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Diamondbacks line-up
- Willie Bloomquist, 2B
- Adam Eaton, CF
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Martin Prado, LF
- Miguel Montero, C
- Matt Davidson, 3B
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Didi Gregorius, SS
- Trevor Cahill, P
This was one of those games which I'd decided beforehand I wasn't going to bother watching, instead racking up some martyr points by joining Mrs. SnakePit as she watched Bridesmaids [which wasn't as bad as I feared, and contains a surprisingly non-zero quantity of British comedy people, most notably Roy from The IT Crowd]. It wasn't until I checked the box-score at the end of the night, that I realized how badly things had gone. No wonder poor BattleMoses gave it the most perfunctory and abbreviated recap of the season so far: hard pushed to argue it deserved significantly more coverage. Having to watch it was punishment enough for forgetting his Friday recap!
Might it have been the worst contest of the year? I think, as part of our winter activities, we may run a series of anti-Pitties: awards for least memorable game, most disappointing performance, etc. I think yesterday is certainly a contender, along with Petit's near-perfecto, and the poundings at the hands of Atlanta (10-1) and San Diego (12-3) from May and July respectively. As soco already noted, it reduced our elimination number in the division to eight, but since the Reds lost too, it kept our overall elmination number = 10.
Didn't quite realize that next month will be the 25th anniversary of Kirk Gibson's famous home-run, followed by his fist-pumping run around the bases. Inevitably, he was forced to talk to the media about it during today's pre-game press call at Dodger Stadium, which I suspect would have been like drawing blood from a stone, given how low-key Gibson usually is about his past. [A couple of years ago, he even sold the bat with which he hit one of the most famouns long-balls in baseball history, using the proceeds to help fund athletic scholarships instead. It went for over $575,000, becoming the second most-expensive in history at the time] Said Gibby this afternoon:
Gibby " I never thought about pumping my fist ... I don't know why I did it"
— Jody Jackson (@Jody_Jackson) September 10, 2013
More directly, today is also Randy Johnson's birthday, and marks the day in 2000 when the Big Unit joined the 3,000 Strikeout club, striking out Mike Lowell of the Marlins to reach the milestone. The last was John Smoltz in April 2008, and the only current pitcher with a credible shot at joining in the next few years is probably C.C. Sabathia, who needs 620, about four season's worth, and turned 33 in July. Otherwise, you're looking at pitchers who will almost certainly have to work well into their forties to reach it, such as A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay (both in the 2,100's and aged 36). Then there's Felix Hernandez, who should hit 1,700 by his 28th birthday. Yeah, gonna be a while.