SB Nation User Blog: Jim McLennan

Diamondbacks 0, Rockies 5: Arizona, good for whatever ails the opposition

Jim McLennan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:03:38 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Reynolds probably wants to use the bat on some of his team-mates about now, rather than just the water-cooler.

Record: 31-49. Pace: 63-99. Change on last season: -9. Change on 2004: +3

Coming into this game, Colorado's starter, Jorge De La Rosa, had a 4-7 record and a 5.64 ERA, mediocre even by the standards of Coors Field. However, you wouldn't know it looking at today's box-score, as he became the latest pitcher to turn into a Cy Young candidate when facing the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched eight innings, allowing only four hits, all singles and, since Arizona was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, shut out the Diamondbacks. On our side, Max Scherzer delivered a quality start, but as last time, wasn't helped by his defense - three ghastly errors led to two unearned runs.

Details, if you want them, are after the jump. Though if you are not interested, and would rather do something less painful - perhaps involving knitting needles and your eyes - I quite understand, and will not be offended in the slightest. However, there were some striking post-game comments from Mark Reynolds, so you might want to poke your head in for those. S'up to you...

At least the bullpen didn't blow this one. No, the loss can be blamed, roughly equally, on near non-existent offense and crappy defense, with the Diamondbacks once again showing that, as far as they're concerned, 'fundamental' is just an amusement park set up in a lunatic asylum [look, work with me here, will you?] Memo to Arizona: our draft position is not decided by the number of errors we commit. We added a trio to our league-leading number today, and they weren't even simple ones, like wild throws. Here are the details

Fowler doubled down the left-field line in the bottom of the fifth. Gerardo Parra tried to get him at second-base, but the throw skidded past Augie Ojeda. In the apparent absence of anyone bothering to back up the throw, the ball ended up in foul territory down the right-field line, and Fowler motored all the way home. Our second error-assisted inside-the-park home-run of the past week, if you're counting.
With one out in the sixth, Stewart sent a pop-fly to shallow center, where Chris Young had an easy play, coming gently forward. A can of corn, as they say [if you're wondering about the origin of that, apparently, "The phrase, first used in 1896, makes reference to a long-ago practice where a grocer would use a stick to tip a can of vegetables off a high shelf, then catch it in his hands or outstretched apron"]. Except Young flat-out clanked it.
Later that inning, Stewart, having reached first safely thanks to the error, tried to steal. Miguel Montero fired the ball down to second - it would have been super had anyone actually been covering there. Augie Ojeda and Felipe Lopez basically stared at each other, as the ball sailed into center-field, and Stewart ended up on third-base.

This would be why Mark Reynolds, after the game, described it as "a piss-poor performance" and, without naming specific names, tore into his fellow players, stating how the team's current level of play was completely unacceptable. [Thanks to TAP for transcribing the following]:

It seems like we get down a run or two, and nobody gives a shit anymore, and it pisses people off. This is the major leagues, you can't go out and make 3 errors a night and expect to win a game. We look like the damn Bad News Bears out there and it's frustrating as hell.

Nice to see someone stepping up and being accountable - Tom Candiotti thought Reynolds is basically 'coming of age' as a clubhouse leader. However, just as Mark said that all the team meetings in the world won't solve things, neither will taking responsibility and saying what is, really, readily apparent to most people watching the team It's up to the players to turn this around: it's not the coaches, the manager or the front office who can do this, and blaming them is . It's entirely in the hands of those inside the lines. Don't like losing? Hate being in the cellar? You have the tools to fix it. This team is better than the near-100 losses for which we're on pace - but you need to show us.

Today, positive accomplishments were few and far between to mention. Reynolds had a hit and a walk, and also a startling dig out of a bad-hop throw from Ojeda, so if anyone is going to call the team out, he's likely as good a man as any. Though likely outweighed by his little league error, Young had a hit and two walks: his pitch selection and plate discipline have got a lot better of late. Over the past month, he has a .449 OBP, the best of any Diamondback, with nineteen walks and only 17 strikeouts. It's a startling turnaround from May, so perhaps there's hope there.

