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Despite the complete lack of posts this week I’m still alive, but I’m not sure if that’s worth a shit right now. The nun-killing pedophiles at espn have apparently started hating me back, because it’s not enough to just NOT air the best game in the country in my region. Oh no, you have to […]

photo courtesy of azcardinals.comFor the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals is shaping up to be an easy win. Being very bias towards the Cardinals I say not so fast. Yes, right now the Cardinals might be playing without Anquan Boldin and Levi Brown who are both listed as doubtful due to […]

Oh what a difference one day makes. Yesterday live was filled with fear, frustration, and an overall sense of impending doom. Although the Arizona Diamondbacks had their ace Brandon Webb on the mound there was still grounds for worrying since Webb’s numbers this season against the Rockies were not exactly Cy Young worthy. I know I should have had a positive attitude and confident at the Diamondbacks chances but when you are playing a team at home who has not lost since September 15 in front of a sold out stadium and your pitcher has not won a game against them all season doubts do linger in your mind. Adding to the stress was the fact that the second place San Diego Padres seems to be getting stronger every day erasing the Diamondbacks NL West lead to a single game. I’m no astrologist but it did seem to me that the heavens had conspired against this team. But oh what a difference 2 hours and 45 minutes can make to your outlook.

Record: 90-70. Change on last season: +14. Pace: 91-71
Playoff odds: 10…oh, what the hell:

Playoff Magic Number: 0, aught, duck egg, goose egg, nada, naught, nil, nix, nothing, nought, nullity, scratch, void, zilch, zip, zot

Quote of the day: “So what began so fitfully in April starts winding to a conclusion with the same two teams on the same field. It’s kind of like a samurai movie, where a pair of n00bish acolytes square off at the beginning before taking their long journeys of growth into true warriors, becoming mortal enemies along the way and then meeting one final time for all the glory.” — Rox Girl

I watched Resident Evil: Extinction last night, and while I like Rox’s metaphor above, I think there’s something about the evolution of Alice through the three films in the series, which perhaps parallels the Diamondbacks’ own journey over the last six months. We’ve gone through the depths of hell and back, fought our way through hordes of enemies, taken truckloads of damage, developed some astonishing new skills…and come through to the end, the ultimate bad-ass: kicking butt, taking names, and ready for the final boss level. I guess the tentacled mutation thing she battles at the end of Extinction would be the Red Sox. Or perhaps the Yankees. I’m still working on that metaphor. But, hell, seeing as I was watching Milla when we clinched playoff baseball, I think she enters the pantheon of SnakePit deities, alongside St. Penelope of the Cross and the Blessed Salma of Hayek, as a Holy Trinity of sorts.

Bob Melvin will be the Manager of the Year. There’s no doubt about it now. Dropping Webb back to face the Rockies explains why he earned the label “Mad Scientist” from Grace and Sutton; it was the kind of move that, if it had backfired, would have been subject to second-guessing from now till spring training. And, given Webb hadn’t beaten the Rockies in five attempts this year, it was taking a huge risk. But it paid off, as Webb held the Rockies to two runs over seven innings, in what was probably the biggest start of his career, given we haven’t come within five games of the playoffs since his debut. Said Webb, “It got pretty loud. It was like a playoff atmosphere. A couple of times, it got supersonic out there with that sold-out crowd. I was trying to keep my emotions in check.”

Us too, Brandon, us too. I got absolutely no work done after the first pitch, as Webb worked in and out of jams. He got some huge plays from his defense, not least Snyder throwing out Matsui when he tried to steal in the first. Instead of a man on second, one out, it was bases empty, no outs, and that changed the whole dynamic of the game, even if the impact on actual Win Probability for us was small (only +4%). There was also a crucial double-play in the second, when Hawpe grounded out after the first two men reached for Colorado, a base-running gaffe by Francis which cost the Rockies a run, another double-play in the fourth, and a crucial K of Sullivan with a man on third and one out in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the offense was doing just enough to hold on. Heroic at-bat from Augie Ojeda to score our first run, falling behind, then fouling off pitch after pitch before finally getting one he could drive to the outfield for a sacrifice fly. That earns the Littlest Ballplayer a spot in the 2007 Hall of Fame, if nothing else already had. Conor Jackson, meanwhile continued his ownership of Francis - CoJack’s first three career homers all came off the Rockies’ pitcher - with a two-run shot to give us a three-run lead. And Stephen Drew remains en fuego, with a two-out RBI single, one of three hits on the night, which leave him 10-for-18 on this road-trip.

