AZ Snake Pit - Game #23: 5/2, Arizona Diamondbacks 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 6An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2015-05-03T01:00:01-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/83017362015-05-03T01:00:01-04:002015-05-03T01:00:01-04:00Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 6: Down for the count
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<figcaption>Joe Scarnici/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>There was a lot of counter-punching going on in the early innings of this one. As for the later innings, I was left punching the couch, the wall and the television set....</p> <p>Just as Rubby De La Rosa channeled his inner Rubby De La Rosa last night, so <span>Jeremy Hellickson</span> played the role of Jeremy Hellickson to perfection tonight. This was the kind of excruciating mediocrity we have come to expect, even though it has only been five major-league starts for Hellickson since he came to Arizona. Early struggles, a lot of pitching from the stretch and a glacial pace which made the entire experience like having your Brazilian wax session carried out by Dr. Josef Mengele. The first four innings took basically an hour and three-quarters, and at that point, we had a shot at only the third four-hour regulation game in team history.</p>
<p>It did start better than last night, as we surpassed the entire offensive production there before we had made two outs. <span>Ender Inciarte</span> doubled to lead things off, and <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> then did about the most typically Goldschmidty thing possible: cranking the first pitch he saw to center, for his 6th home-run of the season. <span>Yasmany Tomas</span> followed with a two-out double, which I mention, largely because it went to the left-field wall, which feels like something of a first for him. Anyway, Hellickson wasted no time in handing the lead back. After a lead-off strikeout, Los Angeles went homer, single, RBI double, and we were tied at two.</p>
<p>Arizona struck back immediately: <span>Jordan Pacheco</span> walked, and <span>Cliff Pennington</span> then singled him to third, though Pennington was thrown out at second on an extremely ill-advised attempt to make it a double. Inciarte singled back up the box, and we had the lead again. Hellickson waited a little longer before giving up that one: after successfully stranding a lead-off double in the second, a lead-off walk in the third proved more problematic, coming in to score on a two-out single. But, again, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> responded quickly. Very quickly, in fact, <span>Aaron Hill</span> delivering his first home-run since August 2014, leading off the fourth, and we were 4-3 up.</p>
<p>Probably the most memorable thing for Hellickson was getting his first National League hit in the fifth inning: a squibber that couldn't have been better placed towards third if he had tried. It seemed to settle him down, as after allowing another lead-off man to reach based in the bottom of the fifth, he retired the final seven batters he faced. Hellickson left with a final line of 5.1 innings pitches, and three runs allowed on six hits and a walk, with six strikeouts. He reduced his ERA for the season from 5.24 to... 5.20. But this was part of a spell where pitching suddenly dominated, the sides combining for 20 consecutive batters being retired.</p>
<p><span>Andrew Chafin</span> was part of that streak, tidying up the last two outs of the sixth inning after Hellickson was pulled, and <span>Evan Marshall</span> started well enough, also setting down the first two batters he faced in the seventh. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get the third one. A home-run blew the Diamondbacks' third lead of the night and tied the game, then a double to left field put the go-ahead run in scoring position, and a ground-ball past the dive of a despairing Hill gave Los Angeles their first lead. It may be 50/50 whether Marshall or Burgos gets sent down to the minors on Tuesday, when we need to clear a spot for <span>Robbie Ray</span>.</p>
<p>More two-out trouble followed for the bullpen in the eighth, off <span>Brad Ziegler</span>, who had been so impressive in the first month of the season. He had two outs and the bases empty - albeit with the help of a caught stealing - but like Marshall, was unable to get the pesky third out. He gave up three straight singles, and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> tacked on an insurance run. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks offense had closed up shop. After Hellickson's single in the fourth, our next hit was a Pacheco single with one out in the ninth, and the only base-runner in between those was a two-out walk to <span>Mark Trumbo</span> in the eighth.</p>
<p>The way this game ended was certainly something I'd never seen before. Pacheco was on first with two outs, and <span>David Peralta</span> came off the bench to pinch-hit for Ziegler. Peralta knocked the ball back up the middle, but the pitcher (I think) got a glove on it, and deflected the ball unerringly at Pacheco, where it bounced off him, past the second baseman and into the outfield. Being hit by a batted ball is an automatic out, though I think Peralta got credit for an infield single, so who knows what might have happened. It was the second game today that ended in such a fashion, as the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.halosheaven.com/">Angels</a> lost to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a>, in similar manner earlier on. You never hear of something, and then...</p>
<p align="center"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-05-02&team=Dodgers&dh=0&season=2015"><img src="https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3664484/chart.0.png" alt="Chart"></a><br>[<i>Click for details, at Fangraphs.com</i>]<br><b>Some boxer: Ender Inciarte, +13.4%</b><br><i><b>Some other boxer: Evan Marshall, -45.2%</b></i><br><i>Anyone who paid $100 for this nonsense: <span>A.J. Pollock</span>, -13.6%</i></p>
<p align="left">The Gameday Thread was a little bedeviled by technical difficulties, as seems that the fight crashed SB Nation's severs for a bit. Mind you, that was about the time Evan Marshall was melting down, so it probably just saved us from further punishment. SongBird was top commenter, ahead of myself and James Attwood, with others present being: $-The Moneyman-$, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, BIGredmc, Dbackguy, DeadmanG, Diamondhacks, GuruB, JoeCB1991, JoelPre, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, Nate Rowan, TheGoldenSombrero, cheese1213, coldblueAZ, ford.williams.10, hotclaws, preston.salisbury, soco and xmet. Comment of the night to soco:</p>
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<h2 class="title collapse_toggle ">Sorry</h2>
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<p>this is AZligusticspit.com now</p>
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<p>Just because you made it warm doesn't make it yours.</p>
