Snake Bytes: 08/02 - Walk Like a Dodger

Diamondbacks News

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks blitzed by Dodgers on way to home series loss

Like Jim noted, there isn’t much fun writing about a game no one actually wanted to see. The D-Backs were bad and Caleb Smith was even worse. The pitcher was aware of that, indicating in his post-game comments: “I just beat myself. I’ve been doing that for three of the past four outings I’ve had. Walks have killed me.” Not much hope of a quick recovery from that though, as Piecoro writes that Smith was at a loss for what has become of his ability to throw strikes.

[Arizona Sports] D-backs get shut out in series finale beatdown by Dodgers

To make things even more sour, Chase Field was full of happy Dodgers fans. The Diamondbacks clearly have a problem in attracting a home crowd, like Caleb Smith mentioned: “I don’t know if you could call it a ‘home crowd’ — there were more Dodgers fans than anything”. Lovullo knows that the situation is not just a circumstance, as quoted by Derek Montilla:

“We know our fans are out there, they support us. Sometimes they support us from afar. It’s great when they’re here. Trust me, they can ring the bell as loud as anybody. And I’d love nothing more for our fans to come out and be able to say ‘D-backs’ louder than the ‘Dodgers’ in the seventh-inning stretch. But we’ve got to win them. We’ve got to win them back. And we will, we’ll get there.”

[dbacks.com] Smith: ‘I’m going to’ figure out walk problem

Steve Gilbert provides more post-game comments from the actor of last night’s bad movie: “It’s real hard,” Smith said about how he processes a loss like this. “That’s all I think about. Especially after a bad outing. I’m going to go home and I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.”

Around The MLB

[CBS Sports] How the New York Mets botched their Kumar Rocker selection in the 2021 MLB Draft

As expected, the Mets couldn’t reach an agreement with Kumar Rocker. The disparity between both sides was that much, that the Mets didn’t even make an offer to Rocker, something they weren’t obliged to do since the player didn’t disclose an MRI. Now, the Mets left a lot of unused bonus pool money since they went underslot on quite some prospect signings to save up for Kumar’s. The young pitcher, meanwhile, will probably return to Vanderbilt for one final year to up his stock and show all teams that the Mets and anyone else is wrong about his elbow. Alternatively, he might also do a Carter Stewart and opt to sign for a team in the NPB. Carter opted to go to Japan for, reportedly, a $7MM signing bonus after he rejected an under slot signing bonus from the Braves after a hand issue. He has made his debut there this season. Just like Rocker, Stewart was a Scott Boras client.

[ESPN] Season-ending surgery for San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. ‘on table’ if shoulder injury doesn’t improve

You cannot go on and off the injury list with a shoulder problem and tell the whole world there is nothing to worry about. Well, now there is something to worry about. The injury prone star shortstop might require season ending surgery. After a disappointing trade deadline, the Padres’ season is even more in jeopardy.

[NBC Sports Bayarea] Why slugger Kris Bryant grew up rooting for Barry Bonds

Las Vegas born Kris Bryant is finally where he wants to be and he immediately hit a bomb for his favourite team. However, it shows that you can still perform terrific for another team and win a world series for them, as Bryant did for the Cubs. Our first round pick and Yankee fan Jordan Lawlar has a perfect example of that now.

At The Olympics

Well, I was going to provide an article that said that the USA had advanced to the second round as group winner after, somewhat surprisingly, beating South Korea in the final group game 4-2.

Unfortunately, the USA just (I am writing 08:00 AM MST) lost their second round matchup against top favourite Japan in extra innings 6-7.

In a weird bracket this means that South Korea will now play Japan in the first semi-final and the winner will battle for gold.

The loser of this semi-final will meet either USA or one of Dominican Republic or Israel, who meet in some kind of a lucky loser round. So, the best loser of these four will eventually meet Japan in the final.

Did you lost track? So did I, but we thank Wikipedia for visualising it better than anyone could explain it by words.