Max Scherzer pitched six innings, allowed six hits and a walk, and gave up five runs, though as noted above, two of those were unearned. The errors no doubt also contributed to him taking 101 pitches to get through the sixth. Of course, the bullpen were effective, Blaine Boyer and Esmerling Vasquez posting meaningless zeroes when the game wasn't on the line. Where were those innings in Cincinnati? Whatever...

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Master of his domain: Chris Young, +7.9%
God-emperor of suck: Gerardo Parra: -19.5%
Dishonorable mentions: Scherzer, -12.4%; Ojeda, -11.3%

Funnily enough, seems like most people had better things to do, myself included, for much of the game. Hence, the comments failed to reach two hundred, but unnamedDBacksfan put in a sterling effort with 68 of them. Also present (in the loosest sense of the term) were: snakecharmer, Jim McLennan, kishi, soco, AJforAZ, gasgarza, pygalgia, NotGuilty, Fiona, Diamondhacks, and friendly visiting fans Rox Girl, WolfMarauder and befizzle. I have to say, it's hard to get up any enthusiasm for tomorrow's start, which sees the Human Home-Run Machine, Yusmeiro Petit, pitching in Coors. It's more like assuming the crash position and bracing for impact.

Gameday Thread #80: 7/3 vs. Rockies

Jim McLennan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:56:04 -0000

Max Scherzer
RHP, 5-5, 3.67

Jorge De La Rosa
LHP, 4-7, 5.64

Weird start time here: from what I can see, first pitch will be at 6:10pm in Denver, an hour earlier than I thought it would be. Maybe it's a bizarre plan to discomfort the Diamondbacks, who arrived there after another one-run loss, dropping a series despite their pitching allowing only six runs over the three games. We also extended our streak of losing one-run games - that's six of our last ten defeats, and we haven't been on the right side of one since June 11. Perhaps it's an omen that Max was the winner in that one?

Scherzer's ERA+ is 123; third-best on the Diamondbacks, behind Haren (206) and Davis (144). No other team in the majors have a trio of qualifying pitchers so good, and only a handful have two; indeed, four teams, including the Rockies, don't have a single such starter. It's clearly not the front of the rotation that's been the problem for Arizona in 2009. Max's last start wasn't up to much, though his defense has to be held largely responsible, tagging him for five unearned runs in a fifth inning where they gave the Angels six outs. None of that today, please.

Though, actually, the Rockies pitching hasn't been bad - though their top guy, Jimenez, has an ERA+ worse than our #3, it's not by much, at 121, and he's closely followed by Cook (120), Marquis (117) and Hammel (116). The good news is, tonight, we face the #5, former D-back de la Rosa, though he never reached the majors with us. He was actually a D-backs twice: he initially signed as an amateur free-agent, then came back from Boston in the Schilling trade, left for Milwaukee in the Sexson deal, and then went through Kansas City on his way to Denver. I feel fairly confident we can take him down. We certainly should...

And this one's for Poseidon's Fist, who seemed alarmed at some of the methods previously used here to get the offense going, specifically, the threatening of defenseless animals unless positive action resulted. In deference to his sensitivities (hah! I bet he's kind to children and the elderly too!), we'll go the other way with the incentive program today:

Win, and we'll kill Barney

Line-up

Ryan Roberts starting? Really? And in the two-hole? 2-for-37 in the past month? Well, that's the quota of question-marks used up for this Gameday Thread, and with the pitch increasing at the end of each sentence, I now sound like I'm communicating with dolphins. Should be about for much of this one, having got the day off work: yeah, I thought today was the fourth, but that's tomorrow. When I'm not working tomorrow, though I had to actually take a vacation day for that. You'll understand my confusion...

Trade Deadline Partner or Not? #1: Cincinnati Reds

Jim McLennan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:01:48 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

The Reds' Joey Votto ends Clay Zavada's scoreless streak. Interesting paternal parallels between those two.

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In the interests of more informed discussion as we head towards the trade deadline, there's been an effort among the SB Nation baseball sites to provide some information for each team, from which we can work. The aim is to provide a more factual basis - upon which we can then base the usual groundless speculation. Ok, this will work better than it sounds, but it should hopefully help to avoid any "OMG! We can so get Greinke from the Royals for Eric Byrnes!"-type posts.

