It’s apparently hard to read with various shadows coming across it.  Yesterday, they were wondering how much of the view it was blocking for the fans across the street.  Darvish got 9 k’s over 4 1/3 innings, but was not helped by the offense today.  Rangers lose 3-1.

7-17-16

Matt Hicks: “Cole Hamels isn’t trying to praise Caesar, he’s trying to bury him.”  Myself, Eric Nadel, and everyone else listening, groaned.  Matt Szczur of the Chicago Cubs has probably had to endure a lot of abuse over his name.  Thankfully, the Rangers weren’t listening to the broadcast, as they were too busy winning, 4-1.  Hamels goes 8 innings, 91 pitches, and gives up 1 unearned run.  He started off the game with 6 K’s. 

In El Paso, the Chihuahuas avoid getting swept by the Nashville Sounds with a 5-2 win.  It was a good win, albeit the Sounds did have the bases loaded when the final out was recorded.  Nashville outscored the dogs 43-12 over four games.  This reminds me of that series versus Round Rock.  Elsewhere, the Giants are swept by the Padres following the All-Star break.  Is it time to panic?

 

7-18-16

Again, ESPN covers the Cubs vs the Mets.  The Cubs won 5-1, but the best play was in the bleachers.  A kid caught a Wilmer Flores’ Met home run just behind the basket.  As he prepared to throw it back, four adults (one was presumably his father) jumped him and gave him another ball to toss back.  That’s how you do it.  (I’d throw back an Albert Pujols’ homer immediately, even if it was a milestone one.)  My reception for the Rangers’ game that night was poor, but came in clearly just in time to hear Mike Trout hit a three-run homer late in the game to cement the hated Angels’ 9-5 win. 

7-19-16

Here was some drama.  In the final game of the series between the Cubs and Mets, the Mets were up 2-1.  In the bottom of the 9^th, the Cubs loaded the bases with no outs, but failed to score off Jeurys Familia, who ended the game with a double play ball.  “Yeah, you guys aren’t the Royals,” he told the Cubs as they left the field.  (No, that didn’t happen.)

Taylor Lindsey of the Chihuahuas recorded the team’s first cycle.  Again, I don’t quite understand the mystical importance of hitting for the cycle, apart from getting four hits in a game.  More strangely, this was the second cycle given up by the Memphis Redbirds on this road trip.

7-20-16

It was the best possible outcome for being called into jury duty: the defendant didn’t show up.  I ended up going to work a few hours early and got to watch the daily Yahoo baseball game.  I haven’t mentioned this before, but it’s kind of cool that they’re showing games every day.  Even better, they were showing a Royals game in Kansas City.  Unfortunately, that was the end of my good luck.  The Indians seem to be the chosen ones this year and beat the Royals 11-4.

It was still interesting (and much better than being at the courthouse).  The stadium was beautiful and it was a lovely day, except that it was about 106 degrees on the field.  I was completely convinced that one of my attractive female co-workers was at the game, sitting behind home plate.  She was a distraction for a couple innings when she was there.  Couldn’t blame her for leaving with the heat and with what happened in top of the 5^th inning.  The Indians sent 12 men to the plate and scored 7 runs in a 30+ minute disaster for the Royals.  Still, there were diehards out in the stands.  There was a 95 year old lady attending in full Royals gear, and there was the young woman holding up clever signs for different players.  The booth guys wanted to interview her after the game.  Their best line of the game came in the 9^th on a looking strikeout.  “This isn’t the time to pass an eye test.  You gotta hack!”    

Later in the evening, I caught some of the Giants vs the Red Sox.  It was an 11-7 beating for the Giants, though they did make a pretty good comeback to make the score even that close.  I didn’t recognize the third baseman for the team, but his name, Ramiro Pena, was familiar.  I had to wrack my brains before finally remembering he was on the El Paso Chihuahuas last year.  He did well in this game with two hits, an RBI, and hitting .344 overall.  Those same Chihuahuas lost big to Memphis that night.  What’s notable about that game was that a tossed bat got stuck in the netting.  A fan below tried to knock it loose for a souvenir, but to no avail.  I still can’t believe this has ever happened in a ball game, much less twice this year.  Maybe this happens more often than I think it does.      

The bad baseball luck continued as the Rangers lost to the hated Angels, 7-4, that night for a sweep.  Eric mentioned that they’d to headed to Kansas City next, which prompted a discussion about the airport facilities there, which are apparently in Nebraska.  (I think that’s a joke, as I haven’t been there to know for sure.)  This brought up a discussion about the airport at Denver, as it’s also far out of town.  “Actually, I think DIA is closer to Kansas City than Denver,” he quipped.  From my recent trip to Denver, I think there’s a toll road to the airport.  Talk about adding insult to injury.    

 7-22-16

Six in a row.  The Giants haven’t been able to win since the All-Star Break.  They lost to the Yankees, 3-2, with Madison Bumgarner on the mound.  He may have had a cold.  Also, Buster went out early with a minor injury.  Still, it was the way they lost with some bad baserunning and atrocious defense.  Normally sure-handed shortstop Brandon Crawford committed three errors in the game.  The Rangers also lost, 3-1, to the Royals with an anemic offensive performance.  Right now, the Rangers and Giants are just breaking other teams out of their slumps.  There was a web article earlier in the month, which I didn’t read, but the headline said that these two teams were winning their divisions via smoke and mirrors.  I’m starting to wonder. 

7-23-16

The Rangers and Giants both won today.  Whew.  The Rangers convincingly.  The Giants barely.  In Sacramento, the Chihuahuas faced off against the Rivercats.  A large crowd of over 13,000 was on hand as Hunter Pence of the home team’s parent club was rehabbing an injury.  The dogs lose 12-0.

7-24-16

It was a hot day game in Kansas City, 98 degrees with 50% humidity.  In the Rangers’ broadcast booth, Matt Hicks wanted a resin bag for his headphones to keep them from sliding off his head.  The Royals and the Rangers battled the elements, along with each other.  It was an unsurprisingly low-scoring game, going 2-1 in favor of the Rangers.  That’s two in a row for the first time this month.  Time to start a winning streak. 

The baseball story of the day has been Chris Sale.  Not that he’s been traded to the Rangers, which has been rumored, but that he’s been suspended for refusing to pitch in the White Sox throwback uniforms and then attacking his teammates’ uniforms with scissors.  This was an overreaction.  Yes, they’re softball uniforms and perhaps the top would be interfering with his pitching motion, but it’s not like they were making the team wear the matching throwback shorts, in which case the entire team should have rioted.  Those Sox uniforms were the worst baseball uniforms ever.  There’s not even a close second, though a couple other White Sox uniforms do make the top 10 list.  The franchise hasn’t had much good fashion sense until they decided to copy the Yankees’ design.  Always steal from the best. 

While listening to the Ranger game, I kept flipping over to the Chihuahuas’ double header with the Sacramento Rivercats.  Somehow, I managed to catch three of Hunter Pence’s at bats, by fortuitous timing.  I have a keen interest in this, as the Giants need him badly (like today, when they lost to the Yankees again).  The dogs end up splitting the DH. 

             

7-25-16

Rangers vs A’s.  There wasn’t much to talk about in this game until the bottom of the 9^th.  With the Rangers down a run, Adrian Beltre came to the plate with a man on first.  On the first pitch, he sent myself and the Arlington crowd into a frenzy with a two-run walk-off winner over the fence.  (And he got the ball back afterward.)  It was Adrian’s second home run of the night.  Rangers win 7-6.  Given that the team had gone down by 4 runs early, had two errors, and gave up 3 unearned runs, they didn’t exactly deserve to win, but they certainly needed to.

7-26-16

The Chihuahuas are in Tacoma tonight.  The game had an unprecedented 30 minute delay waiting for the umpires to arrive.  These things happen in minor league baseball.  It was worth the wait as the Chihuahuas won 6-0.  Tim makes an interesting comment about the parent club.  The Padres are playing in Toronto this week.  This was the last remaining inter-league matchup that hadn’t happened yet.  The Padres may have firepower about equal to the Blue Jays and that’s mostly due to a crop of called up Chihuahuas players.  El Paso has been scuffling since the break, but that’s likely mostly because so many of their good offensive players aren’t with them.  The good thing for the Padres and the Chihuahuas is that they still have guys who can rake in Triple A.  Now, the Friars just need to develop or acquire some pitching.

