AZ Snake Pit - Game #81, June 30: Diamondbacks 3, Rockies 6An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2017-07-01T01:44:39-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/156709052017-07-01T01:44:39-04:002017-07-01T01:44:39-04:00Diamondbacks 3, Rockies 6: Well, that was irritating
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<img alt="MLB: Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ocoHFL6PIwHwyOsMBhlEDnqwXj8=/5x0:3937x2621/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55536465/usa_today_10138527.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>A number of thoroughly annoying aspects over the course of tonight’s contest. Where to begin?</p> <p id="DGnyzv"><strong>Record: 50-31. Pace: 100-62. Change on 2016: +14. </strong></p>
<p id="C1cHNJ">Personally, the biggest grievance was taking about 45 minutes to get from the 202/I-10 interchange to 7th Ave, due to “police action” around the downtown tunnel, which led to everyone being shepherded off the highway at Seventh St. Things appear to have kicked off just before we arrived, but it was a slow, slow grind to finally leave the crawl, scurrying along the sidestreets, before rejoining the highway on the other side of the tunnel. We listened to the game on the road; just as we finally pulled into the driveway at SnakePit Towers, Greg Schulte announced the closure and suggest it would be best to avoid the area. #ThanksGubnuh</p>
<p id="LxQ3NX">Not his fault, but it appropriately sums up this game. It seemed designed to push all a <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>’ fan’s wrong buttons, from the moment <span>Charlie Blackmon</span> ambushed Robbie Ray’s third pitch of the night to give the <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> an immediate 1-0 lead. If you’d turned the game off there, you’ve have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary annoyance, as the various aspects of the Arizona game failed to gel. They have now lost their third in a row, so I’m sure we’ll have the usual nattering nabobs crawling out of the woodwork, predicting doom, just like they did when we lost three in Miami. Or in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. Or against Colorado and Detroit. Or LA and San Francisco. </p>
<p id="U7skQ6">Yet, funnily enough, despite all those times when some people were apparently sure they just weren’t good enough. the D-backs reach the half-way point in the season tied for the best record in franchise history, and solidly in possession of a playoff spot. Let’s perhaps try and avoid the “sky is falling!” claims - especially on a night when <span>A.J. Pollock</span> hit two home-runs in his rehab assignment for the Reno Aces. Not to say that there wasn’t room for improvement in tonight’s performance, because there very clearly was. But we’ve been here before, people. So maybe act like it? I’m pretty sure Torey Lovullo and the team aren’t hyperventilating into paper-bags.</p>
<p id="UVxyF0">Robbie Ray’s recent struggles continued. I brought it up in the preview, but sadly, it’s worth revisiting it. Here are his numbers over the last three starts, preceded by those from the five before that. It’s almost like two entirely different pitchers:<br><strong>May 20-June 11: 37.0 IP, 14 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 9 BB, 48 K, 1 HR, 0.24 ERA</strong><br><strong>June 18-current: 17.2 IP, 19 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 13 BB, 21 K, 5 HR, 5.09 ERA</strong><br>The strikeouts are there or thereabout. But the control isn’t, and balls are leaving the park at an alarming rate. As well as Blackmon’s, Ray allowed the first career home-run to something called a <span>Raimel Tapia</span>, which looks as if it would require tent-pegs to avoid blowing away in a stiff breeze. </p>
<p id="6i6sZM">Tonight, the first three Rockies all reached base, though Ray was able to avoid more damage than the one run. He stranded two more in the second inning. But back to back walks leading off the third frame proved to be a significant factor in Ray’s undoing, as both came around to score. Ray settled down thereafter, retiring 11 of the last 12 he faced. Unfortunately, the 12th was the <span>Tapia</span>-shaped thing mentioned above. Just like too many of his starts last year, Ray was inefficient, and ended up throwing 122 pitches in just six innings. For comparison, that’s seven more than he took for a <em>complete game</em> against the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> in Pittsburgh on May 30. </p>
<p id="rWOrtK">Indeed, you have to go back to 2012 to find the last time a D-backs pitcher had that many pitches in an outing. That was <span>Trevor Cahill</span>, who threw 126 in a complete-game effort against the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> on September 29. The last to need so many in an outing lasting six innings or less? You’ve got to go all the way back to 2004: the knuckleballer <span>Steve Sparks</span> threw 124 over 5.2 innings against the <a href="https://www.gaslampball.com/">Padres</a> on April 18. Tonight, Ray went six innings, and was charged with four runs on five hits and five walks with nine strikeouts. I imagine he was stretched so far, because Randall Delgado’s meltdown last night left him unavailable.</p>
<p id="6Rx5c2">Not that <span>Archie Bradley</span> and <s>Rubby</s> Jorge De La Rosa were much better, each giving up runs in the later stages. Bradley’s scoreless streak was ended in the seventh, though he didn’t (according to Greg Schulte - we were on the road) get much help from his defense. Sounded like <span>David Peralta</span> sat back on a ball in the corner, hoping for a ricochet that never happened, and helping lead to a triple. <span>Jake Lamb</span> then bobbled a groundball hit to him, killing any chance of the out at home, and turning it into an RBI groundout. In the eighth, De La Rosa’s wild pitch allowed another run to score, though at least those were the only two relievers used. </p>
<p id="xCCG6c">832 words into this and I guess I should mention the offense. Jake Lamb had an RBI double in the first (above). <span>Chris Owings</span> had two home-runs, both solo shots, in the fourth and eighth innings. Thank you for coming. <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> had a rare 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, all three K’s coming on Jon Gray’s slider, which he seemed unable to pick up for some reason. And when I say “rare”, Goldschmidt has had only one other game like that, not reaching base in five at-bats, with 3 or more K’s, in his career: July 26, 2013 versus the Padres. Like I said: this was all very irritating. Put it behind us, and try to do considerably better tomorrow, please. </p>
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<div id="rrG76h"><p style="text-align:center"><b>Click <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2017-06-30&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2017" target="_blank">here</a> for details, at Fangraphs.com</b>
<br><b>Buster Douglas: Chris Owings, +8.0%</b>
<br><b><i>Marvis Frazier: Paul Goldschmidt, -14.4%</i></b><i>