Brandon Lyon allowed a one-out double but stranded the runner there in the eighth [which we listened to in the parking lot at Arizona Mills!], and then it was Valverde time. And what’s a Papa Grande outing without a little drama? Entirely self-manufactured in this case, as he walked two of the first three hitters to put the tying man aboard with one out. However, in what seemed a dubious decision by Hurdle, he sent up Joe Koshansky - a man with one major-league knock to his name - as a pinch-hitter. Clint proposes; Jose disposes. Joe K was duly K’d by Joe V, K-Maz K’d too, and Arizona took the field, the usual stoic handshakes becoming wild celebrations after word of the Mets loss seeped through [the Coors Field staff having “forgotten” to make the score final on their board…]

The Gameday Thread smashed all known records in that area, by heading on for two hundred posts. It was great to come home and read them all; more than missing the actual contest last night, I think I regret not being able to take part fully in the thread. My gratitude goes to npineda for taking roll-call, which saved me a lot of work! So, thanks also to each and every one of the following: TwinnerA, LucaMaz3, nihil67, Devin, DbacksSkins, hotclaws, johngordonma, Rod [welcome!], Adam, snakecharmer, icecoldmo, azdb7, VIII, DBACKS KICK ARSE, npineda, andrewinnewyork, cosmack [welcome too!], unnamedDBacksfan, Stile4aly, oklahomasooners, leemellon, peeklay, seton hall snake pit, Otacon, cj060896, Peachy, soco and last but not least, muu.

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +25.2%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Snyder, -13.0%
Honorary goodness: Conor Jackson, +20.6%

Arizona can, to a certain extent, sit back and enjoy the rest of the weekend, knowing that they already have their spot booked in the playoffs. [Mrs. SnakePit and I were making serious plans to fly to Denver on Sunday if necessary!] However, one more win would certainly be very welcome: that would secure the division title and home-field advantage until the playoffs. The most likely scenario at the moment involves us playing the Cubs in the NLDS; they clinched the Central, with the worst record of the division champions. The Padres are 85% likely to get the wild-card now, and would play the NL East champions, assuming we have the best record: that’s probably going to be the Phillies, as the Mets lost…to Byung-Hung Kim yesterday. Ah-ha: it all makes sense now. We let him go back to the Marlins, so he could beat the Mets, thereby clinching AZ a playoff spot. That Bob Melvin’s a genius.

It’s worth pointing out that, of the three most-likely NL playoff teams, we own the season series against all of them: 10-8 over the Padres, 4-2 against the Cubs, and 5-1 over the Phillies. Nothing to fear there. [We’re tied with the Rockies, and one game down against the Mets; both their hopes are slim, though the Mets are all over the Marlins this morning, 5-0 up in the third. They still have to face the D-Train tomorrow, who has been Mets Kryptonite in his career] Playoff tickets went on sale this morning, but I’m sitting this round out, as I have a feeling the home games are going to be daytime ones, which makes for a sticky scenario. Besides, if we’re playing the Cubs, it’s going to be… Ok, let’s not gouge open that wound, shall we; I’m still persona non grata in the Windy City for my comments regarding some Cubs fans their last trip here. Oh, but you should check out the special logo Al has, over at Bleed Cubbie Blue. Different shirt and cap, but the same feeling for us this morning!

