SB Nation User Blog: DbacksSkins

Diamondbacks 8, Rangers 2: Max Power

DbacksSkins — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:20:43 -0000

"Lazy, eh? Lazy, am I?? I'LL SHOW YOU LAZY...."

Is it just me, or does it seem like I'm always recapping Max Scherzer's games? Jim McLennan is on assignment, so I'm recapping tonight's game. To the other authors and editors, I have a small question -- can you think of a game you were assigned to recap where, frankly, the team's performance left you without much to say?

The Diamondbacks played a game like that tonight, but in the opposite fashion to the way this phenomenon usually happens. Max Scherzer pitched 6 innings of 2 run ball with just 1 walk and 7 Ks, Justin Upton had a 2 run homer in the bottom of the first, Upton and Felipe Lopez drove in 3 runs each, both Lopez and Stephen Drew had 3 hit games, and the bullpen pitched 3 shutout innings. Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds, playing at first base tonight, had highlight-reel defensive plays, and the Dbacks may have even gotten a little bit of help from the umpires.

What more could we need? Well, perhaps slightly better baserunning, as Reynolds was caught stealing in the 1st and remains mired on his 13th stolen base. Yet, even in this aspect, the Diamondbacks found a way to impress: Flip Lopez stretched a line drive into a triple, and subsequently came home to score on a catching error by Jarrod Saltailgslsngiwon. Experience all the gory details after the jump.

That creamy goodness that was a 6 run Dbacks win all began in the 1st inning, which really set the tone for the entire contest. Max Scherzer (described, somewhat disturbingly as "winsome" on MLB.com, along with Lincecum and Greinke -- sounds like SOMEBODY's got a few mancrushes!) blew away the first two batters he faced on Ks, before giving up a 2 out triple to Michael Young. Scherzer responded, angrily, by plunking the next batter, Marlon Byrd, before getting Nelson Cruz to fly out in the pitcher-friendly cavernous Chase Field. ;-) The Diamondbacks, for their part, led off the bottom of the 1st with a Flip groundout, followed by a Drew single, and Justin Upton's 14th home run of the year. Reynolds followed with a single, but ended up getting caught stealing: clearly, he's trying to improve on his already league-best Power-Speed #, in order to make the ASG. The deuce would end up being enough runs to drive the game to extras, but fortunately, the offense didn't rest there.

Scherzer kept up the awesomeness in the 2nd, going K-K-groundout, and the offense kept its foot on the pedal. Eric Byrnes and Flip got singles, and Miguel Montero and Ryan Roberts got walks to make the score 4-0. It would end up being all the scoring we needed, but the hitters didn't rest yet.

Mad Max ran into a bit of trouble in the top of the 3rd, walking the opposing pitcher, Matt Harrison, to lead off the inning. David Murphy singled, and Marlon Byrd had a two out double to score Harrison. Nelson Cruz flied out to end the inning, and a leadoff walk by Reynolds in the bottom half was erased by a Parra GIDP as the Dbacks failed to score in the 3rd.

In the 4th, back to back leadoff singles by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and strikeout king Chris Davis put a runner in scoring position with nobody out, but a flyout and a failed foul bunt by Harrison, whom Matt Williams pointed out looked like a typical AL pitcher in having no idea how to bunt, meant that Ian Kinsler's single only scored 1 run to make it 4-2. It must have pissed off the Dbacks, because they broke open the game in the bottom.

Roberts got a 1 out walk, and Max's sacrifice was good. Now, we needed a two out RBI from the man who's been derided on this very site as the king of lazy, minimal-effort baseball: he must read the 'Pit, because he got the run in and went to 2nd on the throw home. Stephen Drew got a 2 out single of his own, and Flip raced to beat the throw home. Former Rockies ace Jason Jennings came in to make sure that all baserunners would be charged as runs to Harrison, as Upton smacked a line drive double up the middle to make it 7-2.

Both teams went down in order in the 5th, and Scherzer pitched around a leadoff Salty single in the 6th. Elvis Andrus whacked a sharp grounder that got by Roberts at 3rd but Stephen Drew made a Toolo-esque play and Reynolds a great scoop at 1st to get the very close out. Somewhere, Orlando Hudson is muttering "Phenom".

