Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: August 12th-18th

by Jim McLennan on Aug 19, 2011 1:02 PM EDT in Diamondbacks Trends

'Schmidt happened quite a lot in the past week for Arizona.

A 4-2 week for Arizona, sweeping the Mets, and avoiding a sweep on the road in Philadelphia. The result was our lead expanding to 2.5 games, with 38 left on the schedule. Baseball Prospectus still thinks the Giants are 70% favorites to win the division. Reading the comments on McC [part of my morning ritual, after I've read the other funny pages], they appear to be the only ones. But which of the men in Sedona Red had a good week, and which will be looking to improve? That's what I am here to tell you. A clue: it wasn't the offense.

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		Kennedy doing what he does: two starts, though yesterday's rain-shortened outing hardly counts. Four runs in 10 innings is a 3.60 ERA - mostly versus the Phillies. A little wobbly in the control department, with five walks, but nine K's, so all seems well here.
Daniel Hudson		Got the win, and not helped by his defense, with two of the four runs allowed against the Mets being unearned. He's got himself back on track, with a 3.32 ERA over this trio of August starts. Looking for a strong outing against Atlanta this evening
Joe Saunders		Regression. Regression regression regression. Regression? Regression regression. Regression-regression. Regression regression regression regression. Regression!
Josh Collmenter		Seems to have solidified his spot in the rotation. Followed up the admittedly hardly-taxing task of holding the Astros, with a decent game against the much more-formidable Phillies, keeping them to two runs in 6.2 innings, with an 8:1 K:BB ratio.
Jason Marquis		Maybe the D-backs need to drink more milk. For Marquis became the fifth player, not including Matt Williams, to suffer a fracture of some kind this year. For all practical purposes, stick a fork in him: he's done.

Bullpen
J.J. Putz		Lightly taxed, "only" appearing in half the team's games, and nailing down all three save opportunities. One hit and one run in three innings.
David Hernandez		Similarly, showed up in three games - including last night, where he came in to record the final out, with the team down by three. Just keeping it lose, Dave. One run allowed
Bryan Shaw		It's taken some tinkering - most of the AZ bullpen has been replaced since Opening Day - but we've got a solid 'pen. Shaw had three scoreless innings, and has a 2.70 ERA in his first 18 games.
Micah Owings		When working more than one inning in relief this year, Owings has allowed five ER over 22.2 innings, a 1.99 ERA. Good to have someone like that for situations such as last night.
Joe Paterson		JoePa has quietly amassed a 13-game streak of scoreless appearances. Over that time he has allowed three hits in eight innings, with no walks and five strikeouts.
Brad Ziegler		Just one appearance this week, and it didn't go well. He failed to retire any of the four batters faced, though due in part to his own error, only one of the four runs were earned.
Zach Duke		Got the win against the Mets, despite allowing two runs in 2.2 IP. Scoreless inning against the Phillies, but has been hit at a .355 clip over the past two weeks. Mop-up work, I'd say.

Starters
Miguel Montero		Sat out a couple of games, but managed only three hits in 14 ABs, and may not be long for the clean-up spot. Since July 29, his line is .200/.300/.240, which isn't getting it done.
Paul Goldschmidt		Speaking of clean-up hitters (potential version), Goldy took the nay-sayers and stomped them into a bloody pulp, going 7-for-16 with two home-runs and a shiny 1.408.
Kelly Johnson		1-for-8, taking him to 4-for-41 in August, with 15 strikeouts. It's getting to the stage where seeing Sean Burroughs on the line-up instead, counts as a refreshing change of flavor.
Willie Bloomquist		Time to get him out of the lead-off spot? Willie went 2-for-19 with one walk, giving him an OBP of .190. Unfortunately, he still has to be in the line-up somewhere...
Ryan Roberts		The offense this week has more Red Arrows than the Farnborough Air Show. I'd like to thank the two readers who will get this reference. RyRo went 4-for-22.
Gerardo Parra		Or more red arrows than a tribe of Sioux Indians? Is that politically incorrect? Well, we're playing the Braves, so please send all complaints to Turner Field. Parra went 2-for-14.
Chris Young		After last week's walk-off homer, I wrote "Maybe that blast will get him going again?" Nope. It got worse. Young went 1-for-21, and over the past month is 13-for-92, a .141 clip. Ouch.
Justin Upton		Cooled off, but a respectable .273 average, and with half his hits going for extra-bases, including two home-runs his OPS of .924 was a rare bright spot for Arizona.

Bench
Collin Cowgill		Ohfer the week, in nine ABs, but pinch-ran us to victory over Doc Halladay.
Cody Ransom		1-for-6 with no walks. JABRONI = Just Another Back-up ROle-player of No Importance.
Sean Burroughs		Only Goldy, J-Up and RyRo had more hits than Burroughs last week. Which would be "three". Probably says more about our offense than anything.
Lyle Overbay		That ninth-inning hit off Halladay should have accumulated Lyle enough good will to see out the rest of the season.
Xavier Nady		Medic! Might be back before the end of the season, but whether we want him or not probably depends on how Overbay plays.
Henry Blanco		Two starts this week, probably some sort of record. However, given the team are 9-16 when Blanco is in the line-up given to the umpires, this may not be a good thing.