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<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/soco" class="poster" target="_blank">soco</a> on <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537945/gameday-thread-23-5-2-dodgers#304013516" class="date">May 2, 2015 | 7:23 PM</a> <span class="user_actions"> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537945/gameday-thread-23-5-2-dodgers#" class="up_link" title="scroll to parent comment">up</a> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537945/gameday-thread-23-5-2-dodgers#" class="reply_link" title="reply to this comment">reply</a> <span class="cactions mod "> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537945/gameday-thread-23-5-2-dodgers#" class="rec_link user_recommended"> unrec <span class="rec_count"> (3) </span> </a> <span class="mod_actions"> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537945/gameday-thread-23-5-2-dodgers#" class="actions_toggle">actions</a> </span> </span> </span>
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<p>Let's just say, you had to be there.... And tomorrow, we will be here, trying to stave off a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/3/8538617/diamondbacks-dodgers-recapJim McLennan2015-05-03T00:31:35-04:002015-05-03T00:31:35-04:00Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 6
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<figcaption>Joe Scarnici/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Diamondbacks lost three leads tonight. I suppose that's better than not scoring, but it was still irritating.</p> <p>Arizona took the lead in the first, on Paul Goldschmidt's two-run homer, his sixth of the year. However, Jeremy Hellickson's early inning struggles continued, as those two runs were given right back to Los Angeles. Undaunted, Arizona took the lead in the third, on an RBI single by <span>Ender Inciarte</span>, and after that too had been clawed back by the dodgers, <span>Aaron Hill</span> out the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> in front for the third time, with his first home-run of the season. The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh, though Hellickson left after 5.1 innings, being charged with three runs on six hits and a walk.</p>
<p>Our bullpen wasn't very good, though <span>Andrew Chafin</span> retired both batters faced. <span>Evan Marshall</span> and <span>Brad Ziegler</span>, however, combined to allow three runs in 1.2 innings, on six hits and a walk, and Los Angeles made no mistakes, closing out the game and setting themselves up for a possible sweep of the visitors tomorrow afternoon. Inciarte had a pair of hits for the Diamondbacks, and <span>Jordan Pacheco</span> reached base twice, on a hit and a walk. The game ended wheb Pacheco was hit by a batted ball while running from first to second, which serves as a strangely appropriate summary of the entire evening in many ways...</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/3/8538683/diamondbacks-dodgers-scoreJim McLennan2015-05-02T19:00:00-04:002015-05-02T19:00:00-04:00Game #23 Preview: 5/1, Diamondbacks @ Dodgers
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<figcaption>Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Hopefully, this will go better than last night. If only because I'm recapping it, so suppose that means I have to pay attention...</p>
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<span>Jeremy Hellickson</span><br>RHP, 1-3, 5.24<br>
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<span>Scott Baker</span><br>RHP, 0-1, 3.86</h5>
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<span>Ender Inciarte</span> - LF</td>
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<span>Joc Pederson</span> - CF</td>
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<span>A.J. Pollock</span> - CF</td>
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<span>Justin Turner</span> - 3B</td>
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<span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> - 1B</td>
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<span>Mark Trumbo</span> - RF</td>
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<span>Yasmany Tomas</span> - 3B</td>
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<span>Scott Van Slyke</span> - LF</td>
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<span>Aaron Hill</span> - 2B</td>
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<span>Yasmani Grandal</span> - C</td>
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<span>Cliff Pennington</span> - SS</td>
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<p>It is, however, a Jeremy Hellickson start, and those have not tended to go very well for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> thus far. Admittedly, that is probably almost as much on the offense as Hellickson, since we have scored more than two runs in support of him just the once, when the Diamondbacks beat the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a> 5-1 in San Francisco. That has very much been the way of the world for Arizona. We are 9-0 when scoring more than four runs, but are 1-12 when scoring four times or fewer. The reverse doesn't quite hold true, as we have four wins when <i>conceding</i> more than four, and also have four losses when holding opponents to four or fewer.</p>
<p>Maybe we should have held back some of those runs scored when we were pitching well: in the four contests where we allowed zero or one run, the Diamondbacks have outscored the opposition by a total of 29-2. This helps explain why were are below .500, despite having outscored the opposition. We've also been involved in as many blowouts as one-run games (seven of each), which is definitely not normal: last year, we had more than half as many again one-run games (53, compared to 34 blowouts). Though I don't mind too much: win or lose, blowouts tend to be a good deal less stressful than victory being snatched from defeat, or <i>vice versa</i>. It's a long season....</p>
<p>Certainly, last night's game didn't exactly get the ol' adrenalin level rising, not after the point at which the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> had scored more runs (five) than Rubby De La Rosa had retired batters (four). The bottom of the order gets a shakeup, with Hill, Pacheco and Pennington coming in for <span>Chris Owings</span>, <span>Tuffy Gosewisch</span> and Nick Ahmed. Through the first 22 games of the season, <a target="_blank" href="http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/xcMCP">160 Diamondbacks</a> in team history have had 40+ PAs. By OPS, the current campaigns for Hill (.446), Gosewisch (.387) and Ahmed (.374) are ranked 158th, 159th and 160th respectively. This is why we go to the bathroom when the bottom half of our order is due up.</p>
<p>Early start tonight, at 6:10pm Arizona time. Bear that in mind!</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/5/2/8537559/arizona-diamondbacks-los-angeles-dodgers-prevoewJim McLennan