Phoenix.BloggersPub

Record: 31-23. Change on last season: -1. Pace: 93-69

Quote of the day: “I just remember the bunt, and the next thing I was laying on the ground” — Mark Reynolds

In the seventh inning, the worst member of our bullpen collided with our current best hitter - and, inevitably, it was the latter who ended up staggering off the field, suspended between two trainers. In a moment more worthy of the UFC than MLB, Brandon Medders’ hip came into contact with Mark Reynolds’ neck, and Mark went down like a sack of potatoes. He lay, motionless and facedown, on the grass for a couple of days, before finally sitting up. It was definitely scary to see him wobble off with all the stability of a day-old fawn.

Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that there was any permanent damage. Said Reynolds, “Once I came in and got some ice on it and X-rays were negative, I felt a little better. It’s a little stiff, but I’ll be back in there tomorrow… “I don’t want to come out and get Wally Pipped.” [That’s a reference to the Yankees first-baseman who was replaced by Gehrig - though the story it was because Pipp had a headache is an urban legend.] However, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see Reynolds sitting today: with luck, between that and the scheduled off-day tomorrow, he should be 100% for the Mets series over the weekend.

One does have to feel a little sympathy for Medders, who has had absolutely nothing go right for him this season. While admittedly, he probably shouldn’t have been trying to make the play, I doubt that he intended to knock a team-mate unconscious. Understandably shaken up, he did get one out, but walked the next hitter. Doug Slaten fared no better, also allowing a single and a walk, the first brought two runs home and the walk put the tying run on base. This one definitely teetered on the edge of falling apart, as Slaten was yanked, and Peña went 2-0 on Burrell.

However, momentum swung sharply back when Peña’s next pitch was grounded to replacement third-baseman Callaspo, who stepped on third for the force, then threw to first to complete the double-play. He was lucky to avoid injury, since Chase Utley was a long way out of the basepath, as he tried to break up the play by sliding into Callaspo. Stephen Drew described it as “unbelievable,” and you had to think there’d be payback for Utley. Oh, sorry: that would require our manager to have cojones - their absence was demonstrated when he pitched to Utley in the ninth. A 96-mph Cruz fastball in the back would have been nice.

Back in the eighth, Arizona plundered five runs - all were unearned, thanks to two Phillies errors. Hudson had a two-run single, and after Quentin got hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Drew emptied them with a triple, to turn a tight game into a laugher. Peña and Cruz tidied things up, though the former did allow a homer and the latter an unearned run. All told, we pounded out seventeen hits, tying a season high, Hudson had four hits and four RBI, Drew three and three, with Montero and Byrnes also having multi-hit games.

A five-run second inning was enough to get Micah Owings the win, though this was far from as dominant a performance as the previous outing, when he threw a complete-game. It took him 107 pitches to get through five innings - 31 for each of the 2nd and 3rd - and he allowed seven hits and two walks. But only one run crossed home plate, so he improved his record to 4-1, and also got his ERA down below four, to 3.86. He was left to hit in the sixth, responding with a triple, and narrowly missing his first home-run. If Reynolds has to sit, wonder if Micah can play third?

A frisky Gameday thread, that was a lot of fun. Goose, Wimb, singaporedbacksfan, oklahomasooners (welcome!), Englishdback, MFAN [half a welcome! ], azdb7, AZDarkKnight, VIII and Frank took part, so thanks to everyone for that. We take sole possession of second place after the Padres lose. Though perhaps most amusing was the Giants losing to the Mets, after Benitez balked home the tying run - his second balk of the inning - then gave up a fattie to Delgado. That slicing sound you hear is suitsme sawing away at his wrists…

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Orlando Hudson: +18.1%
God-emperor of suck: Doug Slaten: -18.8%

Big day today: it’s our last chance to sign our 2006 draft pick, Max Scherzer. Discussion are continuing, and will likely do so right down to the deadline of 9pm (AZ time) tonight. If we don’t sign him, we’ll get a pick as compensation, but it’ll be all the way down at #65, when Scherzer was originally a #15. Hard to say how this one will go. I don’t think Scherzer is worth what Boras wants for him: pitching prospects are notoriously flaky, and harder to predict than hitters, so this is a very different situation from Drew or Upton. If we get him, I’ll be pleased, but I won’t be crying myself to sleep if he has to go back into the draft.

