Diamondbacks 7, Reds 11: Always Open to New Ways to Lose
by Azreous on Aug 19, 2010 3:13 AM EDT
in Diamondbacks Game Reports
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PrintLike the last time I did a recap, the Diamondbacks played in front of a franchise-worst crowd in Wednesday's game. Through seven innings, they were treated to a sterling display of baseball -- strong offense, good enough pitching, and they even had free tacos locked up by then. Unfortunately, though, baseball continues to employ a pesky system where they expect teams to play nine innings, and that cost Arizona dearly tonight.
More after the jump...
Rodrigo Lopez wasn't at his best tonight. He limped through five innings, scattering eight hits en route to giving up three runs, two of them on solo shots by Jim Edmonds and Jay Bruce. Still, as it turned out, he left in line for the win, thanks to a timely pinch hit performance and some backup from pretty much the whole D-backs lineup.
Arizona plated one run in the second, but wasted a chance to get much more. Edinson Volquez seemed to lose his command of the strike zone briefly, walking both LaRoche and Reynolds to start the frame. Consecutive groundouts moved the runners over and scored one, but also effectively killed off the threat.
Trailing 3-1, the Diamondbacks stormed back in the fifth. After Parra grounded out, Ryan Church (hitting for Lopez) slapped a base hit to left and moved up on an error. Smart baserunning by Stephen Drew on a base hit of his own allowed him to sneak into second, putting two on for Justin Upton, who was mired in an 0-18 rut. Upton put a decent swing on a pitch to line it up the middle, and both runs scored to tie things up. To top it off, Chris Young launched a bomb to left to score Upton, and out of nowhere, Arizona had a two-run lead.
Adam LaRoche continued his hot hitting with a two-run shot in the seventh for some insurance runs. He looked agitated by the home plate umpire's call on a first-pitch strike, and on the next pitch lined a frozen rope into the stands in right for his 21st on the year. So heading into the eighth, the Diamondbacks held a 7-3 lead and things appeared to be in good shape.
They weren't.
After a 1-2-3 seventh, Sam Demel was sent back out for the eighth. He picked up where he left off by striking out Scott Rolen, but everything went to hell from that point on. After a stretch of single-triple-double-single, a four-run lead was cut in half, and there were still runners on the corners with one out. Insert Aaron Heilman on a double switch, a five-out save attempt for our "closer." Unfortunately, he didn't get any of those five before blowing the save, as a sac fly and a ground rule double tagged Demel with all four runs in the inning.
Despite the disappointing results, this was still a tie game, although it didn't feel like one. All the Kirk Gibson accountability in the world couldn't account for what happened next: a meek bottom of the eighth (Parra reaching on a one-out hit the only blip on an otherwise motionless heart monitor), followed by Heilman collapsing and coughing up four runs of his own, without help from anyone else. The most damaging blow was a squeeze play with one out and Edmonds on third -- the runner scored and Heisey was able to reach first as well. Once the go-ahead run was in, the wind seemed to be completely taken out of Heilman's sails, and a single, HBP, sac fly and double later, he was gone. Gutierrez got the final out, but it didn't matter. In the span of four outs, a four-run lead became a four-run deficit, and the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks had once again stunned us all. Three quick outs in the bottom of the ninth and that was that.
Master of his Domain: Adam LaRoche, +15.3%
Honorable Mention: Chris Young, +11.2%
God-Emperor of Suck: Aaron Heilman, -61.8%
Dishonorable Mention: Sam Demel, -13.1%
Do not adjust your computer screens -- that is indeed a 97.4% win expectancy with one out in the eighth. And then some things happened. Fangraphs recognizes that the fault for the majority of those "things" belongs to Heilman, as seen by his disastrous percentage.
