Snake Bytes: 05/30 - Swept Again

Diamondbacks News

[AZ Central] Dodgers sweep Diamondbacks in four-game series for second time this month

“I wasn’t anticipating having to go through that again for the rest of this year,” Lovullo said of being swept in four games again. “But, you know, we’ve got to digest this one as quickly as possible.”

[Arizona Sports] D-backs fall short on comeback attempt, get swept by Dodgers

“Chase rate was a little bit too high,” Lovullo said. “We’ve just got to continue to be patient and preach patience to these hitters and let them understand how important it is to eliminate chase and force a pitcher to get on the plate and make mistakes and then we punish mistakes.”

[dbacks.com] D-backs unable to halt Dodgers’ momentum ... again

“They’ve got some good starters, they’ve got a really good bullpen. You just have to really be locked in and capitalize when we have those opportunities to score some runs,” Rojas said. “Those little situations that you take for granted early in the game could really help us at the end of games.”

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks’ Jake Hager pitches in wherever needed in latest MLB stint

As difficult as all the moving around has been, Hager chooses to keep a positive mind frame.

“It’s been a dream come true. Very fortunate to be where I’m at and I’m doing whatever I can to help the team. I love this opportunity, and trying to make the best of it,” Hager said. “Last year was a crazy year (because I) was with six different teams. But then once I got here, man, they treated me like family. I really like it here. They’re great to me.”

[Arizona Sports] D-backs 3B Josh Rojas keeping consistent mindset despite injuries

“He’s finally gotten hot, he gets banged up, so it’s just too bad that he had a setback, but I think he’s ready to step right in there,” Lovullo said. “He’s a good baseball player, a very good baseball player.”

Around The MLB

[ESPN] Joe Girardi not worried about job security despite Philadelphia Phillies’ growing NL East standings deficit

“I don’t worry about my job,” Girardi said. “I’ve never worried about my job. I don’t worry about my job. I’ve got to do my job. It’s the business of being a manager. I don’t worry about it.”

[ESPN] Which teams are the biggest surprises and letdowns so far?

“The Diamondbacks [should go into unload mode, DBE] , even though it is simply not within that front office’s nature. I’m thrilled for them that they’ve turned it around and probably won’t suffer through another 100-plus-loss season, but they must ask themselves whether they truly believe they can contend in a division with the Dodgers, Padres and Giants at the moment. They can’t. But what they can do is get a good return on starting pitchers such as Madison Bumgarner, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. I don’t hate the thought of holding on to those men and building around them — Kelly, if you’ll recall, was signed to an extension last month — but quality starting pitching will be very difficult to come by in July. And the D-backs have it in a year when they probably won’t contend.”

[CBS Sports] MLB investigates on-field scuffle between Reds’ Tommy Pham, Giants’ Joc Pederson over Fantasy Football dispute

Even if Pederson did something to infuriate Pham during the Super Bowl, we’re talking about holding on to these negative feelings — to the point that a physical confrontation happened — for nearly 20 weeks. Twenty!

[MLB Trade Rumors] Pirates Designate Cole Tucker For Assignment

Arizona Native alert.

[MLB Trade Rumors] White Sox Designate Dallas Keuchel For Assignment

Batters have a .364 BABIP against Keuchel this year, so there is some amount of misfortune baked into his recent results. However, hitters are also making some serious contact (as per Keuchel’s barrels and barrel-rate metrics) against the left-hander’s offerings, and his sudden lack of control also isn’t helping his run-prevention efforts. Keuchel’s 50.8% grounder rate is also the lowest of his career, though still an above-average mark league-wide.

[mlb.com] Greinke reports arm soreness after ‘sloppy’ stretch

“I just know a lot of stuff isn’t real good,” Greinke said. “Changeup’s not really moving, it doesn’t seem like. Not commanding the fastball. Curveball’s not biting like it was earlier in the year. Just the pitches aren’t very crisp. … Just pretty sloppy.”

“It’s just been sore and tight for a little bit,” Greinke said. “Stuff just doesn’t seem very sharp at the moment. Last couple games, have given up home runs on pitches that guys have never hit. So that tells you that stuff isn’t sharp.”