AZ Snake Pit - Game #3: 4/9, Diamondbacks 2, Padres 5An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2022-04-10T01:09:53-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/227823372022-04-10T01:09:53-04:002022-04-10T01:09:53-04:00Diamondbacks 2, San Diego 5: What’s the Opposite of “Closer”?
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<img alt="San Diego Padres v Arizona Diamondbacks" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X7r1-QROgNRFTLw_mRU8B9RK6eM=/0x1:3737x2492/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70732096/1390570223.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Notice how far the ball is from his release point, that close to his hand. We’re paying for that action, folks. | Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>I know it wasn’t a save situation, but anyway I’m just asking on behalf of a friend....</p> <p id="8Z98ab">So new Diamondback right-hander Zach Davies took the mound for the third game of this young, dewy-eyed season, facing off against the very large Padres righty Joe Musgrove. Musgrove was quite good, by the numbers anyway, in San DIego last year, while Davies kinda sucked for the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> in 2021, but looked pretty good in Spring Training outings since joining our squad.</p>
<p id="IxzjIM">Davies did his business in the top half of the first, retiring the first two batters he faced on weak grounders to the right side of the infield that Christian Walker fielded and Davies himself completed by covering first base. Davies then wasted seven pitches avoiding the strike zone for Manny Machado, who walked. Seriously, if you’re just gonna pitch around him, why not just IBB it? Anyway, no harm was done, as he got Jake Cronenberg to ground out to Geraldo Perdomo at short to end things. Sixteen pitches, but only nine to those Padres batter not named Manny Machado.</p>
<p id="A6Yz2t">Musgrove certainly looked like he had some rust when he came out for the bottom of the first, not particularly hitting his spots and using a fair number of pitches as he got things underway. He induced a Daulton Varsho groundout to second to start things off, but then Ketel Marte recorded his first hit of the new season with a soft line-drive single to left. David Peralta and his newly revamped swing followed that with a rocket into left center that went over the head of the Friars’ Trent Grisham and bounced to the wall. Marte scored from first, and the Freight Train, who was credited with a double, steamed into third on the fruitless throw home. Sadly, Christian Walker then struck out and Pavin Smith flew out to deep center on the first pitch he saw, so we couldn’t get Peralta home to put up a crooked number. <strong>1-0 D-BACKS</strong></p>
<p id="r2n6au">Fun fact: as Kilnborn observed early in the Gameday Thread, Walker’s AB was the first one of the year that was taken with the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> actually holding a lead. Tra la.</p>
<p id="u3upVf">Also, here’s the Peralta double:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Freight Train is operating at full speed. <a href="https://t.co/9ubbpRZWKV">pic.twitter.com/9ubbpRZWKV</a></p>— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/BALLYSPORTSAZ/status/1512950682499878916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2022</a>
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<p id="PbiTMW">Davies gave up his first hit in the bottom of the second, a two-out single to Padres catcher Austin Nola, but otherwise was efficient and continued to do his business, putting up another zero on the scoreboard. So, sadly, did Musgrove, who had clearly settled down after his slight rocky first inning, putting up his own zero despite surrendering a two-out double down the right field line off the bat of tonight’s third baseman, Sergio Alcantara. </p>
<p id="uZnKpO">The wheels sorta started to come off the Zach Davies bus in the third, sadly, though he recorded the first out on an easy flyout to left. He then walked Grisham on five pitches, which wasn’t great, but got San Diego left fielder Matt Beaty to bounce a weak grounder to Walker that caught Grisham in between first and second. If played properly, it could have been a viable double play, but Walker took a swipe at Grisham with his glove, missed, and then lobbed the ball to Marte at second for the force, allowing Beaty to reach on a fielder’s choice. Still, the lead runner was retired and there were now two outs, so it seemed like it was okay, until Davies’ pitch-to-contact style broke down a little bit. Manny Machado came to the plate and laced a double down into the left field corner, scoring Beaty from first. Cronenworth then grounded a single up the middle, scoring Machado. Davies then gave up a third consecutive hit, a single to Luke Voit, but that was all the damage. <strong>2-1 San Diego</strong></p>
