Record: 1-0 - Pace: 162-0 [!] - Change on last season: 0

On the basis of this game, it looks like 2008 is going to be just like 2007, with Arizona winning games on a basis of brilliant pitching, defensive solidity and just enough runs to frustrate the opposition. Brandon Webb and three of the New Relievers of the Apocalypse combined to three-hit the Reds, while Chris Young, Eric Byrnes and Jeff Salazar all went deep for Arizona. While it may not have been the longest bomb of the day - that'd be Young's upper-deck blast - it took Salazar precisely one 2008 plate-appearance to match his home-run tally for all of 2007, swatting a pinch-hit homer in the top of the seventh, which gave us a very welcome insurance run. Jeff is now on pace to hit 162 homers this season. I love early-season projections. :-)

Brandon Webb was his regal self, despite the odd control issue which saw him issue more walks than hits in his six innings of work. His change-up was particularly impressive, and responsible for five of his six strikeouts, including a pair of particularly-impressive K's of Ken Griffey Jr. Webb also used his curve-ball effectively, and that was enough on a day when he sometimes struggled to find the zone with his trademark sinker. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter after having thrown 91 pitches. That's in line with his first outings of the previous couple of years, which ran 96 and 98 pitches. No point in overexerting him in Game #1.

Equally good was the bullpen: first Qualls - we're still working on an appropriately apocalyptic name for him - then Peña and Lyon, combined to throw a trio of hitless innings, with no walks either, and the only base-runner a hit batter by Qualls. I was particularly impressed by (and, truth be told, somewhat relieved to see) Lyon's outing. It looked a bit flaky, as he fell behind Adam Dunn 3-1, but he came back to get him with a venomous bit of high heat, then nailed Encarnacion by getting him to flail at a beautiful curve. Hatteberg popped up, and Lyon had nailed down the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. That will go a long way to settling nerves caused by his poor spring and the departure of Jose Valverde - Papa Grande only had one perfect outing in our first 22 games last year.

On offense, this remained a generally underwhelming part of our game, as we managed only five hits, with Aaron Harang doing a fine job of tying up our bats with his off-speed pitches. His fast balls, on the other hand... Young and Byrnes went deep in the third, and the only other hit that we got off him, was Jackson's RBI single in the first, that drove in Hudson. He'd reached on an error, and went to second on a wild pitch, so it was good to see the D-backs making the most of the chances offered by the opposing pitcher. Jackson and the promoted Snyder, hitting in the 5-spot, reached twice, each getting a hit and a walk. However, our young trio of Young, Reynolds and Upton struggled, going a combined 1-for-12 with 7 K's.

The defense also deserves credit for an almost-flawless performance, the only mistake probably being Young misplay of a ball that skidded past him on the wet outfield grass, all the way to the wall for a triple that drove in the Reds' first run, and set the table for the second, making it a 3-2 game. Apart from that, the defense was solid, with Reynolds making an early highlight-reel play, a bare-handed grab and throw on an infield squibber, and Orlando Hudson's play at second was, frankly, brilliant. He vacuumed down a pop-up in shallow right-center that would have left Young dead in the water, and also made a brilliant diving stop and throw on a ground-ball by Griffey. His best play was not rewarded by an out, but his effort on a ball up the middle off Harang's bat, which he stopped and threw to first from shallow left-field, was astonishing.

The start of the game was delayed almost an hour by rain - having taken the day off work, I would have been royally peeved had the game then been postponed, and I heaved a sigh as we reached the last out of the fifth, and the game finally became official. It was a solid way to start the season, putting to rest any concerns about Webb and Lyon caused by their spring form, and proved a good way to mark the 10th anniversary of the franchise's first-ever game. With a somewhat happier ending than that game, it has to be said!

[click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +17.9%
[Honorary mention, Jeff Salazar: +13.9%]
God-Emperor of suck: Mark Reynolds, -7.3%

This was the first full test of the Gameday Threads on v2.0, and the result was a stunning 672 comments, setting a new record for a regular season-game. The new platform largely kicks ass, though it experienced slowdown and some timeouts towards the end - though, by most accounts, we escaped the worst of the effects, which were seen on sites like Bleed Cubbie Blue. We will be launching new overspill Gameday Threads if we hit 500 comments, to try and alleviate this problem: it also, curiously, seems to work better if you preview and then post, rather than just hitting post.

Thanks to all those who took part today, whether they took the day off, were commenting from work or just popping in. Participating today were seton hall snake pit, unnamedDBacksfan, TwinnerA, Wactivist, hotclaws, dstorm, kishi, 4 Corners Fan, Azreous, foulpole, LucaMaz3, Craig from Az [welcome!], visiting fan Fat Vegas Alan, Wimb, Mr. Philosophical, mikeb, snakecharmer, leemellon, Stile4aly, Huxtable Reunion [welcome!], bcloirao, DiamondbacksWIn, ncdbackfan, soco, Muu and azshadowwalker. I'd like to thank unnamedDBacksfan, in particular, for introducing me to the hell which is the band Ozone and their song, Dragostea Din Tei. YouTube is your friend. Just don't expect to close your eyes, for catchy Rumanian Europop will keep you going all night.

Always fun to spend the entire day watching and following baseball: going back to work tomorrow is gonna suck! My personal highlight was seeing the Cubs score three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, then lose it in the tenth - the winning run was scored by Craig Counsell, so even when they leave us, our players are still Cub killers. The Mets behind Santana rolled over the Marlins, and the Braves scored five in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, but still lost to Pittsburgh in 12 innings.

In the NL West, the Giants are what we thought they were - sucky - and the Rockies were very lucky to escape with a weather-beating, their game being called off before becoming official, with Colorado in a 5-1 hole. Their incredible luck from the end of the 2007 season, is clearly carrying forward to 2008... Penny and the Dodgers shut out the Giants on five hits, and Peavy and the Padres are three-hitting the Astros. Not really any surprises there. Peavy, however, had two RBIs, and has had a better night at the plate than Scott Hairston, 0-for-4 with 2 K's.

A very satisfactory day, all told. Kinda weird having an off-day already, but at least we can enjoy it from a winning perspective, which makes any day better!

That was a great deal of fun. We packed up the car around 10:15 am, picked up Mrs. SnakePit's mother [who had been recruited to join us at the last moment], then drove over to Maryvale, where the sundry individuals there were already well under way with the grilling process. Beers were consumed, dead animals in various stages of incineration were consumed, and were were even graced with a quick visit by Doug Davis's father, Mike, who swung by on his way to the stadium. It was, of course, something of a return to old haunts for Davis, who pitched for the Brewers from July 2003 through the end of 2006, compiling a 37-36 record in 111 starts for them.

Pre-game autograph action

In today's game, Davis was basically a carbon-copy of the version we saw in the 2007 season: control problems [three walks in four innings], far too many runners on base [six hits as well], yet somehow he managed to minimize the damage [only two earned runs]. He wasn't helped by a dreadful clank of a pickoff throw off Trot Nixon's glove at first-base, but he was almost at his ninety-pitch limit for the day, by the time he was pulled for a pinch-hitter. Apart from Nixon's muff, he was definitely bailed out by the defence, with the infield turning a couple of solid double-plays, and Justin Upton making a fine diving catch in the outfield.

Said Davis after the game, "I didn't really have the fastball command that I want. Luckily, I had two other pitches that I was able to throw for strikes with my changeup and my cutter. My curveball was pretty good today. It was pretty sharp. I felt pretty good with it. I got my work in and I believe I'm ready for the season." He'll likely have one more start - I imagine Friday at Chase against the Rockies - but overall, his stats this spring have been adequate. Indeed, 11 hits in 13 innings is not a bad rate; the ten walks he's allowed are the main object of concern, but if he can manage to maintain his 4.15 Cactus League ERA for the whole season, I think we'll be happy.

The bullpen which followed to the mound was a mix of the good, the bad [in a Michael Jackson sense] and the ugly. Jailen Peguero looked pretty good, bringing the heat with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, and Juan Cruz was downright nasty in the sixth, also retiring all three hitters he faced, two of them on strikeouts. However, my first look at Leo Rosales - the broken-handed pitcher we got in the trade for Scott Hairston - was far from impressive. He allowed a hit, tagged another batter, then allowed a three-run homer, and not even to someone impressive like Prince Fielder. It was instead to Rickie Weeks, who hadn't played for a week because of an injury, and the general opinion afterwards was that we should ask for Hairston back. Goocher finished off the game for Arizona, using his side-arm action for a scoreless inning.

