Phoenix.BloggersPub

Record: 49-47. Change on last season: +3

Phase 2 of our Cunning Plan [TM Baldrick Productions, 1485] is complete: we beat the Rockies, and the Giants slap around the Padres again. Now, all we need is for those two to tear each other’s throats out over the weekend series, while we quietly, and efficiently, continue dismantling the Rockies. The two choke each other out, and we sweep up from third to first without them noticing. Brilliant!

Definitely a relief to get a Vargas start out of the way. This was a quality start rather than a Quality Start: six innings and two earned runs, that’s true. But with six hits and two walks, especially in the early innings, he was often walking on thin ice. Still, he and we survived, and the 7-8-9 team of Vizcaino/Choate, Lyon and Julio posted zeroes thereafter. It wasn’t technically a save situation, but only went that way after we scored in the eighth, and I guess Julio was already warmed up by then.

Meanwhile we got leadoff hits in every one of the five innings the Rockies starter lasted, and clubbed him around for eleven hits and three walks in only 4 2/3 innings. We could - and probably should - have been much further ahead than we were. Three hits for Hudson, two for DaVanon in the leadoff spot. Tracy scored three times, and Stephen Drew had another triple.

However, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Tucker of Chandler will have been delighted by Gonzo’s performance: three hits, including a double that moved him up alongside Dave Parker for 30th on the all-time list. According to the report, LuGon “said before the game that he feared fans would consider him selfish for objecting to being benched. ‘Obviously, when I went out there, I was very leery to hear the fan reaction. Once they were clapping and cheering for me, I was kind of relieved a little bit. You know, I’m not a bad person. I didn’t want to come off like that yesterday.’”

Yeah, we know you’re not a bad person, Luis. I get the feeling he was a little bit disturbed at how his outburst last night came over, and at the reaction of many fans to it. Even Gonzo loyalists - and there are many around, as is clear; I’d even still classify myself as one - were shocked at the reaction. Neither Drew, now hitting .308 since his promotion, nor Quentin, deserve to be the target of any ire. They’re playing to the best of their ability, and if this pushes the veterans, so much the better.

Thanks to npineda, William K, flyingdutchman, TheMainMan, Spencer, IndyDBack and Devin for their comments during the game. Glad to have got this one out of the way; looking at the match-up, this looked like the most troublesome one, and there’s now a real chance that we can carry out our part of the previously-mentioned Cunning Plan. Drew seems to be fitting nicely into the team, and it was suggested he might be a better fit in the #2 hole than at the bottom of the order. Certainly, if he keeps hitting the way he has been, then it’s only a matter of time before he gets moved higher.

Elsewhere, as noted, the Padres went down to the Giants; the Dodgers lost to St. Louis [Webb’s Cy Young rival Penny took the loss there, which is good], but the wild-card leading Reds scored three in the ninth off Turnbow (sound familiar) to snatch victory against Milwaukee. And, in case you didn’t notice - we certainly did in the Gameday Thread - here’s a pitching line to savour from yesterday. Guess who this one belongs to?
Pitcher X: 0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 R, 6 ER

If you solve the equation with “X = Russ Ortiz”, you’re dead right. Forced, by a bout of food poisoning, into a start on two days rest, Ortiz failed to retire a single batter for the Baltimore Orioles. I think any doubts concerning the wisdom of our canning his sorry ass, should now be ended - though if Ortiz is the best spot starter you can find, the problems in your organization run pretty damn deep. Looking at that result, the Orioles would have been six runs better off going straight to the bullpen.

Aaron Cook, RHP (6-7, 3.59)

Claudio Vargas, RHP (7-6, 5.30)

Gonzo has called a press conference for 6pm, at which he will announce his full support for Melvin, putting him in the lineup tonight. All media are expected to be in attendance. Or, perhaps it just seems that way, and last night’s spat was simply a result of the press stuffing a microphone in his face, and Gonzalez being honest. It’s probably somewhere between the two, but I hope that this does not generate into the sort of circus freakshow currently playing out in Toronto. Mind you, it doesn’t seem to be hurting the Blue Jays immediately, going by yesterday’s walk-off home run against Rivera.

So, the Rockies come to town, and we’ll be looking to continue the sinking of their season - since we swept them just before the All-Star break, they’ve slumped, and are 1-9 including that series. Even the Pirates took two of three from Colorado, so it looks like their July (4-11 so far) is going to be just like our June. But we can help make it so by sweeping them again, this time at Chase.

