Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks GameThread, Jul 20, 2008 4:10 PM EDT

Gameday Thread, #98: 7/20 vs. Dodgers

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 3:11 PM EDT

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks

Derek Lowe
RHP, 7-8, 3.85

Brandon Webb
RHP, 13-4, 3.23

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

Six years ago today, the Arizona Diamondbacks trailed 1-0 in the eighth inning in San Diego. But they scored two in that inning, and added five more in the ninth, to beat the Padres 7-1. The victory started a streak where we won eight of nine, and which moved us five games ahead in the National League West - we largely cruised from that point on. Why do I mention this? Because six years ago today, Mrs. SnakePit and I also got married, back in Scotland. We will therefore not be about for much of the thread today, for obvious reason [we're going to see Wall-E this afternoon, and then out for a long, leisurely dinner somewhere]

Yesterday's win was very much needed, and if Webb is on form, will hopefully be followed by another one this afternoon. After a shaky June, with an ERA of 4.76, Webb seems to have bounced back, with just two earned runs in thirteen innings over his last couple of starts. In July he also has a K:BB ratio of 18:4, significantly better than June's figure of 22:9. Over at the Republic, Nick Piecoro looked at the pitch F/x data for Webb, measuring the horizontal and vertical movement on his pitches. It looks like there was less horizontal slide during his downturn, but the last few starts seem to show a greater degree of sink, and that may explain the greater success of late.

Every other game over the past six, Lowe has allowing one earned run - the good news is, he did it last time, so based entirely on that, should be ripe for the plucking today. Yeah, I'd like something based on more than numerology too. Of the current D-backs, O-Dawg has had great success against him, going 11-for-29 and so has Drew, albeit in a small sample-size (6-for-14). Tony Clark is 4-for-27, so we may not see him start - though three of those four hits left the park, and neither Conor Jackson (0-for-6) nor Chad Tracy (6-for-24) have lit up Lowe. Still, an important game to win today, and give us a spot of breathing room before the Cubs come to town.

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Our lineup

S. Drew ss
C. Jackson lf
O. Hudson 2b
T. Clark 1b
M. Reynolds 3b
C. Young cf
C. Snyder c
A. Romero rf
B. Webb p

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:01 PM EDT 0 recs

Congrats to you and Mrs. Jim

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:02 PM EDT 0 recs

Did the wedding photos come out like this?

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:04 PM EDT up 0 recs

Close...

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up 1 recs

Lovely!!

It's like living with a six-year old.

by 4 Corners Fan on Jul 20, 2008 4:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

Quite loverly!

But your kilt is so long that we can’t see how cute your knees are!

by TwinnerA on Jul 20, 2008 4:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

That's a very

nice wedding shot. :-) Congratulations to yourself and Mrs. Snakepit!!

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

When my aunt married a Scotsman

and they asked me to be the ringbearer, (I was 5 or 6 at the time) they wanted me to wear a kilt, but I was afraid to.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

Afraid?

LOL.

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

Well, yeah.

We can’t ALL be wearing skirts at 5 years old.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

Of course,

if it were these days, it’d be awesome and I’d TOTALLY wear a kilt.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’d be interesting in knowing Lowe’s career numbers against us. It seems like he owns us. If Webby wasn’t on the bump I’d be very pessimistic about the game today.

"There are only two seasons: winter and baseball"
-- Bill Veeck

by njjohn on Jul 20, 2008 4:08 PM EDT 0 recs

According to what I can find on ESPN...

He’s 4-6 against us in his career.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

good

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

4-6 with an ERA of 4.26

However, he is winless in six starts at Chase.

Of course, dunno how many of the players he faced before are still with us.

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

Three of those losses came in 2005, when he went 0-3 against us, though. He’s been better since then.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

that at least sort of redeems my perception…

"There are only two seasons: winter and baseball"
-- Bill Veeck

by njjohn on Jul 20, 2008 4:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

Post-2005, he’s 4-3 with a 3.09 ERA.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yeah....

I was gonna say, I don’t think Lowe has ever been particularly good against us, actually….

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

here we go!

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:10 PM EDT 0 recs

something happened to the site

or more than likely my computer… Everything is looking weird, can read everything, just looks radically different

"It's like deja vu all over again."

by unnamedDBacksfan on Jul 20, 2008 4:13 PM EDT 0 recs

I had real problems getting on

and I’m on the good computer

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

none of the avatars are loading

I am getting written descriptions of them. Like my avatar says it’s the 10 year logo.

