NM State Aggies vs Texas Tech Red Raiders Baseball 4-4-17

I did say I wasn’t going this game, right?  They changed time from 6:00 to 2:00, making it impractical for me to go.  I told the people at work about the change for this game, and they told me to go ahead and go.  In fact, they were downright insistent I go.  Fine.  (I didn’t even need Athletic Director Mario Moccia’s work excuse letter.)  Game Day, I awoke to cold 40 mph winds.  (Actually, I got woken up by a repairman, who was turning A/C’s for the building.  You think your job sucks, these guys spent literally all day on the roof in those winds.)  With no abatement of the winds by noon, I called Ron and asked if he still wanted to go.  Yep, he still wanted to go.  (Ron must really want out of the house as much as possible.)  I even had him check the team twitter feed to see if the game had been cancelled or delayed.  It was on, so off we went. 

Luckily, the winds died down a bit by game time.  It was bright and sunny and about 80 out of the wind on what would otherwise be a nice day.  We got there way early.  The parking lot was mostly full, but it may have been mostly students parking for classes.  Ron got a parking pass off the NMSU website.  A ticket seller last year told me that they don’t ticket people on game days, but why take the chance?  There was a group of Texas Tech fans tailgating by the stadium.  Inside the park, the concession trailer was shockingly closed.  I suddenly had a bad feeling about what the crowd size was going to be.  Not to mention, I was thirsty.  By the way, that bank of water fountains by the dugouts don’t work.  I also discovered a third bathroom for confused Snowflakes around the corner from the normal people bathrooms.  You guys in the Athletic department put in a third bathroom, but don’t have working water fountains, and you wonder why you’re having financial problems. 

Inside, there turned out to be an entire visitors’ section full of Tech fans.  And I thought Yale brought their fans.  They easily outnumbered the Aggie fans that were there early.  One of the Red Raider players was from El Paso, so his extended family was there with signs and t-shirts.  (Of course, he was getting the biggest ovation of any player going up for an at bat.)  The main thing I noticed was that the Tech fans spent a lot time taking pictures of themselves.  (The Aggies were coming off a three-game sweep of Seattle U, where Aggie fans actually may have outnumbered Seattle’s.  These things happen.)  There were just a couple of kids in attendance as you might expect for a Tuesday afternoon.  One was a cute little toddler in an A’s hat and an El Paso Chihuahuas’ shirt.  His caretakers got plenty of exercise corralling him.  Somehow, the usual ball hawk kid was also present.   

We got good seats behind home plate, just next to the reserved section.  We were mostly out of the wind, which alternated between blowing across the field to blowing in.  The PA was the guy that did most of the announcing last year and not the new girl.  He does a good job, but I kind of missed the girl all but flirting with the Aggie players as she announced them.  One last thing I noticed about the opposing team was that the Tech players all have their names on the back of their jerseys.  That’s the first time I’ve seen that for a college baseball team.  I guess that’s a perk of being on the #6 ranked team in the nation.

These are two of the densest scorecards I’ve ever kept.  Unbelievably, everything added up at the end (more or less).  (Did you know that a run scored on a passed ball is unearned, but a run scored on a wild pitch is earned?  Yes, I was hitting my rule book again for help.)  The main explanation for the completeness was the amount of time I had to work on it while at the game. 

This was not Aggie pitcher, Chris Kucko’s, day.  Even for a bullpen day, this was a bad show.  Right out of the gate, the bases were loaded on a hit, walk, and a hit batter, and there was already action in the Aggie bullpen.  The first five Red Raider batters scored, and apart from some cheering from the Tech fans, the crowd and dugouts were ominously quiet.  The fiery Andy Frakes came in for relief and even he was fairly subdued in mood.  He managed to only allow one inherited runner to score (on the first out of the inning no less), but eventually closed out the inning.  0-6 Texas Tech after a half inning and batting around +3.

During the Aggie half of the inning, there was some hope, as Dan Hetzel tripled in Joey Ortiz to bring the score to 1-6 Tech.  By this point, the game may have been going on for the better part of an hour (I didn’t check the time at the time).  A much larger, late-arriving Aggie crowd filed in.  This was heartening.  The stadium filled up nicely and good, noisy chatter coursed through the crowd.  They were also bringing in concession items.  I wonder if somebody forgot to tell the concession people about the time change and then quickly called them in when they saw how many people were showing up. 

Also with this crowd were some other Aggie sports players.  A couple of volleyball players came in after their practice.  (Megan Hart wasn’t with them.  I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to see her.)  Softball player, Amy Bergeson, came in with her boyfriend (presumably) and given how much I like the way she plays the game, I should have said something to her as she walked past.  A very pretty blonde girl wearing an Aggie soccer sweatshirt came by.  She must new.  I’d have remembered seeing her on the field. 

If I’d had a drink with me (which I never ended up getting), I would have done a spit take as women’s basketball star, Brooke Salas, came in.  I didn’t figure her for the “let’s support the other Aggie teams” type.  Maybe this is part of that “leadership” thing I mentioned in another post that she should start doing.  Brooke had her hair down and styled and looked glamorous.  I almost didn’t recognize her teammate, Zaire Williams, with her, with her hair attractively down too.  I really wanted to say congratulations to them on their season as they walked past.  Unfortunately, they weren’t just attractively intimidating, they were intimidating period.  I don’t know how much fan interaction these girls wanted today and wasn’t willing to find out in an awkward way.  (Brandee Walton or Tamara William, I’d have said something to, because I know they’re nice.)

Okay, the game itself was kind of functionally finished by this point.  It was just a question of how bad would the outcome be for the Aggies.  Let’s just hit a few inning by inning highlights rather than drag this out (unlike actually having to sit through this game).  Another great moment in heckling occurred in the third as the umpires gathered to discuss if Austin Botello had been hit on the foot by a pitch.  After a couple of minutes eventually a “Call New York!” cry rang out, to my complete amusement. 

Greg Popylisen was making the most of his spot start in center.  He had a highlight reel, diving catch in the fourth.  In the bottom, catcher, Mason Fishback, got picked off first.  He slammed his helmet down back in the dugout.  Given that he probably hadn’t had any intention of stealing that was kind of embarrassing.  However, when the Red Raider pitcher tried to pick off Brent Sakurai, one of the speedier players on the team, he ended up throwing the ball away for a two-base error.        

I had an idea.  Inspired by the brave trumpet player, I started working on some signs to hold up to get Brooke’s attention behind us.  Ron declined to participate, so I let it go.  Popylisen again went all out in the fifth, slamming into the wall, trying to get at flyball.  The middle of the fifth had my favorite moment of the whole game.  The PA told Aggie fans to make some noise if they wanted free What-a-Burger coupons.  The loudest section was actually the Tech fan section, but the attendant completely snubbed them.  But when the inning started, he apparently had change of heart and went back to them and handed out a bunch to them, at which point the Tech fans started chanting, “Go Aggies!”

In the sixth, Mario Moccia came by.  I’d been looking for him.  He sat in the nearby reserved section with some boosters and/or alumni or player families and chatted with them.  If I’d talked to him, I was going to tell him that I was playing hokey from work to be there (and maybe bring up a few issues if he was foolish enough to stick around).  Popylisen again made another dive for a ball.  This time he ended up hurt and had to come out.  David Bellamy came in for him.  Where’s Marcus Still, the regular centerfielder?     