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Comments

That's a lot of Red

and not of the Sedona type. I really hope the offense gets it going again against the Braves or we will not be in the play-offs for long if we even get their in the first place.

Also, Jim, in the blurb about Marquis, you incorrectly said that it was Saunders who broke his ankle. I don’t think he has…

DROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHHYYYYYYYYY!!!!

by imstillhungry95 on Aug 19, 2011 1:19 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, he didn't regress that badly. :-)

Corrected. And for the week, the team collectively hit .207/.261/.348, a .609 OPS. They were outscored 21-25, though nine of those were in that blow-out against the Phillies. Our pitching had a 3.46 ERA, which is the only thing which kept us above .500.

Daron "...the D. Baxter fan-club"
Mark: "A non-profit organization."

by Jim McLennan on Aug 19, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

The offense better pull its head out

And soon.

by SenSurround on Aug 19, 2011 1:33 PM EDT reply actions

I didn't quite get that,

what do you think is wrong with Saunders?

Goldy Watch: 12 games, .298/.353/.596

by Jdub220 on Aug 19, 2011 3:13 PM EDT reply actions

I wouldn’t mind seeing Parra somewhere at the top of the lineup, with Bloomquist replacing him in the 8 spot. Maybe spark something in the lineup and put more people on in front of JUp and Goldy.

Here's to the return of "Anybody Anytime"

by jryanwalters on Aug 19, 2011 3:27 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

this is crrrrrrazy talk!

Why wouldn’t you want to hand the opposition the free first out of the game? Get out of here and take your nonsense with you!

"Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic." Robert S. Wieder

by njjohn on Aug 19, 2011 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha youre right, what could I be thinking with such ideas. This must be Gibby’s thought also. Everytime he is asked about moving Parra up in the order he says he feels more comfortable down there. He’s gotta take him out of his comfort zone at sometime to try and spark this offense.

Here's to the return of "Anybody Anytime"

by jryanwalters on Aug 19, 2011 5:06 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Because I'm sure

Gibby is like: “Hey Gerardo, you want to hit leadoff?”
And Parra is like: “Sorry boss, I’m so warm and cozy in this eight hole, I’d rather stay here.”

"Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic." Robert S. Wieder

by njjohn on Aug 19, 2011 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I think

he ment Gibby’s comfort zone

DROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHHYYYYYYYYY!!!!

by imstillhungry95 on Aug 19, 2011 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Obviously that’s not how the conversation would go. I was more or less trying to say that when Gibby is asked about hitting Parra higher his response is something like “We’ve tried him other spots and he seems to hit better down in the 8 hole.” Your lovely conversation with yourself surely missed the point. I’m sure if it was indeed up to Parra he would be batting higher in the order. But Gibby doesn’t seem to be giving him an extended chance at the top of the lineup, the majority of his AB’s are at the bottom.

Here's to the return of "Anybody Anytime"

by jryanwalters on Aug 19, 2011 8:01 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

you fell into the sarchasm.

"Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic." Robert S. Wieder

by njjohn on Aug 19, 2011 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Glad to know you're kidding.

I’ve been reading on this site for a while now, but just started posting. So I wasn’t sure if the comment section was posted in all seriousness.

Here's to the return of "Anybody Anytime"

by jryanwalters on Aug 19, 2011 9:33 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

:)

when in doubt…

"Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic." Robert S. Wieder

by njjohn on Aug 19, 2011 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't know how long Gibby

can justify batting CY cleanup-designated-pop-up with Goldie showing signs of becoming comfortable at the plate. It’s only a matter of time now before J-Up has a legitimate threat batting behind him.

"The wise writer, I think, writes for the youth of his own generation, the critic of the next and the schoolmasters of ever afterward." F. Scott Fitzgerald.

by NASCARbernet on Aug 19, 2011 6:23 PM EDT reply actions

CY batting 7th tonight

The worst major leaguer is better at baseball than I'll ever be at anything I ever do in my life.

by shoewizard on Aug 19, 2011 7:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Kelly had three hits tonight

he won’t do that every night, but maybe, just maybe, his bat is starting to wake up?

"The wise writer, I think, writes for the youth of his own generation, the critic of the next and the schoolmasters of ever afterward." F. Scott Fitzgerald.

by NASCARbernet on Aug 19, 2011 11:40 PM EDT up reply actions

The inconsistency on offense

Is still tied to strikeouts

the team still has the 4th highest strikeout total in the league and also has the 4th most games with 10 or more K’s.

http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/28iFZ

The team is 15-18 when they K’ 10 or more times. Thats actually not a bad record for such games. As you can see in the list. Check out Pittsburgh 21-19 when they K 10 or more times….LOL

Still nothing compared to last year though. Here is another peak at this chart for 2010.
WARNING: Not the for squeemish

http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/YBdri

The worst major leaguer is better at baseball than I'll ever be at anything I ever do in my life.

by shoewizard on Aug 19, 2011 7:13 PM EDT reply actions