AZ Snake Pit - Game #20, 4/19: Diamondbacks 1, Cubs 5An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2019-04-19T19:33:20-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/182717952019-04-19T19:33:20-04:002019-04-19T19:33:20-04:00D-backs 1, Cubs 5: Blown away
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<img alt="Powerful Hurricane Irma Slams Into Florida" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3gr766F9sVLjTJZM3Cj5jgf11TA=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63645240/845391556.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Being an hourly manager has its perks</p> <p id="3sNWXA"><strong>Record: 10-10. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2018: -4.</strong></p>
<p id="2JiOaQ">Ah yes, the glory of being a “non-exempt manager” in that I can set my own schedule each day, just so long as I hit my 40hrs by the end of the work week. Thus after a slew of sales calls, early morning meetings and late evening reception I reach my Friday with only 2.75hrs left to work.</p>
<p id="VTkclB">So now I find myself at Kings ready for baseball and a little day drinking.</p>
<h4 id="e5VZY7">Beer 1: Flocc Boiz by OHSO</h4>
<p id="WZgQZW">Work week over, beer acquired and game on. Let’s go!</p>
<p id="T0y0XW">1st half of the frame is uneventful, but Kelly regrettably insists on making his half a little more exciting as he walks two batters after getting a quick out. He dodges another couple bullets and somehow escapes with no blood, didn’t exactly give me warm fuzzies though. </p>
<p id="pvwy0E">Walker earns his paycheck again in the 2nd, but despite his efforts he can only get to 3B, and Kelly has to return to the mound once more and again he’s off to a shaky start. It gets much much shakier as he gets the bases loaded, and even almost gets out of it , but a comedy of errors occurs on a pop up that Ahmed just can’t track thanks to the wind. 0-2 <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a>, and honestly it could have been much worse......</p>
<h4 id="uDbtDD">Beer 2: Hop Troll by Odd 13</h4>
<p id="usrBQN">Offense fails again in the 3rd and Marte does what we all kinda expect him to do at a new position; make some stupid plays. Looks like he forgot his sunglasses. Luckily the very next play he redeems himself. </p>
<p id="xzQHqn">I’m both laughing and crying on how we’re handling pop ups. That wind must be brutal. Kinda like our offense, brutal, though I kinda guess this weather comes as a shock to the system. Not an excuse!!!!</p>
<p id="e0mDF5">Despite this start I still like Kelly, but wow, this start is rough. 4 straight lead off walk and right as I type that Rizzo gets a triple to bring in another run. 0-3 Cubs in the 4th.</p>
<p id="E4w1Sc">Yet another walk, still in the 4th. Pull him or keep him out? Looks like we’re committed to ride this wave (at least through this inning) since it’s the first game of the series. God help us all. </p>
<p id="Vghr3i">STILL in the 4th and Kelly issues another walk and it looks like Torey has seen enough. Bye Kelly.</p>
<p id="aWoC77">Oh joy, Kelly’s been replaced by Koch........who somehow gets out of the inning without another run. Madness.</p>
<h4 id="A7SA8R">Beer 3: Tiki Fractals by Belching Beaver</h4>
<p id="QXSCzC">Maybe this ale will signal hope. Maybe not. We’ll see. </p>
<p id="gZxnHG">Nope, I guess not. Offense fails again in the 5th and on and on we go. Not how I hoped my Friday would start. </p>
<p id="zBbjsu">Wow. Koch with a 1-2-3 inning. Never thought I’d see it. Hope? Is that you? Still 0-3 going in to the 6th. </p>
<p id="eHOTg2">Still no hope for our bats at least, honestly think this weather is messing with us. Looking at the forecast and it’s a balmy 46 with 26mph winds from the north. That sounds miserable to be outside in for more than a few minutes much less a whole game.</p>
<p id="zLJCmp">Koch’s watch has apparently ended as the Chicago winter overtakes him in the 6th after he allows a hit and plunks Rizzo. He proceeds to fail at life and we’re now at 0-5 and hope is gone.</p>
<h4 id="BRUBVB">Beer 4: Southern Hemisphere DIPA by Tombstone </h4>
<p id="7etmzW">Walker keeps walking hard as he almost breaks Hendricks’ ankle on a comebacker in the 7th. Luckily Hendricks is fine, and unluckily neither Marte nor Ahmed can capitalize on this misfortune. 0-5 Cubs in the bottom of the 7th</p>
<p id="RkNCzN">Koch’s still out there, so I’m guessing Torey has conceded this game, which is honestly the best move for today at the start of a series. Not thrilled but get it. </p>
<p id="c8nhkG">No offense again in the 8th and just a little noise in the 9th, putting the score at 1-5 but it’s over after that. Hope you all have a happy Easter after that game </p>
<p id="QdSM7J"><strong>Bells and whistles (and GIFs!), by Jim</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:center">[<i><a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2019-04-19&team=Cubs&dh=0&season=2019" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>, at Fangraphs.com</i>]
<br><b>Hurricanes (the drink): Ketel Marte, +3.2%</b>
<br><b><i>Hurricanes (the destructive natural phenomena): Merrill Kelly, -17.4%</i></b></p>
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<p id="y0Jfqa">Yes, this was largely a sucky game. No fewer than eleven free passes handed out by Koch and Kelly, nine walks and two hit batters. Meanwhile, we let Kyle Kendricks smash his previous personal best for strikeouts. Still, we did get a several amusing clips of D-backs falling over and struggling to deal with the wind. So there’s that.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">A gust got Ketel Marte, too <a href="https://t.co/cC0UMI74f4">pic.twitter.com/cC0UMI74f4</a></p>— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZHBuchanan/status/1119323920014950401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2019</a>
