SB Nation User Blog: dahlian

Diamondbacks 2, Mariners 3: Are you kidding me?!?

dahlian — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:24:18 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

Augie Ojeda gets a home-run robbed during Sunday's game. Or 'business as usual', as we Arizona fans say...

"I missed it, it's a play I should have made."
Are you kidding me?

"I just missed it," he repeated. "It's my fault."
No really, are you kidding me?!?

It's official, we've run out of ways to say that we've run out ways to describe this team's knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Nevertheless, without further adieu...

On a sunny afternoon in beautiful Seattle, Washington the 29-40 Arizona Diamondbacks took the field against the 34-34 Seattle Mariners to compete in a live sporting event under the auspices of Major League Baseball. According to the official rules of Major League Baseball it is necessary for a team to score more "runs" than their opponent in order to win a game. The devil is in the details for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they've found out that it's difficult to win Major League Baseball games when they have only two above-average hitters. Once again, Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds more-than-pulled their own weight only to be let down by their teammates. Against the always dangerous Felix Hernandez they combined for the only runs of the game - off the back of Mark Reynolds "how did that get out here?" home run.

Others had their opportunity to chip in offensively and all came up woefully short - none more so than Snakepit-favorite Eric Byrnes. In the fourth inning Always-There Bear managed to turn a no-out, bases loaded opportunity into a 5-2 double play (are you kidding me?). Augie Ojeda followed that up with a strikeout and the offense once again came up with goose-eggs - a theme for the night, aside from the afore-mentioned eighth inning outburst. Drew continues to alternate hot and cold (more cold than hot) with three more strikeouts. Parra continues to cool down. Tony Clark had a mediocre evening; with the only silver-lining being that it was his first start of the season in which he didn't strike out (he's now only striking out in 50% of his at-bats on the season!). And perhaps most perplexingly, Miguel Montero continues to get the full-time starting nod over Chris Snyder. I love Miguel Montero - he's my favorite current DBacks - but this is a perplexing decision considering Snyder's offensive superiority and shiny new contract. Is it time to add Montero's name to the mix for the mid-season fire sale?

Of course, the offense wasn't the only part of this team deserving of a walk of shame back to the dugout. The relief corps came into tonight's game with the third-worst ERA in the majors and they managed to increase it giving up two runs in one and two-thirds innings. Davis, while not the prettiest game he's ever pitched, more than put himself in line for the win allowing only one run through seven innings - five walks and 13 baserunners be damned! Four relievers were used to finish the game out and all, save Qualls, have blood on their hands. Schoeneweiss continues to have problems getting lefties out, Rauch couldn't get a big out to save his life and Zavada continues to find a remarkable number of ways to lose ball games for a reliever with 0.00 ERA.

However, a lackluster offense and an even-worse bullpen is old news. We've all seen it, denied it, grown angry at it and have now moved on to that narrow precipice between depression and acceptance. But what made this game special is that they really did find a new way to lose. Just when things start to get bleak and, let's be honest, boring, it's nice to have a veteran leader like Tony Clark step in, put the team on his shoulders and say, "boys, let's really give them something to talk about." How else can you explain him missing a routine, waist-high strike for the third of the ninth inning? It's not as if this team had much of a likelihood of winning the game in extras, but at least you force the other team to beat you. Instead, Clark muffs the routine out and the boys in red get swept by the buzzsaw known as the Seattle Mariners. Should we have expected anything less from the man who's on the team for reasons that have nothing to do with playing ability?

