Cavalli Strikes Again…Shuts Down the Rangers

The Washington Nationals came back with a vengeance tonight with a 6-0 shutout of the Texas Rangers.

Cade Cavalli pitched another gem, leading the way for the Nats.

Andres Chaparro went 3 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

Washington started tonight’s scoring in the top of the 3rd as Jose Tena smacked his 7th home run to center field. 1-0 Nats.

The Nationals added a run in the top of the 4th. Andres Chaparro led off the inning with a double and came around to score after Keibert Ruiz singled to right. 2-0 good guys.

The Nats got another run across in the top of the 6th. Andres Chaparro ran out an infield single. He was sent to second base on another single courtesy of Keibert Ruiz. Jacob Young moved both runners up a base by laying down a sacrifice bunt. A lost art form, to be sure. Jorbit Vivas then grounded out to the infield, scoring Chaparro on the play. 3-0 Nationals.

The Nationals doubled their lead in the top of the 7th. Abimelec Ortiz and Jose Tena both walked, and were advanced a base on a ground out by Daylen Lile. Andrew Chaparro then smacked a three-run home run to deep left field, his 8th. 6-0 Washington.

And that was the final score. Nationals win!!!

The ace of the pitching staff struck again. Cade Cavalli threw the first six innings, giving up three hits and walking one while striking out thirteen. Will Dion, Max Kranick, and Jake Bird each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

Kumar Rocker pitched admirably for the Rangers, going five innings, giving up six hits and two runs. But it wasn’t admirably enough.

In Cade Cavalli’s last two starts he has pitched fourteen scoreless innings, giving up a total of four hits while striking out twenty-one batters. That’s got to be some kind of record…

This was Cavalli’s eight consecutive quality start.

Can we check with a scientist and see if he can be cloned?

The series is tied one apiece. Both teams have a shutout. Game three tomorrow…same time same stadium. Should be a good one.

Dave’s Dime…Greyhound Racing

Since the Washington Nationals have been going through some tough times these past few weeks, I wanted to mix it up a little and talk about a sport that once flourished in certain parts of the country but is now outlawed in 44 states. I hope I’ve piqued your interest.

I’m talking about greyhound racing. I was first introduced to the world of dog racing in 1976 when I got a part-time job at Rocky Mountain Greyhound Park, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I had just left a bank job that I’d had for a few years and was looking for something else. I was thinking about substitute teaching, since I had originally planned on becoming a teacher after obtaining my BA in 1973. But in the meantime, I needed to find something else that paid me money, so I wouldn’t have to mooch off my parents any more than I already was.

I was lucky enough to run into an old banking friend of mine who had just quit his part-time position with the greyhound park and asked if I might be interested. I was and went by the place to fill out an application and got the job.

I ended up working in what was called the “Money Room.” Like I said, this was way back in 1976 before all this computer-generated stuff supposedly made things easier. All the money collected from the tellers taking the bets was sent up to the Money Room in pneumatic tubes after each race. We would count all the moolah and bind it up with rubber bands by denomination. We would then receive a magic number from some guy running an early type of computing device. I think it was actually an abacus. If what we came up with, as our money room total, matched the number received from the computer dude, we balanced!

But, of course, as the capabilities of computers grew exponentially, the number of employees in that money room quickly shrunk. I ended up on the front lines taking bets. And I enjoyed it quite a bit. Getting right up there with the betting public. The disgruntled betting public. The halitosis and body odor and cigarette smoke burning your eyes. There’s nothing like it.

Rocky Mountain Greyhound Park had been around since 1949. It was a family-owned business and featured live greyhound racing for about three months a year in the late summer and early fall. They would run fifteen races a night. This place was something

else.

Now this is before off-track betting, so people had to actually go to the track in order to place bets and watch the races.

In the 70’s and 80’s the track would get super busy, especially on Saturdays. People would come

down from Denver in Greyhound buses (how apropos) and the parking lot was often packed with cars. They even hired high school kids to work as parking attendants, armed with flash lights, carefully leading vehicles to their designated spots.

There was a first-class restaurant called “The Cloud Nine”, which was a fantastic place to dine and bet on the dogs. Of course, only the high rollers could afford to eat there. Those unfortunates down in the pits of the track, losing their shirts, couldn’t even afford a bag of popcorn.

Rocky Mountain Greyhound Park kept growing over the years and by 1988 $50 million was wagered on the races during that three-month season.

But that was to change a couple years later. In 1990 gambling was legalized in three small mountain towns in the State of Colorado. The town closest to Colorado Springs was Cripple Creek. Two more towns, Black Hawk and Central City, were in the Denver area.

Well, that sure put a damper on the greyhound racing business by syphering money away from the tracks and toward the casinos.

Also, there had always been questions about greyhound racing, and if it was inhumane as far as the treatment of the dogs was concerned. Yes, there were injuries. And then came the accusations of performance enhancing drugs. And the mistreatment of retired dogs including the use of mass euthanasia.

My wife and I actually adopted a retired greyhound back in the early 2000’s. His name was Major, and we had him for about five years. He was seven when we adopted him and had only been allowed to live to that ripe old age because he was being used for breeding purposes. He was a big boy and you could tell by his appearance and personality that he’d had a rough life. But we loved him and ended up giving him a few good years.

With all of that going on, Rocky Mountain Greyhound Park ended its live racing seasons in 2005. It still kept a section of the facility open for what was called “off-track” betting until 2014. People who frequented the off-track facility could wager on at least a couple dozen horse and dog tracks. There was a semi-circle of televisions around half the betting pit where people could bet on one race after another. The row of tellers waiting patiently to cash those winning tickets for the happy patrons who visited their stations. It could get crazy, especially during big events such as the Kentucky Derby.

I was a high school English teacher with a full-time job by 1999, but I still worked part-time at the track. I loved it…always had a pocket full of change due to the tips. I would sometimes spot a student a quarter or two so he or she could wander down to the vending machine and purchase a package of dry Ramen noodles.

And then it all ended in 2014 when the Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, banned all greyhound racing, live and off-track, in the State. With a name like Hickenlooper, he was bound to have an unpleasant personality.

I can understand it in a way. But watching those dogs run was a beautiful thing. And they were fast. In fact, racing greyhounds are the swiftest dogs around and can reach a top speed of 45 miles per hour. That’s not near a cheetah’s top speed of 70 MPH, but greyhounds are chasing after a mechanical rabbit, not a live wildebeest. Not quite as much incentive.

Greyhound racing is now banned in forty-four states and there are only two live race tracks still in existence, both in West Virginia. I’m sure it will all be gone in the near future.

We’ll get back to baseball in tomorrow’s column. I’m sure I can find something uplifting to share with you.