Now, we prepare to enter recently-uncharted territory. I wasn’t even blogging the last time we made the playoffs, and this promises to be one hell of a fun ride. Better prepare: d’you think we should switch to an overflow thread when we hit 400 comments, to avoid that nesting thing? Because I’ve a feeling we might hit that level a few times next week. A very pleasant dilemma to have…but the surge is building, and it’s just a question of seeing how far it takes us. This team has already surpassed all our expectations, albeit in the most unexpected of ways. Everything from here on out, truly is gravy.

[editor’s note, by DbacksSkins] The correct fangraph has been uploaded, replacing the graph from Thursday. [editor’s-editor’s note, by Jim McLennan] Actually, I think it was already uploaded, and I just forgot to change the references in the piece. Thought it looked a bit too easy… Good catch!

Shout out to ‘Skins for the title. I don’t usually choose very good titles, so if you don’t like it, blame him.

Well, they did it!! The Diamondbacks are returning to the Promised Land! Playoffs! Post-Season! No more restrictions on using those words, we’re going! (Other words, however, remain secured in the vault.) Our magic number stands at one - a Diamondbacks win or a Padres loss - for the division title, but we will be going in with at least the wildcard spot.

Too much exciting news to make this a weekend edition! A few wrap-ups from earlier: there’s a Pitch and Catch with Chad Tracy and a slideshow of rookie hazing photographs. And MLB.com had their notes published before last night’s game.

There is no way to accurately capture all the fantastic quotes from the game or the coverage or from these articles. So I’m just going to link to the article and post some excerpts from them.

Arizona Republic - Owings’ gem draws praise

• The Diamondbacks likely would use a four-man rotation in the first round of the playoffs. Starting a day later would not keep Webb from starting a Game 1 on Wednesday. Doug Davis, Livan Hernandez and Owings would appear to be the most likely order after Webb.
  
• Reliever Brandon Medders has been cleared by the team to return to Phoenix after tonight’s game to be with his wife, Sims, who is expecting the couple’s first child. “There’s a couple of things going on I don’t want to miss right now,” he said, referring to the playoff race. “But I don’t want to miss a thing with my baby being born. I want to do everything, even drive my wife to the hospital.”

Arizona Republic - D-Backs finish improbable quest
- As champagne bottles erupted inside the visitors clubhouse, the starting right fielder had to abstain from all forms of guzzling. Justin Upton, 20, is not old enough to drink. And you can find no better metaphor for the precocious, playoff-bound Diamondbacks. [ed: at least somebody will be sober tomorrow]

• Jack Magruder points out:  A 12th victory for the D-Backs (90-70) would secure the NL West title and home field-advantage throughout the playoffs, since they already own the tiebreaker on San Diego.
• AZCentral photo gallery
  
• AZCentral video clip

MLB.com - Brandon snares a berth in his Webb

MLB.com - D-backs defy odds to make playoffs

• “I think this club has been as resilient as any I’ve ever seen,” said owner Jeff Moorad, who took over running the club in 2004, when its finances were copious and it lost 111 games. “We’ve come back when it was least expected. Now we’ve delivered when the furthest thing on anyone’s mind going into the season outside the organization was us winning.”
  
• “What a gallant group of guys,” said Ken Kendrick, who replaced the deposed Colangelo as managing general partner in late 2004. “When you look at what this team did, it’s unbelievable. I’m sitting there going around the field and your third baseman started the season in Double-A. Your second baseman [who replaced the injured Orlando Hudson] is a Triple-A guy. You’ve got a couple of veterans at first base, your catcher is a third-year guy. There’s a 20-year-old right fielder and a rookie in center. This is pretty special.”

Game action? You want game action? Can you only think about details at a time like this? (Bonus points for guessing the orginal and/or source(s) of the last line.) Pbbbt. Here’s the rundown: CoJack pwns Francis. B Webb was rockin’ until the 7th but he still had a quality start. Lyon was great, and Valverde was, per usual, well.. exciting. Actual game action can be found in the MLB.com recap, Tribune article, or here in the AP article.