Meanwhile, Brooke and Zaire had gotten up and moved around, walking past me a couple more times.  I felt all but taunted.  They stopped and talked with Mario for a minute right in front of me.  Eventually, the girls, Mario, and most of the Aggie fans left by the eighth.  The Texas Tech fans all stayed.  The weather alternated to warm and sunny with no breeze, but by the end, the wind started again and shifted into the stands.  It got a bit cold and I started feeling my cold coming back.  Gamewise, the Red Raiders kept up a fairly steady pace of scoring, including sending all nine men to the plate in the eighth.  The Aggies scratched out a couple more runs, but never really seemed to get a rally going.  Three double plays certainly killed a few innings.

The game finally ended.  Our final was Aggies 4, Red Raiders 15.  The Aggie fight song played, which was surprising, since it was a loss and a bad one.  The Tech fans started clapping along with it.  Perhaps our fight song sounds like their fight song, and they were confused.  Let’s get the most important stat of the game out of the way: in spite of all that wind and 19 runs scored, zero home runs.  Zero.  Who would have picked that there would have been more double plays (4) than homers today? 

Our players of the game are Joey Ortiz, offensively, going 4 for 5 with 2 runs.  The team got hits and scored runs, so they weren’t completely overwhelmed by the competition.  Defensively, Greg Popylisen gets the nod for his efforts in centerfield.  He literally sacrificed himself out there, trying to limit the damage.  The team actually had no errors today, so they at least didn’t self-destruct outside of their pitching.  Credit to Frakes for gritting his way through four + tough innings, and to Chance Hroch and to Keaton Graf for having two clean relief innings.  In honor of the two Texas Tech cowboy hicks in the next section, that I had to listen for two innings in the eighth and ninth, that ragged on Las Cruces and the Aggies, I’m not recognizing any of their players’ efforts here.        

I asked Ron for the time, since I’d actually planned on going to work after the game.  Holy crap!  This game took four hours.  This didn’t surprise me, but it was still shocking.  The Yankees and Red Sox would have called this a slow-moving game.  I’d missed my window for making work worthwhile and had to call in for the rest of the day.  As we pulled out of the parking lot, we noticed an Aggie Women’s soccer match going on on the pitch next to the softball field.  I had no idea they were playing in the spring.  I’ll have to look them up (and see if that pretty blonde was on the team).  Dinner was at the NY Pizza place somewhere on the East Mesa.  That was a nice place with really good service.  The pizza was good, but had some not-so-good after effects.  No lasting damage done. 

Much like the Tennessee softball game, I’m disappointed at the result, but it was kind of cool to see a really good, nationally-ranked team playing here.  I wonder if this is the highest-ranked opponent Aggie baseball has hosted.  Probably not, given how long they’ve had the program, but I think it’s the highest since the remodel at least.  Also, it was good to see that big crowd in the stadium, even if a bunch of them were for the other team.  (These guys were not the classy, friendly Yale fans.)  Hopefully, the unexpected (and undeserved, given the time change and late concessions and no water fountains) success of this game may bring more nationally ranked teams here.  Maybe I can be there for some great upset victory in the future.        

   

NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Softball 4-1-17

After three endless weekends of beautiful weather, Aggie sports finally returned to action.  It was about 10 degrees colder than the previous weekends, but still pleasant.  Unfortunately on a personal level, I was getting over a cold.  (And still am as I write this.  I’m writing this in a fog.)  Since I was just going to be sitting around all day miserable anyway, I may as well be doing it at the softball complex.  Ron, extremely eager to get out as well, picked me up.  Lunch was Schlotzsky’s new barbeque brisket sandwich, which was great, of course.

The softball team was coming off a definitive double header sweep of the UTEP Miners in El Paso.  Game 2 featured a 9-run inning for the Aggie offense.  They had also won Friday night against this weekend’s opponent, the Utah Valley Wolverines.  That game was actually delayed a couple of hours for blowing dust.  I got to watch the game and an Aggie baseball game (and a win) thanks to the WAC digital network.      

The crowd filled in nicely for Game 1.  There was a table up front with crayons and poster boards for do-it-yourself rally signs.  It was a good day for Ron right off the bat.  The old man wasn’t there and the enthusiastic little girl, his favorite, was.  There was a couple, who were good-natured Utah Valley fans, in front of us.  The PA was a young woman, though I don’t think it was the same one from the baseball park.  For April Fool’s Day, she had the unfortunate duty of telling a corny joke each inning, causing the crowd to groan every time. 

I like watching team pre-game rituals.  The Aggie girls, in their black and grey uniforms, were lined up in a “U,” linked together.  One end would start a snaking motion and it would continue on through the end of the line.  As the Utah Valley starters were introduced, the first one out did a “trust” fall into the arms of a teammate.  The starters for both squads drew in the dirt as they stood on the baseline.  During the anthem, the Aggies held a “guns up” behind their backs, while the Wolverines had one finger out. 

We were cheating on the girls a little bit during the game.  The Aggie guys were playing in Seattle and their game started an hour before.  Ron and I were listening to the radio call during the softball game.  I found myself mostly watching the game in front of me and paying attention to the baseball during various lulls in the action.  The NCAA Men’s Final Four was also going on, so the fans there were checking the scores on that.  I asked about the Women’s Final Four and found out that UConn’s 111- game winning streak had ended yesterday.  Too bad that the Samuelson sisters didn’t get that championship matchup, but what a run!  (Kate Lou is a fox.  I was planning on watching the final.)   

Game 1

Samaria Diaz (Sam) started for the Aggies and was a bit nervous, hitting the first batter, giving up a single, and then a three-run homer.  She wasn’t showing her usual smile in the circle.  Sam settled in after that.  There was a dispute over the final out.  The crowd started shouting after a fly out that that was the third out.  The Wolverine fans in front piped up and said there had been an illegal pitch on a previous batter.  “Settle down Aggie fans!” the guy said.  I think my scorecard is actually right, but I totally missed seeing a batter called back to continue an at bat.  (We’ll have some more rules confusion later.)

The girls weren’t disturbed at all starting the game down 0-3.  The dugout was singing loud and enthusiastically for their batters.  They had particularly loud “3-0” chant when that count came up.  Haley Nakamura and Kelsey Horton drove in a pair of runs to make the score 2-3.  A big cloud moved across the sun and dropped the temperature 10 degrees.  Ron nudged me.  In Seattle, the guys had hit their third triple of the day.

For the second inning, free t-shirts were tossed to the crowd from outside the pressbox.  Or should I say, the crowd was bombed by free t-shirts as they came in with some heat.  Some basketball or football players were in attendance, and they got one.  I didn’t see any volleyball or women’s basketball players.  Meanwhile, I mentally congratulated myself for getting my scorecard fully filled in. 

In the third, we finally got a smile out of Sam as she snagged a hard liner back at her.  In the bottom, Rachel Rodriguez, with her swinging bunt style, got a hold of one.  The right fielder, who was playing in, had to run back, but the ball improbably continued to carry over the fence.  The Aggie dugout erupted and rushed home plate to congratulate her.  The PA announced that that was Rachel’s first home run of the season.  3-3 Tied. 

In the fourth, Sam was smiling again.  She was in a groove.  You could hear her really popping the mitt and mixing that with an offspeed.  Kawehi Kahana came in as a pinch hitter.  The PA really had trouble with her Hawaiian name during the introductions and didn’t do any better this time.  The UV fans in front were making a mess with some nut shells, but politely cleaned up after themselves when they finished the bag like a good guest.  If only Aggie fans would do the same.  A lady next to me offered me a Kleenex as my nose began to ominously drip.  In the bottom of the inning, Merina Illi hammered one out to right center.  4-3 Aggies.  Kelsey put her arm around her in congratulations and walked her back to the dugout.                    