<p id="3WIJxD">The next few innings were utterly quiet and uneventful, as Musgrove cruised through the third, fourth and fifth sitting down the Diamondbacks in order. Davies, meanwhile, faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth, despite a leadoff walk to Austin Nola to start the fourth, and exited with a respectable line of 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, and 2 K, with 75 pitches thrown. Joe Mantiply came on in relief and pitched around a two-out Eric Hosmer single to record his second clean inning of this young season, which was nice to see. No loaves have yet been Mantiplied this season.</p>
<p id="GZ8ukx">The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, managed to tie up the game with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, once again thanks to the new and improved swing of David Peralta:</p>
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<p lang="no" dir="ltr">DAVID PERALTA DINGER ALERT <a href="https://t.co/L4sHwQCeae">pic.twitter.com/L4sHwQCeae</a></p>— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/BALLYSPORTSAZ/status/1512971233880682501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2022</a>
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<p id="KiEwV1">Nothing doing besides that, but at least we’d evened it up. <strong>2-2 TIE</strong></p>
<p id="KP7rco">Noe Ramirez took the mound for us in the seventh, and despite surrendering a leadoff double to Padres right fielder Wil Myers, managed to record a couple of strikeouts sandwiching a groundout to put up another zero for us. We sat down quietly in the bottom half, though, despite Perdomo drawing a two-out walk, which brings us to the top of the eighth, and the inspiration for this recap’s title.</p>
<p id="QdEVFv">Top of the eighth: enter Ian P. Kennedy, who was once upon a time an Opening Day starter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dude is 37 now, and no longer capable of starting, but he kind of reinvented himself the last couple of years as a closer-ish reliever for the <a href="https://www.royalsreview.com/">Kansas City Royals</a> and then the <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a>. He wound up a free agent at the end of 2021, and we wound up signing him to a contract that actually pays him seven-figure money sometime in the last few weeks. He pitched kinda terribly during his spring training outings, but lots of veteran relievers do, because those games mean nothing, so no worries, right?</p>
<p id="Bzqpnh">Manny Machado greeted Kennedy to lead off the inning and singled to right to start things off. He promptly stole second, and then advanced to third on a Kennedy curve ball that was spiked into the dirt for a wild pitch. Jake Cronenworth then lined out to Varsho in center, allowing Machado to tag and score. Kennedy then walked Luke Voit, who advanced to third on Eric Hosmer’s second single of the night, this one right through the infield off Marte’s glove, after which it dribbled into shallow center. Austin Nola then hit a fly ball to deepish right that allowed Voit to tag and score. Kennedy recorded the final out, thankfully, but, well, the broader results speak for themselves. <strong>4-2 San Diego</strong></p>
<p id="otFdHg">We, meanwhile, were into the San Diego bullpen at this point, but the San Diego bullpen is much less problematic than ours, so we could do nothing in the bottom of the eighth, despite a one-out Varsho walk. The sad trombones were already starting to play, albeit in a relatively minor key. Then our other 37-year-old real cash money free agent back-of-the-bullpen acquisition, Mark Melancon, came in to pitch the top of the ninth.</p>
<p id="Jd24sn">Like IPK, Melancon had not performed well over his handful of spring training appearances. Like IPK, he did not perform well tonight, though in fairness, he was coming in as a reliever in what was very much a non-save situation, and closers (“closers”?) tend to perform more dismally in those circumstances. Anyway. He promptly surrendered a single to CJ Abrams, the highly touted Padres rookie SS, granting the kid his first hit in the big leagues. One passed ball later, Abrams was on second, and after a groundout and a single to a Padres sub whose name I didn’t bother to write down, Abrams also got to cross the plate for the first time in his big league career. That was all the damage, but it got us to our final score, as our boys sat down in order in the bottom of the ninth. <strong>5-2 San Diego</strong>.</p>
<p id="jnV4BC">Seriously, though, these two dudes, Kennedy and Melancon, were signed to fix our closer problems, and these two dudes lost the game for us. True, it appears that David Peralta was the only position player who really remembered to bring his bat to work today, but Davies did his job and the team as a whole did its job, and our two relatively highly-paid offseason bullpen acquisitions failed to do their jobs, and here we are, in what seems like a place we’ve been before. <strong>SIGH.</strong></p>
