DBacks Daily 10/2/07 - Place Your Bets!

by snakecharmer on Oct 2, 2007 3:02 PM EDT in Diamondbacks News

Well, don't place your bets here, place them in Jim's thread and enter to win an "Anybody, Anytime" tshirt.

'Skins pointed out that there really is a lot of news today. (I was wrong, he was right.) So while I round up the links 'Skins sent me, here's a place to discuss whatever you might have found already. :)

Everybody's discussing the races today. There are also a lot of "How'd they do it?" articles, since now a lot more people are looking at us and asking that question! I personally like what Bob Melvin said on Friday night: "Those who know this team and have been around this team all year know how we did it."

First let's discuss the Dbacks.

Review of Rally Monday for those of us who couldn't go; photos from the Tribune and MLB.com. Mini note: Wickman appears ready to retire.

Ken Kendrick experiences highs, lows (Repbubic) Since he took over the Diamondbacks at the end of the horrid 111-loss season, he's experienced quite a few lows, including the infamous Grimsley/Gonzalez story. And now he's able to experience the highs of an NL West championship team. Kendrick is one of the bigger baseball fans there is and we know for whom he will be rooting. And maybe, just maybe, some fans will be rooting for him a little, too, for the owner who stood up and tried to do and say the right thing and OK, might have put his foot in his mouth, but at least followed his heart and conviction.

Architects built for D-Backs future (Republic) Joe Garagiola Jr. and Joe Rizzo left the Diamondbacks, and they also left their mark on this young team heading into the playoffs. "There really is a story behind every guy," he said. "There is a guy in the background of each story that is a reason I took Mark Reynolds or Brandon Webb. There is somebody in the back of your mind or whispering in our ear. Someone who filed a report or who forced you to go to a game you didn't really want to go to in order to see this guy. And let's not forget player development in this whole thing, too.

How'd they win the West? (Arizona Star) With Master Chemists, Ringleaders, Ring-Holders, Bay-b Bears, Battery Chargers, and Unsung Heros. "Experience isn't overrated," Melvin said. "I think we're a little against the grain in that regard. What these guys have accomplished has been nothing short of spectacular."

Dbacks are playoffs' mystery team (AP) These Diamondbacks are homegrown, mostly the product of what was considered one of the best farm systems in the majors. It seems a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Diamondbacks are head of schedule (Tribune) The Diamondbacks have become masters of the improbable in a 2007 season in which they may have even surprised themselves, at least early. "Frankly, we were looking at next year," one D-Backs official said while in Colorado for the pennant clincher. The future, of course, is now, after the D-Backs won an NL-high 90 games.

Effort outweighs experience for D-backs (MLB.com) Only a handful of Arizona's active players have ever even played in the postseason. But to hear Eric Byrnes tell it, the young D-backs club has already been forged by the fires of playoff-type intensity in a season spent defying expectations and winning the squeakers through fundamentally sound baseball and an aggressive attitude.

The Cubs-Diamondbacks series is going to be huge in the Valley, with all the transplanted Cubs fans. Several articles cover loyalties: Valley fans wrestle with loyalties (Tribune), Hometown team vs longtime favorite (Republic), and Tucson's loyalties split (Star). Loyalties divided? Not for Colangelo Paola Boivin's story of Colangelo, the Cubs, and the Diamondbacks.

Season reviews and post-season previews are out in droves today, let's see how many we can cover!

Cubs, D-backs a meeting of contrasts (MLB.com)
Yep, they're underdogs alright (Nick Piecoro's blog)
You say potayto... what's more important for this series, pitching (Republic) or offense? (ESPN) Doug Haller and Tim Kurkjian discuss.
Baseball Prospectus predicts a Cubs sweep. Pbbbbbt.
Tom Verducci of SI.com takes the Cubs in 5
Ten good reasons to watch the post-season (MLB.com) The Diamondbacks are in #s 4 and 7.
The Tribune has game times for this series.
Land of the Weird: Jayson Stark's year in review There's some really funny stuff in here, including interesting comparisons with Micah Owings. (Blame it for me not getting this up earlier.)

Finally, Jim and I are each writing for others' blogs this post-season, so be sure and check us out! Jim: Where My Team Stands and me: Playoff Previews

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Comments

Well then.... I guess the Padres fans DO get to

Experience It.... Experience watching the Dbacks and Rockies, both better teams, join the October Party, while Hairston, Bradley, Peavy, Sailor Moon and the rest of the Padres sit on their asses.

I couldn't be happier for San Diego. ;-)

Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight.

by DbacksSkins on Oct 2, 2007 3:37 PM EDT reply actions

Oh yeah.... and no more stupid Padres fans

and announcers referring to their team as "The Friar", singular. BLECH.