These we have loved

It was also a return of sorts for former Diamondbacks favorite, Craig Counsell (above) - this will be his ninth consecutive season playing for either Milwaukee or Arizona. He received a warm ovation from both teams' fans, both when his name was announced and when he went up for his first at-bat. Despite the love-in, and the run he drove in early on, this is probably not a game he will want to remember, as he made three errors in the middle innings, none of them on particularly difficult plays. Interestingly, I note that the Brewers also batted their pitcher, Jeff Suppan, eighth: this might have thrown Doug Davis off, as he walked Suppan on four straight balls first time up. "Okay, I'll give their #8 guy a free pass so I can go after their pitc... Hey! Hang on!" :-)

Captions are invited for this picture, for future lolbacking...

It was pretty warm in the stadium. We weren't out in the bleachers this time - that was a relief - and I had remembered to bring a cap too [Mrs. SnakePit and her mother had their fetching Easter bonnets on], but it was still definitely tough until the sun went down behind the stand. The crowd was a few hundred short of ten thousand, but there did seem to be plenty of empty seats; our row was about eight to ten behind the Diamondbacks dugout, and was less than half-full. There also looked to be a good bit of room on the grass beyond the outfield walls. As we had already eaten and drunk our fill before entering the park, we didn't get much chance to check out the concessions, but they didn't look too bad. However, for some bizarre reason, the bottles of water were sold at room temperature, which was definitely not what we wanted.

Three guesses what the result of this Byrnes at-bat was...

At the plate, it was a good day for our shortstops. First, Stephen Drew had two hits, then his replacement, Augie Ojeda, added two more - Ojeda did make an error, however. Mark Reynolds reached safely twice, on a walk and a hit, and Geraldo Parra had a ninth-inning, two-out double that briefly gave us hope. However, it was not to be, even though we had Jesus on our side, appropriately enough for this Easter Sunday. Jesus Mercham that is, who grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. The RBIs went to Byrnes, Nixon and Upton, with our other run scoring on a double-play which Byrnes hit into. Not the cleanest of games, with the Brewers making a total of four errors, and Arizona chipping in with two of their own.

Naturally, this being the Brewers game, things wouldn't be complete without a sausage race. I notice that they seem to have added a chorizo sausage this year. At first, I thought that was a sop to Arizona's Hispanic population in some way, but apparently it joined the race in Milwaukee this year. Today, it was to be the Polish that sped to victory. I was hoping to see Bernie Brewer too, but I could find no sign of him at the game. After Take Me Out to the Ballgame, we then swept on to Roll Out the Barrel...which would probably have been more enjoyable had we known more of the lyrics than the title. Hence our rendition was along the lines of "Roll out the barrel! [Humming and la-la-la-ing] Roll out the barrel! [Uncomfortable silence. Pretend to reach for soda]"

Still, despite the loss and the heat, It was one of those long, delightful spring afternoons in Arizona, that you want to see never end. Inevitably, it did, but it was a fine way to wrap up the 2007 Spring Training season, as far as we're concerned - thank to shoe, TAP, Tom, Mike, and the others who made it so. After the game it was back to the parking lot, for more tail-gating, grilling, drinking and chatting until we finally peeled out, almost the last cars to leave the stadium. And we came back to the house, just in time to watch the Fox Sports replay of the night we clinched the NL West last year. An omen? We can only hope...

I guess that, technically, I still maintain my proud record of not having seen the Diamondbacks lose this year. That's because we left in the middle of the tenth inning after Arizona had failed to break through, and the game was still tied at four. Under Cactus League rules, that meant we could no longer win - the best we could hope for was a tie, as the game ended automatically after ten innings, regardless of the score. "It can only really go downhill," commented Mrs. SnakePit - who had an comedy show at The Sets for which she had to prepare, and so was somewhat keen to get away. I could hardly argue with that, and so we slipped out; this turned out to be a wise decision, and Connor Robertson failed to retire a batter in the bottom of the tenth, and the game was over before we'd even reached our car.

We did manage to get there just in time to see the first out; Mrs. SnakePit picked me up after attending the funeral service, and dropped me off as she went to find somewhere to park. I should mention that the "martyr points" required for me to be at the game were likely earned afterwards, when I set up 250 chairs for her event at The Sets. As I casually pointed out, it's the second Saturday in a row where I've have exhausted myself moving someone else's furniture around for her. :-) I managed somehow to blow out a muscle in the arch of my left foot there, leaving me basically unable to put any weight on it. I will be rehabbing tomorrow - and tonight as well, just as soon as I've posted this on the site. We have Night of the Lepus on the DVR, in which giant killer bunnies menace Arizona, to the concern of Dr. McCoy and Marion Crane - well, DeForest Kelley and Janet Leigh.

The big question about today's game is, naturally, how did the Big Unit look, making his second rehab start? And the answer is, pretty well. There were some rumblings of discontent from the faithful in the bottom of the first, when he gave up a homer to Gary Matthews, the second batter he faced. And he seemed a bit fly-ball prone early on, with five of the first six outs being that way - as well as the homer, of course. Hitters getting under the ball, expecting it to break more? I'd probably be happier if they were under-estimating the bite, and getting on top of his pitches. Nick Piecoro said only one of the outs was hard-hit, but it seemed a couple more than that to me were not exactly pop-ups, and seemed about a quarter-inch on the bat from following Matthews' pitch out of the yard.

However, Johnson said, "My slider will get better as my arm strength builds...and the stronger your arm is the more effective all these other pitches are as well." And the homer turned out to be the only hit Johnson would give up in three innings of work. No idea about the velocity of his pitches, but even from where we were sitting, down the third-base line, it was apparent that the Angels hitters were, on occasion, getting pretty badly fooled. That was most apparent in the third inning, where he got two K's and a pop-up to second-base, seeming like the Johnson we know and love of old. I do concur with Nick that Johnson got stronger as he went on. He threw 43 pitches, ten more than in his previous outing, and is scheduled for 65 in his next outing, currently penciled in for Friday.

All of Arizona's scoring came on a pair of homers. With two out in the second, Justin Upton singled, Chris Burke legged out an infield hit and Salazar smacked one over the fence to right field. Eric Byrnes completed our total for the say when he uncorked a monster blast to left-field, to open the sixth, which restored Arizona's lead for a bit. That redeemed him in our eyes, as he'd tried to nail a runner at the plate in the Angels two-run fourth with a somersault flip - it was obviously a futile endeavor, and his throw missed the cutoff man, allowing the hitter to move into scoring position. On the other hand, Salazar's homer was countered by his dreadful misplay of a ball to center in the same inning, which ended up another double.

Upton and Burke both got two hits; the latter has now improved his spring average to .417. On the other hand, Stephen Drew looked particularly lost at the plate, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, and his spring average is down to .185. Yes, I know it's all meaningless, but if Drew and Burke start the season the way they're playing, it's going to be increasingly difficult for Melvin not to have Burke in the lineup somewhere - he's got enough flexibility to be able to play anywhere in the infield. Trot Nixon might not even make it that far: 0-for-4 today as a DH, leaving him just .156 (5-for-32) in spring overall. If Nixon is the answer, I'm not sure what the question is.

Less of a bullpen than a bulllump

After Johnson left the game, the Big Unit was replaced by the Petit Unit. His first inning was shaky - though as noted above, with better work from his outfielders, two of the three doubles he allowed should have been singles at most. He settled down thereafter, with just one more hit in his three innings, and added three more K's to bring his spring K:BB ratio to a tasty 14:3. Billy Buckner scattered four hits and two walks over his three frames, but the only damage was a homer to Matt Brown which tied the game in the eighth inning. He also struck out three Angels.

Game Notes

• First time at Tempe Diablo. It's right in the middle of...well, a light industrial park would seem to be about it. Parking is pretty tough there; we ended up having to find a spot at the back of a nearby Motorola facility. There isn't much close to the stadium unless you get there very early. Otherwise, be prepared for a long walk.

• Alternatively, if you don't want to pay, you can go stay at the Buttes resort next door to the, from where you've got a nice overlooking view for free. You can even lurk on the access road like these guys - the view is probably not much worse than from the outer corners of the upper deck at Chase.