Everybody's favorite solar-powered flashlight, Tony Clark, pinch flied out for Scherzer in the bottom of the inning, but as if to belabor the point that he's not lazy, Flip stretched a hard-hit liner into a triple without a throw and subsequently scored on an odd sequence. Jennings threw a ball in the dirt, and Saltalamacchia asked for, and was granted, time from HP umpire Mike Everitt. However, Salty unexpectedly declined to switch to a new ball, and instead threw the used one back to Jennings.... well, threw it sorta, vaguely, TOWARDS Jennings, plus about 6 feet in altitude. Flip scored, Ron Washington came out to argue, unsuccessfully, (though Matty, on the AM, seemed to think the ump made a mistake) and that's it for scoring. Ultimately it was irrelevant to the outcome of the game, as the next batter, Stephen Drew, got a single, but it was certainly interesting to listen to. Esmerling Vasquez, Juan Gutierrez and Tony Peña combined for 3 heartburnless innings, pitching around a single and a walk, and Reynolds made a FANTASTIC play to rob David Murphy of probable extra bases and end the game. It's nice that SOME of our 1Bs can catch a ball. :-(

Since I'm always so fond to note when a team simply "gets lucky" with its hits in a game, I'm glad to report that Arizona's BABIP was a robust .393 -- slightly high, especially for our team, but not terribly unsustainably so. The team tonight only outhit Texas 11-8, but for once, clutch hits were a-plenty, with the Sedona Boys going 3-7 w/RISP and getting 3 2-out RBIs.

Bravo, Dbacks! Bravo! This was certainly more complete a game than any of the three "contests" in Seattle, as indicated by the FanGraph, and specifically the fact that the Dbacks' win probability never dipped any lower than it was during bottom of the 1st inning. It was a quick, 2 hr 38 minute game, and fun, too! Offense, pitching, and defense. Now THIS was the team we thought we had this year. It was a nice way to bounce back after being apparently Sleepless In Seattle, and I can't help but think there might be some satisfaction on the parts of ASU fans. Lower stakes this time, but at least Phoenix baseball beat Texas.

Badass of the Day: Justin Upton, +18.6%

Also mavericky: Flip Lopez, +14.3%; Max Scherzer, +10.1%

Boarding the bus to Reno: Gerardo Parra, -4.9%

As usually happens during easy wins, there was a lively Gameday Thread with over 550 comments. I led the pack with 177 comments in my first full-time GDT since returning to Arizona, followed by hotclaws and soco, and snakecharmer broke 50 in her first thread back as well. Present in the thread were hotclaws, TwinnerA, pygalgia, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, Azreous, kishi, Zephon, Tim Weiss, DBacksCynthia(WELCOME!), emilylovesthedbacks, pepperdinedevil, 4 Corners Fan, unnamedDBacksfan, soco, J Up, and AJforAZ.

Incidentally, Baseball-Reference.com reports that the Dbacks' year-to-date attendance is 999,321. We all know the real figure is somewhat lower, but official attendance is what we go by. So, the Dbacks should "officially" get their 1 millionth 2009 attendee at today's game, where Danny Haren looks to keep up his streak of being totally awesome. The Rangers send former purple Dback Vicente Padilla to the mound. The Rockies finally lost again, to Arte's boys, and it would be nice to get a win today and see the Padres lose so we could pull within 1 game of.... OOH!! Not Last Place. (NLP)

Book Review: 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die - AZ Snakepit

DbacksSkins — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:39:11 -0000

Book Review: 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die - AZ Snakepit

Thought you friendly Dodgers fans might enjoy. Eric and Brendan did, apparently.

Randy Johnson's solitary road to 300 - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

DbacksSkins — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:40:39 -0000

Randy Johnson's solitary road to 300 - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Nice piece by Tim Brown on just how disliked Randy Johnson is in the AZ locker room, and why.

Future Closer: Daniel Schlereth | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

DbacksSkins — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:44:11 -0000

Future Closer: Daniel Schlereth | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Well, isn't this nice. First a story on Justin Upton the superstar, and now a piece on Daniel Schlereth the closer. It's like some sportswriters actually follow the Dbacks!

