AZ Snake Pit - Game #160, Diamondbacks 4, Nationals 8An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2013-09-28T02:42:12-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/45428012013-09-28T02:42:12-04:002013-09-28T02:42:12-04:00Diamondbacks 4, Nationals 8: Why? Just Why?
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<p>The game started out fairly quiet with a strikeout and a groundout. Jayson Werth singled but that was all the noise the Nationals managed to make in the the top of the 1st. The game quiets down until the bottom of the 3rd inning when Gregorious draws a walk and Corbin gets hit by a pitch. Eaton continues the on base parade with a single and Parra drives in Gregorious with a single to right. Paul Goldschmidt hits into a double play but Corbin manages to score. The action ends here as Prado manages a walk and Aaron Hill pops out to first. The fourth inning begins with a walk by Werth and is followed by Bryce Harper who hits a double and drives in worth to make the score 2-1 still in favor of the good guys. Ian Desmond strikes out, but makes it to first because it was dropped. Desmond gets picked off and Ramos strikes out. The Dbacks go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 4th. Tyler Moore leads off the 5th with a double to center and Rendon drives him in with another double making the score 2-2. Strasburg strikes out swinging and Jeff Kobernus walks. Werth comes up with 2 on and smacks a homerun to left field making the score 5-2 Dbacks. The game quiets down for a bit until the top of the 8th when Ryan Zimmerman leads off with a strikeout and Werth gets on base yet again with a walk and is replaced with pinch runner Corey Brown. Harper grounds into a force out and Brown is out at second. Desmond hits a single and Wilson Ramos smacks a homerun to center field to make the score 8-2 in favor of the Nationals. Not much else happens until the bottom of the 9th when Aaron Hill leads off the inning with a single and Montero pops out to third. A.J. Pollock singles on a line drive to center and Hill advances to 3rd. Didi grounds out and Hill scores. Matt Davidson doubles ad drive in Pollock to keep the come back alive but Eaton grounds out in the next at bat to end the come back and the game.</p>
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<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1830913/20130927_Nationals_Diamondbacks_0_2013092805011_live.png"><img alt="20130927_nationals_diamondbacks_0_2013092805011_live_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1830913/20130927_Nationals_Diamondbacks_0_2013092805011_live_medium.png"></a></p>
<p>via <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/lgraphs/20130927_Nationals_Diamondbacks_0_2013092805011_live.png">www.fangraphs.com</a></p>
<p>Face of the company: <b>Gerardo Parra 7.1%</b></p>
<p>B+ Player: <b>Patrick Corbin -31.8%</b></p>
<p>We had a light game day thread with 141 comments and our comment queen was Asteroid with 33 comments. All participants were: <span>4 Corners Fan, BackwardK, Clefo, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Jim McLennan, NoMoreMustache, asteroid, azshadowwalker, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, kishi, onedotfive</span></p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/28/4779368/diamondbacks-4-nationals-8-why-just-whyBattleMoses2013-09-27T20:00:04-04:002013-09-27T20:00:04-04:00Preview: Your Daily Strasburg
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The last series of the season, and this is for all the marbles. Well, as long as you define marbles as "a record fractionally above or below .500". </p> <p>
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<br>Stephen Strasburg<br>RHP, 7-9, 3.02</h5>
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<br>Patrick Corbin<br>RHP, 14-7, 3.28<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> <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/admin/sbn_pte_player/show/31904?league=mlb&slug=gerardo-parra">Gerardo Parra</a>, RF</li>
<li> <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span>, 1B</li>
<li> <span>Martin Prado</span>, 3B</li>
<li> <span>Aaron Hill</span>, 2B</li>
<li> <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/admin/sbn_pte_player/show/758?league=mlb&slug=miguel-montero">Miguel Montero</a>, C</li>
<li> <span>A.J. Pollock</span>, CF</li>
<li> <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/admin/sbn_pte_player/show/130091?league=mlb&slug=didi-gregorius">Didi Gregorius</a>, SS</li>
<li>Patrick Corbin, P</li>
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<p>Safely back from San Diego - thanks to Clefo for filling in during my absence - after a lovely couple of games, in which the Diamondbacks and their performances were about the <u>least</u> enjoyable aspects of the trip. Full report (with pics!) tomorrow: perhaps the abiding thing I'll take away is that I hadn't realized how damn <i>hilly</i> San Diego is. If I'd been asked, I'd have told you it was kinda flat, but there were roads we negotiated that would have given Lombard Street in San Francisco a run for their money. Next time, we'll bring abseiling equipment. Anyway, back to Arizona safe and sound, and ready for the final home-stand of the season.</p>
<p>I think you'd have got <i>fairly</i> long odds before the season started, against Corbin coming in to his final appearance with twice as many wins as Strasburg. After all, Strasburg was expected to build upon a season that saw him go 15-6, while Corbin had to fight for a spot in spring training. And, yet, here we are, with the two young pitchers going up against each other for their 2013 finales, after strangely opposing kinda years, at least in wins. You wouldn't know it from his record, but Strasburg hasn't actually pitched significantly worse. His ERA+ is the same, and his bWAR tally will be only marginally down (2.9 vs. 3.0, in one more start).</p>
<p>His record is purely down to a lack of run support. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> are 13-16 when Strasburg takes the mound, but in every one of those sixteen losses, they have scored three runs or fewer. Over those nine games where he has taken the loss, Washington had given him a total of 15 runs of backup, which is basically no help at all. That includes games like July 24 vs. the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a>, where he allowed two hits and one run over eight innings, with a dozen strikeouts. And there, Washington actually outdid themselves, by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth... unfortunately, only after the Pirates scored three off the Nationals' bullpen in the top of the inning.</p>
<p>So, whatever the reasons may be for the visitors not making the playoffs this year (and I'll refer you to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/27/4775822/series-preview-51-arizona-diamondbacks-vs-washington-nationals">ZM's preview</a> if you want to poke that dead body with a stick), Strasburg really isn't one of them. He's not really the pitcher you want to face at the beginning of your last series, knowing you need to win two of your final three to finish the season above .500, and achieve at least a token improvement on last year. On the other hand, at the end of July, Corbin would have been exactly the kind of guy you wanted to be starting, being 12-2 with a 2.24 ERA. But since then, he is 2-5 with a 5.80 ERA, and over the last half dozen games, hitters have a .954 OPS against him.</p>
<p>Fatigue? Ennui? Over-familiarity to opposing hitters? Who can say. But I'd really like him to do better than the last few starts, and finish the year on a decent note with his 15th W.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/9/27/4778654/diamondbacks-nationals-previewJim McLennan