Snake Bytes 4/11: Still room for improvement

No, the sky is not falling. Yesterday’s game against the San Francisco Giants displayed some mental mistakes that the team can try and avoid in order to find future success. Luckily, both the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers lost as well, so Arizona remains in 1st place in the National League West. Tonight’s 7:15 PM start features a rematch between Robbie Ray (0-0, 4.76 ERA) and Jeff Samardzija (0-1, 10.13 ERA). The Diamondbacks will look to limit their number of strikeouts this time around, as “Jaws” was able to strike out 9 his previous outing at Chase Field.

Team News

[Dbacks.com] D-backs' foibles help Giants score 3 on bunt - For a moment, I had to check and make sure I did not record the Little League World Series on accident. I had a bad feeling about this play in the pit of my stomach before it even took place. I felt like Brad Pitt shouting at my TV to take the easy out in my best Billy Beane impersonation. Torey Lovullo and his staff should focus on limiting those mistakes as much as possible.

"I think I just tried to make a play that wasn't there," Walker said, "instead of just getting the out and having two outs and they just score one there and get the next hitter. I just tried to do too much. That one was on me. I wanted to get a double play there. I just have to shake it off and get ready for the next one."

Yeah. Shake it off and learn from it.

[Dbacks.com] D-backs' sizzling offense cooled by Giants - Good things are not going to happen when AJ Pollock, Paul Goldschmidt, Brandon Drury, and David Peralta combine to go 0-14 in a single game. This is the type of game that concerns me. Sloppy defense, ineffective pitching, and a lack of offense from our heavy lifters. There were plenty of opportunities to keep the game close or put together a rally. The mishap above really set the tone. Paul had a big opportunity to jumpstart a rally in the 9th after a leadoff double from Chris Owings, though, in reality he did put a good swing on that ball.

[Arizona Sports] Farm Rumblings Week 1: Stuff you need to know about the D-backs’ farm system - Michael has been doing a tremendous job keeping us all up to date on the farm system as always. Kevin Cron is providing a power surge for the Jackson Generals, the Diamondbacks new AA affiliate, hitting 3 home runs in a single game after hitting 26 last season for AA Mobile. It would be welcomed if the minor league players could outperform expectations as well as the parent club.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt having success early in counts - For a brief moment, I thought Paul was going to have a first pitch blast off of Mark Melancon in the top of the 9th to make it a 1 run game. However, it stayed in the air a tad bit too long. Goldy has the ability to do quite a bit of damage on the first pitch if there are runners on base ahead of him and hot bats on deck behind him.

[Nick Piecoro Twitter] Rubby De La Rosa progress - Surely a good sign. Our bullpen could use all the power arms it can get. In all fairness, the bullpen has seemed to settle down as of late. The thought of both Bradley and RDLR coming in throwing high 90’s late in the game is very appealing.

Other News

[ESPN] Giants' Buster Posey struck in head by pitch but “doing fine” - Scary moment for one of the game’s premier backstops yesterday as Buster Posey took a 94 mph heater to the helmet from Taijuan Walker. The incident was truly accidental in nature as Walker struggled with command throughout the game and had a few high pitches early. The Giants seemed to understand that for the most part, and there did not appear to be any retaliation. David Peralta was hit in the triceps later in the game, but that did not appear intentional either. Posey maintained consciousness and will be re-evaluated today.

[MLB.com] Myers hits for second cycle in Padres history - Somewhat surprising that this is only the second cycle in Padres’ history. Once upon a time, Aaron Hill hit two in the same month for Arizona. I will be sure to send Wil Myers bad vibes when I am in San Diego next week to watch them face the Diamondbacks.

[Sports Illustrated] The 30: Champs on top but three AL teams in top five as new season, format debuts - When the Diamondbacks perform like they did in the past week, they are going to grab attention. SI has them listed at #11 in their first week power rankings while ESPN has them at #9. If the team can avoid little league mishaps at home plate and go for the easy out instead, they may continue their strong early season performance.

[MLB.com] The Mariners have toasted grasshoppers on the menu and they sold out during their home opener - Yes, I did pay close attention to this. No, I will not let it go. The picture looks like a bowl of pasta noodles that is 2 weeks old and has been reheated 300 times. The article does not say how many were sold. I am assuming they sold out because there were only 4 servings on hand? Was an episode of Fear Factor being filmed at Safeco?

[Sporting News] Early player reviews critical of MLB's new no-pitch intentional walk - I am not a fan of the immediate intentional walk. I was not amused when the rule change was announced. Not only do I need as much time as I can get to get a beer during the game, the rule in practice is just flat out awkward. Some things in baseball should not be messed with. The time saved is negligible, and the videos linked in the article demonstrate what can happen when an intentional walk goes wrong.

[New York Post] MLB cares about one thing — and it’s not fans left in the cold - Cry me a river. Oh the struggles we do not face as an irrelevant west coast team that plays in a stadium with a retractable roof. Maybe I should write an editorial complaining about how I do not get to watch open air day-game baseball in the middle of the summer like the rest of the country. I will not because I rather enjoy watching baseball regardless of conditions.