In the fifth, Amy Bergeson got an infield hit.  I swear she crossed first before the shortstop fielded the ball.  That’s fast.  The little fan girl was up for the dance contest, but was unfairly snubbed.  The Wolverine couple earned a handful of lollipops.  In the sixth, Aggie catcher Nikki Butler, was hit by a pitch.  Or was she?  The ump called her back.  Perhaps she made an insufficient attempt to get out of the way.  She got on with a hit anyway.  There was a nifty double play on the next batter, as Wolverine Taleigh Williams caught a liner and doubled off the runner on first.  However, the UV fans started yelling at her during the play to throw to second.  She had a shot at picking off the runner there for a triple play!  Not to worry.  I’m sure I’ll get plenty more chances to write a triple play on my scorecard. 

The eighth inning finally ended in Seattle.  I think it took an hour to play out.  Back in Las Cruces, a foul ball hit the backstop net hard.  The little fan girl was too close to it and took a tumble backward.  No harm done.  Ron was amused.  After a hit by pitch to start the bottom of the seventh, Coach Kathy Rodolph put Kayla Green in.  She was the Friday starter and the Game 2 starter.  While still lean, I think she’s put on a little lean muscle over the season.  No doubt she needs it for the workload.  Amy put an exclamation mark on the game as she caught a fly out and threw out the runner on first.  The crowd was all over that.

For Game 1 stars, I give it to Amy for her usual great left field defense and, surprisingly, Brittney Vansway for the Wolverines for her first inning three-run homer.  The Aggie baseball game finished as Game 1 let out.  It was another Aggie victory.  I noticed this watching on Friday, but a got some explanation during Saturday’s game.  I kept hearing the crowd cheering more for the Aggies than the home team.  It was a small crowd in Seattle and a bunch of Aggie player families went to the game.  Unfortunately also confirmed during the broadcast, Tuesday’s game versus Texas Tech here has been moved to 2:00 in the afternoon, instead of 6:00 in the evening. I’d already asked to take off early from work to go.  I can’t go in the afternoon, and I’m sure a bunch of other people who had planned on going can’t go either.  No explanation on the move.  Sigh.

Game 2

Local girl, Alexis Maynez, came in as catcher for this game.  I like her chatter behind the plate.  At times, I could hear Kayla talking to the infield too, like a leader.  The crowd was smaller, but still okay.  I could hear the Wolverines singing during the first.  The Aggies matched it in the bottom.  They’ve even added in some complicated harmonies to their cheering songs.  Amy made another great catch in the outfield in this inning.    

I couldn’t help but notice the Wolverine catcher, Basia Query.  That’s a hard to miss name.  (Basia was one of my favorite 90’s artists.  Time and Tide was in my CD player all the time.)  I got a good look at her with her mask off and she was also very exotically pretty.  In a game sense, it probably wasn’t a good sign for the Wolverines that she was throwing harder than their Game 2 starter.  Rachel started off the bottom of the inning with a hustle double as her infield hit bounced off the third baseman’s mitt.  The new Wolverine pitcher didn’t have it any easier after that, as the Aggies batted around plus 4, scoring seven runs.  My scorecard was happily destroyed. 

There were two plays of note in that long first inning.  Hayley was apparently picked off third rounding the base on Kelsey’s RBI hit.  The home plate ump then called a meeting.  Hayley was awarded home plate for an unearned run.  The Utah Valley fans were upset as no explanation was forthcoming.  I went to my rule book at home.  I think it was a ruling of Obstruction, Interference’s lesser known cousin.  A fielder may not block the runner’s path without being in possession of the ball.  The play is dead when called and the runner is awarded the next base.  I attributed the error to the attractive catcher as the likeliest candidate, but it might have been the pitcher.  [Edit: After looking at the official box score, it was the pitcher.  Of course a catcher would have known better.]  Amy had the best at bat in the inning as she had an epic battle.  She took a close pitch, and I caught her smiling inside her helmet.  She took a base on balls and drove in a run.

I was starting to lose the battle with my nose.  It was dripping constantly.  The sun was going down and the temperature with it.  Most of the fans had anticipated this and the coats and blankets came out.  Kayla’s second inning didn’t start well either, as she surrendered three runs.  Her offspeed wasn’t coming in for strikes.  Kayla kept with it and it eventually started getting called.  The PA also started getting Kawehi Kahana’s name right, though she was announced as the pinch hitter.   She was probably the Designated Player, but I missed the lineup, running to the bathroom for paper towels for my nose.  7-3 Aggies. 

The Wolverines brought in a new pitcher for the second, not surprisingly.  The Utah Valley couple got an Aggie t-shirt in a giveaway.  The Aggie fans next to them demanded that the guy put it on.  A bunch of noisy birds orbited the outfield trees.  A couple of seniors got up to leave.  They were heckled by some other seniors, “Is it past your bedtime?”  The little girl was bundled in a blanket and sitting on her dad’s lap, keeping them both warm.  She was shouting out encouragement to the girls constantly. 

In the fourth, Kelsey had a scary at bat.  She hit a couple monster foul balls that almost hit the light poles.  I’m ready to nickname her, “The Natural.”  Then she hit one off her foot.  Kelsey had to walk it off for a couple of minutes and finally popped up.  In the fifth, the music started calling out dance directions and the crowd (including myself) start spontaneously stomping along.  There was a hard foul ball that went straight into the Aggie dugout netting, nearly taking out half the team.  The Utah Valley couple was actually from Las Vegas.  They had an interesting conversation with a couple next to them about Las Vegas sports.  Yes, there wasn’t not much going on in the game.  Local girl, Brandy Hernandez, came in as a pinch runner in the fifth.  I thought Caity Szczesny was small, but Brandy definitely has her beat.  And what happened to Caity?  She came out after the first inning and we didn’t see her again.

In the sixth, they were throwing gold coins into the crowd.  I missed it having to run to the bathroom again.  That’s what I get.  Kayla started off the inning with a strikeout.  Alexis almost nailed Fahren Glackin at first to start throwing it around the horn.  Honestly, this game wasn’t a highlight reel for Alexis.  The team settled on freshman Nikki Butler after a few series, since she could hit well.  I should also warn Coach Rodolph that the Wolverine fans had figured out the pitching signs and were calling them out to the players.  You can bet the players figured it out before that.  The highlight of the inning was the playing of 80’s favorite Jenny 867-5309 between innings.  At last, music that I like.

Kayla hit the first batter of the seventh.  The ricochet hit Alexis on the helmet too.  Ouch.  “Don’t listen to him, Kayla.  He’s cross eyed!”  There was a steady, but relatively gentle, ribbing of the umps all during both games.  She managed to close out the inning anyway.  7-3 Aggies was our final.  My stars of the game are Makayla Shadle, the Wolverines’ relief pitcher, who blanked the Aggies in five innings of work, and Rachel Rodriguez, who went 2 for 4 with two RBI’s. 

A fan left a giveaway Aggie Softball shirt on the courtesy table.  Ron picked it up and gave it to me.  I didn’t need another shirt and didn’t want to deprive anybody, but I admit, it was kind of nice.  We had What-a-Burgers after the game, which I did not need either.  My cold had ruined my appetite.  I’d like to think that going to the games didn’t make my condition worse, but I would have hated missing a couple of Aggie victories. 

2017 Baseball Preview

I decided to forgo buying a season preview magazine this year, in favor of availing myself of a free subscription to Sports Illustrated.  (Thank you Coke Points.  Your final gift to me.  RIP.)  I received their baseball preview yesterday and read their scouting reports last night.  I haven’t watched any Spring Training so far and even missed watching Team America’s awesome victory in the World Baseball Classic.  With changes coming to my job and my entire living schedule, I’m just not sure I’m going to be able to follow baseball this season as much as I have been.  My enthusiasm just isn’t where it should be.

