SBNation.com User Blog: imstillhungry95

Fang Food: Bonus! Tacos Special!

imstillhungry95 — Sat, 18 May 2013 05:53:52 -0000

Some of you may remember that last year I did a review of the actual Dbacks' Special. I concluded that all things considered, price, what I was expecting, stuff like that, it was a good deal. Hard to beat a buck and change for a meal, as long as you don't have too high of standards, which I really don't.

This is not about the Taco Bell special. No, my friends, this is about our own version of the Dbacks' Special. This is about going beyond words like 'low standards' and 'good for the price'. This is about great tacos to celebrate a great event! So without further ado, I give you steak fajitas that will make the Taco Bell version a thing of the past!

Grilled Fajitas

Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro leaves
2 skirt steaks, each about 3/4 lb.
2 large onions, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3 bell peppers (large), 1 red and 2 green, tops and bottoms removed, then cut in half lengthwise and seeded
12 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Directions:

Whisk lime juice, 2 tablespoons oil, garlic, soy sauce, cumin, brown sugar, and jalapeno in bowl. Transfer 1/4 cup marinade to bowl, add cilantro, and set aside. Prick steaks with fork about 50 times on each side, then cut each steak in half crosswise. Place steaks in large zipper-lock plastic bag, pour in marinade without cilantro, seal bag, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Don't over marinate. It turns the steaks kind of mushy. Remove steaks from bag, pat dry with paper towels, and discard the marinade in the bag
For gas grills: Heat all burners on high for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, brush onions and peppers with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Grill onions and peppers, turning occasionally but keeping lid down, until charred and softened, 8 to 12 minutes (peppers will cook more quickly so watch them a bit more than the onions). Turn off one burner, then move vegetables to cool side of grill. Grill steak directly over hot side of the grill until seared on both sides but still pink in center, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer steak and vegetables to serving platter, pour cilantro marinade over, cover with foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
For charcoal: Burn about 100 briquettes until they are all covered in a thin layer of light gray ash.
Set the coals up so that about 2/3 of them are on one side of the grill, creating a cooler (relatively speaking) side. Then cook the same way as on a gas grill, but using the side with less charcoal as you would the off, but still warm, burners.
After you have removed the steaks from the grill, gently toast the tortillas for about ten seconds each side over the grill. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep warm.
Slice the vegetables up into medium size wedges. Cut the steak into thin slices (please be careful) across the grain of the steak. Serve on the tortillas.

Ta-dah! The Fang Food Special! I personally would recommend serving with an ice cold Pepsi product, in honor of the original special which you could only get with the purchase of one, and the bitter tears of our vanquished foes! Go Dbacks!

Fang Food: hamburger buns and creamy potato salad.

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:52:22 -0000

As you recall, a couple weeks ago, Whit made some wonderful Apple Bacon Burgers. Those inspired me to make some hamburger buns, because, in my opinion, nothing makes an already good burger better than a homemade bun, and the best part is, they're pretty easy! Then of course, I completely forgot to get the ingredients for the Apple Bacon Burgers, so unfortunately, I just made a normal cheeseburger. This week I also whipped up some good old fashioned potato salad, probably my favorite BBQ side dish ever. So without further ado, let's get to the recipes, shall we?

Hamburger Buns

Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home magazine.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup, 2 tablespoons warm water (approx. 110-115 degrees F)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the oil and sugar. Wait five minutes. Add the egg, salt, and about three cups of flour. Mix together
Turn out on to a floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Divide into nine to twelve pieces, and shape each piece into a ball. Place about two inches apart on a greased baking sheet.
Cover and let rise about ten minutes. Bake in a 425 degree F oven for eight to twelve minutes, until golden brown.
Take the buns out of the oven, and brush them with the melted butter. This gives them a butter flavor, and a nice sheen to them, but isn't strictly necessary. I just think it adds a nice finishing touch to them. Let cool and enjoy!