Yesterday, Microsoft released a new device called Microsoft Surface. I got the tip from Ryan Stewart and I must say that I’m blown away. I can’t wait until these things start popping up in restaurants, bars, airports and my home. I’ve included a few pics below but you’ve got to watch the videos on Microsoft’s […]

As with anyone else starting a new job, there is optimism, there is drive, and there is a vision to succeed. With Phoenix Coyotes new General Manager Don Maloney, the Coyotes hope to start anew.

“Winning brings people out - it’s that simple,” said Maloney, the Coyotes new general manager. “But I also believe people get […]

Lynn and I just got back from Houston and here’s our best and worst of the trip.

We got hooked up for high-definition television at the start of the year, and it’s pretty cool. At the moment, our provider (Cox Cable) has about 15-20 channels, mostly covering films, sports and documentaries. Baseball looks good in HD, and films do too, but it’s documentaries that really come across very nicely. Okay, “nicely” might be the wrong word: was watching a Discovery Channel program on polar bears the other day, and it had footage of a bear attacking and dismantling a two-ton bull walrus. Blood and gobbets of flesh everywhere. In high-definition…

There is not, as yet, much programming specifically for HD, but the MOJO channel (formerly known as InHD) leads the way. It’s kind of a more upscale version of Spike TV, featuring guy films like Get Carter - the original, not the crappy Stallone remake - live music performances and so forth. Perhaps our favorite show is the sublime Three Sheets, in which Zane Lamprey visits foreign countries to discover their drinking cultures. This inevitably involves him getting very, very drunk on the local brew (the more exotic the better - I think brussel sprout liqueur was about the worst), then the next morning trying the local hangover cure, which is often worse than the disease. It’s a) very funny, and b) would make for the most lethal drinking game since Withnail and I. Fortunately, episodes are only 30 minutes long.

Anyway, enough digression. The reason I write is that, tomorrow night at 7pm starts The Show, a six-part series about minor-league players trying to make it to the majors. It’s of particular interest here, since it focuses on six members of the 2006 Tucson Sidewinders: Carlos Quentin, Chris Young, Dustin Nippert, Casey Daigle, Brian Barden and Bill Murphy, and follows them through the season. That alone means you are probably on your way out the door, to ensure you have all the necessary equipment to see this show. If not, I’ll want to know why you call yourself a Diamondback fan.

Having seen the first episode, it seems like it’ll give us a chance to see a bit more of the player’s personalities. It’s really difficult to sense what, say, Carlos Quentin is like because all we get are small soundbites in the media, and most of the time, these seem like they are carefully chosen to convey no personality at all. I’m not picking on Q here; I think there’s an MLB training course designed to force all the young players to speak that way. It’s only veterans like Clark, Byrnes and Hudson, whom you can actually identify by their words, with the others ordered to speak in team-oriented cliches. The show certainly seems a lot less formal and more candid: Carlos Quentin was the ’star’ of the first part in that regard.

What it will also do is help refresh our perception of the players as people, with feelings and emotions, rather than over-paid robots. We’re all guilty of letting rip on a player for one thing or another - Brandon Medders would be the recipient this evening, I imagine, for colliding with our best hitter and knocking him unconscious. But they’re human too, and it looks like that side will come across enormously well in this series. As an example, there was a section with Casey Daigle - who has been much-maligned here - and his wife Jenny Finch, talking about which of them was the best pitcher. That kind of thing adds an often-forgotten dimension to the box-score.

The progam is narrated by Joe Mantegna, who’s famous for being a baseball fan - he appeared in Chasing October, which I reviewed back in March, and also was one of the writers of Bleacher Bums, among the best plays about watching baseball. So we’ll forgive him for being a Cubs fan: after all, he’s suffered enough already. The visual style is occasionally somewhat distracting, though the makers can be forgiven for wanting to jazz up what is, basically, a bunch of guys swinging bats and yakking away.