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<p id="eK8btO">Present in the Gameday Thread were: AZPerson, AzCutter, AzDbackfanInDc, BobDolio, CA_Yankee_Fan, Craig’s City Counsell, DBacksEurope, GuruB, Jack Sommers, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Johnneu, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, MrMrrbi, Oldenschoole, Rockkstarr12, Schilling2001, kilnborn, onedotfive and ponus. Nothing got more than two recs, so we’ll move rapidly on... to the same two teams playing at the same place again tomorrow. Another morning game; let’s just hope for less of a literal blast from the elements. <span>Zack Greinke</span> faces <span>Yu Darvish</span> there. </p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/diamondbacks-gamedays/2019/4/19/18507786/d-backs-1-cubs-5-blown-awayTurambar2019-04-19T14:10:00-04:002019-04-19T14:10:00-04:00Gameday Thread, #20: 4/19 vs. Cubs
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<img alt="The Battle of Lexington" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m4mpFphDjmHKD0_MHWsftZKoZyM=/0x91:4210x2898/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63642721/1053840358.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">On <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisDayinHistory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisDayinHistory</a> 1775, the American Revolution begins at Battle of Lexington. A shot was fired from an undetermined gun and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. The American Revolution had begun. <a href="https://t.co/H3fLYbNTvZ">https://t.co/H3fLYbNTvZ</a></p>— HISTORY (@HISTORY) <a href="https://twitter.com/HISTORY/status/1119235062254448640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2019</a>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/diamondbacks-gamedays/2019/4/19/18507946/gameday-thread-20-4-19-vs-cubsJim McLennan2019-04-19T13:30:00-04:002019-04-19T13:30:00-04:00Preview, #20: 4/19 @ Cubs
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<img alt="Whitbread Race" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Yo42PP1OrNUY72oPDuhiEM8M9Zc=/78x0:2429x1567/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63641822/1635494.jpg.0.jpg" />
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<p>Another day, another day game...</p> <div id="fPg4af">
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">DIAMONDBACKS</th>
<th align="left">CUBS</th>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Wilmer Flores - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Daniel Descalso - 2B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Eduardo Escobar - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Kris Bryant - RF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">David Peralta - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Anthony Rizzo - 1B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Adam Jones - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Javier Baez - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Christian Walker - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Willson Contreras - C</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Ketel Marte - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Jason Heyward - CF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Nick Ahmed - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">David Bote - 3B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Caleb Joseph - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Kyle Schwarber - LF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Merrill Kelly - RHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Kyle Hendricks - RHP</td>
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<p id="GffsKu">The second of four consecutive day games for the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>, after yesterday’s get-away game in Atlanta, and with all three games this weekend in Chicago taking place in the hours of daylight. It’s also four consecutive games starting before noon, Arizona time. Neither of these things can have happened very often before, though I have not been able to locate any specific statistical way to check in. It would presumably have to involve a trip to Chicago, like this one does. Because the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> are about the only team I can think of who are likely to have consecutive day games as a matter of course, let alone three of them in a row. It’s a result of their tenancy at Wrigley, which limits night games and light use. </p>
<p id="hrCh3G">For what it’s worse, over the years, the D-backs’ hitters have hit slightly worse during the day - fourteen points of OPS, to be precise. Across all of the National League, there is a day/night split, but it’s smaller - only three points. I wonder if this is perhaps a result of playing in a domed field at Chase Field, which moderates the conditions? We’ve previously looked at the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/2016/5/2/11521926/chase-field-roof-hitting-pitching">impact having the roof open or closed</a> at Chase has on numbers there, and found it to be quite significant over the year. Our pitchers have also performed slightly worse while the sun is up, with an ERA of 4.31 there, compared to 4.19 at night. That’s the opposite of National League pitchers over the same time-frame, where the ERA is 3.69 in day games, but rises to 3.85 at night. </p>
<p id="6BwFwl">Overall, the results show a difference of 33 points in win percentage for the D-backs in day games compared to night ones. They are 466-525 (.470) for the former, and 1221-1208 (.503) in the latter. [As you’d expect, NL teams are exactly the same for both at .499 - slightly below even, due to interleague play, where they’ve historically had a losing record] That’s a small but not insignificant difference for Arizona, and I’m curious as to if it’s a reason. Maybe, given the ferocious intensity of the sun, in their home state, they just don’t like going out in the daytime!</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/diamondbacks-gamedays/2019/4/19/18507760/preview-20-4-19-cubsJim McLennan