Phoenix.BloggersPub

I remember when I first heard the news that Grant Hill was coming to play for the Suns. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was that he was going to help us, that he is a great player and a great guy, great competitor. In a matter of seconds, all of these thoughts went away with the ugly premonition that he was not going to help us at all. He most certainly was going to get injured and spend most of the games sitting in the bench. Well, I guess he proved me wrong, kind of.

The Suns had nothing to lose, or at least that’s what they thought at the time. They would get a versatile player, with the ability to create his own shot, good defender, great hustler and a veteran who would not panic at crunch time, not only that, they would get him for $1.8 million this season and almost $2 million in 2008-09 at the player’s option.

His agent said at the time:

”Obviously money wasn’t the biggest factor here, He had offers for a lot more money. Grant wants a chance to win a championship and he wanted to go to a place that would give him a chance to contribute. Phoenix was the perfect fit.”

Oh and he was, maybe too perfect. Grant would become a starter, and many of us thought that it was a mistake, it’s still debatable. What we know, for sure, is how fast these opinions were silenced and how quickly these thoughts vanished from our heads once we saw him play.

Hill averaged 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 2007-08 while shooting at least 50 percent from the field (.503) for the third time in the last four seasons and establishing a career-high in free-throw efficiency (.867). Both his rebound and assist averages were his highest in five seasons.

But it was not only his numbers, every time he stepped on the court we would see him making a great pass or an awesome drive or grab a critical rebound and maybe the eventual Slam Dunk.

Grant Hill was back, and God knows we needed him, with an inconsistent Diaw and a streaky Barbosa, he was bailing us out of a huge mess. Grant Hill was back, there was no doubt about it and we felt lucky, really lucky.

Ironically, having him around was like taking a breath of fresh air. He did not take things for granted, he was healthy, playing at a high level for a championship caliber team. He became the spark that the team needed, a team that was upset, hurt and stuck in time with a playoff hangover.

The horrible thought of Grant getting injured became even more scary, losing him would make Coach D make adjustments —-and we all knew that was not his forte—- we would jump out of our seats every time he fell on the floor, grab our heads and pray for the best…and then sigh in relief  when we saw he was Ok.

The rest is history, Grant had an appendectomy done and was bothered by a pulled groin ever since (along with a bruised wrist). He was never the same. He morphed back into the Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic, the one that you couldn’t count on, the one sitting on the bench in a suit.

A lot have been said about his decision of not coming clean and just saying that he couldn’t play. So I will no get into that. What I know for sure is that this played a big part in the first round loss. It didn’t allow the coach to make adjustments before the series started, the game plan was the same, but we were missing an important piece, the problem was that we didn’t know…until it was too late.

I can understand why he stayed quiet, maybe he felt good before each game, maybe he was so happy to be there that he didn’t want to spoil the moment. Perhaps life couldn’t be so unfair to just lift him really high and then just…drop him. But here, in the valley of the Sun, we know unfair…we have managed to know her really well. And yet here we stand. Looking forward.

I still believe in this team, we have a lot of talent. If Grant stays, he has already proved that he can help us.

Grant said that he felt that playing here was like a reward, to be able to play with the good guys.

Regardless of what happened or happens…it has certainly felt that way from my end.

Dan Haren RHP, 8-4, 3.04

Scott Olsen LHP, 4-4, 3.44

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

I hope you have your caffeinated beverage of choice ready for this one, since it begins at a crisp hour, especially for a Sunday morning. If I do not actually sound highly-caffeinated, that would be because I am actually writing this about twelve hours before any of you are seeing it. So, apologies if I seem somewhat disconnected. i am about to go lie down, watch a movie and then curl up with Mrs. SnakePit for a solid eight hours, rather than get ready to watch any baseball.

Haren has been our best starting pitcher in June by quite some margin, posting an ERA of 1.59 and with a 3-0 record in his five outings so far and a WHIP of just 0.76 this month. It’d be nice to get the win, and take the series, even if the best this road-trip can go is still only 3-6. The offense finally showed some signs of life yesterday, though Olsen is likely a significantly better pitcher than Miller. We did enjoy our first big inning in quite some time, and maybe - just maybe - we can do some damage today. Although, here is today’s disturbing stat: the last time the Diamondbacks scored more than four runs in consecutive games was April 25-26. Ouch…

Record: 41-40. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -5.

That was somewhat better. We scored more runs in the sixth inning alone, that we had in the first four games this season against the Marlins, combined. That was, basically, the difference between the two teams today: after losing four games on this road-trip, basically as the result of one big inning, it was nice to put a series of hits together on the opposition.

It was particularly welcome, having once again, killed our own rally in the previous inning. We’d tied the game at one, thanks to an RBI double from Young, and a walk to Ojeda brought Webb up to bunt. However, he popped the ball foul, where the Marlins catcher bare-handed it, and threw to second, before Young could scamper back to the base. Things were hurled at the television set here in SnakePit Towers. Fortunately, the D-backs got a couple of breaks of their own in the sixth. After two walks, Jackson reached on an error to load the bases for Reynolds, whose shot down the line stayed just fair, driving in two runs. Young added a two-out, two RBI triple and Ojeda followed with a double of his own, to pile on with three unearned runs.