At least the KTAR talking heads will have no shortage of material to run into the ground on their quest to re-write history and paint themselves as the voices of wisdom and reason that always knew what was best for this team. And then they'll blame us, the fans, for being the reason that this team sold its soul on the altar of veteran leadership when they were the one that sold us this jive in the first place. Kudos to you, Mr. Clark, and kudos again.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Master of his domain: Mark Reynolds, +34.6%
Honorable mention: Doug Davis, +20.6%
God-emperor of suck: ~~Chad Qualls~~ Tony Clark, -34.2%
Dishonorable mentions: Schoeneweis, -17.4%;
Drew, -14.6%; Lopez, -14.5%; Rauch, -13.2%

[Jim adds] Just dropping in before the plug gets pulled on the Internet. I don't have much more to add to this fiasco, other than that the myth of Tony Clark's roster spot being due to his defense is no longer tenable. As Dahlian said, "Just be sure to mention that Qualls doesn't deserve to be God-Emperor of Suck. Sadly, there were no good photos in the queue of T.C. looking at his glove with bemusement." hotclaws had most comments, ahead of kishi - also present in the GDT, unnamedDBacksfan, pygalgia, Azreous, Diamondhacks, acidtongue, TwinnerA, emilylovesthedbacks, 4 Corners Fan, sayheyupton, gasgarza, Sprankton, rapdawg, Wailord, Scrbl and Muu.

With that, I disappear off the grid. See you Tuesday sometimes, hopefully...

Diamondbacks 2, A's 6: Normalcy's Return.

dahlian — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:30:06 -0000

You knew the winning streak would have to end some time. After a 6-2 loss at the hands of Josh Outman the more cynical fans might say call this a return to the normalcy of a losing team. Sure, they have a good chance of being right, but the biggest thing to take from this game is that, for the first time in a long time, you can shrug your shoulders and proclaim with confidence that it's just one game in a long season. Lady luck can be a cruel mistress and today, for reasons only she knows, she simply wan't on the Diamondbacks side. In other words, the story here is that there is no story.

Sure, the pitching may not have been great. But on the other hand, there was no troubling negative outlier in the performance. Garland didn't have his great stuff, especially struggling with his control, but the end result (six innings, three runs) was right in line with what you expect from him. Slaten once again failed to get a lefty out, but again, no surprise here. The team knows that he's filler and if not for a couple rainouts and the misfortunes that befell the Schoeneweis family he wouldn't even be on the team. If one wants to be dire, you can point to Esmerling Vasquez's continued ups and down, but frankly, I've been so pleased with the way this bullpen has come together this season it's just not a big deal to me.

Of course, that leaves the elephant in the room - the offense. It's obligatory to point that that after such a high-octane week on the East coast the boys in Sedona Red came to Oakland and put up a measly two runs in two different games. It would be even easier to look at these games and hail the return to the normalcy of offensive ineptitude. There's no doubt that this was a frustrating game from a frustrating offense, but to be honest it was fluky as all get out.

The story of the day was obviously the four double plays rolled up by Mr. Outman - aided in large part by the five free baserunners granted by the base on balls. For some perspective, those four double plays were three more than Outman had rolled up in his six prior starts this season. Even more unlikely, those four ground balls were induced by a pitcher with .50 GB/FB rate for the season by a team. And most unlikely - this anemic, two-run output came on a day when the Diamondbacks hitters set a season-low for strikeouts. Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds were the only two Snakes to take the walk of shame back to the dugout and it happened only once for each. As I said - fluky, fluky, fluky.

Sometimes the win just isn't in the cards. There's nothing more to do than to tip your cap to Outman and the A's and hope for better luck tomorrow. Luck that this team will apparently need as they return to Phoenix to take on the hottest team in baseball, the San Diego Padres. I swear that's not a typo. Bring your Clay Zavada signs to Chase Fieldand enjoy the fact that once again you can watch your boys in sedona red play without near-certain anguish and doomlurking behind every corner. In other words, like a normal baseball fan again.

A non-Cubs fan that is.

