AZ Snake Pit - Game #129: August 25, Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2017-08-26T04:06:53-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/159713852017-08-26T04:06:53-04:002017-08-26T04:06:53-04:00Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3: Dbacks Get Player’s Weekend Off to a Good Start
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<figcaption>Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>I was going to work some nicknames into the headline, but when the biggest impact came from Greinke and Goldy, you can’t really tell the difference...</p> <p id="QvWotH">As you probably heard, this weekend is Player’s Weekend, which as far as I can tell is really just an excuse for MLB to release new uniforms so people can buy replicas of them. I do have to admit, though, that the different nicknames is pretty fun, even if the days of great baseball nicknames is mostly in the past. I’m looking at you, every player who just uses a shortened version of their real name. </p>
<p id="0UUaVR"><span>Greinke</span> got the night started with a 1-2-3 inning against the Giants. He got a strike out from Denard Span, and then ground outs from Hunter Pence and Jarrett Parker. The Diamondbacks were able to put together a bit more with two nonconsecutive singles, but with the same result. </p>
<p id="elJpG4">In the top of the second, the Giants ran into a bit of luck. The good news for the Diamondbacks is that it was mostly bad. Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval had back-to-back, one out singles to get it going. The bad luck started when Crawford tried to take off for third but went way to early and was easily picked off by Greinke for the second out. Nick Hundley was next and doubled. Sandoval hustled around third and went home. However, Goldy cut the throw home off and redirected it to third, where Lamb was able to tag out Hundley about two thirds of the way from second. <strong>1-0 Giants</strong></p>
<p id="mOk6RP">The Dbacks took an inning, but they answered back in a big way in the bottom of the third, mostly thanks to Mr. Paul Goldschmidt. David Peralta and Chris Iannetta, who was the first person not named Mathis to catch Greinke this season, singled to bring A.J. Pollock to the plate. He himself singled, scoring Peralta. This put two on and only one out for the aforementioned Goldschimdt. He took a pitcher’s pitch and deposited it into the left field bleachers for his 30th home run of the year and 99th, 100th, and 101st RBI’s of the season. Turns out you spell MVP G-O-L-D-Y. <strong>4-1 Dbacks</strong></p>
<p id="cON72C">Much to the chagrin of some in the GDT, this is all the Dbacks would be able to score on the evening. The Giants did make it closer, but Greinke and the bullpen did what they had to do to keep the lead. Greinke gave up an RBI fielder’s choice in the top of the fifth, and a badly misplayed ball of the foot of Ketel Marte allowed a third (unearned) run to score in the seventh, which unfortunately knocked Greinke out of the game before he could finish the seventh inning. Jorge De La Rosa came in and easily got the third out to clean up what could have been a messy inning. <strong>4-3 Dbacks</strong></p>
<p id="0SdhEm">After that, it was smooth sailing for the bullpen the rest of the way. Archie Bradley pitched a scoreless eighth, and Fernando Rodney recorded his 31st save. In the rest of baseball, the Rockies lost to the Braves, extending our lead over them to 1.5 games, and the Dodgers beat the Brewers, so we gain on them as well.</p>
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<p id="Wi1ePU">A solid nickname like Three Fingers: Fernando Rodney 17.4%, Paul Goldschmidt 16.6%</p>
<p id="SDgBSH">Calling yourself half of your last name: JD Martinez -6.1%</p>
<p id="ydGge6">A solid GDT tonight with 508 comments. DC lead the way with 116, fifty more than the next person. All present were:</p>
<p id="4tBIOT"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/AzDbackfanInDc">AzDbackfanInDc</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/BenSharp">BenSharp</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/DORRITO">DORRITO</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/DeadManG">DeadManG</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Diamondhacks">Diamondhacks</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Gilbertsportsfan">Gilbertsportsfan</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/GuruB">GuruB</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Imstillhungry95">Imstillhungry95</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Jackwriter">Jackwriter</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Jim%20McLennan">Jim McLennan</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/JoeCB1991">JoeCB1991</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/LamparT">LamparT</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Makakilo">Makakilo</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Michael%20McDermott">Michael McDermott</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/MikeMono">MikeMono</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/MrMrrbi">MrMrrbi</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/PaulGoldsmith">PaulGoldsmith</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Sprankton">Sprankton</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Xerostomia">Xerostomia</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/coldblueAZ">coldblueAZ</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/edbigghead">edbigghead</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/ford.williams.10">ford.williams.10</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/hotclaws">hotclaws</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/smartplays">smartplays</a></p>
<p id="LNDekS">Join us again tomorrow at 5:10 Arizona time. Madison Bumgarner versus Taiwan Walker. Should be a fun game! Be there!</p>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/8/26/16207760/diamondbacks-4-giants-3-players-weekend-paul-goldschmidt-goldy-zack-greinke-fernando-rodney-benjaminImstillhungry952017-08-26T00:36:37-04:002017-08-26T00:36:37-04:00Dbacks 4, Giants 3