So let’s get down to it.  Your 2017 World Series winner will be (JDH417 waits five full minutes for the clouds to part and for a divine light to shine upon him, gifting him with prophecy) . . . determined by the end of this post.  We’ll have to work our way through this and arrive at a solution the hard way.    

The American League East is expected to be dominated by the Boston Red Sox with the addition of Chris Sale to the rotation and their awesome hitting.  I’m not sold.  Even if they win the division, frankly, they’re soft.  Dustin Pedoria’s got grit, but he’s the only one.  They’re not going anywhere near the World Series.  People are counting out the Blue Jays after losing Edwin Encarnacion, but Marcus Stroman really impressed me in the WBC.  I think they’ve got the grit.  Expect them to at least get a Wild Card.

Meanwhile, Boston’s loss was Cleveland’s gain.  Encarnacion, along with Michael Brantley returning from injury, should give the Indians plenty of pop.  With Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller, along with the rest of the staff healing from last season’s late injuries, they should be getting plenty of outs.  They should win the AL Central going away.  Unfortunately, the window may have closed for the Tigers and the Royals due to a couple of unfortunate deaths.  Tigers owner, Mike Illitch, was the soul of the team (not to mention the money) and pitcher, Yordano Ventura, was the Royal’s fire.  Detroit may spontaneously combust from injuries to their older players.  Kansas City’s homegrown core may be dispersed during or after this season.  (Sigh.  I like those guys together so much.  They should start a band in the offseason.)

Boy did I get it wrong last year, riding the Astros and the Rangers to the championship.  The Astros are just so loaded with the youthful talent.  Seductive.  Then they add high-level veteran talent in Carlos Beltran and Josh Reddick.  Very seductive.  They finally got rid of that stupid hill in the outfield.  Extremely very seductive.  I just have to question their pitching.  The Rangers are a bunch of “if’s.”  If Cole Hamels bounces back from a late season slump.  If Yu Darvish returns to his pre-injury form.  If the rest of the rotation pitches the way they should be capable of pitching.  If the bullpen’s arms don’t fall off covering for the rest of the rotation when they don’t.  If Mike Napoli can still be productive after a poor post-season last year.  If Shin-Soo Choo can come back from his injury and stay healthy.  And can Joey Gallo stop striking out all the time?  Maybe the Rangers can win if a few if these things come together.  The Mariners are actually a more complete team than either of these guys, but will team history get in their way?  I’ll take the Astros taking the AL West with reservations.      

The National League East should be a slam dunk for the Washington Nationals, as everyone says every year.  However much talent gets added to this team, they’re cancer-ridden.  It starts with their unofficial captain, Bryce Harper.  He really needs to go to a team where somebody like Adrian Beltre or Big Pappi can screw his attitude on straight.  I don’t know how the Mets are going to score runs, but their opponents aren’t going to score any either with the Met’s starting rotation.  I’ll pick them to win the division.  The Nationals may talent their way into a Wild Card.

The Cubs are going to degrade badly after their World Series triumph.  It’s their starting pitching that’s going to collapse.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals and the Pirates, they’re not in a position to capitalize on the Cubs’ weakness.  It’s still going to be the Cubs winning the NL Central.  Let’s just move along.             

Let’s start with Rockies here first in the NL West.  I don’t think they’ll win it, but they are intriguing.  If they could just stay healthy and get a little pitching, they’d bludgeon everyone.  It’s too much to hope for.  Meanwhile, the Giants at least shored up their bullpen by adding Mark Melcancon and getting rid of Hunter Strickland (addition by subtraction).  Relief pitching overshadowed every other problem they had.  Oh, crap!  Wait.  They kept Strickland.  Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Johnny Cueto’s great performances this year will all be wasted.  I guess it’ll be the Dodgers winning the division, but they’ll choke in the playoffs.  (Meanwhile on the Padres, it's nice to see so many former Chihuahuas on the big league club.  Unfortunately, they're listed as the worst team in SI’s preview because of their pitching.)

So how does it all end?  Cleveland over the Astros in the AL.  Mets over Cubs in the NL.  (Yes, shocking.  Isn’t it?  The Dodgers lose in the Division Series after accumulating the best record in baseball.)  Cleveland takes it all.  I can only really see them losing if they suffer a rash of injuries during the season, in which case I’ll go with the Astros again (foolishly) as my backup pick.

NM State Aggie Basketball Recap

First, let me start by congratulating the Aggie Men’s and Women’s basketball teams on their seasons.  I should have done this earlier.  Since I didn’t actually see the tournament games, only hearing them on the radio, I didn’t want to comment on them at the time.  Maybe I was being a bit lazy, but I don’t like recapping events I didn’t actually see, especially a sport as visual as basketball. 

The girls finished their WAC season undefeated.  The championship game was decided in the second quarter.  With the Aggies up by five, Seattle’s coach drew a technical, which the Aggies converted into two free throws, the ball back, a three-pointer, and a 10-point lead.  It was over from there.  The men had a much harder time later that day against Bakersfield.  They made four field goals in the first half and were down by nine going into half.  Only their foul shooting and defense saved them.  Down by as many as 13, the Aggies then started finding the basket and turning up the wick on defense.  They won by 10.  The next day at work, I found out my co-workers had all tuned out at halftime.  I was dubbed a true fan for staying until the end.

Both teams drew tough seeding in the NCAA tournament.  The Men hung with Baylor for a half and even had the lead going into the locker rooms.  Baylor then completely dominated the Aggies in the second half.  The guys look like they’ll still have a good team next season and really seem to have a good new coach in Paul Weir.  Hopefully he sticks around.  Perhaps my favorite moment of the tournament was a story that occurred before it happened.  Girls’ coach, Mark Trakh, with his two NCAA appearances in a row, went in and talked to Weir before the games to give him some advice and encouragement.       

The girls’ game against Stanford was a bit more heartbreaking.  The Aggies led by as many as nine and led through three quarters, though the girls gave up size and height at every position to the Cardinal.  I don’t think I’ve heard Adam Young so excited calling a game.  It was going to take an almost perfect performance to win, as they were overpowered in the fourth.   As coach Trakh said later, “We both got tired in the end, but they were still taller.”  What a great season though.  The girls didn’t beat themselves and certainly proved they deserved to be there.  

Brooke Salas, who was a bit quiet in the WAC championship, came out in a big way with 26 points.  She even took an elbow to the throat early in the game (as I saw later on the news).  With all the senior departures, it’s going to be though next season.  Brooke does just about every well on the court.  She just needs to learn one more thing: leadership.  I’d love to suggest that she spend some time with Jordan Abalos, captain of the volleyball team.  She’s got it.  Moriah Mack had a quiet leadership quality, but it was still there.  Brooke isn’t Jordan or Mo, but there are some leadership qualities that transcend personality.  I hope she can pick it up somewhere, because I’m looking forward to seeing her develop into a star next season.  I also hope I can find a “3-Pete” shirt (for the team’s three conference championships in a row) for games next season. 

NM State Aggies vs Yale Bulldogs Baseball 3-5-17

I was sorry I was at work Friday night and not able to go to the first game of the Aggies’ series versus Yale.  I could hear the size of the crowd over the radio, which was listed at 1,300+.  It was Little League night and a bunch of little kids were there.  Adam Young reported that the concession stand was doing great business.  (On a similar note, Nolan Fox did a really good job during the game providing color commentary.)  Unfortunately, the crowd may have scared the Aggie’s mighty bats in a 1-3 loss.  At least the kids got to see Marcus Still making an awesome diving, highlight reel catch in centerfield during the game. 