[Edited, to add usual fangraphy, rollcally stuff]

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Chris Snyder, +9.3%
God-emperor of suck: Jon Garland, -17.2%
Dishonorable mentions: Ojeda, -13.7%; Parra, -13.6%; Byrnes, -12.4%

409 comments in the Gameday Thread. I surprised myself by providing the third-most: first time I've managed a podium position in a while! I trailed a long way behind pyromnc's 119, and also came in behind Tim Weiss. Additionally present: sayheyupton, TwinnerA, Wimb, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, Muu, snakecharmer, AJforAZ, pygalgia, soco, unnamedDBacksfan, nargel and Azreous - I sense a good few people are away or otherwise absent for the weekend.

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 4: Very Thin Ice

dahlian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:25:45 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Witty caption to be filled in by someone more creative than I (snakecharmer). (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Browse more photos »

Record: 7-11. Pace: 63-99. Change on last season: -6

In case you didn't hear, today's game *spoiler alert* went to extra innings *end spoiler alert*. I bring it up now to apologize for my brevity in the recap because the extra time forced me to shelve my ambitious plans to Auto-tune the Diamondbacks Broadcast. Yeah, that's the reason I didn't do it… *spoiler alert*extra innings*end spoiler alert*… the reason...

First things first: here at the Snakepit we firmly believe in writing each recap the right way. We like to think that we do the little things right. We never take an inning off. We'll even lean into one every now and then to get on base. Occasionally that desire to inform comes into conflict with the fact that for the first seven innings this game just wasn't very fun to watch. I love me a good pitcher's duel, but as any NL West fan can tell you, when the Giants and Diamondbacks combine to score two runs over seven innings, odds are that "good pitching" isn't the only reason.

Not to say that nothing happened over the first seven innings. The Diamondbacks had upwards of five hits, including a Mark Reynolds bomb to the left-center field concourse (I’m an angry gorilla. I heard you needed me). Garland, too, was pitching a gem, albeit it with a few hiccups as he managed to work out of a no outs, runner on second jam in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Despite his lead-off woes, he still managed to get through seven innings with only a single Giants run crossing home plate. The run itself was the result of two broken-bat flairs and an Aaron Rowand line drive – one of the perks of putting the ball into play that never seem to happen to the Diamondbacks.

It was in the eighth, when Garland allowed a lead off runner to reach second for the fourth straight inning, that trouble came abrewing. The pesky Edgar Renteria followed followed the Fred Lewis double with a ten pitch walk. Then Pablo "Never Met a Chest High Fastball He Didn’t Like" Sandoval hit one of the most absurd home runs I’ve ever seen. Seriously. If you haven’t seen the replay, go do so. It’s positively Vlad-like. Alas, as amazing as it was to see, it also meant that the Diamondbacks were trailing by the insurmountable margin of three runs. The mop-up crew was even brought it to pitch the ninth in the form of Esmerling Vasquez.

The newcomer showed u s the stuff earned him the title of Diamondbacks 2007 minor league pitcher of the year – excellent fastball, wicked changeup. He also showed us the reason for his 6.72 ERA in Tucson last year – control, control, control. At that point there was no doubt that his tumultuous frame would be the headline of the game as writers like myself have already exhausted their their supply of synonyms for "impotent offense". The Snakes were grass and there was no way they could break scratch across three runs in a single inning. Or was there?

Fortunately for the good guys, things were not so simple. Facing Giants closer Brian "For the Thousandth Time, Not That" Wilson they managed to scrape together the three runs required to send the game into extra innings. Chad Tracy managed to kick start things with a lead-off double. Mark Reynolds then broke the team’s 1/20 with RISP streak by taking a ball to the opposite field plating the run. The final two runs, you may have heard, came on a Justin Upton home run to left field. If you tune into FSAZ any time for the next twenty-four hours I’m sure that they will be broadcasting it on a continuous loop for your viewing pleasure.

A mighty blast had been struck for freedom, but things wouldn’t end there. Apparently there’s a rule in baseball stating that games cannot end in a tie. With two titanic offenses squaring off it was bound to be a battle of attrition. But the advantage would go to Diamondbacks who still had their premier relief pitchers available for duty. Where the Giants brought in Brandon Medders as a long man, Bob Melvin was able to get three shutdown innings from Chad Qualls and Juan Gutierrez (Chad Qualls does not make concessions or ransom payments to Giants).

