Phoenix.BloggersPub

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

Middle of the fifth inning and we need a new thread?  I’ll take it! 

4-1, Your Arizona Diamondbacks on top.  I won’t invoke the name of the lovely lass from last night, but she is always in our hearts.  Or, if you’d rather:  everything is turrible and we suck and AH BLOO BLOO BLOO

Seventh inning stretch and D’backs lead 2-0, so I summon the power of Rachel Nichols to guide our boys home some more.

Get the Wrong Sox out and tack on some more runs!

Who you calling scruffy looking?

And scruffy the Diamondbacks looked tonight, every inch the half-witted nerf herder.  It took only one inning for the Twins to do their damage, but it was more than enough.  Six runs were scored in the bottom of the third, with assistance of some dodgy plays by Mark Reynolds and Miguel Montero.  It all started with a Reynold’s throw that tagged Delmon Young like he was trying out for a local YMCA dodge ball team, with a curious scoring of an infield hit.  Brendan Harris doubled, and then both were scored by Mat Macri’s single.

The fun for the Twins wouldn’t end there, as Alexi Casilla reached on a bunt and Macri advanced to third after Montero attempted to airmail his throw to right field.  Mauer hits a sacrifice  fly, making the game three to nil with Casilla on second.  Mourneau added to the deficit with a single, scoring his comrade Cosilla. With Mourneau standing on second after advancing with a throw to the plate, Craig Monroe stepped up to take his turn.  One quick crack of the bat, and the leather ball was hurtling deep into center field.  Home run, Twins 6, Diamondbacks 0.

In the subsequent inning the Twins tacked on with Brendon Harris off a Carlos Gomez double.  This would be all the Twins would get, but it would prove to be more than enough off another listless night for the Diamondbacks’ offense.

Arizona would end up with eight hits, only two less than Minnesota, but the visitor’s attempts would be scattered throughout the game with no sense of rhythm.  The first real threat would be in the top of the second off a Chris Young double.  Montero would strikeout, however, and Upton would join him back in the dugout after a fly out that advanced Young to third.  Salazar dug in, and scrapped out a walk, but the opportunity was wasted with a Drew weak pop out just beyond the grass lip between first and second.

The Diamondbacks would get a run in the top of the sixth with Mark Reynold’s sixteenth home run of the year to left field.  Of course, his teammates couldn’t be bothered to join in the festivities, instead sitting down meekly with a groundout, fly out, and strikeout.

No other D’back would reach base until the top of the eighth, game nearly in hand for the home team, when Hudson ran out an infield single.  He then advanced to second off a Twin throwing error, who must have drank the same flavor of Kool-Aid before the game.  He would get a chance to click cleats with the home plate after being advanced to third by Tracy and then home by Reynold’s groundout, making the game 7-2.

Although the game ended poorly for the Diamondbacks, Randy Johnson did go the distance, saving a bullpen that most likely will be need in the coming days.  One can’t help but think back to the Maddux debacle earlier in the year when he allowed six runs in the first to the then charging Diamondbacks, and then completed the game to save his poor battle tested relief corps.

Emperor of His Domain: Chris Young 4.7%

God Emperor of Suck: Randy Johnson 29.2%

Needless to say this one was largely over by the end of the third inning and the Game Thread reflected this, with conversation drifting to movies, pizza toppings, what my children will look like, and the most important of events: free Jack in the Box tacos.

At the end of the game, I asked for movie recommendations before I went off to my local, and terribly stocked, video store.  The promise was the winner would receive an ice cream sammich at SnakepitFest later this year, and though all the entries were solid and things I definitely will check out soon, there can be only one winner: Jim.  I narrowed down everyone’s picks to one each, dependent on what was available to rent, and then called my wife and had her blind pick the winner.  So tonight, after Ghostbusters will be The Nest.

For the other contestants, well, thanks for playing, and maybe we’ll play this again sometime in the next month to give other people a chance at other wonderful prizes.

Tomorrow the game is at 7:10 EST, so don’t be L7 and get caught somewhere else.

