Diamondbacks 1, Giants 12: How Low Can We Go?
by Jim McLennan on May 30, 2010 12:54 AM EDT
in Diamondbacks Game Reports
Email
PrintRecord: 20-30. Pace: 65-97. Change on last season: -2
The person I feel sorriest in all this is probably Snakecharmer. She spends all season excitedly waiting for her team to show up in the Bay Area, and gets tickets to the first two games of this series. And the team then rewards her devotion by hitting .053 [that's 3-for-57, since you ask] and being outscored by a margin of 17-1. Tonight's wretched performance on just about every level marked what has to be the low-water mark for the team thus far. They have now lost six contests in a row, scoring just 12 runs while conceding a total of 47.
Where does this rank among the worst six game streaks in franchise history? After the jump, let's see...
Six games, six losses, a run differential of -35 or worse. Here are the previous cases in franchise history where the team has managed to inflict that on poor fans.
- 2002, September 20-25 - RS 23, RA 57
- 2005, August 21-26 - RS 16, RA 63
- 2006, June 6-11 - RS 13, RA 54
- 2010, May 8-14 - RS 18, RA 55
- 2010, May 23-29 - RS 12, RA 47
So, no. It's not the worst streak in franchise history. Hell, it's not even the worst streak of this month. But isn't it particularly telling that two of the worst handful of six-game runs in franchise history have happened in May 2010? And the past couple have been the most rancid of the rancid. The Diamondbacks became only the fifth National League team since 1995, to be held to three or less hits combined over consecutive games. The pitching was no better: Billy Buckner allowed seven runs in four innings, and the bullpen was little better. I think I abandoned all hope when a Giants reliever drove in a run.
You know the team is playing badly, when they go behind by two runs and you start looking around for something more useful, or simply more entertaining, to do. The respective first innings basically summed up everything that's wrong with the team right now. We got a leadoff double, but Kelly Johnson might as well have pulled up a hammock at second-base and taken a nap, because he wasn't going anywhere. Rusty Ryal grounded out to shortstop, Justin Upton stared at strike three for what seems like the ten millionth time this year and, after a walk to Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds lined out to left-center.
Compare and contrast the Giants' first inning, where they took the lead without getting a hit. Billy Buckner walked the first batter he faced. Then the second. And a pair of sacrifice flies brought the leadoff man around to score. And a two-out single brought round the other walk to score. 2-0 Giants, and Mrs. SnakePit is reaching meaningfully for the remote control. I can't say I blame here, because this team hasn't come back from any more than a mere two runs down to win a game since April 28th. Tonight was no different: the team showed absolutely no fight, given away at-bats as if they were jelly-beans.
Billy Buckner sucked. Nine hits, three walks and seven earned runs in four innings, raising his season ERA to 11.08. He is simply incapable of retiring major-league hitters, but we have no credible replacements, so I imagine we'll be rolling him out there again in five games time. Cesar Valdez was the sole bright spot of the evening, retiring all the batters he faced and giving us two clean inning. Saul Rivera, on the other hand... Well, if the "cash considerations" we gave Cleveland consisted of anything more than two buttons and an Argentinian peso, we were robbed. Four hits, a walk and three earned run in two-third of an inning. Esmerling Vasquez mopped up and allowed the final two runs. Here's tonight's Fangraph.
[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs,com]
Master of his domain: Rusty Ryal, +2.8%
God-emperor of suck: Billy Buckner -34.3%
An explanation is in order. I vowed that I would Google Image Search the words "f_cking awful", and use whatever was the first thing that came up. This image is what I found, part of a rather marvelous site entitled Bad Spock Drawings. which is exactly what it sounds like. I do feel it is an entirely appropriate depiction of this evening's performance. GDT comments were much as you'd expect: wailord was the only person to get even to fifty, with kishi and 4 Corners fan in the forties. Also present: Clefo, Azreous, justin1985, BattleMoses, mrssoco, Rockkstarr12, blank_38, hotclaws, emilylovesthedbacks, soco, katers, brian custer, Dallas D'Back Fan and Sprankton.
Comment of the thread? Well, there were a few credible contenders, but the most appropriate one which showed up in green was this mournful one, which was almost Zen-like in its contradictory simplicity:
too depressed to post
by hotclaws on May 29, 2010 7:39 PM MST
We'll be back tomorrow. Because that's what we do, dammit.
54 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
That was my first thought
But upon further review, it is obviously his phaser…
"We defy augury" -- Hamlet
by Jim McLennan on May 30, 2010 1:01 AM EDT up reply actions
That is why
it’s called Bad Spock Drawings. Emphasis on bad.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions
Bad
AND Inaccurate!
::pushes up glasses::
::reorganizes Star Trek fan fiction collection::
We fell asleep in the middle of the fury.
:::yells at kids in Star Wars outfits to get off his lawn:::
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions
You have
a Star Trek fan fiction collection?
::impressed::
Letting our bullpen pitch is like playing Russian Roulette...
...with an automatic.