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<img alt="MLB: San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y4cVsRDIHoct51SOENyhD8f4W20=/0x64:4290x2924/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56374689/usa_today_10238461.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p id="8toCL8">It was the usual story with the Diamondbacks again this evening. The driving force behind this home win was another good start from Zack Greinke. The only thing that kept him from going a full seven innings was a misplayed ball that should have been an easy third out bouncing off the foot of Ketel Marte. Even with that, though, he ended up going 6.2 innings, three runs, only two earned, on seven hits, no walks, four K’s, and, something that’s nice to see, zero home runs. </p>
<p id="MEFuKs">On the offensive side, it was once again the Paul Goldschmidt show. His 30th home run and 99th, 100th and 101st RBI’s on the season capped off a four run third that proved to be the difference on the night. </p>
<p id="Hw0jwe">On the scoreboard watching side of things, the Rockies have already lost to the Braves tonight, and, at the time of writing, the Brewers are trailing the Dodgers, so it looks like a good night to be a Dbacks fan all the way around!</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/8/26/16207854/dbacks-4-giants-3Imstillhungry952017-08-25T21:00:02-04:002017-08-25T21:00:02-04:00Preview #129: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants
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<figcaption>Pic from @BigCountry1739, <a href="https://twitter.com/BigCountry1739/status/901186190765768704">via Twitter</a></figcaption>
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<p>Players’ Weekend gets under way at Chase Field. So you’d better have a scorecard!</p> <div id="S6TiLq">
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS</th>
<th align="left">ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS</th>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Denard Span - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">David Peralta - LF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Hunter Pence - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Chris Iannetta - C</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Jarrett Parker - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">A.J. Pollock - CF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Buster Posey - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Paul Goldschmidt - 1B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Brandon Crawford - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">J.D. Martinez - RF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Pablo Sandoval - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Brandon Drury - 2B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Nick Hundley - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Jake Lamb - 3B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Joe Panik - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Ketel Marte - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Ty Blach - LHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Zack Greinke - RHP</td>
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<p id="PqTxcC">It promises to be a bit of a strange weekend, with players sporting nicknames on the back of their jerseys - except <span>Zack Greinke</span>, of course - as well as personalized “Thank you” patches on the shoulder. [Though, from what I’ve seen, they could have saved a great deal of time by simply pre-printing them with “Mom + Dad” on there, and letting players cross one out if appropriate] The loose approach to the term “uniform” doesn’t stop there, with players being allowed to design and wear pretty much whatever kind of cleats they want. Though the results appear to suggest that certain players should not be giving up their day job. </p>
<p id="IDvFZ6">For example, in no way are these unicorn-vomit colored abominations screaming “Look at me!” They are not, I am pleased to report, the handiwork of any Diamondback. The carpet gives you a clue as to which team their owner apparently plays for. Yep, this is my unsurprised face. If I was MLB, this is the kind of thing which would have me seriously rethinking the limitations for next year. But, hey, maybe this is what all the kidz are craving these days. Whadda I know?</p>
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<p id="vfqlzC">Elsewhere, I’m pleased to report that the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> are beating up on the <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> [currently 5-1 in the last of the fifth] so our ownership of the first wild-card spot looks hopefully secured for another night, before we even take the field. The <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> get under way in Los Angeles against the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> about half an hour after this game starts, so that’ll be your scoreboard watching for the evening. </p>
<p id="NKmJ33">It’ll be interesting to see how Zack Greinke does, throwing to someone who is not <span>Jeff Mathis</span> for the first time this season. Below, via @FoxSportsAZ is Torey Lovullo talking about how <span>Chris Iannetta</span> approached this thorny task, with the help of Jeff Mathis. <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Gabel/status/901222459709440000">It appears</a> the team will be going with a 3-2 split going forward: <span>Iannetta</span> catching three of the starters, and Herrmann the other two. We’ll see how that works out. Hopefully, with a W!</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sal discusses C.I. catching Greinke for the first time this season, and Mathis' role in today's preparations. <a href="https://t.co/bVB8L5PNxB">pic.twitter.com/bVB8L5PNxB</a></p>— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXSPORTSAZ/status/901238845877895168">August 26, 2017</a>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/2017/8/25/16207354/preview-arizona-diamondbacks-san-francisco-giantsJim McLennan