Meanwhile, Joey Gallo, perpetual object of trade talks, was unexpectedly called up by the Rangers.  Though the team has lost Shin-Shu Choo and Prince Fielder to injury, it was thought that they’d prefer to protect Gallo, by keeping him in the minors, rather than possibly exposing him in the majors.  He takes a pair of strikeouts, but hits a home run, typical Joey.  Unfortunately, the Rangers lose 6-3 to the A’s.

7-27-16

The White Sox and Cubs have been playing each other in one another’s stadiums this week.  At Wrigley tonight, a scoreless tie in the 5^th is amazingly broken off a home run by Anthony Ranaudo.  He’s the pitcher for the White Sox, who up to this point, had never gotten a major league hit.  The ball was caught in the bleachers by a Sox fan, who promptly hugged her Cubs fan husband right after.  Before this, ESPN had gotten bored with the game and had actually gone split screen with the Cardinals vs the Mets to show Cespedes batting with men on.  He hit a home run right before Ranaudo’s shot.

  

Unfortunately for the Sox, Ranaudo’s the only one to score for them, as the Cubs win (Cubs win!) 8-1. This game was also significant as the debut of Aroldis Chapman as closer for the Cubs.  They had just acquired him from the Yankees this week and wanted him to get some work in.  If I were a Yankees fan (heh, heh, that’s funny), I’d be wondering why management was disassembling my lockdown bullpen to help someone else win a World Series. 

Chapman is, of course, controversial as he was implicated in a domestic abuse case, much like Jose Reyes (as I mentioned earlier).  Also like Reyes, Chapman wasn’t charged with a crime, but was suspended by the league anyway.  Now he probably should have been charged and convicted, but he wasn’t, but he was punished.  Meanwhile, Tom Brady is suspended for four games this season over deflated footballs from a game two years ago, even though there’s no direct proof of his involvement.  I’m not a Patriots fan.  I respect Brady, but he’s not my favorite player (certainly not when he’s playing the Cowboys).  I feel like these items all connect, but I’m not sure how yet. 

By the way, Brady is likely to be the last great NFL quarterback in my opinion.  Everyone coming up after him is likely to be spectacular for a couple of seasons at best and then flameout due to injury or defensive schemes or self-destruction off the field.  I think we’ll all be sorry that he’s not going to be playing as much as possible.  (Watching me either be eating these words five years from now or be smugly rubbing them in everyone’s faces.)                  

7-28-16

Yahoo’s game is the Cardinals vs the Marlins.  This is an interesting matchup between two good teams, though iffy playoff contenders.  In spite of my liking the Cardinals, the Marlins are the better story.  Dee Gordon is back from his PED suspension.  Jose Fernandez is starting (though not well tonight).  Ichiro is three hits shy of 3000.  Much of the fairly large crowd may have been there to see him.  He came in as a pinch hitter in the 7^th and whacked a double.  The crowd went wild.  There seemed to be several Japanese fans there.  The Marlins Man behind the plate, finally wearing appropriate team gear, even got excited. 

I may have a new favorite player name.  There’s a Marlins reliever called Barraclough, which is mostly pronounced “Bear claw.”  There were a couple of interesting plays.  In the 9^th, Hechavarria made a great play throwing a slow grounder to first to get an out.  Slo-mo showed the ball almost going through Chris Johnson’s mitt webbing.  Where’s Stat-cast when you need it for that thrown ball velocity.  In the bottom of the inning, Cardinal’s reliever, Oh, got hit on his bottom by a come-backer.  Strangely, on the next batter, he deflected the ball again, but this time into a game-ending double play.  Marlins win 5-4.

The Rangers squeaked out another win, this time over KC, 3-2.  All of the Rangers’ runs were off of solo home runs, two by Mitch Moreland, who is definitely stepping up in a contract year.  While I was keeping track of all of this, I forgot that the Chihuahuas were starting two hours early for a double header.  Why start two games at 5:00 (Pacific time) on a Thursday night?  At least do it on Friday.  And why were there two other double headers also going on at the same time in the PCL? 

I missed most of game 1, but heard the most important play.  In the 5^th, Hector Sanchez came up for the dogs with the bases loaded.  If you’ve been listening since he came to the team, what happened next was no surprise.  The Chihuahuas take the first game, 5-3, largely on the back of Sanchez’s grand slam.  What is a surprise is that this guy isn’t playing in the majors.  Game 2 started after 10:00 pm (Mountain time), so you knew it was going to be a long night, even with two 7 inning games.  Tim was joined by a local ESPN guy for the game.  There was the rare, strange call of “umpire’s interference” on an attempted stolen base in the 1^st inning, which caused some confusion and fumbling for the rule book.  While the pups had a good lead early, they lost to the Rainiers 5-4.  It seemed like a decent, if at least loud, crowd in Tacoma, in spite of the time.  It ended at 12:30 am my time.

7-29-16

A 0-0 tie between the Chihuahuas and the Rainiers wasn’t broken until the bottom of the 8^th with a home run.  Unfortunately, it was a Rainiers’ home run.  They also tacked on another run before the pups came to bat in the 9^th.  They managed to score one run and then had a runner on with Hector Sanchez at the plate with two outs.  He made an out, but at least they had the right guy up.  Chihuahuas lose 2-1.  The time of game was 2 hours, 21 minutes.  There was a large crowd for the game, and Tim was worried that it had finished so quickly that they were going to have to delay the fireworks show until it got darker.

I was at work late doing month end processing and got to see a little of the Dodgers vs the Diamondbacks.  In spite of giving up 7 runs in the 7^th, the Dodgers win 9-7 and pull within a game of the Giants, who lost earlier.  Vin Scully reported that San Francisco had the bases loaded late against the Nationals with no outs and grounded into a triple play.  It was the final insult in a bad July for the G-men. 

7-30-16

Happy birthday to me.  I guess.  It’s been a mixed bag the last two days.  At least I have baseball.  Sort of.  I tuned into the Rangers vs the Royals and got to hear Michael Young’s speech as he was inducted into the Rangers’ hall of fame.  Unfortunately, my radio reception went downhill shortly after that.  I think I knew the score was tied late.  In the 9^th, I heard Eric Nadel get real excited, so I assumed the Rangers won.  During the Chihuahuas’ broadcast, when they do the scoreboard, I found out that Mitch Moreland had won the game, 2-1, on a walkoff homer.  This guy may have found his stroke finally.  They also picked up a game on the Astros, who were playing the Tigers.  That seemed like a pretty tense game, as the Rangers’ radio crew was giving constant updates on it.

I got to hear the last out of a Rockies’ win versus the Mets.  Not exactly engaging.  Meanwhile, I’d missed most of the Chihuahuas’ game, which I had much better reception of.  At least I got to hear the bottom of the 9^th as the dogs were playing their division rivals, the Las Vegas 51’s.  With a 3 run lead, the Chihuahuas promptly gave up 2 runs to start the inning.  There were two runners on as the final out was recorded.  Chihuahuas win 6-5.    

7-31-16

The Rangers won again, 5-3, over the Royals.  I feel bad for the World Champions.  They lost a couple of good players to free agency and didn’t replace them, and have been decimated by injuries.  The Rangers also picked up another game on the Astros, who lost to the red-hot Tigers.  (Here’s an easy prediction: they’re going to cool off and go away.)  After the game, Eric and Matt talked to today’s winning pitcher, newly acquired Lucas Herrell.  Last year, he was pitching in Korea, where the games there  apparently have something like a “half-time.”  It’s actually a ten-minute smoke break for the players.  Lucas said he’d use the time to go across the street to get KFC.    

My reception was fine for this game and I found out a couple of things about yesterday’s game.  One, it was a sell-out for Michael Young day.  Two, and I saw this on TV, Young almost punched out Elvis Andrus while he was being paraded around the stadium in a pickup.  Elvis was wearing an evil clown mask at the time and apparently this is one of Michael Young’s phobias.  You can’t make this stuff up.

The Yankees traded off Andrew Miller for prospects.  I can see it now.  Several of these prospects pan out and the team is great again, except they can’t hold a lead in the later innings.  Why did you guys build up such a great bullpen to just throw it away?  Why am I talking about the Yankees?  In more relevant news, the Chihuahuas beat the 51’s again, 4-0.  They now have an 8 ½ game lead.

Baseball Notebook: Trade Deadline Edition

Whew!  The Rangers were off today, but were very busy.  Just before time expired, the team acquired Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran.  Thank goodness they didn’t execute any more trades with the Cubs or the Tigers.  Those haven’t gone well over the years, so there’s a chance that these will work out.  Jon Daniels gave up highly regarded prospect, Lewis Brinson, but kept Mazara, Odor, and Profar, new guys who have all done well since being called up.  Joey Gallo also remains, as he still displays tremendous potential, though not quite Major League ready.  Giving up an unknown quantity for accomplished veteran talent seems like a good deal to this point.