        In a hot and humid day in San Diego, two teams following two separate paths met on a common axis: the Cy Young award winning pitching of Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy.  A quick glance of the box score would suggest a classic pitcher’s duel resulting in a 2-1 Arizona win, but a closer look reveals two excellent pitchers struggling with location but ultimately proving their worth in key moments.

        The Diamondbacks were the first to strike, taking advantage of Peavy’s nibbling of the strike zone and resulting walk in the top of the 2nd.  This was not wildly different from the 1st, when Chris Young got on base for the only time of the afternoon with a walk, but in 2nd it was Chris Snyder making the Friars pay by slamming a ball into deep center.

        Control continued to be a problem for both pitchers, but caught up to Webb in the bottom of the 4th after a walk and an error by the normally sure Orlando Hudson with no outs.  San Diego was able to capitalize on these mistakes with a sacrifice fly by Jim Edmonds, but this would be the end of scoring for both teams.

        The Padres knocked on the door twice, the first being in the 5th with a double by Peavy, attempting to help his own cause, and a Brian Giles walk.  They were advanced by a Paul McAnaulty grounder, and a walk by Adrian Gonzalez filled the bases.  Webb regained composure and struck out the next batter, Keven Kousmanoff, ending the threat.

        The very next offensive opportunity for the Padres was remarkably similar, with back to back singles by Khalil Greene and Tadahito Iguchi, and then a walk by Josh Bard, all with one out.  Webb, clearly gassed, gave his all and struck out Peavy before forcing a groundout from Giles.

        That was largely the end of the offensive displays from the two sides.  Arizona managed two on in the 7th with one out that was quickly wasted with a pop out by Snyder and a strike out by the pinch hitting Miguel Montero. 

    The offense wouldn’t be needed, though, with solid relief pitching by both sides.  Cruz came in and was lights out, followed by Pena who walked Greene, and then Lyon who closed the game for his seventh save of the season.

        Though there were scattered base runners at times, both pitchers made the plays when it counted, minus the two mistakes that resulted in runs for both sides.  Ultimately this match up could be considered a preview for this year’s Cy Young race, and both performed admirably given the circumstances.  Peavy, after battling through the early control issues, struck out nine Diamondbacks with three walks, and decreased his ERA to 2.09.  Webb might not have been as impressive in strikeouts, with five, and the control in the later innings was scary, walking four, but his ERA dropped to 1.98 after the outing.

        The FanGraph hasn’t updated yet, or maybe I can’t find the link to post the picture, but here’s a link to the site.

        At the end of the day, the Diamondbacks find themselves 18-7and 6 games up on the second place Dodgers, and ends the long line of 22 straight divisional games.  As Sutton and Grace have been known to preach the past month, you can’t win a division in April but you can certainly lose it.  The Diamondbacks have made a strong case as the favorite, and though we should preach patience and understanding for the inevitable slumps that the summer will bring, the boys in Sedona Red make it hard to be objective.

        The 6 game lead that Arizona isn’t just good enough to lead the NL West, but as large or nearly as large as what the other divisional leaders have with the bottom of their respective divisions.  The 148 runs scored are best in the majors, and the 93 allowed are second best, behind only Oakland.  This a team not only showcasing it’s dominating pitching, as was expected before the season began, but won with power (33 home runs, third in the majors), smart at bats for the most part (105 free base runners) and a resilient defense to back up the pitching.

        A quick game doesn’t facilitate a long gamethread, but it was long enough for an overflow a little over 100 comments strong.  Making appearances today were: soco, seton hall snake pit, mrssoco, snakecharmer, kishi, hotclaws, unnamedDBacksfan, DbacksSkins, SongBird, foulpole, azshadowwalker, dahlian, LucaMaz3, 4 Corners Fan, DiamondbacksWIn, Augie’s Army, paqs, Wimb, Stile4aly, singaporedbacksfan. 

        Tomorrow your Arizona Diamondbacks come home to take on the Houston Astros, who may or may not be the age listed in the media guide.  Jim should be back by then, so normal programming can continue, scab-free.