<h3 id="jRQKOi">Win Probability Added, courtesy of <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2022-04-09&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2022">Fangraphs</a>
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<p id="BIqQ3b"><strong>Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville: David Peralta (4 AB, 2H, 1 R, 1 HR, +28% WPA)</strong><br><strong>Johannes Gutenberg: Zach Davies (5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, and 2 K, 75 pitches ,+8.7 WPA)</strong><br><strong>The Idiot Who Conceived of the Smartphone: Ian Kennedy (1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, -34% WPA)</strong></p>
<p id="ZPOtye">It was a lovely and well-attended Gameday thread tonight, with 285 comments overall. Sadly, the new Vox Media comments thang broke the SBN Roll Call, so I can’t enumerate who all was present and accounted for, but “improvements” in technology always make things better, right? Anyway. Four comments went Sedona Red, but two of them were mine and only one of the remaining two was actually baseball-related and game-relevant, so tonight’s CotG goes to the always deserving Jack Sommers, who aptly and somewhat archly put the Freight Train’s exemplary performance tonight into broader context:</p>
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<p id="q7ajKI">So we lost the chance at a series win this evening, but we still have a chance to salvage a split manana. Come by tomorrow to see if we can achieve that, as Caleb Smith faces off against Blake Snell in a battle of southpaws for the concluding game of the opening series. First pitch is 1:10pm, AZ time. I hope you can join us.</p>
<p id="1nypfI">As always, thanks for reading. And as always, go D-Backs!</p>
<p id="FbfbvN">EDIT: The post-game interviews with Zach Davies and Torey Lovullo. It’s cool we have access to this stuff. Give a listen, should you feel so inclined.</p>
<p id="AiIN3a">Torey Lovullo postgame audio:</p>
<p id="64zVf6"><a href="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23379621/Chase_Field_85.mp3">https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23379621/Chase_Field_85.mp3</a></p>
<p id="3lF01v">Zach Davies postgame audio:</p>
<p id="9KEf8u"><a href="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23379622/Chase_Field_86.mp3">https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23379622/Chase_Field_86.mp3</a></p>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/2022/4/10/23018620/diamondbacks-2-san-diego-5-whats-the-opposite-of-closerDano_in_Tucson2022-04-09T20:00:00-04:002022-04-09T20:00:00-04:00Gameday Thread, #3: 4/9 vs. Padres
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<img alt="Phonautograph (c 1857) apparatus for studying sound vibrations graphically, invented by (Edouard) Leon Scott de Martinville. Tuning fork vibrated by bow or iron rod, and vibration traced on cylinder coated with lampblack. Engraving, 1872..." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fQfVGvYPYBPY6WffpxTNJlq6gjY=/0x0:4500x3000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70731516/113444031.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Today in 1860, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville recorded himself singing on his phonautograph, the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2022/4/9/23018433/gameday-thread-3-4-9-vs-padresJim McLennan2022-04-09T19:00:00-04:002022-04-09T19:00:00-04:00D-backs Game Preview, #3: 4/9 vs. Padres
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<img alt="Arizona Diamondbacks v Chicago Cubs" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fJEgGi6BXDLHudKE5BgQAGPJ6d0=/0x0:2400x1600/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70731358/1388471309.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The debut of Zach Davies as a Diamondback</p> <div id="7hL5ok">
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">PADRES</th>
<th align="left">DIAMONDBACKS</th>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Trent Grisham - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Daulton Varsho - CF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Matt Beaty - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Ketel Marte - 2B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Manny Machado - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">David Peralta - LF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Jake Cronenworth - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Christian Walker - 1B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Luke Voit - DH</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Pavin Smith - RF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Eric Hosmer - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Seth Beer - DH</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Austin Nola - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Geraldo Perdomo - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Wil Myers - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Sergio Alcantara - 3B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">CJ Abrams - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Jose Herrera - C</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name"></td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Joe Musgrove - RHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Zach Davies - RHP</td>