I also hope they don’t go too much for the suspense angle, because we already know what happens here. The Tucson Sidewinders win it all, Quentin and Young get their call-ups, etc. I trust I’m not spoiling this for anyone. This should instead be an insight into what makes minor-league baseball players tick, and what drives them, even in the knowledge that 90% of those in their situation never get to ‘The Show’. Though at Triple-A, you are already dealing with the elite, and none of the six seem lacking in confidence. Actually, you could argue that going further levels down would give for a greater breadth of experience: there’s no way any of these players are going to get cut, say.

It’s difficult to say, on the basis of a single episode - and one which was mostly introduction - what will be the approach taken here. There’s a lot of potential in the idea, and in a world where “reality shows” often seem far from any reality that interests me, it’s great to see something like this. If you were even thinking vaguely about HD, it’s worth going out and getting hooked up, purely for this (okay, this and the polar-bear splatter pics). But even if falls short of these lofty expectation, it’ll still certainly be getting a season pass on our Tivo.

[The Show begins Wednesday, May 30th at 7pm (Arizona time) on MOJO, with repeats at 10pm that night, and thereafter. See the MOJO website for more information, including what looks like a full episode available online.]

So Shawn Marion has an off season of trade rumors and Olympic qualifying to look forward too but that doesn’t seem to bother him one bit. The Matrix spent his weekend kicking it in Vegas at Pure and partied it up with what could best be described as an “eclectic” mix of people.
Possibly the […]

(AP Photo/Roy Dabner)
The next Mark McGwire? You mean - a homerun hitting, fist pumping, juiced up ballplayer who’s infamy in the desert is hitting a BP shot into the “Fridays Front Row” sign?
Well…not quite…but he sure has been dropping some jaws around Chase Field. Not bad for a guy who was taken in the […]

Micah Owings, RHP (3-1, 4.10)

Jon Lieber, RHP (2-2, 3.45)

After yesterday’s frightening little episode, we’ll see what happens today - especially if this ends up being a save situation. Owings was brilliant last time out, pitching his first career complete game, and will need to be on his toes against one of [per AZDarkKnight! ] the best hitting-teams in the league. Lieber has been pretty good too, so this is probably one of those games on the trip I’m less optimistic about us winning. But you never know: that is, after all, why they play the games!

It’s amazing and yet a bit unnerving to think that in answering five simple questions an algorithm can determine so closely the personality or nature that I represent. Yet, it was incredibly accurate. Still, I’m not sure I like that they deem me as a Vulture - seems a bit grotesque.

Your Power Bird is […]

Week 8 Results

AZ SnakePit 2, 7-2 Offsuiters 8 In a battle of cellar-dwellers, 7-2 came out with a convincing victory, thanks to a sweep of pitching. They piled up four wins, with Lowry’s W and 4 K’s their best man. SnakePit’s successes came in RBI and SB, where Roberts drove in 7 and stole four bases. Lopez had 7 RBI for 7-2.

dbacktom 6, Tucson Myth 3 tom took the first six categories to put this away early. Three homers and 9 RBI from Ordóñez powered their offense, and Lackey picked up two wins on the mound. Santana had a win and 13 K’s for Myth, though neither team managed an ERA below four for the week: Saves were tied at three apiece.

The Fighting Amish 6, BBTNG 3 Amish overturned an early deficit to take this match-up, Sabathia’s win and 10 K’s helping their pitching staff, whose ERA was 2.59. BBTNG did well in the power numbers, with Dunn and Gonzalez having three home-runs each, and four players had 6+ RBI, but that was the limit of their success.

4 K’s 4 Gonzo 4, Bob Melvin Sucks 3 In a very even contest, three categories (HR, SB and SV) were shared, but Gonzo’s wins were generally more emphatic: they took K’s 42-19, with sixteen from Burnett. Martinez had 3 HR and 8 RBI for Sucks, and Guillen 3 + 7 for Gonzo. Soriano and Lugo, with two SB each, were the sum total there.