We start where we finished, as it were, with Joel from Red Reporter telling us what the Cincinnati Reds could use. After the last series against the Diamondbacks, you will not be surprised to hear that pitching is low on their list of priorities. Details after the jump.

Buyers or Sellers - if they are trading, they are likely to be buyers as they don't have much veteran presence to sell off.

Short-term need - the Reds are in desperate need of some offensive help. Shortstop is the weakest position, but I think they would take an outfielder with a superior bat as well.

Long-term need - Shortstop again. The Reds have no real prospective everyday shortstops in the system, at least not any that can hit. They are also thin at catcher and like most teams could use some pitching depth in the minors.

Big Leaguers on the market - Anybody want Bronson Arroyo? If the Reds fall out of it, they could provide teams with some bullpen help in the form of Arthur Rhodes and David Weathers, both of whom have been lights out this year. If he hadn't been hurt all season, I'd say that Edwin Encarnacion could potentially be available since the Reds have some depth at 3B in the minors. Again, if they are sellers, role players like Laynce Nix, Johnny Gomes, or Chris Dickerson could be available. There is talk amongst Reds fans of trading Aaron Harang, but I just don't see that happening.

Minor league strength - 3B/OF. The Reds don't have any real superstar potential in the minors, but I think they could package a couple of players together and make a pretty sweet deal. What they lack in peak value, they make up for with depth, so they could throw in an extra prospect that other teams might not be able to do. Whether they would actually do that is another question all together.

Take on short-term money to win? I don't think so. The Reds were in on the Mark DeRosa deal before the Cardinals won out and it sounded like the $3+ million he was owed was around their max that they would acquire. I have a feeling that like most teams, the Reds are tight on the budget right now.

Diamondbacks' perspective. Doesn't sound like they would have much need for Davis or Garland, our most obvious trading-chips at this point - despite the presence of Arroyo, they're pretty solid there, and the strong bullpen will cover up a lot of deficiencies. Our obvious short-stop, Stephen Drew, is most unlikely to be going anywhere, and is borderline untouchable. Doesn't look likely to be a good fit for anything major here, unless we can swap Adam Dunn back for Micah Owi... Oh. Never mind...

Diamondbacks 2, Reds 3: AZ bullpen left with Red faces...

Jim McLennan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:10:13 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Romero's Land of the Dead. Alex gets tagged out at home, after trying to score on a sacrifice fly from J-Up.

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Record: 31-48. Pace: 64-98.
Change on last season: -9.
Change on 2004: -3.

You couldn't make this stuff up. Doug Davis allowed one run in seven innings, but left with the lead, thanks to Mark Reynolds' 22nd home-run of the year. In his seventeenth start, it looked like Doug would finally get the win without having to pitch shutout baseball. While it was only a one-run lead, surely the worst was over, after a nerve-wracking eighth inning where Jon Rauch, Scott Schoeneweis and Chad Qualls conspired to get into, then out of, a first-and-third, one-out jam. However, the Reds did score the tying run in the ninth off Qualls, and then got a walk-off victory in the tenth, ending Clay Zavada's scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single.

More gory details after the jump.

Poor Doug Davis. In his last three starts, he has now allowed just two earned runs in 21 innings of work - that's an ERA of 0.86. He didn't win any of them, because he has received a grand total of five runs in support over that time. However, Doug should be used to that by now: in his seventeen games, the Diamondbacks have scored two runs or less in ten of them. So, really, he should know better than to allow any runs if he wants to win - or even if he wants his team to win. Arizona are 4-13 in DD starts; in those four victories, the opposition has scored a total of two runs.

So, to be honest, the offense likely deserves as much criticism for this defeat as the bullpen: over the past 24 hours, our batters are 6-for-58 against Cincinnati. Our first run was manufactured nicely in the second. Gerardo Parra walked, stole second, advanced to third on a ground-out, and crossed home on a two-out single by Chad Tracy. However, Chad couldn't repeat the magic when the same situation [Parra on third, with two out] came up in the top of the fourth, and instead, the Reds tied the game with a Dickerson single.

