Washington Wins Wild One Over Astros 12-11

Miles Mikolas was able to start the game tonight for the Nationals even though he’s technically been suspended. His appeal hadn’t been answered as of game time. Cade Cavalli’s appeal did come through and his suspension was lowered from 7 games to 5, which is usually what happens. That means he won’t even miss a start. Doesn’t make much sense. What was the point of the suspension? Tonight’s attendance 11,092.

Hold on…here we go! Top of the 1st, Isaac Paredes walked and Christian Walker doubled to deep center. Jacob Young made a great effort but the ball popped out of his glove. 1-0 Astros. Bottom of the 1st , Nationals’ James Wood walked to lead off the inning. Curtis Mead later doubled to deep center field. Wood turned on the speed and scored all the way from first. 1-1. Mikolas got two quick outs in the top of the 2nd, but then Brenden Shewmake singled to left and was followed by an infield single from Brice Matthews.

Then Jose Altuve smacked a three-run homer, his 9th, over the left field wall. 4-1 Astros. Top of the 3rd, Astros two quick outs again then Cam Smith walked. That was quickly followed by a home run to left field by Yainer Diaz, his 5th. 6-1 Astros. Nationals’ bats came alive in the bottom of the 3rd. Nasim Nunez singled to open the inning. James Wood walked, and Luis Garcia followed with a double, scoring Nunez. Curtis Mead then singled to left, scoring Wood. C.J. Abrams blasted a home run to right field, his19th, scoring Mead and Garcia ahead of him. Tie game just like that!

The score stayed tied until the bottom of the 5th. Curtis Mead homered to center leading off the inning, his 15th. C.J. Abrams singled and Dylan Crews reached on an error. Two batters later, Jacob Young singled to right to load the bases. Abrams then scored on a sac fly off the bat of Drew Millas. Nasim Nunez’ infield single again loaded the bases. Guess what happened next…. you got it…James Wood hit his 24th home run to deep center field. A grand slam! Washington up 12-6. They came from down 6-1 to up 12-6 in 3 innings.

But as we baseball fans know…it ain’t over til it’s over…in this case that’s called “foreshadowing” … Houston got one back in the top of the 6th. A couple of singles from Cam Smith and Yainer Diaz put runners on 1st and 3rd. Braden Shewmake grounded into a double play, scoring Smith. 12-7 Nats. It stayed that way until the top of the 8th. Branden Shewmake doubled in LaMonte Wade who had walked earlier in the inning. 12-8 Washington.

Brice Matthews then homered to left field, scoring Shewmake and Yainer Diaz, who had earlier hit into a force play. 12-11 No!!! Not again… But Clayton Beeter saved the day by pitching a scoreless top of the 9th for his 7th save. Nationals win! What a great game. We have to give starting pitcher Miles Mikolas some credit. He held on for 6 innings to get his 3rd win of the year. Way to go, Miles… Washington is now sitting at 47 and 45. Houston is 45 and 48 in the American League West. Game two tomorrow at 6:45 ET. Dave’s Dime…Minor League Baseball…There’s nothing like it… Minor League Baseball went through a traumatic event in 2021 as the number of teams were reduced to 120, four per each of the 30 MLB franchises. There are still a few random rookie leagues and a couple with no direct affiliation to any Major League team. One of those leagues is the Pioneer League.

One current member of the Pioneer League is the Missoula Paddleheads. I may have mentioned in an earlier column that I live about 25 miles south of Missoula, in a little town called Stevensville. Missoula is a growing town, the second largest in Montana with a population of almost 80,000. The town has had minor league baseball since the 1990’s. Their original team was called the Ospreys. An osprey is a unique bird that’s sort of a combination of a hawk and an eagle. And the team’s name made sense because there were always two or three osprey nests on top of various light poles surrounding the stadium. Fans could watch the beautiful birds soaring overhead. Well, due to a common marketing ploy that pops up from time to time in the minor leagues, in 1999 the Osprey name was dropped and the Missoula Osprey became the Missoula Paddleheads. Now a paddle head is a nickname for a moose. I guess its antlers look a little like boat paddles. The reason for the name change should be pretty obvious…new merchandise!!! All Osprey fans now needed Paddleheads t-shirts and caps, etc. I actually did buy a new cap…and my wife has a new t-shirt.

So, I guess it works… And, as of 2021, the Missoula Paddleheads are members of the Pioneer League. Players in this league usually have less than three years of professional baseball experience. Undrafted free agents, recently released minor leaguers, and some of the better college players make up the rosters. Players are usually in their early to mid twenties. The Pioneer League currently consists of sixteen teams… Four teams from Montana: Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Missoula. Two from Idaho: Idaho Falls and Boise. Four teams from California: Long Beach, Modesto, Oakland, and Yuba-Sutter. One team from Utah: Ogden And one team has no home city: The RedPocket Mobiles. They are a travelling team only and are sponsored by a cell phone carrier. I kid you not… They do, however, have their own bus.

The league members change quite frequently. For instance, last year Colorado had three Pioneer League teams: the Grand Junction Jackalopes, Rocky Mountain Vibes, and Northern Colorado Owlz. They are all gone now. Just as a side note, the Rocky Mountain Vibes played in my home town, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their mascot was a running S'mores. Yes, a running S'mores. Like the campfire treat made out of marshmallows, graham crackers, and a piece of chocolate. But these S'mores have legs. Look it up. Since 2021 the Pioneer League has had over 60 players signed to MLB minor league teams, which is pretty cool Players make between $1500 to $2500 per month. They obviously take on part-time jobs when they can and rely on host families for housing. They have a 96-game season.

These guys are playing for the love of the game. Very few of them have a chance of making a career out of playing baseball. But play baseball they do. And they have my respect and admiration. I’ve been to three games so far this year. The league has a ton of good batters, but not that many decent pitchers. It’s a hitter’s league for sure. To prove my point…the Paddleheads have had 5 games so far in the month of July. Scores of those 5 games are: 17 to 10, 17 to 16, 9 to 4, 25 to 14, and 5 to 4. (How did that last score get in there?) I think I proved my point.

The games are fun with the usual goofy minor league promotions. And the hot dogs are awesome, they throw bags of peanuts into the crowd during the 7th inning stretch, and parking is $5.00! Can you beat that? I think not…

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