Not to say that this team didn’t look embarrassing out there as for two innings they flailed aimlessly against former castoff Brandon Medders. But all things are forgiven when Bochy goes to the well one too many times and hangs Medders out to dry in the process (a strategy I like to call "The Brenly"). Three walks and a CoJack gapper later there’s hope for another day (Surely you jest! I’m under cardiac arrest). Goodbye despondency, hello mild bemusement. There’s a lot to fret about for this team, but there’s no denying that for at least five innings this was an edge-of-your-seat game that had the right ending. Enjoy it. Enjoy it now. Enjoy it while you still can for tomorrow Yusmeiro Petit takes the mound and Brandon Webb and Stephen Drew will still be on the disabled list. No matter how you stack it, this team remains on very thin ice (very thin ice, very thin ice).

Master of his Domain: Justin Upton, +48.8%
Honorable mentions: Qualls, +28.6%; Gutierrez, +14.3%; Jackson, +11.7%
God-Emperor of Suck: Felipe Lopez, -14.6%
Dishonorable mentions: Byrnes, -13.2%; Tracy, -10.8%

Good showing in the Gameday Thread today, though some people seemed to forget there was a game on. ;) Over 500 posts from: victor frankenstein, kishi, unnamedDBacksfan, Diamondhacks, hotclaws, Jim McLennan, snakecharmer, soco, luckycc, Wimb, TwinnerA, emilylovesthedbacks, Muu, mrssoco, RockiesMagicNumber, singaporedbacksfan, sergey606, DbacksSkins, Snake Bitten, IndyDBack, Azreous, Lisalisa8, damdrs1717, AJforAZ, Gravity, venomfan, Wailord, and dahlian. Jim and snakecharmer battled it out for the top spot today, with snakecharmer winning by a scant one comment - 85 to 84.

Update. Thanks to Dahlian for sterling work on the update. Wow. Simply, wow. I didn't get to hear the end of the game as I had to go work the doors at the comedy show, after Montero's lead-off walk. A stunning comeback from the team, just when all seemed lost. [I am clearly going to have to listen to Front Line Assembly at high-volume more often. Either that, or go to lesbian bars: I'm unsure yet...] You will not be surprised to hear that there were a lot of our players prepared to talk to the media tonight! Here are the thoughts of Melvin, Garland, home-run hero Upton and Reynolds on the victory, and the upcoming series against the Cubs.

Audio courtesy of KTAR 620

Troy Aikman partners with new Padres CEO Moorad

dahlian — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:32:06 -0000

Troy Aikman partners with new Padres CEO Moorad

So what tact should we take during the Padres' first visit to Chase Field? Should there be some big "FU Moorad" and "Traitor Jeff" signs? Or perhaps we should go for subtlety and unfurl a big "Thanks for the memories, Jeff" sign with pictures of Russ Ortiz, Shawn Green and Carlos Quentin as a border.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Piecoro: Hudson to the Dodgers

dahlian — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:12:27 -0000

Piecoro: Hudson to the Dodgers

The Diamondbacks will probably be torn on this news. On the one hand, he’s going to a division rival. On the other, they’re getting a premium draft pick from the Dodgers (No. 17 overall).

Still no word on years or compensation.

Torre says Juan Pierre will go to center

dahlian — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:32:35 -0000

Torre says Juan Pierre will go to center

For those wondering how the ManRam trade will influence our chances of winning the pennant, this about says it all. This had the potential to big help for the Dodgers' offense as they could relegate both of their outfield sink holes to the bench. Now instead of going with Manny (140 OPS+ this season, 154 career), Kemp (110, 110), and Ethier (100, 106), they will instead toss Pierre's 69 OPS+ (75 last year) into the mix at a position that they had already deemed him to be a defensive liability.

