Snake Bytes: 06/28 - Who’s The Boss

Diamondbacks News

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks struggle late, drop series finale to Padres

[Arizona Sports] Tatis delivers go-ahead hit, Padres win series over D-backs

[dbacks.com] Gallen ups his pitch count, but D-backs fall

[San Diego Union Tribune] Padres come back to beat Diamondbacks, finish 9-1 homestand

The D-Backs fell 5-4 and James told you all of it. Drink some whiskey and drink some more whiskey because this season still has 3 more months to go. Diamondhacks had a Sedona red comment in James’ recap about our top of the lineup hitters and it was a pretty good remark.

I want to make a remark about Matt Peacock. He reminds me of Koch, a cult pitcher (mmmm...what is a cult pitcher? Yet another idea for an article!), and he is certainly on his way to become a maybe improved version of Matt Koch (yes, the name of my article will be “kooching the peacock”).

It doesn’t really matter now if you put Peacock in relief or you let him start the game, because he will give up 3 runs on average anyhow and yesterday was another example of it as the Diamondbacks blew yet another lead.

Said, Jake Cronenworth: “We saw him in Arizona and then we saw him again the first night,” Cronenworth said. “So, I think guys were super comfortable going after the first pitch if they got it, because they had seen him. … When you don’t face a guy, you really don’t know his release point or how the ball looks out of his hand. But when you see a guy — it had been one day since we last saw him — you’re more comfortable going after those pitches early in the count.”

Lovullo had several relievers unavailable and others he was trying not to use, including left-hander Alex Young, whom Lovullo said the club expects to deploy in long relief this week in St. Louis.

In other words: be prepared for a huge early blowout in St. Louis where Alex Young will have to fill in.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte to undergo MRI on left hamstring

Switch hitters are a rare breed. They can hit from the left and they can hit from the right. Most of the times they do it better from one side than from the other. Ketel Marte is a switch hitter. Ketel hurt his right hamstring early in the season and was out for 6 weeks. The Diamondbacks hurt the laws of the switch hitter and thought he would need just a couple of days off when he hurt his left hamstring. “Haha”, said the switch hitter Gods, “if you can hit and hurt from both sides, you will get hit and hurt on both sides”. As such, the left hamstring now forces Ketel to an MRI and several weeks of absence. Maybe more than 6, because Ketel hits better against LHP than RHP. Switch hamstrings, amigos!

[Chicago Sun Times] Report: Diamondbacks infielder Eduardo Escobar ‘on his way’ to White Sox

LaRussa said that whatever moves the Sox make, they will not be the kind that cut deep into the team’s farm system.

Well, let me tell you this, Tony, the D-Backs will put a premium price on Escobar for the White Sox only, just for employing a manager who set this franchise back several years.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Crichton cleares waivers and is sent outright to Reno

If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?

If I’m alive and well, will you be there and holding my hand?

I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might

Crichtonite

Around The MLB

[ESPN] Houston Astros lead way with seven MLB All-Star finalists

I do not really follow the AL, but can’t say I am surprised to see the NL finalists. I think Ketel would have had a real good chance to make it, despite the injuries, had he played 2B for the Diamondbacks.

[CBS Sports] Mariners’ Héctor Santiago becomes first MLB pitcher ejected under new foreign substance protocols

I don’t care about Héctor Santiago, I want more of this:

Related: Gerrit Cole has worst outing for the Yankees and gives up 3 homers.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Injury updates

The Giants received bad news when Tommy LaStella suffered yet another injury as he suffered a hand fracture while taking ground balls at training. He is shut down for two weeks and has had just 75 PA for our rivals thus far. Turambar noticed it in his recap as well: Dinelson Lamet wasn’t at his best against the D-Backs. The velocity was down and the Padres repped of forearm fatigue. Now the diagnosis is forearm inflammation and Lamet was placed on the 10-day IL. No good signs for the hard throwing Dominican and a second TJ is looming.

[WBSC] MLB, USA Baseball introduce experimental extra-inning rule in Appalachian League

In case a game is tied after nine innings, the first extra-inning will begin placing runners on first and second with no outs. If the game remains tied after the first completed extra inning, the following inning will begin with the bases loaded and no outs. The game will end in a tie if a winner has not been determined after two full extra innings have been completed.

Across The Wall

[Mexico] Dominican Republic qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics

For the first time since 1992, and just the second time ever, “La Dominicana” will be playing at the Olympics. The Dominican Republic beat Venezuela (10-7) and The Netherlands (5-4) in the round robin and beat Venezuela again in the final (8-5) to secure the final spot.

The Dominican Republic will start the opener in the Japan Olympics against the host country within exactly one month on July 28.

[Mexico] Pericos de Puebla acquire Tom de Blok

Yeah, so why do we care about this? Well, I thought it was a remarkable news item since Tom de Blok pitched five scoreless against the Dominican Republic in Puebla for The Netherlands during the Olympics qualifier. Apparently the local baseball team was impressed and immediately contracted the Dutch pitcher, who was in the Tigers’ minor leagues from 2017 to 2019, and this year at the L&D Pirates of Amsterdam. It is just the second Dutch player to appear in the Mexican baseball league.

[Curacao] 2021 Caribbean Baseball Cup to open 26 June

I think nothing more but honour is at the stakes and the four participating countries are Curaçao, Cuba, Peru and the American Virgin Islands. Who’d have known Peru could be classified as a Caribbean country. Or that they play baseball at the American Virgin Islands (population of 105,000).