The Reds should probably have buried Arizona at that point, as subsequently, they loaded the bases with no outs against Davis. However, he got his opposite number to pop-out, then got a force-out at the plate and a groundout, to escape without further damage. This would become something of a theme: Cincinnati would load the bases again in the fifth, and by the time the game was over, they would have left sixteen men on base. However, they probably don't mind too much, since they got the victory.

That was despite Mark Reynolds going deep again. With #22 in the sixth, he surpassed Steve Finley's first-half total from 2004, and has the most HR by a Diamondback player before the All-Star break since Luis Gonzalez has a truly monster start to the season in 2001: he reached the break with 35 homers and 86 RBI. The only other AZ sluggers to have more then Reynolds are Finley (25 in 2000), Jay Bell (24 in 1999) and Matt WIlliams (23, also 1999). Still some time left for Special K to catch up with those guys, however.

True to say that our batters did not cover themselves in glory: for the second day in a row, there were more walks than hits. Optimists will take that as a sign of good plate discipline; pessimists as proof of feeble offense. Reynolds and Felipe Lopez each had a hit and a walk, while Parra and Alex Romero both were held hitless, but reached base safely on a couple of walks each. Three of the free passes came in the tenth, bringing Justin Upton to the plate with one out: he sent a fly-ball to the outfield, but the throw home was in time to get Romero tagging up from third.

The Reds bullpen showed why they are the best in the league, holding the Diamondbacks hitless over three innings of work. The Arizona relievers...less so: seven hits in 2.2 innings. The eighth was mentioned in the introductory paragraph: the ninth saw two singles to lead things off, and two ground-outs scored the tying run off Qualls. Though at least he did manage to retire the pinch-hitting Micah Owings for the third out; it'd have been the supreme insult for him to drive in the winning run against us...again.

Zavada came in for the tenth, and finally dug himself a hole he couldn't escape, loading the bases with no outs. He did the difficult part, getting a K and a shallow fly to right, but a sinking liner on a jam shot went past a diving Augie Ojeda for the win. That ended his streak of scoreless games at nineteen, fourth-best all-time to open a career. A frustrating loss? No doubt, no least for Davis, who reduced his season ERA to 3.15, but still has only three victories in seventeen attempts. It means we lose the series, and are 1-7 in the past eight games. Keep playing like that, and the 7.5 game deficit we have on the Nationals in the Bryce Harper Sweepstakes will soon be a thing of the past.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Master of his domain: Doug Davis, +36.4%
Honorable mentions: Schoeneweis, +18.3%; Reynolds, +11.2%
God-emperor of suck: Clay Zavada, -35.7%
Dishonorable mentions: Upton, -26.8%; Rauch, -18.2%;
Qualls, -14.7%; Clark, -14.4%

Given the odd start time and lack of television coverage, not a bad turnout, though we still fell short of 300 comments. kishi led the way, with 'Charmer close behind. Also present: sayheyupton, soco, Pyromnc, TwinnerA, unnamedDBacksfan, edbigghead, 4 Corners Fan, emilylovesthedbacks, Jim McLennan, dbacksbj, pygalgia, NotGuilty, bcloirao, CardsIrish, Diamondhacks and Wailord. Off to Colorado we go: personally, I'm looking forward to seeing the return of the Petit Unit to the rotation. That should be...fun...

Have a good, safe Fourth of July and we'll see you at Coors.

Gameday Thread, #79: 7/2 vs Reds

Jim McLennan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:58:45 -0000

Doug Davis
LHP, 3-8, 3.28

Aaron Harang
RHP, 5-8, 3.95

Get your Sausage McMuffin and your caffeinated beverage of choice, because it's time for breakfast baseball - a day game on the East coast means that first pitch takes place at the time most of us in Arizona will be stretching, yawning and thinking about beginning the day. At least I won't have to worry about staying up late in order to write the recap, since I should be able to have it done in my lunch-break.

