Doyers 3, Sneks 2: Beercap

Beer 1: Mango Margarita Slush IPA

There’s a ton going on with this beer and its name. I can taste the mango, I can see the slush (it’s hazy as hell) but I can’t really see the margarita. Still, it’s awesome and complex so I’m cool with that. Just as I write that the Lord Emperor of Dongs, He-of-the-RBI, the Golden One, hits a majestic opposite field HR to put us on top in the 1st 2-0.

Seriously, we as fans are truly blessed to watch Goldy and to have seen him evolve on this team. He’s the best of us, he’s the reason pitchers can’t sleep at night, he’s the reason the grass grows.

1-2-3 go the Doyers, and though I hate to even think it, I got to imagine such flawless play will not become commonplace for Greinke this game. Those who follow this team and blog know that Greinke and his former club are not the best of combos. I don’t have the pateince, but I know for sure that Zack’s numbers against the Doyers are pedestrian at best.

Dammit if I don’t write that and Zack gives up a lead-off double. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if I should just be like all the others writers and just write after the fact versus seemingly jinxing this and every innings as it happens.

Lo and behold! Greinke defies my negative thoughts by stranding Bellinger at 3rd. Go figure.

Going in to the bottom of the 3rd and up 2-0 with everyone’s fave Doyer Mr Puig bloops a single Ryu hadouken’s a bunt in front of home and then Greinke misses everything and everyone allowing Puig to puig his way to 3rd. Which leads to Pederson’s single puiging Puig to puig home. 2-1 Dbacks.

LI pray for a moment as Blue gets plunked by a Greinke fastball tip. He’s fine, but I imagine getting hit on the meat of my bicep would hurt like a mother$*^%#%. Blessedly offending the umpire gods didn’t hurt Zack that inning any more than it already had. 2-1 and we still got a long game to go.

Beer 2: King Kota colab IPA by Shop Beer Co & Wander Tortoise.

Colabs are fun; either with two friendly breweries, a brewery + a restauant or a brewery plus a bottle shop. This is the later case and it’s yummy. No surprise really since the owners of Wandering Tortoise are devouted to ales in all their forms and know good craft just as those who actually make that same craft.

Zack’s craft is in fine form as he gets through the forth by having Puig puig a ball into puig field. Oh Puig, such a puig.

Now we’re in the 5th and Zack closes out yet another inning as Machado pops up stranding Pederson and helping keep my good mood and pleasant buzz intact. In all honesty though I still would have been happy getting Manny before the trade deadline, but with how amazing Ahmed has done and how Escobar has turned out I’m honestly just fine we didn’t get him.

Still no offense after Goldy’s 1st inning heroics. Not ideal. At all. Not to say that Ryu is a cupcake of Doyer pitchers, but I feel that we should be doing more, and I sure as hell feel like we’ll need to before this game is done.

6th innings in and Zack has yet to hit 70 pitches. His nerdy self has gotten crits in every inning thus far. Praying it continues on into the night....

Beer 3: Wavvy IPA my Stillwater Artisanal

My spellcheck tells me artisanal is not a word, but apparently that’s only because it’s capitalized? Ok. It’s a good beer. Trust me.

Zack’s a good pitcher too, but even on a good day he’ll make mistakes, and now we’re tied at 2 runs apiece. Not ideal at all, but since this series was supposed to be a nightmare I’ll take it....for now.

Mathis really should be sent to the Tree of Woe. After Marte gets on Mathis fails at life, which Greinke showcases even more by laying down a bunt just as Mathis couldn’t. I suppose this trace of drama matters not since Souza grounds out as we go in to the bottom of the 8th. 2-2. More fun to come.

More fun comes quickly as Turner punishes our decision to keep Greinke in. 2-3 Doyers.

Diekman replaces the great Zack, who despite loses the lead has indeed been great, and closes things out. Now our frustrating offense needs to prove itself against a bullpen most Doyers fans would also describe as frustrating. Interesting.

AJ’s lines out, but Lord Goldy legs out a bloop double. Now things are REAL interesting with a man on 2nd and Peralta up to bat.

Peralta’s been great, but falls short here in the 9th, now it falls to Escobar. Will this be his time? Nope.

Luckily this Padres help us out a bit by failing at life tonight (thus far as I write), but this loss still stings a bit. Felt like a great chance to put another nail in the Doyers coffin, but it was not to be. Dammit.

Bells and whistles, by Jim

Thanks to those present in the Gameday Thread, who were: BigSmarty, BobDolio, DORRITO, DeadManG, GuruB, Jack Sommers, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, Johnneu, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, MrMrrbi, PaulGoldsmith, Penitentiary Face, Prizmapunk, ShirtOffYourBack, Sprankton, UofALifer, asteroid, coldblueAZ, dbacks13, edbigghead, kilnborn, onedotfive, since_98 and smartplays. Comment of the night to ShirtOffYourBack:

It was not to be on this occasion, but as Turambar notes, the Padres did us a favor by shutting out the Rockies, so Arizona stays a game ahead, now of the Dodgers, with the Rockies 1 ¹⁄₂ games back. Third game of the series tomorrow night, and it should be a doozy, as the two teams both send up their aces: Patrick Corbin for Arizona, and Clayton Kershaw for Los Angeles. It’s a 6:10pm first pitch, so get your popcorn ready.