Phoenix.BloggersPub

Not a good week thus far for the Suns. Brutal, overtime loss to the Pistons with awful officiating? Check. Painful, embarrassing loss with guys just not showing up? Check.A win in a revenge game against a suddenly red-hot Sixers team followed with a solid practice against the Nets will go a […]

of the kind of performance we can expect from Dan Haren this season, then figure this kid will get 18 wins…at least. Of course, the Diamondbacks were playing the Chicago White Sox, and beating them 8-4, in the last spring tuneup in Tucson; the Oakland A’s, Haren’s former team, seemed to have the Pale Hose’s […]

Gotta love this video from Suns.com. Little known facts about Shaq…this guy is just sick…

I began writing a post about Boris Diaw and his mysterious ability to turn it on and off, with a primary focus on the switch being cemented in the off position this year. The title was “Strange Case of Boris and Doris.” For all you literature majors out there, you’ll recognize my clever […]

[That one’s for hotclaws. ]

One of these days, I’m going to get home before 10pm, and have a chance to write a post without having sternly to resist the siren-call of the bed. However, that day is not today.

I’ll therefore be brief, and just point out that we finally got a good outing from one of our starters. Dan Haren pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, with the only damage coming on a pair of solo leadoff homers in the second and fifth, as Arizona rolled over the White Sox 8-4. Said Haren, “I felt really good. I wanted to make sure I went out there six or seven times to get my innings in and my pitch count up. I felt good, even out there in the seventh.” At the plate, Jackson was 2-for-3 with a homer, and Robby Hammock had easily his best day of spring, going 3-for-4. Chris Young reached three times, with a hit and two walks, while Upton had a hit and a walk.

In something of a shock, Alex Romero has made the Diamondbacks’ roster, pipping Trot Nixon for the final spot. It simply seems like Bob Melvin decided to go with the hot-hand: in spring, Romero’s hit .333 and Nixon only .218 - though the gap was much narrower in OPS, where Romero’s edge was only .722/.720, mostly because he only had one extra-base hit. While Romero is left-handed, he has no experience playing first, which means that Chris Burke will be backing up Jackson at first, until Chad Tracy is ready. That also means no 40-man roster move is necessary. The final bullpen spot is still to be decided, but with Edgar Gonzalez replacing Johnson, that would appear to leave room for both Nippert and Medders, at least initially.

Back to Chase Field for the D-backs tomorrow, facing [yawn!] the Rockies one final time, before the start of the season. That one’s on FSN, so I certainly hope to get to watch some of it; might even run a Gameday Thread, if anyone is interested? Today’s Talking Point Do you believe Jose Canseco’s allegations about Alex Rodriguez asking him where to get steroids?

photo courtesy of azcardinals.comHey everyone, Eli here. Mark and I are going to be doing an off season podcast on Friday. Kind of a pre draft podcast to discuss possibilities for the Cardinals draft and where they’re likely to go with the 16th overall pick. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to […]

Well Saturday we were left all cold and hungry at the Job. Promises of Duck soup went unfufilled as the boys ignored our Oliverian pleas for more. 2 - 1 Ducks final. The Hanson Brothers were signin autographs and apparently picked up another member of the family.

As Carci shows Sutherby a rousing old fashioned desert […]

(AP Photo/Winslow Townson) If the Suns hoped to build some confidence from the last two games, against the Eastern Conference’s best two teams, expectations were inevitably destroyed. After the tough loss to the Pistons in OT on Monday came yesterday’s loss in Boston, as the Celtics beat the Suns 117-97.
A great start by the Celtics […]

Apparently, according to Ben, I have “gotten a little wordy.” Not quite sure what he means by that: this is, after all, a blog - and much as it might be amusing to have posts consisting entirely of stick figure reenactments of spring training games, I fear the novelty of it would wear off swiftly. I will admit that it has been kinda tough over the past month: I’m basically writing about games which no-one has seen, and without any significant conflicts upon which I can hang a few posts. Let’s face it, the question of whether Trot Nixon is the 25th man on the roster or not, has hardly kept me awake at nights, and is not the stuff of which deathless prose is made.

However, in deference to his criticisms, I will keep this…less wordy. Diamondbacks win, 11-8. See you tomorrow.

What? You want more than that? Sheesh. Some people…

Is anyone else already fed up of the Rockies? That’s five times we’ve played them already this spring, with a sixth to follow on Saturday - that’ll decide the Cactus League series, since it’s currently split 2-2, with the first game ending in a tie. Mind you, tomorrow, we’ll be playing the White Sox for the seventh time in a month, including a day of split-squad games where we faced them twice, in two separate countries. However, at least we won’t be facing them another eighteen times in the regular season.

Let’s actually start elsewhere, on the practice fields behind Tucson Electric Park, where Randy Johnson pitched, away from the Rockies, against some White Sox prospects. The results weren’t brilliant - nine hits and five runs in 3.1 innings - but Johnson was working on his change-up, which he’s looking to use as an alternate off-speed pitch, alongside his slider. The Big Unit said, “Of all the Spring Training starts I’ve made, I actually physically felt the best today. The results may not have been there, which is OK because I didn’t care about the results. I was giving up base hits, but I was throwing three straight changeups. My opportunity to work on things now is critical because I don’t have very many starts left.” Next start will be in Tucson, April, 3 for the Sidewinders first game - it’s thought he’ll make two rehab appearances there before rejoining the team.

Replacing Johnson against Colorado was Hector Ambriz, though I think few people would be expecting much. Five hits, two homers, two walks? That would be about it, even if five K’s in four innings isn’t bad. Dustin Nippert followed. As did three hits, two walks and two more earned runs in his inning. “I think I like it here in Tucson,” he said afterwards. “On the whole, I’d rather not be with the major-league team.” Ok: I made that up. It’s just phenomenally frustrating to see someone like Nippert, who can pitch, struggle like this. But the promise shown in his last outing - where he retired three straight batters to strand the tying run on third - evaporated. It seems that the Petit Unit is “under strong consideration” for Johnson”s spot. This would keep EdGon in the bullpen, and mean Nippert or Medders would get waived: on spring training performances, it’s no contest, though obviously other factors come into play.

At the plate, plenty of hits to go around. Alex Romero had three hits, two RBI and, I was particularly pleased to notice, also threw Troyboy out at the plate. Chris Snyder was, perhaps, even better: five plate-appearances, and he reached safely every time, on three hits and two walks. driving in two runs and throwing out a base-stealer as well. Drew, Reynolds and Burke each had a pair of knocks, and even Trot Nixon had a hit and two walks. Say what you like about the performances of our starting pitchers this spring - and “they’ve got their work in” is about as kind as I can be - the offense has been productive. Five of our starters are hitting .316 or better: Upton (.316), Young (.333), Hudson (.346), Jackson (.349)…and who had Chris Snyder (.390 and 5 HR) in the ‘Best Hitting Diamondback’ pool? Ojeda and Burke are also above .300.

Finally, the Hardball Times posted my Five Questions: Arizona Diamondbacks. Be amusing to look back on that at the end of the season and see how accurate - or not - I’ve been. Hopefully, I’ll have done a little better than the 2006 version - not, I should stress, written by me. There, the fifth question was “Does this team stand a chance at winning the West any time soon?” The answer was, “Not with the current state of the pitching staff.” Of course, we all know what happened the following year, don’t we? Must give points to the writer for predicting, “By 2008, the team should be positioned to field a lineup of high-upside talent at a relatively low cost, thereby allowing significant resources to be directed to upgrading the starting rotation behind Webb.” However, they’re all lost, and then some, by adding, “and then, probably Nippert.” Oh, how the mighty are fallen…