Rubber game of the series, which has so far been dominated by starting pitching, with only Arroyo's performance in the opener blotting an otherwise almost impeccable copybook as far as that goes. Doug Davis goes out there, knowing that so far, the only way to get the W, is pitching shutout baseball: one run has been enough to doom him otherwise. It's a startling record, which generates a new fun stat each time. Here's todays: Davis currently has an ERA+ of 139: only one pitcher in the past 20 years has had that good a season and a Win% of below .400 - Jim Abbott, who went 7-15 for the 1992 Angels, with a 2.77 ERA. Doug's Win% is currently .273.

Anyway, no idea what the line-up is going to be at this point. I'm writing this at 10pm and scheduling it to hit the Internet some time before I hit consciousness. I'm sure someone more awake than I will fill in the blanks...

Lineup

Looks like I'm the only mod awake enough yet. :-) Young sits, which is interesting: I wonder if he is still having an issue with his groin? Romero gets the start in LF, with Parra moving over to CF.

The June Swoon: Reviewing the Diamondbacks Month

Jim McLennan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:20:50 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Upton celebrates his first career grand slam. Here's to many more.

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Team Record: 9-17
Runs Scored: 124 - Runs Allowed: 128
Series Record: 1-6-1

Is it just me, or did the past month feel an awful lot worse than that? Ok, it was still the fewest games won by the Diamondbacks since June 2006, when we went 8-20 (boy, we really don't like June!). But I was surprised to see we scored almost as many runs as we conceded. Just for comparison, in 2006, our differential was -72, rather than the -4 posted last month - the closest we've come to parity all season. The main reason the record doesn't reflect this, is that the Diamondbacks were 2-6 in one-run games in June, but were 4-0 in games decided by seven runs or more.

But after the jump, we'll go into more details, about a June we'd probably rather forget, and list the nominees for AZ Player of the Month

You wouldn't know it from a pretty miserable won-lost record, but the Diamondbacks' team performance over the past month was actually the best it has been all season, with the offense producing the highest OPS and the pitchers delivering the lowest ERA for a month in 2009. Here's a comparison of the numbers from April and June in a variety of categories. I've also put the overall league average this season as the third column, for comparison (though these numbers are not park-adjusted, etc.).

	April (9-13)	June (9-17)	NL Av
Hitting
BA	.231	.254	.257
OBP	.308	.332	.330
SLG	.394	.406	.405
OPS	.703	.739	.736
R/game	3.82	4.77	4.45
Pitching
Opp BA	.258	.255	.258
Opp OBP	.324	.326	.333
Opp SLG	.421	.395	.412
Opp OPS	.745	.721	.744
ERA	4.52	4.11	4.25

That makes for interesting reading - especially for Hinch's critics, because it seems that both the pitching and hitting of the team have improved, comparing his first full month in charge to Melvin's last. Some of that may just be random chance, but not all of it - while BABIP for the hitters increased significantly from April to June, the number for the pitchers was basically identical. What helped on the mound was the team's ability to keep the ball in the park: in April, they allowed one home-run per 31.8 at-bats; in June, it was one every 43.4 AB. However, countering that, in June the defense surrendered nineteen unearned runs, almost four times as many April's five.

Before we get to the five candidates for Diamondbacks' Player of the Month, I want to give out a couple of awards for the "Most Improved" Hitter and Pitcher of June. The former goes to Chris Young, who improved his OPS from .420 to .910. Of particular note, he led the team in walks, trotting to first in June more often than he struck out - that's especially impressive since in May, his K:BB ratio was 23:2. He was also 7-0 stealing bases. On the mound, it goes to Jon Rauch, who had an ERA of 2.08, allowing seven hits and three walks in thirteen innings. Given his ERA was 9.00 when he took the mound on May 8th, the Blowfish has turned it around nicely, and been scored on in just two of his last sixteen appearances.

