Diamondbacks 3, Padres 9: Please hold. Your recap will be arriving shortly.
by Jim McLennan on Aug 26, 2010 11:37 AM EDT
in Diamondbacks Game Reports
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PrintRecord: 49-78. Pace: 63-99. Change on last season: -6.
Hinch/Gibson Win %: .392/.375
Not sure what happened here. I can only surmise that Azreous was:
a) Possessed by the spirit of 'Skins, and the recap is still "in progress",
b) So depressed by the game, he is lying in a Flagstaff gutter,
c) Diligently working on an in-depth feature on the electoral tussle for Mine Inspector, or
d) All of the above
I'll whack something up in a bit, cobbled from usually-reliable sources. Anyone who actually watched the game - and thus might be able to offer some more informed opinion - please feel free to chip in.
First, the good news. Stephen Drew bookended scoring for the game, with a pair of home-runs. The first required the umpires to put their heads together; they reviewed the play and decided the ball had actually clanked off a seat in the bleachers and returned to the field. He then added another shot in the seventh. I was surprised to hear that this was actually Drew's first mult-homer game, despite having hit 58 prior at a good rate, one every 10.6 games. Not many active players had more in their career without two in a contest. I think the leader is Jason Kendall, who has 75 homers in 75 different games. Mike Lamb has 69 and David DeJesus 61.
Drew also added a pair of doubles, giving him four extra-base hits for the night. That ties a franchise record, with Stephen becoming the seventh player to do it - most recently,. Mark Reynolds in June last year against Houston. Drew had actually done it before, on September 1st 2008 playing St. Louis. That was the day he hit for the cycle, but also added a second double, as part of a 5-for-5 appearance. The dozen total bases were tied for sixth on the Arizona all-time list, and has not been surpassed in over three years: Reynolds had 13 (two homers, a triple and two singles) in June 2007, also versus the Astros.
That's pretty much the end of the good news in this one, even for Drew. For he also committed a key error in the third, booting a ground-ball which helped lead to a four-run inning for San Diego. That turned a 2-1 game into a 6-1 lead for the Padres, and - unlike their divisional rivals in San Francisco and Colorado managed yesterday - the Diamondbacks showed little inclination to stage a fightback. Drew had more hits than the rest of his team-mates combined: Adam LaRoche and Rusty Ryal each had a single and a walk, and Kelly Johnson the other hit. John Hester went 0-for-4 with three K's and is now at the Uecker line.
Joe Saunders wasn't very good. Even allowing for the three unearned runs allowed, he still was charged with six in four innings, on eight hits and three walks. Yeah, a WHIP on the night of 2.750 is going to get you the L more often than not, and so it proved. The Colonel now has a record of 1-4 in his six starts for the Diamondbacks, along with an ERA of 5.21. As with Rodrigo Lopez, he fell victim to the long-ball: five of the six earned-runs allowed came on home-runs by Miguel Tejada and Adrian Gonzalez. Saunders had already allowed eight homers in 38 innings with Arizona, so is clearly intent on making up for lost time.
The bullpen mopped up decently, with four scoreless innings. D.J.Carrasco followed up his 1.2 scoreless innings in the opener with another two zeroes last night. I imagine we'll try to avoid going to that well again this afternoon. Esmerling Vasquez and Juan Gutierrez each allowed a walk in their inning of work, and Vasquez hit a batter. However, there was no other damage, and the Padres didn't take advantage. On the other hand, they didn't really need to, at that point...
[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +17.2%
God-emperor of suck: Joe Saunders, -47.1%
Almost a thousand comments, despite the game largely sucking. soco delivered a Drew-like output, getting past 200 for the evening: justin1985 reached a hundred, kishi fell just short. Nice to see a couple of fresh faces in LEDOUX and Sadclownface - welcome to both. Also present: jinnah, mrssoco, emilylovesthedbacks, Rockkstarr12, DbacksSkins, Wailord, Clefo, AJforAZ, blank_38, hotclaws, BattleMoses, Dallas D'Back Fan, 4 Corners Fan, snakecharmer, marionette, unnamedDBacksfan, blue bulldog, NASCARbernet and Jack Cromwell. Only a couple of green comments, and we'll give Comment of the Night to AJforAZ, with his multi-media presentation:
went to the Indy Zoo yesterday and snapped a pic of the ultimate rally animal
for your enjoyment, I present to you a rally diamondback who like our offense, is fast asleep.
yep....
Afternoon game today - bizarre start time of 3:35pm. What is that all about? I'll be back with the GDT for that in due course.
