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Around SBN: 2012 Africa Cup Of Nations Final

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 0 - Lowe Expectations

Record: 71-69. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -6
Magic number: 22. Playoff odds: TBA

Nothing fancy here, folks. I'm sure Jim's grateful to not have to do the recap tonight, as Lowe pitched masterfully and the Diamondbacks put up a completely feeble effort to try and stop him. The Fangraph sums it up better than I could.

280905119_diamondbacks_dodgers_111545388_live_medium
Master of his Domain: Chris Young, +5.8%
God-Emperor of Suck: Dan Haren, -25.9%

Two hits. Two walks. Chris Young, being responsible for two of those four base runners, is the master of what little domain we have left. Dan Haren turned out another disappointing start, although he didn't last long enough to continue his string of seven hits or more in a start. I guess that's good.

No other Diamondback was more than 1 percent to the positive. Conor Jackson was second with 0.6 percent. That also does a good job of summing things up.

An unsurprisingly subdued (and off-topic) Gameday Thread. Present there were: kishi, njjohn, snakecharmer, Jim McLennan, foulpole, DbacksSkins, azwebber17, Diamondhacks, Shums, TwinnerA, Andrew, mrssoco, Scrbl, AZWILDCATS, unnamedDBacksfan, Gravity, 4 Corners Fan and Turambar.

Webb/Billingsley tomorrow. Maybe things will improve. Maybe we'll be in second place. Time will tell.

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Just ow

Nothing more to say

So...time for another drink then?

by Wimb on Sep 6, 2008 7:52 AM EDT reply actions  

Yeah, I got nothing much to add

Terse and to the point. We sucked. The Diamondbacks haven’t been able to win consecutive games in over two weeks now – the last time was August 25. After the end of April, our record is now 51-69 [which would project to a 69-83 record], and that seems like a much better assessment of the way we are playing right now. This is basically a third- or fourth-placed team that overachieved incredibly for one month.

Which, of course, will be the cue for the Diamondbacks to crush the Dodgers over the next couple of days, confusing me once again. :-) We can only hope…

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 11:38 AM EDT reply actions  

It reminds me

of when they had that amazing comeback over the Brewers, and then the next game came out and stunk it up. You would think they’d be able to utilize momentum like that, but apparently not.

We are gonna get drunk with Adam Dunn and we're gonna head-butt some damn kangaroos.

by soco on Sep 6, 2008 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions  

I wish I knew

how to motivate this team. Heck, I wish someone, anyone knew how to motivate this team. I knew they weren’t going to maintain their hot start, but the tepid, listless baseball we’ve seen for most of the season is hugely disappointing.

"We...probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." — Terry Bisson

by Scrbl on Sep 6, 2008 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions  

An unfortunate +1

This team does not seem to carry over their victories into the next game, though they seem to have few problems carrying over their defeats.

"Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal. Belief."

by kishi on Sep 6, 2008 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

Duh

My math was off. Our record since April projects to 69-93 over a full-season. Yuck.

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

Days in first place

Going back to July 28th, 2007, over their past 197 Games, the D backs have been either tied or alone in first place for 192 of those games.

During that time span they have scored 886 runs and allowed 881

How is this even possible ?

by shoewizard on Sep 6, 2008 1:30 PM EDT reply actions   1 recs

They are the oddest

looking first place team I can think of. They may be the oddest first place team I can even imagine. Tonight they test their strange destiny. Can the Diamondbacks, if they try hard enough, give away their lead in the NL West?

"We...probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." — Terry Bisson

by Scrbl on Sep 6, 2008 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

Been here before

This team has a bizarre, almost supernatural quality to win when they need to do so. I mentioned this previously, but since April 6, we’ve woken up tied for the division lead nine times. We are 9-0 in those games. What that means for today, where we actually have a lead – albeit half a game – I don’t know…

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions  

Someone may want

to drop a note at the crossroads and remind the Devil about our special “arrangement”.

"We...probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." — Terry Bisson

by Scrbl on Sep 6, 2008 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions  

So much for that.

It’s fine when we’re actually tied for first…. but, Goddamn if our guys understand what a half a game means.

Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers: Filling the dubious shoes left open by Barry Bonds and the Giants.

by DbacksSkins on Sep 7, 2008 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions  

Moxy?

"Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal. Belief."

by kishi on Sep 6, 2008 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions  

I am glad to

see that they scored more runs that they allowed over that stretch, though.

"We...probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." — Terry Bisson

by Scrbl on Sep 6, 2008 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions  

A combination of three things

1) The run differential paradox from last season
2) The phenomenal April
3) The suckiness of everyone else in the NL West. When was the last time a 67-75 team like the Rockies had playoff aspirations?

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions  

2005?

Of course, three years ago today, the Padres were in first place despite being below .500…

"Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal. Belief."

by kishi on Sep 6, 2008 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions  

I did think of that

But the Padres had winning records in both August (15-12) and September (15-13) – we are 12-15 in the past month.