Catcher and DH were not two positions that desperately needed upgrading for the Rangers, but these two should be improvements.  Beltran, I think, has the record for hits in the post-season.  But before you get too excited, he’s also never been to the World Series.  [Edit: he was in the 2013 World Series with the Cardinals, but did not win.]  I’m still wondering why Lucroy turned down going to Cleveland.  They’re a contender, and he might have had a bigger impact there.  Getting Lucas Harrell for the starting rotation has already started paying off and getting bullpen help were more pressing priorities, so the Rangers have had an excellent trading season . . . on paper. 

The Dodgers got outfield help in Josh Reddick and sent Yasiel Puig to Triple A Oklahoma City.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy the Midwest.  The Giants immediately countered by getting starting pitcher, Matt Moore, from the Rays.  With Kershaw and Pence and others out for both teams respectively, the NL West will be decided by who can slap together the best crappy lineup on a daily basis.  (Or the Rockies come out of nowhere and win it.  I’m almost ready to believe.) 

What are the Yankees doing, I ask again?  In addition to Beltran, they also dumped starting pitcher, Ivan Nova.  They were still in the AL East mix.  Nobody’s running away with it.  The Yankees don’t rebuild with prospects!  Why aren’t Yankees fans angry?  Are they happy with their 26 championships?  Okay, more likely, the team payroll is so bloated with bad contracts, they’ve got to dump some guys before they can think about taking on any new big free agents.  “We paid for all those World Series,” as one Yankees fan said. 

I am confused by the Kansas City Royals doing nothing.  Right now, they’re on the fringe of practical elimination.  I know they’re got a bunch of injuries, and they’re still nurturing some up-and-coming talent at the Major League level, but doing nothing in trades and free agency was how you became a non-contender this year.  Here seems like the opportunity to do a couple of trades for contending next year, or wholesale trading to build up the farm system for another run in a few years.  More disappointing are the Pirates.  They traded off one of their better pitchers, Liriano, to the Blue Jays.  Okay, you weren’t going to win the Central, but you guys were playing well and in contention for a Wild Card.  Do three Wild Card round losses in a row now basically mean: division winner or bust for you?  

Baseball Notebook for July 2016 Part 1

7-1-16

The Indians have won 14 in a row.  Today, they won 2-1 over the Blue Jays in 19 innings.  Darwin Barney, one of my favorite second basemen, ended up being the losing pitcher.  The Rangers win 3-2 over the Twins in 10 innings in yet another close game.  Sam Dyson has a nice bounce back game to put it away for the Rangers. 

The Chihuahuas won in a blowout over the Aces, but the story was the fans.  A couple of fans were hit by a tossed bat that helicopter-ed into the stands.  Having been at the stadium, I’m having trouble visualizing how this happened.  The netting covers a lot of the stands.  One of the fans was taken off on a stretcher in a lengthy delay.  Tim was very professional during the rest of the game, but there was a nervous edge there.  He didn’t report on the fans’ conditions for the rest of the game. 

7-2-16

Rangers vs Twins.  The Rangers forgot to bring their gloves today.  I don’t know what they were all thinking.  Chi Chi Gonzalez doesn’t make it out of the first inning, giving up 4 runs, 3 unearned.  Nine men come to the plate.  Though there was only 1 official error, the Rangers gave the Twins 4 extra outs in the inning.  It would have been 5, if they hadn’t won a challenge.  Matt Hicks comments, wondering if the team has got the (word that must not be spoken or written).  At which point, Eric Nadel says, “Don’t say it!”  The score went out of control from there.  The guys were doing a trivia contest during the game.  Catcher Brian Holiday pitched in the 7^th and 8^th and did well.  In the 9^th, Eric said, “Thanks to all of you who have stuck with us through this ugly affair.”  17-5 Twins.  And the Indians’ win streak ends in Toronto today.

I literally gasped at the score on Fox national broadcast game between the Red Sox and Angels.  It was a game between a team I don’t care about against a team I hate, so I wasn’t really watching.  (I kept flipping around stations.  I tried watching the NASCAR race.  There were two commercial breaks before the race had a competition caution at lap 20.  They promised to break away from the commercials if there were any wrecks.)  The score went from 4-0 Angels early, to 9-0 halfway, and then (gasp) 20-1 in the7th.  The final was 21-2.  The earlier Rangers/Twins game still didn’t prepare me for this kind of scoring.  

The day wasn’t over yet.  In El Paso, the Chihuahuas were once again playing the Washington Generals.  No, sorry.  They were playing the Reno Aces.  It just seems like the Chihuahuas have a designated opponent.  Edwin Jackson, who as a major leaguer pitched the ugliest no-hitter ever, was on the bump for the pooches.  He was okay there, but his best contribution was hitting a home run in the game.  The dogs went down early, but managed to tie the score late and send it into extra innings.  From there, it was nearly unbearable frustration, as the Chihuahuas kept getting runners in scoring position to end it, but couldn’t get them across.  In the 13^th, the Aces finally took the lead with a couple of runs.  The weirdest play of the game happened in the bottom of the frame.  With a runner taking second on a steal, Chihuahua Hunter Renfroe was getting an intentional walk, though he had two strikes on him.  Or was he?  On what should have been the fourth Ball, the catcher instead snuck back into a crouch and Aces’ pitcher Matt Capps tried to throw a fastball down the middle.  Hunter somehow managed to foul it off.  He was then given the free pass on the next pitch.  Alas, the comeback never happened and the Chihuahuas lost 5-3.

As bad as I felt, I felt worse for the crowd there.  It was a full house for the game because there were going to be fireworks afterward, so they had to stay for 13 innings, four hours, 45 minutes.  The display started at midnight.  Worse, the crowd was really into the game and just begging for the team to end it during all those opportunities in extra innings.  Tim Hagerty reported that by the end, the crowd was clearly emotionally exhausted.

More Mexican national team American football is on.  This is sort of fascinating.  I don’t know what to make of it.  Contrary to what you might think, American football games are shown on Mexican television.  The Superbowl is a big event there too.  This time they’re playing the Austrian team.  Austrian?  This is part of something called the World Football Championship.  No, I’ve never heard of it either.

7-3-16

I don’t want to talk about the Rangers.  The Chihuahuas beat the Reno Aces on a walk-off, three-run homer by Austin Hedges.  Tim Hagerty, the large El Paso crowd, and myself were relieved to not have to experience another extra innings affair. 

7-5-16

Rangers win.  That’s all my notebook says.  That’s great writing there, J.  In more detail, the Rockies beat the Giants 7-3 in San Francisco.  AR-Enado hit a three-run homer caught by a Rockies fan wearing his jersey.  Hunter Strickland still can’t get outs (at least when I’m watching or listening).  Well, I wanted the Rockies to end their losing streak. 

7-6-16

Tim has a co-host for a couple of home games.  I’m sorry, I never caught his name.  He works for the team and has called Alaskan League baseball games.  Yes, they have plenty of daylight there for summer games.  I’ve mentioned before that Tim Hagerty and the team should avail themselves of opportunities to save Tim’s voice a bit over the season.  We don’t want another bout of laryngitis taking out the voice of the Chihuahuas.

7-10-16

Austin Hedges gets 8 RBI’s in 3 innings versus the Salt Lake City Bees.  The Chihuahuas win 11-2 going into the All-Star break.  The Rangers lose 15-5 to the Twins.  That’s the best team in the AL losing a series to the worst.  Eric Nadel took off early for the break.  Good thing he wasn’t there to see this one.  I haven’t felt like writing at all as the Rangers have hit a skid for the last two weeks.  I was so sure they’d win today and then the game started.  The Astros won.  They’re making a comeback.

7-12-16

#ASG.  My favorite play was during the starters’ introduction when they ran out with the kids.  I loved that smiling Carlos Gonzalez having his arm around his kid, getting him hyped up to run out on the field.  That was great.  Technically, this was from the day before, but Giancarlo (don’t call me Mike or AIR-Enado) Stanton blasting two home runs 497ft and winning the home run derby was also awesome to watch.  My best crow-eating moment was snickering as I noticed Daniel “Stonehands” Murphy was playing second base, right before he made a great (and completely uncharacteristic) acrobatic play.  I’m thinking Fox Sports Radio host and Mets homer, Jason Smith, must have also done a spit-take watching that as well.  “It’s bad enough he’s leading the league in batting average for the Nationals.  Don’t tell me that learned how to play defense there too!  Why couldn’t you have done this for the Mets last year?”  In any case, the Rangers will have home field advantage in the World Series this fall, thanks to the AL win.          

