Snake Bytes, 6/30: An end or a beginning?

Recaps

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks use hot bats, baserunning to rally past Dodgers - For the Arizona Diamondbacks to get where they want to go - whether that's climbing back into the playoff race, or simply getting to .500 - they're probably going to have to find a way to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. They did exactly that Monday night. Nick Ahmed and Yasmany Tomas homered, nine different Arizona hitters scored at least one run and the D-backs overcame an early four-run deficit to knock off the Dodgers by a score of 10-6 in front of 24,215 at Chase Field. The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak against LA.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks rally from 4-run deficit to beat Dodgers - Arizona finally got on the board in the fifth. After Chris Owings singled with one out, Nick Ahmed clubbed his fifth home run of the year to cut the Los Angeles lead to 4-2. An inning later, Tomas lined a two-run home run to left to tie the game, his fourth of the season. The umpire crew initiated a challenge, suspecting a fan had interfered with the ball. Replay did show a fan reaching over the fence, but there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the home run call.

[dbacks.com] D-backs' offense surges vs. Dodgers - It took two-run home runs by Nick Ahmed and Yasmany Tomas to get the D-backs into the game. Then, it was timely hitting and aggressiveness on the basepaths that allowed the D-backs to rally back again and take control with a four-run eighth inning. "As an offense, we're going out there and just trying to put as many runs on the board as we can," D-backs center fielder A.J. Pollock said. "We did some damage on some mistakes and I feel like that's kind of our staple -- not flashy, we're just going to take what they give us."

[Fox Sports] More at-bats help Peralta, Castillo thrive against Dodgers - With starter Patrick Corbin aiming for a July 7 or 8 return from Tommy John surgery, there is room for one more start from Webster -- the odd man out of the rotation -- but Hale said it's not certain Webster will get another go. "We'll talk to Dave (Stewart) and Tony (La Russa) and (Mike Harkey) and we'll see if we can make some adjustment and get him down in the zone and get his off-speed pitches working. We have to sit down and talk about it," Hale said.

Team News

[Fox Sports] Patrick Corbin's return in sight - "He said once he settled in, it's as good as he's felt. That's as confident as I've heard him talk about his outings," Hale said. "We're going to pitch him, get him again the five days in between, so it'll be on the sixth day, and then he'll come pitch for us five days after that." The team will treat Corbin's return with caution by attempting to hold him below 100 pitches per game and scheduling him around off-days, if possible. He could also be skipped in the order.

]AZ Central] Lamb getting back on track offensively after injury - "As a competitor, I want to get back from injury and produce right away," Lamb said. "Naturally, when that doesn't happen, I wasn't putting pressure on myself but I wasn't seeing results. So that's frustrating, especially this little stretch we went through we weren't winning many games. If I'm doing bad and we're winning, it doesn't matter. But if we're losing and I'm not producing for my team, especially in clutch situations, that's why I get frustrated. So that was nice to get that one [on Sunday], but just getting hits and helping the team win in general is nice."

[Arizona Sports] Goldschmidt cruising to NL All-Star lead among first basemen - Diamondbacks fans might have to get used to hearing this -- first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is on the verge of history. The 27-year-old first baseman has extended his lead even further in the National League All-Star voting, and is about to become the first player in D-backs history to win multiple All-Star fan votes. Goldschmidt currently holds 7,341,683 votes, more than doubling his next-closest competitor among first basemen in Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers (3,688,928).

[dbacks.com] Bradley to get shoulder checked by Andrews - "The alarming thing to me is I haven't been through this before," Bradley said. "I've obviously pitched through some soreness and fatigue and some bad feelings, but nothing ever to the degree of the pain I'm feeling now." Bradley said he has been pleased with the rehab process from the club's training staff, but his shoulder has not responded the way he had liked, so he brought up the idea of getting a second opinion. "It was really, really bothering me. Too much to ignore, too much to not say something."

[AZ Central] Bradley in unfamiliar situation with shoulder issue - "My body's telling me something's not right here," he said. After experiencing even more shoulder pain, Bradley is ready to listen to another voice in the hopes of finding a solution. He'll visit with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday for a second opinion on his shoulder. "Whether he has a better way to treat it or found something that we didn't find, whatever it is — a plan of how to get it better, that's all I really care about," Bradley said.

And, elsewhere...

[Boston Globe] Pitchers want a better grip, not a competitive advantage - Around the majors, what should or shouldn’t be on the ball is a growing topic of conversation. "It’s about time we addressed this," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Enough of pretending we don’t all know what is going on." Modern pitchers aren’t doctoring the ball to gain a competitive advantage; they just want a better grip on it. "It’s purely just to have a good grip on the ball while you’re throwing the pitch," Twins righthander Phil Hughes said. "Nobody is trying to make the ball do something."

[France 24] Melissa Mayeux wants to make more baseball history - "I am not sure I really grasp all of it. I was just happy to be going to the Elite Camp, and I figured an article would be written about it for the French baseball federation’s website, and then that would be the end of it. But then I saw the news on MLB.com and everyone ran with the story. I must admit it made me happy… it felt strange, but it also made me happy," she said. She looks like an average 16-year-old, although a very athletic one. However, she speaks about her accomplishments and aspirations with a calmness and clearness that make her seem older than her age.

[Washington Post] Is Major League Baseball taking storms seriously enough? - Minneapolis Star Tribune Meteorologist Paul Douglas wrote just three years ago: "One of these days we’re going to have 1,000 or more deaths from a single tornado somewhere in the United States." Tens of thousands of baseball fans as sitting ducks at a ballpark represents one terrifying way this could happen. "I don’t think [Sunday] night’s game even should have started," said Marshall Shepherd, host of the program "WxGeeks" on the Weather Channel.

[FOX Sports] Appreciating TOOTBLAN & other new baseball lingo - I’ve got a love-hate relationship with lingo, or jargon. I love it when it’s shared amongst my friends, family, and followers. I hate it when it’s used in a discussion that seems to exclude me. But I love it that jargon exists, because it makes language so much more interesting. So I guess I’ve got a love-hate-love relationship with it. And if that’s not "like," I don’t know what is!