When Ron picked me up for today’s game, I found out he’d been at the Friday night game.  He’d baseball-cheated on me!  Well, I can’t blame for that, given that I’ve gone several times without him.  He reported that the parking for the entire baseball/softball complex was filled on Friday.  Ron was concerned about another big crowd and we got there way early.  It turned out to be a more modest 673 in attendance today, but a reasonable crowd.  We got to watch the team take infield.

What was easy to spot was how many fans were there for Yale.  They were outside tailgating in team gear.  Inside, they filled up the whole section next to the Yale dugout.  “I’m feeling outnumbered,” I remarked, as we sat next to them.  However, this was a friendly rivalry.  There were Aggie and Yale fans chatting amicably, including myself.  I talked to a friendly fellow in a cowboy hat with a Yale pin on the headband.  He was from California and had brought a scorecard book with him.  I mentioned last year’s star, Daniel Johnson, to him, just in case DJ makes the big time, he’ll know that he was an Aggie. 

Yale also brought along a pretty blonde trainer in their dugout, but I never saw her again after the anthem.  Not to be outdone, we saw a hot blonde going in the Aggie clubhouse with a case of beer before the game.  (Just partially kidding NCAA officials, I think she was actually heading to the Diamond Club section.)  A group of Aggie volleyball girls were sitting behind us.  A few softball players were on the other side of the stadium, but I couldn’t identify them.    

The pre-game crowd warnings seem to be getting longer.  Now the fans were cautioned to not shout out profanity in English or any other language.  I proudly yelled out a Klingon curse word at this overbearing political correctness.  Ron, helpfully, brought up a list of further Klingon profanity on his phone.  Fight the power!  

To start the game, we found out that the Yale fans were not here as passive observers.  I had heard them during the Friday night broadcast, but couldn’t really believe it.  It must have sounded like an away game to the Aggie dugout.  They were getting all over the umps with every contrary call.  When the Bulldogs scored, they absolutely erupted.  My hat is off to these Ivy Leaguers for their enthusiasm.  It was 0-1 Yale after a half inning. 

Maybe it was all the cheering that woke up the Aggie bats in the bottom of the frame.  The Bulldogs definitely shouldn’t have started off the game with an error that put leadoff hitter, Marcus Still, in scoring position.  What happened next may well describe what will characterize this season for the Aggies.  Mediocre pitching plus shaky defense equals Aggie runs in bunches.  All nine batters came to the plate, resulting in a 5-1 Aggie lead.

Things quieted down for the next couple of innings.  Marcus (just using “Still” is setting off my spellchecker) leadoff the second. He stole second and was singled in by Austin Botello.  That’s the line score.  What actually happened is Marcus slipped on the artificial turf rounding third.  He feigned back to third and then scampered home without a throw.  6-1 Aggies.  I still can’t believe I saw that.  And that was just the beginning of Marcus’ adventures on the basepads today. 

The top of the third saw the strange line score of LJ Hatch at shortstop recording three putouts in a row to Cooper Williams at first.  It was déjà vous all over again.  In the bottom, a Jason Bush liner bounced off the Yale first baseman, giving Marcus his third at bat in three innings, but it was cut short on a caught stealing attempt by Bush.  Marcus would start off the next inning.  Actually, he batted in every inning except the seventh. 

The fourth had a free What-a-Burger coupon giveaway.  The cowboy Yale fan tried to get in on the action, but was ignored.  A little bitty kid took up the broken window challenge before the fifth and had the whole crowd behind him, but just couldn’t find the pane.  The top of the fifth had a moment that Adam and Nolan actually missed on the radio call.  A foul tip hit the home plate umpire on the hand.  Catcher Bush grabbed him immediately and asked him if he was okay.  Bush then made a courtesy visit to Kyle Bradish on the mound, while the ump was literally shaking it off.   

The bottom of the fifth saw a Mason Fishback fly ball lost in the sun drop between the left and centerfielders, who were standing next to each other.  That went as a double, but failed to score Hatch who was at second at the time, since he had tagged up, assuming somebody would catch it.  Yale pitcher, Tyler Duncan, talked his way out of getting taken out after a line out.  The mound meeting sound clip from the PA was terrible, “And 10 minutes later.  Meanwhile, six months had passed.” And so on.  That was too funny.  Not so funny for Duncan, Cooper came up and rapped a single to drive in both runs.  You could just about sense that was coming.  The Yale crowd gave him a nice round of applause as he was lifted right after.  PA cruelly played “Let it go” from Frozen for his exit.  Duncan’s relief was greeted by a monster two-run homer by Bush to right field.  10-1 Aggies.

I took a shot at the Aggie trivia question in the sixth, but was wrong.  Oh well.  Bradish finally got into trouble in the inning, giving up four hits and two runs.  Frankly, he works too slow with runners on and it doesn’t seem to help his pitching.  10-3 Aggies.  Not to worry, the Aggies tacked on four more runs in the bottom, two on passed balls by the catcher.  They also scored two more in the seventh, one of those on a passed ball.  16-3 Aggies. 

Busted.  In the eighth, the Yale cowboy caught me yawning.  “There’s no yawning in baseball,” he said.  Chance Hroch came in for Bradish to finish the game.  He looked good for 1 2/3 innings.  What happened next confused me terribly.  After the passed ball runs in the sixth, Andrew Herrera came into catch (which didn’t help, as mentioned above) for Alex Boos.  When Boos came up to bat in the ninth, I was surprised.  I had assumed Boos was out of the game, but he had actually moved to short and kept his place in the batting order, but I hadn’t taken note of that at the time.  Maybe Hroch was surprised too.  What happened next was a home run and then a run scored on a wild pitch.  At least the Yale fans got something to cheer about.  It took six batters to get that final out.  Our final was Aggies 16, Bulldogs 5.

My Game one defensive star is Kyle Bradish for his seven-inning, three-run starting pitching performance.  Big ups also to the Aggie fielders for a clean game.  Picking an offensive star is harder, given all the hitting, but I’ll go with Austin Botello, going 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBI’s.  Our stat of the game is this: both teams had double digit hits and left eight runners on, but Yale gave up eight walks and the Aggies, only one.  

Game one went in a fairly tidy three hours.  The half hour break was uneventful, though I think I ran into the new female PA voice coming out of the bathrooms.  I would have told her she was doing a good job, if I’d been sure.  She took the night cap off in any case, and another PA came in.  We kind of lost our seats for Game two and I was behind a netting pole, but could still see the game fairly well. 

The Centennial high school baseball team came in, wearing their uniforms.  They were mostly seated in the Diamond Club area (though I assume the beer wasn’t there), but a few were in the stands.  Athletic Director Mario Moccia made a quick appearance at the game before going over to the Men’s basketball game.  He kind of stood out, being the only person in a suit and tie.  A few drunken frat boys came to the game after it started and were seated behind us, amongst the Yale fans.  I was afraid there might be problems, but they were just vocal in their cheering, so it was cool.  Several of the fans had blankets, including me.  Some kids were using theirs for blanket fort by the Aggie dugout.      

The Aggies got the game started with Marcus Still singling, stealing a base, getting moved over to third on a single, and finally being driven in on a Botello sac fly.  1-0 Aggies.  In the second, Yale fans were only able to get vocal over the mispronunciation of their left fielder’s name for his at bat (Rud-dee, not Rue-dee).  A new laughing porpoise strikeout sound effect was used in the third.  The PA was on fire today with the sound effects.  Marcus got on again in the bottom, but was thrown out on a blown hit and run.        