Actually, this does bring up another issue with Jason Smith.  He’s refusing to talk about his beloved Mets this month because they re-acquired Jose Reyes, who was released by the Rockies (he was supposed to be playing for the Isotopes when I went to see the Chihuahuas last month).  He had been serving a suspension for domestic abuse this season.  My only problem with this is that Reyes was never actually charged.  That’s something of technicality, since it appears he did it, but I’m still a little uncomfortable with the league punishing someone under these circumstances anyway. 

7-15-16

Chihuahuas vs Nashville Sounds.  There were high winds at the ballpark this evening.  Tim said he hadn’t seen worse at the ballpark.  (He should have been around when the canopy got blown off of the Cohen Stadium, twice.  Earlier this month, I saw the Diablos’ old stadium being used for a food truck festival.  It’s still getting some use.  By the way, when the Chihuahuas finally decide to don throwback Diablos uniforms, everyone will want one.)  The wind certainly sounded bad over the field and booth mics.  It was not a Chihuahuas’ wind blowing however, as they lost badly.  It’s their second bad loss since the break.

Baseball Notebook for June 2016

6-1-16
Alex Dickerson’s hitting streak ends at 29 for the Chihuahuas, but they win anyway on a walk off on a blown double play.  Elsewhere, the Giants lose Hunter Pence again to injury.

6-3-16
Interesting stat after Madison Bumgarner’s latest home run.  In their last 190 plate appearances, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Mad Bum each have 11 home runs.

6-4-16
Interesting week for the Padres.  Their GM rips the team for being bad.  They blow a 10 run lead the next day and lose the game.  Then, they trade James Shields, their showpiece acquisition of their offseason a year ago, to the White Sox and still have to pay most of his remaining salary.  Then their Triple A affiliate, the Chihuahuas, lose their luggage on the way to Fresno, causing a delay to the start of the game.  The dogs end up winning anyway, 10-5.

6-5-16
Rangers vs Mariners.  A friend that Rangers’ broadcaster, Matt Hicks left tickets for catches a foul ball in the stands.  He’s able to see it from the booth and his wife, seated nearby, immediately texts him.  Play of the game: Elvis on third.  There’s a short fly ball to center.  Elvis dekes out the centerfielder with a delayed tag up.  The ball is lazily tossed in and Elvis takes off and scores.  Rangers win 3-2.

6-9-16
Rangers vs Astros.  Profar hits a liner to Altuve hard enough to knock him down.  It’s scored a single.  The Rangers win 5-3 and take 3 of 4 in the series.  They are 9-1 vs Houston so far this year.

6-11-16
Dodgers vs Giants.  In the 1st inning, Buster Posey accidently tosses his bat, swinging at a pitch.  The bat flies high up into the netting behind home plate and lodges there.  Has this ever happened before in a ball game?  I doubt you could do that on purpose in a hundred tries.  The bat is removed in between innings.  Nervous spectators who were underneath it were able to continue enjoying the game.

Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors is there at the stadium in a luxury box watching his brother, Trayce, who plays for the Dodgers.  Klay wears a Dodger hat to support his brother, forgetting where he is.  When they show him on the video board at the stadium, though he’s representing the Bay area in the NBA playoffs, Klay is roundly “boo’ed.”  Steve Kerr, coach of the Warriors and also probably a Dodger fan, was sitting next to the Giant’s dugout, without any team gear.  He apparently better understood the depths of the Dodger/Giant rivalry.  [Writing this a couple of weeks later, thank you NBA for your blatant fixing of the finals, thus giving me a new reason to hate your league and renew my vows to not watch you.  A**holes.]

About four hours later, after trailing in the 10th, Buster Posey drives in the winning run.  Giants win 5-4.  Kerr, who stayed for the whole game, went over to the dugout and congratulated Bruce Bochy.  “Four hours?” you ask.  There were 15 pitchers used in the game.   Elsewhere, the Rangers and the Mariners also went 10 innings.  2-1 Rangers, all scoring was off solo home runs.  The Chihuahuas won 3-0 over the Rivercats, but only needed 9 innings.

This was not all the baseball I had on though.  On a Juarez station, there was a Mexican league game on with the Indios (versus some team whose name I couldn’t hope to pronounce).  I’m not sure when the game started, since I only found it flipping stations during the commercials, but it finished after 11:00 pm.  The pace of the game could be described as leisurely.  Real leisurely.  If the Giants/Dodgers game needed some pace of play adjustments, this needed a complete overhaul.

The players had sponsorship all over their uniforms like NASCAR drivers.  (You can look forward to this in the NBA in the near future, by the way.)  Their stadium was really large.  It was one big grandstand with a roof and a screen covering all of the seats inside.  Keep looking at your cellphones.  You didn’t have to worry about foul balls there.  There was a pretty good crowd, though it’s hard to judge given the size of the grandstand.  There was a small contingent of American liberals there protesting the name of the team.  (Just kidding.  They wouldn’t be able to figure out that “Indios” means “Indians.”  Juarez also uses that name for their soccer and their basketball teams.)

In spite of the game’s pace, it was pretty lively from what I saw, occasionally checking in on it.  There was lots of scoring.  The lead changed hands several times.  I saw a guy take five minutes to round the bases after a home run.  There was a hard slide into a catcher that started a benches clearing brawl.  The Indios won 11-10 on a walk off home run in the 9th.  They came from behind three times in the game.  Persistence.

This isn’t baseball related, but I have to mention this.  On another Juarez station, I see a US vs Mexico football game going on.  No, not futbol, American football.  The US team ended up losing 35-7.  Before you start slitting your wrists, I have question where they got this “US” team.  On a punt, I saw the ball actually bounce off the helmet of the receiving US player.  I think Mayfield or Cruces (our local state champion-caliber high school teams) could have given the Mexicans a better game.

Also not baseball related but I have to mention this.  There’s a Trump commercial airing on Juarez television.  It shows “Trump” (a guy in a bad wig) stopping some guy on one of the downtown entry bridges.  Thankfully, the guy has an entry card (which this PSA is promoting) and is able to pass.  “Trump” shouts after him, “You’re fired!”  It doesn’t entirely make sense to me either.  As I’ve mentioned before, they don’t like Trump in Mexico.  
 
6-12-16
Rangers vs Mariners.  A 6-4 win.  The final out is Robinson Cano thrown out a second by Nomar Mazara from deep right field, after he had driven in the 4th run.  The crowd in Seattle is stunned.  Me and Eric Nadel were yelling in victory.  I learned something new from Eric during the game.  Rougned Odor had struck out 4 times during the game.  In his fifth at bat, Eric mentioned Ruggie was wearing the “golden sombrero” for four K’s and was trying to avoid earning “Olympic Rings,” for five strikeouts.  I hadn’t heard that term before as it’s a fairly rare occurrence.  Ruggie flies out, avoiding the issue altogether.

6-17-16
Chihuahuas vs Rivercats.  The pooches let a 4-0 lead evaporate.  Daniel McCutchen was perfect through five until Tim jinxed it on the broadcast.  (Don’t mention things like that until at least the 7th.)  The score was tied on a solo home run in the 9th.  The pups had runners in scoring position in the 10th and the 11th, but couldn’t push them in.  In the bottom of the 11th, the bases were walked full to pitch to an 0 for 4 Travis Ishikawa of the Rivercats.  You remember him?  Jon Miller calling out, “The Giants win the pennant,” on Ishikawa’s walk off home run.  One single later, Rivercats win the game 5-4.  The most startling stat of the game: time of game two hours 43 minutes.  11 innings in under three hours!  Pace of play indeed.              

In St. Louis, the Rangers beat the Cardinals 1-0.  Cole Hamels goes 7+ and Rougned Odor’s home run is the only scoring of the game.  Mentioned during the game, Ruggie has a younger brother, also in the Rangers’ system, with the same name.  While Ruggie was serving his suspension, the team could have conceivably brought up another Ruggie to replace him.  Thankfully, the front office would rather be smart than cute.

6-18-16
With the Rangers down 3-0 in the 8th vs the Cardinals, they get two runs.  In the 9th, the Rangers get the bases loaded on an infield hit, a single, and a hit batsman, knocking Cardinal closer Rosenthal out of the game.  Shin-Soo Choo works a walk on a full count to force in the tying run.  Ian Desmond drives in the go ahead run on a sac fly.  Rangers win 4-3.

