Snake Bytes 5/16: Is This Thing On?

Enormous thanks to asteroid for not letting her seats go to waste last night. We greatly appreciate it. My better half, who originally hails from the armpit of America that is New Jersey, shared some highly entertaining play on words regarding the New York Mets and New York Jets team names I had never heard before. We were treated with a well pitched game from The Other Zack, and an offensive explosion at the bottom of the eighth. Without insider knowledge, I assumed Aaron York of Amazin’ Avenue was being hyper-critical of the Mets bullpen similar to how we act with the our team in the desert. I will take his word for it from now on. The proven Zack Greinke (4-2, 2.79 ERA) matches up against Tommy Milone (1-0, 5.88 ERA) for the 6:40 PM start to the second game of the series.

Diamondbacks 7, Mets 3

[D’backs.com] D-backs power past Mets with 6-run 8th - Zack Godley struggled with his command in the early goings and left the game after 6.2 innings pitched with 5 walks. For a moment, I feared we would see the Godley that raises concerns as to whether he should be in the major league rotation. He settled down quickly after surrendering his only run in the second and pitched well the rest of the way.

"Fastball command was a little bit of an issue for the first two or three innings," Godley said. "But I just tried to keep battling through it."

[Arizona Sports] D-backs smack trio of homers in six-run eighth to beat Mets - I had a feeling after the first 7 innings that we were being led to another extra inning disappointment. Considering that I had a 20 minute drive and Snake Bytes ahead of me, the tone of this article may have been much different had that been the case. That was until Paul Goldschmidt was robbed of his 4th home run in 3 games, but alas the [insert your deity] is fair as his shot to center bounced off the yellow home run line resulting in a loud double. After a 5 hour replay review, Jake Lamb was the victim of ADHD the immediate intentional walk bringing Yasmany Tomas to the plate. No replay necessary for his massive blast to the batter’s eye gave Arizona the 4-1 lead. Hansel Robles decided he needed to pitch additional batting practice surrendering solo #DINGERZ to Jeff Mathis and Daniel Descalso.

[ESPN] Diamondbacks homer 3 times in 8th, beat skidding Mets 7-3 - On a night without A.J. Pollock and David Peralta in the lineup, excluding a pinch hit appearance for the latter, the rest of the offense put the game on their shoulders and carried Arizona to a victory. Wait, where did I hear that before? 13 hits in total for the Diamondbacks.

Diamondbacks News

[Arizona Sports] Bench coach Ron Gardenhire returns to D-backs after prostate cancer procedure - Do not overlook the significance of this addition to the team. Unless I am terrible at lip reading, it is my subjective opinion that there has been a bit of a learning curve for rookie skipper Torey Lovullo when it comes to managerial procedure and understandably so. He has had to come out to the field a few times earlier in the season for what appears as clarification. The hope is that Ron Gardenhire is now cancer free and will remain in good health. Ron brings 13 years of managerial experience to the clubhouse and an overall record of 1,068–1,039 with the Minnesota Twins.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks’ A.J. Pollock on disabled list, but says groin injury isn’t significant - Not to overlook the significance of this injury, but if the team manages to perform well over the duration of Pollock’s absence those will be wins in the bank that cannot be withdrawn. A strong showing against the Mets and Brewers should hold the team over when Pollock returns, yet again, to provide a shot in the arm to the team. That outcome is possible considering the performances of Zack-Zack & Associates.

“The trainers are really positive about it and so am I,” said Pollock, who pulled up after a single to right in the 10th inning on Sunday, hobbling the rest of the way to first base. “I couldn’t tell you which day, but I’m sure I’ll be feeling pretty good in the next couple of days and I’ll be running around pretty soon.”

Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera’s recovery from the same injury is an encouraging comparison. According to reports last month, Cabrera was diagnosed with a groin strain that was somewhere between Grades 1 and 2, and he wound up missing only 10 days.

[D’backs.com] Greinke faces Mets coming off near no-no - “Please sir, may I have s’more?” The managing partner of Zack & Zack will look to continue his strong season against the Mets. It has been a thing of beauty watching Zack Greinke perform lately. Asdrubal Cabrera has done the most damage against Greinke throughout his career, but he will be out of the lineup and of little concern. I will more than likely closely follow the Amazin’ Avenue gameday thread should Zack’s dominance continue in order to observe their discomfort.

Greinke induced a career-high 14 swinging strikes with his slider in his last outing. In 2017, opponents are missing on 46.2 percent of their swings against that pitch, Greinke's best rate since '12.

Around the League

[ESPN] Power Rankings: Astros on top, NL teams rising - A mediocre week has the Diamondbacks falling slightly in a few polls. They now sit at #11 according to ESPN, Bleacher Report, and USA Today. Fanrag moves them up to #7. Sports Illustrated drops them to #10.

[Fox Sports] 99 of the best nicknames in baseball history - My personal favorite on the list is George “Twinkletoes” Selkirk. It is not so much the nickname that makes the player memorable, but rather the player that makes the nickname. Of course, we could always run an unofficial list with names we like to call our least favorite players on opposing teams.

[CBS Sports] Terry Francona trolls Rays manager Kevin Cash by posting stats on jumbotron - We are nothing if we cannot laugh at ourselves every now and again. Terry Francona warned his former player and bullpen coach Kevin Cash that he had something special planned pregame. I like to give myself more credit than I deserve, but I am convinced that Nick Ahmed is trolling me this season. I believe it was the first or second Snake Bytes that I had written when I went #FakeNews and said he was switching his walkup music to Katy Perry. Fast forward and his walkup music is actually a selection from Christina Aguilera. Whatever works for ya, Backstreet Boy.

[ESPN] Is WBC to blame for early slumps? - Thanks for not playing Paul Goldschmidt, Jim Leyland. All he has been able to accomplish so far this season is a wRC+ of 163, .435 wOBA, .270 ISO, and a 49.5% hard hit rate. Did we mention he also steals bases? Plenty of them.