Author Archive for Azreous
Phillies 6, Diamondbacks 5 (12) – Phailing Phuriously
Closed Published by Azreous July 12th, 2008 on AZ Snakepit: Front Page PostsRecord: 46-47. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -3
More extra innings, more forfeited leads, more bullpen pitchers failing to get the job done. This time, however, there was no final surge to come up with a victory. If anything, we’re left with tired psyches, tired arms in the pen, and a losing record once again.
Doug Davis’ outing was decent, certainly decent enough to win, and once again registered as a quality start (and a no decision). Through four innings he had given up just a walk and two hits - one a solo shot to Ryan Howard that extended his hitting streak to 14 games -and his pitch count was reasonably low. Still, he created trouble for himself in both the fifth and sixth innings by being unable to retire the final hitter.
In the fifth, Davis got two relatively quick outs, but required another 15 pitches to eventually escape with a Chase Utley popup. But in the sixth, after the Diamondbacks had tied the game at 1, Bullwinkle pulled a landmine out of the hat instead. After a couple more baserunners reached with two down, Philadelphia tallied two runs without the ball being put in play, one on a wild pitch, the other on a caught stealing where Ruiz kept himself in a rundown just long enough for Victorino to score from third. Suddenly the visitors found themselves in a bigger deficit than they had the inning before.
Like the previous game, though, Arizona came storming back. A Montero single, Romero double and Bonifacio pinch-hit double was enough to tie the game and eventually chase Kendrick. Drew followed with a single to drive in Emilio and take the lead. But the heart attacks continued in the bottom half of the inning. Qualls, who of late has been impeccable at getting out of jams, allowed consecutive one-out singles to put runners on the corners, then got Utley to ground into a double play to preserve the one-run margin. For good measure, Romero added an RBI double in the eighth, although he was gunned down when he was caught between second and third.
Then the first shades of trouble started. Slaten started the eighth against the left-handed, strikeout-prone Ryan Howard…and walked him. Enter Tony Peña, whose struggles in the previous game were well-documented by his colossal -78.6% in the fangraph. A single and a triple later, the lead was gone, gone, gone. Both teams threatened in the ninth but couldn’t score, and extra frames were needed for a second consecutive game.
Unfortunately, this time didn’t pan out so great. As they did in the ninth, the Diamondbacks had a runner in scoring position with less than two out in the 10th, but were unable to bring him home. In the bottom of the 12th, the Phillies capitalized on the opportunity with a Taguchi single, a sacrifice, an intentional walk, and a final killing blow by Werth. Even St. Penelope couldn’t prevent the winning run from scoring. Ballgame.
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Master of his domain: Leo Rosales, +28.6%
Honorable mentions: Bonifacio, +19.3%; Romero, +15.1%; Tracy, +13.3%; Qualls, +11.0%
God-emperor of suck: Tony Peña, -25.0%
Dishonorable mention: Robertson, -21.4%; Ojeda, -20.9%, Jackson, Young, Hudson, Drew…
Despite the back-and-forth nature of the game, the fangraph was still much more subdued than yesterday’s roller coaster. In many ways, the game was the polar opposite of yesterday’s affair: the bats piled up the hits early, but disappeared in the late and extra innings. Even so, the poor fangraph seemed confused. Leo Rosales had the biggest influence in our chances of winning? Mark Reynolds’ pinch-hit strikeout was worth almost +10%? Drew at -14% despite having one of our few RBIs? It’s possible that the graph was still on life support after the previous day’s EKG-like readout.
Drew, Hudson, Tracy and Romero each had two hits, and Montero tacked on three of his own. On the flip side, Young was again 0-for-5, striking out twice, although at least he wasn’t leading off today. (Then again, the usually dependable Augie Ojeda didn’t fare much better: 0-for-5, but with just one strikeout. These are the small victories we cherish.) At the very least, there was enough offense to win, just not enough at the right times. Then again, the starting pitching was good enough too. It’s almost as though the team is allergic to success sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time.
Some random notes:
-We stand at 407 runs scored, 406 runs allowed on the season right now. Not surprisingly, our Pythagorean W/L is exactly where it’s supposed to be.
-We’re now an even 13-13 in one-run games, and 4-3 in extra-inning games.
-Chris Young is batting .211 since May 16, which just four home runs and two stolen bases, 41 K/14 BB, and an OPS of .607.
