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| bottom of the 7th | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arizona Diamondbacks
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
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Colorado Rockies
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ♦ | 5 |
Gameday Thread #80: 7/3 vs. Rockies
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 3, 2009 7:44 PM EDT
in Gameday Threads
117 comments
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Weird start time here: from what I can see, first pitch will be at 6:10pm in Denver, an hour earlier than I thought it would be. Maybe it's a bizarre plan to discomfort the Diamondbacks, who arrived there after another one-run loss, dropping a series despite their pitching allowing only six runs over the three games. We also extended our streak of losing one-run games - that's six of our last ten defeats, and we haven't been on the right side of one since June 11. Perhaps it's an omen that Max was the winner in that one?
Scherzer's ERA+ is 123; third-best on the Diamondbacks, behind Haren (206) and Davis (144). No other team in the majors have a trio of qualifying pitchers so good, and only a handful have two; indeed, four teams, including the Rockies, don't have a single such starter. It's clearly not the front of the rotation that's been the problem for Arizona in 2009. Max's last start wasn't up to much, though his defense has to be held largely responsible, tagging him for five unearned runs in a fifth inning where they gave the Angels six outs. None of that today, please.
Though, actually, the Rockies pitching hasn't been bad - though their top guy, Jimenez, has an ERA+ worse than our #3, it's not by much, at 121, and he's closely followed by Cook (120), Marquis (117) and Hammel (116). The good news is, tonight, we face the #5, former D-back de la Rosa, though he never reached the majors with us. He was actually a D-backs twice: he initially signed as an amateur free-agent, then came back from Boston in the Schilling trade, left for Milwaukee in the Sexson deal, and then went through Kansas City on his way to Denver. I feel fairly confident we can take him down. We certainly should...
And this one's for Poseidon's Fist, who seemed alarmed at some of the methods previously used here to get the offense going, specifically, the threatening of defenseless animals unless positive action resulted. In deference to his sensitivities (hah! I bet he's kind to children and the elderly too!), we'll go the other way with the incentive program today:
Win, and we'll kill Barney
Line-up
- Felipe Lopez 2B
- Ryan Roberts 3B
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 1B
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Chris Young CF
- Luke Carlin C
- Augie Ojeda SS
- Max Scherzer P
Ryan Roberts starting? Really? And in the two-hole? 2-for-37 in the past month? Well, that's the quota of question-marks used up for this Gameday Thread, and with the pitch increasing at the end of each sentence, I now sound like I'm communicating with dolphins. Should be about for much of this one, having got the day off work: yeah, I thought today was the fourth, but that's tomorrow. When I'm not working tomorrow, though I had to actually take a vacation day for that. You'll understand my confusion...
117 comments | 0 recs
Trade Deadline Partner or Not? #1: Cincinnati Reds
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 3, 2009 1:33 PM EDT
in News
7 comments
In the interests of more informed discussion as we head towards the trade deadline, there's been an effort among the SB Nation baseball sites to provide some information for each team, from which we can work. The aim is to provide a more factual basis - upon which we can then base the usual groundless speculation. Ok, this will work better than it sounds, but it should hopefully help to avoid any "OMG! We can so get Greinke from the Royals for Eric Byrnes!"-type posts.
We start where we finished, as it were, with Joel from Red Reporter telling us what the Cincinnati Reds could use. After the last series against the Diamondbacks, you will not be surprised to hear that pitching is low on their list of priorities. Details after the jump.
7 comments
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Diamondbacks 2, Reds 3: AZ bullpen left with Red faces...
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 2, 2009 9:59 PM EDT
in Game Reports
12 comments
Record: 31-48. Pace: 64-98.
Change on last season: -9.
Change on 2004: -3.
You couldn't make this stuff up. Doug Davis allowed one run in seven innings, but left with the lead, thanks to Mark Reynolds' 22nd home-run of the year. In his seventeenth start, it looked like Doug would finally get the win without having to pitch shutout baseball. While it was only a one-run lead, surely the worst was over, after a nerve-wracking eighth inning where Jon Rauch, Scott Schoeneweis and Chad Qualls conspired to get into, then out of, a first-and-third, one-out jam. However, the Reds did score the tying run in the ninth off Qualls, and then got a walk-off victory in the tenth, ending Clay Zavada's scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single.
More gory details after the jump.
12 comments
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Gameday Thread, #79: 7/2 vs Reds
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 2, 2009 11:00 AM EDT
in Gameday Threads
273 comments
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Get your Sausage McMuffin and your caffeinated beverage of choice, because it's time for breakfast baseball - a day game on the East coast means that first pitch takes place at the time most of us in Arizona will be stretching, yawning and thinking about beginning the day. At least I won't have to worry about staying up late in order to write the recap, since I should be able to have it done in my lunch-break.