Crazy VIII’s 7, Webby17 2 VIII’s bounced back from their previous drubbing, to administer one of their own. Six players stole bases, and Griffey’s 3 homers matched Webby’s entire total. Peavy had two wins and 14 K’s, but Bay had ten RBI and batted .500, which gave Webby some success - they batted .361 for the week overall.

CoJack Forever 3, Kapsaicin Kids 6 After hitting was split evenly, Kids pulled away on the mound, with a team ERA of 2.63. However CoJacks’ Webb (W, 15 K) was the best pitcher on view. Swisher had three homers and 11 RBI for CoJack, and Nathan posted three scoreless saves. The teams combined for 81 K’s in total.

Baked 3 warlords 5 This was a low-scoring battle, with only 44 runs and 41 RBI combined. Tejada had three HR and 8 RBI for Warlords, but only one other player (Cabrera for Baked) had more than three RBI. Kazmir had 11 K’s for Baked, but Livan Hernandez led Warlords to victory, with a win and 10 strikeouts.

GregSchulteOverdrive 4, Shenanigans 4 Greg hit .315, but that wasn’t enough, as Shen batted .342. The boot was on the other foot in ERA, however: Shen were below three, but still lost, as Greg’s ERA was a miniscule 2.01. Morneau (Greg) had four homers and 13 RBI, but Young (Shena) had ten K’s to give them a crucial tie. Saves were also split.

Desert Dingleberries 4, the don quixotes 5 don pipped Dingle, with the split of stolen bases the decisive area. don had the pitching edge, Hamels’ 16 K’s and win their key man. But eight runs for Ichiro helped Desert keep things close, though Blake’s four HR and 8 RBI for don was probably the best offensive performance here

Chupacabras 4, Douchebaggery 5 Another really close game in the end: both teams hit 7 homers, and that gave Douche victory. Chupa’s arms had a horrible week, with an 8.34 ERA, but still had two W’s, while Douche had none, but got four saves from Fuentes, however. Sanchez (Chupa) scored 6 runs, while Byrnes (Douche) drove in seven.

Standings

 1. warlords             47-28-5   -   2. Crazy VIII's         43-28-9   2   3. dbacktom             41-33-6   5.5   4. 4 K's 4 Gonzo        40-32-8   5.5   5. Douchebaggery        42-34-4   5.5   6. GregSchulteOverdrive 41-33-6   5.5   7. Bob Melvin Sucks     38-32-10  6.5   8. Chupacabras          40-35-5   7   9. Kapsaicin Kids       38-34-8   7.5  10. Desert Dingleberries 39-36-5   8  11. The Fighting Amish   36-37-7  10  12. the don quixotes     37-38-5  10  13. Shenanigans          34-37-9  11  14. 7-2 Offsuiters       35-40-5  12  15. CoJack Forever       35-41-4  12.5  16. BBTNG                35-41-4  12.5  17. Baked                29-41-10 15.5  18. Tucson Myth          31-44-5  16  19. Webby17              30-43-7  16  20. AZ SnakePit          27-51-2  21.5  

Week 9 Games

AZ SnakePit vs. CoJack Forever
dbacktom vs. 7-2 Offsuiters
The Fighting Amish vs. Tucson Myth
4 K’s 4 Gonzo vs. BBTNG
Crazy VIII’s vs. Bob Melvin Sucks
Baked vs. Kapsaicin Kids
GregSchulteOverdrive vs. warlords
Desert Dingleberries vs. Shenanigans
Chupacabras vs. the don quixotes
Douchebaggery vs. Webby17

Warlords vs. Greg Schulte Overdrive is the game of the week. Guerrero had been the heart of the warlords offense, with 41 RBI and a .345 average. Cordero and Isringhausen have combined for 30 saves, and Smoltz seven wins and 2.58 ERA anchors their rotation. Greg are a heavy-hitting bunch, with Morneau, Peralta and Hunter all reaching double-figures in homers. Their pitching may be week, but Zambrano and Gaudin have five wins each.