In case you didn't know, today is Star Wars day. Why today? It's that kind of pun that just makes nerds giggle to themselves incessantly. I mean, uh, I'd guess. I certainly wouldn't know, right? Yeah.
Recaps:
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[DBacks.com] Upton rattles Rockies with game-winning homer - Remember all that talk about aggressiveness? It's not just on the basepaths, Kirk Gibson has also made sure that our batters are free to swing on a 3-0 count. Certainly paid off last night for Justin Upton.
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[AZ Central] Justin Upton blast keys Arizona Diamondbacks win over Colorado Rockies - Felipe Paulino obviously hadn't heard about the Diamondbacks new approach, though. "I was surprised," Paulino said of Upton's swing. "I didn't expect it."
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[FSN Arizona] Upton lifts D-backs to 4-3 win over Rockies - Upton talked about the swing, saying "I wasn't trying to do too much." Seems to work out that way more often than not for players, given how many huge "swinging for the fences" misses you see.
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[Purple Row] Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 3: Missed Opportunites Leave Rox Snakebitten - The Rockies first one-run loss of the season? That's not too bad. However, it is roughly the 847th "snakebitten" reference of the year.
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[AZ Central] Arizona Diamondbacks' Kirk Gibson: Trio will keep sharing time at 1st - Great, because I've worried about getting Xavier Nady enough playing time.
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[DBacks Venom] What's Up with Kelly Johnson? - It's the question that we've been asking ourselves all month long. What's the verdict? Well, his line drive rate is down, but he's also swinging at pitches out of the zone (and missing) a lot more.
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[Venom Strikes] Dbacks First Month Surprises and Disappointments - More looks back at our April. I'm not entirely sure I'd agree with Daniel Hudson as the biggest disappointment as a pitcher, but I can see the logic behind it.
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[DBacks.com] D-backs unsure when Bloomquist will return - He's eligible to be back on Saturday and ran the bases yesterday, so Willie feels he doesn't need extra rehab time. He'll face some live pitching this week, and the team will decide when to bring him back.
Around Baseball:
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[LA Times] Dodgers lack funds to meet payroll - The Dodgers can meet their first payroll this month, but not their second. That's including the $30 million loan that they just got. This certainly adds a new twist to the faceoff with MLB, and McCourt's constant claims that everything is fine.
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[SI.com] Twins' Francisco Liriano throws no-hitter - Liriano gave up six walks and only struck out two batters. Meanwhile, the White Sox starter pitched 8 innings, allowed only one run, and took the loss. Sort of reminds me of Edwin Jackson's no-hitter last year, which is appropriate, since Jackson was the starter for Chicago.
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[Baseball Nation] Jonathan Broxton's Time Might Finally Be Up - "If Jonathan Broxton was a horse, they would shoot him." Couldn't have put it better myself. The Dodgers did announce today that big Jonathan Broxton would be shut down due to elbow pain.
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[South Side Sox] Cascade Failure - An interesting article looking at the mental side of the game. Does stopping to think about what they're doing hinder a player?
Go DBacks, and May the Fourth be with you.