Present in the GameDay Thread (and overflow), which reached more than 700 comments, were as follows: TwinnerA, DbacksSkins, kishi, hotclaws, luckycc, Muu, 4 Corners Fan, Jim McLennan, srdmad, AF DBacks Fanatic, seton hall snake pit, Azreous, soco, mrssoco, Mr. Philosophical, Scrbl, Wimb, Counsellmember, Zephon, the mystical one, emilylovesthedbacks, DiamondbacksWIn, Turambar and Diamondhacks. Things went from quiet to optimistic to grouchy to quiet resignation, seems like.
It’s Randy Johnson on the hill tomorrow, which means one thing: staggering inconsistency. Will we see the Johnson from his last start and the first part of the season? Or the one who lost six straight decisions and led his team to eight straight losses? Working in our favor (if you prefer the glass half full) is the recent trend of alternating wins and losses, both in the past week and in the season series against the Phillies. All signs thus point to a win tomorrow, but many of them are faded and hidden behind Caution: Bridge is Out signs. You are advised to exercise caution when watching this team down the road.
Record: 42-42. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -5
Welcome back, .500. We barely had time to miss you. Not that anybody did, but still.
Randy Johnson was on the hill for the second game of the series, but his results continued to be disappointing. The Not-So-Big Unit struggled yet again, coming up short in another attempt at win 289. He gave up seven runs in just 3 2/3 innings, needing 93 pitches to get through that span. He was knocked around eight hits and three walks as his ERA ballooned up to 5.46. The killing blows were mostly struck by J.J. Hardy, who homered off Johnson in each of the first two innings — but they were far from the only well-struck balls of the night.
The recently called up Connor Robertson was solid in relief, however, giving up just one run on two hits in three innings in an effort that kept the Diamondbacks in the game. In the process, he posted a Curt-Schilling-esque 32/9 strike to ball ratio. Rosales and Slaten also saw work and posted solid outings.
Despite the early deficit, the offense valiantly tried to claw its way back in the game. Down 7-1, the Diamondbacks picked up two runs in the fourth (Montero’s RBI single and Ojeda’s RBI groundout) and two more in the fifth on Conor Jackson’s eight homer of the season, which cut the lead to a much more respectable 7-5. In the eighth, with the deficit back to three, Reynolds and Tracy started the inning with singles, but they could only manage to get one run back on a Chris Young RBI fielder’s choice. An unlucky double play lineout by Montero later, they found their rally very much killed off.
The leadoff man reached again in the ninth when Ojeda was plunked by a Salomon Torres pitch. A groundout to the right side by Salazer moved him into scoring position, but that was as far as Augie would get. As the potential tying run, Upton and Burke both grounded out, and that was that.
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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +20.5%
God-emperor of suck: Randy Johnson, -41.0%
Ultimately, the early hole Johnson dug was just too much to climb out of. Jackson had three hits including the homer, and Reynolds, Tracy and Young added two hits of their own (Tracy also walked to reach base for a third time). On a number of days with our starting pitchers, six runs would have been enough, but not so today. On the flip side, Drew was 0-for-4 in the leadoff spot, which continues to be a puzzling (to put it nicely) decision.
Missing from the lineup for very understandable reasons was Chris Snyder, who apparently managed to fracture a testicle. No further discussion on the subject is necessary. Byrnes is still nursing the hamstring problem, and Reynolds took a sharp ground ball off his hand, although he stayed in the game and showed no ill effects. Considering the struggles right now, another nasty bite from the injury bug would seem to be the last thing we need. Robby Hammock literally showed up in the middle of the game, which only served to add to the feeling of watching the walking wounded. Robertson’s 41 pitches would seem to imply that Owings will be able to make his start, although at this point it could also be whoever still has a working arm in the bullpen in a joint effort. Hard to say. In any case, it doesn’t bode well for tomorrow’s game.
Athletics 15, Diamondbacks 1 – Straight A’s
Closed Published by Azreous June 18th, 2008 on AZ SnakepitQuote: “Reynolds scores a run.” - The only video highlight Diamondbacks.com could manage for this mess.
Hello, I’m Azreous McClure. You may remember me from such recaps as “Double Delicious” and “80% of the Time, They Don’t Hit Every Time.” Earlier today I made a grave error in judgment and am thus going to change my name to Turambar. I regret the mistake tremendously. Since it was Behind the Scenes night on the FSNAZ broadcast, let’s do a little investigating of our own, shall we?