<br>Robert Colay: Ray, -13.0%; Herrmann, -11.6%</i></p></div>
<p id="ZOpqPy">Cumulus Choir led the comments, just ahead of the recently returned Songbird. All present were: AzDbackfanInDc, BenSharp, BigSmarty, Cumulus Choir, DORRITO, DeadManG, DesertWeagle, Desert_Devil, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Joey Lewis, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, Oscar Goldman, PaulGoldsmith, SongBird, TylerO, asteroid, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, kilnborn, onedotfive and samath. Comment of the night to DeadManG, in response to one of AzDbackfanInDc’s patented rants:</p>
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<p id="IaVuSd">Tomorrow, Zack Greinke will take the mound for the D-backs. I’m feeling hopeful, but I guess we’ll see. It’s a late start, at 7:10pm. I’m off to enjoy a beer and join my wife for the particular exciting episode of <em>Judge Judy</em> I hear coming from the living-room. </p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/7/1/15907376/arizona-diamondbacks-colorado-rockies-recapJim McLennan2017-07-01T01:11:57-04:002017-07-01T01:11:57-04:00Diamondbacks 3, Rockies 6
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<figcaption>Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Like good hosts, the D-backs allowed the Rockies to snap their eight-game losing streak. </p> <p id="CAWJeG">If you wanted an omen, the first <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a>’ batter of the night going deep off <span>Robbie Ray</span> was not exactly what you wanted. And Ray struggled desperately for the first three innings: he walked two in the third, and both came around to score, then allowed another home-run in his sixth and final inning. He gave up five free passes overall, though did also fan nine. Both Archie Bradley and Rubby De La Rosa allowed runs in their relief appearances. </p>
<p id="YJqx7G">Arizona did tie things up in the bottom of the first on a <span>Jake Lamb</span> double. But thereafter, there productive offense largely consisted of a pair of <span>Chris Owings</span>’ solo home-runs, his 10th and 11th of the season. <span>Daniel Descalso</span> reached base three times, on a hit and a pair of walks, but <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> had a tough night, striking out all three time he faced Colorado starter <span>Jon Gray</span>. </p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/7/1/15907472/arizona-diamondbacks-colorado-rockies-scoreJim McLennan2017-06-30T21:00:02-04:002017-06-30T21:00:02-04:00Preview, #81: Diamondbacks vs. Rockies
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<figcaption>Norm Hall/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>We reach the official half-way point of the season tonight at Chase Field, opening an important week of games for the D-backs division hopes.</p>
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">COLORADO ROCKIES</th> <th align="left">ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS</th>
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</thead>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Charlie Blackmon</span> - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Gregor Blanco</span> - CF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Ian Desmond</span> - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>David Peralta</span> - RF</td>
</tr>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Nolan Arenado</span> - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> - 1B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Mark Reynolds</span> - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Jake Lamb</span> - 3B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Trevor Story</span> - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Chris Owings</span> - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Pat Valaika</span> - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Brandon Drury</span> - 2B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Raimel Tapia</span> - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Daniel Descalso</span> - LF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Ryan Hanigan</span> - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Chris Herrmann</span> - C</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">
<span>Jon Gray</span> - RHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">
<span>Robbie Ray</span> - LHP</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
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<p><iframe src="https://swishanalytics.com/partners/mlb/game-preview-pitchers?id=491297" style="display:block; margin:auto; width: 100%; height:365px;" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></iframe>I think it's safe to say the team is doing far better than anyone would have expected as we reach the half-way point. A win tonight would give the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>' their best-ever record to this point, surpassing the 50-31 mark which they had in 2001. And we all know how that season ended. This next week will be a very solid test of the team's credentials, as they face the two main divisional rivals, against whom they have gone a combined 8-8 this year. They have actually had the edge on the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> so far, at 4-3, which they trail the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> 4-5, despite having won the most recent series, earlier this month in Coors Field.</p>
<p>It feels like the Diamondbacks should have the edge, even if the Rockies have also posted their best mark in franchise history to the half-way point - they haven't even been above .500 since 2010, so this is definitely novel territory in recent seasons. Jon Grey may have been Colorado's starter on Opening Day, but he has not pitched in the majors since April 11, due to a stress fracture in his foot. There will be a lot of pressure on his shoulders, particularly due to Colorado's eight-game losing streak coming into tonight. It's not difficult to imagine a delicious scenario where they lose tonight, and that completes the breaking of the Rockies, which we started by outscoring them 26-8 over the last two games at Coors.</p>
<p>That said, Ray's last couple of outings have not been as stellar as we have seen, even though they both came against the weak sauce of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a>. Over 11.2 innings, he had a K:BB ratio of 12:8, and an ERA of 4.63. That's a far cry from the five which preceded it, where the same figures were 37 IP, a K:BB of 48:9 and an ERA of 0.24. But his season figure of 2.87 is still the lowest by any qualifying D-backs pitcher since <span>Randy Johnson</span> in 2004; since then, <span>Ian Kennedy</span> in 2011 is the only one even to be below a three ERA. A good start tonight, would be a nice full stop before he perhaps finds himself on the National League All-Star roster Sunday night.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/6/30/15906814/preview-81-arizona-diamondbacks-vs-colorado-rockiesJim McLennan