And with that, on to the five men who most impressed the academy [ok - that'd be me] in the month of June. They are in order of alphabetical importance:

Dan Haren. Six starts, each seven innings or more, two runs or less. Overall ERA for the month:1.64. 44 innings pitched, allowed only six walks while striking out 42 batters and holding opposing hitters to an average of .151. Oh, and hit .462 (6-for-13) too.
Mark Reynolds. Had a line for the month of .286/.372/.592, giving him a team-leading OPS of .964. Also led the D-backs in June for homers (8), runs (19) and RBI (26). And K's too, naturally, though his K:BB ratio was still better than Lopez and Parra.
Max Scherzer. What's most impressive about Max's 2.17 ERA, is that it was done on the back of a .302 BABIP, so can't be considered a 'lucky' ERA. He didn't allow a single long-ball in June, a great improvement on May's figure of seven.
Justin Upton. Hit over .300, though a BABIP regression inevitably led to a drop from May's .373. Got his K:BB ratio for a month down below 2:1 for only the second time in his career. Reached base safely in 23 of 25 June games, and had his first grand-slam.
Clay Zavada. Just surpassed Doug Slaten for 4th-longest streak of scoreless games to open a career. (19) Can't argue with a zero ERA, though eight walks in 12.1 IP is high. Doing better with inherited runners, only three of nine scored in June, compared to 5/6 in May.

Poll

Who was the Diamondbacs' Player of the Month for June?

Gameday Thread, #78: 7/1 vs. Reds

Jim McLennan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:32:44 -0000

Jon Garland
RHP, 4-7, 5.04

Johnny Cueto
RHP, 8-6, 5.54

And the calendar turns to July. Let's hope the results for the Diamondbacks this month are a little better than June's 9-17 - though that bald statistic conceals some interesting numbers, which I'll be writing about this evening, while Azreous does the recap. Looks like a bit of an uneven match-up here, with Cueto (career ERA vs. Arizona, 2.37) going up against Garland, who had one of his 'bad' outings in May against Cincinnati, giving up seven runs and having to be bailed out before getting through four innings.

If only we could play eight Uptons, since he's the only one who really had a handle on Cueto - he's 3-for-6, with all three hits being for extra-bases, and two leaving the park. Parra and, of all people, Augie Ojeda, have also gone deep off Cueto, but overall, the current Diamondbacks are batting sub-Uecker, having gone 9-for-46 combined agsinst the Reds' pitcher. In contrast, Cincinnati are hitting .351 off Garland, with Brandon Phillips (6-for-14, five for extra-bases) leading the hit parade.

Good news about Brandon Webb not needing surgery, though part of me grumbles about having done all that research into labrums, needlessly. :-) Here's to him making a triumphant return in September and performing in such a way as to make picking up his 2010 option a lock, as it was before this season began.

Lineup

Tracy gets his first action since coming back off the DL, with Reynolds returning to third-base. Otherwise, business pretty much as usual for the line-up. Finally, some audio from Dan Haren on the Doug and Wolf show this morning.

Audio courtesy of KTAR 620

Gameday Thread, #77: 6/30 vs. Reds

Jim McLennan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:12:06 -0000

Dan Haren
RHP, 6-5, 2.25

Bronson Arroyo
RHP, 8-6, 5.54

So, what's it going to be today? How will the Diamondbacks manage to lose this contest? Hitting into nine consecutive triple-plays? A line-drive ricocheting off Upton's knee and up, over the fence for a grand-slam? AJ Hinch punches the umpire in a desperate attempt to get throw out, triggering a forfeit? Let's face it, after the weekend and the spectacular ways we found to achieve defeat, none of the above would surprise me in the slightest.

Still, it's a Dan Haren start, so the kind of meltdown which we saw from Buckner in the opener of the Angels series seems less likely - he allowed more runs in one frame, than Haren has given up in the entire month of June to date, covering 37 innings of work, posting a 1.70 ERA this month. Needless to say, extending him rather than Webb seems, at the time of writing, one of the front office's better moves. I therefore expect it'll be offensive futility which triggers the loss tonight: Arroyo for a complete-game shutout, anyone?

Yep, it's nice to keep those expectations right down in the basement - that way, if anything other than dismal failure happens, it's a pleasant surprise, and if we do fail miserably, then you can say, "I told you so." Though it won't actually be me telling you so, since we're promoting Sprankton from Double-A, to take over every second Tuesday's recaps, while I'm at IZW. It'll be another voice, and I look forward to hearing what he says. I'm sure he already has his thesaurus open to the page for 'incompetence'...

