Snake Bytes, 8/31: Outta August

Recaps

[AZ Centtral] Robbie Ray's progress palpable in victory over Dodgers - Ray has made 18 starts, but he has rarely resembled his 2017 version, the one who pounded the strike zone, limited baserunners and generally overpowered hitters every fifth day. Instead, Ray has spent the year alternating between trying to rediscover his stuff, battling through injury and fighting his mechanics. But, for the first time in weeks, he showed flashes old self. It was there in the first, when he pitched himself into trouble but struck out back-to-back hitters to avoid damage. It was there in the third, when he battled back from a 3-0 count to get Justin Turner to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

[MLB] Peralta, D-backs create some distance in LA - David Peralta had seen Rich Hill do it twice already, so he knew there was a chance the left-hander would drop his arm angle down at some point during his at-bat in the fifth inning. “I mean, I watch video before the game and kind of know what he’s been doing lately,” Peralta said. “So, he did it a couple times my first at-bat, and the second, too, and he got me twice, so I was aware.” Hill dropped down on his first pitch of the at-bat, threw a fastball and Peralta hit it. Hard, 107.7 mph to be exact. But it was on a line, and he didn’t think it was leaving the park.

[The Athletic] When Robbie Ray is clicking, the Diamondbacks have the rotation they expected - All season, the lefty has fought his mechanics, trying to sync up every muscle and joint to deliver the ball with the velocity and accuracy he displayed a year ago. After some of his outings, that search has left him baffled. Thursday, however, he seemed to find whatever he was seeking. “When I’m delivering the pitch when I want to and everything is on time, it just feels effortless,” Ray said. “There were times tonight where I may have gotten behind a guy 1-0, 2-0 and just kind of threw a BP heater and it was 94. To be able to be that in sync with my delivery tonight and be able to do that, it felt really good.”

Team news

[Arizona Sports] Bickley: Diamondbacks' bizarre lineup choices continue to confound - Too often he seems to wear the results of a collaborative effort in Arizona, when his lineup cards occasionally make you roll the eyes and mistrust the process. And here’s why: Professional sports represent the pinnacle of athletic competition and human achievement. Complex hitting theories can become obstacles, making athletes think way too much. And sometimes, it’s best to put your best players on the field and let them figure it for themselves.

[The Athletic] Shortchanged: Diamondbacks hitters are crushing the ball without the reward - [The 2018 Diamondbacks] are an outlier here because they are crushing the baseball and posting a hard-hit rate of more than 39 percent. Only the 2018 Athletics have hit balls hard more often since 2010. But what’s truly remarkable here is that the Diamondbacks have an ISO of only .167. The average team ISO over the last decade is .151, so they’re clear of that mark. But given their extreme hard-hit tendencies, one might expect a far greater ISO. In short, those hard-hit balls haven’t gone for extra bases or been nearly as productive as could be expected.

[AZ Central] Exploring the link between Escobar and Machado - Escobar's certainly given the Diamondbacks’ steady production, performing better than the team’s previous third baseman, Jake Lamb, who was playing all season with a shoulder injury that required surgery shortly after Escobar was acquired. “I think the versatility he gives us, where he hits it he lineup, the switch-hitting, his defensive assuredness at third base – everything has proven to be pretty valuable for us,” Hazen said. “Obviously it’s highlighted more with the news that we got after we acquired him. He’s fit into the clubhouse. The guys love him. He’s a baseball rat. All good things for us.”

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks in middle of pack in ESPN's trade deadline re-grades - Although the Arizona Diamondbacks were buyers at the trade deadline, their moves haven’t exactly panned out, according to ESPN. In Brandon Doolittle of ESPN’s article re-grading the 2018 trade deadline, he gave the D-backs a C+, noting inconsistencies from the players picked up at the deadline. Eduardo Escobar has been productive since joining the team, but according to the article, not productive enough.

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[Yahoo] MLB's fragile labor peace hinges on this winter - Free agency, on-field play, anti-competitiveness, marketing of players, collection of biometric data – each is a battleground expected to feature prominently as the sides barrel toward the most contentious labor negotiations in a generation. While the current collective-bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until 2021, baseball is staring at its greatest threat to labor peace since the 1994 strike, according to more than a dozen league and union officials, owners, agents, players and front-office personnel.

[SI] MLB partners with Latin American trainers to combat PED use - Major League Baseball announced a partnership Thursday with Latin American trainers aimed at combatting performance-enhancing drug use by amateur players. MLB released a statement introducing the Trainer Partnership Program, where trainers will voluntarily enroll their players in the league's drug testing program... The pilot programs will begin in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. 46 trainers that "came highly recommended by MLB clubs" have already agreed to participate.

Finally... Hey! It’s an article about where we will be pre-gaming before BruteSnakeFest on Sep 22! Tickets to the event are available here. Now, read about the delicious comestibles which will be available.

[Vice] How an Old Timey British Pastry Got Super Popular in Arizona - If you set out to create a totally unsuccessful restaurant, there’d be a few things you might do to ensure its failure. You’d want to specialize in a single, deeply British item that’s prone to mispronunciation, eludes meaningful comparisons to any other dish, and has an origin story involving arsenic poisoning. And then you’d want to set up shop somewhere with a year-round climate incompatible with consuming the kind of food that you intend to serve.