Rubber game of the series, which has so far been dominated by starting pitching, with only Arroyo's performance in the opener blotting an otherwise almost impeccable copybook as far as that goes. Doug Davis goes out there, knowing that so far, the only way to get the W, is pitching shutout baseball: one run has been enough to doom him otherwise. It's a startling record, which generates a new fun stat each time. Here's todays: Davis currently has an ERA+ of 139: only one pitcher in the past 20 years has had that good a season and a Win% of below .400 - Jim Abbott, who went 7-15 for the 1992 Angels, with a 2.77 ERA. Doug's Win% is currently .273.
Anyway, no idea what the line-up is going to be at this point. I'm writing this at 10pm and scheduling it to hit the Internet some time before I hit consciousness. I'm sure someone more awake than I will fill in the blanks...
Lineup
- Feiipe Lopez 2B
- Stephen Drew SS
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Gerardo Parra CF
- Miguel Montero C
- Chad Tracy 1B
- Alex Romero LF
- Doug Davis P
Looks like I'm the only mod awake enough yet. :-) Young sits, which is interesting: I wonder if he is still having an issue with his groin? Romero gets the start in LF, with Parra moving over to CF.
273 comments | 0 recs
The June Swoon: Reviewing the Diamondbacks Month
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 2, 2009 12:30 AM EDT
in News
26 comments
Team Record: 9-17
Runs Scored: 124 - Runs Allowed: 128
Series Record: 1-6-1
Is it just me, or did the past month feel an awful lot worse than that? Ok, it was still the fewest games won by the Diamondbacks since June 2006, when we went 8-20 (boy, we really don't like June!). But I was surprised to see we scored almost as many runs as we conceded. Just for comparison, in 2006, our differential was -72, rather than the -4 posted last month - the closest we've come to parity all season. The main reason the record doesn't reflect this, is that the Diamondbacks were 2-6 in one-run games in June, but were 4-0 in games decided by seven runs or more.
But after the jump, we'll go into more details, about a June we'd probably rather forget, and list the nominees for AZ Player of the Month
26 comments
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Diamondbacks 0, Reds 1: Crimson Flare-out
by Azreous
on Jul 1, 2009 10:21 PM EDT
in Game Reports
11 comments
Record: 31-47. Pace: 64-98. Change on last season: -9. Change on 2004: +3
Today's TV broadcast brought up an interesting (albeit pretty circumstantial) stat: the Diamondbacks are 1-14 in games following Dan Haren starts. After Haren's masterful performance in all facets last night, I suppose that meant we had reason to be less than optimistic, particularly with young phenom Johnny Cueto on the bump for the Reds. The Diamondbacks did all they could to manifest that destiny through six innings, failing to take advantage of Cueto's wildness to get even one run across, and from that point their fate was sealed.
The early innings could best be described as a plethora of wasted opportunities. They got the leadoff man aboard each of the first three frames but could do nothing with it. Lopez walked to start the first, but three straight outs followed. Parra walked to begin the second, but was thrown out on a failed hit-and-run with one out. Montero, who swung at ball four once trying to protect the runner, ended up drawing a walk, and Tracy walked behind him -- meaning the bases would have been loaded with one out, all without swinging the bat. Benefit of hindsight, absolutely, but the fact remains. That brought the pitcher up with two outs, and also brought the end of the threat. Lopez singled in the third and was bunted over by Drew, but Upton and Reynolds struck out. In the fourth, fifth and sixth, Arizona decided to drop all pretense of success whatsoever and went down in order. Essentially, this let Cueto off the hook; his pitch count was extremely high through the first few frames, but Lopez's single was the only hit he allowed in his six innings of work.
On the other side, Jon Garland continued his Mr. Hyde routine by pitching extremely well on the road. As usual, he had to work around a handful of tight spots, but he kept the score column clear for the first five innings by being remarkably efficient. The only real trouble he faced to that point was in the third, when Chris Dickerson hit a double with one out. Danny Richer (who had six at-bats this season before today's start) tried to score from first, but was gunned down by the cannonating arm of Justin Upton. It took until the sixth for the Reds to finally get someone across -- Dickerson had a leadoff base hit up the middle, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on a little flare to left that nobody could reach in time. Parra might've had a chance to throw Dickerson out, had he cut off Upton's arm and grafted it to his body.
Garland was sitting on a very economical 71 pitches while the offense battled in the top of the seventh. Parra reached on a beautiful bunt to the left side to lead things off, and waltzed over to second on a wild pitch that caromed off the backstop. Chris Young walked, and Montero moved both runners over with a great bunt. Facing a lefty, Roberts pinch-hit for Tracy, but struck out anyway. Desperate for a run or two in that situation, Garland was removed for Tony Clark, who drew a walk to load the bases. But Lopez flew out weakly and the inning was over.
With Garland out of the game, Clay Zavada was brought in to keep it a one-run game. He struggled a bit, getting tagged for a single, walk, and single and only getting one out in the process (and he was fortunate that Jay Bruce was the lead runner, which loaded the bases instead of being first and second with a run in). Juan Gutierrez was summoned, faced with a heavy task: keep the game close, and preserve Zavada's scoreless streak to start his career. He was able to do both, punching out Dickerson and getting Jerry Hairston to pop it up to the left side, keeping it a 1-0 game. So even though Zavada had a WHIP of 4.50 in today's outing, the streak lives on -- 19 appearances and 18 innings pitched.