A decent GDT, with almost 600 posts. Understandably, the tone changed somewhat at a certain point. Some attention was also being paid to Jim's FSNAZ chat with Jack, so adjust your numbers accordingly. Nobody reached triple digits; Skins was the top poster. The attendance roster: BattleMoses, DbacksSkins, emilylovesthedbacks, Rockkstarr12, AJforAZ, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, kishi, Wailord, snakecharmer, Jim McLennan, Sprankton, blank_38, Dallas D'Back Fan, morineko, marionette, Skii, soco, Seth Pollack, brian custer, Azreous, CaptainCanuck.
Let's just say my choice for Comment of the Night (with 5 recs) couldn't be as unfortunate as all that.
And by "that"
You mean the 2010 season.
by kishi on Aug 18, 2010 9:49 PM MST
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When the season started
I thought there was good talent on the ballclub, but shared the concerns with some of the others here about the bullpen. I guess the classical trope is true: you’re only as good as your most glaring weakness.
The Great and Mighty....
still a team effort of suck
with JUp deciding again (at the most critical of times it seems) to revert to his 2009 defensive form (but his UZR says he’s the best right fielder in the game!) and Miggy falling asleep at the plate when Heilman (by backing up the throw) gave them a chance to try and still make lemonade. After that play, they were done, toast, crispy, buried.
I guess you could second guess giving them another look at Demel that inning (the 8th) and bringing in Boyer or Guttierrez at that point, but I also have to give credit to the Reds, by going slap happy instead of trying to drive the ball, they still were effective in getting guys on and being aggressive on the bases.
One other item, when it comes to crafty vets, please…someone drive a stake thru Jim Edmonds heart when he retires, I really think he was the “bench coach” responsible for the Reds success in their attack. Even Gracie noted he was out there pointing out what to do with Lopez and Demel and the Reds followed his lead.
Starting to wonder if some of the pitching woes need to be addressed by how the games are being called. Either other hitters do a better job of adjusting than ours do, or perhaps we have a tendancy to fall into patterns that are making our relievers very easy to figure out. It could also simply be that they suck, but to suck this inconsistently, makes me wonder if there aren’t some clubs that have done their homework better than others and make us pay for it.
I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused....
i still haven't given up on demel
i think he can be a solid reliever, a 7th inning 8th inning setup type
i guess we should probably not let him go more than one inning though
by blue bulldog on Aug 19, 2010 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I am ashamed of this team.
After watching that squeeze play, I felt like a Washington Generals fan at a Harlem Globetrotters game. We’ve become the bumbling opponent that makes the other team look brilliant.
To keep myself from throwing anything else at the TV I’m going to institute a “One Pratfall” policy. As soon as the Diamondbacks make their first stupid mistake of the game, I’m turning it off and waiting for the box score and recap.
Should free up a lot of time, for sure.
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 Aug 19, 2010 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions
If you followed that rule,
you’d have to turn off a lot of Yankees and Padres games too. 162 games allows for boatloads of serious mistakes over the course of the season.
Mr. Science Boy
by DbacksSkins on Aug 19, 2010 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions
Your point being...?
you’d have to turn off a lot of Yankees and Padres games too.
Seems like a win there to me. :-)
"It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." -- Brian Stimpson
by Jim McLennan on Aug 19, 2010 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Can we add the Cubs and Astros as well?
No Gutierrez, Sherlock!
by Reynolds rapper on Aug 19, 2010 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions
I mean
it’s not just the Dbacks that make dumb mistakes? And that the Yankees and Padres have the best records in their respective leagues?
Mr. Science Boy
by DbacksSkins on Aug 19, 2010 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Dbacks make
even dumber mistakes, that actually affect the outcomes of the games…….
Things ’Skins has in common with foulpole for 400, please. -- soco
by snakecharmer on Aug 19, 2010 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions
It feels that way, doesn't it?
Since we spend more time watching this team and we have a poor record?
The Padres do have a fantastic defense, which is part of why they’re so good this year, but I have a feeling that the number of “mistakes” we make is only marginally different from the rest of the league.
Mr. Science Boy
We played error-free baseball last night
Seriously. Zero errors.
