Snake Bytes, 4/14: The terror of errors edition

Recaps

[AP] Defensive miscues hurt Diamondbacks in loss to Dodgers - Rubby De La Rosa clearly deserved a better fate. He induced a good number of ground balls and took the hard-luck loss because of a couple of costly mistakes by the infield. De La Rosa was charged with three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers pinned beat the D-backs 3-1 on Wednesday night. "I thought Rubby did a great job," Chip Hale said. "He worked quick, didn't shake off signs a lot and was hitting his spots. He used all his pitches and had some really good sliders early in the game to Puig, who's a hot hitter, and made him look bad the first time up. He deserved better."

[dbacks] Defense betrays De La Rosa vs. Dodgers - Arizona was unable to convert either one-out grounder by Chase Utley or Corey Seager after singles by Howie Kendrick and Joc Pederson. Shortstop Nick Ahmed drew a throwing error on Utley's grounder for one run and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt dropped Ahmed's relay throw for an error as the second run scored on what would have been an inning-ending double-play on Seager. "Unfortunately it cost us a run and possibly the game," Goldschmidt said, "but hopefully it won't happen next time."

[AZ Central] Tempers flare between D-Backs, Dodgers - After Justin Turner was hit on the hand by a pitch from Jake Barrett, cameras caught Hale yelling across the field. Hale then came out of the dugout and had a brief conversation with home plate umpire Brian Gorman. "I guess their pitching coach didn’t care for their guys getting hit," Hale said after the game, referring to Rick Honeycutt. "It was OK yesterday when our two guys got hit on the wrist, but tonight it wasn’t right, even though the last pitch that Barrett threw was a slider. I’m not going to allow anybody from the other team to yell towards my dugout, whoever he’s yelling at. It’s not acceptable."

Team news

[AZ Central] Greinke’s change-up inspiring Diamondbacks teammates - When they signed Zack Greinke in the offseason, the Diamondbacks were hoping the veteran right-hander could impart some wisdom on the club’s young staff. His presence already has been felt in at least one area – the way left-handers Robbie Ray and Patrick Corbin are throwing their change-ups. Both lefties were focusing during spring training on adding the pitch to their repertoires, and both have opened the season throwing their change-ups harder than they have in the past.

[dbacks.com] D-backs like Nick Ahmed batting ninth - Whether D-backs manager Chip Hale hits the pitcher in the eighth or ninth spot in the order has less to do with how good of a hitter the pitcher is and more about wanting shortstop Nick Ahmed to bat behind the pitcher rather than in front of him. "We're doing it more to make Ahmed more of a second leadoff hitter," Hale said. "Then the top of the order with [Jean] Segura is a two and then whoever is hitting second for us would be the third hitter and then Paul [Goldschmidt] fourth."

[OC Register] Zack Greinke doesn't fault Dodgers for not paying to keep him - The Dodgers eschewed the usual opening-day practice of introducing every player on both teams. They opted instead to have the Diamondbacks’ reserves line up on the baseline but only introduced the starting lineup individually. "Some guys get booed when they’ve done the most for a city. Then some guys get cheered when they haven’t done much for a city. Probably whatever they do it’s probably deserved. They’ll probably do whatever is called for. ... They’ll let me know if I did stuff wrong or if I should have done things differently. They’ll be my judge."

[Yahoo] Zack Greinke has been bad and he knows it - "A lot of things," Greinke said when asked what had gone wrong in his two starts as a Diamondback. "It’s just been pretty bad all around. I wouldn’t say I’m pitching terrible, but definitely not good enough. Location’s not great. Stuff’s been pretty good, but the location has been … just too many bad pitches." Could be bad luck. Could be discomfort in a new uniform, in a new ballpark. Could be mechanics. Could be nothing. Could also be whatever’s afflicting so many front-end starters all over the game. "Just a little bit of everything not good at the moment," he said.

[DowntownDevil] Businesses not panicking over Diamondbacks drama - The improved amenities downtown have created circumstances that would soften the blow of the Diamondbacks leaving. Downtown is in a much different place than it was in 1998, given that the biomedical campus and the ASU campus were not there yet, he said. "What’s shifted is that we needed the Diamondbacks and the sports facilities and while they’re still really important, I think downtown has changed and is helping the sports teams by having more connectivity and stronger amenities," Krietor said.

And, elsewhere...

[FOX2now] Joe Garagiola eulogized in the same St. Louis church where he was baptized - Garagiola`s wife of 66 years, Audrie was one of many speakers who spoke of her late husband`s generosity, telling a story about what he did when, at the age of 16, he received a $500 signing bonus after being given his first contract in baseball. 'Joe called his brother and said 'let`s go down to the factory, we`ve got to find pop,' and they looked for him and they found him and Joe gave him this check for $500 and he said, 'here pop now you can pay off the mortgage on the house.' And he said that was the first time he ever saw his father cry,' she said.

[Yahoo] The Pablo Sandoval-Red Sox marriage could be coming to an end - The broken, disastrous marriage between Pablo Sandoval and the Boston Red Sox, an ill-fated union exceeded in its dysfunction only by a Kardashian coupling, could be nearing its end. Here’s how ugly it has gotten, major league sources told Yahoo Sports: Sandoval wants to stay in Boston only if he can play every day, and the Red Sox have no intention of playing him unless he loses weight and others in their current lineup struggle.

[ESPN] Adam LaRoche goes deep on his decision to walk - So, what did you do this off-season? "LaRoche, along with Brewers pitcher Blaine Boyer, spent 10 days in November in Southeast Asian brothels, wearing a hidden camera and doing undercover work to help rescue underage sex slaves." Both former Diamondbacks, curiously. I have no clue as to the significance of this.

[MiLB] Sloppy Defense Dooms Blaze in 13-3 Defeat - In a ballgame that was closer than the final score would indicate, the Bakersfield Blaze committed five errors that led to 13 unearned Modesto Nuts runs - the only runs that the Nuts would score in the game. In case you're wondering that's not quite the pro record, though only once in the majors has a team scored more than 10 times, all unearned. That happened on July 27, 1985, when the Mets beat the Astros 16-4, again with all 16 runs unearned on five Houston errors.