Braves 9, Diamondbacks 3: Bad Max

DbacksSkins — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:23:45 -0000

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

Mark Reynolds decides, wisely, that he'd much rather play in the sand than watch Dbacks pitchers try to throw the ball at Chase. Make a sand castle for me, Mark.

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Record: 22-29. Pace: 70-92. Change on last season: -8. Change on 2004: +4

Umm.... yeah. Remember all those games where Max Scherzer pitched, like, 6 innings, only gave up 2 runs, and yet still lost? Yeah. This wasn't one of those games. Remember all those games where the Dbacks faced a rookie starter with a massive ERA (in this case, over 9) and were completely shut down? Yeah. This WAS one of THOSE games.

Scherzer gave up a career-worst 8 runs in only 3.2 innings and the Braves jumped out on top 2-0 in the first 7 pitches of the game, without an out. It wasn't quite all the runs Braves starter Kris Medlen would end up needing to win the game, but it was close. In many ways, it was just one of those days, where everything the Braves swung at seemed to plop fair somewhere. While only having a slightly-high .395 BABIP for the game, the Braves batted an unsustainable .476 on balls in play versus our heterochromic starter. On the other hand, rookie Kris Medlen came in with a season ERA of 9.72 and just 6 Ks after his first two games; he left with a 6.28 and fully 9 Ks against the Dbacks alone. Most of the damage was done by the Braves' 1-2-3 hitters; Kelly "Hey, it's a guy's name too" Johnson, Yunel "Not Pablo" Escobar and Chipper "I'm too good for my real name, which is Larry" Jones combined to go 9-15 with 6 RBIs, 7 runs scored, and 5(!!) extra base hits.

It wasn't a terrible first inning for the Dbacks. After giving up back-to-back doubles to start the game and a fluky RBI single by Jones, Scherzer was able to get the next batter, Garret Anderson, to bounce into a double play, and then got Casey Kotchman to fly out. In the bottom of the first, Felipe Lopez, starting for just the second time since May 23rd, drew a walk to lead off the game. Unfortunately, Augie Ojeda waved at ball 4 out of the zone and Lopez was easily thrown out at second for a tailor-made double play, and it didn't get much better for awhile, as Medlen allowed only Mark Reynolds' 2nd inning leadoff single until the 6th. By that time, it was already 9-0 and the game was out of hand. Still, there was a shutout to break up.

Chris Snyder led off the inning with a double, Ryan Roberts came in and flew out for Esmerelda Vasquez, Lopez struck out, but a single by Augie and an RBI double by Parra made it 9-1. Parra is now hitting over .700 with runners in scoring position. Talk about clutch!! Reynolds struck out to end it, but that was the last of Medlen. From here, the game got somewhat interesting -- well, as "interesting" as an 8 run game can be, I guess.

Clay "Zorro" Zavada came on for Vasquez, and pitched around a pinch-hit double by Greg Norton for a scoreless inning. Jeff Bennet came in to pitch, and the Dbacks immediately began to feast -- well, by the standards of this game, anyway. Drew led off with a single, Byrnes followed with a "productive groundout" that he almost beat for a single, but.... Chris Young was at the plate. Strikeout or popup, right? NOPE! CY singled to make it 9-2. Snydes and Roberts were outs, but hey, it was another run. Snyder came up a little gimpy after grounding into a fielder's choice, and was pulled for Miggy. Hopefully, it was just precautionary.

Our 2008 first round pick came in to pitch the 8th, and he pitched around a McCann walk and Prado single to keep it a 7 run game. In the bottom, the Dbacks did their best to get Schlereth the win, when Miggy singled, Augie popped out, and then Parra and Reynolds hit back to back one-baggers to drive in another run. Unfortunately, 9-3 was as close as they'd ever come.

Rauch pitched a 1-2-3 9th, and Roberts, who had stayed in the game to replace Lopez at 2nd, got a soft line drive to center to extend his hitting streak to 6 games. That was it for the Dbacks, though, ending any chance to win the 4 game series. I suppose a series split isn't too bad, given the way we've played at home this season.

