Phoenix.BloggersPub

Enrique Gonzalez, RHP (no record)

Bronson Arroyo, RHP (6-2, 2.29)

Do not expect much input from me for this one. Even if I should wake up in time for the horrendously early start, the odds are enormous that the game will be viewed while horizontal, and wrapped in warm, pillowy fluffiness. Sunday mornings are all about NOT getting up, and even the prospect of a home-grown pitcher making his debut does not alter that as an inviolate law of the universe.

So. Enrique Gonzalez. 10 starts down in Tucson, 4-3 with a 2.24 ERA, 35 K’s and only 14 walks in 60.2 innings. He’s been better still lately, with only two earned runs in his last four games, covering 24.1 IP. He’s a groundball pitcher, which might do him well, given our defense and the nature of the Reds stadium. The 23-year old won’t be on a firm pitch count, but I don’t expect Melvin to leave him out there to dry.

Bit of a double-edged sword to be moved up from Monday to Sunday. Sure, Cincinnati is perhaps a little less of a pressure-cooker than Shea Stadium - though it didn’t seem to do one B.Webb any harm, as I seem to recall. And now, Gonzalez has only got to face the Reds ace, the man with the third-best ERA in baseball this year, Bronson Arroyo. You have fun, Enrique.

Taking a little bit of the stress out, is the fact that we’ve already won the series, having outscored the Reds 10-0 so far. And even if we lose, we’ll still be on top of the division tomorrow night. Though we beat Arroyo last time we faced him, I’m not demanding, requesting, or even hoping for a victory - a quality start from Gonzalez is probably a higher priority than what happens in the game as a whole. Good luck to him, and may it be the first of many appearances for us.

Record: 29-19. Change on last season: +1

After back-to-back shutouts by the same starter, we now post straightforward back-to-back shutouts as a team. Actually, not so long since we managed that - twice in July last season, to be exact. Here are all the occasions in franchise history when we’ve done it:

  Date      Opponent  Score  Starter  ==========  ========  =====  =========  09-11-1999  Phillies   4-0   Benes  09-12-1999  Phillies   5-0   Stottlemyre  --------------------------------------  04-01-2002  Padres     2-0   Johnson  04-02-2002  Padres     9-0   Schilling  --------------------------------------  07-25-2002  Padres    10-0   Patterson  07-26-2002  Padres    12-0   Johnson  --------------------------------------  07-10-2005  Reds       2-0   Gosling  07-14-2005  Brewers    3-0   Vazquez  --------------------------------------  07-27-2005  Brewers    3-0   Vargas  07-28-2005  Cubs       6-0   Halsey  --------------------------------------  26-05-2006  Reds       3-0   Webb  27-05-2006  Reds       7-0   Cruz

These two games have been particularly impressive, since we’ve shut down a Reds offense which was barrelling along at a rate of 5.3 runs/game before we got here. Not any more: Juan Cruz and three relievers took care of that, combining on a five-hitter, while Orlando Hudson had three hits, including his first home run of the year.

It took a while before we could go onto “Cruz control” - the game was scoreless through three, until Counsell scored on an RBI single by Byrnes. We added another run in each of the next three innings, before Hudson’s three-run blast provided the final margin of victory. With Hudson having passed Easley and Snyder in the RBI column, it’s time to retire the Hudson RBI watch.

Or, at least, replace it. With the blast also ending the “Middle Infield HR Watch” (it took 321 at-bats combined for Counsell and Hudson to hit their first homer of the season), it seems time to activate the long-threatened Tracy K Watch. Chad went 0-for-5 with 2 K’s, upping his scheduled strikeout total for the season to a meaty 162; in the past week, only one major-leaguer, Austin Kearns, has fanned more. We’ll continue this one, until Tracy’s pace is less than the franchise record 145, set by Troy Glaus last year.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (younger readers can read “badly-scratched CD” there), we were helped by the opposition defense again, the Reds adding two more to their major-league leading error total. In the past nine games, our foes have committed 18 errors, leading to seventeen unearned runs; the Diamondbacks only three errors, and have no unearned runs. We can’t really rely on this continuing, but it’s nice to see us taking advantage of all the extra outs.

Cruz went six innings, allowed four hits, kept the walks in check (only two, though these did come back-to-back), and struck out five. The bullpen then came in, and threw three innings of one-hit ball, in only 40 pitches. Jorge Julio made his Diamondback debut in the ninth, and hurled a perfect inning, striking out two Reds. I’m thinking he’ll likely join Lyon and Valverde in the A-bullpen.

On the batting front, as well as Hudson’s three hits, Counsell and Snyder chipped in with a pair of knocks and an RBI each. Clark went 0-for-3, doing nothing to justify why he is starting over Jackson - Conor pinch-hit in the eighth and drew a walk. One final thought on Chad - he seems a great fan of Chase Field. Here are his splits:
Home: .337/.375/.606 = .981 OPS, 7 HR, 17 RBI
Road: .253/.341/.405 = .746 OPS, 1 HR, 10 RBI

As William K noted, we’re now ten games above .500, the highest we’ve been since July 20, 2003 (which just happened to be my second wedding anniversary); the Dodgers won again, but it’s particularly impressive to note that only St. Louis has a better record in the NL than us. Indeed, only three teams in all of baseball have more wins. If - and I appreciate that’s a significant caveat - we keep getting quality starts from our pitchers, who knows what might happen?

Thanks also to VIII, dahlian, azshadowwalker, Spencer and johngordonma for their comments on the GameDay Thread - and nice to see icecoldmo back, over in the diary comments. Preview for Sunday’s game to follow very, very shortly, since it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll be up in time for first pitch at 10 am!