Game time tomorrow is 5:05pm, Gonzalez vs Redman. San Diego will have (most likely) finished their game against Milwaukee by then. Interesting to note, the Diamondbacks have made it to the playoffs 4 times now, and only in 2001 did they get into the NLCS. All 3 previous times were as NL West Champs. Here’s to continuing that trend!

A while back, maybe a few months ago, I posted a music video from Feist’s song “1234”. Now this song has become virtually inescapable thanks to the Apple ad for the new iPod Nano. When I first saw this ad, I was really excited for her. Her most recent album is fantastic […]

Water Dance Plaza at Westgate in Glendale Arizona (Across the Street From AZ Cardinal’s Stadium and Jobing.com) To Feature Activities, Live Radio Remotes, Other Promotions
GLENDALE, ARIZONA, Thursday, September 27, 2007 – Prior to the remaining Arizona Cardinals’ home games, the WaterDance Plaza at Westgate City Center will be transformed into a “Pre-Game Tailgate Zone,” featuring […]

Brandon Webb (28, RHP, 17-10, 3.02)

Jeff Francis (26, LHP, 17-8, 4.17)

BaseballReference.com preview [opens in new window]

Good omen for this game: it was ten years ago exactly today, that I first met Mrs. SnakePit. So I feel kinda good today, though the tension is already knotting my stomach into a ball. Brace yourself. It’s gonna be a bumpy weekend, and three teams will be going home empty-handed at the end of it, with nothing to look forward to but TBS’s coverage.

Webb vs. Francis, and if ever we needed an ace-like performance from Brandon, it’s tonight. He hasn’t been at his best this year against the Rockies, though most of those outings were earlyin the year, and it’s hard to tell from those. His last loss did come against them at Chase, as they got three runs off him in the first. Since then though, Webb is 3-0 in four starts, with an ERA of 3.91.

Francis has been almost impeccable of late, though five of his last six starts have come against the sucky Giants, slumping Dodgers and offensively-poor (at the time) Padres. In the sixth, the Phillies tagged him for eight earned runs in 3.1 innings, so he can be hit. There’s not much middle-ground with Francis: in the past twelve starts, he has allowed three or less earned runs, or eight. Let’s hope he tends toward the latter today. He faced Arizona twice this year, and has allowed only two runs in thirteen innings, so we’re going to need to improve on that.

This already has the feel of a playoff series, though we’ll be doing a lot more scoreboard watching. In particular, the Phillies (4:05pm), Cubs (4:10pm), Mets (4:10pm) and Padres/Brewers (5:05pm) games all promise to be of importance. I’ll be rushing home to check on this one, with an ETA around 6pm. Think this thread might be kinda busy tonight…

April 2nd seems like so long ago. We had so many hopes and dreams for the 2007 season. There I was in Denver Colorado eagerly awaiting what I hoped would be an exciting beginning to a 162 season. The core players for the Arizona Diamondbacks were young and inexperienced. I was hoping that this season would give them the opportunity to learn what the Major League game was like so that they could parlay that into a serious play-off run in 2008. The Colorado Rockies were in a very similar situation. They too had a fairly young ball club and were also hoping to gain some experience that they could use to build upon next year. I remember watching both teams warm up at Coors Field. None of these young kids seemed to be overwhelmed at the thought of starting on Opening Day. I was just in the stands and I was nervous so I was impressed to see that at least outwardly these players had somehow overcome their anxiety as they prepared for work. One hundred sixty-two baseball games is a very long time so this game marked the beginning of what many refer to as a marathon. No one could anticipate how this race would unfold. No one knew how either one of these participants would react to a race this long. There are so many things that can get in the way of success. Injuries can occur to key components. Trades can be made both good and bad that will change the outcome. Players can fail to adapt putting themselves in a difficult situation from which they cannot recover. There are just too many variables to accurately predict the outcome of a race that lasts six months. This year though in what looks like a genius scheduling move the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies return to the place where the season started bringing the 2007 regular season full circle.