Snake Bytes, 7/28: Just Do It...

Recaps

[MLB.com] Zach Godley and Diamondbacks blank Cardinals - "He definitely had good command of his sinker and he was throwing that curveball at will," Arizona catcher Chris Iannetta said of Godley. "His slider was a really big pitch for us tonight -- being able to throw it for strikes and throw it for chase." "Godley had everything working," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "[He had] probably one of the hardest, sharpest breaking balls that we've seen all year. And the curveball was coming out of his hand hot. He had every pitch today and controlled counts."

[AP] Martinez hits grand slam, Godley shuts down Cardinals in D-backs win - “My defense, they played unbelievably behind me,” Godley said. “A lot of ground balls, a lot of tough plays to make and they made all of them.” With a limited scouting report on Weaver, the Diamondbacks had to adjust quickly. “They started to share some information as the game progressed and they made some adjustments,” Diamondbacks manger Torey Lovullo said. “These guys do a good job of relying on one another, sharing with one another and J.D. hit a ball really really well.”

[AZ Central] J.D. Martinez’s slam extends homer binge with Diamondbacks - In 20 at-bats, Martinez has five hits. Four of them have left the park. He’s driven in 11 runs, doing so at a time when the Diamondbacks’ offense had been struggling to put anything on the board. “It’s still baseball,” Martinez said. “I try to just relax and just play my game. Sometimes I still feel like I get caught up in the moment and trying to do well and all that, but I’m trying to just stick with what works, stick to my routine, stick to my studies and everything I do to get ready for a game. That’s what I’m trying to focus on.”

Team news

[Arizona Sports] Hall: D-backs 'exploring' market for bullpen help as trade deadline nears - “I don’t know that we need to, but we’re certainly exploring,” Hall said. “We’re going to continue to look for ways to improve our team... We knew, like in a [Pat] Neshek situation, you’re going to have to give up a lot. The Rockies did, but they were in dire straits there and needed that relief help. So there’s some big moves happening right now, it should be a pretty active weekend and we’ll see... We’ve been kicking the tires with every team. I think some of these bigger bullpen pieces have to go first to really establish what the market looks like. There’s a surplus out there. It’s sort of flooded, which is a good thing, I think, to buyers. But again, we have to establish what that market looks like.”

[AZ Central] Bradley confident in Diamondbacks bullpen as trade deadline looms - Bradley, who said he feels the same physically and mentally so far in the second half, feels adjusted to coming out of the bullpen – even though he'd rather be starting. "I definitely want to start again. For sure I want to start again," Bradley said. "But just like everything in this game, you have to learn to deal with adversity, you have to learn to deal with new roles and whatever you're doing you want to do it to the best of your ability. That's what I'm trying to do. I could easily start a game, I could easily come out of the bullpen. I feel like my mind is free and I can really do whatever."

[MLB.com] Lovullo: Slumping Drury not benched - "He's still a young player," Lovullo said. "He's had a great offensive year in spurts, the numbers are very solid and we just want to make sure he continues to learn and grow. I wanted to pull back from the moment and work on a couple of things.. It's probably now about a two- or three-week period of time where he's been missing pitches. Something will happen during an at-bat or maybe a fundamental part of his swing where he wasn't getting off and attacking the ball and squaring it up as he was earlier in the year. He shared a couple of thoughts with me, we bounced some ideas back and forth, and I made the decision that it was time to maybe go back to the drawing board and work on some things."

[AZ Central] Bickley: Diamondbacks embark on their moment of truth - There was a time when a playoff berth wasn’t necessary for the 2017 Diamondbacks to post a successful season, but the fan base has grown and so have expectations. An August collapse could leave a nasty stain on the tablecloth. So let’s hope the new manager knew exactly what he was doing when not penciling in marquee names to his team's lineup card. Most assuredly, the Diamondbacks won’t win a World Series in the next few months, meaning Lovullo will never top Bob Brenly as best rookie manager in franchise history. But his foresight could be a stroke of genius, bracing a team for its moment of truth.

And, elsewhere...

[MLB.com] Nationals hit 8 homers to dominate Brewers - The ball flew over the wall so often that it seemed like a team-wide round of batting practice for the Nationals. The Nationals hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in the third inning, which was only the eighth time in MLB history any team has accomplished the feat and first since 2010. Then, the Nats added another home run in the third to match the Major League record for five homers in one inning. [With the Brewers currently the wild-card candidate in the Central, we Arizona fans particularly appreciated this...]

[ESPN] Dear 1987, you're not going to believe what's happened to baseball - Say you had a time machine. Say you set it to 1987. Say you met a baseball fan from that year named Kelly. What could you tell Kelly about baseball in 2017 that would most strain his or her belief? To shock Kelly, you'd need something that (A) came out of nowhere, (B) reversed something about the sport's trajectory, (C) carries on that trajectory, but to an extreme endpoint, or (D) reflects some broader cultural change that dramatically reimagines America and, by secondary effect, its pastime.

[MLB] Trailblazing girls take mound at elite NYBC - Trailblazing history was made when two young ladies took the mound to face each other in Thursday's nationally broadcast 12U pool game at the 10th annual National Youth Baseball Championships, what is regarded as an elite boys' tournament. Whether they understand it now, Jillian Albayati of the Wilson MVP Elite (Norwalk, Calif.) and Anny Rivera of RGV Broncos (Mission, Texas) are pioneers in the sport. And when the day began, neither had any idea that this was going to happen. "I knew they had a girl on their team," Rivera said, smiling at her opponent sitting next to her in the dugout after the game. "I knew I was going to pitch but did not realize it until the boys were talking about it."