In the top of the fifth, Brent Sakurai and LJ Hatch combined for the defensive play of the game, with Brent fielding a grounder falling down and glove-flipping to LJ, who barehanded it for the out.  A couple of batters later, the rare Catcher’s Interference error was called on Mason Fishback.  Or was it rare?  It was called the previous night, with the same batter at the plate, who happened to be the opposing catcher, Andrew Herrera.  A little gamesmanship going on perhaps.  There was a close play at first to end the inning that the Yale faithful didn’t like.  I told Ron at this point that this one-run game was not going to hold up.  “If this is a 1-0 game, it’ll be the first at Presley-Askew Field.”  (A statistical exaggeration I’m sure.)  In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies did tack on some insurance with Botello driving in two more runs.  3-0 Aggies.  

Our starter, Matt McHugh, had pitched a great game.  In the sixth, he finally showed some vulnerability with a single and his first walk to start the inning.  Marcus made a play in center on line drive that Yale fans and the radio guys thought was probably a trap.  The problem for the umps was that none of them called it quickly.  The Aggie dugout was screaming to throw the ball in, while Yale fans were screaming about the call.  The Yale baserunners barely made it back to their bases before getting doubled off.  Matthew Perea came in for McHugh.  He got another out on a fielder’s choice, but then surrendered a game tying three-run home run to Griffind Dey.  The Yale crowd was already worked up and this sent them into a frenzy.

In the bottom of the sixth, the inning ended on another close play at first that the umps appear to have gotten wrong again.  Questionable officiating were the watchwords of this game.  Aggie coach, Brian Green, had a talk with the first base ump between innings, but without any hysterics.  In the seventh, Perea gave way to Andy Frakes for the last two outs.  He came off the mound screaming, startling everyone, especially the Yale fans.  Frakes started pounding on his teammates as they met him coming into the dugout.  He was telling them to get fired up.  That they did. 

Marcus Still singled on and was moved over on a sacrifice.  A Botello double next should have scored him, but he got a bad break and only made it to third.  What happened next was complicated.  Dan Hetzel hit a grounder into the drawn in infield with Marcus and Botello going on contact.  Marcus was completely hung out between third and home as Botello took third.  Hetzel went to second as Marcus started dancing on the baseline.  Somehow, he forced enough throws that the pitcher made a mistake and he was able to slide around the catcher’s tag and slap the plate.  Fishback’s two-run single was almost an anti-climax after that.  6-3 Aggies.       

 

The Bulldogs did not threaten again.  Botello would drive in Marcus in the eight for the final run of the game.  As a final insult, the RBI was driven in off a shot that hit Yale reliever, Alex Stiegler’s leg.  That had to hurt, but he waved off the trainers, thus depriving me of seeing the cute blonde in their dugout.  Though not a save situation, Ruger Rodriguez finished off the game quickly in the ninth.  Our final was Aggies 7, Bulldogs 3. 

I went over to the cowboy Yale fan after the game and shook hands and found out he was a doctor.  He probably has a good bedside manner.  I told him not to feel bad about the losses.  From the radio call, I’d learned that the Aggies were leading the country in hits and runs.  Then I told him what the team did to Mount St. Mary’s last weekend.  That did actually seem to brighten him up a bit, and certainly magnified their Friday win.   

For Game two, Griffind Dey for Yale gets my opposing MVP for his game-tying, sixth inning three-run blast.  He looked big and took some mean cuts in the game, so that shot wasn’t a total surprise.  For the Aggies, Matt McHugh, Ruger Rodriguez, and Austin Botello all had great games.  But for the MVP’s, I’m picking guys for having great moments.  Marcus Still had some bad baserunning moments in this game, but watching him somehow evade an easy rundown to score and break the tie in the seventh was epic and made up for everything.  Andy Frakes had a really good relief outing, but his emotional outburst coming off the mound in the seventh got the team fired up and led to Still and two other runs scoring in the bottom of the inning. 

Even at two hours and 43 minutes for Game two, it had been another long day at the ballpark, but a successful one.  Thank goodness the Aggies have learned how to play more efficiently.  Ron and I got pizza down the street.  I got the final scores on the Aggie Men’s and Women’s basketball.  The Women won and went undefeated in conference this season.  The Men won and ripped off another 100+ point game.  Lastly, I found out that the US Women’s soccer team was defeated by England on a goal in the 89’.  Don’t say I’m not making sacrifices for the Aggies.  I gave up precious Alex Morgan viewing time to come to these baseball games.  Oh well.  Alex is still beautiful, win, lose, or tie.     

Afterward, we went to a local froyo place nearby.  Inside was most of the Aggie volleyball team, which was surprising.  Perhaps they had been at the Men’s basketball game.  After getting our order, I mustered my courage and spoke to Sasha-Lee Thomas on the way out, since she felt like the most approachable one of the group.  (Hey, these girls are a bit intimidating when together, being a team of attractive athletic young women.)  I said “Hi” and said I was looking forward to seeing them play next season.  Sasha seemed like she recognized me.  She’d have to have a pretty memory to remember our one meeting for autographs months ago.  She smiled and said “Thanks.”  I asked about her ankle, but she thought I was confused and asking about Tatyana Battle’s bad ankle, which I didn’t know was bad.  It was slightly embarrassing.  So from this, I guess that Sasha’s okay and Tatyana was playing hurt, but is okay now.  I think. 

There’s a while to wait before seeing the girls play again.  There’s also going to be a wait for more Aggie baseball and softball, three long weeks.  Hopefully the boys and girls’ basketball teams will be playing for a while longer in tournament play for something to listen to in the meantime.                 

Daytona 500 2017 and NM State Aggie Baseball

As if that title isn’t confusing enough, but it’s still not as confusing as the new NASCAR points rules and “Stage Racing.”  In Rally racing, they have stage racing where the teams go from one interesting course to another at an event.  In NASCAR, it just means breaking the race up into three segments, so that they can stop the race after each and put in a couple more commercial breaks and lengthen the time of the race.  I already covered this earlier, but now we get to see it in action.

Dad was coming over to watch the race, so I was going to have to at least pretend to be interested.  He had tried to read an article about the new rules and gave up halfway through, but he still wanted to watch it anyway.  He also got his new teeth in and was looking forward to having a pizza.  I hadn’t had one in a while either.  Papa John’s filled the bill with a large pepperoni, breadsticks, and a large chocolate cookie.  It was all very good and worth the wait. 

The Fox pre-race started with a nice, classy intro.  I wish “classy” would be the word they used as a guide for all their extraneous production material.  On that note, Chris Meyers got us started with a flashback of his Tom Brady interview at the Superbowl and the quip, “I should have given him back his jersey.  I didn’t know it was going to cause that much of a fuss.”  Jeff Gordon and the Waltrip brothers rounded out the pre-race crew.  Jeff has slotted into the TV analyst role pretty well and has been fairly insightful.  I had seen Jeff last month at the 24 Hours of Daytona race.  He was there driving and had Ingrid and the kids with him.  After seeing his black prototype ride for the race, the kids said that they thought he was now cool because he was driving the Batmobile.  During Jeff’s interview, his little girl Ella looked like she was yearning to get into a car and start driving. 

I missed most of the discussions while going out for the pizza.  I heard them talk about Carl Edwards’ sudden departure, though no mention of a possible political run was made.  Edwards’ departure has been overshadowed by talk of his replacement, Daniel Suarez.  The promo image had him in front of an American flag.  He’s actually Mexican and something of a racing hero there.  (There is, or at least was, a Mexican NASCAR series.)  There was an animated explanation of the new stage racing rules.  Even using cartoons, it still didn’t make any more sense. 

There was a remote shot of Texas Motor Speedway.  The infield was open for a Daytona viewing party on the track’s big screen.  What a good idea.  There was detailed explanation of how to play fantasy racing at an Internet betting site.  Another great idea.  Heavy betting is the only thing that will save the sport now.  Then the best idea of all was introduced: the Monster Energy Girls.  Frankly, the new series sponsor didn’t get a lot of mention during the coverage (until the end, but we’ll get to that).  I say that these new trophy girls should get non-stop exposure during the race by whatever means necessary.

