FanPost

Diamondbacks 8, Astros 2: This is our BROOM stick!

Record: 47-48. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -4

On a day when the Diamondbacks had scored 25 runs total over the last two games, so one really didn't know what to expect. Also complicating it (for some) Josh Collmenter was starting for the Dbacks tonight. Yet another thing to wonder about was if Jason Kubel would continue his domination of the past couple days. Tie this all together, and you have a game full of intrigue and excitement as we went for the sweep. Read on after the jump to find out what happened, or just look at the title.

Final - 7.22.2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Houston Astros 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 9 1
Arizona Diamondbacks 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 X 8 12 0
WP: Josh Collmenter (2 - 2)
LP: Jordan Lyles (2 - 7

The first inning was nothing to write home about, as each team only managed a hit, and the Dbacks promptly grounded into a double play right after theirs. Then it got worse for the Dbacks in the top of the second. Justin Maxwell was batting second in the inning, and Collmenter immediately gave him a home run. Now, the home run is a known weakness of Collmenter, so that was concerning. Not to mention, that was only the second lead the Houston Astros had had in the entire series.

We had a not-so-secret weapon, though, Jason Kubel. As you may have heard, going into this game, he had five home runs going into today's game, and three of them coming last night. Apparently, he saw no reason to change that course because he came out and hit another off the foul pole to tie the game. Miguel Montero followed it up with a single, but then Chris Young, Lyle Overbay, and Ryan Wheeler all made outs.

After that, it looked for the longest time that, unlike the first two games, this was going to be a pitcher's duel with both pitchers trading zeros until the sixth. Top of the sixth, things looked like they were going to completely unravel for Collmenter. The Astros started it off with back-to-back doubles by Scott Moore and Chris Johnson. Moore scored, and Johnson was then moved over to third by a Brian Bogusevic ground ball to first. Then with Justin Maxwell at the plate, the Astros manager called for a squeeze play. It didn't work. The runner on first (Johnson) broke for home, and Maxwell missed the bunt. The play went 2-5-6-3, and the threat was pretty much over. Maxwell finished the inning off with a pop up.

Besides that inning, Collmenter really had a nice day: 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, both earned, with one walk and four strike outs. Obviously, he should be sent straight to the bullpen, but I digress ;-)

So, we go to the bottom of the sixth, 2-1 Astros. It didn't start off like a big inning, with Parra flying out to left. Then it got fun. Three straight singles by Drew, Hill, and Kubel loaded the bases, and brought Miguel Montero to the plate. He hit a groundball up the middle and it looked like a tailor made double play straight to the shortstop. However, it didn't work out that way. Marwin Gonzalez made a good play to get the ball, but botched the toss to the second baseman, Jose Altuve, who wasn't able to keep the ball in his glove. Two runs ended up scoring on that play alone. They weren't done yet! Next batter, with two runners on base, was Chris Young. Hammered the ball right out of the park. Three more runs and TACOS! By the end of the inning, two more runs scored on a Parra single, but the inning ended right after when Parra was picked off at first.

A good game all the way around to day with the Dbacks taking the sweep of the lowly Astros. As was pointed out by Jim in the intro to the GDT, nothing less would have been acceptable, and you got the feeling the team knew it. Always fun when that happens.

20120722_astros_diamondbacks_0_20120722190625_live_medium
[Click to enlarge at fangraphs.com]
Jason Kubel: Miguel Montero, +23.3%
Kubel Lite: Kubel, +19.0%; Young, +10.8%
The Anti-Kubel: Lyle Overbay, -4.7%

Guest recapper imstillhungry95 also topped the list of commenters, finishing ahead of $-The Moneyman-$ and AzDbackfanInDc. Also taking part: Clefo, soco, grimmy01, hotclaws, onedotfive, asteroid, edbigghead, SongBird, SenSurround, GuruB, xmet, Rockkstarr12, rd33, BattleMoses, 4 Corners Fan, oldspartan, G.O.B., piratedan7, txzona, Zavada's Moustache, Jim McLennan, Muu, luckycc, CaptainCanuck, shoewizard, Britback, kishi, blank_38 and Stupendous Man. There was only one green comment today, and it voiced a sentiment that I'm sure we all agree with:

Happy Anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. Snakepit!

Love ya Jim & Chris! Have a wonderful day!

by Rockkstarr12 on Jul 22, 2012 1:20 PM PDT reply actions 7 recs

Tomorrow, we face the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field at our normal time of 6:40. I'll see you there! Or I won't. Who knows.