• The game was totally sold out. I don't think I've seen so many scalpers at a Spring Training game before. That was probably no surprise; we bought our tickets a couple of months back, and even at that point, the best seats remaining were in the last section bleachers, out by the AZ bullpen.

  
  Backup catcher Wilkin Castillo warms up

• And guess who forgot a) his cap, and b) that our seats were all the way out in the sun? Fortunately, we did remember to bring the sunblock, but I sense the top of my head - where the hair was light and blond to begin with, even before it started thinning! - may feel it a bit tomorrow.

• The game tempo was brisk, helped by neither team giving up a walk until Buckner in the bottom of the seventh. Bonifacio helped out with a fine grab of a liner, throwing quickly to first to start a double-play. He also stole a base, though Upton was caught for the first time this spring. Ojeda also made a great stab of an in-between hop at shortstop.

  

• Finally, if you go to the stadium, I'd recommend sitting on the first-base side if you get a chance. The view looking in that direction (above) is much better, as from the third-base side it's mostly the cars rushing past on the I-10 freeway. It feels like they are only a Mark Reynolds blast away...

Today's comment starter Minor-league and/or spring-training parks. Which ones are your favorites, and why?

It would have been nice if Randy Johnson had received this level of run support last season: we scored as many runs today as in any two of his games last year, put together. Bit of a wild one down in Tucson. 30 hits, nineteen runs, four errors and each side blowing two leads, with the Diamondbacks scoring three times in the top of the ninth to snatch an improbable victory. If that's any kind of indicator as to what we can expect once the season starts, it's gonna be a wild 2008.

The first inning went very smoothly: 16 pitches, one hit and ended with the strike-out of Matt Holliday. No problems there. The second inning...not so much: the first four batters all reached, including a three-run homer on a 3-0 pitch to Chris Iannetta. 33 pitches there, and Johnson was yanked, having reached the scheduled 50-pitch mark a little earlier than he and Bob Melvin would probably have liked. As with all Spring Training games, the results are probably not as important as the execution, so let's turn to Johnson for his comments after the game, courtesy of Nick Piecoro:

Emphasis added, but assuming Johnson is not just saying what he thinks we wnat to hear, that seems like good news. His next scheduled start will indeed be on Saturday in Tempe, so you'll be getting an eye-witness report from that one. Despite that three-run second inning, Arizona still had the lead, having leapt out to a four-run lead in the top of the first, with a two-run homer by Stephen Drew the most productive blow. However, the Rockies continued to come back, getting to Tony Peña and Max Scherzer to build a 6-4 lead by the end of the fourth.

Arizona scored three times in the sixth, including a solo homer by Chris Burke [another two hits today, to bring him up to .400 on the season], but Fruto couldn't hold the 7-6 lead and the Rockies plated two on three hits to retake the lead once more. Things loooked bleak for the Diamondbacks as they trailed 9-7 in the ninth, but we clawed our way back once more, with our third inning of the afternoon scoring three runs or more, to make a winner of Billy Buckner, and Robertson duly vacuumed up the save. The offense pounded out a total of 16 hits, with two apiece for Young, Kelly, Nixon, Burke and Salazar, with Jackson reaching safely twice, on a hit and a walk.

In the light of Johnson's start, good bit in the San-Diego Union Tribune focusing on Randy Johnson and his back. He is particularly frank about the 2007 success, and how their success has left him with a burning desire to be a bigger part of it this year. I think we'll leave the final words after today's step on the road to recovery, to the man himself:

It's not often Gaslamp Ball and AZ SnakePit have much in common, but I think we were both equally shocked - shocked! - albeit in different directions, by the news that Eric Byrnes' wife, Tarah, used to be one of the Pad Squad, the San Diego equivalents of the Rally Backs. Really. I share your sense of betrayal at the news that Arizona "fan favorite" Byrnes is, literally, sleeping with the enemy. And a Padre at that: surely he could have found someone nice in Denver, if he wanted to play away from home? There's probably now a plush rainbow unicorn sitting on the dresser by the bed, and he's likely also being forced to set up a MySpace profile as we speak. "Say it ain't so, Jo...er, Eric." :-)

Fun story in the Republic, about signing day down at TEP on Friday. That's where the players come in and get to put their names on all the balls, bats, jersey and sundry memorabilia that the club will use for charitable purposes in the coming year. So if you were at Friday's game, and the players seemed a little bit reluctant to sign your baseball cards... The reason would be because they'd already signed a grand total of 7,525 items that day! Though the workload was far from equitably split: prospect Wes Roemer, for example, had only six balls to sign, probably less than a minute's work.

At the other end, poor Justin Upton had 288 baseballs, 61 bats, 120 photos and 39 jerseys: including team items, that's 508 pieces, most on the team, so it's clear they expect him to reach superstar status in 2008. Webb would likely have come top, except they only got him to sign six bats - and I have to say, an autographed Webb bat would be an unusual thing to have hanging on your wall! He was top in balls (312) and jerseys (50). Oddly, Micah Owings only had to sign 15 bats; I'd have had that down as a more highly-coveted item for fans. Here's the overall top ten in items signed:

1. Justin Upton: 508
2. Eric Byrnes: 496
3. Brandon Webb: 488
4. Chris Young: 487
5. Orlando Hudson: 458
6. Stephen Drew: 451
7. Conor Jackson: 401
8. Mark Reynolds: 395
9. Randy Johnson: 375
10. Micah Owings: 371

Today's comment starter. Over at Royals Review, they've come up with a list of seven rule changes they want to see [link opens in convenient new window]. Which ones do you agree with and/or are there any others you would choose to impose?

The Diamondbacks emphatically ended a streak going back almost five months, to the final game of the NLDS, getting their first victory in eight attempts, by crushing the Chicago White Sox in a split-squad game at Tucson Electric Park this afternoon, 12-5, in front of 7,361. A little later, the other half of the roster also beat the White Sox, rallying from a 5-0 deficit down in Hermosillo, Mexico, before a crowd of 12,855. Since we were at the first game, that's where we'll concentrate our efforts. ;-)

I was picked up by shoe, tap and tmar just after 9 am, though not before being getting a call to my cel-phone from a Denver Post reporter. After I'd pontificated at some legth on the Rockies-D'backs rivalry [hey, at least he didn't ask me about the Denver Players Club...], he then replied with "And as a follow-up question: can we pick you up in about five minutes?" Yes, I'd been magnificently punked by tap, who can attest to the string of expletives which flowed freely from my lips as a result. Fine work.

It being a Sunday morning, we made good time down the road, picking up Matt on the way, and arriving at TEP just before the gates opened. The intention had been to see batting practice, but it appears that takes place elsewhere on the complex, and the grass was untroubled by players until they began taking their warmups shortly before the game. However, the concession stands were open, so beers were quaffed and we rejoiced in the simple joy of, once again, being inside a baseball park for a game. The long, dark winter was finally over! Wandered round for a bit, explored the team shop and picked up a remaindered NLCS Series T-shirt for $5. That was particularly sweet, having "laughed and walked away" from the same T-shirts during the series itself, when they were hideously over-priced at $32.

Our tickets were five rows behind the D-backs on-deck circle, and the ones just in front were, surprisingly, unoccupied, so that gave us plenty of additional opportunity to spread out. The front row seemed to be occupied by someone of note from the White Sox organization, judging by how often people came down to shake him by the hand, etc. Think his name was Tom, but beyond that, we've got no idea. We were really more concerned with our own players; a split-squad game meant that we only had about half the regulars starting, but also gave us a good chance to scope out some of the bench players and prospects on the roster.

It was one of those who got the game off to the best possible start for Arizona. Chris Burke, playing third-base and hitting leadoff, crushed a change-up from ex-Diamondback Javier Vazquez to right-center, to open the top of the first inning - it was particularly sweet, having been well behind the previous pitch, a fastball. Burke also showed good discipline at the top of the order, following up his home-run with three walks, and played well at third. He's looking like a pretty decent pick-up, and will likely be particularly important if, as seems likely, Tracy isn't ready by Opening Day.

After some shaky performances in the first three games, it was good to see our offense get its act together, assisted by Javier Vazquez serving up batting practice [five hits, two walks and five earned runs in 2.1 innings]. By the middle of the fourth innings, we had romped out to a 9-0 lead, with Chris Snyder and Trot Nixon both following Burke in going deep. Snyder, in particular, had a good day, with two doubles to add to his homer. Nixon had two hits and a walk, starting in right-field and Ojeda, playing shortstop, also had two hits. The split-squad also meant that players tended to stay in the game longer than in the previous contests: Burke came to the plate six times; Jackson, Salazar and Owings five each.

Micah (above) was, as noted previously, our DH and also batted eighth in the lineup, ahead of Augie. The results were somewhat mixed: he went 1-for-5, and seemed to be mostly concerned with the "Hitter" part of Designated Hitter, swinging aggressively at the first pitch on most of his at-bats. He's expected to hit seventh tomorrow, when he'll be pitching. Though our seats were sheltered, there was a very stiff breeze blowing left-to-right - the flags in the outfield were virtually flying horizontal for much of the game, and it definitely put a chill on things for fans sitting in the grass beyond the outfield walls. It didn't help the fielders either: Jeff Salazar clanked one off his glove in center [from ex-D'back Carlos Quentin], and Augie Ojeda missed entirely a towering, swirling pop-up. Both were, somewhat charitably, scored hits.

On the mound, the 'A' pitchers did well. Doug Davis (below) threw two hitless innings, though did walk two men in the second, and benefited from a smartly-turned double-play, started by Burke. Brandon Medders followed him, and added two more zeroes, with three strikeouts, including a brutal dissection of Quentin, who still seems to be every bit as vulnerable to sliders down and away in a White Sox uniform, as he was in a Diamondbacks one. Green and Roemer were next up, and neither exactly shined: five hits, three earned runs for the former, four hits and a walk, two earned runs for the latter. However, by the time Green appeared, we had reached double-digits and Chicago were still to get off the mark, so the impact of their shakiness was lessened. Fruto followed with a perfect ninth, after we'd added two more runs, to complete a comprehensive and very satisfactory victory.

Game Notes

• Finally got to hand over the 'trophy' to the winner of the 2007 AZ SnakePit Fantasy Baseball league, as Otacon was present at the game. Good to meet him, and relieve our "Diamondbacks cabinet" of the weight of one excess Orlando Hudson bobblehead.

• Inevitably, Superfan Susan was there, in the section next to ours, immediately behind the Diamondbacks dugout. I think, after some initial qualms, I've finally 'got' her attitude, and am cool with it: she is basically the team mom, always enthusiastic, up-beat and encouraging. I almost expected her to go into the dugout and hand out orange slices between innings. :-)

• Conor Jackson stole a base. We don't see that often [three career, in 310 major-league games], but he got a beautiful jump off first and took the bag easily. Kirk Gibson was managing for AZ, Melvin being with the other half of the team, and I presume he gave the steal sign. Before Jackson's next at-bat, when he was standing in the on-deck circle, I yelled at him, "We'll have to call you GoJack from now on." Judging by the nod of appreciation with which he responded, I think he liked that...

  

• It must be odd for Quentin to be playing for the White Sox, after so many years, either with Arizona or Tucson. The general consensus is that we wish him all the best: it's certainly a lot easier to root for him, playing in the American League, than for Hairston. [tmar still has some of the 'Free Scott Hairston' shirts from last year - any Padres fans interested?]

• Big props to Shoe for driving us down there, and especially to tap for being the designated driver on the way home. Though he should be aware that I will have my revenge for his little joke. Oh, yes, I shall... :-)

Meanwhile, down in Hermosillo, the other half of the team were staging a sterling comeback to take victory. 5-0 down in the bottom of the sixth, and still 6-2 down in the bottom of the eighth, they scored twice there and added three runs in the bottom of the ninth to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Romero, playing left-field, was the player of the game with three hits and a trio of RBI, while DH Justin Upton went 3-for-3. Parra's perfect season came to an end though: he went 1-for-4, reducing his spring batting average to a mere .700...

On the mound, Edgar Gonzalez gave the D-backs two perfect innings to start with. But Enright coughed up a major phlegm-globber of a performance, allowing six hits and a walk while retiring four batters. The middle-relief arms of Ambriz and Peguero were somewhat ho-hum, but Bill Murphy picked up the victory, retiring all four hitters he faced. The fielding was somewhat up and down: we picked off two White Sox, but also saw three errors, committed by Parra, Reynolds and Mercham. Bonifacio can't have been feeling well, as he hit into a double-play and was also caught stealing - both most un-Bonifaciolike.

Finally, couple of links that might be of interest. Bizofbaseball.com has an interview with Jeff Moorad. And in the Republic, Nick Piecoro talks about and to Chris Burke - based on today's performance, I certainly look forward to seeing more of Mr. Burke in a Diamondbacks' uniform.

Final post-season victories: 3.

Quotes of the day

• "It simply reaffirms this group and the dedication they have to playing 27 outs. Nobody hung their head. Nobody blamed anybody else. I think it simply reaffirms what we've done all season long and that's battle from start to finish... We don't listen to the skeptics. We battled right down to the last out, so we have nothing to be ashamed of. The adjustments were made. The attitude and perseverance that we showed all year was still there, even down the stretch." -- Tony Clark

• "If you're looking for someone to blame, start here. I had a terrible series. It was too bad. Obviously, it wasn't for a lack of effort." -- Eric Byrnes

• "It was a routine play. I (expletive) it up. What can you say? Cost us four runs and it was pretty much the ballgame after that" -- Conor Jackson

• "We believed in ourselves the entire season, and we ended up being one of the last four teams playing. So no doubt it was a successful year. There's nothing to hang our heads about. We lost tonight and we lost the series, but overall it was an amazing year." -- Chris Young

Congratulations to the 2007 National League pennant winners, the Colorado Rockies, who finished off the sweep of Arizona last night, and will go on to face either Boston or Cleveland in the World Series. I can't, in all honesty, begrudge them their victory. My main regret is that we did not play the way we have shown, so often this year, that we can. The sweep does not reflect the actual difference in quality of the two teams - but it does reflect the Rockies' vast superiority in the clutch, particularly with two outs.

Arizona ended the series just 4-for-27 with runners in scoring position, so it's not as if we had no chances. We had a higher batting average than the Rockies (.254/.222) and our OPS in the series was 43 points better too. Yet, they outscored us over the four games, 18-8. As we've been telling the world the entire season, that is, in the end, what matters. There's something ironic that we die, in much the same was that we lived this year: in the face of the statistical evidence.

The final game was, in many ways, a microcosm of the series, with the Rockies taking full advantage of their opportunity in a six-run fourth. Outside there, they had only two at-bats with a man in scoring position the rest of the game. We were 1-0 up in that fourth, thanks to an RBI single from Jackson but, inevitably, a two-out bloop turned the tide, with Smith getting jammed but somehow lobbing the ball, just fair, down the left-field line for a double. Even then, it was still a one-run game, but Jackson turned from villain to hero, inexplicably muffing an easy grounder by Taveras, which should have ended the inning. Instead, Matsui singled, and Holliday unloaded to center-field, a three-run homer that made the score 6-1 to Colorado.

Typically, our offense arose too late. With just four outs left, Snyder hit his own three-run shot, and Upton followed with a triple to bring the tying run, improbably, to the plate. However, after Clark worked the count full, Corpas got him with a slow slider. Young doubled to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth too, with one out, but Drew popped up on a 3-0 pitch. Them, fittingly, Byrnes grounded out weakly to end it, leaving our $30m man 3-for-17 in the series and 6-for-29 in the post-season. I really hope this is just his usual last-season slide, not an omen of things to come for the next three years.

One wonders whether Micah Owings was, perhaps, banged up earlier in that fourth inning. He ended up on the ground after fielding a tapper back to the mound, saying afterwards, "My back stiffened up a little bit. But the main thing was it just knocked the breath out of me." With hindsight...who can say. The bullpen was perhaps at their finest ever: Cruz and Lyon through 4.1 innings of no-hit ball, striking out nine of 14 batters. Whatever our issues this post-season, our relief corps was not it; here's their playoff line:
Bullpen: 24 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 32 K, ERA 0.28
The Four Relievers of the Apocalypse were particularly...er, apocalyptic. Brandon Lyon pitched six innings, allowed one hit and struck out five; Juan Cruz 4.1 innings, one hit, with nine strikeouts; Tony Peña 5.1 innings, three hits, seven K's; Jose Valverde, 4.2 innings, two hits, fanned eight. No question, our bullpen was the collective MVP of our October.

And that was it. The final Gameday Thread of the year was sad, but largely philosophical. I think we had already passed through most of the five stages of grief in the previous three games, and the eventual loss was met with resigned acceptance. Thanks to everyone who turned up: Devin, snakecharmer, DbacksSkins, soco, Adam, bitterfan, azdb7, Dr Robert, TwinnerA, CA SnakesFan, 4CornersFan, oklahomasooners, westcoastbias, batster, dahlian, venomous1987, peeklay, IndyDBack, emilywebs [welcome!], VIII, monica in el paso, Silverblood, dbacksfan55555, Wimb, Pigpen Fan, nihil67 and cavscout. And thanks to everyone who has helped the threads explode this year. If you'd told me at the start of the season we'd pass 400 comments seven games in a row and come close to a thousand, more than once...

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +9.4%
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -34.4%
Honorary suckness: Stephen Drew, -11.9%

And now, the off-season begins. I think there'll be plenty to talk about here, but there'll be time enough for that in the long, dark, cold (well, slightly less warm, here in AZ) winter evenings. For now, I'll just refer you to the post below, and let's remember the 2007 season not for the way it ended, but for what it brought us.

Post-season victories: 3. Wins remaining: 8 a

Quotes of the day

• "We've been battling throughout the last three games, and it just seems like we can't get that big hit with runners in scoring position. We kept saying to ourselves that things are going to change, things are going to change, but it seemed like every time we had guys on base and hit the ball hard, it was right at somebody." -- Augie Ojeda

• "It's the last pitch I want to throw. I know Tora is one of my best friends in baseball, and I know he can handle the fastball inside very good. In that situation, I throw everything and it's foul, foul, curveball, it's foul, and I tried to throw a fastball inside." -- Livan Hernandez

• "The Rockies played well tonight, they got the big hits when they needed them and Torrealba came up with that huge hit. I thought Livo pitched great, obviously up until that home run. He gave us a chance to win, our offense just didn't do anything. We're not going to win games if we don't get the hits in key situations." -- Eric Byrnes

There's no room for error any longer. We're 3-0 down, and that's a hole only one team in our position has ever dug themselves out of. [I'm sure I needn't remind you who that was: go rent Fever Pitch if you're not sure] Our offense continues to flatline, with only Mark Reynolds' homer, that tied the game in the fourth, the only thing that stopped us from being shutout. We now have scored five runs in 29 innings, with the Colorado pitchers posting a combined 1.24 ERA against us. Needless to say, that basically explains why our position is now slightly less tenable than The Bride in Kill Bill 2. We are not perhaps quite dead, but are still six feet under, with the Rockies still shovelling.

At least we can't complain the Rockies bats got lucky, not with all their four runs coming on two blasts, off the bats of Holliday and Torrealba. Their famed good fortune certainly continued - an infield hit here, a blown callt first there and how many teams have ever hit into three double-plays in the first three innings? Though, their defense was rock-solid, which can't have been easy on a frigid, sodden night at Coors more befitting ice-hockey than baseball. But it was Augie Ojeda who made the play of the game, sliding to make a basket-catch, then popping it out of his glove, bouncing it off his knee back into the air, and finally snagging it again.

Way to step up, Eric Byrnes. We may or may not have outplayed the Rockies; after talking smack, which brought down a hail of Denver boos every time he touches the ball, you've got to walk the walk. He singularly failed to deliver, even if he was unlucky in the first, Fogg snaring a hard liner right back at him, more by luck than good judgement, and flipping it to second to complete the double-play. After that, one strikeout looking and a pair of weak pop-ups, meaning he's 6-for-25 during the playoffs, with one walk and six K's.

We might as well have turned off the TV after the first inning because, in hindsight, it was an omen that tonight would not be our night. Young and Drew singled, but any momentum evaporated with Byrnes' double-play and Clark then flew out. More of the same in the second, in case we didn't get the message: back-to-back singles from Salazar and Montero put men on the corners with one out, but Ojeda grounded into another twin-killing. Inevitably, the third inning ended the same way, courtesy of Drew. According to Franklin (or Einstein, depending on your source), insanity is often defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. D'you think they have straitjackets in Sedona Red?

The weird thing is, we continue to hit better than the Rockies (.248/.231) with an almost identical OPS (.627/.633). However, I seem to recall seeing last night that nine of the Rockies 12 runs have come with two outs, while we have scored just one. That ability to push across runners goes a long way towards explaining why they are printing out World Series tickets at Coors. That's amazing, when you thing that a couple of weeks ago, they were one strike away from being eliminatred, until Tony Gwynn Jr. tripled for the Brewers off Trevor Hoffman. It's been an astonishing run, and if we get eliminated, I'll tip my hat to them and cheer Colorado on in the Series.

Livan Hernandez, up until that one mistake to Torrealba, had been very solid, with only Holliday's homer to blot the copybook. The only other bit of trouble until the sixth was a leadoff double - again, to Torrealba - in the third, after which he walked the pitcher. However, he pounced on Taveras' bunt, fired to third to nail the lead-runner, and retired the next two to preserve the tie. He even came close to striking out the Rockies catcher, who just managed to foul off a 60 mph curve, the pitch before depositing the ball in the bleachers. Our bullpen added 2.1 shutout innings, reducing their post-season ERA to a ridiculous 0.46. But this has been the series where, suddenly, we have looked like the worst-hitting team in the National League.

Of course, it's not over. We haven't lost more than three games in a row since before the All-Star break. Against a rookie starter tonight, anything might happen, and a win would let us turn the ball to our ace in Game Five, then bring the series back to Phoenix. However, I can not say that I am feeling confident about this scenario and will likely find myself shortly buying Leo Kottke tickets. To explain that odd statement, Mrs. SnakePit's a fan - however, he's playing in Phoenix on the date scheduled for Game 7 of the World Series. So I've been holding off, but suspect they'll be getting purchased sooner rather than later.

An understandably unhappy Gameday Thread. Present were venomous1987, batster, azdb7, soco, hotclaws, Muu, dbacksfan55555, TwinnerA, Devin, westcoastbias, 4CornersFan, oklahomasooners, dahlian, VIII, Wimb, Silverblood, NLWestFan, singaporedbacksfan, snakecharmer, Adam, Ben, icecoldmo and andrewinnewyork. And a quick word on language. Frustration is understandable, and given this, the odd expression of it in your language is understandable. I am also likely to cut regular posters much more slack on this matter. However, please try to refrain from turning the thread into a clip from Goodfellas. "Passion" is fine, but if you can't express it without dropping F-bombs - and especially directing them at other posters - then action will be taken. The above is now official SnakePit policy. We'll move on, hopefully to better things this evening...

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Jeff Cirillo, +4.3%
God-emperor of suck: Eric Byrnes, -21.2%
Honorary suckness: Augie Ojeda, -15.3%; Livan Hernandez, -15.5%

Post-season victories: 3. Wins remaining: 8

Quotes of the day

• "You gotta keep him in there. He's the closer. And once he gives up a run, you go get him. You gotta at least go with your best until they get a run. He's pitched through a lot of jams over the course of a season. We've seen him go out there in that fashion and get out of it. Until he gives up a run, it's his game." -- Bob Melvin

• "I wasn't tired. I felt good. I felt as good as I had all year. I tried to throw my sinker, and it wasn't going in. I was just trying to get by. I felt so good." -- Jose Valverde

It's one thing to lose to a better team. It's one thing to lose through your own failings. It's something entirely different to lose because your manager adheres to moronic credos such as "Until he gives up a run, it's his game." That kind of thing is stupid enough in a regular-season content - after all, there's 162 of them, so we can work around the odd Melvin meltdown (and we did) - but in the playoffs, especially in a must-win contest like this? Let's just review, shall we?

• Valverde ended with 42 pitches, a number surpassed only twice in more than 250 career appearances.
• Before facing Taveras, Jose had already thrown 38. That's the most this year, and only reached one time in 2006.
• Papa Grande passed 30 in 2007 once, during a disastrous outing against the Phillies back in May, where he allowed three runs while getting two outs...and had to be rescued by Brandon Lyon.
• He made four appearances in 2007 with 25 or more pitches; his combined line there:
  Valverde: 4 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 11 R, 10 ER, ERA 22.50
• Overall career line in 18 games with 30 or more pitches:
  Valverde: 27.1 IP, 30 H, 21 BB, 19 R, 18 ER, ERA 5.93

Really. we're not talking rocket-science here: his control simply evaporates. Valverde was half-way to a credible number of pitches for a starter, and should have been gone, at the very latest before facing Taveras. It was apparent to everyone in the stadium that Jose had nothing left, from about the second batter he faced that inning. His body-language was totally shot, and Nick Piecoro said "You could tell from Valverde's behavior in the 11th inning that his swagger was gone. Even his face didn't show his usual confidence. If it was so readily apparent to the 48,000 in attendance - many of whom were screaming at the top of their lungs for a fresh arm to come in - why the hell wasn't our manager paying attention?

Now, that's what I call a follow-through!

I think the thing that pissed me off so much was the arrogance of Melvin, apparent in not even having anyone up in the bullpen. Y'know, just in case of the remote possibility that the masterplan created by his sublime genius might turn out, oh, to suck farts out of dead dogs. But by the time he actually got anyone up, never mind being ready to come in, the inning was already well out of control. The one person I don't blame much is Valverde, though you should check out the video of his post-game comments at Diamondbacks.com - his look is utterly at odds with his brave words. I hope he went home, cuddled his little girl, and is ready to go in Colorado.

Other factors come to play, of course, not least the offensiveness of our offense. You will probably not do well in the playoffs, when you can score only three runs in 20 innings - though again, we hit for more bases than the Rockies. Both pitching staff have been phenomenal, but we actually have a batting line almost 100 points better in OPS than Colorado; .247/.329/.301 vs. .211/.313/.225. The Rockies' OPS is more than 250 points down on the regular-season figure, with their much-vaunted offense restricted to one extra-base hit, a double, in 71 at-bats. Helton, Holliday and Atkins, who each hit over .300 the rest of the year, are a combined .174 (4-for-23).

And they're still two games up. I have to say, Arizona has been accused of being "lucky" - but that claim seems to be based entirely on our run-differential. I can't recall two consecutive games where everything went our way, as it has for the Rockies in this series. Their first run scored on a blooped hit that dropped right on the foul line. Mark Reynolds gifted them a second with an error that led to an unearned run, and the winning run reached base on another crappy infield squib that went about 45 feet. [Though we - or, at least, Melvin - will take responsibility for the three walks from a gassed closer which followed] Add the miraculous catch by Taveras to rob Clark of extra-bases and the tying run in the seventh, and the Rockies' streak of amazingly-good fortune is clearly continuing.

Much credit due to Doug Davis, even though it took him 106 pitches to get through five innings, and we dodged a bullet, as he was running on fumes there - getting Tulowitzki to pop out and end it, was more by fortune than anything. But you know how much Melvin needs to be forced out of the dugout with a cattle-prod, if he's going to go get his starter before the end of the fifth. Despite radically different approaches, both starters had almost identical lines: five innings, five hits, four walks and one earned run apiece: Jimenez had an extra K. Have to say, I am not looking forward to facing Mr. J in seasons to come, he looks like the real deal, even at age 23.

A rare picture of Doug Davis, standing on second-base - and wondering where to go from there. :-)

Davis even had a hit in the third. Not just any hit, an extra-base hit, and he's only had three of those in his career, since his 2001 debut - it's his first since August 19, 2005. He came round to score the tying run on a single by Young, who was then thrown out trying to steal second. We had chances after that, but Ojeda and Reynolds both went down swinging to end the fourth and fifth, with two on and the bases-loaded respectively. And that was it for the offense until the ninth, when Corpas hit Young with a pitch, he went on to third for a single by Drew, and came home when Byrnes reached on an error.

Byrnes' grounder should have left us with men on first and second and one out. Matsui's tried for a game-ending double-play, but his flip to Tulowitzki was high, so he leapt over Drew as he slid into second and never touched the bag. However, Drew assumed he was toast and started jogging towards the dugout - kindly providing Tulowitzki with the out he actually failed to get. Said Drew, "I looked back and saw no call, and I figured I was out. So I headed back in and I looked at Chip. He's telling me to go back. At that point it was too late." A rookie mistake, basically: something we can do without in the playoffs, where the margin for such gaffes is extremely thin indeed.

Finally, got to say something about our bullpen, who performed heroically again, just as they've done right the way through the post-season. The bases-loaded walk with two outs in the eleventh, brought to an end a streak of 17 consecutive innings without an earned run in the post-season - the only black mark, an unearned score against Juan Cruz yesterday, because of Jackson's error. Famine pitched a perfect sixth, and was followed by Pestileñce, who went one, or rather two, better than the previous game, striking out the top third of the Rockies on only ten pitches. He also posted a zero in the eight, Lyon retired the side in order in the ninth, and Valverde had a 1-2-3 tenth. Until that fateful eleventh, they'd combined for five innings of one-hit ball, with no walks and seven K's. Last night, however, it just wasn't enough...

Game Notes

• The crowds seemed to get there very early; even though the game didn't start until 7:15pm, at 5pm, there was still a 45-minute wait for a table at the Hard Rock Cafe.

• Wanted to buy a T-shirt to commemorate the occasion, and they had set up merchandise stands outside the park - but they were charging $32 for them. I just laughed and walked away: that's gouging at its most unacceptable. They may well be reduced to clear after Monday. :-(

• Instead, we got a free D-backs hand-towel on the way in - I didn't realise this has a long history. This served two purposes: it was used for waving, to encourage the team - and it also proved very useful in the top of the eleventh, to cover our eyes as Valverde melted down. Douglas Adams was right.

• Even though we lost, it was still enthralling baseball. If you're going to charge $85 for a seat, then at least this game delivered value for money. Four and a half hours of it. Despite multiple beers beforehand, I didn't leave my seat from first pitch to the last.

I back, you back, Mrs. SnakePit's sister backs, the D-backs...

• Full house, though some seats weren't filled until the third inning or thereabout. Great atmosphere. No trouble at all.

• The crowd hated Young being thrown out, booing lustily, and I wondered if there was going to be any "issues" [luckily, our seats were just under the second-deck overhang, and safe from any reacton!]. The replays seemed to show he was indeed out: they might have wanted to consider putting those on the Jumbotron, to calm the crowd a bit?

• Well, except when I had to because the idiots in front of me would stand up at "heart-stopping moments" like our hitters having two outs, the bases empty, and a 1-1 count. Memo to fans: if you stand up all the frickin' time, it diminishes the impact when you need it. If you don't want to sit, go buy a standing-room ticket. Otherwise, stand up only when the occasion demands it - rather than when Mike and Vanessa demand it.

• This has already been mentioned elsewhere, but the second-loudest boos of the night were when Bonds was shown during the montage of highlights from the 2007 season. But was the hell was that surreal "Basket Catch" video about? Taking footage of Willie Mays' 1954 World Series gem at the Polo Grounds, and doctoring it with an over-sized head chanting "Basket catch, basket catch" in a monotone. Weird and utterly pointless.

• The Seventh-Inning Stretch [AVI, 4.5 MB] Sorry about the fingerprints on the lens. :-)

I was expecting the Gameday Thread to have crashed through four figures when I came back, but it seems a combination of illness (get well soon, charmer!), attendance at the actual game, and perhaps the fan apathy beloved of the national media all took its toll, and we eventually ended at 700 on the nose. Present were soco, Jim Silverblood, Devin, andrewinnewyork, bitterfan (welcome...I think!), oklahomasooners, azdb7, dahlian, 4CornersFan, britdback, DbacksSkins, CA SnakesFan (welcome!), Muu, hotclaws, VIII, johngordonma, Wimb, kylerkenney and Charlie77, so thanks to them.

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +23.2%
God-emperor of suck: Augie Ojeda, -23.9%
Honorary suckness: Bob Melvin, minus several million

It isn't over, but the fat lady does appear to be clearing her throat, gargling with lemon-juice and rustling the sheet music, in an apparently meaningful manner. No National League team has ever come back from 2-0 down to win the Championship Series. However, I still think we do have a chance: win tomorrow, and we can then turn the ball back over to Micah Owings - or possibly Brandon Webb - with a shot at levelling the series 2-2. It's not impossible...though since we have Livan starting Game Three, I can't say I am filled with enormous optimism. However, thus far it's not really been the pitching that's been the problem: our offense needs to kick things up several notches, if the series is to see Arizona again.