I also watched the Fox national broadcast of the Cubs vs the Pirates.  Well, actually it was a Cubs homer broadcast that was broadcast nationally.  I think they’re trying to hype up the Cubs, hoping they make it into the World Series and thus getting the best World Series TV ratings ever.  Cubs win again 4-3.

6-19-16
The Rangers beat the Cardinals 5-4 and sweep their three-game series in St. Louis.  This game changed leads several times before the Rangers finished it.  The Rangers are actually undefeated in Busch Stadium since their World Series losses there in 2011.

6-20-16
The MLB Network picked up a Giants’ broadcast versus the Pirates.  I was blissfully able to hear the dulcet tones of Jon Miller for a couple of innings.  Not so blissfully, the Giants lost 1-0 and waste 8 great innings of pitching out of the Madison Bumgarner.  There were two interesting plays during the game.  Angel Pagan almost robbed Erik Kratz of a home run, as he went well over the left field wall to get the ball.  He had it briefly, before losing it.  Pagan came off the top of the wall and in a pure Little League-like show of emotion, slammed his mitt into the ground.  Meanwhile, how good a hitter is Bumgarner?  In the 7th with a man on, the Pirates actually brought on a reliever to face him at the plate.

6-21-16
KROD program director, Steve Kaplowitz, came in and did play by play for a couple of innings.  He’d done this before.  I think the last time was when Tim had laryngitis.  I’d kind of thought it would be a good idea to bring in some guest co-announcers to help save Tim’s voice a bit.  Steve was clearly having a good time and the dogs had one too, winning 11-6.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to listen to most of it, as I was doing some voluntary business training over the Internet instead.  See if I do that again.

6-24-16
This was comical.  Jabari Blash of the Chihuahuas hits a mammoth shot out of Southwest U.  Tim Hagerty gives his trademark home run call . . . and then has to take it back as strong winds knocked it down into a long fly out.  Tim chuckled, as the Chihuahuas were winning handily anyway.  Certainly the fielders were working overtime trying to figure out where balls in the air were going.  9-3 dogs.

This was not so comical.  Another home run call taken back in the 9th of a Rockies/Diamondbacks game.  It was a full home run call for Nick Hundley, no doubt about it.  I was momentarily elated after a 4 ½ hour game for the Rockies to walk off this back and forth battle of a game.  The Rockies announcer then, more surprised than anyone else, had to retract it as Rickie Weeks, utility infielder playing out of position in the outfield, showed the ball.  He’d gone over the fence to get it.  This was a pretty crushing defeat, especially after coming back from six runs down.

Meanwhile, this had come up in the previously day’s Diamondbacks’ TV broadcast (another hard loss for the Rockies).  Nolan wants his last name pronounced AR-enado, instead of AIR-enado.  AZ TV accommodated him, though the Rockies radio broadcast didn’t until today.  At least Nolan didn’t demand to be called Giancarlo.  He got some great clutch hits in this game.  Unfortunately in the 9th, he’d made a baserunning mistake right before that non-home run, that otherwise would have brought him in on a sacrifice.  His name is “mud” until the Rockies win again.

Meanwhile again, the Rangers coughed up a three run lead at home in the 9th to lose to the Red Sox.  It was kind of a bad night baseball-wise for me.

6-26-16
The Rockies and the Rangers bounce back with wins.  Thank goodness.  In Reno, the Chihuahuas face the Aces for a double header.  In game 1, Tim is amused and irritated by a pair of loud hecklers giving it to the pooches.  He reports that they weren’t together initially, but joined forces later in the game.  Regardless, the pups win that one easily.  However, they lose game 2 on a walk off.  I have to blame the manager, Rod Barajas, for leaving reliever Jose Dominguez in for a second inning to try and finish the game when he clearly didn’t have it.

6-28-16
I didn’t expect I’d get to hear any of the Rangers/Yankees game tonight, since it was on the east coast (and I was really surprised that none of their games were nationally broadcast on TV).  However, thanks to the game start being delayed by rain and a 3 ½ hour rain delay after the 9th inning started, I got to hear the end of the game.  I didn’t’ hear the particulars as to why the game wasn’t called or suspended.

I’m sorry I missed nearly all of Rain Delay Theater listening to another game.  The guys seemed to be having a good time discussing Yankee Stadium ballpark food.  The Rangers were down by a run when play resumed.  The home plate ump was giving the pitchers a very generous strike zone, but three hit batsmen and a couple of clutch hits gave the Rangers the lead and a 9-6 win.  The game ended at 2:45 AM in NYC.

The stat of the game was a Tweet by the infamous Marlins Man.  He posted a couple of pictures.  The Rangers’ dugout was full.  The Yankees’ dugout was empty.  The caption read that the umps had to go get the Yankees to come out, while the Rangers were all ready.  But here’s the freaky thing.  The next night, I see this guy in the front row in Omaha for the College World Series.   How?  Why?

It’s a day game in Reno for the Chihuahuas vs the Aces, game 5 of 9 in a row between these teams.  The pups go down 8-0 in the first two innings.  They come back and actually take the lead, but end up losing 15-12.  I was sorry I was at work and only getting to hear snippets of this game.  Elsewhere, the Indians have won their 11th in a row.

6-29-16
The Rangers give up six runs in the 9th to lose it for the Rangers against the Yankees, 9-6.  It was a blown save to say the least for Sam Dyson.  The Blue Jays beat the Rockies 14-9 in another late night game, thanks to a rain delay.  I don’t know why I stayed up late to listen to this game, as the score was not as close as it looks.  

6-30-16
The daylight brings no help to the Rangers.  Relief pitching once again blows it in the 9th and the Rangers lose a day game in the Bronx to the Yankees, 2-1.

El Paso Chihuahuas vs Albuquerque Isotopes 6-15-16

This time at least I have some pictures.  Last year, I went to a Chihuahuas game with my co-workers, Jacob and Chuck.  We were looking forward to the opportunity to go again this year.  Chuck suggested tonight because of the Cody Decker bobblehead giveaway.  Decker, while no longer playing for El Paso, was a beloved character for the first two years of the team’s existence.  I’d even say he was one of the reasons for the current popularity of the team, thanks to his various Youtube videos.  The current team is playing and drawing really well, but there’s no replacing Cody’s charisma.  

We took off directly from work at 4:00, figuring we needed to get there good and early for the 7:00 game with the best promotional giveaway of the year.  Jacob and Chuck were getting off early.  I was essentially just putting in an appearance at work for a couple of hours, as my backup, Mike would be taking over for the night shift.  Ron, my Aggies co-fan and the reason I got to see the Rockies and the Giants in person, was meeting a friend from out of town and declined on this trip.  Through reasonably light traffic on the way, we took the Porfirio Diaz exit downtown and took a right at the stop sign.  The stadium and a parking garage were on the left.  The parking garage fee was $7, which is less than the $10 we paid last year.  It might be because we arrived before 5:00.  Chuck wanted to try the parking meters on the street since it seemed to be cheaper, but Jacob wasn’t eager to risk his truck finding out. 

There were only a few hardcore fans and a few kids in baseball uniforms outside at 5:00.  Of note, it was also 100+ degrees outside the stadium with no breeze and no shade and no water.  Jacob had suggested taking an umbrella, which we didn’t take, but I did lather up with sunblock before we left just in case.  I only almost passed out once.  (I was told I looked a bit pink later, but I didn’t get burned somehow.)  As we stood baking in hell’s waiting room, we chatted with the friendly regulars in line for about an hour.  At about 5:30, I could just see through the gate tonight’s opponent, the Albuquerque Isotopes, taking batting practice.  By about 6:00, before the gates finally opened and we paid Charon to ferry us across the River Styx to our final destination, I noticed a tremendous crowd had formed up behind us.  We may have been a bit too early, but coming early was a real good idea. 

Inside, and God bless, in the shade, we each received a foot-high box.  This seemed like way too much packaging for a little plastic novelty.  I was glad I brought a bag to put our boxes in to carry, otherwise it would have been awkward portage.  I left it in the box, but saw some other fans unpacking theirs.  Oh my goodness, it was love at first sight.  Expecting a cheap, little plastic toy, I was completely unprepared for how big and detailed this heavy ceramic statue was.  This was a hell of a giveaway.  Cody tweeted that it was the “handsomest” bobblehead ever.  It’s hard to disagree with that.  I found myself carrying it around work with me for two days, showing it to everybody.  Jacob and Chuck would, more wisely, put theirs on display in their offices.  We all made sure Ron got a good jealous look at them.  

