It's the last home weekend of the regular season, and the Diamondbacks have certainly put on a show the past two days! (And for great-sized crowds.) Two good thumpings of the must-beat Dodgers, 12-3 and 6-2, puts the reeling Dodgers out of the NL West race and likely out of the post-season altogether. Two consecutive losses by the Padres also puts us in good position heading into the last 7 games. There's good news all around, so let's get to it.
The AP recaps are good to read if you missed the games. Friday's game recap doesn't discuss Hernandez's early struggles but does reveal that the Dodgers had a team meeting after that game. Saturday's game recap is good as well, discussing our offense and Wells' performance. It doesn't talk that much about the defense, which if you listen to Garagiola was fantastic, but does discuss Augie's play in the 4th.
The Republic's recap of Friday is okay. Nothing spectacular. The Diamondbacks know their destiny lies in their own hands and focus on that rather than the scoreboard. Their recap of Saturday's game has a little more game action in it, but it's still just okay.
The MLB.com recap from Friday is nice, taking a look at Clark's AB and some more offense. It makes an intereting point that we hadn't won with a margin of more than 5 since September 4th. Saturday's game recap covers a variety of aspects: the crowd, the offense, and Webb's pitching performance.
Notes for the weekend cover a wide variety of topics. As noted by Jim earlier, and which is a topic covered by everyone on Saturday, Chad Tracy underwent successful knee surgery (MLB.com) and could be out anywhere from 4-8 months, depending on who you listen to. NBA players have it (Republic) but Tracy doesn't have to jump 6 feet in the air and land on his knees, so it's difficult to compare recovery times and rehabs for those players. It won't affect any long-term plans (Tribune) with Tracy. It sounds to me like we should expect Reynolds to be back with the club as the 3B for Spring Training, getting much of the playing time. Also from Friday's notes: Wickman's role, O'Dog update, and the loose clubhouse. Interesting quote from Melvin at MLB.com:
"I think it kind of gives the players a sense of security that the guys that are running the show in here aren't falling off because of the scores or how the games are going. There's a little more sense of security and calmness and just playing the game out," he said.
The Tribune picks up the clubhouse angle in Sunday's notes, talking about the role of the veterans; it also discusses Ojeda's grip on the 2B position and the rotation. MLB.com also covers the clubhouse and rotation, but also reports Doug Davis found a flaw in his mechanics and is working to correct it. The Republic is all pitching - Gonzalez, Hernandez, and Davis.
The only interesting feature I saw was Bickley's about Luis Gonzalez. Gonzo seems to have gotten over his gripes and can soon cheer on this team of ours in Sedona red.
Game time is 1:40pm, Billingsley vs Gonzalez as the Diamondbacks go for the sweep of the Dodgers. I expect it'll be a quiet gameday thread because of SnakePitFest at the ballpark today! Have fun everyone.