The Friar is the sweaty guy who dresses up in a costume like a jovial Friar Tuck after getting stung by a swarm of bees. The Friar is your mascot. THE PADRES are the name of your team.

Do you see the Dbacks fans referring to their team as "The Diamondback" or "The Snake"??

Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight.

by DbacksSkins on Oct 2, 2007 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Or even

shudder...Baxter.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by soco on Oct 2, 2007 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly!

Imagine if one nickname for our team was... The Baxter. 8-0

Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight.

by DbacksSkins on Oct 2, 2007 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Here's some news

The people over at Bleed Cubbie Blue are all pretty confident that not only will every bar in Phoenix be packed with Cubs fans, but the whole stadium will be in blue cheering on the Cubs.

Sadly, they probably aren't 100% wrong.

Bob Melvin Sucks

by nihil67 on Oct 2, 2007 4:31 PM EDT reply actions

Will there be a lot of Cubs fans?

Of course, but I bet it will be an even split. Will the bars be crowded with Cubbie "faithful?" Well, that's probably a given as every jerkoff that has even had a whiff of the Chicago area tries to rep themselves as one of the faithful. If they don't make it far into October this year, you can bet all these "Chicagoans" will dive back underground.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by soco on Oct 2, 2007 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions

They aren't even 50% wrong

My hope is just that AZ fans outnumber them. Here in Brooklyn, I will be walkind down the street to share the game with a Cubs fan. I can't get worked up against Cubs fans like Yankees fans and Padres fans. They're so lovable. Then again, it's not going to stop us from beating them.

by andrewinnewyork on Oct 2, 2007 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

They're only lovable individually, and in their

home environment. If you capture them and try to put them in a new habitat, (like Chase) they're ferocious, like wolverines. When you put them in groups, they'll try to rip you apart like a pack of wild dogs.

Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight.

by DbacksSkins on Oct 2, 2007 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Unless I am

really looking at things with Sedona red colored glasses, they didn't even overwhelm us for the regular season.. I think DBack fans got a jump start as season ticket holders and others could buy tcikets about a week before everyone else. the lower level sold out real fast and I am betting they are mainly DBack fans... Oh, there will be a large number of Cub fans there, but I think our bandwagon is in full gear and we will be louder than those scrubs.

by unnamedDBacksfan on Oct 2, 2007 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions

calling them lovable

was of course an allusion to their longtime nickname of lovable losers. I like them lovable, so long as they keep on losing.

by andrewinnewyork on Oct 2, 2007 7:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Who cares if they are loveable?

They are still losers. That's the most important thing.

Listen to me, I got no reason to lie to you, don't make the same mistakes I made when I was young. F- a lotta women kid, not just one woman, a lotta women.

by npineda on Oct 2, 2007 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

In other news,

the Mets, by not making the postseason, probably lost millions of dollars. It affects the players themselves, too. I quote: "...while the players themselves lost at least $20,000 apiece, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Haha. The Mets and Dodgers, two of the top payrolls in baseball, are sitting at home.

If, like me, you really REALLY hate the Cubs, then you might enjoy this blog: My Hero The Goat. I believe these guys are just eternally pessimistic Cubs fans, but it's hard to tell. They have a Dbacks-Cubs preview, where they like the Dbacks to sweep. One of my favorite parts is a footnote: "* Note: Game 4 and Game 5 will only be necessary if the Diamondbacks decide to toy with the Cubs. Also, this may happen if MLB/TBS officials want to rig the series to drag it out in an effort to increase ratings via delusional Cubs fans."

They've also got some good analysis of the Dbacks: "The Diamondbacks were significantly outscored earlier in the year. However, as they found themselves, Doug[sic] Melvin led the team to a turnaround. The D'backs outscored opponents by 15 runs in September. They also managed an OPS of .823 in September (compared to .734 for the year overall)."

Somebody, however, needs to remind them that the manager of the Dbacks is Bob Melvin, and that Doug Melvin (relation? couldn't tell ya) is the GM of the Brewers. It's an easy mistake to make, though.

Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight.

by DbacksSkins on Oct 2, 2007 5:47 PM EDT reply actions

Sorry about the typo...

It's fixed now.

Also, I HAD to stop in to clarify any confusion that we are "eternally pessimistic Cubs fans". That is NOT the case. We hate the Cubs - their fans actually.

Great site - we'll be around more (or at least me, not sure about Wiggins). Hopefully the series keeps going like it did last night.

Go Dbacks!

My Hero The Goat - I hate the Cubs.

by mike42 on Oct 4, 2007 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions