SnakeBytes, 7/19: Under way again

Recaps

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks battle back to top the Cubs - Cahill said he felt like he had made some progress. Manager Kirk Gibson agreed, noting his starter recorded three-straight outs to start the game and followed his three-run fourth with a three-up-three-down fifth inning on six pitches. "I felt pretty good," Cahill said. "I still had a little bit of nerves, but I was able to stay with myself, pitch my game, and I just wanted to go as deep in the game as possible and give us a chance to win."

[FOX Sports] Cahill takes step in right direction, even in no-decision - "Felt pretty good, except for a little bit of nerves," Cahill said. "I was able to pitch my game. I just wanted to go as deep in the game as possible and give us a chance to win, and we won, so it was good." In his setup, Cahill moved his hands a down from his chest a little closer to his belt in an attempt to find a more repeatable delivery, which he had during his four double-digit win seasons from 2009-13 before seeming to lose this spring. He said he is slowly getting used to it. "I felt good out of the windup," Cahill said. "Out of the stretch, it doesn't feel as comfortable."

[dbacks.com] Cahill bends, doesn't break in return as D-backs rally - Cahiill's replacement, Nick Evans, hit the last of four straight singles that netted a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth and brought the D-backs within a run. The D-backs finished off their comeback in the bottom of the sixth thanks to an opposite-field home run by Paul Goldschmidt and another set of singles - this time from Miguel Montero, Mark Trumbo and Martin Prado -- which set up a game-tying sacrifice fly by Gerardo Parra and the go-ahead single by Didi Gregorius. "I've been … struggling against lefties," Gregorius said. "Just trying to see the ball, trying to put the ball in play and find the hole."

[ArizonaSports] Diamondbacks come back on Cubs, bail out Cahill - "It's part of the game. There's a lot of emotions. I think I just overreacted. The most important thing is we won the game. The guys just were messing with me that, 'Hey, you have to get ejected every day.' It was a pretty good game," Prado said of his ejection -- his first in 933 career games. "Yeah, I was trying to make it a thousand. I came up short."

[Breitbart] No Selfie Control - "A courageous, elusive, fleet-footed, and inebriated--one hopes--man invaded the playing area at Chase Field in Phoenix on Friday. It turns out all he wanted was a selfie with Gerardo Parra."

Team news

[Minor League Ball] Prospect Note: Chase Anderson - "His FIP is much worse than his ERA at 4.72, so some regression is plausible, even likely, once the league gets a better look at him. That said, he's made adjustments before, and his overall track record is one of success. The only negative on his professional resume (Reno) was when he was not fully healthy and pitching in a bandbox. If he avoids further health problems, Anderson could last awhile as a back-end starter and bullpen option, Josh Collmenter Part Two perhaps."

[AZ Central] Towers dispels talk of shift to Padres - "I'm a Diamondback," he said Friday. "I'm under contract for the Diamondbacks. Just the way it come this time of year when it comes to trade speculation, speculation about employment is purely speculation. This is who I work for, this is my focus and what my job is right now. What Kenny Rosenthal writes or other people, I would imagine a lot of it was just tied to I worked there before and I'm on the hot seat here. It's really all it is."

[dbacks.com] Owings progressing slowly from nagging shoulder - Owings said Thursday that he hasn't received a timetable for when he could return, but it doesn't look to be in the near future. "[I] was going to Salt River over the break and just trying to do what they got me doing, trying to get back out there on the field," Owings said. Manager Kirk Gibson, who stated on Thursday that Owings wasn't "progressing to the next level," said the shortstop was scheduled to see a doctor on Friday.

[ArizonaSports] Goldschmidt not ready to count Diamondbacks out - "I definitely think we have the talent, but on the other hand your record is what it is, we haven't played well," he said. "I definitely believe that we have it in us, but now we need to go out and prove it. It needs to start tonight; we need to go out there and start playing well and have a good second half. And if you do that, you never know what can happen. If it's us getting close or us making the playoffs or not, whatever happens happens. But we'd like to go out and play well and hopefully create some momentum, hopefully for this second half. And if not, for next year."

[Observer-Reporter] Ijames has contract purchased by Diamondbacks - After hitting Frontier League pitching like it was batting practice fodder for a season and a half, Stewart Ijames finally will have his shot in affiliated baseball. Ijames was batting .319 with the Wild Things and is tied for the league lead with 15 home runs. "The guy was hitting everything," Washington right fielder C.J. Beatty said. "It didn’t matter if the pitcher was throwing a bowling ball or a Tylenol pill, Ijames would hit it." He'll report to rookie league.

[dbacks.com] D-backs announce international signings - The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed five international free agents, including the organization's first amateur signing out of Taiwan, pitcher Wei-Chieh ("Way-Jay") Huang, since the start of the 2014-15 international signing period on July 2

And, elsewhere...

[ESPN] Houston Astros fail to sign No. 1 overall pick Brady Aiken - The Houston Astros failed to sign the first pick in this year's draft, San Diego high school left-hander Brady Aiken, before Friday's deadline. The head of the players' association says the union is working with the pitcher and his advisers to explore "all legal options." Aiken originally was offered a deal with a $6.5 million signing bonus by the Astros. But the club expressed a concern over Aiken's elbow ligament and lowered the offer.

[SI.com] Angels bolster bullpen, postseason chances with Huston Street addition - The Padres made a move to boost their chances in Tankapalooza 2014. The Angels unveiled the prestige of their effort to rebuild their bullpen Friday night by acquiring Padres closer Huston Street and a minor league reliever for four prospects including second baseman Taylor Lindsey, shortstop Jose Rondon and right-hander R.J. Alvarez.

[FOX Sports] Canseco comes back to Coliseum for '89 reunion - Canseco reiterated that he regrets writing the book 'Juiced' which most notably accused McGwire of using performance-enhancing drugs. McGwire has since admitted to using them. ''Mark, to me, when I played with him, I looked up to him,'' Canseco said. ''I idolized him for a lot of reasons — the guy was on the field, he was off the field. It haunts me till this day that I said those things about him, even though obviously they were true. I could have gone about it a different way and gotten my point across.''

[Youtube] MLB Classics playlists - and if you find yourself bored this weekend, check out the MLB Classics channel on Youtube, with any number of perfect games, momentous contest, World Series classics (yep, #7 in 2001 is in there!), etc.