In short, they had a chance to a replace a player in Juan Pierre that's created 35 runs this season (not counting base running, which is admittedly a plus) with a player in Ramirez that had created 76 runs with the bat. Instead, they've chosen to replace, Ethier, the hitter that has created 55 runs this season.

Players may come and go, but the biggest obstacle towards the Dodgers winning this division remains themselves.

D-Backs' draft pick Schlereth appears injured

dahlian — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:08:54 -0000

D-Backs' draft pick Schlereth appears injured

Daniel Schlereth and the Diamondbacks received a potentially devastating blow when Schlereth was forced to cease his warm-ups with an apparent injury Friday in University of Arizona’s NCAA super regional at Miami.

Schlereth, the D-Backs’ first-round pick in the 2008 draft Thursday, threw one pitch in the bullpen during the sixth inning before he stopped throwing.

ESPN cameras later showed Schlereth, a left-hander, icing his left arm.

Schlereth underwent Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on his left elbow in 2004, when he was injured in the final game of his freshman year.

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

Japanese-American Baseball in Arizona - Chandler Library Talk

dahlian — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:21:26 -0000

Japanese-American Baseball in Arizona - Chandler Library Talk

For any East Valley residents with flexible lunch-time work schedules, this talk looks interesting.

Bill Stapes, Chandler resident and baseball history enthusiast
June 24, 2008
11:30-12:30
Chandler Public Library, 22 S. Delaware St.
City Council Chambers
Come and learn about this interesting time when the "boys of summer" played behind barbed wire fences in Japanese interment camps in the desert south of Chandler. Bill Stapes, Chandler resident and baseball history enthusiast will speak.

WSJ: Baseball Analyst Draws Fans by Crunching Election Numbers

dahlian — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:17:01 -0000

WSJ: Baseball Analyst Draws Fans by Crunching Election Numbers

For six years, Nate Silver has used statistics and formulas to project baseball players’ performances before the season has begun. Now he’s gaining wide attention by applying similar statistical techniques to the presidential election, by projecting the breakdown of the Electoral College.

But is it science?

Diamondbacks 4, Nationals 7: Wee Willie Harris hits one out of town.

dahlian — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:21:32 -0000

Record: 30-25. Pace: 89-73. Change on last season: -2

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: That one hurt. In the first two games, we were never really in them, so the defeat was more inevitable than anything too disturbing or shocking. This one, however, was looking pretty good into the seventh inning, as we kept the game even, and Micah Owings continued to make his case for being the best number three starter in the continental U.S. (take that Shaun Marcum – USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!). But then it got worse…

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if the front six innings were stellar baseball. But I was honestly beginning to geek myself up with the hope that my first ever Snakepit recap would be about the Diamondbacks finally snapping their four-game losing streak. The defense may have been a bit shaky: in the second inning Chris Young misplayed a shallow pop-up into a single that turned into one of two runs and four innings later Orlando Hudson joined him by botching two ground balls that allowed Christan Guzman to score on a sac fly. The offense may have underwhelmed us: in the fifth inning they managed to load the bases with one out and score only one run – over all they managed two solo home runs, four singles, five walks and only four runs. But by god, this game had promise.

The offense and defense were only supposed to be footnotes in this recap, because for six innings Micah was outstanding. Owings started off the game allowing only five hits (three of which should have been outs), no walks, six strikeouts and one hit batsmen. He announced his presence with authority as he attacked the strike zone throwing only 66 pitches through the first six innings. With the bat in his hand he finally broke his out of his 0-11 slide as he drew a walk and contributed a rally-extending single. The stars looked to be aligning themselves to give this team an emotional victory off of a dominant starting pitching performance and just enough offense. Then the seventh inning came and the wheels fell off for Owings…

After inducing a fly-out, Owings hit his second batter of the game. Another single put runners on and first and second and returned doubt to the newly tied game. Then, in a feat of game-altering improbability not seen since July 24, 2005, Wee Willie Harris hit a three-run home run to blow the game open and assure all the Diamondbacks fans watching that no, this would not be the night the streak comes to an end. Ladies and gentleman that is not a typo. Willie Harris, he with the career OPS+ of 68, he with the .169/.300/.305 batting line coming into tonight’s game, and he with all of eight home runs in 1302 career at bats took Micah Owings long with a three run homer that put the final dagger into this team’s heart.