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An interesting note
that was originally mentioned by Grace, transcribed by Jack Cromwell, and confirmed by bbref, was that last night’s multi-homer game was the first in Droo’s career.
My value over a replacement poster is approximately 10.5 runs.
You forgot to say
“Your call is important to us.” And I would vote for b.
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
E. None of the above
The newspaper office burned down, so he’s without internet again?
Mr. Science Boy
F.
The game was so boring, Azreous passed out and an innate sense of self preservation will not allow him to awaken until October 4.
"It's a fez. I'm wearing a fez now. Fezes are cool."
regression comes back with a vengeance
joe saunders giving us a perfect case study of small sample size and law of regression
saunders’s babip while at chase is now 317 and his LOB% is right around league average of 70%……….and his ERA has fallen accordingly to 5.21
which is why even though saunders’s first two starts were good, some of us were still skeptical……because at the end of the day, saunders sucks…..he’s a number 4 starter at best (and more like a number 5)
i sincerely hope this never ever happens to barry enright
to be honest though, i sort of wish for saunders to continue getting battered when he goes out. that way the chance of us non-tendering him increases…..not even OUR front office would pay a guy 6 million for like a 4.6 ERA would we?
4.60 ERA exactly = 2010 Dan Haren
That’s basically league average (ERA+ = 97). $6 million for a league-average starter seems pretty reasonable 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 26, 2010 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions
not really....
for one, dan haren isn’t likely to put up a 4.6 ERA next year (and in fact his ERA has already dropped despite going to the tougher league), and even when he does, he still gives us more innings pitched so there is added value there
second, saying saunders will have a 4.6 ERA is giving him the benefit of the doubt. his FIP and tERA has been much worse these past two years. his market value is probably around 4 million to 4.5 million (based on WAR, which means this might be one of those cases where arbitration actually gives the player more than his market value)
besides, we have pitchers in AAA who can probably give us saunders production at 1/12 the price…i’d rather use that money to fill a different hole
by blue bulldog on Aug 26, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Not sure who we have in Triple-A capable of posting a 4.60 ERA in the majors? Mulvey? Augenstein? Valdez? Matt Torra is about the only one who might manage it, based on his 2010 stats, and minorleaguesplits.com gives his AAA MLE as 5.09, so even that seems a big stretch. If we had anyone like that, we’d have replaced Rodrigo Lopez with them already.
Paying $5-6m [and Saunders is earning $3.7m this year, and has hardly set the world on fire, so I’m thinking the low end] for a player who produces at the $12.6m and $5.4m level the previous couple of years doesn’t seem like such a problem. If that’s the worst issue we have to face in 2010, I’ll be happy!
"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 26, 2010 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions
matt torra
with a 5 ERA at 0.5 million is a lot better than Joe Saunders with a 4.6 ERA at 5.5 million
my point is just that there seems to be very little marginal value to having saunders on the team next year, but there is 5 million dollars worth of marginal cost. if we feel like spending that money, i’d rather have torra start and use 5 million to find a couple of bargain relievers
by blue bulldog on Aug 26, 2010 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions
+1
Joe Saunders just isn’t good. I’d rather non-tender him and throw someone else out there next year. It could be a tryout spot in the rotation. Throw shit against the wall and see what sticks.
And Parker could take the spot at some point in the year.
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 36
The only downsides I can see
are that we’d be sacrificing a prospect’s service time during a season in which we probably won’t be competitive, and we’d be giving up Colonel’s rights. There’s a value in that.
If he can pitch competently, there are ALWAYS teams looking for decent starters around the trade deadline. Would you pay $5 million for some Saunders starts and a coupla prospects?
Mr. Science Boy
If we find something that works out,
then I doubt DiPoto will care about someone’s service time. It’ll be well worth it.
Leads/ties blown by the Diamondbacks bullpen in '10: 36
At least you're alive
So that’s good!
"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 26, 2010 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions
:::shows 'skins the door::::
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 26, 2010 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions
2010 Padres - playing the part the Rockies played in 2007...
…the Cinderella representatives of the NL West TempestTeapot.
One can only sit, smile, twiddle our thumbs and toes and hope they meet the same fate on baseball’s grandest stage.
i do not trust
that “indy” rattlesnake to be asleep like i trust the diamondbacks’ offense is dormant.
The name of the team is ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS - "I tried to convince them that what they were doing was an aberration, an imbecility, a stupidity without name"
You shouldn't trust it at all.
It’s an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. Not a Western Diamondback.
Mr. Science Boy
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