Last, and probably least, looks like TBS's worst nightmare has come true. Game One of this series was easily the least-watched LCS prime-time game ever, pulling only a 3.6 national rating, smashing the previous worst, most recently set by Game 3 of the Cardinals/Mets series last year. Things are probably going to get worse for them, before they get better, given this game didn't start till 10:15 pm on the East Coast, and you'd have had to sit up until almost 2:45 am to see the conclusion of it. This worries me because, how is everyone going to remember not to watch Frank TV?

Quotes of the day

• ""I was shocked because I've never seen anything like that from these fans. It didn't show very much class. ... Usually, I would expect that out of Shea or Philly." -- Brian Fuentes

• "In the Dominican, they throw Brugal [rum] bottles, which are glass. It's a common occurrence down there. I've been hit with one. [Tonight] may have been a little overreacting." -- Eric Byrnes

• "It's too bad it became about the umpires. But I think it shows that we don't have such an apathetic crowd, clearly." -- Derrick Hall

Ouch. That was not the National League Championship Series I signed up for. I signed up for the one in which the two best teams in the league collided, an ultimate test of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Whenever that series starts, please let me know - because it clearly wasn't last night. I wouldn't have minded so much if the Rockies had been clearly superior - but we actually had more hits (9-8) and more extra-base hits (2-0) than them.

Witness the first run. A broken-bat bleeder, a weakly-hit single through the infield, a walk and a double-play ground out. They literally [and I hope this doesn't bring the Writing Style Police down on my head again] didn't have a hard-hit ball all night - the evening was summed up by Holliday's "single" which started off foul, then came back fair before Reynolds could get to it, then rolled down the line to hit the third-base bag. If the Rockies have a hot-line to the man upstairs, it was kept busy last night. 264 times this year, a team was held without an extra-base hit. Only eleven times all season did they score five or more runs, as the Rockies did last night.

Brad Hawpe was, once again, the Webb-slayer, with that bases-loaded single (a little bleeder, naturally) that scored two runs and put the Rockies 4-1 up. If we'd got him out there, it would only have been a one run game, and we'd still have been very much in it. Instead, Hawpe extended his mastery over our ace: this year, he has now gone 11-for-17, ridiculous numbers at which point the small sample size ceases to matter [even a .300 hitter has only a 0.3% chance of doing that or better by luck]. Those were his 12th and 13th RBI of the season off Webb. Nobody else has more than four. Before Game Five - if there is one, and we'll have to play a damn sight better to get there - Webb might want to brush up on his hunting skills and lurk near Coors with a sniperscope.

But, it has to be admitted, Arizona didn't deserve to win, either, save the first inning where they came out top, with an RBI double by Byrnes. After the Rockies scored three in the third, we had our chances, but simply failed to convert them. Drew twice came up representing the tying run: the first time, in the fifth, he fought ferociously, finally going down swinging on the ninth pitch. In the seventh, however, he was facing Affeldt - a prospect that appeared to disturb Rockies fans as much as us bringing in, say, Brandon Medders for that situation. But he swung at the first pitch, and flew out to right.

Eric Byrnes had two hits, while Chris Young had our only two walks of the night, and the game ended when Montero doubled off the left-field wall, but overslid second and was tagged out. An appropriate metaphor for the entire evening, it has to be said. Francis tied us up once again, but the real difference was, he got the big outs when he needed them: Webb didn't. Juan Cruz did not look good in his appearance, walking two and throwing a wild-pitch, though wasn't helped by Jackson muffing a play. Snyder, behind the plate, was also poor defensively.

About the only bright spots were Nippert and Peña. The former looked very sharp, in particular demolishing Hawpe, striking him out on three straight pitches. Webb should ask for lessons - though given the three pitches in question from Nippert were clocked at 97, 97 and 98 mph, it might be tricky for Webb. Pestileñce was perhaps even more venomous, striking out the Rockies on 12 pitches in the ninth. However, that's small compensation on a night when the D-backs looked snake-bit, and the Rockies rolled.

Okay, let's get one thing straight: tossing stuff onto the field is not cool, mm-kay? However, I must admit, a small, dark corner of my soul cheered in the seventh inning when the Arizona fans reacted to a BS interference call on Justin Upton [more on which in a moment] by tossing stuff onto the field. Hah! That'll teach you to call us apathetic and lackadaisical. Let's put things into context, however: if there were a hundred fans involved, that would be about 0.2% of those in attendance. On the other hand, a team is inevitably judged by the worst of its supporters. Just ask the Cubs. Though, having seen the Suns screwed out of a NBA title by bad officiating, I can understand the sensitivity of the fans.

The slide. Let's just review Rule 7.09 (e), shall we?

Well, at least the last sentence does explain why Snyder had to return to second-base after the call. However, stop me if my reading comprehension is wide of the mark, but that appears to outlaw any contact. "Interferes with...a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play." But it just never gets called: how many "interference by runner" plays have there been this season? Even earlier in the same game, I think it was the fourth, when Chris Snyder hit into a double-play. Mark Reynold slid, extremely hard, into Kaz Matsu: I can assure you his 'intent' was not to invite the Rockies player for a beer. If the second baseman hadn't got the throw off, would that have been called interference? Hell, no. It's just never enforced - except, suddenly, during the seventh inning of the opening game in the National League Championship Series, it appears.

Over on ESPN, Amy Nelson writes, "Though the official attendance was 48,142, when the first pitch was thrown, there were thousands of empty seats, an embarrassment for a championship series game. Most of the seats were eventually filled, but that didn't mean the scalpers were having much success." Usual ESPN quality job of research there, Amy: if you'd looked outside, you'd have seen what I saw as I left work, two blocks from Chase, as the game started. That would be large numbers of people still arriving, thanks to I-10 being severely backed-up. What a great idea, to start a baseball game in the middle of rush-hour. Well done, MLB and TBS!

Not the most enjoyable of Gameday Threads for obvious reasons, but we appreciate the effort - special shoutout to Silverblood, the honored ambassador from Purple Row, for calming words of wisdom. Snakecharmer will run her roll-call script this morning, and that will be posted here. Correct me if I missed anyobdy: azdb7, Silverblood, soco, singaporedbacksfan, DbacksSkins, TwinnerA, Devin, 4CornersFan, hotclaws, johngordonma, andrewinnewyork, Stile4aly, monica in el paso, snakecharmer, seton hall snake pit, Turumbar, ghostofrooney, westcoastbias, Xeifrank, Jim McLennan, RockiesFan, nargel, NLWestFan, peeklay, oklahomasooners, Wimb, npineda, cj060896, Just Me, Zephon, britdback, Englishdback, nihil67, LucaMaz3, Pigpen Fan, and Adam.

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Eric Byrnes, +13.0%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Webb, -17.5%
Honorary suckness: Conor Jackson, -13.1%

It ain't over, but that defeat certainly does not make our job this evening any easier. It basically becomes a "must win" game for Doug Davis, as we can not afford to go to Denver 0-2 down. If he wins, giving us a split, we're still following my plan towards Game Seven, just not quite the way I expected it to happen. We'll definitely need our hitters to perform a good deal better than they did last night. The comfort is, I really didn't feel like we were out-classed: a few breaks and, yes, some umpiring calls didn't go our way. Hopefully that has flushed all the suckiness and bad fortune out for the series.

