Well, our epic struggle between Strasburg and Enright didn't go too badly. So we head home to get ready for a visit from the Reds. Great, Nationals yesterday, Reds tomorrow, welcome to the Chinese Civil War.
DBacks News:
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[azcentral.com] Design of Arizona Diamondbacks' new spring stadium seeks to immerse fans in baseball - Some good renditions of what the park is going to look like. But did they draw the fans doing the wave? Geez.
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[foxsportsarizona.com] Daniel Hudson: What you don't see is what you get - Mel Stottlemyre Jr. is impressed with Daniel Hudson. "I tell you what … you don’t see the ball. It gets on you in a hurry."
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[trivalleycentral.com] D-Backs farm report, 8/15/10 - The Casa Grande Dispatch takes a look at the week for the Diamondbacks farm teams.
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[baseballamerica.com] D’backs, Perry Agree On $500,000 - With the deadline approaching, the Diamondbacks have signed Blake Perry. A sixth round pick, he got a bonus much larger than the recommended slot from MLB.
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[venomstrikes.com] Looking Ahead to 2011 Starting Rotation - More looking forward to next season, Venom Strikes considers our starting rotation, and who we might see on the mound next season.
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[chinapost.com] MLB visit could be home run for Taiwanese baseball - An editorial from a paper in Taiwan, the author is definitely in favor of the Giants and Diamondbacks playing there. "If talks to bring the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks to Taiwan next March are successful, the games will doubtlessly sell out, and players from both sides will be treated with the fervor of pop stars wherever they go." And then you'd make them come back here? That's just mean.
After the jump, some news from around sports, and a look back.
Around Sports:
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[Mike Ashmore’s Thunder Thoughts] Minor League Baseball: Investing In The Future - A pretty in-depth look at what it's really like to play in the Minor Leagues. Not everyone is Justin Upton, obviously, but most guys aren't Mark Reynolds or even Ryan Roberts. "Most players in the minor leagues — some estimates have the number as high as 90 percent — will not play in the big leagues."
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[espn.com] New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez injured his thumb and needs surgery - What's worse than your closer getting arrested for punching his girlfriend's father? Having him miss the rest of the season after injuring himself in the fight. I'm impressed at how the Mets seem to keep coming up with innovative ways to struggle.
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[fangraphs.com] More on The Cubs’ Clutch Hitting - Baseball, a game where there's stats for everything, including things people argue over whether or not such a thing actually exists. Who's the worst clutch hitting team of the decade? The Cubs. (Who's second worst? Whoops.)
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[yahoo.com] Orlando Cabrera proves there are no bat 'men' ... only batboys
- So, what do your team's players do while on the DL? Orlando Cabrera spent a few innings filling in for the Reds regular batboy. -
[mlb.com] New stadiums burnish Selig's legacy - But is it just polishing that sheen over the embossed "STEROID ERA" label?
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[yahoo.com] Chinese gold medalist gets two-year ban; pork chops to blame? - Speaking of... Steroid-injected pork chops. Uh-huh.
Now, a occasional feature that I'll bring out whenever I need to fill some space when we have the time:
This Week in Diamondbacks History!
Looking back through the Diamondbacks past, what momentous events have taken place in mid-August? If you look back to 2001, the Diamondbacks were in the midst of their longest winning streak in team history. Nine games, stretching from August 10th to August 19th, capped off with a three game sweep of the Cubs. It was our second nine game win streak of the season. The very next season, on August 16th, 2002, Curt Schilling notched his twentieth win of the season against those same Cubs- no wonder they don't like to play us in mid-August anymore. This week in 2006 was pretty eventful- we played a 18 inning marathon against the Rockies on August 15th, winning a 2-1 slogfest, and then three days later, Chris Young made his major league debut against the San Diego Padres. And in 2007, we saw some more impressive outings from our pitchers, both on the mound and at the plate- on August 17th, Brandon Webb pitched his third consecutive complete-game shutout, and then the next day, Micah Owings faced the Braves in front of his family and friends in Georgia, and responded by going 4 for 4 with two home runs for the win. But our pitchers aren't the only sluggers this week in history- on this date in 2008, Miguel Montero and Chris Young both hit their first career grand slams to help beat the Astros, the first time the Diamondbacks have had two grand slams in a season. And that is this week in Diamondbacks history!
Go DBacks!