"It's like deja vu all over again."

by unnamedDBacksfan on Jul 20, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

Mine must sound like Dr. Seuss

( a cat in a hat)

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yeah, the site's been weird lately.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

Me too

I couldn’t get it load totally through AOL. Better through IE, but still no avatars.

by TwinnerA on Jul 20, 2008 4:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

There is an issue

With our file storage, so some pics probably won’t be working.

Clark does get the start at first, despite his poor record against Lowe compared to Tracy. I’m down at The Sets – we’re waiting for Mrs. SnakePit to her share of the proceeds from the World Series of Beer Pong, whose local qualifiers were held there last night. So will likely be able to see a few innings here…

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:16 PM EDT 0 recs

Direct TV

in all its wisdom has decided that this game is not available to us. Mr. 4 Corners Fan is on the phone, speaking like an automaton to the automatice voice—I. WANT. TO. SEE. A. BASEBALL. GAME.

Great, now they’ve said it’s league rules that it’s blacked out. What channel is it being shown on in PHX?

It's like living with a six-year old.

by 4 Corners Fan on Jul 20, 2008 4:16 PM EDT 0 recs

Fox Sports AZ

I imagine.

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

...which we should get. And if we don’t get it there, we should get it on the Extra Innings package. Grrrrrrrrr.

It's like living with a six-year old.

by 4 Corners Fan on Jul 20, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

We’ve got it on FSNAZ right now.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

Could you just call me,

and I’ll put you on speakerphone and you can do play-by-play? Thanx.

It's like living with a six-year old.

by 4 Corners Fan on Jul 20, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

1 2 3

that’s how elementary,
it’s gonna be

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:17 PM EDT 0 recs

Three groundouts

Looks like the vertical movement on Webb’s pitches is just fine. :-)

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:18 PM EDT 0 recs

Agreed.

Good to see.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

Dreeeewww

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:19 PM EDT 0 recs

Leadoff hard-hit single for Drew.

By the way, I REALLY like CoJack playing LF.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:20 PM EDT 0 recs

Yes , me too

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Lets hope

it becomes permanent, real soon!

At least the FO is willing to erase its bad mistakes… time to erase that 30 million dollar one!

"It's like deja vu all over again."

by unnamedDBacksfan on Jul 20, 2008 4:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Man on first.

The dynasty that should be the Arizona Diamondbacks.

by srdmad on Jul 20, 2008 4:21 PM EDT 0 recs

Good start

Jackson follows up, men on first and third. But it’s Orlando the Rally Killer up…

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:22 PM EDT 0 recs

watch

he’ll try and bunt

"It's like deja vu all over again."

by unnamedDBacksfan on Jul 20, 2008 4:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

No ,draws a walk;-D

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

Walk to O-Dawg

Bases loaded, no outs, come on, guys!

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:23 PM EDT 0 recs

LETS GO DBACKS!

make it count!

"It's like deja vu all over again."

by unnamedDBacksfan on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

Heart of the order up

Got to get two runs in here, I think,

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT 0 recs

LOL

How the hell did O-Dawg get in there safe??

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT 0 recs

This should be the 3rd straight game scoring in the first inning.

The dynasty that should be the Arizona Diamondbacks.

by srdmad on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT 0 recs

Welcome back Clarke!

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:24 PM EDT 0 recs

It’s not often you see someone escape from a run-down. Nice work, Orlando.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:25 PM EDT 0 recs

Wow

More info? They haven’t turned the TV on here yet.

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

Clark grounded out up the middle,

O-Dawg got caught in a rundown, eventually made it back diving into 1B when Nomar decided to chase him down himself.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hang on

O-Dawg makes a GOOD base-running play? Are you sure? :-)

by Jim McLennan on Jul 20, 2008 4:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

pinches you

yes :-)

We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.

by hotclaws on Jul 20, 2008 4:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

Well, not so much O-Dawg making a good play

as Nomar making a dumb play.

Mark Reynolds: back to turning me gay.

by DbacksSkins on Jul 20, 2008 4:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

Give some credit to Hudson for avoiding the out in the first place, so the run-down became necessary.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

Clark grounded to the second baseman, who went to tag Hudson. Hudson hung up between first and second, so they had to throw it to first to get the force there, and then they tossed it to Nomar, who tried to run Hudson down, but Hudson dived straight back to first and made it back before they could get the ball to first and tag.

It was a pretty good play, you don’t see one like it often. Hopefully they’ll show it again later.

"Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight... Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?"

by kishi on Jul 20, 2008 4:30 PM EDT up 0 recs