Out of curiosity, Jim
How come my name’s never capitalized when it’s mentioned?
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like mouth?
Because you're a kid.
So stop talking smack to the adults. jk.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 2:17 AM EDT up reply actions
This.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 2:17 AM EDT up reply actions
....... Well, like I told Dallas via text
I could not turn off the game in person so he was NOT allowed to turn off the game either.
Yeahhhh that pretty much sucked……. too many pitches in the middle of the plate or up high. Too many pop flies to deep left field (thiiiiiiiiisclose to being out) or strikeouts or weak grounders. There was not exactly spectacular defense and they were working Sanchez’s pitch count but….. WE CAN’T HIT. OR PITCH. And our pitchers can’t field.
Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco
And I appreciate the sympathy :(
I hate being surrounded by smug Giants fans allllllllll night long.
Luckily we met two cute ones on the train home. ;)
Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco
Oh and seriously? Wailord was the only person to pass 50 comments???
Dude…… :(
Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco
Don't worry, losing doesn't hurt
I guess these guys have gotten used to losing and find it not hard to live with, but I never could, it always ate my gut out losing a game.
By the way, who cares about Butch or Bully Posey or what ever his name is? Hey if you can’t say something about your own team Sutton, shut up. Blissfull silence is better than hearing about the merits of guys one other teams you never heard of. I finally did what I used to when Cousell or whatever his name was when he was broadcasting, I turned to sound off.
Well as usual we left people in the game too long, we wait until the game is nearly out of reach before starting someone warming up. I didn’t understand the reason for dropping Jackson to the seven spot when Sutton goes on about how well he hit the Giants starter, but from what I saw tonight that must have been long ago in a unvivers far far away.
So after losing tomorrow we can move to LA and listen to Sutton beaming on about Eithier having gone to St. Marys High in Phoenix and how he adores Rameriz and of course Grace will be back after another failed attempt to land a job somewhere as village idiot. Harry Doyle where are you guy, where are you when we need you.
So tune in same loser channel, same losing team!
Time for a Change and it is going to have to come from the top.
Oh yeah, remind Buckner that once he throws the ball he is just another infielder please.
I'n kind of getting tired of you constantly bashing Gracie.
I am Angry and when BattleMoses is angry Mr. Bigglesworth is upset,and when Mr. Bigglesworth is upset people DIE!!!!!!!!!
I just wonder
He does know that Harry Doyle is a fictional character, right?
"Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?"
"Isn't that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?"
by kishi on May 30, 2010 4:22 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It would make the whole post
be “JUUUUUUUUUUUUST a bit outside!”
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 4:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Nuh uh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Doyle
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 15
somehow
I don’t think that’s who he was referring to…
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 6:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Wow, seriously?
Do I need to start putting “Just kidding!” at the end of every post? I thought it was pretty obvious…
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 15
It was obvious.
Do I need to start putting “sarcastic” at the end of my comments? Oh, probably not, since most of mine ARE sarcastic. Maybe I’ll mark the ones that aren’t sarcastic. It will save time.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
Please and thank you.
:)
There should just be a check box so we can mark sarcasm.
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 15
by Jdub220 on May 30, 2010 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I like that idea
"You cannot tailor make your situation in life, but you can tailor make your attitudes to fit those situations." - Zig Ziglar
by Rockkstarr12 on May 30, 2010 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions
At
a White Sox forum I frequent, it’s an unspoken rule to color your words in teal if you’re being sarcastic. Makes it a lot easier to tell when someone is just joking around, but also devolves into other side problems. Still, overall it does the job well.
We fell asleep in the middle of the fury.
I wonder
What other side problems it causes? I would think showing sarcasm with the teal green color would work well and not cause problems. Hmmmm…interesting!
"You cannot tailor make your situation in life, but you can tailor make your attitudes to fit those situations." - Zig Ziglar
by Rockkstarr12 on May 30, 2010 11:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Well
some people got tired of the teal concept and wanted to do away with it because people should just know when people are sarcastic (which goes against why they started doing it in the first place). Sometimes people wouldn’t use the right color, and would use a near-teal instead of teal, which would then draw the Teal Police out. Overall it works well, though.
We fell asleep in the middle of the fury.
But
I’m too lazy to change my font color when I’m being sarcastic. Can I just choose a color to use when I’m not being sarcastic?
"Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?"
"Isn't that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?"
It's
admittedly easier there because it’s a forum and not a blog, so they have drop-down menus to change colors.
We fell asleep in the middle of the fury.
That makes a difference
I wouldn’t want to bother with the HTML code for it here.
"Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?"
"Isn't that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?"
Sounds like a pretty good system then
Despite it bringing the Teal Police out
"You cannot tailor make your situation in life, but you can tailor make your attitudes to fit those situations." - Zig Ziglar
by Rockkstarr12 on May 31, 2010 2:17 AM EDT up reply actions
How are we -2 on last year?
At this rate, we’ll be -14 at the break. What are the #1 Draft options for ’11?