We definitely have Brandon Webb to thank, for keeping Arizona in the game long enough for the bats to awaken. The Marlins seemed to threaten almost constantly early on, having men in scoring position with no outs in both the second and third innings, and one out in the third. However, our ace bore down, particularly in the third, where he struck out Luis Gonzalez, Cantu and Willingham, after Ramirez led off with a single and then stole second [he should have been nailed, but Augie inexplicably dropped an almost perfect throw from Snyder]. The only damage was a single run, though we were helped by Uggla turning his ankle between first and second base, after his single led off the fourth - he was tagged out, trying to limp back to first.

Still, you take advantage of the luck, and Webb was solid through six innings. He was pulled after allowing the first two batters to reach in the seventh, and ended with a line of five hits, three walks, eight strikeouts and two earned runs. That is probably his best outing in a while, and the W ended his streak of winless outings at three. Interestingly, with two on and nobody out in the seventh, Melvin turned to Juan Cruz rather than Chad Qualls - it’s nice to know he paid attention to Dbackskins’ visual aid from the Boston series. Cruz did reasonably well: if he did allow a single, and one of the inherited runners scored on a sacrifice fly, he avoided any significant meltdown [a Win Probability of +6.2% for Famine today]. Peña and Lyon closed things out over the final two innings.

Having apparently got through to Melvin that Cruz is a better seventh-inning guy than Qualls, especially with runners on base, let’s move on to the next component on our list of demands. Bold, italic and, oh, what the heck, underline, please:
    ERIC BYRNES SHOULD NOT BE BATTING LEADOFF
He went 0-for-5 today, making him 2-for-22 with one walk and six strikeouts since returning to the lineup. His on-base-percentage for the year is now down to .269, the lowest of any position player on the roster. To put this figure into perspective, Randy Johnson has an on-base percentage of .250. This really isn’t rocket-science. Put him in at #8 (assuming Micah isn’t pitching), and let him earn his way up from there. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

While I appreciate we have few options in the outfield - well, ones not now playing in Oakland and Chicago - there is absolutely no reason for Byrnes to be leading off, regardless of how often he tumbles over the fence while making a catch. Even Eric is painfully honest about his current standing. “I (expletive) suck right now. Sometimes I have my timing, and I just miss balls. I have no explanation. I’ll work my butt off. I know I’m better than what I’ve been hitting. Hitting-wise, the entire year, I’ve been terrible. It’s not for a lack of effort or a lack of trying. I have just sucked. It goes back to the beginning, or whatever, but I’m not looking to make excuses. My legs feel great.” But all is not lost! A new episode of The Eric Byrnes Show debuts on Tuesday!

Elsewhere, the bottom of the order was very productive today. Reynolds, Young and Ojeda all had two hits apiece, as slots #5-8 went 7-for-15 with all six RBI. Got to say, I was impressed with Reynolds being willing to speak to the media after the reaming from Melvin yesterday; maybe leadership in the clubhouse isn’t coming from the veterans? “We can keep saying it, keep saying it. Hell, we’ve been saying it for a month now, and we haven’t done (expletive) about it. We’ve got to grind out at-bats. We’ve got to be a tough out and try to put the ball in play and see what happens. Right now we’re not doing that at all… Last year was last year. We see that we can turn it around like we did. There’s no guarantees of that.” Today was definitely an improvement - though as they pointed out on the post-game show, it’s wise for Melvin to rip his team a new one, the day before Webb takes the mound!

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Mark Reynolds, +26.6%
Honorable mentions: Young, +19.9%; Webb, +12.2%
God-emperor of suck: Eric Byrnes, -10.0%

This is actually a quite pedestrian graph compared to some of the spectacular ones out there today. The Tigers blew a ninth-inning lead against Colorado, despite coming in with a 98.5% Win Probability; the Rockies then blew an 84.3% WP of their own and Detroit snatched it 7-6. The Astros-Red Sox game was similarly wild. The Red Sox led 4-0 in the third (WP=84.3%) and 9-6 in the sixth (85.2%), while the Astros blew a fifth-inning, 6-4 lead (79.5%). They finally held on 11-10, Valverde getting his 20th save, despite allowing a home-run. Meanwhile, the Angels have no-hit the Dodgers, but are three outs away from losing, 1-0. Go figure.

soco led all posters today, cracking the double-century mark between the two threads. Also present were: unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, mrssoco, 4 Corners Fan, dahlian, hotclaws, luckycc, TwinnerA, DbacksSkins, srdmad, emilylovesthedbacks, Zephon, Wimb, Muu, DiamondbacksWIn, Diamondhacks and LucaMaz3. A good time was had by all: I’m wondering if the picture of Angelina Jolie that accompanied the original thread, and our subsequent offensive explosion [well, by the standards of this road-trip, anyway] merits consideration for inclusion as a saint. Seems appropriate that the pic was from a film where she plays a hit-woman…

Edgar Gonzalez hit the disabled list today. It was kinda odd yesterday, that our long-relief guy pitched only one inning after coming in to replace Micah Owings for the fifth inning - especially after striking out all three batters he faced. However, he strained his right elbow, and that was enough to put him out of action. As a replacement, the Petit Unit was called up from Tucson; he arrived in Florida just in time for today’s game [40 minutes before first pitch, to be exact] but wasn’t needed. Petit last pitched for the Sidewinders on Monday, getting the win in his start against Las Vegas, so should be ready to go whenever needed.