Scherzer was ineffectively wild, and wasn't helped out by Angel Campos' strike zone, which was fairly consistently the size of a postage stamp. After giving up only 2 walks his last 2 outings, Max walked 3, and hit Casey Kotchman with a 75 mph breaking ball. Max must throw the hardest 75 mph anyone's ever seen, because Kotchman left the game with a shin contusion. Scherzer also gave up a 2 run blast to Chipper in the 3rd, and Garret Anderson's first ever NL homer, with 2 on, in the 4th. Vasquez came on to relieve Max with 2 outs in the 4th, immediately letting an inherited runner score, but went on to pitch two more innings while giving up a single run -- while Max's ERA ballooned to 4.47 from 3.38, Vasquez lowered his to 6.11. Neither Zavada nor Schlereth have given up runs yet, and Rauch's scoreless frame dropped his ERA below 6, to 5.96. Look for him to be closing this week. /sarcasm

Not much to speak of on the hitting side, although the Dbacks somehow pulled out 10 hits. Reynolds had 2, including the only Dbacks hit before the 6th, and was rewarded by the FanGraph, having the only hit while the score was still anything like close. Parra, batting in the 3rd spot for the first time in his major league career, also had 2 hits, but methinks the team still missed the name and fear that comes from having Justin Upton in the lineup. Upton was given the day off, after going ohfer the previous two games. On the other hand, while Flip Lopez did draw a leadoff walk, he looked slow both on the base paths and while playing the field, lacking his usual rather-unimpressive range. One wonders whether his hammies are fully healed. The team as a whole went 4-9 with RISP, and it would be nice to see that continue, along with more solid bullpen work.

Click to enlarge,
Badass of the day: Mark Reynolds, +4.2%
Boarding the bus to Reno: Max Scherzer, -33.3%

Slow-ish gameday thread, with a hair under 400 comments in total. Present were Jim McLennan, Pyromnc, sayheyupton, snakecharmer, hotclaws, DbacksSkins, Smoggie, emilylovesthedbacks, DisplacedAZfan, westofrome, SeanMillerSavior, IHateSouthBend, Scrbl, TwinnerA, katers, 4 Corners Fan, pierzynskirules, soco, notSince86 (WELCOME!!), kishi, Azreous, and unnamedDBacksfan. Some guy with two sports teams in his username led the commenting and was the only one in triple digits, while snakecharmer was second with 63. It's generally not a very good sign when the most interesting part of the broadcast was an in-booth interview -- in this case, Mark "Stinky" Schlereth, Daniel's father. It WAS cool to see him wearing a Dbacks hat, though.

Our men in red now embark upon a road trip to the Dodgers and Padres. Let's hope our recent road success continues.

Around the Majors, 5/14/2009

DbacksSkins — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:28:59 -0000

More photos » by Susan Walsh - AP

Would this puppy dog face lie to YOU?

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Travel day today, as our Men In Red embark upon a possibly-epic 10 game roadtrip, wherein we will probably ~~lose a bunch more games~~ go 10-0 and the rest of the division will go 0-10, so we'll take over the NL West lead.

There are a few news nuggets from around the baseball world. Follow me after the jump, and we'll discuss Roger Clemens, Stephen Strasburg, instant replay, the ailing (and failing) Yankees, and more.

(All links will open in new window)

A 7 time Cy Young Award winner and alleged multiple time performance-enhancing drug user went on ESPN's Mike And Mike In The Morning on Tuesday to deny the mounting Himilayas of evidence that he used performance-enhancing drugs. The public appearance was designed to coincide with the release date of a new book that purports to describe further details of Clemens' drug use -- American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime. Clemens' performance was met overwhelmingly with either a collective shrug or a collective "What the **** is he thinking? Why doesn't he keep his mouth shut??" The largely negative reaction might explain why Clemens is "taking steroid denials to the people", as the New York Daily News put it. Meaning, he's going to answer emailed questions for a newspaper in his hometown of Houston. Roger reminds me of a great quote from George Costanza: "Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it".