This team is a bigger fail than the movie “Miss March”. Anytime the signature gag involves “.mpeg” you know the movie is lame.
No Gutierrez, Sherlock!
by Reynolds rapper on May 30, 2010 6:29 AM EDT reply actions
Harry Doyle, the "Fictional Announcer for the Indians"
Yeah I know who Harry Doyle was, an announcer for a horrible team who couldn’t do the dog and pony show any longer and didn’t tout the opposition players like some kind of heroes just to have something to talk about.
Hey I go back to watching baseball on the tube from the 50s, Dizzy Dean was an announcer and blessedly Diz knew his audience had the brains to watch the game without his telling them the pitch was a ball or strike without his telling them. I don’t need entertained by some one running their mouth off, I want to watch quality baseball.
As to Brother Grace, I have always liked Grace, he was a fine ball player, when I first got on cable the Cubs were the only team I could get and that I liked. I was thrilled when Grace became a D-back and I feel he was one of the reasons they won the Series in 2001.
What bothers me is Grace while blabbering and acting his Costello to Sutton’s Abbot and making himself look like a fool. Sorry, if that bothers you, sorry if I don’t fit into your little cliché of what fans should be like, I played, sorry to say only to college before screwing the arm up, and I coached high school for a long time, might not be much to you pros out there, but I had kids get scholarships and get drafted. And it wasn’t because I let them set around and feel sorry for themselves. If there is no self motivation, the motivation must come from somewhere else, and I don’t see much coming from the ones who ought to be giving it on this ball team.
As I said before, I’m not into Stats that much except to tell me what the opposition might do and what my players were capable of. If stats are what turn your world, good for you, you guys must all be accountants.
Now if my comments bother you while commenting on your phasers, and name not being capitalized, I’m sorry, I don’t play that game, I’m not trying for a rating on my comments, I like baseball played by people who want to win!
I thought this was for posting thoughts on the games, the players, the play or the lack. If it is just cutesy crap, I won’t bother you guys any more.
Don’t like what I say, well, "Pogue mo Thone!’
Actually
“If there is no self motivation, the motivation must come from somewhere else, and I don’t see much coming from the ones who ought to be giving it on this ball team.”
may be the best summation of the problems with this team.
.
'Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?'
by Arizona via Slough on May 30, 2010 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
comment of the past two years
nailed it right on the head
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
by unnamedDBacksfan on May 30, 2010 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions
See comments above about
Just Kidding and Sarcastic. We are not an entirely serious group here, if you’ll read much. Everybody gets called on the carpet in a humorous manner, just just go with the flow. We’re teasing you, you see.
And really? “Pogue mo Thone”? Uncalled for.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
teasing sucks
sutton sucks
grace sucks
all far far more than this sad team
imho
The name of the team is ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Grace and Sutton
and teasing are worse than this team? I think I’d take the opposite view, because this team currently is at the bottom of the barrel. At least Grace sometimes makes people laugh, if only laughing AT him instead of with him. Sutton knows his stuff, so you can get some information from him sometimes. And teasing? Well, to each his/her own; but it is a pretty regular feature of this site.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
by 4 Corners Fan on May 30, 2010 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, what do you want everybody to do?
If people didn’t joke and tease here, this place would be like a funeral.
We all gotta be humorous to get through these, well, CRAP times.
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 15
Teasing is fine
As long as it’s only teasing and not belittling someone or making it downright personal. Sarcasm and humor are good
"You cannot tailor make your situation in life, but you can tailor make your attitudes to fit those situations." - Zig Ziglar
by Rockkstarr12 on May 30, 2010 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions
no, this ain't a place for
cutesy crap.
I can’t stand Gracie either, with a holy passion. Hell, I even burned the bobblehead i got of him a few years ago on my grill. I keep hoping like hell someone would take him off our hands. My biggest fear is the FO would cave into the fans again crying to make him manager.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
by unnamedDBacksfan on May 30, 2010 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Grace should be manager.
It accomplishes two things:
1. Gets him out of the booth
2. Gets Hinch out of the dugout
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 15
by Jdub220 on May 30, 2010 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
from one disaster
to another then?
no thanks! The idea is to improve a situation and having gracie as manager won’t be an improvement.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
by unnamedDBacksfan on May 30, 2010 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Grace can't be worse than Hinch.
I think he’d be a good manager, actually.
Why do you think he wouldn’t be?
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 17
To be fair
If people complain about Hinch’s lack of experience as a manager, it wouldn’t do much good for them to fire him and then hire someone who has no experience as a manager.
"Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?"
"Isn't that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?"
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Photo: Padres fan regrets letting mother capture moment with Trevor Hoffman
- Marlins agree to unretire No. 5 for Logan Morrison, who will honor his father’s favorite player
- Weatherman Derek Holland does Dallas TV
- Ask Alex: Will Julio Teheran or Matt Moore win rookie of the year?
- Ku Klux Klan, umpires and bowling: Why the minor leagues tossed out Jim Evans academy
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
