Preview #31: 8/25, Diamondbacks vs. Rockies

So, six losses in a row for the D-backs, managing a total of just eight runs over that time. No more than two runs scored in any game in the losing streak. That’s not good. There have been only two longer such offense-less streaks in franchise history. In August 2011, from the 17th through the 23rd, the team was on a road-trip through Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington, and was held to two or fewer runs in seven games. Though they actually won the last of those games, 2-0, as Ian Kennedy, David Hernandez and J.J. Putz combined on a six-hit shutout, to beat Jordan Zimmerman. Both of Arizona’s runs that day came on a home-run by Sean Burroughs, which indicates how badly we were doing.

But to find the worst such streak, you have to go all the way back to July 2003. In nine consecutive games, in San Francisco and Miami split by three against the Dodgers here, the Diamondbacks were held to: 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1, and 1 runs. They actually hit considerably better over that than of late, with an OPS of .576, compared to .493 in the current run. Remarkably, they managed to win the series against the Dodgers. Shea Hillenbrand had a walk-off hit in the 15th inning of the opener, for a 2-1 victory, after Randy Johnson tossed eight innings of one-run ball. The following night, Elmer Dessens gave us seven shutout frames and had an RBI triple to drive in the game’s only run.

Finally, Curt Schilling followed Johnson in allowing one run over eight innings. But it wasn’t quite enough as Hideo Nomo and Eric Gagne combined on a four-hit shutout, as the Dodgers avoided a sweep with a 1-0 win of their own. A total of five runs were scored by BOTH sides over the trio of games. I’m not sure we’ve ever had another such set, where the D-backs won the series while scoring three runs!

Pre-game audio from Torey Lovullo

Madison Bumgarner: Will throw a bullpen tomorrow at 1 PM. Then sit down and talk and see how he feels. But it sounds like he will be back this weekend, figure either Friday or Saturday night. They

They still need 24 hours to determine what that means for Merrill Kelly’s spot. Then they need to give that to the team and will fill in the media probably tomorrow around this time.

It appears Alex Young will stay in the rotation for now and Taylor Clarke and Taylor Widenerappear to be the obvious front runners to take Kelly’s spot in the rotation.

Kelly’s scans and MRI were sent to Dr. Gregory Pearl in Dallas Texas and he’s been seen by the Doctors here in Phoenix. As yet there is no plan for him to travel to Texas, and they will avoid air travel for him if possible, but if required to travel to Dallas they’ll figure it out.

Daniel Bard: More questions and talk of Bard’s comeback. The interesting part of this conversation was how players have to deal with the yips. Remember Bard was the mental skills coach for the D-backs.

I’ve seen a lot of really talented players have their careers upended by something like this. This game is not just physical and not just fundamental. A lot of it is mental, the majority of it is mental. Sometimes that little man gets in your head and creates a little bit of a diversion, and when somebody comes out the other end of it, it’s easy to root for that type of guy.

DH: He originally thought he might be able to use the DH to give starters more rest and get them off their feet, but he’s needed to use the DH a lot to give bench players at bats