AZ Snake Pit - Game #152, Diamondbacks 6, Dodgers 7An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2013-09-19T20:24:33-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/45128312013-09-19T20:24:33-04:002013-09-19T20:24:33-04:00How Am I Gonna Get Over You, 2013 Diamondbacks?
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Tonight it hurts, but it won't always be this way. I'll just keep telling myself that until I believe it.</p> <p>Sport so frequently disappoints.</p>
<p>It's a distraction for the leisured masses, it's a good way to stay in shape, it's a way to break the cycle of poverty, it's way back to poverty, it's a way to encourage depravity and a way to encourage hope and dreams and charity and community, and we can't get enough.</p>
<p>It seem silly to form an emotional attachment. We're told not to take the losses too hard. We try not to let the disappointment characterize when it says something negative, but we also wrap the successes around our shoulders. No one wants to be a loser, but we all want to be connected to success.</p>
<p>And perhaps the only way to truly enjoy sporting events is to revel in the high and lows. A book with an antihero enchants and challenges if written well. Art frequently subverts our expectations, and often is better for it. A piece of music touches the soul even if it doesn't change through the decades. We know how Janacek's Sinfonietta goes, every twist and turn until its conclusion. It doesn't lose any less validity, and the art becomes an old friend, well worn and known.</p>
<p>Yet with sports we internalize the narratives. Some studies have shown fans to think less of themselves after their team loses, and the opposite after wins. Am I loser because my team lost? Am I loser if my team always loses? Or am I person with his own agency?</p>
<p>That sounds all well and good, but we can't escape our communities without fully disengaging. I may not make the laws of the state or the country, but it reflects on me because I am <i>of </i>it. I may not have had any hand in turning Scottsdale in to the Wine and Cheese club that easily derided, but I am <i>of </i>it. These larger systems are part of me, whether I like it or not.</p>
<p>Sometimes I think it would be easier not to follow sports. What joy has it brought me? How many times have I seen the Buffalo Bills balls it up at the end of a game, or ASU do stupid things, or the Sabres and Coyotes be, well, the Sabres and Coyotes? There have been times of a genuine happiness, but the balance is decidedly in the negative.</p>
<p>But sports has also brought daily, mundane joy. It's the joy of a hit and run or double play, the joy of watching the catcher go through the signs and set up, the joy of the hum in a stadium, thousands of strangers engaging in community. Maybe it's not Jefferson democracy, but for 3 hours it's close.</p>
<p>It's not the sports that makes me love sports. It's the people. Not the players, who are generally interchangeable and fleeting, but the people you meet, the ones who stay with you. It's that summer family.</p>
<p>Now we're in the winding down. The games will end, we'll wait for spring, and then it will come filled to the brim with promises. The season will unfold much the same as it does every year. The players will change, the winners might be different, but we'll remain, interconnected.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/19/4750328/how-am-i-going-to-get-over-you-2013-diamondbackssoco2013-09-19T19:41:19-04:002013-09-19T19:41:19-04:00FINAL D-backs 6, Dodgers 7
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>I'm not sure how this game is any different for dozens I've already seen this year. Offense started strong, the starter did okay but couldn't go deep, and the bullpen let it get away. The only way this would be a more representative game of the 2013 Diamondbacks season would be if it went to extra innings.</p> <p>Normally when you score 6 runs after 3 innings, you're expecting a win. After spending a season being frustrated by <span>Ricky Nolasco</span>, Arizona put the hurt on, scoring all 6 runs in the 3rd inning. It started with back-to-back singles by Adam Eaton and AJ Pollock, which was followed by the reliable Goldschmidt double. <span>Martin Prado</span> got in on the fun with a 2 RBI triple. Even Miguel Montero and <span>Wade Miley</span> got hits, so you know things were "poppin'," as the kids say.</p>
<p>Nolasco would stay in the game, going an additional 2 innings without giving up anymore runs. His final line was 5 innings pitched, 6 runs allowed on 9 hits with 5 strikeouts.</p>
<p>Wade Miley couldn't outlast Nolasco, also leaving after 5. His only 3 runs allowed came off a 3 run homer by <span>Hanley Ramirez</span>, who is apparently a player named Hanley Ramirez. Miley's final line was 3 earned runs in 5 innings on 5 hits and 4 walks.</p>
<p>Los Santos clawed their way back to tie the game by the 7th, getting runs off Will Harris and <span>Chaz Roe</span>. The winning run came in the 8th, when the usually reliable <span>Josh Collmenter</span> gave up a lead off home run to AJ Ellis, who sources tell me is not related to AJ Pollock, but is still a baseball player. More as the story develops.</p>
<p>That home run ended up being the difference, but it's not like the Diamondbacks didn't have their chances. Not going to win many games where you give up 7 runs, or so my gut tells me. That's how it goes in baseball, sometimes.</p>
<p>As frustrating as it was, it was just one game, though. It's still a long season, so I'm not going to think too much about this one. I've already forgotten who we played. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.halosheaven.com/">Los Angeles Angels</a>? Who knows.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/19/4750228/diamondbacks-6-dodgers-7-wait-i-thought-the-angels-were-the-los-angeles-teamsoco2013-09-19T14:30:06-04:002013-09-19T14:30:06-04:00Preview: Remember the Alamo!
