Phoenix.BloggersPub

Jack Cassel RHP, 1-0, 5.40

Edgar Gonzalez RHP, 1-1, 4.66

Baseball-Reference.com preview [opens in new window]

Another largely-unknown starter goes for Houston - it’s only Cassel’s sixth career start, with just 27.2 major-league innings to his name, even though he’ll be 28 before the season ends. He’s replacing the injured Wandy Rodriguez, and got the win in his only previous outing, allowing seven hits and three earned runs in five innings, as the Astros beat the Reds.

We send out Edgar Gonzalez, who has been remarkably consistent, allowing three earned runs during each of his last three outings - though ended up with a loss, a no-decision and a win in them. A 4.66 ERA is not bad for any #5 starter - and if Edgar falters early, we may get to see the debut of eagerly-anticipated prospect Max Scherzer. He pitched 23 innings for Tucson, with a 1.17 ERA and a stunning K:BB ratio of 38:3. However, any decision there may depend on how Micah Owing’s bullpen session goes - he rolled his ankle running the bases during his last start. With an off-day Thursday, he’ll have an extra day to recover.

Today’s Gameday Thread tip concerns the use of the ‘Recommend’ button on comments. Give it a shot if you see something that amuses, educates or entertains you: if enough people like a comment, it will be shown for newcomers to the thread with a green background, so they can enjoy it too. I’m deliberately keeping the threshold to get highlighted low; it’s a nice way to show your approval of good posts.

Record: 19-7. Pace: 118-44. Change on last season: +4

Rarely have the ferocious powers of the baseball gods, when angered, been so swiftly demonstrated. #29 in Baseball’s Unwritten Rules clearly states, “Never mention a no-hitter while it’s in progress.” Unfortunately, Turambar was not aware of this and at 7:39 PM precisely, after Dan Haren had mowed down the first four innings-worth of Houston batters, posted, “Well, time to keep the no-hitter rolling.” The horror-struck reaction of those present had to be seen to be believed, and it was probably inevitable that, when the Astros fifth opened, it went:

• L. Berkman walked
• C. Lee doubled to deep left center, L. Berkman to third
• H. Pence grounded out to second, L. Berkman scored, C. Lee to third
• M. Loretta singled to right center, C. Lee scored
• J.R. Towles hit by pitch, M. Loretta to second
• C. Sampson reached on bunt single to third, M. Loretta to third, J.R. Towles to second

From retiring the first twelve hitters, on only 35 pitches, Haren suddenly found himself unable to get anyone out - not even the opposing pitcher, whose bunt attempt left everyone safe. As discussed in the Gameday Thread, a mob of angry D-backs fans waving torches was being gathered, ready to march on Turambar’s home - from a 4-0 lead and a perfect game, we were now looking at the tying run on second-base, with only one man out. Fortunately, Haren saved our blaspheming friend, by getting Matsui to pop-up, then fanning Bourn to end the threat, and send the mob back to their homes, albeit still muttering under its breath…

Still, all’s well that ends well: “all” in this case, being another win for Arizona, Haren bouncing back magnificently from his previous loss, to pitch into the eighth and vacuum up his fourth win of the season. All told, he threw 7.2 innings, retiring the opposition in order for six of them, and gave up three earned runs on five hits and a walk, fanning five. He even helped his own cause by driving in the go-ahead run in the third, with an RBI double, continuing a great season so far by our hurlers at the plate, who are now batting a collective .273 [15-for-55] this year. Only 1B, LF and RF have a higher average for AZ than our pitchers. To quote Kishi’s immortal line, “I knew it was a good idea to let them get bitten by a radioactive Micah Owings in the off-season.”

We added all the additional scoring we’d need in the fourth; Reynolds doubled home two runs, then came home himself on a single by Snyder. Jackson completed our scoring, droving in his 21st run of the year with a single in the fifth, and though the Astros made it a two-run game in the eighth, Qualls struck out Berkman to end that inning with a runner on second [14.2 innings without an earned run for the Equallizer, second-most in the majors behind Oakland’s Andrew Brown, on 15] and Lyon came in to notch his eighth save with a perfect ninth. That reduced his 2008 ERA to 2.77, and gives him a line over the past ten outings of:
    Lyon: 10 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 0 R, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA, .118 OBA
Those early-season struggles seem well behind him now.

Not a great deal of offense, but enough. Jackson had two hits and a walk, while Reynolds and Drew each reached safely twice, on a double and a free-pass. Can’t help feeling we should have scored more, most notably in the eighth, where we loaded the bases with no-one out, thanks to a trio of walks. However, Drew struck out and Snyder hit in to an inning-ending double-play. Still, in the overall scheme of things, it turned out not to matter, and hopefully we will make better use of that opportunity, the next time it arises.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Dan Haren [pitching], +20.3%
Honorary mention: Mark Reynolds, +12.7%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Snyder, -6.1%

A brisk Gameday Thread, enlivened by some honored guests from Astros turf: thanks to lnewcomer and Stros Bro for their friendly contributions and tolerance of visiting fans on Crawfish Boxes - a very refreshing change from certain experiences of the past week. Thanks also to the other contributors: soco, snakecharmer, dstorm, dahlian, kishi, SongBird, foulpole, DbacksSkins, LucaMaz3, Stile4aly, Azreous, 4 Corners Fan, mrssoco, hotclaws, britdback and njjohn. Oh, alright - and Turambar as well, who will not be allowed to forget his transgression for quite some time, I suspect!