Roger Clemens seems to think that, if he keeps saying something enough times, it'll become true and/or everyone will start to believe him. Still hate Barry Bonds? Hey, at least Bonds was smart enough not to discuss the 'roids with anyone. He's got plausible deniability when it comes to the government's pending perjury case against him: they're going to have a tough time convicting him, given that he only said he never "knowingly" took steroids. The 'Roid Rocket, on the other hand, is in a tougher spot. Not only has his former trainer, Brian McNamee, turned state's evidence, but former teammate and personal friend Andy Pettitte refuses to back down from his claim that Clemens mentioned using performance-enhancing drugs to him while they were both with the Yankees.

As "evidence" that he never took PEDs, Clemens mentioned that his family has a history of heart problems, and his brother had a heart attack in his 40s, his father died of one, and that it would be "suicidal for me to even think about taking any of these dangerous drugs." However, it turns out that his stepfather died of one. Yes, stepfather -- as in, no blood relation. Left unasked, however, was why, if he was so concerned with the dangers of PEDs, he allowed Debbie Clemens to take HGH. Also left unasked was whether he had had sex with any 15 year old country music stars lately.... (Bonus coverage: Click here to vote for your favorite Roger Clemens extramarital affair!!)

Should alleged performance-enhancing drug users like Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame?

Yes, because steroids don't help you hit or control a fastball.

21 votes

No, they broke the law, the public trust, and it's not fair to other players who didn't use steroids.

53 votes

Not sure. There are good arguments either way. Maybe we should use an asterisk?

16 votes

What? I thought this was a Dbacks blog, not ESPN!!

12 votes

102 votes | Poll has closed

Calling all Tucson Snakepitters.... (and Phoenix ones, too)

DbacksSkins — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:49:58 -0000

As you know, Tucson lost the Sidewinders to Reno this year, and it's the first time we've been without a PCL baseball team since 1969. :-( That's bad.

However, Jay Zucker, the former owner of the Sidewinders, has gone out on a limb and opened an expansion franchise of the independent Golden Baseball League that's going to play at Hi Corbett Field, just like the AAA Toros. :-) That's good.

The new Tucson Toros have a lot of Tucson baseball history to live up to. With the exception of an eleven-year gap between 1958 and 1969, Tucson has had a professional baseball team every year since 1915. Thanks to Mr. Zucker, that's a streak that won't be broken this year.

Although we won't have the privilege anymore of seeing tomorrow's Dbacks play intown, we've still got pro baseball, and that's something. I'm planning on going to the new Toros' franchise opener next Thursday, May 21st, at 7PM, against the Chico Outlaws, and if that doesn't work for you, the Friday night game is at 7PM too. I'll be there as well. I've mentioned going to the games with luckycc and Bcawz already, but I know for a fact we've got more Tucson Snakepitters here -- both lurkers and otherwise. You know who you are. This is a chance to get to know other local members of the site and enjoy baseball together with other fans who'll be just as into the game as you are. Not the exclusionary type, I also wanted to invite ALL Snakepitters who might be able to make it, if any of you Phoenix-area 'Pitters are willing to make the 90 minute drive down from the Valley. Tickets are $5 for General Admission, $8 for Upper Reserved, and, if you're a high roller, $10 for VIP Box Seats right behind home plate.

Let's give our newest pro baseball team a warm welcome in the friendly confines of Hi Corbett.

For more information, the Toros' official site is, logically enough, TucsonToros.com.

OVERTHROW THREAD

DbacksSkins — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:27:04 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Don't worry, Scott. The fail wasn't entirely your fault last night.

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WE R TAKING CNTRL OF TEH SNAKEPIT!! Down 2-1 to the Brewers.... WE NEED A RALLY!!!

Source: Arizona Cardinals release Edgerrin James - ESPN

DbacksSkins — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:43:36 -0000

Source: Arizona Cardinals release Edgerrin James - ESPN

So long, Edge, and thanks for the memories.

First Homo Leagues Player Shatters MLB Sexuality Barrier | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

DbacksSkins — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:06:58 -0000

First Homo Leagues Player Shatters MLB Sexuality Barrier | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

A few days after Jackie Robinson day, this is great news.