Diamondbacks 1, Marlins 2: A Beer too Far

Record: 53-70. Pace: 70-92. Change on 2013/2010: -11/+5

There can only be one hop highlander!!!!

Beer 1:  Unihopper (Citra) by Dragoon Brewing

• Single hop series of IPAs have gradually become popular in recent years.  Quite simply the brewer just hops the beer with ONLY ONE variety of hops, versus multiple varieties.  In this case only Citra is used which has an intense citric flavor and aroma, and yes I love it.
• Well, I haven't recapped ONLY losses.  By my reckoning I've recapped two wins............with the rest being loses.  Lets see how this one turns out.
• Been at the bar more than 20mins and I'm still soaked in sweat.  Biking in August is rough, but beers hydrate.
  
• Now that I'm settled in I get to enjoy (hopefully) watching our glorious Dbacks at least ensure this series ends in a tie.  Hopefully I wont have to see that accursed device in the outfield activate.....
• Peralta looking very serious with that glorious jaw beard.  He's certainly been a bright spot in an otherwise nightmarish season.
• And the Jaw Beard almost comes through, but Inciarte gets gunned down at home.  The replay seems to show poor base running but somehow this leads to a review.  Yup, very very very very very out.
• Double steal!  I'll drink to that......then a sac fly rewards the gutsy double steal.  1-0 Dbacks
  
• Tour bus just pulled up and deposited a legion of curling players (the Winter Olympic sport).  Things just got weird.
• Still 1-0 after the 1st.  No chance now of Miley getting my 15 wins to save my bet I made at the beginning of the season.  Sigh....EdBiggHead will be getting his growler of glorious beer.
• Bottom of the 2nd and Miley's throw to Trumbo almost made me spit out my beer.  The ensuing throw home by Inciarte almost made me punch someone. Still though we somehow get out of the inning without a scratch.  1-0 Dbacks
  

Beer 2:  Raspberry Kombucha Beer by Unity Vibration

• What's a kombucha beer you ask?  It's a beer made from S.C.O.B.Y. (Symbiotic Colony Of friendly Bacteria and Yeast) water, sugar and tea.  It's tart, refreshing and very very very different.
  
• Jaw Beard has returned to the plate, but can't come through this time.  Probably got distracted by the blond in the paisley dress dancing in the outfield.
• Before I even realized it we're back at bat again.  Kombucha can apparently bend space and time.  I'm convinced of this since Trumbo just got a single.
• Lamb, our shining hope for 2015, comes through with a nice double.  God knows we need some more hope for next season, and he could be it.
• Despite Lamb's efforts top of the 4th ends with nothing much changed at all:  1-0 Dbacks
• Miley can't maintain the shutout and and Stanton comes in to score, though not off a HR as one might expect. 1-1
  
• Why does Gibby not move his arms past a 90degree angle as he jogs?  The world wonders.
• Going into the 5th and very happy that Miley got out of that last inning.  Not sure how many more bullets he can dodge though.

All the hops are belong to us.

Beer 3:  Simcoe IPA by Black Market

• I love me some hops, this is true.  This is especially true with beers made with the intense simcoe variation of hops.  Very big fruity citrus flavor from this one.  nom nom nom nom
• This pitchers duel continues to chug along and Miley, once again, putting up some nice K's.  9 so far and if this keeps up I might not get to that 4th beer.
  
• Alvarez is also doing quite well.  1-1 still going into the bottom of the 6th.
• Miley likes to live on the edge apparently.  An easy out at first almost turns into a needless injury for our pitcher.  Still 1-1 after the 6th.
• Trumbo with some not so good D at 1st, though Miley's throw was......interesting to say the least.  No out and a man on 2nd.  I'll be thoroughly impressed if we can get out of this without a run.
• 4 errors in one night.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you your 2014 Dbacks!!!!!
• Make that 5 errors and it's now 1-2.  Nice, very nice.
• Going into the 8th and now down a run and the mass of curlers sitting behind me are drunk to the point of madness.  A double play ends our chances, but the curlers continue on their campaign of drinking.
• Thankfully the curlers are leaving.  The servers grow tired of their madness.  The Dbacks though continue on in this mad game as a runner gets on with no outs in the bottom of the 8th.  That hope proves to be false though.
  
• 8 frames done and we're still down by one with one last chance left.  Looks like this might be another doomed beercap.
• Yup, another doomed beercap.

Bells and whistles

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Bizarrely, fangraphs is listing only four position players for us, and three for Miami, so some lucky players will get off being tagged for this game...

Just over 400 comments between 19 people, with freeland1787 finishing top, ahead of Paulnh and DbacksSkins. Also enjoying some Saturday afternoon baseball were AzDbackfanInDc, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, Rockkstarr12, SongBird, Zavada's Moustache, cheese1213, dsadbacks2001, , hotclaws, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, shoewizard and txzona. freeland took Comment of the Thread for this bit of philosophy:

Baseball Gods don't like being nagged

"You don't win a war by digging a foxhole and sitting in it. You have to go out there and attack." ~ Bill Belichick

by freeland1787 on Aug 16, 2014 | 5:31 PM up reply rec (5) flag actions

It's back to Exercise in Garish Taste Park tomorrow, for the series finale, in which Josh Collmenter takes on Tom Koehler. Bright and early start for that one, with the first pitch at 10:10 am Arizona time.