I know, you've been chomping at the bit to know what the answers were. What's that? Some of you didn't take the quiz yet? Well, you're in luck; the link is still active and the answer key is after the jump. Quick, click here before you peek at the results. For the rest of the class, your grades are in red ink at the top of the next page...
First, we'll go through the questions and talk about the solutions and whatnot. After that, your results. Don't worry, only a few of you are going to have to be held back, and the quiz doesn't tell me who you are.
ANSWERS
Most people know Clay Zavada's middle name (Pflibson). Whose middle name is Carl?
Chris Snyder
John Hester
Trent Oeltjen
Josh Whitesell
Yes, Mr. Dreamy's middle name is Carl. All you ladies who missed this question should be ashamed. I couldn't even find more than a middle initial for Whitesell or Hester, and Snyder's middle name is John.
Which Diamondback has the team's highest OPS?
Mark Reynolds
Justin Upton
Miguel Montero
Rusty Ryal
Okay, I admit: this was a little misleading. After all, it didn't talk about qualifying at-bats or anything like that. But Upton (.899), Reynolds (.892) and Montero (.832) all fell short of matching Ryal's .946. All 59 ABs of it.
Our final home attendance for the season was:
2,059,412
2,128,765
2,193,044
2,235,820
We snuck over the 2.1 million mark, which was the third-lowest total in franchise history. Only 2005 and 2006 were worse. Even the abysmal 2004 team pulled in 400,000 more fans.
Unsurprisingly, Mark Reynolds leads the D-backs in errors. Who has the second-most?
Felipe Lopez
Stephen Drew
Justin Upton
Miguel Montero
Lopez likely would've finished second on the team if he'd stuck around -- he had 9 in just 83 games. Drew was third with 11, but as a middle infielder that's not too bad either. Montero had a surprising nine behind the plate. But topping them all was Justin Upton, who had 12 in 137 games. Certainly, the cries for Upton to improve on his fundamentals might have some validity, because we know he has the athleticism to play a good right field.
Stephen Drew is just three triples away from becoming the Diamondbacks' career leader. Name the player ahead of him.
Craig Counsell
Steve Finley
Tony Womack
Luis Gonzalez
Did you guess the speedster? It does make sense, after all. Tony Womack is the franchise leader with 37. Surprisingly, Drew already has 34 in his time with the Diamondbacks. Finley also tallied 34 in an Arizona uniform, which isn't too bad for the twilight of his career. Gonzo had 27.
One can argue the merits of the DH in baseball. Who slotted in as the designated hitter the most times in interleague play this year?
Miguel Montero
Justin Upton
Chris Snyder
Eric Byrnes
Byrnes was the DH three times. No, I don't know why either.
Who was the youngest player to wear a Diamondback uniform this season?
Justin Upton
Gerardo Parra
Bryan Augenstein
Daniel Schlereth
Were you tricked? Upton was the only 21-year-old on the roster this season. Parra and Augenstein are both 22, and Schlereth clocks in at a senile 23. Granted, I'm 24, so...
This season was full of losses. How long was the team's longest losing streak?
Five games
Seven games
Eight games
Nine games
The D-backs lost seven straight from Aug. 16-22. If you remember, that was the stretch of games where we just got destroyed by opposing pitchers, although to be fair those pitchers included Cliff Lee, Tommy Hanson, Joe Blanton, Roy Oswalt, and...Randy Wolf. Well, they weren't ALL aces. Meanwhile, we won five straight three different times -- and every time, I'm pretty sure we talked about turning the corner. Whoops.
Mark Reynolds is sixth in team history with 260 RBIs. Only one current Diamondback has more RBIs than Special K. Name him.
Chad Tracy
Conor Jackson
Stephen Drew
Eric Byrnes
The list goes like this: Gonzalez (774), Finley (479), Williams (381), Tracy (318), Bell (304), Reynolds (261). Surprising to see Tracy that high, even knowing he's been with the team so long and did have that good year in 2005. Of course, with Tracy all but gone from next year's roster, those targets should all be static for Reynolds to eclipse in the future.
