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Record: 18-23. Pace: 71-91. Change on 2011: 0.
7-8. 2-3. 2-3. 3-4. 2-5. 3-7. No, those aren't the Vegas odds of Willie Bloomquist leading off a baseball game with an out (in fairness, he led off with a single today). Those are the scores of the last six Saturday games for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the six games that I've recapped here on the SnakePit. All of them were losses, contests we dropped to teams like the Rockies, Braves, Marlins, Mets, Giants, and Royals. At least there's some nice variety in there, right? I figured that going into a game against Kansas City -- especially one with Ian Kennedy on the hill, regardless of whether or not it was the 2011 or 2012 edition - would result in a win, and I'd have to start thinking up creative introductions. Nope, we lost once again, and I can use this space to convey my confusion and disappointment. I've recapped over 25% of the team's losses this season. Bam.
As mentioned earlier, Bloomquist actually got on base to start things off today. I'm thoroughly convinced that he's working against us; surely, he must have known that the theme of today was "wasted opportunities", and he was perfectly aware that getting on base meant very little. Aaron Hill singled to move Willie B. to second, and it looked early on as if we were going to have a nice day against Bruce Chen, who commanded the mound of Kansas City. Not so much. A strike out, ground out, and pop out hung a zero on the board, and there was quite a bit more of that to come.
How about in the second? Jason Kubel doubled and Paul Goldschmidt singled, once again putting Chen in a precarious position. Cody Ransom then struck out, and Kubel was thrown out trying to score off of a Ryan Roberts fly out. How about in the third, when the Diamondbacks had runners on first and second with two outs, but failed to score when Chris Young grounded out to end the inning? Or the fourth, when the Diamondbacks had two runners on once again, but posted another zero after a double play and measly pop out? We must have just wanted to make it appear like we were ready to pounce to psyche out our opponents. The hitters just failed to get the memo on actually taking advantage of those opportunities.
We did end up scoring, though, on two doubles (thanks to Goldy and Roberts) in the seventh, an RBI single from Bloomquist (?!), and a sacrifice fly from Kubel. Maybe those three runs would have been enough against the Ian Kennedy of last year, the one with the sub-three ERA that probably should have made the All-Star Game. It's 2012, though, so the one with the supremely average ERA+ of 104 was here to pitch, and the Royals were prepared. It was just a poor game all around - monster shots from Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas, sacrifices, singles, everything was used to put runs on the board for the Royals, with the seven runs being scored over five innings. No, it wasn't a bad inning from IPK. It was just a bad night, and a bad night for anyone in a Diamondbacks uniform.
Chris Young had another hit today, though not as impactful as his two-run double last night. He was back in the field today after DH'ing yesterday, so it appears that he's very much back. Josh Collmenter pitched well in his two innings of relief, and as I said last week, it's nice that he's found a spot where he can do his thing after finding out that the whole starting thing wasn't really working out. I'm really trying to find any more highlights, any shred of good news from this game, but I'm coming up short. Sigh. As I'm writing this, San Francisco's already won their game, while the Dodgers and Cardinals are scoreless in theirs. I know it's early on in the season, but it'd be pretty difficult to argue that being nine games back is a positive thing.
Seriously, Look at It: Jason Kubel, +5.6%
If Kansas City
And Missouri in general are so great, why are their two biggest cities halfway in other states?
Founder of the 'Foundation for the Advancement of Clefoing' a 501C3.
Owes Ian Kennedy a T-Shirt.by Clefo on May 19, 2012 5:08 PM PDT
Also, these cities are just getting friendly with other states
Because Missouri loves company.
Happy baseball games, and may the BABIP be ever in your favor.
by Zavada's Moustache on May 19, 2012 5:12 PM PDT 7 recs
Tomorrow will feature Wade Miley, who's been flat-out awesome for the Diamondbacks this season, and Nathan Adcock, who... I've never heard of. Maybe we can win that one and start to get everything on-track. Maybe. It's an 11:10 start time, so be sure to set your alarm.