The opener might be the toughest one of all, as Aaron Cook has been close to their ace. However, we’ve faced him three times this season already, and the results have been moderate but consistent. Those games have resulted in a win, a loss and a no-decision for Cook, with him going between six and seven innings, and conceding three or four earned runs each time. We counter with Vargas, who had a very poor outing last time, being yanked before the end of the fourth inning, allowing six runs on eight hits, including two bombs. He hasn’t got past the fourth this month, thus we are certainly hoping for better today.

It just struck me I didn’t hand out the awards for the series just past, so let’s go with a special, All-Rotation edition of…

Heroes and Zeroes
Series 30: vs. Dodgers, at home

Batista: 9 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 ER
Gonzalez: 6.2 IP, 3 ER + 3-for-3, 2 RBI
Webb: 8 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 ER
———————————–
Cruz: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 ER

Pretty simple, really. Winners = Heroes, Losers = Zeroes…

Some of my good friends and I were sitting on the back porch of a Mesa home the other night, a bit after dusk and we had cloves to smoke and bellies full of homemade food, and we were discussing perspectives.
A couple of us, myself included, are “what if?” people. We spend alot of time […]

Record: 48-47. Change on last season: +2

I wanted to get the whole Gonzalez thing out of the way, before moving onto a discussion of last night’s game, where the victory moved us above .500 for the first time in a month. And I call “Nostradamus!” on myself: “If we can pry three runs from the Dodgers tonight, that should be enough,” I said, and that would indeed have been exactly enough. Webb gaves us eight innings of solid pitching, aided enormously by four double-plays. He seemed almost to be able to generate them at will, when most needed:

It is unthinkable that the executives of the Diamondbacks are even considering letting Luis Gonzalez go. This is a man who was instrumental in winning the 2001 World Series. Who mentors the new kids on the team. Who has deep ties to the community and is generous to a fault. Who has given his heart and soul to baseball. Yes, he is getting older (who isn’t?). Yes, his numbers have slipped, the big hits are fewer. But a more faithful team member you won’t find anywhere.

Should he be tossed out like an old shoe? No, he deserves better. He deserves to finish his contract with our team. We send out a plea to all Gonzo fans: Write to the owners and anyone else who might have influence and ask them to honor Gonzo’s contract. Ask them for once to think with their hearts and not their wallets. We are with you, Gonzo, all the way. - Mr. and Mrs. Ed Tucker, Chandler
    — Letter in Republic this morning

There is much I’d agree with in the above letter. Luis Gonzalez has, for much of the past decade, been a gem, the face of the franchise, a great ambassador for the team, and baseball. He is, and always will be, an absolute SnakePit hero. But this is not 2001 any more, and five years after that, it’s time to move on, or we will be forever stuck in the past. Or maybe we should trade Quentin for Steve Finley - hell, he’s only 41. And waive Jackson, so Grace can come down from the broadcast booth. But Mark Grace is 42, and has accepted that’s not going to happen.

Gonzo, however, seems to think he is still the player from that year, who should not be benched unless his count of functioning limbs sinks below three, when the truth is - and I can see why it’s hard to swallow - that we now have younger, cheaper, better alternatives. Going to the media and - there’s really no other word for this - whining about being given a day off, does no good whatsoever. Melvin even went out of his way to stress that Gonzalez would be back in the lineup today, but that wasn’t enough to keep our former All-Star happy.

Something has changed, between Spring Training Gonzo, who said, “I told them to run 20 kids out there in left field during spring training, and I’ll beat all of them. I’m not afraid of competition. I’ve had to deal with it my whole life”, and the July version, where he thinks the club needs veteran leadership as it contends for the NL West title. What it actually needs as it contends for the NL West title is players who produce - and especially against left-handed hitters, that is not Luis Gonzalez, now more than ever before. If he was still beating all the kids, aggrieved fans would not need to be writing to the newspapers.

