AZ Snake Pit - Game #39: Diamondbacks 1, Braves 10An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2013-05-14T03:51:37-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/40924112013-05-14T03:51:37-04:002013-05-14T03:51:37-04:00Braves 10, Dbacks 1 - Miley's Meltdown
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<img alt="The Brothers Upton had a pretty good evening." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eIgd2A0QjTuAfZdmCpEgx9i_R5M=/0x70:4000x2737/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/13121541/168687556.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>The Brothers Upton had a pretty good evening. | Norm Hall</figcaption>
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<p>Of course, Wade Miley would pick tonight of all nights to have a meltdown the likes of which we've never seen out of him. Not only was it his worst outing of the season, it was the second-to-worst outing of his whole career. Justin Upton and the resurgent Atlanta Braves took advantage, touching him up for seven of their 10 runs of the evening.</p> <h4 style="text-align: center;">Record: 21-18; Pace: 87-75; Change on 2012: +4</h4>
<p><span>Wade Miley</span> had been cruising right along through the first four innings of tonight's ballgame, giving up just two singles, and one of those was erased on a double-play. The game was cruising right along until the fifth inning. <span>Evan Gattis</span> reached base on an error to lead off the inning, and <span>Brian McCann</span> walked on a borderline ball-four call. Wade was clearly rattled, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. That meant Gattis scored on <span>Dan Uggla's</span> sac fly to tie the game up. The wild pitch mattered a lot less when former Diamondback <span>Chris Johnson</span> homered to the left field bleachers. That's three runs on only one hit in the inning.</p>
<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> were only up 3-1 at this point so the game wasn't out of reach. Until the next inning, when it was put way, way out of reach. Miley made one mistake pitch after another. First, Miley hit <span>B.J. Upton</span> in the shoulder, and <span>Justin Upton</span> didn't take that very well and he mashed a hanging breaking ball way over everybody's heads and into the row of the center field bleacher/arcade seats. While a home run from Upton was bad, it got worse. <span>Freddie Freeman</span> doubled and advanced on another wild pitch, Gattis walked, and McCann singled home Freeman. With nobody out and three runs in, finally <span>Josh Collmenter</span> was brought in. He gave up a double to Chris Johnson that scored Gattis, but he got out of the inning otherwise unscathed. Final line for Miley: 5.0+ IP, 6H, 7R/6ER, 2BB, 1K, 2HR. It was his worst outing since allowing eight runs to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Milwaukee Brewers</a> in 3.2 IP in June of last year.</p>
<p>While Justin Upton (4-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 HR) and Chris Johnson (3-for-4, 3 RBI, 1 HR) were making fans green with envy, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Arizona Diamondbacks</a> offense was not helping their case at all. <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> homered in the first inning to put the team ahead 1-0, and while that was enough to make sure the Diamondbacks remain the only team who has yet to be shut out, it certainly wasn't enough offense tonight. And it's not like they didn't have chances against Braves starter <span>Mike Minor</span> and the bullpen: there were <i>baserunners in every inning</i>. <span>Gerardo Parra</span> and <span>Josh Wilson</span> reached in the second, Goldschmidt doubled in the third, and <span>Martin Prado</span> and Parra were at the corners with nobody out in the fourth! (That was bad; you don't want to know what happened.) <span>Didi Gregorius</span> singled in the fifth; <span>Cody Ross</span> and Prado reached in the sixth, <span>Wil Nieves</span> singled in the seventh, and Gregorius walked and Ross doubled in the eighth. Even in the ninth inning, Josh Wilson singled with two outs. But TOOTBLANing was a contagious disease tonight, and despite 10 hits, the Diamondbacks would only score on that first inning home run by Goldy.</p>
<p>The Arizona bullpen couldn't even limit the damage to seven runs. <span>Tony Sipp</span> gave up a run in the eighth inning and Will Harris allowed two in the ninth. </p>
<p>The Braves may have won this battle, but the war is far from over.....</p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=547766&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-05-13&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width="450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-05-13&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span></p>
<p align="center"><b>Second Star to the Right:</b> P Goldschmidt, +11.2%<br><b>Smee:</b> C Ross, -3.1%<br><b>Captain Hook:</b> W Miley, -30.5%</p>