If you continued watching the game after that point, I commend you, but I wouldn’t blame you if you turned the t.v. off. Nevertheless, there were at least some positives. Tracy got a couple hits and his first home run of the season, Hudson continues his offensive tear and Scherzer pitched a dominant inning and two-thirds before struggling some. While the team was only down two runs in the bottom of the ninth, one could not help but get the feeling that Melvin was already conceding the game. In that inning Max allowed a walk, a ground out, a single and another walk to load the bases. 37 pitches had been thrown, but there was nary a rustle to be heard from the left field bullpen. While Scherzer managed to work out of the inning allowing only one run (his first run allowed as a reliever this season), the fight was gone as the team went down in order in the ninth.

The positives are becoming harder to find and I know that there are many that went to jump of the bus, but I just want to remind you that it could be worse. Specifically, we could have last year’s offense. This team’s 107 OPS+ is thirteen points higher than last year’s 93 OPS+. Moreover, as hard as it may be to believe, this team has still been rather fortuitous hitting with runners in scoring position; the team’s OPS is 14 percent higher with RISP than with base empty. Hard as it may be to believe at the moment, this team can and will score more runs.

The true difference between this year and last is luck. As Jim has noted, this team has yet to win a game scoring three runs or less. In 2007, we won 16 such games. That was with a worse pitching staff and a defense that was only marginally better. I know it was cliché here last year to bag on the predictive powers of Pythagoras, but what we’re looking at here is good old-fashioned regression to the mean. The 2007 Diamondbacks that "just knew how to win" were a fluke. If we want to do the same this year we’ll have to it the old fashioned way – by hitting more and allowing fewer runs. Hopefully, that comes sooner rather than later.

Of course, when you combine a lackluster game with a Friday night the net result is one of the shorter Gameday threads of the season. I'll leave it to Jim to fill out the names, but there wasn't much of conversation of interest to be found. Tomorrow sees us send Brandon Webb (9-2, 3.01) to the mound to face Jason Bergman (1-1 4.50). Normally this would be seen as a dawn's first ray of hope, but I have to admit that it's even getting difficult for me to get all that enthused. If you are going to the game (and why wouldn't you?) remember that it's a 5:10 start. You'll also be able to see the first use of the new Chase Field weekend roof management plan. Apparently they plan to close the roof for the beginning of the game and open it three innings later once the sun has gone down. It seems like a reasonable compromise to fight the hot, desert sun, but more importantly, who doesn't enjoy watching the roof open and close? At the very least, it will provide a nice distraction from the performance on the field.

[Click to enlarge in new window]
Master of his domain: Chad Tracy, +13.8%
Honorable Mention: Orlando Hudson, +12.1%
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -47.3%
Dishonorable mention: Conor Jackson, -14.1%

You know it's a bad evening in the Gameday Thread when even 'skins can't reach 100 posts. :-) Harris's homer basically turned the faucet off on everyone's interest, mine included, and what was looking fairly robust at that point, rapidly gurgled down the plughole of forgettability. Thanks to those who took part: we deserve better than this team, folks. Present were unnamedDBacksfan, snakecharmer, dahlian, DbacksSkins, foulpole, srdmad, IndyDBack, emilylovesthedbacks [welcome!], RAMJB [officially warned, after a number of comments teetering towards trollishness], Muu, kishi, TwinnerA and soco.

Thanks also to dahlian for the recap; you'll notice from the footer that he has now formally joined the rotation, giving him the ability to...well, I'm not quite sure what it lets him do. I think post stuff on the front-page mostly. Welcome, anyway!