There will come a day when the team has to function without Luis Gonzalez, one way or another. When that day comes, may not be when Gonzalez wants it to come, but an appreciation of that is almost essential in dealing with the situation. It’s interesting to look at his attitude in terms of the Kübler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Luis seems to have moved from the first, pre-season, into the second one right now. I guess we’ll see whether or not he enters the third one before the trade deadline…

I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll say it again, Fred Clark at Slactivist.com is one of my favorite bloggers. It is a common occurence when I start to work on a blog post and visit Fred’s blog and realize he’s said what I wanted to say but much more eloquently and effectively. He’s […]

The Phoenix Suns signed former Celtic guard Marcus Banks to a 5 year contract for $21 million.  Banks should fit in well with the run & gun Suns, as most have said he’s almost as quick as Leandro Barbosa.  Marcus will likely backup Steve Nash and play shooting guard as well.

Mark Hendrickson, LHP (4-10, 3.77)

Brandon Webb, RHP (10-3, 2.52)

Batting seventh, in left-field: Carlos Quentin. Yep, no Gonzo tonight - truly, The Future is Now. We should get shirts made. However, Melvin’s comments before the game make it clear that we should not expect this every day. “This is just a guy that we feel is ready for the big leagues. But is not here in a starting role right now. Gonzo is going to be back out there tomorrow. But certainly Gonzo wants to play everyday and I don’t blame him. Gonzo is swinging the bat well and I expect him to continue to swing the bat well.”

Exactly where Quentin is going to get into the lineup, remains to be seen. We already have DaVanon capable of operating as the fourth outfielder when necessary, so it’s hard to see this as a sustainable scenario for the long-term, even if (as tonight) Quentin gets to start against left-handed pitching. My money is still on one of Gonzalez or Green - most likely the latter, but hell, in an ideal universe, both - being traded away between now and the deadline. Otherwise, this roster move doesn’t really make an awful lot of sense.

Elsewhere in tonight’s game, Brandon Webb takes on Mark Hendrickson, in what should see Arizona with the edge. However, despite the fact that he is 1-7 in the past two months, Hendrickson did allow only a single run last time out, and that was against a powerful St. Louis lineup. He also pitched a complete game versus the Tigers, with only one unearned run to show for it, so it would be wrong to underestimate the potential here.

However, if we can pry three runs from the Dodgers tonight, that should be enough; it would be very little surprise at all if we were to see back-to-back complete games. Webb has been insanely good lately, with an 0.78 ERA for his three July starts, covering 23 innings. I expect more of the same, and think that by the end of the night, we’ll either be back in second, or a game closer to the Padres. The major-league debut of a stud prospect and the best pitcher in the NL starting for us? Mrs. SnakePit and I would like to thank the Diamondbacks for this fine 4th anniversary gift - now, let’s just hope they can tie the series off with a win, so we don’t need to exchange it for towels.

Record: 47-47. Change on last season: +2

Better. Much better. This series has been like a 1/30 scale model of the season in general, with the Diamondbacks swinging from ruthlessly efficient to woefully inadequate, and then back again - only within the space of three days, rather than three months. But last night might make it into the end of season awards for Best Diamondbacks Performance of 2006. We slapped around the Dodgers’ co-ace, who beat us two weeks ago, Batista pitched a complete game shutout, and Stephen Drew had the breakout game we’ve all been waiting for, rapping out two doubles and a triple.

This one was kept scoreless through the front three and a half innings, both teams benefiting from the double-play ball: with Lowe pitching for Los Angeles, this was almost an inevitable occurrence. However, we finally started hitting the other way in the bottom of the fourth. Tracy, batting in the #2 spot, got on base and came home on another one of Gonzo’s patent doubles [now 3rd in the NL this year, with thirty - one-third of all his hits]. Estrada then singled home LuGon, and after he should have been walked, failing to get the call on a 3-0 pitch well below the zone, Green smacked a pitch 443 ft. into the picnic area for a 4-0 lead, and Arizona didn’t look back.

Batista was in command the entire night - not a single Dodger reached third base. He only fanned two, continuing the streak of low-strikeout appearances noted in the Gameday thread, but only walked two as well, in completing the six-hitter. That’s his third complete game of the season, which is already a career high, and his second of the month. It was just the fourth shutout of Miggy’s career, and the second in a D’backs uniform: the other occasion was almost exactly three years ago to the day, on July 18, 2003, when he pitched a five-hitter against the Padres in Qualcomm.

As well as Green, Hudson matched him with another two-run homer, this one off Broxton in the eighth - that was the ninth of the season for both men. Estrada, Green and Byrnes all had two hits, while Gonzalez and Drew [the past and the future faces of the franchise, if you like] each had three knock nights. The latter was particularly gratifying, after Drew had done 2-for-16 since being called up: not that I was worried you know…but concerned might be acceptable. As William K suggested, if he keeps hitting like that, he won’t be hitting #8 in the order for long.

