Diamondbacks 11, Astros 5: SuperMon Gets Miggy With It

Record: 64-59. Pace: 84-78. Change on last season: -6

The Diamondbacks pounded the Astros once again, using two grand slams, by Chris Young and Miguel Montero to cruise to another easy victory. It's the first time the team have scored 10+ runs in back-to-back road games for over eight years: the last time, coincidentally, was also in Houston, back in July 2000, when they won 10-4 and 12-9.

Tonight's game opened in much the same way as yesterday's, with our starting pitcher once again getting to bat before he took the mound. However, Petit was the beneficiary of even more run support, as the Diamondbacks scored five runs in the first - they've now out-scored the opposition 86-58 over the opening frame [it's not quite their best inning: in the fifth, the split is 89-51 in our favor. The ninth is our Achilles' heel; there, we've been outscored 56-30]. And, once again, Arizona were helped by wildness from the opposing starter: Backe walked three of the nine batters he faced, two of them coming round to score.

The big blow was courtesy of Miguel Montero, who came up with the bases loaded and two men out, and Arizona already one run ahead, thanks to an RBI single from Dunn. After working the count to 3-1, our catcher hit his second home-run of the year to right-field, for the first grand-slam of his career. It was also only the second of the year for the Diamondbacks, the other being by Eric Byrnes [remember him?] in Atlanta on May 25. Despite having one long-ball in his first 132 at-bats, Montero's second and third came in consecutive plate-appearances - he followed his salami with a smaller slice of power, scoring our next run with another homer, this time a solo shot: in the fourth.

Arizona continued to pull away, as Reynolds made the score 7-1, with his 82nd RBI of the season. Any faint chance the Astros had of coming back, was then removed when Chris Young came up with the bases loaded in the sixth - I note that Young was batting #2 against a right-handed starter... Montero had just missed going yard for the third time, settling for a double. CY promptly unloaded the bags, taking advantage of the short porch in left for his seventeenth homer of the year, and giving Arizona the first two slam game in franchise history. We're also the first National League team to double-dip our bats in El Salsa Grande, since the New York Mets on July 16, 2006 [they did it twice in the same inning, part of an eleven-run sixth!]

The team pounded out twelve hits - as noted previously, we've reached double figures there in every game since the arrival of our new slugger, and we added eight walks too. Dunn himself led the way, getting on base five times in five plate-appearances, with two hits and three walks. He may not be as flashy as Manny - we're still awaiting his first homer in an Arizona uniform - but we will happily settle for an on-base percentage of .520, based on Dunn going 6-for-18 with seven walks thus far. Montero and Young had three hits apiece, while Chris Burke continued his renaissance, extending his hitting streak to a season-high four games, along with two walks. The only downside was the end of Stephen Drew's streak at seventeen games, though even he walked twice.

Meanwhile, Yusmeiro Petit was outperforming most expectations, restricting Houston to two runs in seven innings on four hits and a walk, with five strikeouts. Some discussion on the Gameday Thread as to whether he may end up in the rotation next season, Certainly, his five starts this season have generally been very solid and effective outings - here's his combined line to date:
    Petit: 28 IP, 18 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 6 BB, 19 K, 2.89 ERA
While the usual small sample-size warnings apply, he's doing a better job of keeping the ball in the park [three homers] and simply allowing fewer base-runners. At the very worst, it seems he'll be a good sixth starter to have tucked away, either in the bullpen or down in Tucson next season.

The Astros did restore some respectability to the score late on in the game. They got their second run off Petit in the seventh, and Tony Pena then pitched a scoreless eighth. However, Leo Rosales allowed three hits to the first three batters he faced, and all of them came round to score, making the final score 11-5. Still, having outscored the Astros 23-7 over the first two games of the series, we have to feel very, very good about the way the offense has been hitting of late. Now, if the Damn Dodgers would stop winning for a bit, that'd be helpful. :-)

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Miguel Montero, +29.5%
Honorable mention: Yusmeiro Petit, +11.6%
God-emperor of suck: Chad Tracy, -7.1%

In the time since the last sentence, JJ Hardy has uncorked a two-run homer, to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead in Los Angeles. However, we've seen the Dodgers come back late before, so I'm not counting this one until it's over.  Over 800 comments in the Gameday Threads tonight; another fun time, with conversation that occasionally sailed off-topic [sodas? Sir David Attenborough? Marathon runners' belly-buttons?], yet was no less entertaining for it. Present were ZonaBacks10, DbacksSkins, soco, emilylovesthedbacks, Muu, 4 Corners Fan, unnamedDBacksfan, njjohn [who gets credit for the 'SuperMon' label], DiamondbacksWIn, Zephon, foulpole, TwinnerA, hotclaws, Wimb, kishi, Turambar, Scrbl, AZWILDCATS, Azreous and BleedingSedonaRed.

So, just hanging round now, waiting for the Dodgers game to finish. Oh, if you want to hear my dulcet tones, I was interviewed on Baseball Digest Daily Live today. You can check it out, through their website - I'm on the most recent show, dated August 16th: I enjoyed the experience - it was nice to rant to someone who hadn't heard me complain about the Quentin trade for the past four months. And, with that, the Dodgers have tied it up in the ninth, and the game is going into extras. No idea how long that might go on, so I'll post this now. 11am first pitch tomorrow, with Johnson facing Oswalt as we go for the sweep.