And here's AJ Hinch's interview with Gambo and Ash on KTAR this afternoon. Haven't had a chance to listen to it myself yet, but I'm sure it was not an experience to which our manager was eagerly looking forward...

Audio courtesy of KTAR 620

Line-up

As noted by 'Charmer, Chad Tracy is back on the roster, with Leo Rosales sent back down to the minors to make room. However, we still get Tony Clark at 1B. Chris Young back in CF, but I'll wait until I see him run full-speed before passing comment on his return...

Bumbling Diamondbacks lead the majors in errors

Jim McLennan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:07:29 -0000

Bumbling Diamondbacks lead the majors in errors

Augie Ojeda, who also had an error on Sunday, was one of the few players in the clubhouse when the media was allowed in. Ojeda urged his teammates to "take some pride." "We just have to go out there and do it for ourselves," Ojeda said. "We're professionals. We get paid a lot of money. We have to go out there and produce."

Hear, hear Augie - chalk up another reason why you're among my favorites on the current roster.

A philosophy of fandom

Jim McLennan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:34:45 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP

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What's scary is the nature of our young fan base. We need to educate them. We need them to be loyal to the organization and not waver because of a tough season, a season where it really seems like we've been snake-bitten.
-- Derrick Hall, June 27, 2009

Important Disclaimer. All of what follows is personal opinion, discussing my opinion of what fandom means to me. Fandom is like religion in some ways, in that everyone has their own - while there may be broad areas of agreement, it is a potential minefield for discussion. Nothing here is meant to denigrate "your" approach to fandom, which is every bit as valid as anyone else's. Ok? Right, after the jump, let's get on. It's semi-rambling and leaps about a bit, but hopefully you'll find it interesting.

Fandom in team sports doesn't make a great deal of sense: you are rooting for a nebulous entity, called 'The Arizona Diamondbacks.' Few of the players on the team now were here three years ago - and with the departure of Randy Johnson, the last tie to the 2001 World Series, which cemented so many of us as die-hards, is gone. Yet both the breadth and depth of sports fandom is unsurpassed in America: I'm pretty sure a higher percentage of people would identify themselves as fans of a team, than fans of a TV series or band. The former is seen as 'geeky', the latter generally the provenance of the young. But the majority of people have a team they support, in one or more sports.

What it provides is a element of drama that, let's be honest, is largely missing from most people's lives - and this is largely a good thing. Just as horror films provide a safe, controlled outlet in which death and violence can be encountered, so supporting a team provide an adrenaline thrill and the chance to experience uncertainty and tension, not found in most 'normal' jobs, outside of the armed forces. For three hours a night, we live or die with the team: but at the end of the day, we turn off the TV and go to bed, because it doesn't matter.

It's also based on a cycle of expectation, usually followed by disappointment. Obviously, there can be only one World Series winner, but three-quarters of the teams in the National League won't see playoff baseball this year. At the time of writing (thanks to interleague play), only six of the sixteen even have winning records. No team wins every year. Heck, it's not that long ago even the MFY went an entire decade without getting into the post-season [1982-1993, including back-to-back seasons with more than ninety losses], though it's certainly true that their resources now help them to stay competitive. But last season, their $209m payroll - $65m+ more than any other team in the history of the game had ever spent - still didn't buy them a playoff spot. Great, wasn't it? :-)

Logically, failure is more likely than success, yet as we've seen lately in Arizona, the absence of success can triigger a major crisis - a team's failure is our failure, while if our team does well, it boosts self-esteem. A study at Indiana University showed fans a game, then asked how they thought they'd do at various tasks. Consistently, there was a sharp rise in confidence in abilities after a win, and a corresponding drop after a loss. Fans were even far more likely to say they could get a person of the opposite sex to go on a date. Yet failure can be as binding a force as success: look at Cubs fans, or Red Sox ones prior to 2004. There was something semi-masochistic and admirable about being a Boston fan in those days; now, they're the Yankees Lite. One wonders what would happen to Cubs fandom if they ever did win the World Series. It might just spontaneously combust.