Jeff got to drive the pace car, but not before Tony Stewart, also now retired, came over and gave him some good-natured trouble while Jeff was being interviewed.  The stands were sold out.  This may have more to do with the beautiful weather and last year’s remodeling than the new rules.  And with that, the green flag dropped and we were underway!

Though the drivers were out for points in the first half of the race, it still felt pretty perfunctory.  Dad and I were both nodding off, though this may have been food-induced narcolepsy.  During the commercials (dad liked the Uber-calling bank robbers one), I put in an earplug and tuned into the Sunday Aggie baseball game on the radio.  I had started listening to it before dad came over.  The weather was a little cold, but still reasonably nice to start off.  I rejoined the game in the bottom of the fourth.  The score was a shocking 14-0 Aggies over Mount St. Mary’s!  In the two minutes I was listening, they hit two home runs!  Well, given Friday’s 13-2 win and Saturday night’s 25-4 win, maybe this wasn’t entirely shocking, but still, “Wow!” 

Meanwhile back at Daytona, what was probably the critical moment of the race occurred.  In Stage two, Kyle Busch cut a tire while leading the pack of Toyota entries.  This took out many of the favored drivers, including Dale Jr, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The Toyota teams may be reconsidering their pack strategies after this.  The wreck red flagged the race for a short time, during which I flipped over to a college basketball game, which dad seemed to enjoy more.      

The winds had picked up here in the meantime, making it cold and nasty out.  I was sort of glad I wasn’t at the ballpark.  Then again, in the seventh, it was now 22-1 Aggies.  I heard two more home runs within a couple of minutes of listening.  Even having been there for the Saturday night game, this game would have still been impressive to watch in person.  I kept listening.  The broadcasters were openly wondering why the run-rule (which ends games that get out-of-control like this early) wasn’t in effect for non-conference games.  The final was 29-1 Aggies.  Five of the Aggie players were now, unsurprisingly, hitting over .400 after this weekend.  Amazingly with all that scoring, the game just went a bit over three hours.

The race was getting ugly.  Big wrecks were dragging out the race and had taken out the rest of the favorites, including Jimmie Johnson in the Stage three.  With 50 laps left, three-quarters of the field had some kind of damage.  Dad had to leave early, since the race was running late.  With 25 laps left, there were only 25 cars on track, 17 on the lead lap.  The new damaged car rule was having an effect. 

With all the wrecks and trying to account for the stage yellows, the fuel situation at the end of the race became an issue.  Most of cars in front that had stayed out for track position were now close to empty.  This somewhat forced the remaining contenders to all stay together in single file to conserve fuel.  Whoever was leading was getting the least conservation.  Chase Elliot, the polesitter, was out in front for most of final sprint, but he ran out with three laps left.  Martin Truex was briefly in the lead, before he ran out of gas.  After some jockeying, Kyle Larson was in front on the last lap, but he couldn’t make it.  Kurt Busch, who had earlier been tagged to run out on the last lap, powered right on across the finish line.

Now we have a bit controversy.  Series sponsor, Monster Energy, was also Kurt’s sponsor.  It looks a little suspicious, given that this was their first race as the series sponsor.  Regardless, Tony Gibson, Kurt’s crew chief, was so happy afterward, he was shaking during his interview.  Tony Stewart, at least had the satisfaction of winning Daytona as an owner.  Manufacturer-wise, Ford stealing Stewart-Haas from Chevrolet had just totally paid off.  Kurt Busch was all grateful happy in Victory Lane.  He made sure to thank his new wife on stage for “Making a man out of me.”  For a guy who’d had some embarrassingly public girlfriend troubles a couple of years ago, this may have been some redemption.  Speaking of that, Michael Waltrip, in his last race, managed to finish in the top 10 and unscathed.  And one of my favorites, AJ Allmendinger, finished a surprising third.    

Honestly, the race was not more interesting for having a couple of extra stops.  It probably dragged out the race a bit, that along with numerous field-clearing wrecks.  I don’t think quarter and halfway points lead to the additional wrecks at least.  It’s Daytona though, a race unto itself.  We won’t really see how this new format works until the following races.
         

NM State Aggies vs Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers Baseball 2-25-17

The last game for the Aggie baseball team I was at went pretty well at 20-7.  In the meantime, they’d had a terrible loss on Tuesday to Texas Tech, 1-16.  I got to listen to some of that at work.  Friday’s game against “The Mount” was a good bounce back at 13-2 Aggies.  So, it’s been all or nothing this week for the boys. 

Adam Young and Nolan Fox were clearly freezing last night doing the radio call.  It was the wind more than the temperature.  Today’s double header was going to be a bit cold, but just a little breezy.  I came prepared with a heavy coat and blanket.  Ron’s wife, for some reason, was okay with him being at the ballpark all afternoon and evening.  After a heavy, but good meal at Schlotzsky’s, we were pulling into the parking lot, well away from any potential foul balls and fighting off a desire to take a food-induced nap.  The lot had some class today.  Along with a couple of RV’s, there was a pretty yellow Porsche and a Subaru Impreza with a rally package.  I wonder who these belong to, hopefully boosters. 

This time, I grabbed both new baseball posters on the way in and didn’t wait like I did last time, when I missed getting them.  With the weather being a bit better, I was expecting a good crowd.  The fans came in a bit late, but filled in to an “okay” crowd.  Maybe, you need that bunting out to attract people.  There were a few attractive young women there, some of them in shorts and t-shirts and completely insane given the temperature.  Look for more girls to show when it’s warmer.  An attractive lady was sitting in front of us that seemed friendly, but she made friends with another fan next to her, not us.  Unhappily, I could see an unlucky Aggie player, Trey Stine, was also a spectator.  He was on crutches in the Aggie dugout and will have to wait until next year to play. 

Game 1

The scoring didn’t start until the top of the second with a line drive homer by the Mounts.  (Hey, that’s what they call themselves for short.)  In the bottom of the third, their catcher mistakenly got the number of outs wrong after a strikeout.  Maybe it was because the umpire was making some dramatic calls on called strikes and strikeouts looking.  Too bad for them it wasn’t the last out, since the next hitter, Austin Botello, drove in the first Aggie run, trying the score.  The broken window challenge was on tap between innings.  A kid with a mitt and no arm gave it a shot, coming up empty. 

The Aggies flashed some leather in the top of the fourth.  Botello made a great play in deep right field near the line.  LJ Hatch followed that with a great snag on a grounder, deep in the hole, to throw out the runner at first.  Then, a hot shot foul straight back struck one of the hollow metal shade supports.  It rang loudly for several seconds afterward.  Between halves, I noticed Adam out talking to the radar gun guys.  No idea why.  Greg Popylisen would drive in a go-ahead run in the bottom with an infield hit.  2-1 Aggies. 

 

In the fifth, the Aggies scored a run off a couple of doubles.  At least, that’s the official scoring.  In reality, the Mount left fielder dropped a couple of fly balls.  It was ruled that the wind would have made those extraordinary catches, I guess.  With a home run and two multi-base non-errors, Mount left fielder, Zach Hostetter had an interesting game.  3-1 Aggies.  The top of the sixth was the third inning in a row that Aggie starter, Kyle Bradish, had allowed two batters on without allowing a score.  He ended his last inning of work by striking out pinch hitter, Damond Dixon, and stranding the runners again.  According to Nolan, Dixon doesn’t like using spoons.  Last night, we also found out that, as a child, one of the Mounts locked his mother out of the house so that he could eat a bowl of M&M’s.  With this level of opposition research, how could the Aggies lose?