4:17 PM / Chris: Just FYI, as we get used to this schedule thing, I’ve got the recap tonight covered, right? I’m hoping it’ll be interesting in the winning kind of way, not the oh-god-the-horror kind of way.
4:19 PM / Jim: Yep. You’re up, if that’s okay. At least it’s a Webb start. 
4:21 PM / Chris: Yeah, I figure we can’t lose 12-3 or something tonight. God willing.
The prediction was correct. It was much, much worse.
At first glance, things wouldn’t seem so bad. Webb on the hill to start. Peña in the eighth. Lyon in the ninth. Sounds like a typical Cy Young, seven-inning performance closed out by the bullpen - only that wasn’t the case at all. Webb struggled with his control all night, walking five batters, giving up nine hits (six for extra bases) and getting chased after three and a third to the tune of seven runs. It’s been four seasons since the last time Brandon had such an abbreviated start, going back to a 2004 game against the Cardinals. And it wasn’t for a lack of pitches: the homer by Chavez that chased Webb came on his 133rd pitch of the game.
Lyon’s effort in the ninth was far from the usual fare as well. He didn’t even finish the inning, breaking his scoreless streak on the leadoff batter and then tanking completely with four runs in just two thirds of an inning. The fault for this could be placed on Grace’s shoulders (not mine, for once) for bringing it up in the first place, which set both men in the booth off on a torrent of apologies to anyone and anything…including an apology to our old buddy shoewizard.
After Lyon was chased by a three-run homer from Mark Ellis, Doug Slaten came in and joined the hit (past tense) parade with a walk and another home run before finally, mercifully, getting out of the inning. Really, at that point they might as well have just brought in Ojeda. Or Grace. Or a kid in the third row.
The bright spot in all this? Edgar Gonzalez. EdGon got through the seventh in relief of Webb, striking out five in the process and giving up just one run, which was the equivalent of posting a zero tonight.
Granted, with the offensive struggles of late, the two runs Webb gave up in the first would have been enough for Oakland to get a victory anyway. But as the runs kept being tallied on the visitor side of the scoreboard, the bats looked on with increasing indifference. No one had more than one hit. Five hits total. Eight strikeouts, no walks.
Mark Reynolds was a hero of sorts, scoring the only run of the evening, and also only striking out once. This enabled Justin Upton to join him in a tie for second place in the NL by going down on strikes twice. On the plus side, they’re still more than a dozen behind Ryan Howard. Jackson had a hit and a stolen base, and that was about it for anything significant. I mean, Edgar Gonzalez had the only RBI of the night. Anything beyond this requires a certain visual representation of equine battery.
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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, 4.0%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Webb, -32.6%
A very bizarre, but telling, FanGraph. Yes, you read that right: Conor was the team leader with just 4 percent. Edgar Gonzalez was the only other player in the positives. Five players (Lyon, Slaten, Romero, Burke, Montero) arrived so late in the game that they didn’t affect the probability of winning at all. We were down to 3.4% in the fourth inning after Webb was pulled, then finally flatlined on Crosby’s home run in the ninth, dropping to 0% win expectancy. Good times.
The Dodgers actually managed to pick up a game in the standings, riding Billingsley to a 3-1 victory. That leaves the D-backs three games over .500, yet four and a half in first. More frighteningly, if the Cubs and Diamondbacks traded places, Chicago would be a resounding 12 ½ games in first at the moment. It seems Diamondback fans are stuck somewhere between stunned silence at the awful play, or abject horror (because the team A) could have a much bigger lead in the division, and B) could/should be five or six games back themselves). Any way you slice it, it was a hot, miserable night. Haren goes up against his old teammates tomorrow.
Record: 32-27. Pace: 88-74. Change on last season: +3
Quote: “As a visiting player, that meant a lot. That’s pretty classy and I won’t ever forget that.” - Randy Johnson.
This will be shorter than usual, because I’m stuck with work early in the morning (woo 4:45!) and because I feel like nobody really wants to go over this for the umpteenth time in the past week. It was the usual comedy of errors, lack of offense and waste of good starting pitching.
