Phoenix.BloggersPub

Randy Wolf (30, LHP, 8-6, 4.32)

Randy Johnson (43, LHP, 4-2, 3.52)

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This should be interesting, as we get to see how Randy’s back holds up, now the herniated disc in his back has flared up. This will be a test of what we might expect for the rest of the season from Johnson: we’ll see whether those days of six-inning starts will seem like marathons. Webb’s seven innings gave the pen a bit of a rest, but we’ll see how soon they’re needed. We should be able to take Wolf, and come away with a split in the series. It’s less whether we’ll be feeling Randy, as how Randy is feeling…

While some of the biggest names in the NBA have yet to change teams today, there have been a couple pretty significant trades.  Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal and Shawn Marion all stayed in place, as did Kobe Bryant, but Zach Randolph, Steve Francis, Jason Richardson and Ray Allen were moved on draft day.  There were a couple of minor trades that took place (for cash or late picks); I’m going to pass on mentioning those since you probably wouldn’t care anyway.

Celtics Trade 5th Pick & Players to Sonics for All-Star Ray Allen
I’m not sure how Allen and Paul Pierce will get along in Boston, but together with Al Jefferson, Rajon Rondo and Gerald Green, things are looking up for the Celtics. 

The Sonics on the other hand, now have Kevin Durant (#2 pick) and Jeff Green (#5 pick) to start rebuilding their team.  With Allen now out of town, the Sonics will be pushing hard to re-sign forward Rashard Lewis before another convinces him to leave - he’s rumored to be going to the Orlando Magic.  The Sonics also acquired Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West in the deal.

Trailblazers Trade Zach Randolph & Players to Knicks for Steve Francis & Channing Frye
This one is pretty significant, since it rids New York of a horrible contract for a player who’s not performed to-date (Francis), and it gives them a low-post player to compliment Eddy Curry in the middle.  While the Knicks had to give up a good player in Frye, getting Randolph and Dan Dickau was definitely worth it.  New York should be right back in the playoffs with this move.  Also exchanged was Fred Jones (from Portland to NY).

Portland had a crowded frontcourt after drafting Greg Oden #1 earlier in the day, so the move was somewhat expected.  With reigning Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge developing quickly, Portland made the move to open up room for Oden to join these two as the core of the franchise.

Warriors Trade Jason Richardson & 36th Pick to Bobcats for Brandan Wright (#8 Pick)
This one is a little puzzling to me, although the Golden State backcourt was quite crowded w/ Monta Ellis, Matt Barnes and Baron Davis playing so well; Richardson was the odd-man out in this case.  The Warriors get a decent big man in the deal, which is something they really could’ve used in the playoffs against the gritty Jazz. 

The pick of Wright by Charlotte looked a little weird at first, since he was the 3rd North Carolina player drafted by Michael Jordan since he took over (can you say bias?).  The trade changes that and puts Richardson in a good spot w/ Emeka Okafor, Raymond Felton, Sean May and hopefully Gerald Wallace.  Wallace could leave as a free agent, which could be the reason for the trade.

After trading away the 24th pick, the Suns have chosen forward Alando Tucker from the University of Wisconsin w/ the 29th pick of the 2007 NBA Draft.  The former Badger won the Big 10 Player of the Year award, and is the 2nd leading scorer in Wisconsin history… so the guy isn’t a slouch by any means.

He averaged a career-high 19.9 points and added 5.4 rebounds per game this past season. Makes up for his lack of size with exceptional athleticism.

These stats are about equal to Shawn Marion’s, but the NBA is different from college, so that’s as far as I’ll go w/ that comparison.  League experts are giving the Suns credit for picking up Tucker this late in the draft - many are comparing it to the Mavs selection of Josh Howard several years ago.

He’s an extremely poor free-throw shooter at 63.6 percent for his career, and doesn’t have much of an outside shot. Not big enough to be a forward in the NBA, and doesn’t have enough of a perimeter game or the ballhandling skills to be consistently effective at guard, so teams may have trouble figuring out how he would fit. Doesn’t seem to possess much range as a player other than his ability to score. His athleticism, though, should make him attractive to a team that could use help off the bench.

It’s a little surprising that the Suns would draft someone who can’t shoot from the outside, isn’t big enough to battle in the paint, and is a poor free throw shooter.  I guess they figure the athleticism will allow him to be successful in the Phoenix run n’ gun system.  Tucker will most certainly come off the bench and will be lucky to break into coach Mike D’Antoni’s short 7-9 man rotation.  He should get some good looks throughout the season, but if he can’t perform, he’ll end up riding the bench just like Marcus Banks and Jalen Rose this year.

The Phoenix Suns elected not to choose a player for their own team w/ the 24th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.  Instead, the Suns drafted Rudy Fernandez (from Spain) on behalf of the Portland Trailblazers, who paid cash for the pick.

Phoenix will reportedly receive about $3 million for the pick, which should help them pay the luxury tax if they elect to keep both Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire, which management has said they want to do.  The trade also means that Phoenix keeps a roster spot, something they would’ve otherwise lost by drafting a player.