An usher was asked if Cody would be there.  He said “No,” but he’d wanted to come.  From listening to Tim Hagerty on the radio call, Decker is currently with the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox Double AA team.  He even hit a homer in his first game with them.  In the 2^nd, Cody’s mom joined Tim in the booth.  She told him how, after getting a major league call up last year, this was her son’s proudest moment playing professional baseball, getting a booblehead.  She was impressed with the likeness.  In the 3^rd, they showed a video of Cody’s highlights on the stadium big screen, including pranking teammate Jeff Francoeur.  The crowd gave him a big hand for his time here, even in his absence, or maybe they were just happy with their awesome bobbleheads.       

After scouting out the menus on the website, I visited the Hua Hua concession.  The staff there was very friendly.  I got a large wedge of pepperoni pizza, an order of garlic fries, and a medium drink for $15.  The pizza was pretty good, so were the fries, although I was still feeling the effects of them into the next evening.  They didn’t seem that garlic-y at the time.  The stadium is unfortunately a Pepsi only facility, so I didn’t get my usual Coke Zero.  They didn’t even have Cherry Pepsi.  I ended up with a Sobe something sweet something.  Here was my main mistake, not getting a large, or at least the larger souvenir cup.  I didn’t want to have to go to the bathroom during the game, but didn’t realize how dehydrated I was at the time.  After finishing the pizza (I nibbled at the garlic fries for several innings) and still having a half hour till the game, I got up again, looking for something else to wet my whistle.  

I ended up at the slushie stand and ordered a large cherry.  It was a bit pricey, but was completely delicious and necessary.  Vendors would come around the seats during the game selling slushies, lemonades, and some drink in a pineapple, which they didn’t identify.  As much as I wanted something else to drink, I decided the water fountains I found on the way back were much more economical.  I swung by the teamshop and was disappointed looking for a 2016 Chihuahuas team set of baseball cards.  They only had cards from previous years.  Maybe they come out later in the season.  I wonder if the PCL Stars pack from last year has a Trevor Story card in it?  I’m good with my shirt and hat for now, and didn’t have anyone to buy any other souvenirs for, so no purchases there this time.    

  

Jacob returned from his trip to the concession holding a hamburger and fries and angry.  He’d come to try the stadium’s famous nachos in a souvenir dog bowl.  After waiting in line for 10 minutes at Monchi’s, they told him they were out of cheese sauce.  (Before the game even started!)  Jacob kicked up a fuss and got a deal on a hamburger instead.  While he was grumbling, I looked at his burger and commented that it looked big and good.  After Jacob finished complaining, he took a bite, and then another, and was quiet until he quickly finished it.  “How was that?” I asked.  “That was great,” Jacob replied with a smile.  That was a pretty good service save for the vendor.  Meanwhile, Chuck, from chatting with a fan outside, decided to try his luck at taking advantage of the Wednesday “Seniors Eat Free” special.  He came back with a free hot dog and soda and was very happy.  

Later in the game, I finally couldn’t hold out any longer.  When Chuck got up to get kettle corn, I handed him a $10 bill and asked if he could find me some ice cream.  Chuck returned with a plastic dish with two scoops of vanilla and gave me back a dollar.  This $9 ice cream was not Haagen-Dazs, nor Frusen Gladje, nor Ben & Jerry’s.  It wasn’t even Blue Bunny.  It was store brand, carton vanilla.  Actually, the Wal-Mart brand chocolate fudge brownie is excellent.  This was well below that.  I was okay with the $22 ticket, the $15 meal, and even the $8 slushie (mostly because I was hot and dehydrated), but this was a rip-off.  (That didn’t stop me from quickly consuming it anyway.)  

As you can see, our seats were nice and close.  We were sitting behind the really good club seats right next to field.  Those were close enough that you could reach out through the netting and touch the players in the on deck circle (and get ejected).  The attendants there were waiting on people there hand and foot.  One of the girls there had a short, messy haircut, big glasses, and was wearing little rabbit ears, like a Playboy bunny with a geek-fetish.  There was a young couple all but making out in front of us early on in the game.  They were there with what I’m guessing was her father and her uncle.  The girl looked just like a girl that I used to work with that I had a crush on.  I was jealous.  The guy was explaining the game to her as she hung on every word.  It was cute.  They left after a couple of innings, and I could then concentrate on the game.  Later, I mentioned to Mike that the girl was a dead-ringer from his cousin and our former co-worker.  He told me that she had a bunch of younger sisters at home.  It could be one of them.  (“You mean there’s more like her at home!”)

Before the game, a parade of little leaguers marched around the outfield and ended up by the Chihuahuas’ dugout.  They got autographs from a couple of players and got to hang out with the Chihuahuas’ mascot extraordinaire, Chico.  (This is sort of unrelated, but I was watching this Mexican high school comedy called La CQ, sort of like Saved by the Bell.  Their team sports mascot is a Chihuahua who looks a lot like Chico, but wearing a letterman’s jacket.  Which mascot came first?)  There were small knots of fans hanging out by both dugouts, hoping for autographs.  I did see Hunter Renfroe signing, not sure about anyone else or the other team.

What else?  The anthem was performed by an unassuming-looking girl in t-shirt and shorts.  She belted out one of the best versions I’ve ever heard.  Sorry I didn’t get her name.  The video board was advertising for a soccer match to be held at the park.  I didn’t get any of the details, since it involved soccer and I don’t care.  A couple of jets flew over the park and in the background.  Again, the stadium is nowhere near the airport.  I don’t know why they’re coming over.   The Wells Fargo building across the street was lit up like an American flag with the lights on it (too bad Ron wasn’t with us to complain about our rival bank again).  The flags at the stadium were also at half-mast.  Finally, fair warning, dangerous foul balls flew into the stands all night, sometimes hitting the roof and dropping into the crowd.  The PA repeatedly told the crowd to pay attention.

The scoring started in the top of the first with a home run by #7 Stephen Cardullo for the Isotopes.  In the bottom of the 3^rd, the Chihuahuas answered with two runs via a fielder’s choice and two singles.  I’m still trying to figure out how a single can bring in a runner from first without an error being committed.  The Isotopes threatened in the 4^th, but a double play more or less killed the rally.  The Chihuahuas were able to manufacture a run in the 5th.  In the 6^th, Cardullo took a walk, stole a base, advanced to third on an error, and was driven in on a single.  In the bottom of the frame, #23 Jason Hagerty was doubled in by #5 Casey McElroy.  So after six innings, our score is 4 to 2 Chihuahuas.  Are you all with me so far?  It’s about to get eventful.  

In the 7^th, Chico walked by, going through the box seats.  I yelled, “Chico!”  He waved.  More accurately, he put his paw up without looking, but I’m going say he was waving at me.  I’m determined to get a picture with the pooch at some point.  The grounds crew came out to drag the infield with an elaborate dance number.  The young couple also returned this inning after being gone for five innings.  I won’t speculate on where they went.  #55 Leonel Campos came into the game to pitch for the dogs.  He appears to be a fan favorite.  After a strikeout and a hit, #9 Austin Hedges threw out the runner attempting to steal.  An error brought on another runner, who would later score.  4-3 Chihuahuas at this point.  The crowd itself still seemed pretty jazzed.  They were in great voice for Take Me Out to the Ballgame. 

   

The bottom of the 7^th proved decisive for the Chihuahuas and destroyed my scorecard in the process, but that’s a worthy sacrifice.  The Isotopes brought in a new pitcher, #33 Brian Schlitter, who promptly surrendered three straight hits.  But on that third hit, things got weird.  Since it went to shallow center, coach Rod Barajas held #4 Manuel Margot at third.  Unfortunately, #2 Carlos Asuage overran second and got into a rundown.  Margot broke for home and then he was in a rundown.  This ended with two Chihuahuas at third.  Margot ended up taking the out.  Runners on second and third.  Tim on the radio didn’t even try to give the full scoring at the time.

Then it got weirder.  #30 Alex Dickerson was given an intentional walk to load the bases with one out, perhaps hoping for a double play or a force at home.  Hedges came up and hit what should have been an inning ending double play.  Dickerson was forced at second, but the throw to first went wide.  From there, I’m at a loss to explain what happened, and I was there watching.  After the play, even Tim seemed to be scratching his head.  The ball went all over the infield, runners were going everywhere, and when the dust settled, two runs had scored.  The official scorer even seemed confused.  Two errors were charged to Isotopes first baseman, #17 Ben Paulsen, although that decision was made in between innings.  I'd noticed Paulsen was featured in the Rockies programs I bought on my trip to Colorado.  I hadn't realized he'd been sent down or why.  After all that, we are sure of the score, 6-3 Chihuahuas. 