Randy once again supplanted Roger Clemens for second place all-time in strikeouts, wasting little time in racking it up in the first inning, and getting a nice round of applause from the fans and both dugouts in the process. In fact, Johnson was frequently getting to two-strike counts on hitters. He made a nifty (albeit dangerous) barehanded snag on a ball up the middle at one point as well. I’m still baffled as to why he came back out in the seventh, similarly to why Doug Davis came back out in the seventh, pitch counts be damned. The Unit’s situation was particularly strange, having given up a two-run homer and three warning track flyouts in the sixth. I’d imagine Melvin, as always, was trying to give his starter a shot at getting the win (and once again, #51 missed out on #289). But Johnson got knocked around a bit more in the seventh, albeit with some help from some iffy defense, and then Cruz gave up a sac fly to score the runner he inherited.
Despite all that, Unit’s line was still pretty solid (6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) and didn’t really reflect how well he pitched. Another quality start wasted, if nothing else. Scherzer gave up three more runs in the eighth and that was that.
In the meantime, the offense was wasting what few opportunities it managed to string together. Exhibit A was Jeff Salazer in the third. He doubled to lead off the inning. That’s good. Then he stood on second haplessly after RJ got down a pretty good bunt. That’s bad. Then he didn’t score on Drew’s single. That’s also bad. Along comes a Young GIDP, and the inning was over with nothing to show for it. The only offense came from a Reynolds RBI double — Reynolds was the only Diamondback who reached base more than once, with a couple hits and a walk. No one else drew a base on balls, and there were only four other hits scattered throughout the lineup. Sum it up this way: McClung, the Brewers’ starting pitcher, not only managed to outduel a Hall of Famer, but also outhit all but one player in the Diamondbacks’ order. No other insight is really required at this point.
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God-emperor of his domain: Mark Reynolds, +18.3%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Young, -13.7%
Basically, if you watched this game or read the recap, you don’t need much else from me. The game was much closer than the final score indicated, but it serves as a painful reminder just how tiny this team’s margin of error is right now. With the team’s complete inability to grasp the fundamentals or get more than one timely hit a game, the solid work by the rotation seems doomed to a cycle of being wasted. Toss in some lackadaisical defense and avant garde baserunning, and you have a team that is fortunate to be in first place to be in the worst division in baseball.
Go team go.
Braves 3, Diamondbacks 1 – 80% of the Time, They Don’t Hit Every Time
Closed Published by Azreous May 24th, 2008 on AZ SnakepitRecord: 29-20. Pace: 96-66. Change on last season: +3
Quote: To come…
Delusions of grandeur? I doubt we had any such problems. But at the very least, yesterday’s 11-run output gave us hope that the offense was breaking free of the struggles that had plagued them for most of the month. Instead, we were treated to much more of the same.
For the fourth time in five games, the offense all but disappeared. Just three hits – all singles – one of them by pinch-hitting Augie Ojeda. This was despite a number of extra opportunities, such as an error in the 6th that let Drew reach with one out.
The baseball gods, having given the offense their chance and watching it go to waste, decided to try their luck on defense, and really the final score was closer than it could have been. Of particular note was Yunel Escobar’s baserunning gaffe in the eighth inning (on a rule the umpires correctly enforced, even if the rule is ridiculous). After a leadoff single by Kotsay, Escobar laid down a perfect bunt, and Montero’s throw ended up in foul ground past first, which would have ended up first and third with nobody out. But Escobar was running on the infield grass, which caused him to be called out and sent Kotsay back to first. Infante GIDP’d to end the inning, and that was that. Things finally collapsed in the bottom of the ninth, when Slaten gave up a single to the hot-hitting Chipper Jones, and one groundout later Francouer ended it with a shot to left off of Qualls.
Bottom line, though, was that no amount of pitching or defense could save this game, as has been the case recently. CoJack and Reynolds were the others in the lineup who managed to not suck royally, with a hit apiece. In the meantime, we had other less-than-stellar performances. Of particular note:
- Byrnes: 0 for 4 (.139 in May, 17 K/2 BB in 74 PA)
-or-
Even with his 1-for-4, Reynolds hasn’t fared much better this month: .209, 21 K/7 BB, 75 PA. Really, given the individual struggles through most of the lineup, we may be fortunate to be 9-12 in the month of May. Most of the credit for that goes to the pitchers, in particular the starting rotation.
Speaking of which, Randy Johnson certainly wasn’t part of the problem in today’s game. He looked as good as he has in any of his Sedona Red appearances, getting double digit strikeouts for the 210th time in his career (which is just absurd, really). Unfortunately, due to the lack of run support, he had to be pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh despite throwing just 82 pitches to that point. Ojeda’s RBI single got Johnson off the hook as the pitcher of record, and he departed with the following impressive line:
6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K.