Early game tomorrow; 10 am, Phoenix time start. I will be relying on the auto-posting of the Gameday Thread, and may be a little late to show up, if at all.

Top of 8th, D’backs up 6-2.  Let’s lock this one down!

Attention, Suns bandwagoners.  The 7SOL Express is pulling into Grand Central Station.  Please disembark here.  Do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.  Thank you for choosing 7SOL.

There’s a whole lot of hating on the Suns outside our little purple and orange enclave here at BSOTS.  Porter was a lame hire.  Lopez was an awful pick.  Steve Kerr is the second coming of Isiah Thomas minus the comedy.  The Suns are dead.  Have fun with the rebuilding process.

To these sentiments, I say “Hooey!”  Hey, folks, we get it.  The dream is dead.  The revolution will not be televised.  For a bright and shining moment, Generalissimo Mike D’Antoni and his cadre of elite sharpshooters were on the verge of blitzkrieging the NBA into an era of offensive egalitarianism.  It was going to be glorious.  Defense?  We didn’t need no stinking defense, just one hell of an air attack: long range 3-point bombs and thundering dunks facilitated by a visionary floor general and troop movements that left the enemy wondering how they could possible defend their positions.  It was going to be the basketball equivalent of Brazilian soccer’s beautiful game.

And it almost came to pass.  The highwater mark came a billionth of a billionth of a second before Robert Horry’s hip check sent Steve Nash into the scorer’s table.  There’s no need to recount what has transpired since that fateful foul.  It is only important to note that that is effectively the day 7SOL died.  Disillusionment set in.  The disenfranchisement began.

First, Kurt Thomas gets the boot for some fish sticks and spare change.  Then, injuries be damned, an aging Grant Hill comes to town.  And finally, the stake in the heart: Goodbye Shawn Marion, hello Shaquille O’Neal.  The Suns panicked.  They choked.  Instead of maintaining their guerilla campaign against the Association, they sold out and tried to go legit.  The policy of appeasement backfired and the revolution ended with a pitiful whimper.  (Bill Simmons has a much more comprehensive and compelling version of events here.)

But here’s the rub.  The system didn’t work. It was tantalizing.  It was seductive. You can argue that it came this close to succeeding.  Certainly, bad breaks were abundant enough.  But it didn’t succeed.    Like Icarus, 7SOL could reach dazzling heights, but it only went so far.  The wax melted, the team plummeted, the fans mourned.  Many people still grieve.  So the anger is understandable.

But things change.  Dylan went electric.  U2 went electronic.  Britney Spears went crazy.  As Suns fans and not system fans, we have no choice but to embrace the change.  We can’t stop it.  We can either get on board with the new sauce or let the future pass us by.   The team is in flux right now.  It’s awkward and unsexy.  I don’t blame you for looking at the shiny new toys in Portland or New Orleans.  I get it. The rest of us - the ones who were here before the revolution - are looking to the future.  Sure, it’s not as bright as it once was, but neither is it a looming trainwreck.  We’ve still got a roster loaded with talent, old or unproven talent perhaps, but enough to provide some cautious optimism. 

So, all you smallball Che Guevaras and acolytes of Almost Greatness, do us a favor and move on.  The Generalissimo is in the Big Apple now.  Take your patronage and bitterness there, and have fun with that roster while you’re at it.  We will not miss you.  The dream didn’t die because of a lack of belief.  It died because it wasn’t good enough to carry on.  As Arnold Schwarzenegger (almost) said in The Running Man: “Here is 7SOL.  Now, plain SOL.”

Brandon Webb RHP, 11-4, 3.23

Andrew Miller LHP, 5-6, 5.07

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

There is one over-riding question which has to be addressed today, and I’m sure it’s one that has been occupying the minds of a lot of people in recent days. Do we go and see Wall-E this weekend or Wanted? Both have their appeal: while the sheen has gone off Pixar for us with their last couple of films [Cars and Ratatouille - the latter which my spell-checker wants to correct to “Unattainable,” for some reason], this one is directed by Andrew Stanton, who did the last really good Pixar film, in Finding Nemo.

The reviews have been terrific, but our idea of cinema fun does not include sharing the theater with large numbers of children. That would not be an issue for Wanted, since it’s rated R: that’s how we like our action movies. And need I say any more about it than:

Meanwhile, in Florida, the Diamondbacks will try to improve their average for this road-trip, by scoring two runs or more in a game. So, lyrical animated fantasy, excessive ultraviolence, or our leadoff hitter and his sub-.300 OBP [be it Byrnes or Drew]. Let me know.