Creamy Potato Salad

Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice, plus 1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 onion, red (small), chopped fine
1 rib celery, chopped fine
2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (optional)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with one inch of cold water. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add one teaspoon of salt. Continue to boil until the potatoes are tender, about ten to fifteen minutes.
Drain the potatoes and then spread them out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix two tablespoons pickle juice and the mustard together in a boil, and then pour the mixture over the potatoes. Allow to cool in the 'fridge, about 30 minutes.
Mix the remaining pickle juice, salt, diced pickles, pepper, celery seed, mayo, sour cream, onion, and celery in a large bowl. Toss in the chilled potatoes, transfer to airtight container, and allow to cool for at least another 30 minutes before serving. If you're using them, gently stir in the eggs right before, and then enjoy

I guess that about does it for this edition of Fang Food. Once again, thanks for reading, and happy eating! Go Dbacks!

~Blake

Fang Food is a series of weekly baseball food articles written by prwhitaker1 (Whit), imstillhungry95 (Blake) and Turambar (Patrick). Check out the archive of past articles! Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns? Email us at fangfood@gmail.com or contact us on Facebook..

Dbacks 4, Rockies 2: Sweet, Sweet First Place (Tied)

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:25:25 -0000

Record: 15-10. Pace: 97-65. Change on 2012: +2.

The first inning wasn't the most shining inning Corbin's ever thrown. Eric Young Jr. lead things off with a double, which would be his first of three today. A strike out of Fowler followed immediately after, and a nifty play by Pennington threw out Young at third on a ground ball by Troy Tulowitzki, for the second out of the inning, with Tulowitzki reaching at first. Rosario then moved him over with a single of his own.

Bring on the circus music please! Thank you.

Michael Cuddyer hit a 3-2 pitch into left field for a base hit. Rockies third base coach, Stu Cole, sent Tulowitzki around third where he was promptly thrown out by the KUBLE CANNON by about twenty feet. Tulo went for the collision anyway, but he was out, and inning was over with no damage done. Or was there...

The Dbacks half of the first was completely uneventful. Two ground balls to short and a strike out to Jason Kubel ended it pretty quickly. The second looked a bit better with Montero and Chavez singles, but a Josh Wilson ground ball to second with runners at first and third ended the threat as well as that inning.

We had more circus music in the third. After a Garland bunt out to Corbin, Young got his second double. And then decided he was going to try and steal third on a pick off attempt. It's as bad as it sounded. Dexter Fowler just couldn't think of anything he could do to top that, so he just grounded out to short to end the inning.

At this point, Tulowitzki was taken out of the game and replaced by Johnathan Herrara. Official word from the Rockies twitter account is that he has a left shoulder strain, is day-to-day, and will be reevaluated after the game. Now back to the game.

The inning started off with single from Cliff Pennington, because he thrives off your mocking. Corbin bunted him over to second for the first out, and Parra got him to third with a single. Ross was helpful in the sense that he moved Parra into scoring position, but yet he and his beady eyes failed to get on base. Kubel comes to the plate.

Now, since I know you didn't put calliope away yet, why don't you crank it up again. Got it going? Good.

During the course of Kubel's at bat, two runs score. Pennington scores on a passed ball on Wilin Rosario. 1-0 Dbacks. Then, same at bat, mind you, Parra scores on a wild pitch that barely goes ten feet away from the plate, all because Rosario tried to apply the tag himself, rather than flip the ball to Garland, who it looked to me, would have gotten an easy out. Kubel strikes out, but not before the Dbacks take a two nothing lead.

In the next two innings, the Diamondbacks would score another two runs on aJosh Wilson RBI double Cody Ross RBI single, which was good, because they would need them. In the sixth, the Rockies would pull a little closer on an RBI double from Fowler, and a wild pitch would score Fowler from third two batters later.

After that, it really was a quiet game for both teams, until the top of the ninth when J.J. Putz was brought on for the save. He would eventually allow runners on second and third, two outs for Carlos Gonzalez. In the end, though, the Rockies resistance was proved futile when CarGo would strike out. Game and, also, a tie for first!

