Before I get into recounting the things that happened in this game. I'd like to lead a chant that I think we've all deserved to chant. If you live in certain parts of Mesa, you've definitely paid for the right to chant this:
NINE-TEEN-OH-EIGHT! (clap clap clapclapclap)
NINE-TEEN-OH-EIGHT! (clap clap clapclapclap)
NINE-TEEN-OH-EIGHT! (clap clap clapclapclap)
Thank you. Now let us begin. A St. Louis victory over the Nationals meant that the D'Backs were officially eliminated from postseason consideration regardless of anything we did tonight. I will leave you to grieve.
....
....
Okay, that's enough. While one may argue that there was nothing to play for anymore, I would argue that beating up on the Cubs is reason enough to play harder than you ever played before.
Ian Kennedy started off the game a bit wobbly, as he had worked himself into a bases-loaded with two outs situation, but he was able to get Luis Valbuena to strike out. If you're the sort who believes in momentum, then much was gained for the bottom of the 1st as the good guys got on the board thanks to back-to-back leadoff doubles by Adam Eaton and A.J Pollock. I'm sure such an occurrence transpired in Reno at least once this season, but I can't be arsed to look it up right now. Hey, it's September for recap writers of .500 teams too.
Kennedy's next three frames were less dramatic, and the D'Backs lead was doubled in the 4th on a solo shot by Cody Ransom to make it 2-0 D'Backs. That lead, unfortuneately, did not last beyond the next 2/3rds of an inning. Kennedy had gotten two quick outs, but walked David DeJesus. Yeah, no problem, it's cool, I mean it's only Dave Sapplet, whoever that is, and I mean you can get this just don't groove one down the middle and... WHAT DID I JUST SAY IAN?
Kennedy decided to take matters into his own hands at the plate and... not swing at anything. This worked well for him his first two at-bats, as he drew walks both times without swinging the bat. As an aside, there was an article on fangraphs not too long ago about IPK's historically low swing-rate, it's an interesting read. Back to the game. Kennedy was bunted over to second by Eaton (SMALL BALL, Y'ALL). Aaron Hill doubled him home to retake the lead. Justin Upton then went up and behemothed (now a verb, since that's the best way to describe it) one into the left field bleachers to make it 5-2.
Ian started off the next frame by walking Alfonso Soriano for the third time that evening. Which makes sense since Soriano is sooo disciplined at the plate. He scored on a Starlin Castro double to make it 5-3. Kennedy got the next two batters out, but walked Darwin Barney for his sixth and final walk of the evening. He was pulled immediately after for Matt Albers, who got Adrian Cardenas to ground out to end the threat. IPK's final line: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 5 K, 6 BB. Not his best outing, but he was in line for the win, and the 1955 version of me says that's all that matters.
Albers came in to start the next inning and got two quick outs. Things got a little pear-shaped from there. He walked Anthony Rizzo, gave up a single to Soriano, and Starlin Castro got on because John McDonald made a fancy play to try to flip a ball directly from his glove to Hill covering second, but the throw looked like it pulled Hill off the bag. HOWEVER, replays seemed to show that Hill got his foot on the bag right after catching the throw. Since Bud Selig thinks replay for such events is too complicated, the bases were loaded and Albers was removed from the game. Matt Lindstrom came in and promptly fell behind 3-0 to Valbuena, however he threw three straight strikes to end that threat. Whew.
A 5-2 lead against the Cubs is not good enough. The Baseball Gods demand sacrifice (like human, not bunting). The D'Backs complied in the 8th inning. Jaye Chapman came in to pitch for Chicago in that inning. Jaye is a weird name. Maybe they meant "Jake". I actually know a guy named Jake Chapman. Cool dude, good actor. Wonder how he's doing?
Oh, what? You want me to recap the rest of the game? FIiiiine. Aaron Hill lead off with a double, because Aaron Hill might be a demi-god. He then scored on a single by Justin Upton followed by a throwing error on Darwin Barney. This snapped a 141 game errorless streak for him. This is also tied for the most all time, further proving that whatever makes the universe tick just loves to mess with people. This made it 6-2.
Cody Ransom struck out, but during his AB, Upton stole second. This is important in a little bit. Wil Nieves grounded out to bring up Mike Jacobs with two outs. Mike Jacobs has had an On-Base-Percentage hovering around the low .300s his entire career. So of course the Cubs intentionally walk him to bring up McDonald, who promptly singles Upton home. Jeff Beliveau came into the game after that, and promptly walked Chris Young to load the bases. Adam Eaton then hit a liner that deflected off of Beliveau's glove to score Jacobs from third (IBB comes around to score, can you believe-au it!) This set the tally at 8-3 in favor of the Diamondbacks, and thanks to a 1-2-3 inning from J.J Putz, it stayed that way and the D'Backs came away win a win!
Also of note. The Cubs are now 0-17 in NL West parks this season. Since their last series is against the Astros (boy, that one sounds like a hard ticket to get), we have two more games to achieve the 0fer for the season for Chicago. Worthy goal, let's do it!
Source: FanGraphs
Like a Boss: Justin Upton, +14.7%
Like Middle Management: Matt Lindstrom, + 11.8%, Aaron Hill, + 9.8%
Like a Temp: Wil Nieves, - 4.9%
So since the rollcall script doesn't work, I'm going fill this space with something else. Long ago this season (before the Sutton/Grace displacements) I stopped listening to the booth sometimes and just listened to music and watch the game and use gameday/GDT to follow along with anything confusing. So here to follow:
A SMALL SAMPLING OF SONGS I LISTENED TO INSTEAD OF THE BROADCAST:
"Don't Start a Band" by Reel Big Fish
"I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado
"Outside" by Tribe
"The Whole World" by Outkast
"In The Meantime" by Spacehog
"Death or Glory" by The Clash
"The War of 1812" by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie
COTN goes to Jim for this 3 rec'd Vampire pun.
Well
He did run away when his wife became a little cross…
"Let there be, let there always be,
Never-ending light..."by Jim McLennan on Sep 28, 2012 9:34 PM MST up reply actions 3 recs
The second game of this series happens tomorrow around 5 PM. You should watch it, if you want.