Sure, it's been a miserable year offensively. But the Diamondbacks are leading the National League in one hitting stat. Which is it?
Most doubles
Fewest GIDPs
Most triples
Fewest HBPs
At the time, we were tied with the Mets for fewest hit-by-pitches. Like everything else this season, though, we screwed that up: the Mets "beat" us by one. Go team.
Not counting a card with Felipe Lopez, the Diamondbacks' most-used lineup has appeared in five games this season -- and no, Bob Melvin isn't still the manager. Name that lineup.
Young, Drew, Upton, Montero, Reynolds, Parra, Roberts, Allen, Pitcher
Drew, Parra, Upton, Reynolds, Montero, Young, Allen, Ojeda, Pitcher
Byrnes, Drew, Upton, Montero, Reynolds, Parra, Roberts, Whitesell, Pitcher
Drew, Oeltjen, Parra, Reynolds, Montero, Tracy, Romero, Ojeda, Pitcher
You could kinda put this one together if you took a close look. Ojeda was a decoy, although he was a regular in that spot when he did play. The Oeltjen-Parra-Romero outfield did get some play while Upton was on the DL, but not enough. And Byrnes in the leadoff spot...ha ha no. That was one horror we were not forced to watch much, fortunately. Is the correct answer for this question going to be our lineup for opening day next year? Time will tell.
Which Diamondback leads the team in sacrifice flies?
Stephen Drew
Gerardo Parra
Mark Reynolds
Chad Tracy
I'm not sure how you would know this off the top of your head. I didn't. And it's surprising, considering the time Drew missed and his lower numbers this year. Parra was one sac fly behind Drew with six, and the others were further back.
How many days (not counting before the season started) did the Diamondbacks hold or share the NL West lead this season?
None
One
Two
Three
Remember the first game of the season? We beat the Rockies 9-8 at home, Brandon Webb started the game and we were on pace to go 162-0. And then some other things happened.
Only 16 Arizona pitchers have recorded a complete game in team history. Three of them pitched for the D-backs this season: Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and...
Doug Davis
Max Scherzer
Jon Garland
Yusmeiro Petit
If you picked Petit, you should probably become a Dodgers fan immediately. Anyway, Garland's complete game was on Aug. 2 against the Mets (7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K). Five starts later, he was gone.
Which player hit eighth in the lineup most frequently (40 times)?
Chris Snyder
Chris Young
Augie Ojeda
Ryan Roberts
This one makes sense, particularly when you consider how much time Snyder missed with his injuries. Roberts was frequently in the top third of the lineup, and CY got the benefit of the doubt for far too long before finally ending up in the 8-hole (and his play the last month and a half pulled him out of that spot as well).
Only one Diamondback with at least five stolen bases was thrown out more times than he was successful stealing a base. Name him.
Felipe Lopez
Gerardo Parra
Conor Jackson
Chris Young
Parra was 5-for-11 at the time, and was caught once more in the last five games to bring him to a final total of 5 SB, 7 CS. With above average speed, you have to figure he's either picking bad spots or getting bad jumps. Yes, CoJack did swipe five bags before going on the DL with the plague, and was never thrown out. CY was 11-for-15.
The Diamondbacks watched a lot of awful pitching this year. Which pitcher had the worst WHIP of anyone to toe the rubber?
Bobby Korecky
Tom Gordon
Daniel Cabrera
Brandon Webb
Cabrera's last start made his numbers respectable, but even at the time of this poll, he was far from the worse. That honor belongs to Tom Gordon, who gave us these wonderful numbers: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. That's an ERA of 21.60 and a WHIP of 3.6, for those of you scoring at home or hoping to get this question right. Korecky was awful over a longer time period (6 IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 13.50 ERA, 2.5 WHIP), and it's sad to see Webb's numbers from his one start, but Gordon takes the cake. Thank goodness his contract was so incentive-laden.
