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After Mark Buerhle's perfect game this afternoon for the White Sox against the Rays, wouldn't it be fitting if Dan Haren matched him with a perfect game tonight for the Diamondbacks? After all, opponents' on-base percentage - OBP, not BA - is only .218. Admittedly, it's still unlikely - not so much because the odds of him retiring 27 batters straight is still only about one in 765, but he'd probably find himself screwed by our defense in some way, blowing the perfect game. Or "getting Sanchezed," as we refer to it.
Be a nice chance to put some distance between himself and the 2009 Cy Young Runner-Up, Tim Floppyhair. As the All-Star Game selection showed, there is apparently more to the game - simply being better than any other pitcher at stopping the opposition from scoring and keeping them off base just isn't enough. Who knew? While Timmeh couldn't even get a quality start last night, Haren will be trying to extend his streak of ten straight games throwing six-plus and allowing two earned runs or less. Only three NL pitchers have gone further since Y2K - Glavine in 2001-02 and Brown in 2003 (both 11), while Clemens had 12 straight in 2005. To give you some idea, only one other pitcher has passed five games this year (Santana had six).
The Pirares aren't exactly setting the world on fire, going 6-11 in July, though did just take a series from the Brewers. However, it still looks like they'll be heading for their seventeenth consecutive losing season - the mob with torches which formed in Arizona at the prospect of our first losing season for several years, please note. Their pitching and hitting have been equally to blame, with a 96 for both ERA+ and OPS+. Nate McLouth, in CF, has been their best batter to date, posting a 121 OPS; Zach Duke (ERA+ 119) is the best of their regular starters, and we'll see him tomorrow.
The team has 'gone green' for this homestand, using energy from renewable resources - such as wind-power - for Chase Field. The details of how this works are somewhat complex, but it's nice to see Tony Clark's strikeouts being put to good use... Thank you, I'll be here all week: Try the veal...
Line-up
- Stephen Drew SS
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Miguel Montero C
- Chris Young CF
- Josh Whitesell 1B
- Augie Ojeda 2B
- Dan Haren P
A couple of soundclips to end things off. Jon Garland not exactly retracting his comments after yesterday's game, and talking about the perfect game thrown by his former team-mate. Hinch also reckons Haren could be perfect too...
Audio courtesy of KTAR 620