Snake Bytes, 8/11: D-backs eat their Phill

Recaps

[AP] Diamondbacks' bats overpower Phillies - Arizona put the game away with seven hits and six runs in the sixth. Jamie Romak, Peralta and Tomas each had an RBI in the inning and Castillo added a three-run triple to become the first catcher in franchise history with a triple and home run in the same game. "I thought Tomas came out tonight after the three games off from starting and really flexed his muscles out there with outstanding at-bats," manager Chip Hale said, "and it really flowed the whole way through."

[dbacks.com] Welington Castillo leads D-backs' attack - Castillo homered, tripled and matched a career high with four RBIs for the D-backs, who smacked 17 hits. David Peralta and A.J. Pollock each collected three hits, Pollock and Yasmany Tomas homered, Paul Goldschmidt drove in a pair and nine players collected a hit. "This team doesn't have big names, but we have players that go out and give 100 percent," Castillo said. "Everybody does his part and does his job and hustles, this is a good place to be because everybody plays hard."

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks offense explodes in win against Phillies - Rubby De La Rosa was solid, if not overpowering, giving up three runs on eight hits over six innings. He struck out three and walked one and needed 92 pitches. De La Rosa faced a few jams, but mostly was able to limit the damage. He gave up a run on a sacrifice fly in the third, but stranded another runner at third to end the inning. He gave up single runs in both the fifth and sixth – the latter on a solo home run by 3B Maikel Franco – but left runners in scoring position both times.

[Arizona Sports] Castillo homers yet again as Arizona crushes Philly - "He was fine. We asked him what the score was and he looked up at the scoreboard. We said that was cheating. So then we asked him what he did in his last at-bat and he knew he hit a home run, so we knew he was okay." – D-backs manager Chip Hale talking about Castillo getting hit in the head.

Team News

[AZ Central] Stewart: I’m happy with our play, but we can be better - "These guys have been resilient all year, they’ve played hard all year. I don’t see them doing anything different. We’ve got to count on the teams in front of us to slide and we’ve got to count on ourselves to be more consistent in how we’re playing. A lot of things have to happen for us to get into position to get into the playoffs," Stewart said

[FOX Sports] Diamondbacks Paul Goldschmidt shrugs off slump, busts out - "I had some pitches to hit and I missed. That's the game," Goldschmidt said of the slump. "I had some pitches to hit (Sunday) and I hit them. "Everyone has days or even weeks, months where you don't play well. You just go out there and try to play well the next time. I think every individual in here expects more of themselves than anyone else. We have high expectations of ourselves but also understand there's a lot of failure in this game. You're not going to come through every time."

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks teammates provide lift during Paul Goldschmidt’s slump - "That’s been awesome to see," third baseman Jake Lamb said. "It’s not awesome to see Goldy cool off – and I love how it’s ‘cooling off’ and he’s still hitting .340 – but that shows the growth of our team. He went on a little cold streak there, but we were still winning games because we had guys like Peralta and we had guys like Castillo, who was clearing all the bases so I could just get base hits and no RBIs."

[MLB.com] Randall Delgado may rejoin D-backs this week - Delgado will make a rehab appearance Wednesday in the Arizona Rookie League. He could then be activated during the D-backs' road series against the Braves, which begins Friday. "If his foot's fine, his arm's fine, we feel comfortable," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "He hasn't missed that much time."

[AZ Central] Tomas delivers for Diamondbacks after three days on bench - Hale said the club had assumed Tomas might be wearing down due to the rigorous schedule in the major leagues. But Hale said Tomas assured him he felt strong, and Tomas echoed those sentiments with reporters on Monday night. "I’m not tired at all," he said. "I feel like the season started today. … I think it’s all about the work we’ve been doing all season and before the season since I was in the Dominican Republic. I was working because I knew the goal was going to be really hard. I believe it’s one of the reasons my body is like that and I feel so relaxed."

[Baseball America] 2015 Major League Best Tools - Baseball America asked every big league manager to break down the best major leaguers in a variety of categories. Paul Goldschmidt was voted best hitter in the National League, second for strike-zone judgment and, surprisingly for the position, third-best base-runner behind only Dee Gordon and Billy Hamilton. No other D-back ranked in the top three at any category.

And, elsewhere...

[LA Times] Rise of the machines? Baseball weighs use of automated strike zone - "Since we found out more about it — how it's going to work, where it's going to work — I've had more positive feedback than I have negative," Dean Poteet, who worked behind home plate in one of the games, told the Associated Press. "The home plate umpire is still very relevant," Byrnes said. ". . . I get the sense that once the two home plate umpires realized that over the course of two nights, then both of them seemed on board with eventually automating the strike zone." DO IT!!!! DO IT!!!!!!

[WSJ] The New York Baseball Death Star Is Back - Major League Baseball prides itself on the idea that every team has a chance. "Hope and faith" is what Bud Selig called it, and in the last decade of his tenure as commissioner he set out to create it in as many markets as possible, for as long into the season as possible, year in and year out.... This year has brought maybe baseball’s most heartwarming development yet: New York City, a quaint fishing village whose sports teams have long been overlooked by the national media, is a baseball town again.

[West Central Tribune] Donaldson greatest baseball player ever? - John Wesley Donaldson might be the greatest African-American baseball player you never heard of. According to some, in fact, he just might be the greatest baseball player of all time. Donaldson pitched from 1908 to 1940. He is known to have won at least 398 games and struck out at least 4,904 batters. He was extremely fast and possessed an excellent change-up at a time before the change-up was fashionable.