In the top of the 8^th, Campos left the game after retiring the first batter.  He came off to loud applause and ritually touched the dirt by the foul line as he left.  #45 Keith Hessler finished the frame.  Isotopes #10 Jordan Patterson accidentally tossed his bat into the netting, swinging at strike three to dramatically end the inning.  Schlitter came back out for the bottom of the inning and showed no ill effects from what happened last inning, striking out the side.  #32 Jabari Blash came in as a pinch hitter in the 8^th for the Chihuahuas.  He’d taken a head injury in the last game and didn’t start.  I’d heard his name a lot this season over the radio.  He’s good and also has what is probably the coolest name in baseball.  In person, wow, is he a large, well-built physical specimen.  I’m sure the Padres really hope his playing skills can match his proportions.     

In the 9^th, I was surprised that much of the crowd was still there watching.  From previous experiences, I’ve seen the dog pound crowd show up by the 3^rd and leave by the 8^th.  Between the bobblehead promotion and how quick the game was going, they were there from start to finish.  The Chihuahuas would end up winning 6 to 3.  Chico ran on to the field, waving the victory flag.  I stuck around for a few minutes hoping to see the final stats on the scoreboard, but they were only doing promotions for upcoming games.  Chatting with Jacob and Chuck, I didn’t even try to listen to the radio and ended up getting the final stats over the Internet later.  Time of game was a very tidy 2 hours 35 minutes.  As I’ve said before, the fan “happy zone” for a baseball game is between 2 ½ to 3 hours.  Our attendance was 8,200, 6,200 of which were highly disappointed they didn’t get a Cody Decker bobblehead after they saw them.  I think the baseball capacity is 9,000 something, but since the crowd was there for the whole game, it felt full.  I even remarked to Chuck, after going up to get a drink of water during the game, “There’s a lot of people here.”  Sitting up front, you don’t get a good sense of the crowd.        

Our obvious player of the game is #2 Carlos Asuaje, going 4 for 4, scoring twice, with two runs batted in.  #10 Hunter Renfroe also had a great game, going 3 for 4 with an RBI.  Chihuahuas’ pitching did a good job, lead by #27 Carlos Pimentel, only giving up two runs over six innings.  For the Isotopes’ part, they got hits, and their pitching at least kept the score close.  Either team could have been undone by their fielding today.  Manuel Margot had the best catch of the day with a great diving catch in the 4^th.  Our stat of game came via Chuck, noticing on the scoreboard that the Chihuahuas’ lineup is mostly hitting .300+, even .400.  With any sort of decent pitching, this team should expect to win most of the time.

We arrived back work quite a bit later thanks to several road crew blockages.  Mike was still there working.  I thanked him for filling in and told him about the game.  Upon request, he took the picture of me with the bobblehead.  Well, this is the second year in the row that I’ve gone with Chuck and Jacob to a game.  We do this again, it’ll be a tradition, and I think we’re all for that.  Minor irritations and inconveniences aside, we had a great time.  It was a great game and a win, which will make up for just about any problems at the ballpark.  I’m hoping to go a couple more times this year and looking forward to it.  

Now what?

Perhaps I should have mentioned that Dark Continent Redux was going to be my last RPG project.  I was working RPG stuff daily for months.  The only thing that got me to the end was knowing that there was one.  I'd love to say that I have infinite wells of creativity to draw on and that RPG's are my life, but I'm done with this stuff for now for lack ideas and motivation.  Not to mention, I don't know how I could top Dark Continent.

Do I have any regrets?  Yes.  Endless Night was supposed to be a much bigger haunted house with a murder mystery and magical portholes to other lands.  However, the Azimuth House was easily the best map (first floor, second floor) I did, and I generally like the adventure as is.  I like the concept of trying to colonize a monster-filled Fantasy Australia, but my Southland setting, I'm a little skeptical of, but I can't put my finger on why.  Stone Grave, on the other hand, which the entire setting was based on, I outright apologize for.  Not only was it not the 10 level mega-dungeon I had envisioned, what I finally ended up with wasn't very good.  Pulp Fantasy Core, for all my enthusiasm, never really got off the ground, which is too bad, since I really wanted to roll up that Buckaroo Banzai character.  

I love the Fantasy Ireland setting.  I'm still not entirely sure if it's a good RPG setting.  I'd at least like to think that the Keeper Hill adventure somewhat redeemed Stone Grave.  Played correctly, it's something like a heist gone wrong with NPC's and Characters at each others' throats.  D&D is such a mish-mash of mythology, it's always tempting to make a setting with a single, coherent one.  Unfortunately, D&D is its own mythology at this point.  You have to take out and ignore so much game material, it's almost not worth it.

There was one thing I sort of left on the table.  I never wanted to make a Monster Manual, but I did want to do a listing of humanoids and demi-humans with a coherent mythology to go with them.  Unfortunately, this goes back to what I just mentioned about mythology.  It might have been nice to go with Fantasy Ireland, but even then, it didn't entirely fit into it.  Further, these creatures are so similar stat-wise, that all you're doing is putting pointless backstory to them.  Then I started thinking about doing full table levels for these creatures, and it suddenly wasn't worth the effort.  All that came out of that was the Otherworld Elf (again, don't use that as a playable Character class) and the Gnome, which were the only classes that are different enough to make them interesting. 

I am proud of some of my game material.  Fantasy Core itself, while highly not perfect, I think goes in the right direction for a fantasy RPG.  It's not far off from 5e, so I feel somewhat vindicated in producing it.  I truly doubt there will be any future revolutionary developments in tabletop RPG's for gamers.  There is, however, a wide-open opportunity for creating an RPG-like party and family game for non-gamers, and that will require revolutionary thinking.

I don't know what brought on Expedition to the Doomed Peaks, but it has my favorite encounter, the completely self-referential One of Each room.  The Jianghu setting, played correctly, would be an awesome challenge for the Players as they would be essentially trying to keep their honor and integrity in a highly partisan environment.  Cyber-Pulp was just a random idea I had that went completely out control in a good way.  The main good thing that came out of Pulp Fantasy Core was that it laid the groundwork for it.  What started as just a simple notion of adapting Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now also went completely off the rails.  Dark Continent turned out way better than I expected.  Lastly, the thing I did with most of the adventures and settings was that I explicitly stated the theme of them, like Mystery in the Southland, Personal Honor in the Jianghu, or Psychological Discomfort in Dark Continent.  If a specific setting or adventure will tell you that up front, and you stick with it while running it, it should be a more rewarding experience for everyone involved.            

I don't plan on doing any more RPG stuff, unless I'm actively playing, which I'm not right now.  I'll likely go with 5e or some other published RPG then.  I'll still be making various sports posts and maybe other stuff.  So this isn't a sign-off for now.

J.

Baseball Notebook for March, April, and May 2016

While I was attending Aggie baseball and softball games, I was still listening and watching other baseball.  I scribbled down whenever something interesting happened.  These aren’t game recaps.  They’re mostly just little moments during the game or comments.

3-31-16

It’s an exhibition game between the Chihuahuas and the Padres in El Paso.  The game sells out long beforehand and was actually broadcast on local TV.  It was a 13-9 loss for the dogs, but they were competitive.  Several of the Padres had been on the Chihuahuas last season.  And several of them ended up back on the team after this game.

4-24-16

Chihuahuas vs Salt Lake.  Fans there were cheering Chihuahuas home runs.  Announcer Tim Hagerty had to explain, they were cheering the great fan catches behind the fence.   Tim had an interesting fact about three home runs being hit in one inning by a Double-A player.  I can’t remember the game where he talked about this, nor can I find anything online corroborating it, but I'm sticking in with this entry anyway.

  

4-3-16

Rangers lose to the hated Angels 4-3.  Rangers’ announcer Eric Nadel was uncharacteristically angry with the team after the loss.  This must have gotten back to the team.  They won the next two games.

4-7-16

“It’s a home run by Buster Posey . . . ‘s good friend, Hunter Pence!”  For all of John Miller’s great work over the years calling games.  We can spot him this one.

4-4-16

Rockies vs. Diamondbacks.  I told this story before.  I missed Trevor Story's first home run off Zack Greinke.  Ron was watching the NCAA basketball tournament and I flipped it over to a Diamondbacks game during halftime.  Just as Story came up for his first major league at bat, I flipped it back to the basketball for Ron.  A couple of minutes later I saw that he’d hit a home run.  I flipped it back, but even missed the replay.  And then I missed his second home run later in the game.  Rockies win 10-5.

 4-10-16

It’s a 3-1 loss for the Rangers to the hated Angels.  However, it’s significant because it’s the big league debut of a top Ranger prospect, Nomar Mazara, filling in for injured Shin-Soo Choo.  He homers. 