On a day with minimal NL activity [the Giants beat the Rockies in the only other West action], good to get a jump on the opposition and put a foot forward towards, hopefully, another series win. No sign of Scherzer in the bullpen, but it seems likely that they are waiting to see what happens in Micah Owings’ bullpen session tomorrow - any issues there will lead to Scherzer being used as a replacement. Though with EdGon and Randy starting the remaining games in the series, we may well be looking for some long relief tomorrow or Wednesday.

Week 4 Results

AZ SnakePit 8, Tucson Myth 1
Snake swept hitting, batting .337 and hammering 13 homers, with Phillips getting four and 8 RBI. Ordonez had three HR and drove in ten for Myth, but their only point came in wins; Weaver [W + 9 K] was their best pitcher, though both teams had ERAs above six.

Douchebaggery 2, The Fighting Amish 8
Douche’s pitching were hosed by Liriano [0.2 IP, 6 ER], but would have been hard pushed to beat Amish, who had three wins, six saves and a 2.19 ERA and swept the board. Sherrill had three saves and a zero ERA. Fielder had three HR for Douche, but the team hit only .204.

dbacktom 1, SHUperMen 8
SHU got three homers from Ramirez and Giambi, and batted .322, falling one RBI short of taking everything at the plate; Crawford stole four bases too. tom’s sole win came from saves [Rivera had two], but Maine had a W and 13 K’s for SHU, who combined for a collective 1.08 WHIP.

7-2 Offsuiters 7, Blonde Streaks 2
Berkman [7 R, 4 HR, 12 RBI] powered 7-2’s offense, with more homers than Blonde in total, though Nady drove in eight for them. On the mound, Jenks vultured up two W’s for Blonde, gaining them a split but 7-2 dominated; Lee [W + 9 K] was the ace, Wilson notching three saves.

Adriano Rosario’s 4, Wimboes Barmy Army 5
The week’s only really-close game saw Wimboes grab victory, thanks to their holding on for a tie in HR. Hamilton [Adriano] had ten RBI and Suzuki stole three, giving them a hitting edge. But Wimboes roared back behind Wainwright [W + 12 K’s] and Lyon [four saves] to win.

Crazy VIII’s 6, Arizona Muugens 4
Muugens had a monstrous pitching week: seven wins, 63 K’s and a 1.53 ERA, led by Wang [2 W, 14 K] and Webb [2 W, 13 K]. However Rodriguez’s three saves for VIII stopped the pitching sweep and VIII took every hitting point, Encarnacion’s six runs and two HR being crucial.

Kapsaicin Kids 2, Desert Storm BC 8
Ramirez [5 R, 8 RBI] helped Storm sweep at the plate, while Shields [2 W, 12 K] and Lidge [three saves] starred on the mound, in a comfortable victory. Kids hit only .224 with three HR, but did take WHIP and ERA, Soria [0.33/0.00] their best performance.

Shenanigans 2.0 3, Desert Dingleberries 7
Not a great hitting week, Shen and Dingle batting .237 and .244 respectively, but the latter got three homers from McLouth, and seven runs from Holliday to go 5-for-5 there. Pitching was closer: the teams combined for only three wins and one save, but Dingle did enough to hold on.

last place 6, Ignatius J. Rallies 4
last got eighr runs and seven RBI from Tejada on their way to a sweep of hitting, batting .313. Rallies fought back in pitching, Hernandez racking up 17 K’s and Penny two wins. However, last took WHIP by 0.01 and have Bannister (6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 BB) to thank for the victory.

warlords 1 GregSchulteOverdrive 7
war’s only point came from SB [Castillo had three]. Otherwise, Greg dominated, behind Ortiz [8 RBI] and the little-known Edinson Vólquez, who had two wins and 17 K’s. Guthrie also reached double-figures for them in strikeouts, and Greg fanned 48 in total this week.

Standings

Week 5 Games

AZ SnakePit vs. 7-2 Offsuiters
Douchebaggery vs. Tucson Myth
dbacktom vs. The Fighting Amish
Adriano Rosario’s vs. Blonde Streaks
Crazy VIII’s vs. Wimboes Barmy Army
Kapsaicin Kids vs. Arizona Muugens
Shenanigans 2.0 vs. Desert Storm BC
last place vs. Desert Dingleberries
warlords vs. Ignatius J. Rallies
GregSchulteOverdrive vs. SHUperMen

SnakePit vs. 7-2 is the ESPN game of the week - more by accident than anything, since it’s the only one featuring two teams in the top half of the league. Snake’s offense exploded last week, but is well-balanced, containing four players each with 6 HR. Their pitching will welcome the return of Matsuzaka, after his bout of ‘flu. 7-2 have Lee and Lee as their core: four-game winner Cliff Lee on the mound, and Derrek Lee [7 HR, 21 RBI, 22 Runs] at the plate.

Glad to see we need this one tonight! Let’s keep up the great plays, boys!

5-2 Dbacks in the middle of the 6th…

Chris Sampson RHP, 1-2, 6.38

Dan Haren RHP, 3-1, 3.03

Baseball-Reference.com preview [opens in new window]

Hey! We’re not facing the NL West! This’ll be a nice change: after more than three weeks straight of seeing our rivals every day, Houston will pose a nice change of pace and a touch of variety. Hopefully Haren will bounce back from his first poor outing of the season, where he failed to escape the fifth inning. The Astros have struggled a bit of late, losing back-to-back games against the Cardinals after winning six in a row, to slide back below .500 this year. Should be about for most of this, though we have a LOT of stuff to catch up on, so we will see how it goes!