AZ Snake Pit - Game #39: Diamondbacks 4, White Sox 3An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2014-05-10T23:02:06-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/54691872014-05-10T23:02:06-04:002014-05-10T23:02:06-04:00Diamondbacks 4, White Sox 3: Baby Steps
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>Aided by some bad defense from Chicago and seven strong innings from Wade Miley, the Diamondbacks were able to get their 14th win of the season and are in position to win their third series in a row. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>Record: 14-25</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is how the game started:</p>
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<p>Oh, crap. Through three innings, <span>Wade Miley</span> is perfect and has thrown 33 pitches. That's EXACTLY what <span>Brandon McCarthy</span> did last night...</p>
— AZ SnakePit (@AZSnakepit) <a href="https://twitter.com/AZSnakepit/statuses/465279146298339328">May 10, 2014</a>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The only difference as the game went along was the fact that Miley didn't give up seven runs in one inning. Yes, Miley was <i>far</i> better than McCarthy was a night ago, allowing just two runs on four hits with six strikeouts over seven innings. Take away the mistake thrown to <span>Paul Konerko</span>, and Miley was brilliant. His performance secured a winning road trip for the D-backs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>’ offense is quietly starting to come around, as they’ve scored three or more runs in their last seven games. As long as the pitching gets on track, this season might not be a complete failure. Or I could just be grasping for something that's just not there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We didn’t look completely clueless at the plate against Quintana for the first four innings, but we also weren’t making that much noise. That is until the fifth inning when the D-backs strung together four hits and a sacrifice fly to plate three in the top half to take the lead. <span>Cody Ross</span> got things started with one of his three hits on the night– he’s seems to be swinging the bat a lot better with eight hits so far on the road trip. <span>Gerardo Parra</span> then hit into a fielders choice to take Ross’ place at first base and <span>Alfredo Marte</span>, oblivious to Jim’s precursor to this game, doubled down the left field line to score him from first.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Two batters later, <span>A.J. Pollock</span> dropped a single into no-mans-land to score both Marte and <span>Chris Owings</span>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> answered the bell in their half of the fifth when Paul Konerko ruined Wade Miley’s shutout aspirations with a two-run bomb to pull Chicago within one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the top of the seventh, Owings drove a liner off the wall in left center to start off the inning with what should’ve been a double. Instead, he committed one of the worst sins in baseball and made the first out at third to keep the bases empty. But A.J. Pollock then walked, <span>Martin Prado</span> blooped a single, and <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> walked to load the bases for Miguel Montero. Fortunately for Arizona, Sierra lost Miggy’s liner to right in the lights, booting it to allow Pollock to score from third. Even so, the inning came to an abrupt halt when <span>Aaron Hill</span> rolled into a double play. Putnam was lucky to escape with just one run allowed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wade Miley finished his night on a high note with a 1-2-3 seventh. <span>Brad Ziegler</span> followed that up with a relatively painless inning in the eighth, handing it over to <span>Addison Reed</span> for the ninth. Chicago rallied in the ninth against their former closer, because what would be a D-backs win without drama? But Reed was able to coerce Konerko to ground out to second to end the game after the Sox pulled within one.</p>
<p><iframe style="border:1px solid black;" width="450" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-05-10&team=White%20Sox&dh=0"></iframe><br><span>Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-05-10&team=White%20Sox&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span></p>
<p>There have been some bad times on this most recent road trip for the Diamondbacks -- namely yesterday's seven run inning -- but when looking at the big picture after the win tonight, we are slowly starting to turn it around. Behind arguably his best start of the year, Wade Miley has the D-backs in position to win their third straight series to close the road trip out. Even if we don't win tomorrow, a winning road trip under our belts feels pretty nice.</p>
