Catcher-chism Revisited.

I know, I know. I've been missing in action. I never finished blogging about the 23rd, never blogged about the 24th. Team has been on the road since then, and I've been frantically trying to catch up with the rest of my life.

Reading Facebook, then reading the IL Transaction page spurred this blog.

The Nationals signed Kurt Suzuki, who is supposed to be some hotshot catcher.

This news took Jesus Flores by surprise. Davey Johnson essentially told Flores that performance equals playing time.

In the meantime, to make room for Suzuki, the Nats optioned Sandy Leon to Triple A . . . which means the Chiefs.

According to the International League Transaction Page, Catcher Jeremy Mayo has also been assigned to the Chiefs (from Hagarstown), Jeff Howell is off the 7-day DL, and Koyie Hill has been released.

Where does all of these leave Carlos Maldonado, asks moi, co-president of his fan club? Well, according to the article about Suzuki, Carlos has been designated for assignment. He's no longer on the Chiefs' roster. Which really stinks.

On a lighter note: the Washington Nationals bullpen read 50 Shades of Grey. Aloud. For giggles.
Check it out here.

June 7 recap

The Chiefs lost tonight. They were never really in the game.

Miscellaneous items of note:

The Bats first base coach in the first inning (Brian Peacock) was chewing gum and blowing bubbles. Blue as opposed to the pink that Jeff Howell chewed the previous evening.

The Taco Bell K-Man struck out in the first inning.

There was a player of the game for each of yesterday's games (the first time I've seen that!):
Negrych for the first game, Skelton for the second. And both deserved the designation.

Every time Louisville player Mike Constanzo came to bat a group of fans started calling, "Ri-co! Ri-co!" After about 7 innings of this, I asked on of them the significance. Apparently Constanzo looks like Rico Suave. Does anyone know who Rico Suave is?

Xavier Paul waved to us when he was coaching first base.

One of the "Rico" gang decided to dance on the top of the dugout with Scooch at the end of the 7th inning. This is a big no-no. Stadium security arrived when it was over. The kid immediately put up his hands. Clearly he knew what do do. He was escorted out of the stadium.

Silly comment overheard near the end of the game: "This is semi-pro baseball." (No folks, this is minor league professional baseball. Big difference.)

Play of the game:
(Corky Miller, the Louisville Catcher, is not a favorite of Sandee and Anthony (who've seen him play in Louisville), so I don't have much use for him either -- as a player. I'm sure he's a nice guy.)

Here's what the box score on the Chief's website says:

• Corky Miller doubles (3) on a line drive to right fielder Brett Carroll. Felix Perez scores.
• Sean Gallagher grounds into double play, catcher James Skelton to shortstop Seth Bynum. Corky Miller out at 2nd.
• 
  

Here's what happened:  Corky was on second base, thinking about running to third when James Skelton made the out at the plate. But Corky didn't return to second. So Skelton ran from home plate to second base to tag Corky, who taunted James by waiting for him, then dashing toward second. Skelton just had a tiny flip to the SS to get Corky out.

I wish my camera had been handy. I've never seen anything like it.

Still to come: TV Stevie was at the stadium on business earlier in the day. He saw a lot of players who were all very friendly, all said hello to him. He took a bunch of photos he needs to send to me to post here.

Oh What a Beautiful Evening!

Double header night!
I arrived at the ball park about 15 minutes late -- middle of the first inning of the first game.
Maven and I walked in together. As usual, security checked my bag. What was unusual was the ticket-taker thanking me for my patience, because the security person was new and didn't know all the season ticket holders.

Sandee & Anthony arrived shortly thereafter.

Here are my mishmash of notes from the first game:
The Balls/Strikes/Outs on the scoreboard were horizontal rather than vertical -- which made them much easier to read.

Third inning: Soto (Bats 1B) struck out, sending his bat flying. Maven clapped. Soto glared at Maven all the way back to the dugout.

The green pig won the race on the scoreboard (1st time the blue pig hasn't won!).

Mark Teahen wears his socks outside (no pajama pants) and I've decided it prefer it.

Anthony bought a lot of raffle tickets for the Jersey raffle--Josh Wilkie's Throwback Thursday from last year. Scandalous! I asked the interns to come back later: I didn't want my tix next to Anthony's.

Fifth Inning:
Villareal, the Bats' pitcher, struck out bunting, which amused fans sitting behind the dugout.

Also the final out of the top of the fifth was due to runner interference, the first time I've ever seen that call made in person. The runner clearly hindered the SS throw to first.

Free Cracker Jack! (I got a bag last night; Anthony scored a bag tonight)

6th Inning:
Tyler Moore left the game. He'd been playing 1st. Teahen was playing 3rd, Rivero was playing SS. After T-Mo left, Rivero went back to 3rd, Teahen to 1st and Bynum came in to play SS.

6th Inning 1B Coach (many of them tonight) Eric Komatsu actually waved to us when we said hi to him. He was also last night's player of the game -- grand slams will do that.

Tie score (1-1) going into bottom of 7th (final inning of double-header):
Xavier Paul singled
Brett Carroll Sac bunt to advance X
Rivero base on balls (intentional)
Negrych -- singled, which brought X home to win the game.
YAY!!!!