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<figcaption>Ralph Freso</figcaption>
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<p>The season finale between ourselves and Los Angeles. Only pride may really be at stake - but as last night, I still want us to win!</p> <p>
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<br>Rickie Nolasco<br>RHP, 13-10, 3.36</h5>
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<br><span>Wade Miley</span><br>RHP, 10-10, 3.70<br>
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<span><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a></span> line-up</h4>
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<li> <span>Adam Eaton</span>, LF </li>
<li> <span>A.J. Pollock</span>, CF</li>
<li> <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span>, 1B</li>
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<span>Martin Prado</span>, 3B</li>
<li> <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="../../mlb/players/866/aaron-hill">Aaron Hill</a>, 2B</li>
<li> <span>Miguel Montero</span>, C</li>
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<span>Didi Gregorius</span>, SS</li>
<li> <span>Gerardo Parra</span>, RF</li>
<li>Wade Miley, P</li>
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<p>One thing I didn't realize was that last night's victory clinched the season series for us against Los Angeles: with just the one game remaining, we're 10-8 against them. So it's kinda irritating to be trailing in their wake, because they've gone 79-55 against everyone else. In fact, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> have been pretty mediocre when playing the entire division. The only NL West team against whom they have a winning record are the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.gaslampball.com/">Padres</a>, where they are all the way up at... er, 9-7. We need to blame the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">Mets</a> and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> for the current standings, as the Dodgers are a combined 16-3 against them (we've gone 8-9, with three against Washington left).</p>
<p>Nolasco pretty much did a number against us when we faced him earlier in the month, being charged only with an unearned run over 6.2 innings of work, as Los Angeles beat Arizona 8-1, in the game where someone told <span>Randall Delgado</span> it was the Home-Run Derby. However, his last start went much less well: seven runs while recording only four outs against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a>, and after we knocked Fife out early yesterday, I'm sure we'd like to see something similar tonight. Miley missed the Dodgers in that series: he has seen them twice this season, allowing a total of five earned runs over 13.2 innings, a 3.29 ERA.</p>
<p>Since it's early (I haven't had my coffee yet: any time therefore counts as "early"), in lieu of the rest of the preview, I'm going shamelessly to steal a couple of paragraphs from Grant Brisbee's analysis of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/9/19/4747438/yasiel-puig-gifs-bees-pants">a night in the life of Yasiel Puig</a> over on the mothershp. Check out the whole thing though: no-one skewers players quite like Mr. Brisbee, and I particularly enjoyed the "bad Puig" paragraphs, needless to say.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1815175/puig-loafing.gif"><img alt="Puig-loafing_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1815175/puig-loafing_medium.gif"></a></p>
<p><i>I wasn't watching this play live. Someone described it to me. It sounded like a minor whoopsie, no big deal. </i></p>
<p><i>Nope. It's glorious. Absolutely glorious. When have you ever seen a player not come in on a ball like that? I watched <span>Barry Bonds</span> … uh, let's see, "conserve energy" … for 15 seasons with the Giants. I don't remember him doing anything close to that. If Puig were sitting in a lawn chair, that play would have made more sense.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>"Hey, why's he got a lawn chair out there?", you would ask.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>"Good question, and we'll look into it!", I would respond.</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>Yet that exchange would still have made more sense than what actually happened. The best part is that Adam Eaton outpuigs Puig at his own puiging. It's Puig who's constantly running around he gets bonuses based on his kinetic energy. It's Puig who makes the other team feel silly for dropping their guard. How Adam Eaton didn't stick his tongue out at Puig after getting to second, I'll never know.</i></p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/19/4748640/diamondbacks-dodgerspreviewJim McLennan