Which team did Arizona have the best winning percentage against?
Padres
Mets
Pirates
Marlins
The Diamondbacks went 6-1 against the hapless Pirates this year (.857), which probably helped get us to 70 wins. It wasn't quite the beating we put on the Rockies in 2008, but it certainly didn't hurt. We did post winning records against all of these teams (Mets: 5-2, .714; Marlins 5-3, .625; Padres 11-7, .611), so wrong answers here were not too bad.
On June 7, the Diamondbacks won an 18-inning game against the Padres 9-6. How long did the game last?
Four hours, 45 minutes
Five hours, 15 minutes
Five hours, 45 minutes
Six hours, 15 minutes
Ah yes, the classic. A five-run kick in the junk by the Padres in the bottom of the ninth to turn a 6-1 lead into a tie game. The shaky bullpen (at that time) somehow throwing nine innings of no-hit ball. The traitor, Josh Wilson, who had pitched so well for the Diamondbacks, serving up a three-run shot to Mark Reynolds in the 18th. And all of that wrapped up in just under six hours.
Chad Qualls led the team in saves, and Juan Gutierrez is second. Who has the third-most saves for the Diamondbacks?
Jon Rauch
Tony Pena
Daniel Schlereth
Esmerling Vasquez
Surprisingly, there weren't that many save opportunities out there for people not named C. Qualls or J. Gutierrez, even with the injuries Qualls battled. Rauch picked up a pair of saves in his time with the Diamondbacks, and Pena had one. That's it. I tried to pick two other options that might make you go "huh, did they have a couple?" but I don't know how successful that was.
RESULTS
Now, no peeking at your neighbor's results, kids. That's why the top part of the page is folded over slightly. Listed below are the groups you may have fallen into, along with how many right answers that was and what percentage of people got that number right.
Tom Gordon (0 right, 4.3 percent)
"You were useless in this quiz and you were useless in your 1 2/3 innings for the team this season." Yeah, the words are harsh, but you had to screw up pretty bad to get none right. That's what you get.
Brandon Webb (1-5 right, 21.5 percent)
"Look, you're not a bad person, but your effort was subpar this year. Maybe you'll bounce back, but it might be on a different quiz." I'm hoping the team picks up his option. I really don't see why you wouldn't. But that's a debate for another time. Meanwhile, getting five or fewer correct was a below-average performance.
Doug Davis (6-10 right, 66.7 percent)
"You had your moments, some good, some bad. You're a likable guy, but your performance isn't the best out there." If you felt like everyone was getting this result, you were right. Two-thirds of the class did. But since 43 percent or better was the goal, that sounds about right. On a quiz this hard, this is actually a pretty good score.
Dan Haren (11-15 right, 6.4 percent)
"If getting half right was the requirement for a good quiz or season, you would be tops. But this quiz didn't stop at the all-star break, and neither should you." Poor Dan. Maybe we should trick him into missing those three days next year, and he can pitch through July like nothing happened.
Mark Reynolds (16-19 right, 1.1 percent)
"Look, it wasn't perfect, but you shouldn't focus on the blemishes (like strikeouts) when the overall product is so good." That 1.1 percent is actually one person. Whomever you are, you got the best score of anyone. You should be proud.
Justin Upton (20 right, 0 percent)
"Perfection. Sure, Upton himself isn't perfect, but he's the future. The savior. The 21-year-old phenom with nowhere to go but up, we hope. Well done." Nobody got them all right, but to be fair, this wasn't easy. I probably would have been lucky to squeak into the Dan Haren group myself. But like the 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game -- unless, like the 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks, you play the game poorly. Then...well, it's awkward to talk about.
Hopefully you folks enjoyed this. I've always been a big fan of trivia-related stuff, so maybe this'll show up again sometime in the future.