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Beef Wellington: Patrick Corbin +19.4%
Five Cheese Risotto : Geraldo Parra +14.2, Cliff Pennington +12.1%
McDonald's Big Mac: Josh Wilson -5.2%
Day old french fries: Jason Kubel -3.9%

COTD has to go to ZM for his comment about the Rockies baserunning:

The Rockies exist

To provide angry Diamondback fans with some much-needed perspective on how bad baserunning can get.

Paul Goldschmidt looks at Tim Lincecum and says "We are going to foxtrot, and I will always lead."
-Clefo
by Zavada's Moustache on Apr 28, 2013 | 1:24 PM reply rec (8)

No one broke triple digits today in the GDT, and all present were: AJV19, Airwave, AzDbackfanInDc, Circa4life, Clefo, Diamondhacks, EzioExManAZ, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, LiamNeeson, Marc Fournier, PR151, Rockkstarr12, Scott Howard, The so-called Beautiful, TolkienBard, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, blank_38, coldblueAZ, dbacks79, dbrowell, feldz, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, luckycc, onedotfive, snakecharmer, soco and txzona.

6:40 PM game time tomorrow here at Chase against the Giants. Be there!

Fang Food: Corn Dogs

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 05:08:33 -0000

Corn dogs are the ultimate carnival food, and they aren't too bad for enjoying with a baseball game either. When my dad first suggested I do these, I was kind of concerned about how difficult they would be to pull off. With the coating in corn bread and frying, I wasn't really sure that you could do them with out quite a bit of hair pulling out. However, I did some research, and it really wasn't that difficult.

Corn Dogs:

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 packages beef franks*
3 quarts veggie oil for frying
Same number of wooden skewers as you have hotdogs

*For this recipe, I used both Hebrew National 1/4 Lb. Beef Franks and Johnsonville Jalapeno Cheddar sausages. Both turned out really well, but any hotdogs will work, however, smaller dogs will probably need less time.

Directions

In a deep, heavy bottom pan, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Or, if you have one, use a deep fat fryer.
In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour salt, pepper, baking powder, and sugar. Add in the milk and egg, and mix together well.
Dry the hotdogs off with paper towels. Impale on the wooden skewers.
Once the oil has reached temperature, dip or roll the dogs in the batter. Then very, very gently, lower them into the oil, and cook them for three minutes, or a deep golden brown color.
When they're done, using a pair of tongs, remove them from the oil, and set on a plate covered with paper towels and allow to drain for a few minutes. Serve with your favorite mustard, and enjoy!

Now, I know some people are more concerned about health matters than I am, and so I did try to come up with a baked version of these. However, those did not turn out at all. I couldn't get the batter to stick to them while they baked. If any of you can get a baked version to work, let me know!

Fang food is a series of weekly baseball food articles written by prwhitaker1 (Whit) and imstillhungry95 (Blake). Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns? Email us at fangfood@gmail.com!

Fang Food: Buy Me Some Coleslaw and Cracker Jack?

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:00:29 -0000

What, I ask you, is more baseball than Cracker Jacks? Or more barbeque than coleslaw? I can't think of anything. So I figured that on this week's edition of Fang Food we would make some of each. I had never made Cracker Jacks before, so I searched through the internet, and came up with a couple good recipes, combined them together, and came up with an easy, tasty treat, perfect for enjoying a baseball game.

The coleslaw recipe is from America's Test Kitchen, and is a recipe I and my family have used at our barbeques for a while now. It can take a while, but there isn't really much work involved, since most of the time is just letting the cabbage sit. Nothing to fancy there, just a simple, delicious side dish perfect for so many different occasions.

Cracker Jacks

Ingredients:

4 cups freshly popped popcorn, lightly salted

1 cup shelled, shelled, unsalted, un-roasted peanuts

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup corn syrup (dark looks better when it's finished, but light will work just as well)

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13 inch and add the popcorn and peanuts. In a saucepan, mix the sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Heat and stir over medium heat until it boils. Then, allow it to continue boiling for five minutes. Watch it carefully, and if it looks like it's going to boil over, give it a stir. Remove from heat, and stir in the the vanilla and baking soda. Pour over the corn and peanuts. Mix together quickly. It will start to solidify as soon as you get it out of the hot pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for one hour, stirring once every twenty minutes. Remove from oven, and cool on waxed paper, break it apart, and enjoy! Or you can store it in an air tight container, if you want.

