Snake Bytes, 5/16: Delayed edition

Recaps

[dbacks.com] Bullpen woes rear up in Philly series opener - On Friday, it was a combination of Daniel Hudson, Oliver Perez and Enrique Burgos that was unable to keep the Phillies at bay in the seventh. "It's been a struggle," Hudson said. "I think we'll get back on track here soon. Guys will get some regular work, and I think that'll be big for us to do that. Hopefully, we can get a couple of good outings under our belts. Everyone just kind of feeds off of that and wants to get in there. It's one of those little funks we're in. We'll keep working hard and figure it out and straighten this thing out."

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks give up late lead in loss to Phillies - The bottom of the seventh almost started with another highlight reel play from the smooth-fielding SS Nick Ahmed. Ruiz grounded a ball into the hole, where Ahmed made a backhanded stop. But his throw across the diamond short-hopped 1B Paul Goldschmidt, who couldn't dig it out. Said Goldschmidt: "I was in pretty good position, (but) it just hit off my glove and I wasn't able to do it. It was unfortunate. But it's part of the game. He made a great play even to get there and get that throw off and beat the runner."

[Arizona Sports] D-backs come up short in series opener in Philadelphia - Nick Ahmed has a ways to go before getting his batting average to a respectable level, but he's now on a season-best three-game hitting streak, thanks to getting one of the D-backs' 10 hits on the night -- and scoring one of their three runs. After having another strong night at the plate, Ender Inciarte is on a six-game streak of reaching base safely. The 24-year-old outfielder had a game-high three hits in five at-bats Friday, boosting his batting average to .326.

[AP] Phillies rally against D-backs bullpen - Chase Anderson allowed one run and three hits in 5 1-3 innings. "A nice effort again," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said about Anderson. "He battled. He gives us a chance to win every time out. He mixes his pitches well, has a very good change and he just pitches." Yasmany Tomas was scratched from the lineup because he was sick. Aaron Hill also is battling an illness.

Team News

[dbacks.com] Reed out as closer, to work on mechanics\ - "What we're going to do is we're doing a lot of mechanical work with Reed right now, so there's a possibility he could pitch in the ninth, but he won't necessarily be the closer at this point," Chip Hale said. "We're going to use him probably a little earlier in the game, just see how the game goes. He could be pitching in the ninth, but it could be him and another guy, maybe two guys in the ninth. So we're going to match up a little more and see how that goes for a little bit."

[AZ Central] Addison Reed out as Arizona Diamondbacks closer - Reed believes the lower-leverage situations might benefit him in the long run. "With guys on base," he said, "you don't want to be thinking about how I'm going to throw this strike or what I'm going to do to keep everything in line and make sure my mechanics are all right. Pitching earlier in the game when things aren't as on the line as they would be in the ninth inning might be a little easier for me to do that."

[AZ Central[ Bradley set to return from line-drive scare - The line drive doesn't sound like something at the front of his mind. A former high school quarterback, he says he's taken hits before and picked himself up. "It's one of those freak things," Bradley said. "If it happens again, it just happens. That was my main point – physically, I'm not scared of it happening and mentally I'm not, either. And I think that's the kind of wall you have to get over is, where are you at mentally? Where are you at in your mind? Are you scared? And you can't be scared when you're out there trying to get guys out."

[FOX Sports] MLB mock draft sampler: No consensus for D-backs - Three credible Major League Baseball mock drafts landed in the past week, and they clearly spell out the predicament that the Diamondbacks are in. The consensus seems to lean toward Florida high school shortstop Brendan Rodgers as the No. 1 prospect in the draft, but none of our three expert mocks predict the Diamondbacks going that direction. Each suggests a different target while intimating that the Diamondbacks themselves are wrestling with uncertainty..

[dbacks.com] Should the D-backs select Rodgers No. 1? - How often has the preseason top prospect maintained that status all the way up to the Draft? How often did he become the No. 1 overall pick? Industry sources don't believe the D-backs will select Rodgers with the first choice on June 8, but let's look at the previous 10 Drafts to see if history indicates that they should:

And, elsewhere...

[NPR] The Curious World Of Baseball Re-Enactors - "Vintage baseball players – sort of like Civil War re-enactors who wield wooden bats instead of muskets — move among us. They glory in the past times of America's pastime. Dressed in old uniforms, teams play each other using 19th century rules. Sometimes they don't wear gloves. Sometimes they pitch underhand. " Paging Clefo....

[Sporting News] 18 strikeouts? Outfielders pitching? Even meaningless games can become special - There is something special about baseball, though, which few, if any, other sports can offer. The line often attributed to Casey Stengel is that every day in baseball, you will see something you’ve never seen before. That is not quite true, but baseball has a special power to turn run-of-the-mill games during the regular season into something you just have to see, and you never know when it will happen.

[ESPN] Great American Ball Park fireworks smokestack catches fire during game - One of the fireworks smokestacks at Great American Ball Park caught fire and spewed dark smoke for an inning on Friday night until firefighters extinguished it during a game between the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds. A fire that broke out in a Great American Ball Park smokestack produced dark smoke but did not delay Friday's Giants-Reds game. Fans in two sections by the smokestacks were evacuated while firefighters extended a ladder from outside the ballpark and sprayed the fire.