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Diamondbacks 2, Yankees 4: Robinson Ca-OH GOD-no

Brandon McCarthy and Ivan Nova had a "Who can throw the most pitches!" contest tonight, and Nova came out somewhat better. Robinson Cano hit a three run homer in the fourth inning to give the Yankees the edge.

The Star-Ledger-USA TODAY Sports


Final - 4.16.2013 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Arizona Diamondbacks 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0
New York Yankees 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 X 4 12 0
WP: Ivan Nova (1 - 1)
SV: Mariano Rivera (3)
LP: Brandon McCarthy (0 - 2)

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The game started off in a not-smooth fashion for either starting pitcher. Apparently, Brandon McCarthy and Ivan Nova slammed a few Three Wise Men and made a bet with each other as to who could throw more pitches. Neither was particularly efficient with their pitch counts, but they both got out of jams in each of the first two innings.

The top of the third was an inning, and in that inning, the Diamondbacks scored runs (I'm Perd Hapley). Miguel Montero hit a bases loaded sac-fly to make it 1-0, and Cody Ross got his first hit as a D'Back (HAIL SATAN!) to drive in another run. It seemed like piling on would be inevitable, especially with Nova struggling, but the Erics did not comply and that was all the D'Backs got that inning.

The top of the fourth could have brought more runs in for Arizona. A.J. Pollock hit a leadoff double, and it sure looked like Nova was on the ropes. Cliff Pennington was next up and he sac-bunted, which was a questionable (by which I mean: WHY ARE YOU GIVING FREE OUTS TO A PITCHER WHO IS CLEARLY STRUGGLING FINISH HIM!?) With the infield in, Gerardo Parra hit a line shot right at former D'Back great Lyle Overbay, and Martin Prado struck out, ending the threat.

Lack of extra run(s) would be lamentable in the bottom of the inning. Overbay and Chris Stewart got base hits to lead off the inning (Stewart's hit being the poster child for a BABIP single), After McCarthy struck out Brett Gardner, it seemed like he was going to unintentionally/intentionally walk Robinson Cano, as he started the at-bat off 3-0. He got two strikes and he decided to pitch what looked like a similar pitch to the one that he struck out Gardner on. However, Cano beasted it into deep right field to make the score 3-2 Yankees.

At that point, the D'Backs offense basically ragequit. From that point forward, there were only two baserunners for the rest of the game, a single in the fifth by Cody Ross, and one in the eight by Miguel Montero. One of the two other nice things that happened to the D'Backs the rest of the game was a rather hilarious swing by Ichiro against Matt Reynolds. He basically swung at a pitch that landed about five feet in front of the plate. It was filled with laughter and mirth.

The Yankees added an insurance run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Nunez off of a suddenly somewhat fly-ball prone Brad Ziegler (This is eye test, I have no data to back that up.) The top of the eighth was something... magical for the Diamondbacks. The much maligned Heath Bell came into the game and we were all scared and stuff. However, he decided to troll us all and strike out the side in order. That order included Cano. Really makes you think, doesn't it? However, there wasn't much time to think as Mariano Rivera went 1-2-3 in the ninth to shut the door for the Yankees.

Source: FanGraphs

Okay, Cool: Matt Reynolds +9.7%
C'Mon, Man:
Eric Hinske, -12.4%
You're Killing Me:
Eric Chavez, -13.9%
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME I THOUGHT YOU CARED?:
Brandon McCarthy, -17.1%

As advertised, Yankee Stadium played "Sweet Caroline" after the third inning to show solidarity with Boston. What made it a little awkward was cutting off the song midway through, which lessened the impact, but it was still a nice and classy gesture by the Yankees.

There were 591 comments in the GDT at the time of writing. I had the most with 77 so WOOOOOO YEAH EAT IT! Also present were AJV19, AzDbackfanInDc, Baseballdad, Circa4life, Craig from Az, DbackCardsFan, Fangdango, Gildo, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Majabe, Marc Fournier, Rockkstarr12, The so-called Beautiful, TolkienBard, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, azcougs, azshadowwalker, azsportsfan31, benhat, blank_38, coldblueAZ, dbacks79, dbrowell, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, kishi, onedotfive, porty99, prwhitaker1, pygalgia, rd33, since_98, snakecharmer, soco, and txzona.

Tomorrow is a game at the same time at the same place. Wade Miley goes up against C.C. Sabathia in a lefty showdown.