Basic Creamy Coleslaw

Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen (www.americastestkitchen.com)

Ingredients:

1 pound of cabbage (about half a head), quartered, cored, and shredded

1 carrot, shredded

1/2 onion, shredded

2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon white vinegar

2 teaspoons white sugar

pepper to taste

Directions:

Toss the cabbage, carrot, onion, and salt in a strainer set over a bowl. Set aside, and allow to wilt for one to four hours. Rinse under cold water and pat dry. Transfer to a large bowl. Just before the wilting is finished, mix together the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Add to the cabbage mix and toss. Refrigerate for at least an hour, and serve!

There you have it! Two simple, classic dishes that are perfect for the baseball season! Enjoy and Go Dbacks!

~Blake

Fang food is a series of weekly baseball food articles written by prwhitaker1 (Whit) and imstillhungry95 (Blake). Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns? Email us at fangfood@gmail.com!

Rod Barajas finds missing 2001 WS ring in a strange place

imstillhungry95 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:39:49 -0000

Rod Barajas finds missing 2001 WS ring in a strange place

So about four years ago, Rod Barajas, he of the 2001 World Series team, and he competing for backup catcher this year, went to go wear his World Series ring. He couldn't find it. Fast forward to last week, he found it. In his wife's shoe. I

Overbay reportedly signs with Red Sox

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:14:24 -0000

Overbay reportedly signs with Red Sox

It's a minor league contract, but it's not official, nor do there seem to be many details.

Dbacks 2, Cubs 7: DBacks avoid the wrath of a billion (or so) Cubs fans by not handing them their 100th loss

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:56:37 -0000

So, as is usually the case, the road team got to hit in the top the first inning. They also decided to score in the top of the first. Collmenter was not sharp in the first inning. He promptly gave up a lead off double to David DeJesus, and an RBI double to Anthony Rizzo. Starlin Castro also got a single that moved Rizzo to third, but after that, Collmenter shut the inning down by getting Luis Valbuena to fly out to Jason Kubel and end the inning.

You couldn't have been blamed for expecting the Dbacks to fight their way back from a 1-0 deficit against the Cubs, and if you did think that, you would have been right. The Dbacks started the bottom of the first off quite nicely, with A. J. Pollock getting a lead off single. Jack Elmore tried to help, I'm sure, but failed as he flew out to right. Aaron Hill did better. He drew a walk, but Upton grounded into a fields choice. Pollock out at third, two down. Then it got interesting. Kubel was walked to bring up Cody Ransom. Ransom hit a grounder that should have been a fairly easy out, or at least easier than it was made to be. Valbuena, the third base man, came in to bare hand the ball, and just completely missed it. Just ran straight by it! It was great. But it wasn't over yet. Chris Rusin, the starting pitcher, was there to back the play up. He threw the ball to the catcher, Anthony Recker, who let it bounce off his glove. Two runs ended up scoring on what was ruled a hit for Ransom, and an error on Recker to let the second run score.

After that, both teams were rather quiet offensively for the next few innings. The Dbacks got a hit in the second, but that only lead to a string of eleven straight outs. The Cubs did slightly better, getting a hit on three out of the next four innings, but not much else until the sixth. Then the whole game went south.

Bryan Shaw was called into the game to follow up Collmenter's five solid innings. He got it started innocently enough, inducing a ground ball to Hill, but it was all just to set us up for a fall. The next two batters got singles, and then Castro reached on an error by Jacobs. Shaw is pulled for Mike Zagurski, who promptly proves wrong all the dire prediction that I had about the situation by getting a strike out. He's pulled for Alberts who just has to get one out. Well he got the out, but not after he allowed two runs, one on a hit and the other on an RBI hit-by-pitch. Yep. You read that right.