He had command of all of his pitches and decent velocity on the fastball, mostly above 90 and topping out at 93. The slider was perhaps most impressive, with the biting, late movement we’ve come to expect from watching Johnson over the course of his career. He also struck out the side in the second and the fourth.
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God-emperor of his domain: Tony Peña, +20.0%
Honorary mention: Randy Johnson, +18.4%
God-emperor of suck:
Measurably costly double play: Conor Jackson, -27.2%
A little more on Johnson before we look ahead. He was denied his 289th victory, but the 10 strikeouts moved him within striking distance (in his next start?) of Roger Clemens for second place on the all-time list. His previous high this season was seven. His 210th double-digit strikeout game leaves him just five behind Nolan Ryan for that record as well.
| Nolan Ryan | 5,714 |
| Roger Clemens | 4,672 |
| Randy Johnson | 4,663 |
In lieu of snakecharmer’s script (what’s she been up to, anyway?), I have meticulously combed/quickly scanned the Gameday Thread for the brave souls who sat through the offensive majesty: Wimb, DBacksSkins, unnamedDBacksfan, Jim, UofAZGrad, dahlian, acidtongue, Zephon (along with his TMI), kishi, Muu, TwinnerA and srdmad. At least some Anchorman lines found their way in among the 400+ comments.
Micah Owings against Tom Glavine tomorrow in the third game of a four-game set. For a slumping young lineup struggling with plate discipline, this is probably not the time to be facing old man Glavine. Glavine’s 10-3 with a 2.49 ERA against
Diamondbacks 5, Padres 1 – Feeling Randy
Closed Published by Azreous April 26th, 2008 on AZ Snakepit
Record: 17-6. Pace: 120-42. Change on last season: +5
Quote: “This is the reason I’m playing, because I feel I can do these kind of games when I’m healthy. That’s why I’m still playing because I still enjoy being competitive, I still enjoy going out and doing that. I’m 44 years old. I still enjoy going and grabbing a bat and trying to put the ball in play. I still enjoy the competition of trying to get a hitter out.” – Randy Johnson.
“Competitive,” says the old man. That was a completely different notion for the two Arizona-based teams playing tonight, and surprisingly the team with much more on the line was the one that failed to show any signs of competitiveness whatsoever. But the Diamondbacks, still very much in the infancy of their season, came out with another solid effort across the board to pick up their 17th victory of the season.
Bit of a different look for the lineup tonight. Ojeda started at short for the injured Drew and hit second, while Burke took over in left for Byrnes and his hamstring problem. Interestingly, Montero was behind the plate. Apparently the Unit really dislikes Chris Snyder behind the plate or something. As was noted, though, against the Padres’ feeble lineup thusfar, this didn’t seem like a particularly large problem.
Meanwhile, Mark Reynolds was all over the place. First, he and Chris Burke teamed up for a couple nice defensive plays in the early innings, which must have confused the Unit to no end after the disasters in his first two starts. Then he added the biggest haymaker in a five-run fifth, which ended up all the runs the Diamondbacks would get…but also more than enough. After an RBI double by CY, an RBI single by O-Dawg and a base hit by CoJack, Reynolds lifted a three-run jack just over the center field wall to complete the damage, his seventh of the year.
Given some run support, Johnson continued to deal. From watching, his stuff seems to be just about all the way back. It was more than enough to deal with the anemic Padres. Johnson gave up zero hits in every inning except the fourth, when a small hiccup (two singles and a double) allowed
His counterpart Randy, in the meantime, never seemed to be comfortable and had trouble finding the strike zone, finally getting pulled after just four innings. Much better than the previous meeting between the two Randys.
Once Johnson left, Slaten, Cruz and Lyon came in to lock things down, with a walk by Slaten the only blemish in the final three frames. Each struck out a batter as well, and a heart-attack-free ballgame quietly came to an end. Personally, I’ll take coasting like that over the complicated games any day of the week.
No huge games for anybody, but it wasn’t required today.
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God-emperor of slightly below average:
In other action, the Giants picked up a win against the Reds, and the Dodgers and Rockies are playing in the 11th inning as we speak. Still, they can only hope to keep pace with the current division (and all of baseball) leaders.