This is perhaps what Hall meant about a "young fan-base"; the one in Arizona has not been through the cycles of failure and success, and know that neither should be expected to last forever. To quote Rudyard Kipling, "If you can meet with triumph and disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same..." Personally, I don't think my interest in or passion for the Diamondbacks is significantly connected to their won-lost record. Sure, it certainly makes for a more enjoyable experience when they win 90 games a season, rather than lose them, but I can't say, for example, that I have watched any fewer games this year than in 2007.

That's what I think differentiates die-hard fans from the more casual ones - I certainly fall into the latter category with regard to the Arizona Cardinals. I was cheering as hard as anyone for them in the SuperBowl, but the instant it was over, I went right back to ignoring them. Bandwagon jumper? Fair-weather fan? Guilty as charged, absolutely. It may be that four division titles and a World Series in the first decade may have 'spoiled' Arizona fans. It just isn't a normal pattern for any team, let alone an expansion franchise - only one of the nine other teams founded since 1969 won even a single crown in their first decade [the Royals]. Is it realistic to expect this to continue?

Face it. We Arizona fans have had it incredibly easy during the lifespan of the franchise. Just compare our expansion siblings in Tampa, who took eleven attempts to avoid losing ninety games. Dammit: those fans really earned that 2008 trip to the World Series. Or the Marlins and Rockies: 32 seasons combined, and not a division between them. The Rangers: this is their 49th year, including the time in Washington, and they have one playoff game win. I could go on. This is why, as an Diamondbacks fan, when I read some of the posts on azcentral com bemoaning the current state of the team, I feel I'm reading texts from whiny teenage girls to their friends, upset because their rich daddy won't buy them a new Corvette and a nose-job.

Not that there isn't ground for legitimate criticism - though it can get drowned out in the noise, and I'm deliberately steering clear of specifics for now, as it'd basically be piling on after the weekend. But I think management has been guilty, wittingly or not, of promoting unrealistic expectations This team was touted as one which would, at the very least, be competitive - that clearly isn't the case, and may be a major cause of the subsequent backlash, While there's no comparison between this roster and 2004, a big difference is, I don't think anyone expected much from Jerry's Kids: in 2003, we finished 16.5 games back, which didn't exactly trigger great hope for the following year. In contrast, last season, we led from the end of the first week until the start of September and finished just two back. What we have in 2009 is not just failure, it's unexpected failure.

That is particularly frustrating due to the weird relationship between teams and fans. It's symbiotic, in that neither could exists without the other, yet the power is almost all on the team's side. Again, this is where it becomes almost closer to a religion, because we have to take it almost entirely on faith that those who are running things have 'our' best interests at heart. As fans, there is almost nothing we can do to influence the decisions made on our behalf. We go to the game, or not. We cheer or boo [though the latter has come in for strong criticism from some quarters]. Nowadays, we post angst-ridden rants on sites like this. Really, that's about it. And when things do not turn out as we've been told they would, a sense of disappointment verging on betrayal is very understandable.

My relationship with the team is, from this end, like the one I had with the Snakepitette during her teenage years. It was frequently infuriating, because anything I said pretty much had no effect, yet I still cared deeply, even if I could do little more than hope that things worked out okay in the end [and, I'm pleased to report, they have done, more or less]. Just as that's a bond that can't be broken, as part of the hardcore fanbase, there is nothing the team could do which would drive me away. I just cannot imagine cheering for another baseball team, and the odds of me shifting allegiance to the Suns or Cardinals are even slimmer.

Your 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks. Can't live with 'em - can't tie them up in a burlap bag and toss 'em in the Salt River...

SB Nation User Blog: Jim McLennan

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Jon GarlandRHP, 4-7, 5.04

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Max Scherzer
RHP, 5-5, 3.67

Jorge De La Rosa
LHP, 4-7, 5.64

Doug Davis
LHP, 3-8, 3.28

Aaron Harang
RHP, 5-8, 3.95

Jon Garland
RHP, 4-7, 5.04

Johnny Cueto
RHP, 8-6, 5.54

Dan Haren
RHP, 6-5, 2.25

Bronson Arroyo
RHP, 8-6, 5.54