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Quotes of the Day
“We were in a bind with our bullpen.”
"Maybe just a little bit of a lack of aggression, trying to make the pitches too good on the edge and not attacking enough to make them put the ball in play. I wasn't off by a lot tonight; it was just a little bit enough to get behind in counts and be on the defensive."
"I just wanted to give him an opportunity to swing the bat. I think he has been worrying too much about the runners on base."
- Gibson on Martin Prado leading off
Diamondbacks Links
Arizona Diamondbacks drop series opener to San Francisco Giants
Late-inning reliever weirdness continued to plague the Diamondbacks. With Putz, Hernandez and Bell pitching frequently as of late, Kirk Gibson turned to Brad Ziegler in the 8th in a 4-4 ballgame. Ziegler did not fair too well, giving up a double to Nick Noonan (?)(!) to lead off the 8th. Nick Noonan would come around to score on a single by Brandon Belt, putting the Giants ahead for good.
No, the struggling NL West ace to which Nick Piecoro refers is not Ian Kennedy, it's Matt Cain. Cain continued to look mortal last night, allowing three long balls in one inning. He's given up nine home runs already this year. To put that in context, Cain gave up nine homers during the entire 2011 season. In other news, Adam Eaton appears to be on the Didi Gregorious rehabilitation plan, DH-ing in the minors for a few weeks before taking the field. Also, it appears Daniel Hudson is progressing nicely and hopes to be back before the All-Star break.
D-backs' depth adds another extra win - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
It seems some national pundits are eating a bit of crow regarding the Kevin Towers' Veteran Outfield Spendapalooza of 2012 - 2013.
MCSO: Mark Grace is ‘model’ inmate
Presented without comment.
Around the League
Which young pitcher do you want? - Baseball Nation
Matt Harvey, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg and all the usual suspects get tossed around here, but that's not why I found this link interesting. If you look really hard, you'll notice one Patrick Corbin included on the list of best young pitchers under 25. Finally, Corbin is getting a bit of credit. I keep searching the inter-tubes high and low to find a 3,000 word article singing Corbin's praises, but alas, the national media has entirely ignored him. We're getting to a point where Corbin has a statistically meaningful body of work.
Seven guys in south Florida are gonna be so bummed!
Marginalia
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Worth a watch.
Pitcher Throws At Batter Who Requests Timeout
It's a bit awkward when he misses and then has to continue to pitch to the guy.