Staring at an imposing number in the opponent's line score (i.e., "1"), the Diamondbacks' 2-3-4 hitters went down 1-2-3 in the eighth without so much as a whimper. Gutierrez continued to work in the bottom half, erasing a leadoff single by getting Brandon Phillips to ground into a 5-4-3 double play and getting Lance Nix to foul out harmlessly to Reynolds. But Parra, Young and Montero could do nothing against Francisco Cordero in the ninth, and that was that. No runs, no win. Granted, you're not going to win many games where you can only muster two hits and you get set down in order five of the last six innings.
Master of his Domain: Jon Garland, +17.4%
God-Emperor of Suck: Ryan Roberts, -14.6%
Honorable Mention: Stephen Drew, -14.4%; Justin Upton, -13.2%; Mark Reynolds, -10.4%
Roberts gets stuck with the bulk of the blame thanks to his strikeout in a key situation. The 2-3-4 hitters, in that order, round out the rest of the rubble thanks to their 0-11 performance. Garland was forced to eat the loss despite another road gem (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K). Gutierrez just missed Honorable Mention with a +9.3% for his 1.2 innings of solid work out of the pen. The only hitter in the positive was Clark, at a whopping +2.4%; the other 10 batters who gave it a shot were all in the red.
For the Diamondbacks, Lopez and Parra each reached twice, on a walk and a hit. On the Reds' side, Dickerson, Joey Votto and Ramon Hernandez all had two hits apiece. Weathers and Rhodes both had strong innings in relief of Cueto.
Meager GameDay Thread (210 comments), fitting for a meager performance by our team. Snakecharmer ended up just shy of 50 comments in leading the way. Those who raised their hands when the teacher called attendance included: unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, Jim McLennan, snakecharmer, edbigghead, hotclaws, Diamondhacks, TwinnerA, 4 Corners Fan, Snake Bitten, Azreous, dahlian, pygalgia and NotGuilty.
Tomorrow is the series finale, a 9:35 a.m. start for all us Arizona folk. It'll be Doug Davis against Aaron Harang, so if you're not fully awake at that point, don't worry. I'm sure Davis' slow work rate and our anemic offense can lull you back to sleep in no time. As a footnote, the 2004 team snapped an 11-game win streak at this point in that season, meaning we've "gained" a game on them in the chase for putridity. Good times.
11 comments
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Gameday Thread, #78: 7/1 vs. Reds
by Jim McLennan
on Jul 1, 2009 6:54 PM EDT
in Gameday Threads
221 comments
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And the calendar turns to July. Let's hope the results for the Diamondbacks this month are a little better than June's 9-17 - though that bald statistic conceals some interesting numbers, which I'll be writing about this evening, while Azreous does the recap. Looks like a bit of an uneven match-up here, with Cueto (career ERA vs. Arizona, 2.37) going up against Garland, who had one of his 'bad' outings in May against Cincinnati, giving up seven runs and having to be bailed out before getting through four innings.
If only we could play eight Uptons, since he's the only one who really had a handle on Cueto - he's 3-for-6, with all three hits being for extra-bases, and two leaving the park. Parra and, of all people, Augie Ojeda, have also gone deep off Cueto, but overall, the current Diamondbacks are batting sub-Uecker, having gone 9-for-46 combined agsinst the Reds' pitcher. In contrast, Cincinnati are hitting .351 off Garland, with Brandon Phillips (6-for-14, five for extra-bases) leading the hit parade.
Good news about Brandon Webb not needing surgery, though part of me grumbles about having done all that research into labrums, needlessly. :-) Here's to him making a triumphant return in September and performing in such a way as to make picking up his 2010 option a lock, as it was before this season began.
Lineup
- Felipe Lopez 2B
- Stephen Drew SS
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Chris Young CF
- Miguel Montero C
- Chad Tracy 1B
- Jon Garland P
Tracy gets his first action since coming back off the DL, with Reynolds returning to third-base. Otherwise, business pretty much as usual for the line-up. Finally, some audio from Dan Haren on the Doug and Wolf show this morning.
Audio courtesy of KTAR 620
221 comments | 0 recs
No Surgery for Webb
Webb says three specialists all gave him the same answer: don't have surgery. He'll spend four to six weeks strengthening the muscle and not throwing, but he hopes he can be back in time to make a few starts in September.
2 days ago
kishi
19 comments
0 recs
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| Sat 07/04 | 8:10 PM EDT | |
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NL West Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Los Angeles
|
50 | 29 | .632 | 0 | Won 1 |
|
San Francisco
|
42 | 36 | .538 | 7.5 | Lost 2 |
|
Colorado
|
41 | 37 | .525 | 8.5 | Lost 1 |
|
San Diego
|
34 | 44 | .435 | 15.5 | Lost 2 |
|
Arizona
|
31 | 48 | .392 | 19 | Lost 2 |
(updated 7.3.2009 at 10:17 PM EDT)
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