Decent game thread tonight, considering Jim’s mostly gone and whatnot. Thanks to DbacksSkins, kishi, soco, unnamedDBacksfan, jsk6788, Jim McLennan, foulpole, dahlian, azshadowwalker, snakecharmer, seton hall snake pit, hotclaws, UptonMVP, njjohn, SongBird, singaporedbacksfan, 4 Corners Fan and mrssoco. Admittedly, my full attention wasn’t on the game, as I had the misfortune of watching a gutless Suns team put up a stinker against the Spurs in a game that was all but must-win (as much as I despise that term, nobody’s ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, and it’s the defending champs we’re talking about here). But the hell with them; it’s a baseball blog, and the Diamondbacks are quickly heading toward being the only relevant team left in action in the Valley. And my, how relevant they are indeed.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 4 – Trial and Error
Closed Published by Azreous April 15th, 2008 on AZ SnakepitRecord:
9-4. Pace: 112-50. Change on last season: 0
Quote: “Holy crap.” – About 30 people in the Gameday thread after Mark
Reynolds toppled over the third-base railing.
I’m sure
this is just a momentary hiccup in the global domination plans. Lose two in a
row, win eight straight, lose two in a row… Regardless, the past two games have
been very disappointing in very different ways. The blowout against the
hitting department (although the offense still managed five runs), but tonight
could be placed squarely on the shoulders of the defense. Just two errors, but
a number of questionable plays, and it resulted in all five Giant runs being
unearned.
Things
started off well enough, with CoJack yanking a pitch into the left field stands
for an early 2-0 lead, his first HR of the season. But in the bottom of the
second, things started getting a little iffy. An error by Reynolds, a walk, a
single and a double later, that lead was quickly relinquished, despite Johnson
not giving up any earned runs. Still, the Diamondbacks climbed back into the
lead in the next half inning thanks to RBI singles by Jackson and Upton (both
of whom have reached the double-digit RBI plateau), and the Unit settled in,
facing just one batter over the minimum in the next three innings. He was
pulled before the sixth after 90 pitches, in position to win the game with the
following line:
5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7K
Unfortunately,
the narrow thread holding everything together was unraveled further in the
seventh, when the D-backs defense ranged from “adequate” to “even Ryan Braun is
laughing at you.” Drew botched an easy ground ball that would likely have been
a double play.
loaded, although that seemed the correct play with the blazing-fast Velez
heading to the plate. More importantly, Qualls didn’t cover first, and a
potential double play was snuffed out. That detail was particularly important,
because a sac fly by Molina (which would have ended the inning) put the Giants
back in the lead 5-4.
There was a
bit of a scary moment in the eighth as Reynolds sprawled over the fence on the
third base side in pursuit of a foul ball. Amazingly, he went full extension
and crashed head-first into another railing before hitting the concrete six or
seven feet below. More amazingly, he almost made a ridiculous catch, one you’d
have been seeing on highlight reels for decades. Even more amazingly, he
emerged from the whole situation relatively unharmed, going back to field his
position for the final out of the inning. Skins reported seeing Reynolds spit
out a tooth or two as he left the field after the side was retired, although it
could have been sunflower seeds or something. As of the time of writing, I
haven’t heard anything to confirm one way or the other. Considering the fall he
took, anything’s possible.
Meanwhile,
the offense disappeared. The Diamondbacks managed just two hits after the third
inning, and had 10 in a row sat down by the bullpen at one point before Young
walked with two outs in the ninth. Byrnes (who did extend his hitting streak to 10 games) followed with a few wild swings that
he looked like he might topple over after, then lifted a gentle 20-foot popup
to end the game, and that was that. A slow, cold, plodding, and ultimately
miserable game.
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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +24.5%
God-emperor (perhaps unfairly) of suck:
Somewhat
forgotten in the aftermath was that future Hall-of-Famer who made his first
start of the year. Johnson struggled with his control in the early going, but
settled down nicely and looked pretty solid. Considering the weather conditions
for the old man’s first start back, it was a pretty good outing. Thanks (no
thanks?) to the defense, his ERA for the season is still unblemished, but his
career win total remains stuck at 284. You could see some of his familiar
intensity after the nice play by
highlights of the evening.