Post-season victories: 3. Wins remaining: 8

Quotes of the day

• "The Cubs have the much better offense, and frankly if Jason Marquis is excised, their edge in the rotation might be nearly as large. Even the D'backs' home-field advantage is questionable" -- Nate Silver, Baseball Prospectus

• "The Chicago Cubs are going to win the 2007 World Series... From lovable losers to World Series champions? Good things come to those who wait. Their pitching was so good and so deep, they allowed the second-fewest runs in the National League (behind only San Diego) and the third-fewest in baseball (behind Boston and San Diego). That's how you win in October, isn't it?" -- Jayson Stark, ESPN

• "Considering Livan Hernandez's recent struggles, predicting good things for the guy is an at-your-own-risk kind of endeavor. But I can see him doing well against this free-swinging Cubs lineup today... Maybe this Cubs lineup, which drew the second-fewest walks in the league, goes after some pitches that other teams might not. Maybe this works to Hernandez's benefit." -- Nick Piecoro

• "Like my family told me a lot of times, pressure is nothing. I got more pressure when I lived in Cuba and I got up in the morning looking for something. It's a lot of pressure when you don't find nothing... On the ride to the stadium, a lot of people tell me, 'I got your back. You the man.' You come into the stadium and try do something special because you've got a lot of people watching on TV, and my family, my daughter told me, 'You the man.' It's something great, and you feel great and come to the stadium and try to do the best for your team, the best for my people. It's another family you have here, young guys. Everybody knows I love these guys." -- Livan Hernandez

• "There are all kinds of silences. Embarrassed silences. Uncomfortable silences. Stunned silences. There was some of all that at Wrigley Field on Saturday night. But there really is only one kind of booing. That would be angry booing." -- Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune

With apologies to Bjørge Lillelien, "Harrison Ford, Benny Goodman, Cindy Crawford, Raymond Chandler, David Mamet - we have beaten them all, we have beaten them all. Al Capone, can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating. Your boys took a hell of a beating..." What can I say? It's not so much the fact of the victory which amazes me, it's the scope and manner of it: we outscored Chicago 16-6, and they led any game for precisely one-half inning of the 27 played. Even after the first two wins, I would not have been surprised to see it go five. Though the fact the Cubs lost goes a long way to point out how deficient the so-called "experts" are: eight of ten on ESPN took Chicago - despite them having a worse regular-season record, in a much-weaker division. Only one went with the D-backs in four; none got it right.

Some credit, however, to a peninent Stark this morning, for revising his position: "That's the beauty of those improbable Arizona Diamondbacks. They're a reminder to all of us that there are no magic formulas in this game they play. They remind us that you don't need a bunch of old guys with October experience to win. They remind us that you don't need to lead the league in numbers -- any numbers -- to win. In this sabermetric age we live in, we forget that teams like this are possible -- teams that are more than the sum of any of their statistical parts. But they are possible, all right... And yeah, that's the same Cubs team that all of us ESPN know-it-alls predicted would win this series without taxing its sweat glands."

Last night was a sight to behold. Livan Hernandez delivered perhaps the most masterful performance ever. Outside the leadoff man in each inning, he faced only two hitters with the bases empty until the sixth inning - there, he retired the rapidly-deflating Cubs in order, for the sole time in the game. In those front five frames, he put twelve men aboard, yet only allowed one run, an RBI groundout in the fourth. Houdini-esque doesn't even begin to describe it. This escape was plucked straight from the lower end of Victorian literature: "with one bound, Livan was free."

No better example than the bottom of the fifth, with Arizona clinging desperately to a 3-1 lead. Why bother making the opposition hit the ball when you can just load the bases with one out, by giving them three walks, and then falling behind 3-1 to the next hitter? With everyone in the state of Illinois screaming at the top of their lungs, Hernandez did exactly what he had been doing all day, getting Mark DeRosa to ground into a inning-ending, threat-ending, basically game- and series-ending, double-play. That pitch alone was worth about 23% worth of Win Expectancy. Sitting in the car outside my step-daughter's house, I let out a whoop that frightened the small children arriving for the party, who no doubt asked, "Why is that man thrashing around and shrieking, mommy?"

The game could not have got off to a better start for Arizona, as Chris Young crushed a first-pitch fastball from Hill into the bleachers, stunning the Wrigley crowd. Drew then doubled, and when he came home on Upton's first post-season RBI, it turned out we had all the offense we would need before the Cubs even got to the plate [though the way Livan was pitching, we could have done with, oh, ten or so insurance runs, just for the sake of my blood-pressure.] Eric Byrnes just legged his way out of a double-play in the fourth to make it 3-0, and that may have sparked his post-season, as he followed with a solo homer in the sixth, then a single and stolen-base in the ninth.

while I believe there isn't a formal MVP for the NLDS match-ups, I think consensus would have to go with Stephen Drew, who went 7-for-14 with two homers and four RBI. Taking in the regular-season, he has now had seven multi-hit games in the past eight, batting .459 (17-for-37) in that time. But credit also Chris Young, whose four RBI came at crucial moments; he remains the master of the three true outcomes, going 3-for-11 with two homers and all eight outs in the series being K's. Then there's the bullpen: 8.1 scoreless innings, with five hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. Or any of the starters. Together, they restricted Chicago to a .197 average, with sluggers Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez going a combined 6-for-38 with zero extra-base hits. Doug Davis had more runs batted in that that trio. As Dayn Perry noted, "When Carlos Zambrano is your most productive hitter in a series, you're probably headed for defeat."

This was a simply phenomenal performance throughout by the D-backs, who outplayed Chicago in every way, and there's no denying that. A raucous Gameday Thread (which continued over at Purple Row!): present were Devin, DbacksSkins, soco, Muu, Melvin (welcome!), snakecharmer, dbackerinparadise, azdb7, TwinnerA, hotclaws, bjn, nihil67, DiamondbacksWIn, Wimb, AZDarkKnight, Stile4aly, Vimes (welcome!), Peachy, Silverblood, oklahomasooners, westcoastbias (welcome!), unnamedDBacksfan, seton hall snake pit, potterhead4 (welcome!), VIII, monica in el paso, Dr Robert, 4CornersFan, RBooth (welcome!), Tom, Adam, Russ, Englishdback, MattTheRock and icecoldmo. It was particularly nice to see fans from other teams popping in to say hello and offer good wishes: Rockies, Red Sox and Angels were all represented. No Padres' fans though: wonder why not? :-)

Gameday Graph

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Livan Hernandez, +25.7%
God-emperor of suck: Nobody. They were all brilliant.
Honorary goodness: Chris Young, +11.2%

My only regret is, the lack of a game four means I won't get to use a nugget of trivia I'd been sitting on for the occasion. Oh, what the hell. Let's pretend we'd lost yesterday, and Carlos Zambrano was starting this morning on short rest - rather than Opening Day next year, on very, very long rest... I just want to point out, that there are three players on the Cubs today whose salary this year is more than the entire Arizona Diamondbacks starting lineup combined. For Chicago, you have Lee ($13.25m), Zambrano ($12.4m) and Soriano ($10m). Meanwhile, here are the bank accounts of your Arizona Diamondbacks:

1. Young: 380K
2. Drew: 1,500K
3. Byrnes: 4,575K
4. Clark: 1,034K
5. Reynolds: 380K
6. Salazar: 380K
7. Snyder: 400K
8. Ojeda: 395K
9. Owings: 380K

I haven't been able to confirm exact salary figures for Salazar or Reynolds - but I suspect league minimum is probably in the right ballpark for both. That gives us a total of $9.42m - so as well as funding the entire lineup, Derrek Lee could also splash out and cover the costs of all the relievers we used in the series bar Valverde: Famine (1,438K), Pestileñce (381K), and War (1,500K). Money is clearly no match for hustle, heart and talent.

We now have five days to prepare for the National League Championship Series against the Colorado Rockies, who similarly swept the Phillies out of the playoffs, leaving the NL West with a 6-0 record against the best the other two divisions had to offer. Now, is there any doubt this division is the best in the league? Congrats to them: it's their first playoff series victory in franchise history, so it must be tremendously exciting for their fans. The Rockies are red-hot right now, having won 17 of 18 - though I have to point out, the one defeat came against Arizona, in the only game of the series when we were actually trying... It won't be easy, but it should be a lot of fun.

That delay will allow both teams to get their rotations aligned as they want, though the period may also be detrimental to both, who after their dominating performances in the NLCS, could well be happier to get things started tomorrow. No doubt Webb will start Game One for Arizona: perhaps the more interesting question is, will he also start Game Four? That would be on short rest, but would also allow him to start Game Seven, on regular rest - there's a completely pointless day off on Tuesday, during the Colorado leg of the series. Dare we do that, and risk pulling a Piniella? [As yanking your starter too early will henceforth be known, just as leaving him too long is called "doing a Little"]. Discuss.

Till then, relax, enjoy a break from adverts for Frank TV, listen to the national media squirming in embarrassment at having been so horribly wrong, reconnect with your families, catch up on household chores, watch some DVDs, and revel in what has been, and what is yet to come. But I finish with a special shout-out today to Kaysie from Auckland, New Zealand; was checking the fan map yesterday, and she has become our first from Oceania - cool pic of her at Chase Field, presumably on a trip earlier this year. Now, we just need someone in Africa, and we'll be represented on every continent now. Er, well, save Antarctica. But I imagine the only Sedona Red seen down there involves a penguin, a leopard seal, and is a very apt metaphor for the series we just polished off...