Game 42 Recap: A Long, Hot Series
Roadsters Rev Up Early, Leave Ballers Behind 20-4 to Take Series in Modesto
by Joe Horton
MODESTO, CA—In the late innings, with the game well out of reach, I walked up to the stands to the back rows to a group of B’s fans who had been carrying the torch for the team all afternoon. Anytime a “Let’s Go Road-sters” chant would start, they would counter with the more natural and melodious “Let’s Go Oak-land.” They shouted name pronunciation corrections to the press box. They had brought their own umbrellas for the sun which told me they knew their stuff. They were local family. Lydia, appointed spokesperson, put it simply: “I love baseball, and Jeter Ybarra is my grandson.” Ybarra had been at their house the day before. They’d seen him play all over in his young career. They would continue to watch him play wherever, whenever. But this game being close to home was nice.
That’s the kind of day it was: as a fan, you were sticking it out because you loved baseball, sure, but you probably also had some extra connection with the team. The B’s were knocked around from the start: it was 5-0 after one and 10-0 after four. Not a single home run was hit. It was hot. The crowd was sparse. It was an 11am game on a Sunday after a big weekend of fireworks on and off the field. For the Roadsters, Byungyong Choi had 5 RBI, Kingston Liniak 4, Tyler Williams 3. As a team they hit .500, 22-for-44. It was the kind of game where you would go for a drink in the shade, contemplate the universe, pet a neat dog on Bark in the Park day, and come back with totally new numbers on the scoreboard everywhere but outs.
Modesto mascots Cruiser and Crooner regularly made their way over to the pockets of B’s fans in the stadium. High marks for these two. My biggest surprise was the erectness of their fox tails, which protrude essentially horizontally from their behinds. No flaccidity, no sitting for these two as they gamely made their way around the park for the three-hour duration.
I caught up with assistant coach James Harris after the game because he’s a guy who’s seen it all and could give some perspective. What, if anything, do you take from a game like this? “This is just a part of the season where it's a little bit tough,” he said. “This was a long, hot series, and our goal is to try to flush this and go into the new week at home for six games and protect home field.”
There are a fair number of new faces on the roster as the Ballers try to retool for a second-half run—Myles Beale and Brady Chavez, for example, seeing action today—what has that changeover been like the last week or so?
“We're getting a first look at some of these guys, but they've come in and been a good fit in the clubhouse and on the team. And so we're just trying to get them a strong role in the bullpen, strong role on the field, and just keep putting it together so we can start stringing some wins.”
And on that good fit front: from the outside, it does look like players are still engaged, still enjoying the game, and haven’t given up. Does it feel that way from the inside the clubhouse?
“Camaraderie is huge. During the times when you have games like this, and we're kind of winning on and off, the camaraderie is huge, and we try to keep that chemistry in the clubhouse between the guys. That's how you stay together. You stick together during a long season. So they've been pretty good, sticking together and having each other’s backs and supporting each other. Now we're trying to piece together on the field.”
I’d asked this because I sat next to the dugout the whole game, which became infinitely more interesting than the game. I’d mentioned to Harris that I’d seen players involved and supporting their teammates despite the score and the heat. Two in particular I’d mention—among many, again, to be sure—were Charlie Hurley and Brendan O’Sullivan, who manned the rail in some of the game’s worst doldrums. I do not know much about baseball, but this struck me as meaningful. At the very least, it made me feel good.
Most Ballers fans did not see this game (shout out Mike, Kyle, Guy, Ybarras, Gareth, other stalwarts) and will never think about it again. That’s good. I’ll remember it for a while. If—and it’s becoming a bigger if—the team can escape these doldrums and put some wind in the sails, I’ll think back to the hard and hot moments like this that earned the momentum. If they don’t, if we stay stuck, it’s like Mike said: I still had a great time and don’t regret an out or inning. I love baseball and I love this team and I brought plenty of sunscreen and touched a fox’s tail boner. Sunday, any day, well spent.
Odds & Ends
At some point in the middle innings, a voice came over the loudspeaker saying there was a problem in the parking lot, attention attention everyone, and if you were the owner of a white van with a certain license plate, there was a problem…it was the dirtiest car in the lot and had won a free carwash! Good promotion, great reveal, even better delivery.
Rally O’Malley: I mean this as no criticism whatsoever, but the poor guy got up and danced for so many Modesto runs that he had to take off his huge emerald head from time to time to avoid overheating. Think of Rally, B’s pitching, next time: how about a nice long rest for him, out of sight and out of mind? My Irish people are nay for the sun.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