[Morning update]

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Juan Cruz, RHP (1-3, 5.61)

Aaron Harang, RHP (5-3, 3.82)

The big news this morning, is that it’s Enrique Gonzalez who will get the start tomorrow, making his major league debut. He’ll be facing the Reds staff ace, Bronson Arroyo, who is only 6-2 with a 2.29 ERA. This is a bit of a mixed blessing, I reckon: while a tough opponent, it means expectations are being heavily managed. I’m a little surprised they didn’t hold him off for Monday, as this instead means he’ll be pitching on short rest - he started for Tucson on Wednesday, but threw only 54 pitches, so should be okay. Still, I imagine Jarvis will be kept loose in the bullpen, just in case.

Daigle hops on the bus back down to the Sidewinders, for the second time. While that departure is no real surprise, these moves do perhaps create a logjam further down the line. What will happen when Terry Mulholland returns, as he seems almost certain to do shortly? And the clock is also ticking on Russ Ortiz’s rehab stint. While EGon can be returned at will, it would be difficult to justify optioning one of the other youngsters like Medders or Valverde back to Tucson, and the alternative would appear to be freeing Grimsley, Jarvis or Mulholland. We’ll see how things work out.

Meanwhile, today’s game sees us with a chance to reach the dizzy heights of double-digits above .500, for the first time in living memory [Ok, it just seems that way.] Juan Cruz is the man bearing that heavy burden, and he came back well in his last outing, though it may be some time before his albatross, the worst start in franchise history, is entirely forgotten. Harang threw a complete game last time, but lost 1-0, thanks in part to his own error. He’s been a bit up and down, but has a 3.04 ERA in 26.1 May innings. Expect stiff breezes in the Cincinnati area too; he has 34 K’s this month, and is 3rd in the NL for strikeouts. Chad Tracy, you have been warned.

I still remain optimistic that we’ll win this one, because I expect (anticipate? hope?) our slumbering lumber to be a sight more present than it was yesterday. The Reds are always dangerous, however, and it would seem crucial that Cruz avoids handing out many walks, which he has the tendency to do (21 free passes in 33.2 innings). With the likes of Adam Dunn in the lineup, those bases on balls can easily end up trotting across home-plate, to the applause of the crowd. Note the slightly early start today - 3:10pm Arizona time. See you there…

The brilliant show Frontline on PBS will be airing an episode on May 30th titled “The Age of AIDS”. Frontline always delivers powerful and compelling insights into all the issues it confronts and I’m confident that this upcoming episode will be no different. Here is a note from the Frontline website:

“On the 25th […]

For those of you who keep tabs on such things, this weekend the Project Forever site will be going down for a little bit while some new ideas and new directions are thought out. It's true that PF has been a come-and-go flow of ideas and projects for the past 2 1/2 years, but I […]

It’s not like me to brag, but I did pick Phoenix to surprise the Mavs in Game 1 and they did exactly that.  They followed their game plan to try and score more points than Dallas, and they were successful.

Boris Diaw had a career game for the Suns, finishing with 35 points.  Steve Nash played spectacular w/ 27 pts and 16 assists, and Shawn Marion provided the 3rd scoring punch & much needed rebounding that helped the Suns win.

Raja Bell went down with some type of calf injury late in the 4th quarter and his status for Game 2 is currently in question.  He’s quoted as saying that it felt like he got shot in the leg with a paint-ball gun.  Marion also twisted an ankle in the game, but it wasn’t serious enough for him to sit out.

Despite a career high from Devin Harris, the Mavs will likely be making some drastic changes to try and slow down the Suns attack.  I’d expect them to clamp down defensively in Game 2 and lower the scoring range down into the high 90’s or low 100’s.  A repeat 120 pt game by the Suns is not likely.

The Phoenix Suns square off tonight against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. 

The Suns took out the LA Clippers in Game 7 of the last series, their second straight 7-game series, and the Mavericks withstood a late charge and overtime to take out the San Antonio Spurs in their Game 7.

Both teams will be looking to run and score a lot of points, but expect Dallas to go through some phases where they’re trying more on defense than they are on offense. Coach Avery Johnson will not be happy, nor will he allow them to be complacent and let the Suns run up & down the court.

Dallas presents a couple matchup problems, similar to what the Clippers presented - a lot more size.  They also have more able bodies to put in the game to foul and/or bruise up the Suns starting squad.  There is a chance that Kurt Thomas will play in this series, and his defense and rebounding would be a great addition if that was so.

The game is in Dallas, but I expect the Suns to be a little fresher and take Game 1.

In other news:

• The NBA Draft Lottery was completed last night and the Toronto Raptors were awarded with the #1 pick. Most analysts believe they’ll pick Adam Morrison from Gonzaga, but GM Bryan Colangelo says a lot can change before the NBA Draft (in a month).
• Kevin Garnett is constantly being rumored in various trade scenarios, but management says that’s not going to happen unless a marquee player is traded in return (ie: Kobe Bryant, Lebron James).  Since that’s not likely, look for the Timberwolves to make some other moves during this offseason.

Today I resumed my old habit of taking the bus to work, relying on the good-ole Route 45 of Valley Metro to shuffle me between Superstition Springs Center and Phoenix. You may recall I used to do this when I lived on Mill Ave., and the commute was only about 20 minutes. The new commute […]

I've been back home now less then 48 hours, and though I never thought I would say this — I'm kind of looking forward to being relatively still and just being able to focus on school and a couple other projects for now. This has been an incredible last year of travel, having taken an […]