<p>I wasn't in the gameday thread tonight, so I don't know the mood, but I imagine most of those 404 comments came before the seventh inning, because I can't see many people hanging around after that. Clefo was your leader this evening. All present were: AJV19, AzRattler, Baseballdad, Clefo, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Jim McLennan, Majabe, Marc Fournier, PatrickPetersonAZ, Rockkstarr12, TolkienBard, TylerO, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, benhat, blank_38, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, luckycc, mebravesfan, onedotfive, porty99, rd33, and soco.</p>
<p>ZM had tonight's runaway Comment of the Night:</p>
<p> </p>
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<h2 style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; line-height: 17px; color: #222222; cursor: pointer; background-image: url(http://cdn2.sbnation.com/images/icons/thumb-green.vaa5927d.png); background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Gotham SSm A', 'Gotham SSm B', Arial, sans-serif; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; " id="comment_title_162654591" class="title collapse_toggle"><a id="comment_162654591">Did people clap for CJ?</a></h2>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 19px; ">If not, it totally means we’re a bad sports town.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #666666; ">Paul Goldschmidt looks at Tim Lincecum and says "We are going to foxtrot, and I will always lead." <br>-Clefo</p>
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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: 'Gotham Narrow SSm A', 'Gotham Narrow SSm B', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; " class="meta">by <a style="color: #424242; " class="poster" href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Zavada's%20Moustache">Zavada's Moustache</a> on <a style="color: #424242; margin-right: 8px; " class="date" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4328378/gameday-thread-39-5-13-vs-braves/in/4092411#162654591">May 13, 2013 | 7:17 PM</a> <a style="color: #424242; display: inline-block; padding-right: 8px; " id="comment_reply_162654591" data-comment-id="162654591" title="reply to this comment" class="reply_link" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4328378/gameday-thread-39-5-13-vs-braves/in/4092411#comment_tease">reply</a> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " class="cactions mod "><a style="color: #424242; display: inline-block; padding-right: 8px; " href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4328378/gameday-thread-39-5-13-vs-braves/in/4092411#" class="recommend rec-link recommended" id="rec_link_162654591">rec <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " id="comment_rec-count_162654591" class="rec-count">(9)</span></a> <a style="color: #424242; display: inline-block; padding-right: 8px; " href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4328378/gameday-thread-39-5-13-vs-braves/in/4092411#" class="flag flag-link flag_link " id="flag_link_162654591"> flag</a> <a style="color: #424242; display: inline-block; padding-right: 8px; " class="actions_toggle" id="actions_link" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4328378/gameday-thread-39-5-13-vs-braves/in/4092411#">actions</a></span>
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<p> </p>
<p>That's it for tonight, see you back here tomorrow, same time same place.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/14/4329348/braves-10-diamondbacks-1-the-miley-meltdown-justin-upton-wade-mileysnakecharmer2013-05-14T01:01:29-04:002013-05-14T01:01:29-04:00Braves 10, Dbacks 1
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<figcaption>Norm Hall</figcaption>
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<p>The Return of Justin Upton was exactly what many had expected: cheers before his first at-bat, followed by unhappiness as he went 4-for-5 with a home run. Fellow former Diamondback Chris Johnson also homered.</p> <p>The Diamondbacks actually scored first on a Paul Goldschmidt solo home run in the first inning. Goldschmidt was the only reason that Arizona remains the only team who has not been shut out the season. The rest of the game was ugly.</p>
<p>Wade Miley had kept the Atlanta Braves off the board until the fifth inning, when the wheels came off the wagon. The inning opened with an error, followed by a walk, followed by a wild pitch, followed by a sacrifice fly, followed by a home run.</p>
<p>The score was 3-1 after that, but Miley went out for the sixth inning and then even the spare wheels followed the normal wheels and rolled out of reach from the wagon. He hit B.J. Upton, and Justin Upton took that personally and hammered a home run to the center field bleachers.</p>
<p>Overall, Miley allowed seven runs in just five-plus innings. The Diamondbacks offense got eight hits off of Atlanta starter Mike Minor, but couldn't string enough together to get anybody in. Arizona drops the opening game of this three-game series.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/14/4329136/braves-diamondbacks-scoresnakecharmer2013-05-13T20:00:07-04:002013-05-13T20:00:07-04:00Preview: Anything interesting tonight?
