DBacks 11, Rangers 3: Doom and gloom? Bats go boom

Okay, Diamondbacks. How's it gonna be? Are you going to be the team that won five straight? Or the team that gets embarrassed in the first two against the Rangers? I mean, unless you're willing to consistently win some games, I don't know how much hope we can have. Maybe we can't expect much. Maybe we should just give in to the feel of impending doom...

How did this game start? Ugh. The DBacks went out against Scott Feldman, a guy notable for his breakout role in The Goonies ERA above 6 and Feldman... Struck out the side. Obviously, no offense today. We were doomed. And when Elvis Andrus doubled off Daniel Hudson and scored on a two-out single by Adrian Beltre, then the game was over. We had no chance. Game over, man! Game over!

But Jim insists we watch the whole nine innings before we post a recap, so I guess I better stick around and suffer through the rest of the interminable dread that we must face. I make this sacrifice for you, fair readers! Remember me kindly after I've been driven to drink.

So, where were we? Top of the second. A single from Lyle Overbay got our first baserunner of the night, and then, as soon as Mark Grace could say "Jason Kubel's about to homer," then... Jason Kubel took a pitch over the fence to deep right, giving the Diamondbacks a lead, and making Gracie look prescient. So, as we hit the bottom of the second, Gracie took some time to look up the definition of prescient, and the Rangers went down 1-2-3. DBacks up 2-1.

But I'm sure it won't last! Right? It can't! We're doooooomed! See? Two quick outs in the top of the third. It's all fleeting. Or was it? Justin Upton legged out an infield single, and Miguel Montero reached on an error by Mitch Moreland. Lyle Overbay took advantage of the opportunity, taking the first pitch off the base of the wall in left-center. Upton scored easily and Montero hit full speed all the way around from first, diving in head-first to give Arizona a 4-1 lead.

Okay, so maybe we weren't so doomed as we feared. The next few innings were pretty quiet back and forth- until the sixth. Miguel Montero started off the inning with a double, and Lyle Overbay got his second double of the game to bring Miggy in to score and end Feldman's night, replaced by the improbably named Tanner Scheppers. Scheppers, however, didn't have any more luck. Less, probably. Jason Kubel grounded out, but an Aaron Hill single brought Overbay in to score. Ryan Roberts singled and then both Hill and Roberts advanced a base on a wild pitch. Not that it mattered too much, though, as Gerardo Parra hammered a pitch to deep right for his fifth home run of the season, and the Diamondbacks were up 9-1.

For his part, Daniel Hudson kept cruising in the sixth, striking out the side. Ian Kinsler had some disagreements with that after he was rung up looking and was ejected. Hudson did finally stumble a little in the seventh inning, as his pitch count got up around triple digits. Beltre led off the inning with a double, and though Hudson got the next two outs without letting Beltre score, David Murphy came up with a two-out home run off Hudson to cut the DBacks lead to 9-3. Hudson got Mike Napoli to strike out swinging to end the inning, and that was his night. Seven innings, five hits, three earned runs. A much needed improvement on his previous outing.

Arizona tagged on a few more runs in the ninth inning, as Miggy homered to deep center, bringing in Justin Upton and making it an 11-3 game. Bryan Shaw came in and kept the Rangers from reaching base in his two innings, and we escaped Texas with a win, and avoided the sweep.

Hits from everyone in the lineup except for Chris Young, who didn't quite distinguish himself in the lead-off spot today. But after yesterday's offensive doldrums, good to see fourteen hits from the Diamondbacks.

AzDbackfanInDc was the only commenter in triple digits, with $-The Moneyman-$ and Clefo in second and third. Also adding to the commentary: Gildo, dbacks79, Rockkstarr12, onedotfive, txzona, Jim McLennan, Gibbysdad, asteroid, hotclaws, jjwaltrip, kishi, 4 Corners Fan, obieone, Joel Preston, shoewizard, Cardscrazy247, piratedan7, blank_38, Bryn21, Augdogs, DbacksSkins, Muu, Ridster09, Circa4life, marionette, SongBird, and JGreen31. No comments went green, but that's okay, because I had picked out Comment of the Day at about 5:32 this afternoon, as asteroid responded to a prognostication of doom and gloom with this:

Can I keep this comment around for when we have a blowout win?

by asteroid on Jun 14, 2012 5:31 PM MST

1-2 against the Rangers isn't great, though we were only outscored 13-12. The DBacks continue to be somewhat inconsistent in their play, but that's just the way it goes, I guess. Westward we fly, to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of Earth, with some guy named Dan Haren taking the mound for them. Hmm, doesn't sound familiar, he must be new.