Lots of speculation on why T-Mo left the game. I've read a lot of Tweets claiming T-Mo was injured. That's not exactly what I heard in the stands.

The team changed into their black & teal travel jerseys for game two, because they were the visiting team (making up a game rained out in L'ville last week).

Black & Teal travel jerseys

The scoreboard changed the background from the dark green (which made the numbers easy to read) to a light gray background (which made the numbers difficult to read).  "Why," I asked Maven,"don't they just ask us? We're here every night and we're dead on straight to the scoreboard!"
"That would make too much sense," replied Maven.

The Taco Bell K-Man struck out in the second game.

Crazy Fan Man sat a couple of rows behind Maven. He always says hi to Anthony.

Jeff Howell coached first base for several innings. He was blowing bubbles with his bubble gum. So funny!

Look closely. Howell blowing bubbles with bubble gum. 

The jersey raffle people came back, so TV Stevie (who arrived in the middle of the second game) bought tickets. Anthony bought even more tickets! It's a good thing he did, because Sandee won!

Sandee with her Josh Wilkie Jersey

More Cracker Jack give-away. We all got a bag this time.

Scoreless game going into the 7th.  Because Syracuse was the "visiting" team, they batted in the top of each inning. 

Rivero struck out.

Paul 6-3 out

Negrych double

Bynum Base on Balls (intentional)

Skelton single with 1 RBI (Negrych)

Garcia out 6-4

Garcia then put out three L'ville batters in a row. The Chiefs win again!

We voted for Negrych as player of the game (evening, really)

As we were leaving, I saw two tiny children run onto the field with a player (who had on a hoodie that hid his number, so I have no clue who it was. The socks were out, which is a Teahen thing, but Teahen's wife is pregnant with their first, so I don't think it was him) who walked the bases as these tiny children ran them. So darned cute!

 I love watching the players with their children.

No!!!! (Good luck, Carlos!)

Carlos Maldonado has been called up to the Mothership.
It goes like this:

The Washingon Nationals' primary catcher Wilson Ramos tore his ACL the other day, making  Jesus Flores the primary catcher for the Nats, and the Nats in need of a backup catcher.

Jhonatan Solano (Syracuse's former primary catcher) is on the DL, and has been for a while, which makes Carlos Maldonado Syracuse's primary catcher (and which makes Molly & Sandee very happy campers). Jeff Howell, the backup catcher from Harrisburg, was sent to Syracuse as backup catcher.

When Ramos injured himself, the primary catcher for the Harrisburg Senators, Sandy Leon, was sent to Washington. And he injured himself during his first game last night (sprained ankle?).

So Washington called up Carlos Maldonado.

(I don't know what's going on with Harrisburg.)

YAY CARLOS!!!!

Please be good to him, Washington.

Stampeded by Bison

It was yet another beautiful night for a ballgame. Neither too hot nor too cold and no precipitation.

I arrived at the stadium in time to make some notes. I missed the Thursday afternoon game, but I listened to most of it on the radio. AM radio doesn't come in well at DayJob, so it was a challenge.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx was signing autographs in the souvenir shop, so I had him sign my hat, right next to Brad Peacock's John Hancock. Bibens-Dirkx was really good with the little kids who had him autograph their Stuff-A-Scooch.

The new scoreboard is coming along. Sandee told me they worked on it all through yesterday's game.

Scoreboard progress

J-Botts isn't with the Bison this year -- don't know where he's landed -- but Valentino Pascucci is, and we've decided he's our "pet" Bison in J-Botts absence. He has a great name and he's a big guy -- like J-Botts and Carlos Maldonado.

Pascucci warming up
before the game

That doesn't, however, mean we were pleased with his HR in the first inning. We were not.

The Corey Brown Report:

1st: K

2nd: K

5th: 7

7th: 7

9th: 8

Not a good night. 

He played RF and saw a bit of action. He handled it with grace.

The Bryce Harper Report:

1st: BB

4th: K

6th: K

8th: 6

He played CF and did not have a good night. He's learning. There were lots of lessons tonight. Lots.

In yesterday's game, from what I heard on the radio, Harper seemed more patient at the plate. I have the impression that he walked a lot. That felt like maturity to me. It didn't happen tonight.

Miscellaneous Stuff:

Jersey raffle: Tommy Milone's Throwback Thursday. Didn't win it. Rats.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us, as did Jhonatan Solano, who coached 1st base tonight. According to yesterday's radio broadcast, Solano has been under the weather, which is why Carlos caught three games in a row. Tonight, a third catcher made his debut in Triple A and Syracuse: Jeff Howell.

We voted for Tyler Moore as Player of the Game for his 2-run homer in the 1st.

Carlos Maldonado gave a warm-up ball to a young fan in the stands. He's such a great guy. 

Oddity of the Night. 

Okay, maybe not odd, but definitely annoying. 

First inning: I noticed the temporary scoreboard was dark.

Corey Brown under a dark
temporary scoreboad

Maven went to tell stadium management in the middle of the first. It did not come on until the bottom of the fourth.

Of course, in the end it didn't matter. The Chiefs lost again.6-4. Didn't need lights to tell us that.