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<figcaption>Christian Petersen</figcaption>
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<p>I'm sure there was something notable about tonight's game at Chase. Why won't anyone tell me what it is?</p> <p>
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<br><span>Mike Minor</span><br>LHP, 4-2, 2.96</h4>
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<br><span>Wade Miley</span><br>LHP, 3-1, 2.93<br>
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<a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> Line-up</h4>
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<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Gerardo Parra</span></span>, RF<span class="sbn-auto-link"></span> </li>
<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Didi Gregorius</span></span>, SS</li>
<li> <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span>, 1B</li>
<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Cody Ross</span></span>, LF</li>
<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Martin Prado</span></span>, 3B</li>
<li> <span>Gerardo Parra</span>, RF</li>
<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Wil Nieves</span></span>, C</li>
<li> <span class="sbn-auto-link"><span>Josh Wilson</span></span>, 2B</li>
<li>Wade Miley, P</li>
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<p>Ok, let's first address the elephant in the room, and get what is easily the most important thing out of the way about tonight's game: am I the only person who wants to call tonight's starting pitcher for Atlanta, Morris rather than Mike?</p>
<p>Just me, then. Anyhoo...</p>
<p>Wondering where the Arizona offense has gone this homestand: four games in, we've scored a total of eight runs, and are hitting .218. In fact, this continues a season-long trend: almost one-quarter of the way through the season, the Diamondbacks are hitting <i>better</i> on the road than at Chase, with an OPS that's 19 points higher away from home. Almost the same thing is true for our pitchers, who are holding opponents to an OPS twelve points lower in the supposedly hitter-friendly environment at Chase. For comparison, in 2012, the splits were +54 points for our pitchers, and +44 for the batters. It's like someone installed a humidor without telling us.</p>
<p>Curiously, it seems to be affecting right-handers more than southpaws. The three best (semi-)regular hitters at Chase thus far are Gerardo Parra, <span>Eric Chavez</span> and Didi Gregorius, all of whom have a home OPS of .850 or better. Even Montero is has an OPS that's 76 points better here. But then you look at <span class="sbn-auto-link">Paul Goldschmidt</span>:<br><b>Road</b> (81 PAs): .385/.475/.785, 7 HR, 22 RBI<br><b>Home</b> (82 PAs): .229/.329/.343, 2 HR, 8 RBI<br>He has always done better away from Chase (career OPS is now 191 points better on the road), but the gap this year is so big, there's an Indian tribe looking to build a visitors' center beside it: almost <i>six hundred</i> points of OPS.</p>
<p>The gap seems to have shown up particularly in home-runs, where our rate per game is 36% higher on the road than at home. That has translated into an average of 4.72 runs elsewhere, almost a full run better than the 3.80 managed at Chase. Since the opening series against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a>, we've managed free tacos for the home crowd only once in 17 attempts. Mind you, the lack of dubious fast-food is probably a good thing for our digestive systems, considering the last <i>fourteen</i> games at Chase Field have all been decided by three runs or less. I think a better promotion would be free Tums when the Diamondbacks score <u>less</u> than six runs.</p>
<p>'charmer gets to recap this one, following her social life swap on Friday. Me, being married, don't have such a thing. :) I'm probably going to pay the whole thing no attention, stock up on ice-cream, and snuggle on the couch beside Mrs. SnakePit for the DVR'd two-hour finale of <i>Revenge</i>. Not like I'll be missing much: just another one of the 81 games at Chase this year, nothing special here...</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/5/13/4327508/diamondbacks-braves-previewJim McLennan