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<p id="qrTjN6">One of the team’s off-season signings make his debut for Arizona tonight, with starting pitcher Zach Davies taking the mound. Over his entire career, he has been decent with an ERA+ of 104. But last year proved to be a bit of a disaster, Davies going 6-12 with a 5.78 ERA (ERA+ 74) for the Cubs. The main issue was Davies’s loss of control, as he issued a league-leading 75 walks. His BB rate was 4.6 per nine innings, a sharp jump from the 2.6/9 IP he had posted before 2021. Also of note: despite making 32 starts, he ended up throwing only 148 innings. The majority (17) ended up with Davies not making it through the fifth inning. Given what our starters have done for us in the first two games, I’d be happy with a five and dive. </p>
<p id="X8JCC8">This evening’s line-up includes the return of Seth Beer to the DH spot, and the first starts of the season for both Sergio Alcantara at third-base and Jose Herrera at catcher. Both men will also be getting their first at-bats as Diamondbacks, though Alcantara was a late-inning defensive replacement in each of the first two games, in both cases coming after Torey Lovullo pinch-hit for Drew Ellis. I wonder if the DH is, perhaps counter-intuitively, going to make it <em>harder</em> to arrange playing time? Last night’s contest, where the Ellis-Beer-Alcantara swap was the only change over the entire evening, perhaps indicates what I mean.</p>
<p id="KdXqFQ">Bench coach Jeff Bannister stood in for Torey Lovullo in today’s media session, which gave the attendees a chance to ask some questions about his role. </p>
<h4 id="YA3lfH"><a href="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23379041/bannister.mp3">Jeff Bannister audio</a></h4>
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<p id="k7JjDX"><strong>What are the most important aspects of your job as Bench Coach: </strong><em>“From my perspective, first and foremost is that coaches room, being the captain inside that coaches room. Keeping those guys coordinated and moving forward. They need that support as well. They need sometimes a calmer voice, sometimes a little more stern voice…we’re all grownups, but they need an experienced perspective.”</em></p>
<p id="O6FKBV"><strong>Game Time:</strong><em> ” I’m managing the game in my own mind, based on a lot of the information [they’ve been given] and how we’ve GAME PLANNED. But also a different perspective in different instances as far as pitching match-ups, hitter match-ups, pinch hitting, pinch running, things like that I may give Torey.“</em></p>
<p id="GbKLUk"><em>“I think having two people in a managerial/bench coach role, if they’re so like minded you can miss some things. So for me it’s a little bit different perspective in what I can give him. And help him stay on top of all of our infomatics [sic] and try to gel that if you will. Along with keeping our guys, pinch hitters, defensive replacement, pinch runners ahead of the game, trying to forecast what may happen 2-3 innings down the line so those guys are ready.“</em></p>
<p id="LSdqkG">Jeff went on to say that while Torey may be concentrating more on the pitching and those moves, his job is to make sure the other aspects of in game management aren’t being missed.</p>
<p id="Swd6TV"><strong>On working with Torey</strong>: <em>“It’s been a blast... as good a communicator as I’ve been around... He cares about everybody, but is extremely smart inside the game as well.”</em></p>
<p id="q4m1xx"><strong>Culture: </strong>He gave a lengthy answer emphasizing the culture and broadcasting Torey’s message in his words is one of his key roles. Being out on the field and in the clubhouse making sure they nurturing the culture and not just <em>“band-aiding certain situations.” </em>There’s a lot more including discussion of pitcher building, (or lack thereof on the part of the D backs compared to Padres starters), and also Drew Ellis’ challenges at the plate so far. <strong>Listen to the full audio to get to know the bench coach and how he thinks. </strong></p>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/2022/4/9/23018298/d-backs-game-preview-3-4-9-vs-padresJim McLennanJack Sommers