Record: 55-51.
Pace: 84-78.
Change on 2011: -2
Captain's log. Stardate 42009.35. We are now venturing into the Land of the Humid. There are many enemies there, and they are known to have many different riches. Some have pitching, some have youth, some have history. Our first day of this sojourn, we found ourselves in the city of Philadelphia, where these "Phillies" were recently weakened by trades with other divisions. And though our power source can be intermittent, tonight the Jupzooka was out ready for action...
Justin Upton gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning when he hit career home run #100 deep into the left field bleachers. It was kind of the Philly fans to return it - Matt Williams was able to get the ball from a young girl in the stands by giving her an Upton autographed baseball in return. (Interestingly, about an hour later, brother B.J. Upton followed with his 100th career home run. Even more interestingly, they both hit #99 on July 20th - hat tip to Nick Piecoro.)
The long ball gave the Diamondbacks the lead, but they added on with some small ball in the 4th inning. Aaron Hill led off with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a fly ball off the bat of Jason Kubel, and Hill scored on a sacrifice fly (nearly a home run) from Paul Goldschmidt. With two outs, Justin Upton singled, went to third on a ball hit by Miguel Montero that Jimmy Rollins booted. Chris Johnson singled up the middle to bring home Upton. (That's Johnson's 8th RBI - at least one in every game with Arizona thus far.)
Ian Kennedy was not his usual self tonight. He was the beneficiary of some poor baserunning by the Phillies early on. Nate Schierholtz was doubled off of first base on a fly ball to Chris Young to end the 1st inning, and in the 3rd, pitcher Kyle Kendrick was somehow doubled off first on a pop up to Stephen Drew. There was at least one Philly baserunner in every inning, but Arizona held them off the scoreboard until the 4th when Chase Utley hit a solo home run to right field.
But the 5th inning is where Kennedy nearly fell apart. He hit Kevin Fransen to lead off the frame, then walked the catcher, Brian Schneider. After a pinch hit bunt moved the runners over, Rollins walked on four straight pitches to load the bases, and it was clear now that Kennedy had completely lost the zone. So with the bases loaded, one out, and the 2-3-4 guys coming up, it was not looking good. Schierholtz gave Kennedy a break by only hitting a sacrifice fly, and Chase Utley ground out to second. Still, the Phillies had added a run on no hits and 31 pitches from Kennedy in the inning.
Kennedy was at 94 pitches and struggling, so it was rather surprising that he was sent back out in the 6th. With John Mayberry on second base with two outs, Fransen singled to Upton, who unleashed the Jupzooka and threw a strike to Montero at home plate to nail the runner to end the inning. (Replays showed Mayberry was safe and the game should've been tied, but thankfully umpires can't use replay on those calls yet!)
Arizona went 1-2-3 in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings on good bullpen pitching (Kendrick having left the game only after four innings), and while the Philles were futilely adding baserunners but not runs - Takashi Saito hit his first batter, and David Hernandez worked around a walk - the one-run lead looked teunous. Jason Kubel eased our misgivings by hitting a towering home run to the second deck in right field. Now working with a two-run lead, J.J. "The Easy Button" Putz came in and needed just seven pitches to get the save and make the Diamondbacks winners of four in a row.
Source: FanGraphs
James T. Kirk: J. Upton, +11.5%
Picard and Number One: I. Kennedy, +13.0%; D. Hernandez, +12.8%
Scott Bakula: S. Drew, -6.6%
A rather subdued gameday thread for a rather subdued game. I think all the effort that went into breathing took away from some typing. Even after cooking a London Broil, ish95 led the way, Moneyman was his Number One, and I was advising in third place. All present were: imstillhungry95, hotclaws, PatrickPetersonAZ, txzona, $-The Moneyman-$, Clefo, azshadowwalker, xmet, LiamNeeson, JoeCB1991, onedotfive, Gildo, snakecharmer, Jim McLennan, asteroid, blank_38, PR151, mrssoco, SenSurround, GuruB, BattleMoses, sonic barracuda, dbacks79, Augdogs, Fangdango, DivineWolfwood, Muu, deerhaven, rfffr, 4 Corners Fan, marionette, CaptainCanuck, and egboyz.
Comment of the Day goes to blank_38 for posting this clever image.
I have advised the crew to leave the humidity and return to their cabins to rest. Tis a long voyage we have endeavored on, one with minimal days without a foe to encounter. Tomorrow, Bazooka Joe will take the field against a Roy Halladay, who many reports have said can be quite good. snakecharmer out.