Your daily dose of yummy Fangraphs goodness
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Today: Who will buy my Miggy Batista?

I’m definitely happier to have been watching this one than Tuesday night’s phoned-in performance. Thanks to npineda, William K, trevjohnson, VIII, TheMainMan and wimb for their contributions. The victory puts us in a great position, with Webb pitching tonight, to take the series 3-1, and carry some momentum forward for the Rockies, who are rapidly imploding out of the division race. Here’s how Baseball Prospectus rates the post-season odds of the NL West teams [they add up to more than 100% because of the wild card, obviously]:

1. Padres: 53.2%
2. Dodgers: 27.9%
3. Giants: 24.4%
4. Diamondbacks: 20.9%
5. Rockies: 14.2%

I think the fact we’re back in fourth is largely due to the tough schedule that awaits us down the line. However, we only have one series (SF, Aug 7-9) in the next four weeks against a team currently above .500, so we should take advantage of that before things swing the other way. More imminently, with the Padres facing the Giants in a four game series this weekend, the ideal scenario would be for SF to take three from SD, while we win behind Webb, then sweep the Rockies. That would result in virtually a three way tie: Padres 51-47, AZ 51-47, Giants 51-48.

And on to the various rumours:

• Sports Illustrated: “Diamondbacks fans must be salivating at the rumors that the Yankees are interested in acquiring Shawn Green. He’d have to waive his limited no-trade clause, and whoever picks him up will be on the hook for at least $11.5 million of salary through next season. And that’s not even counting the expense of buying a time machine to go back to 2002 when Green was still kind of good. [Memo to SI: Green’s .309 BA is actually 5th best among all qualifying major-league right-fielders this year, and even his OPS is still in the top ten.] However, some team looking for an outfield power bat always bites on this kind of guy, and this year probably will be no exception.”

• But the East Valley Tribune says: “The New York Yankees have shown off-and-on interest in acquiring Diamondbacks right fielder Shawn Green, according to industry sources, although at this point a deal seems highly improbable… Yankees owner George Steinbrenner appears to have more interest in Philadelphia’s Bobby Abreu.” Okay, then: what about Detroit, perhaps? The Detroit News says, “If the Yankees end up with Abreu, the Tigers might take a shot at Shawn Green,” but at the moment, this appears to be little more than kite-flying.

• The complete game shutout last night undoubtedly increased Miguel Batista’s value, and the Tribune again, says the Mets are sniffing around: The New York Mets have scouted the starts by Miguel Batista and Juan Cruz the last two days amid reports they were looking for more pitching for the stretch run, and the teams have had preliminary conversations about a possible deadline trade… The D-Backs likely would have interest in Mike Pelfrey, the Mets’ first-round draft pick in 2005, but it is unknown if the Mets would trade part of their future for a more proven veteran such as Batista, who will become a free agent this winter.”

Finally, something that is nothing to do with baseball, but more to do with Arizona life in general. From the Republic:

According to the Republic:

That a position player is coming back up would seem to make sense. Since the initial trigger was Tony Clark going on the DL, an infielder - Callaspo - would seem to be the most obvious choice. However, if it does turn out that Quentin has been called up, and rumour suggests that’s the case, it might raise a flag that Green or Gonzalez are being traded elsewhere. This would fit in with the findings of our current poll, in which a clear majority (54%) think Green is more likely to be dealt than anyone else.

If Callaspo gets the call instead, it may simply be as injury cover, but the same could still apply (if Hudson or Counsell, say, were the trade targets). For it does make sense to get the replacement called up in advance of the trade, and get them accustomed to life in the majors. But the Diamondbacks would not be doing this unless a deal was all but assured; starting their contract clock as a speculative move, doesn’t make any sense.

Another possibility, not raised by the Republic, is that Scott Hairston might come straight back to the big club. Unlike the two previously mentioned, he is already on the 40-man roster. However, as he doesn’t seem to have played any games for Tucson yet, I think it’s unlikely he’ll get to do his rehabbing in the majors. Anyway, interesting times, and a bunch of trade rumblings involving the Diamondbacks floating about. More on those later, I just wanted to get this one up there ASAP…