Rickstate

What is Sandlot?

On August 3rd-4th, the Austin Drag visited sunny San Diego and played some Southern California Sandlot. I was unfortunately unable to make the California trip (no recaps on my end).
Coincidentally, the Cap City Cobras were playing ball in Oakland + SF at the same time.

Much like the ’58 Giants and Dodgers, both the Drag and Cobras organizations considered relocating to more agreeable climates, but stadium and municipal disputes proved too troublesome to overcome, leading both organizations to return home to the beloved East Austin Govalle Park and compete in a “Welcome Home” game.

8.16.2024 – Austin Drag vs. Cap City Cobras @ Govalle – 7pm

Instagram post about the game.

For the Drag, the game very much felt like a case of “deja vu all over again.”
It felt very similar to our last Yardbirds game (7.27).
Our offense stagnates while Steven Carrizales impressively stifles the opposition. Carrizales went three clean innings before an infield error helped the Cobras get on the board.
After four innings, the score was knotted up at 1-1.

As it goes, if you give a good team an inch, they’ll take a foot. That’s exactly what the Cobras did. The Drag made our pitching change and, as soon as Carrizales departed the mound, all those previously beady cobra eyes got big. They put together some tidy rallies in the fifth and sixth leading to a few runs.

Hey, how’d the Drag do offensively?
Well, Thomas “Cy Young” Slanker simply carved us up. Topping that off, with the exception of two or three hits, when we did catch a barrel, the Cobra defense covered ground and made plays.

For the most part, Slank was inducing soft contact by grooving all his pitches, including the kitchen sink, for strikes. He controlled counts and got comfortable serving up a variety of breaking balls that our lineup was mostly unable to square up.
On the Drag’s side, Carrizales kept his fastball down at bottom of the strike zone while effectively mixing in his lefty hook.

Did anyone else play besides those two pitchers?
Sure, Reid Meyer came in after Slank and exhibited a completely different way to carve our lineup up.
Marc Segal, of the Drag, came on in relief and threw a very sharp 7th inning. With the clock closing in on 10pm and with the game already in hand for the Cobras, it was agreed to play a lil bit of meaningless bonus baseball as I got to pitch the bottom of the eighth.

As what’s becoming all too common, I was wild. Again. I think I threw to five hitters. Issued 2-3 walks. Converted one or two outs before Studebaker had seen enough and called the game due to time + home team was already in the lead + he was tired of watching the ball wildly fly out of my hand.

Defensive highlights include:
In the fourth inning, with a few Cobras on base, there was a drive to the left centerfield wall that the Drag relayed perfectly to nail a runner at the plate. Harrison Davis (CF), Nick Stillman (SS), and RJ (C) combined to execute a damn-fine relay. That was our defensive highlight.
For the Fangs, shortstop Hunter Ward made a few great plays. Same can be said for second baseman Tom Ligh.

Offensively, Steven Carrizales (Drag) hit the ball to the wall that he felt, considering he’d been pushing so hard and carrying such a heavy load on the mound, should only be limited to a John Kruk/Mo Vaughn single.
Stillman (Drag) caught a barrel or two.
Tom Ligh (Cobras) got a barrel.
Grace Coronado (Cobras) hit an RBI liner up the middle.

And that’s about all she wrote.
Final score —
Drag = 1 lonely run scored in the top of the first
Cobras = a 6-pack of Ice Cold Cobra Brews

Post-game reports:
The following remark is true – the Cobras have been playing very, very good baseball recently.
The following remark is less than true – during a recent booze-fueled discussion with a contingent of high-ranking Cobra officials at Kinda Tropical, the Cobras are decidedly taking a hiatus from dumpster diving the dregs of the sandlot world. For their next series, they are considering reaching out to the Boerne Little League team so the Fangs can get an opportunity to face some real competition.

Game photos below.
Older sandlot photos (album link here).

8.20.24

Show notes:
The jazz hour consisted of the usual suspects: Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Sinatra, Basie, Louis Prima, and more.
The soul and “mixed bag” hour included tracks by Clyde McPhatter, Solomon Burke, Shirley Ellis, Barbara Lewis, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Little Richard, Leon Redbone, and many more.

A recording of the broadcast is available for you here–

Provided your device’s media player treats you better than WordPress’s above player, the Rick’s Canteen google folder has been updated (this is always the first thing to be updated).

The Spotify playlist is below.

As always, the short, repeated instrumentals serve as the “bed” music (the background music that plays while the DJ chats about… whatever).

Playlist note* – the show’s recording cut out just before I aired C.W. Stoneking’s “We Gon’ Boogaloo”.

8.13.24

Show notes:
The jazz hour consisted of the usual suspects: Milt Jackson, Errol Garner, Miles Davis Quintet, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Sinatra, Basie, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, and more.
The soul and “mixed bag” hour included tracks by Sugar Pie DeSanto, Rosco Gordon, Betty James, Slim Harpo, Ray Charles, and many more.

A recording of the broadcast is available for you here–

Provided your device’s media player treats you better than WordPress’s above player, Rick’s Canteen google folder has been updated (this is always the first thing to be updated).

The Spotify playlist is below.

As always, the short, repeated instrumentals serve as the DJ “bed” music (the background music that plays while the DJ chats about… whatever).

Playlist note* – the show’s recording cut out just before I aired Nina Nastasia’s “Late Night”.

8.6.24

Show notes:
As always, the jazz hour had plenty of Duke, Dizzy, and Louis.
For the 9 o’clock hour– I played some soul standouts and some tracks that I unfortunately had to leave out from my Friday guest DJ spot on Study Hall.
The final 20 mins of the program was a bit of a grab bag of Barry White, Bob Wills with New Orleans brass, contemporary New Orleans brass, and a final song by the expat Micah P. Hinson.

A recording of the broadcast is available for you here–

Provided your device’s media player treats you better than WordPress’s above player, Rick’s Canteen google folder has been updated (this is always the first thing to be updated).

The Spotify playlist is below.

8.2.24

Instagram post.
I’ll actually deliver some sort of a write up late Sunday (8.4).

Provided your device’s media player treats you better than WordPress’s above player, Rick’s Canteen google folder has been updated (this is always the first thing to be updated).

I’ll add more content to this post tomorrow.

Notes on spotify playlist:
Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears” was the show’s final track. The remainder of the songs were overflow (they weren’t aired).