4-20-16

Chico goes down!  A bad throw by Tacoma shortstop Chris Taylor flies into the Chihuahuas’ dugout and nails the mascot.  The next day, ever the gamer, Chico shows up wearing bandage.  He confronts Taylor with a sign reading, “What did I do to you?”  Taylor tears up the sign and walks away.  Tacoma comes back to El Paso in August.  I have feeling this isn’t over.   

4-14-16

Rangers vs. Blue Jays.  With the Rangers up by three runs in the top of the 9^th, Justin Smoak gets to Sean Tolleson again, this time for a two-run homer.  Smoak already walked off Tolleson in Toronto, last week.  Then Tulo dings Sean for another homer, tying the score.  Drew Stubbs would give the Rangers a walk-off win in the 10^th.  6-5 Rangers final.  During the game, catcher Bobby Wilson would hit his second grand slam of the week.  Strangely, neither of these guys were with the team last week. 

Chihuahuas vs. New Orleans Zephyrs.  I hadn’t been paying much attention to this game, which was going on at the same time, since the dogs were comfortably ahead.  I gave it my full attention in the top of the 9^th with the Chihuahuas up by 8 runs.  The final out of the inning was the go-ahead run getting thrown out at home.  The Zephyrs had scored 8 runs and tied the score!  The dogs would win in the 11^th on a two-run homer, 10-8, but myself, Chihuahuas fans who’d been in attendance, and announcer Tim Hagerty are still shell-shocked.  No lead is safe!  And the Chihuahuas should never do that “Pitch an inning for Chihuahuas” promotion with the fans again.  (Grandma Ellie Spudmaker’s curveball just wasn’t biting like it did during the war years.)      

4-23-16

Rangers lose to the White Sox 4-3, but Mazara had a great robbery of a home run that sent the game into extra innings.

4-29-16

The Chihuahuas beat Fresno 6-5.  What was remarkable was the bottom of the 9^th.  Fresno had the bases loaded with two outs.  They had apparently gotten a walk to force in the tying run when the ump called a penalty strike.  The PA had played a sound effect during the pitch.  With the count altered, the batter was struck out on the next pitch.  After the game, Chihuahuas fans were calling for the PA to be given the game ball.

 5-18-16

After a half hour of bad radio reception of a back and forth game between the Rangers and A’s, I get to hear the bottom of the 9^th.  The Rangers had a one run lead.  Sean Tolleson comes in to close and leaves after giving up a walk-off grand slam home run.  A’s win 8-5.  While Sean was actually tied for the American League lead in Saves, it’s the blown ones that cost him his job. 

   

5-4-16

Day game.  Chihuahuas vs Las Vegas.  Tyler Renfroe throws out a runner at third from right field.  Best put out of the year.

5-10-16

Rangers vs. White Sox.  I started watching this game at work at night, but there was an hour rain delay.  Actually, it was a little more dramatic than that.  The cameras were showing large, dark clouds rotating over the stadium. People in the upper deck were told to evacuate.  The Rangers were losing 10-6 when I left for home.  Once there, I flip on the radio just in time to hear Ryan Rua hitting a three-run homer, which would turn out to be the game winner.  The final was 13-11 Rangers, who scored seven runs in the 8^th.

5-11-16

The Rangers beat the White Sox 6-5.  The game was memorable for the wrong reason.  Todd Frazier of the Sox dove into the stands after a foul ball.  He immediately came up, put his glove over his face, and ran into the dugout.  The crowd, the announcers, and myself (and certainly the players) were all a bit stunned for several minutes afterward.  The replays showed Frazier hitting his face on a metal arm rest.  White Sox TV announcer, the immortal homer, Hawk Harrelson, left the booth to check up on him.  He came back and reported, “He’s okay for a guy who put his teeth through his lip.”

5-15-16

And here it was, the play of the year.  Forget the teams involved, this was all about Rougned Odor vs. Joey Bautista.  I listened to this bout over the radio and didn’t get to see the punch until later.  The radio guys didn’t approve of the fight and had no appreciation of the technical beauty of Odor’s right cross to Bautista’s jaw.  Oh, if only they’d gone ahead and let them fight it out.  “Let them fight!  Let them fight!” 

Okay, let’s see.  Bautista flipped his bat after hitting a home run in the playoffs against the Rangers last year.  Flipped?  It was more like he was about to a start a Marine drill team rifle flipping maneuver.  (And if this fight hadn’t happened, you might have actually seen such a thing during a game.)  This was the last regular season meeting between these two teams this year, and it’s been a hard-fought series between these two teams.  The Rangers have a one run lead in the 8^th.  Matt Bush hits Bautista.  Part me of says, this was probably the Rangers’ last opportunity to get payback this year.  The other part me of says, this would have been the worst time to do something like this.  Certainly this wasn’t worth possibly losing a game over.  Who knows now? 

On a ground ball, Bautista charges into Ruggie to break up a double play.  He obviously skipped over the part of the scouting report that mentioned Odor’s hair-trigger temper.  Fight.  Benches clearing brawl.  Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch the next inning.  Benches clear again.  “Now we got bad blood,” sings Taylor Swift over the PA.  More importantly to me at least, the Rangers win 7-6.  How about a peace treaty between the teams if they meet in the playoffs, and Ruggie and Joey Bats have a pay-per-view match in the offseason?  Seriously, who wouldn’t want to see this?  [Both teams promptly went on the three game losing streaks after this incident.  It didn’t help either of them.  Ruggie had to sit out seven games, bringing top prospect Jurickson Profoar dangerously close to his job.  Joey Bautista is now Internet famous for being on the receiving end of a punch, instead of his bat flipping.  There may have been some lesson-learning here.]          

5-19-16

Chihuahuas vs Round Rock Express.  Dogs win on a walk-off, coming from behind for the win 4-3.  It's the only game of the series where they hold the Express under 10 runs.   

   

5-20-16

After two innings, the Round Rock Express had put up 12 unanswered runs, but the Chihuahuas made a game of it.  The final was 14-10.  I found out a co-worker had tickets to all four of these Express/Chihuahuas games and was extremely jealous.  He’s a fan of both clubs, which prompted another fan, seated next to him, to ask him during the game, “Who are you rooting for?”   [I know the feeling.  I found myself rooting for the Rockies and the Giants over Memorial Day.]  There were apparently many Ranger fans in attendance. 

5-21-16

The score in the 7^th was 10-5 Chihuahuas.  The final score was 13-11 Round Rock Express.  The Express is the only other Triple-A team whose roster I mostly recognize, as many of them have been up with the Rangers. 

5-22-16

Rangers vs. Astros.  Cole Hamels goes 8 innings in a 9-2 Ranger victory and sweep the Astros.  Eric Nadel was surprised during the game when the Astros fans started booing Dallas Keukel during a bad inning.  He shouldn’t have been.  They’re a talented, underperforming team with high expectations, who were losing big to their in-state division rival, after dropping the first two games of the series.  It probably didn’t help that half of Minute Maid Stadium was rooting for the Rangers either.  

Meanwhile in El Paso, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate was pounding the Chihuahuas 16-7.  They had an 11 run third and almost batted around twice.  James Loney talked his way into a pitching an inning for the dogs.  His last pitching outing had been in high school.  Loney walked Joey Gallo, but got out of the inning without giving up a run.

5-23-16

Chihuahuas vs. Iowa Cubs.  Pitcher and Pinch Hitter, Daniel McCuthen, struck out, but after the pitch went to the backstop, he ended up on second.  Dogs win 6-1.  After giving up 40+ runs over four games to Round Rock, it was a victory for the pitchers.

Rangers lose 2-0 to the hated Angels off of a Pujols’ home run.  Josh Hamilton is also reported to be done for the season.  Sigh.

5-24-16

Rangers over the hated Angels 4-1.  Nomar Mazara “The Big Chill” goes 3-3 with a two-run homer,  but his best play was an out.  In the 8th, Mazara allowed himself to get caught in a run down on a delayed steal to allow Ian Desmond to score from third.  Angel catcher, Carlos Perez, slapped himself on the helmet afterward.

5-25-16

Rangers vs the hated Angels.  15-9 Ranger victory.  Eric Nadel, “Just when you think the Rangers are never going to score another run, things like this happen.”  Stat of the game: the Rangers were 9 for 21 with runners in scoring position. 

5-31-16

Alex Dickerson extended his hitting streak to 29 games in an 8^th inning at bat.  Hunter Renfroe follows that with a monster home run that goes between the outfield pavilions out on to Santa Fe street.