Today on Foxsports Adam Schein posted an article entitled the Schein’s Nine: Most Underrated Stars. And wouldn’t you know it, Adrian Wilson, the Arizona Cardinals’ all pro safety was right at the top of the list. Here’s what Schein had to say about him:
Adrian Wilson
It perplexes me to see lists of upper echelon […]

Yeah, it’s a funny name. Funny.
Well folks, life has come calling and I’ll be leaving the River City for the final time on Saturday afternoon. I’m relocating the House to Tallahassee, Florida because Richmond just isn’t humid enough. I’m not sure when the internet will be up and running at the new digs so […]

Welcome to this week’s edition of In The Zona, Arizona’s Premier Sports Podcast. This week we have a lot to talk about. So much, that we couldn’t decide on one topic. We talk Suns NBA Draft, the possibility of Kevin Garnett to the Lakers or the Suns, Diamondbacks baseball, the NHL Draft and much more, […]

The Phoenix Coyotes have not said anything publicly about what skaters they covet for the 2007-2008 season, and of course, why would they? But with two recent developments, I thought I would throw out my humble opinion (for what it’s worth) on a couple of notable Unrestricted Free Agents that could come here.
Daniel Briere […]

According to a report from East Valley Tribune, the Phoenix Coyotes have hired a new play-by-play announcer for their television broadcasts to replace Curt Keilback whose contract was not renewed for the upcoming season.
Dave Strader, former broadcaster for the Florida Panthers, and who has done some work for ESPN, Versus, and the Detroit Red Wings […]

Record: 45-34. Change on last season: +8. Pace: 92-70

Quote of the Day: “We could have lost it all in that one inning. The Saenz at-bat was huge. Then Valverde comes in and closes it out. We like to bring in Jose in a clean inning. We don’t like to have men on. But with the limitations we had down there, we had to do it.” — Bob Melvin

Perhaps the finest moment of the year so far came in the top of the sixth, with the D-backs clutching a 1-0 lead. The TV commentators had just delivered a long hagiography (look it up) on how Mother Teresa Luis Gonzalez had spent time with some folk from the local Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, doing a “meet and greet”. All very laudable, but a) do we need a description that seemed to last longer than the actual event, and b) can we now expect equal time for the charitable work done by current members of the team?

Anyway, Gonzo smacked a ball to right that Byrnes absolutely butchered, and it went to the wall behind him. Luis motored smoothly round first, ready to put the tying run on second with no outs. But Byrnes corralled the ricochet and sent a laser throw on the fly - and, I note, with no Louganis-like flipping - to Drew. He slapped Gonzo on the top of his head as he slid, and Gonzalez was left, as Darin Sutton brilliantly put it, to “meet and greet” his team-mates back in the dugout. Thank you, baseball gods.

Bit of a tense game last night. In only four of the 40 Dodger plate-appearances, was the tying or go-ahead run not at the plate. Three of those came in the ninth - I guess it says something that the least exciting part of the game was a Valverde save! The Dodgers seemed permanently to threaten, but kept coming up empty, going 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Not that Arizona was much better, only 1-for-5, though Byrnes’ top of the seventh single did at least break a lengthy oh-fer in that situation.

Until thar RBI, it looked like Lowe might take the loss, despite not having allowed an earned run. [That’s more common for starters than you’d think: Doug Davis has done it twice this year already] All we’d managed was a hitless run in the first, on two walks, an error and our MVP, Sac Fly. After that, Webb and Lowe posted eleven consecutive zeroes, and Arizona had only six hits all night. Hairston had two, while Drew, Hudson and Snyder all had a hit and a walk.

Webb seemed to pitch better from the stretch, but got invaluable help from Snyder. Our catcher got the lead runner at third on a Lowe bunt attempt in the fourth, and repeated the medicine on a Pierre bunt in the seventh. Crucial plays, for which Snyder deserves enormous credit. That helped Webb throw seven scoreless frames, despite allowing five walks and seven hits. He’s the first pitcher to allow 12 baserunners in 7+ shutout innings this year: only one man since 2002 has allowed more [Carlos Silva’s complete game, 14 baserunner start on August 3rd, 2004]

The eighth, however, was the key, despite AZ having added an insurance run. The utterly useless LOOGY Randy Choate extended his record this year to three batters and three hits, as he failed to retire either Gonzo or Loney. Cruz got Nomar swinging, then walked Ethier, to load the bases with one out. However, to cheers from SnakePit Towers, he got Saenz swinging too, and Jose Valverde got the last four outs, for his first save longer than one inning since September 2005.

Given the excitement, a relatively quiet Gameday Thread. Certainly, in my case, I was too scared to move from in front of the TV, except a brief rant against Randy Choate. MFAN, oklahomasooners, hotclaws, singaporedbacksfan, Ridster, Goose, DbacksSkins and our newly-degreed Wimb were present, as Arizona rose once again to the top of the NL West, albeit tied with the Padres. Stock up on the Tums, folks: we’re not even half-way through the season yet…

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +47.4%
God-emperor of suck: Randy Choate, -17.3% [well done! You must get up very early…]

The win provided our bullpen with some crucial breathing space. Tony Peña was unavailable because of having an infection removed from his thigh [ick!], while Lyon and Slaten were basically marked ‘For Emergency Use Only’. Getting seven innings from Webb was thus absolutely crucial, though a seat should definitely be saved on the next Tucson bus for Randy Choate.

Bizarre, late-afternoon start time today, for Randy Johnson: 3.40pm? We’re over one big hurdle with this victory, and can still get the expected split if we win today. Let’s do that, go 6-4 on the homestand, and head on the road still atop the division.