Now that I'm home from physical therapy (I graduated to the bike today!) and a delicious breakfast, I figured I'd do some SnakeBytes.
Recaps and Previews
"It certainly was encouraging watching us play and watching us show some fight and play better baseball. Not a great day today, but it's not going to spoil a pretty good showing at home."
And what do you know? The bullpen is actually getting opposing hitters out and the DBacks offense is showing signs of life, scoring eight runs in each of the DBacks wins this weekend.
Arizona is 6 1/2 games off the lead and three games out of third place in the standings, and is hoping an upcoming stretch of division games will shave some of the deficit down. The Diamondbacks will visit Colorado, San Francisco and Los Angeles before hosting the Rockies for three games in the desert.
Team and Player News
- [dbacks.com] Qualls showing improvement on mound
DBacks manager AJ Hinch hoped to avoid employing Chad Qualls on Sunday afternoon in Arizona's series finale with the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. Not because of Qualls' lack of success; precisely because of it. - [scout.com] Tony Abreu Suffers Gruesome Injury
"He is not doing great," Hinch revealed. "His hands are pretty messed up, and he hurt his forearm. It could be broken, and we are going to have more tests." - [fanster.com] It's all about baby steps for the D-backs' bullpen
Over the weekend, the Diamondbacks' bullpen combined to go 1-0 with 3 saves and a collective 4.38 ERA--nearly 4 runs less than their cumulative ERA heading into the homestand.
Around Baseball
- [mlb.com] Who've been the best drafters of the decade?
"It's a loaded question," said scouting director Tom Allison, whose Arizona Diamondbacks rank highly across many of the measurements used. "You can go through the draft when Albert Pujols was drafted and not have an idea of who went before him. But the impact he's had at the Major League level is, 'wow'" - [AZ Star] Toros recall 'Lima Time'; colorful pitcher dies at 37
He pitched his final major league season in 2006 with the New York Mets, but the right hander hoped to return to the big leagues. Last season with Long Beach, Lima was teammates with current Toros center fielder Josh Womack. - [New York Times] For a Promising Reds Pitcher, No Tour of the Minors
The Cincinnati Reds at first thought that Mike Leake, 22, might start in Class AA, and the maybe in Class AAA. But in spring training, they made him their fifth starter. - [New York Times] Cheering Section - Breakfast With Willie Mays
The writer and his two sons were members of the Order of Willie Watchers who joined the renowned player for a meal before the famous 23 inning game at Shea Stadium. - [New York Times] Division II Game Takes 9 Hours
Kutztown beat Franklin Pierce 2-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II tournament Sunday night in a game that took nine hours to complete.