Diamondponies 6, Pirates 3: PONY DOME II

Record: 57-55. Pace: 82-80. Change on last year: -4.

This time last year the Diamondbacks found themselves in a quite a pickle. They were getting clapt up the lowly Astros, and had been beaten the night before. Their playoff hopes were in danger of disappearing under the strain of the late months of baseball. Had the magical run met its end? Neigh, it had not.

You see, the Diamondbacks learned something special that day, something magical. They learned the power of friendship, of sticking together and fighting until the bitter end. They learned that Friendship Is Magic. And that day, they became Diamondponies.

Today we celebrate that magical day with another unleashing of the powers of friendship, and lo and behold the Diamondbacks won after a bad loss. If you doubted the Power of Ponies before, doubt no mare

The start of the game was far too reminiscent of last night's debacle. The Diamondponies came out kicking, jumping to a quick 2 run lead with a Jason Kubel home run that also brought in Aaron Hill (who was on base with a one out double). I tried not to act too excited in my cubicle, as there was work to be done, but I debated whether I should rename it a Kubelcle.

The Pirates fought back almost immediately, however, collecting 4 hits and three runs in the bottom of the second and the third to get a 3-2 lead. Joe Saunders didn't sound to good, and it sounded like the Pirates were just out-scrapping the D-ponies.

Saunders was able to rein it in after this, though, and if you only looked at the box score you'd think he had a tremendous game. Hell, he did have a tremendous game. He went 7 innings, gave up 2 earned runs, and didn't walk anyone. It seems like we say this every Saunders start, but that's more than acceptable. He may have struggled early, but he locked it down when Arizona need him the most. After those 2 early bad innings, he only gave up one more hit, a harmless 2 out triple in the 7th.

The D-ponies had an opportunity to win because of solid pitching, but they still had to figure out a way to capitalize. It didn't happen immediately. Wandy Rodriguez largely stayed out of trouble until the 6th inning when things started unraveling for the Pirates, and the Power of the Ponies returned. The New Guy Chris Johnson got it going (isn't this guy one bad pony, by the way?) in the 6th with a one out single. Then Wil Nieves, his first start as a Diamondpony, launched a 2 run homer to give the road team the lead again.

Here's a fun fact to introduce the next set of runs: all the runs scored by the Diamondponies today were off 2 run home runs. Here's an even more fun fact: Jason Kubel hit two of those 2 run home runs. They should put him out to stud so Arizona can have a whole team of Kubels.

Things largely settled down from there, the D-ponies had their lead and Taco Time, JJ Putz came into close it out, and struck out two and got a ground ball to end it. Just another comeback and solid win on Pony Day.

Twilight Sparkle: Wil Nieves (38.8%)

Pinky Pie: Jason Kubel (29.4%)

Derpy: Stephen Drew (-11.7%)

Apple Jack: Chris Young (-11.1%)

A fairly well traveled Gameday Thread for a Thursday afternoon game against the Pirates. Personally, I credit the Ponies. Everyone is having a better time when Ponies are involved. AzDbacksfanInDc took first place, even if he seemed a bit hostile to the glory that is Ponies. The only other member of the Century Club was imstillhungry95, and since he was more open to Ponydom, he's the winner in my book, and my book is the only one that matters. Also present for the madness: dbacks79, Bcawz, Jim McLennan, Clefo, porty99, hotclaws, onedotfive, GuruB, asteroid, Stile4aly, Marc Fournier, Turambar, biggoron, snakecharmer, Muu, egboyz, marionette, SenSurround, txzona, Rcastillo, DivineWolfwood, CaptainCanuck, rd33, blank_38, mrssoco, Joel Preston, and Gildo.

Comment of the Day goes to onedotfive for posting this gif (I can't directly post it for copyright reasons).

So there you have it, a 6-4 road trip, a series tie against the Pirates, and all because of the Power of the Ponies. If the Diamondponies make the playoffs this year, I want you all to look back to today as the day that things turned around.

Tomorrow the D-ponies return home for a short time to face the Nationals in a three game set. Game times are the usual: tomorrow is 6:40pm. Though we may not be allowed to post ponies until next year, remember that their magic is inside everyone of us. Remember that Ponies Are Magic.