<p>Rookie Chase Anderson will make his major league debut against <span>Hector Noesi</span> in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2014/5/10/5705750/diamondbacks-vs-white-sox-final-scoreRoss Dunham2014-05-10T22:14:58-04:002014-05-10T22:14:58-04:00Diamondbacks 4, White Sox 3
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>Wade Miley threw seven strong innings of two-run baseball, securing his third win of the season. </p> <p>Aside from one mistake to <span>Paul Konerko</span> in the fifth, <span>Wade Miley</span> was fantastic this evening, going seven innings with just two earned runs on four hits and six strikeouts. The Arizona left hander looked comfortable all night and kept the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> hitters off balance while keeping the ball in the strike zone and staying efficient.</p>
<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> jumped out to an early lead with a three run fifth, with RBIs coming from an <span>Alfredo Marte</span> double and an <span>A.J. Pollock</span> bloop single to right. We were able to add another in the seventh when Sox' right fielder <span>Moises Sierra</span> lost a <span>Miguel Montero</span> liner in the lights, allowing Pollock to score to make it 4-2.</p>
<p>Chicago certainly made things interesting in the ninth, scoring one run off former closer <span>Addison Reed</span>, but he was able to shut the door with the tying run on second to seal the deal for the D-backs' 14th win of the year.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2014/5/10/5705610/diamondbacks-vs-white-sox-scoreRoss Dunham2014-05-10T19:00:13-04:002014-05-10T19:00:13-04:00Preview: And the worst DH in team history is...
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<p>Yesterday, we looked at the best designated hitters in Diamondbacks' team history. Today, we look at the men who were least suited to the role. </p> <p>
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<br><span>Wade Miley</span><br>LHP, 2-3, 5.14<br>
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<br><span>Jose Quintana</span><br>LHP, 1-2, 3.56<br>
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<a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> Lineup</h4>
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<li> <span>A.J. Pollock</span> - CF </li>
<li> <span>Martin Prado</span> - 3B <br>
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<li> <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> - 1B</li>
<li> <span>Miguel Montero</span> - C</li>
<li> <span>Aaron Hill</span> - 2B</li>
<li> <span>Cody Ross</span> - LF</li>
<li> <span>Gerardo Parra</span> - RF </li>
<li> <span>Alfredo Marte</span> - DH</li>
<li> <span>Chris Owings</span> - SS <br>+ Wade Miley - P</li>
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<p>Largely the same players as yesterday, but in a rather different order, with a left-hander on the mound for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> tonight. So that means Pollock, Prado and Ross move up the order, while Parra and Owings drop down. Yeah, not quite sure the latter makes much sense to me, but with no pitcher's spot in the line-up, it probably makes a little bit less difference. The only change is <span>Eric Chavez</span> getting a day-off. Nick Piecoro <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/nickpiecoro/status/465247053313236992">says</a> Chavez has been dealing with some knee issues, so Gibson didn't want to push it by using him to DH all three games of the series. We'll probably see him back out there tomorrow, with another right-handed opposing pitcher.</p>
<p>Instead, we have Alfredo Marte, who possesses a career OPS+ of 52, and by that mark would seem a credible contender for the worst designated hitter in Diamondbacks history. However, here are all those who filled that role, with a career OPS+ less than 80.</p>
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<li>Mike Robertson, 32</li>
<li> <span>Alan Zinter</span>, 37</li>
<li> <span>Andy Green</span>, 41</li>
<li>Alfredo Marte, 51</li>
<li>Rob Ryan, 73</li>
<li> <span>Tony Abreu</span>, 76</li>
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<p><br>So Marte isn't quite <u>that</u> bad - though it's worth pointing out that of all the players on that list, Marte will be the only one to have made more than one start for the Diamondbacks as a designated hitter. He previously filled that role on April 17 last year, against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> in New York (and he went 0-for-3). In case you were wondering, Robertson was a <i>very</i> fringe player for us in 1998. The game as DH, against the A's on June 6, was his only start for us. Indeed, he only started nine games in his entire career over three seasons with us, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a> and White Sox, hitting .190/.230/.276 in 61 PAs, mostly off the bench.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2014/5/10/5705006/diamondbacks-white-sox-previewJim McLennan