More proof, if any were needed, of the idiocy of that particular stat.
Mind you, a far bigger problem was a pitching staff that allowed 18 hits. Since the start of 2000, teams allowing 18 hits in a regulation game have a record of 16-703…
"It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." -- Brian Stimpson
by Jim McLennan on Aug 19, 2010 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm not even sure that we're only considering defense here.
I’m just going off what Palooka Joe called “stupid mistakes”, and I’m not entirely sure what that means.
Mr. Science Boy
It's kinda lke pornography
I know it when I see it. Or rather, I know it when I year my self muttering “what the *@&# was that?” or “why am I still watching this?”
Most of the time, I don’t mind errors. Like you said, even the best teams aren’t perfect. But on this team errors, base running mistakes and poor pitching performances are so common…are so inevitable…that it’s hard to remain upbeat. And once the problems start, the team frequently loses its composure. One error becomes two (sometimes on the same play, sometimes by the same player) or it follows the team into the batters box, on the base paths or into the players’ defense in subsequent innings.
To me, last night was a perfect example. We were so unsettled by our lousy eighth inning that we were easy pickings for Edmunds’ and Heisey’s squeeze play. Have you ever seen a team field a squeeze play that poorly? In such a high leverage situation? Which is why I thought of the Washington Generals. It was like Heisey stood a home plate, spinning the ball on his finger while the Diamondbacks looked dumfounded and asked “what do we do?” We can’t deal with those situations, and our opponents know it. I’ve followed this team since it was created, but that was a low point for me.
But if I had turned off the game in the eighth inning, (once the bullpen fell apart) I would have been spared the frustration. It wouldn’t have been a happy ending, but I wouldn’t have gone away disgusted. So my goal, from here to the end of the season, is to turn off the Diamondbacks when the collapse begins instead of sticking around for all the gory details. I’ll be happier and I may have some good will left when spring training starts next year.
The difference between Porn and the DBacks:
when porn makes a mess, it’s kinda fun.
No Gutierrez, Sherlock!
by Reynolds rapper on Aug 19, 2010 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Speaking of making a mess
you just about made me shoot iced tea out my nose. I’m still laughing. Thanks!
But how do you define the difference
between a “stupid mistake” and a “bad performance”? Does a passed ball by Miguel Montero count as a “stupid mistake” or simply a lack of major league experience? Does Mark Reynolds striking out with a runner on 3rd and 1 out count as a “stupid mistake” necessarily? When Upton tracks down a ball most RFs couldn’t, but makes a poor throw, is that a “stupid mistake”, given that most RFs wouldn’t have even had the chance?
Mr. Science Boy
And don't forget
The Reds made their own share of “stupid mistakes” too, handing us three free bases in the fifth inning.
"It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." -- Brian Stimpson
by Jim McLennan on Aug 19, 2010 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Depending on what comes before and after these events
I’d count them all. Or I wouldn’t. I’m not looking to give these guys a fair shake. I’m looking to cut down on cases of Diamondbacks-induced indigestion.
I’m going to use that sinking feeling that comes when the team falls apart (the one that makes it feel like we’re trailing when the score is tied) as my guide. It’s already waaaay too familiar. I’d rather turn the game off and remember a few early-game successes than sit through another late-inning collapse.
Team bullpen ERA for August
Going in the 8th: 3.19
Slinking out of the 9th: 4.67
Well, at least the #3 spot in Tankapalooza is ours, all ours!
"It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand." -- Brian Stimpson
Tankapalooza is back?
No Gutierrez, Sherlock!
by Reynolds rapper on Aug 19, 2010 12:15 PM EDT reply actions
Not to steal any thunder from the snakebytes, but
Clemens has been charged with perjury on the steroids case.
can’t say I am surprised.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
by unnamedDBacksfan on Aug 19, 2010 3:29 PM EDT reply actions
Did you misremember?
No Gutierrez, Sherlock!
by Reynolds rapper on Aug 19, 2010 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions
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