What a crazy way for the latest series to come to a close – rallying from 5-3 down heading into the eighth inning to pick up a victory on a walkoff home run from Jeimer Candelario, 6-5.  It was keyed by two shutout innings from Eddie Orozco, who has not allowed a run in his five appearances with the Hawks, and capped by Candelario, who crushed a 1-0 fastball to end a 21 game homerless drought.

Not to go Cole Hamels on anyone, but after watching the “celebration” by Candelario after his home run (which was about as crazy as I’ve ever seen), I wouldn’t be surprise if the Yakima Bears have something “special” for him during tonight’s game.  It was the first walk-off home run since July 4th last season (Paul Hoilman) against the same Yakima Bears – which started a started a strange stretch against the Diamondbacks affiliate, as five of the last seven games have been walkoff wins by the Hawks at home against the Bears (game-winners by Hoilman, Kenny Socorro, Ben Klafczynski, and Ryan Cuneo last season).

It was a monster night for Bijan Rademacher, who had three doubles and scored three runs – then found out after the game the hitting .399 in the Northwest League earns a promotion to the Peoria Chiefs, joining teammate Chad Krist, who is hitting .500 after four games in the Midwest League.  To take his place, former College of Idaho All-American Izaac Garsez has been promoted from the Mesa Cubs to take his place.  Garsez, the fourth local player to suit up for the Hawks in the last 12 years (joining Vallivue High grad Pat McIntyre, Capital High and NNU product Roger Evenson, and Centennial High grad Jordan Latham) – so expect a nice walkup crowd coming to the park from Canyon County.

I mentioned it on the broadcast last night – what is it like for Mike Safford when we are at home?  Typical days are the same, getting up around 7 a.m. to get Game Notes done ((Speaking of Game Notes, Here They Are for Game 2 of the Yakima Series) and have a chat with my wife Liza before she goes to work. My son PJ (the one I say hi to each night on the broadcast) gets up around 7:30 and after we dink around for a bit, I take him to school and I head to my fulltime job as Associate AD for Athletic Communications at The College of Idaho.  I will spend 5-6 hours at the College (right now working on website migration) – also getting interviews ready for Hawkstown Tonight, then making the 40 minute trek to the yard to get ready for the game.  Following the game, I write the story you see on BoiseHawks.com each day and make the trip home, arriving around 11:30 p.m. (if I am lucky).  Weekends are a bit different – we try to get out of the house as much as we can, whether that means taking a walk, going to Roaring Springs, going grocery shopping, washing the car, or working in the yard, we try to get out as a family and spend time together (since I am on the road 38 days a summer).  We try to have a Sunday dinner before I head to the park (we made some jalapeno sausages on Sunday, with corn on the cob and grilled vegetables) – much, much better than the typical dinner I get each night.  I also spend time getting things ready for the next trip – including mowing the yard (spent 2 hours working on sprinklers yesterday morning) and pruning of bushes.