The bottom of the sixth featured more questionable scoring.  A slow bouncer by Marcus Still went between second and short.  Somebody really should have caught that, but instead it bounced into shallow center.  And somebody really should have covered second afterward, as Still went ahead and took the extra unguarded base.  All this was ruled a double.  And this all happened after a great diving catch by Dixon on a popped up bunt, basically negating it.  Popylisen actually faked an attempt to steal home, but the inning ended on a strikeout and without any scoring.

In seventh, with Andy Frakes on the mound, the Mounts finally cashed in on having two runners on.  3-2 Aggies.  This didn’t last, as the Aggies manage to plate a run without a hit after a bases loaded walk.  4-2 Aggies.  Not to be out done, the Mount did the same in the top of the eighth, getting a run without a hit.  Not to say it was without hard effort, as one of their players took a rubber pellet in the eye from the artificial infield surface.  4-3 Aggies.  The Aggies weren’t done and scored two more runs in the bottom.  Still actually managed to beat out a sacrifice bunt and get to first in the inning. 

Ruger Rodriguez came in for the ninth and struck out the side in an overpowering fashion.  He’s really starting to impress me.  Our final was Aggies 6, Mountaineers 3.  Bradish had a good, gritty game, giving up one run over six innings.  I’d pick Botello as my offensive player.  Dan Hetzel and, catcher, Jason Bush also had good games.   The Mountaineers played a pretty good game.  The two outfield miscues probably cost them.  By using their Game two starter as a reliever here, they at least slowed down the Aggie offense and gave themselves a chance in this game, but it would come back to haunt them in the next game.

Game one took about three hours, which isn’t bad by college standards.  Unfortunately, it was three hours out in the cold.  My fingers and nose were numb.  Ron wasn’t doing much better.  We spent the intermission in his car, warming up.  I took my blanket and heavy jacket, and Ron took his light jacket back inside.  We took separate bathroom breaks.  I saw the team in the dugout while waiting and smiled and gave them a thumbs up.  One of the catchers did the same back.  I suddenly also noticed that there were stadium seats outside the men’s bathroom.    That seemed unnecessary. 

We ran into a bolting Adam Young on his way to the bathroom.  If you’re talking for three hours, you probably need to drink quite a bit.  Then you’re in an open pressbox, getting the cold full on.  Also, there’s not enough time between innings to go from the pressbox to the bathrooms.  Bottom line, Adam and Nolan likely have iron bladders.  I picked up a welcome hot chocolate and a small popcorn, which I offered to Ron.  Back at the seats, I put down the blanket and sat on it.  My rear end, at least, was warm for the rest of the game.  The announced temperature was 61.  Ron said it felt more like 31. 

Game 2

The crowd had thinned out.  Aggie fans and Mount fans were about equal in number.  In the first, the Mount fans and the Aggie dugout were actually competing with each other in cheering.  The players on the field were certainly playing with some purpose in the cold.  In what felt like a blink of an eye, the Mountaineers scored two runs and then the inning was over.  I looked over at Ron to get the popcorn back and found him with the cup upended over his mouth, finishing it.  Good thing I wasn’t hungry.

The cheering competition ended in the bottom of the first.  Take a look at my sloppy scorecard.  I’m not going to try and recap all those runs.  The Aggies scored 25 runs in the game.  They scored in six of their eight innings and batted around in two of them.  All of the starters scored and got a hit.  Okay, so the game was basically over after the second.  That established, I’ll just bring up the interesting events during the innings. 

The sun was going down in the bottom of the first, and Adam mentioned the lovely sunset lighting of Las Cruces’ Organ Mountains in the background of the stadium.  Austin Botello cranked a monster home run to center right afterward.  Nolan Fox chipped in, “That ball may have hit the Organs.”  Also adding to the scenery, some large flocks of birds circled around the trees beyond the outfield.  There’s more to life than baseball.  Not much more admittedly. 

The new ump seemed to have a bigger strikezone.  Not a bad idea in the cold.  LJ Hatch initiated a double play to end the top of the second.  Marcus Still again beat out an infield single trying to advance a runner in the bottom of the second.  Sacrificing in this inning would not be necessary.  I couldn’t even figure out the Mount pitcher lines after what happened next.  The Game two scheduled starter was used in long relief in Game one.  Trey McGough just didn’t seem ready to start this one.  He was pulled in this inning after starting off with a walk and three straight hits.  Josh Little was brought in, throwing between 59 and 72 mph, a soft-tosser.  By and large, the Aggies weren’t hitting him hard, just often.  There was some good base running too with Brent Sakurai scoring from first on a single as he was off with the pitch.  By the time the smoke had cleared, nine runs had crossed the plate.  “13-2 was the same score as on Friday, but that was after nine innings!” exclaimed Nolan.

From here it was an endurance contest, mostly for the crowd.  An Aggie basketball game started during the game, and I began flipping between them.  Little did I know that I was draining the battery on my radio in a rapid manner by doing so.   That’s what I get for sports infidelity.  Between innings, they ran the broken window challenge again.  This time the little kid had a legit pro wind up and won a hat.  By the fourth, about half of the Mount fans had had enough and left.  Concurrently with that, their team started putting in their reserves.  Mitch Sprignoli came in and rapped an RBI single to the cheers of the remaining fans and the dugout.  He must be well-liked.

About 10 minutes into the basketball game, the score was 16-6 Aggies, pretty close to what it was at the ballpark.  The Aggie baseball team would score three more runs in the fourth, though the inning ended on an unassisted double play by the Mount first baseman.  There were kids running up and down the aisles for foul balls in this game.  Two little girls came up with a couple of balls and carried them around with big smiles.  If you can believe it, in spite of the six runs, the Aggies weren’t trying to run up the score in the bottom of the fifth.  Coach Green kept holding up runners at third, but the guys kept getting hits.  That must have been a good problem for the coach.  The guys in the booth start looking up school records for runs and hits. 

In the sixth, our female PA (I should really find out who these people are) took the inning off.  She must have gotten tired from calling all those at bats.  Meanwhile in the second half of the basketball game, Jack Nixon declared that, “The mustard is off the hot dog,” as the Aggies were up by 20.  The women were also announced to have won their basketball game on the road.  (All I needed was a softball update to complete my Saturday sports.) 

In the seventh, Vaughn Parker II for the Mount was injured diving for a foul ball well away from the field.  It was a great effort.  The Aggie dugout applauded him as he came off.  I finally lost power on the radio in the 9^th, right before both games ended.  Austin Bryan finished the game on the mound for the Aggies.  He’d had a very rough outing against Texas Tech and the team cheered him on from the dugout with every out.  Our Game two final, Aggies 25?!, Mountaineers 4.       

Ron felt sorry for the other team, but I thought the Mountaineers played pretty well in the field in this game, and they didn’t get shut out.  Their pitching was just not there for this game, perhaps because of the sudden spot start, and the Aggies tee’d off on it.  For the Aggies, Matt McHugh gave up four runs in five innings, but had nine strikeouts with only one walk.  Offensively, Austin Botello went five for six with four runs and four RBI’s.  His bat was so hot, it glowed.  With 29 total hits, obviously the rest of the team had a pretty good night too.

Our attendance was announced at 680, including a couple of popsicles, which were me and Ron.  The running time was a surprising three hours and 12 minutes.  I’ve seen much lower scoring in longer games.  No team batting records were broken tonight.  Myself and Adam disputed the official scoring.  The scorer had the team at 26 hits, which was wrong.  They also had the Mount with two errors, but I never saw anything like an error on the field.  The basketball team won 86-53.  That game let out at the same time, leading to some traffic getting out of the university.  We were off to What-a-Burger, as the team had won (twice) and handed out coupons.