A little later than usual, having been distracted by all the fuss over Daniel Hudson this afternoon. But it's still April 21st - at least in this part of the country - so let's see what this day has brought us in previous years.
- 1966. Chris Donnels born. Donnels was a first-round pick - #24 overall, by the Mets - but never amounted to much for them. The Marlins picked him in their expansion draft, only to lose him on waivers to Houston, and he bounced around there, the Sox and Dodgers, before signing with us as a free-agent. He hit .238 but was part of the post-season roster for the 2002 NLDS, going 0-for-2, and was traded to the Cubs in May. We'll get to that later, I'm sure....
- 2001: Reggie Sanders hit 2 homers, including his first-ever grand slam, in a 10-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field. The Diamondbacks scored their runs on only eight hits, taking the lead for good on Sanders' slam in the third, off Ron Villone. Reggie added his second, a solo shot, in the seventh. Luis Gonzalez hit his 11th homer of a torrid season, and drove in three runs, while Robert Ellis got the win, allowing four runs in 6.1 innings.
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2005, The D-backs signed Armando Almanza as a free agent.Yeah, you probably missed Almanza's time with Arizona, since it consistent of half-a-dozen relief appearances in July 2005, when the team was still crawling their way back from 111 losses. He had been with the Giants, but they released him, and he pitched with both Tennessee and Tucson before getting the call, as a replacement LOOGY for Javier Lopez. He was outrighted a couple of weeks later, ending his major-league career.
- 2011. Arizona couldn't quite complete the sweep over Cincinnati, going down 7-4 on the road. Daniel Hudson struggled in the first inning, allowing the Reds to score four times - he took the loss and dropped to 0-4, being charged with all seven runs. The Diamondbacks made it a one-run game in the middle of fifth, but couldn't close the gap, and were held to a total of six hits. Stephen Drew and Gerardo Parra had two each, with Drew and Kelly Johnson homering for the visitors.