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions  

Shoe, that

is a compelling use of statistics, to reflect what’s going on – on many levels – and for everyone to reflect upon. (And no, I’m not being the least bit facetious)

by Diamondhacks on Sep 6, 2008 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions  

Remember last year?

Quite the opposite problem with our run differential…

by snakecharmer on Sep 6, 2008 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions  

the sky is falling! the sky is falling!

Seriously, this team is terrible. The only possible positive comparison I can make is the terrible 2006 Cardinals who somehow put it together for three weeks come playoff time and took home the WS title.

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

by njjohn on Sep 6, 2008 1:52 PM EDT reply actions  

That's the only comfort

Once you make it to the playoffs, the first 162 games are almost irrelevant. Just ask the 2001 Mariners. :-) If this team gets hot – as they did in April – they’re pretty much unstoppable.

by Jim McLennan on Sep 6, 2008 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions  

Plus

if we have the fortune of facing the Cubs, I think that our chances improve.

We are gonna get drunk with Adam Dunn and we're gonna head-butt some damn kangaroos.

by soco on Sep 6, 2008 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions  

Wow...I missed this game

(thankfully) but it kinda sums up my night.

Someone smelled gas on my floor, so we had to evacuate the entire building. At 2:20 in the morning. Grr.

This team needs to get their heads screwed on straight. NOW.

by emilylovesthedbacks on Sep 6, 2008 3:11 PM EDT reply actions  

I bailed about halfway through the game

and watched some DVDs and went to sleep early. Then as usual when this team stinks I wake up at 3 in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. I usually sleep like a log, but this team has a way of messing that up too!

by TwinnerA on Sep 6, 2008 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions  

How is it possible?

This is basically a third- or fourth-placed team that overachieved incredibly for one month.

Couldn’t agree more, Jim, though I’m sure it’ll keep neither of us from continuing to pull for them.

Heck, I wish someone, anyone knew how to motivate this team.

scrbi, between last night’s GDT and this thread, you’ve made a dozen similarly snarky claims, so I thought I’d chime in and invite anyone on this thread to make a case for an individual Diamondback who is not sufficiently “motivated” or putting forth a professional effort. Failure to make a specific case suggests, to me, that this generality is little more than exaggerated gasbagging. I’m sorry, but it’s disheartening enough to watch the team play right now, without impugning the players’ or manager’s character or will. Couldn’t there be something more structural going on here than the team doesnt care enough? Did Dan Haren get lit up because he’s not motivated? Please, anyone, give this line of criticism some substance, or please give it a rest.

This team does not seem to carry over their victories into the next game, though they seem to have few problems carrying over their defeats.

kishi, definitely feels that way this week, but over the course of the year I think this team is more characterized by not carrying over much of either. They “carried over” wins in April fine, but since then no big streaks I remember. They look about as “.450-.500” as you can get. Contrast them with the Dodgers! A week ago, they’d lost eight in a row (talk about carryover), and now they’re carrying over wins, bigtime. The Diamondbacks, over time, display very little ‘Mo’ imo – in either direction.

*****************

I was more or less aware of the two pieces of info shoe provided, but the way he juxtaposed them is really compelling, I think.

How is this possible? We’ve talked last year’s run diff to death, but I still dont think one aspect has sufficiently sunk in for how remarkable (and misleading) the Dbax 07 run truly was. It’s not just the 11 gap pythag gap (or whatever it was). It’s been done before and will be again. It’s not just that they won the division with a neg run diff. Been done before, will again. The astonishing thing is that they led the league - a sixteen team league! – in wins with a negative run diff. I havent researched it, but am pretty confident that’s never happened in baseball history and never will again.

How is it even possible, indeed. It’s an unprecedented confluence of events, many beyond the Dbacks control that led to a very young team pressing for the World Series, and I guess the reason I’m beating it over the head is because I feel this degree of “success” has greatly contributed to some questionable expectations – here and most everywhere – about the readiness and abilities of the 2008 team. I mean, it’s one thing to acknowledge the 07’s were “lucky” to hit 90 wins, but I think it’s very,very, hard for any fan – even the most scrupulously objective – to put aside just how happenstance those 90 wins were. To put aside just how bad the entire NL was last year, when low resource teams like the Rockies, Pads and Dbacks filled a league wide quality gap by little more than default.

I still believe our 2008 version is fundamentally better than last year’s – certainly before Webb and Haren started channeling JD Durbin, and before all the critical injuries (Byrnes, Hudson, Davis, Upton and Haren’s apparent fatigue). But what’s different now (besides the "luck") is that the Dodgers are (finally) starting to play like a team of their demonstrated talents. And the Cubs and Brewers and and Mets and Phils are following suit. And the Cards are overacheiving with a better manager. All in all, the NL is gradually starting to look like a major league again, and I think that is hurting these Diamondbacks about as much as injuries and a lack of lopsided good luck.

by Diamondhacks on Sep 6, 2008 4:29 PM EDT reply actions  

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