All in all,
the general feeling was one of missed opportunity. Unearned runs and an anemic
offense in the last six innings added up to the D-backs’ third one-run loss in
four such games. Tomorrow’s another day game on regular television, which means
tonight’s record turnout (1300+, and a second overflow thread!) is likely to
see a bit of a recession. But hey, there are always things to take solace in:
the Dodgers lost, Reynolds was okay, the lead in the West is still two games –
like it isn’t WAY too early to be speaking of such things – and there’s still
Owings and Webb yet to go in this series. All things considered, it could be much, much worse.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 4 – Trial and Error
Closed Published by Azreous April 15th, 2008 on AZ SnakepitRecord:
9-4. Pace: 112-50. Change on last season: 0
Quote: “Holy crap.” – About 30 people in the Gameday thread after Mark
Reynolds toppled over the third-base railing.
I’m sure
this is just a momentary hiccup in the global domination plans. Lose two in a
row, win eight straight, lose two in a row… Regardless, the past two games have
been very disappointing in very different ways. The blowout against the
hitting department (although the offense still managed five runs), but tonight
could be placed squarely on the shoulders of the defense. Just two errors, but
a number of questionable plays, and it resulted in all five Giant runs being
unearned.
Things
started off well enough, with CoJack yanking a pitch into the left field stands
for an early 2-0 lead, his first HR of the season. But in the bottom of the
second, things started getting a little iffy. An error by Reynolds, a walk, a
single and a double later, that lead was quickly relinquished, despite Johnson
not giving up any earned runs. Still, the Diamondbacks climbed back into the
lead in the next half inning thanks to RBI singles by Jackson and Upton (both
of whom have reached the double-digit RBI plateau), and the Unit settled in,
facing just one batter over the minimum in the next three innings. He was
pulled before the sixth after 90 pitches, in position to win the game with the
following line:
5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7K
Unfortunately,
the narrow thread holding everything together was unraveled further in the
seventh, when the D-backs defense ranged from “adequate” to “even Ryan Braun is
laughing at you.” Drew botched an easy ground ball that would likely have been
a double play.
loaded, although that seemed the correct play with the blazing-fast Velez
heading to the plate. More importantly, Qualls didn’t cover first, and a
potential double play was snuffed out. That detail was particularly important,
because a sac fly by Molina (which would have ended the inning) put the Giants
back in the lead 5-4.
There was a
bit of a scary moment in the eighth as Reynolds sprawled over the fence on the
third base side in pursuit of a foul ball. Amazingly, he went full extension
and crashed head-first into another railing before hitting the concrete six or
seven feet below. More amazingly, he almost made a ridiculous catch, one you’d
have been seeing on highlight reels for decades. Even more amazingly, he
emerged from the whole situation relatively unharmed, going back to field his
position for the final out of the inning. Skins reported seeing Reynolds spit
out a tooth or two as he left the field after the side was retired, although it
could have been sunflower seeds or something. As of the time of writing, I
haven’t heard anything to confirm one way or the other. Considering the fall he
took, anything’s possible.
Meanwhile,
the offense disappeared. The Diamondbacks managed just two hits after the third
inning, and had 10 in a row sat down by the bullpen at one point before Young
walked with two outs in the ninth. Byrnes (who did extend his hitting streak to 10 games) followed with a few wild swings that
he looked like he might topple over after, then lifted a gentle 20-foot popup
to end the game, and that was that. A slow, cold, plodding, and ultimately
miserable game.
[click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +24.5%
God-emperor (perhaps unfairly) of suck:
Somewhat
forgotten in the aftermath was that future Hall-of-Famer who made his first
start of the year. Johnson struggled with his control in the early going, but
settled down nicely and looked pretty solid. Considering the weather conditions
for the old man’s first start back, it was a pretty good outing. Thanks (no
thanks?) to the defense, his ERA for the season is still unblemished, but his
career win total remains stuck at 284. You could see some of his familiar
intensity after the nice play by
highlights of the evening.
All in all,
the general feeling was one of missed opportunity. Unearned runs and an anemic
offense in the last six innings added up to the D-backs’ third one-run loss in
four such games. Tomorrow’s another day game on regular television, which means
tonight’s record turnout (1300+, and a second overflow thread!) is likely to
see a bit of a recession. But hey, there are always things to take solace in:
the Dodgers lost, Reynolds was okay, the lead in the West is still two games –
like it isn’t WAY too early to be speaking of such things – and there’s still
Owings and Webb yet to go in this series. All things considered, it could be much, much worse.
That’s a great song by Colin Hay, by the way. Anyway, carry on.
That’s a great song by Colin Hay, by the way. Anyway, carry on.