That pretty much was the end of things. It should be mentioned that the Cubs got two more runs after this, one on an error by Ransom in the seventh and then a home run in the ninth.

Bear Hunter: J Collmenter, +19.1%
Bear Trapper: C Ransom, +13.3%
Accidentally got caught in his own bear trap: M Albers, -45.7%

No green comments that I can see, so I'll give COTD to hotclaws for this comment that sums up how we, the fans and the team, seemed to feel about this game:

I'm TRYING to care

honestly.

♯♩♪ Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way ♫♬♭♮

by hotclaws on Sep 30, 2012 2:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Tomorrow we start the last series of this long season against the Rockies. If you care to follow the game, it starts at 6:40.

ESPN, MLB reach new TV rights contract

imstillhungry95 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:36:22 -0000

ESPN, MLB reach new TV rights contract

Good news, everyone! We get nine more years of Red Sox at Yankees!

Dbacks 4, Padres 5: Two Out Shenanigans Sink Dbacks

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:44:53 -0000

Record: 64-64. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2011: -5

We went into this game having lost the last five games, and the first two of this series to the Padres. THE PADRES! It's been that bad. With that in mind, the Dbacks went into this game looking to salvage a win and some amount of dignity. With Joe Saunders being traded before the start of the game, Trevor Cahill started on full rest, thanks to the off-day Thursday. How will it end? Read on to find out! Or you can just look at the title...

Final - 8.26.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Diego Padres	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	5	11	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	7	0
WP: Edinson Volquez (9 - 9) SV: Luke Gregerson (1) LP: Trevor Cahill (9 - 11)

Record: 64-64. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2011: -5

Final - 8.26.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Diego Padres	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	5	11	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	7	0
WP: Edinson Volquez (9 - 9) SV: Luke Gregerson (1) LP: Trevor Cahill (9 - 11)

The first inning was really long. Fifteen batters total went to the plate in the first inning for the two teams. It started off with the Padres. Cahill got the ball rolling, so to speak, with two quick outs, but then the inning got away from him. The next five batters reached base. Two walks and three hits. Yasmani Grandal and Yonder Alonso got RBI's and the score was 2-0 before the Dbacks even went to bat. It looked like this game was not going to be a fun one. It wasn't really a fun game. Thanks for reading. Good bye.

What do you mean there's more to the game? You don't really want to read it. Trust me on this one. Fine. You asked for it. In the bottom of the first the Diamondbacks started off slowly with a ground out and a strike out from Geraldo Parra and Aaron Hill. Then Justin Upton got a base hit, and Paul Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch. Miguel Montero was then up to bat, and slapped a single right up the middle, and then Chris Young followed it up with his own single. Tied at two.

The second was much better on defense, but it wasn't nearly as good on offense. Both teams traded 1-2-3 innings, with Cahill striking out the side on his half. It all went down from there. The third inning featured Grandal getting HBP, and then two straight singles. Did I mention that was with two outs? No, well I did now. The Padres scoring in the fourth inning also came with two outs again. The inning started off with Edison Volquez hitting a single. Evereth Cabrera moved him to second, and then Will Venable got a base hit, and Volquez went to third. Cahill managed to strike out Chase Headly, but then Carlos Quentin got an RBI that sent him to second, and Grandal walked to load the bases. That was the end for Cahill. It really wasn't his day today.

Mike Zagurski came in and finished off the inning, getting the last out to escape the bases loaded jam, and then after that, aside from a mis-play by Justin Upton in the seventh, the bullpen shut down the Padres for the rest of the game. Sadly, the Padres did the same thing to the Dbacks. It wasn't until the 8th inning that they managed to put anything together, and, even though they scored two runs, it wasn't enough. After an afternoon of pathetic baseball, they had dug a hole to deep to climb out of. The game ended at that score of 5-4 Padres. It should be noted that Putz had a perfect ninth, as did Luke Gregerson, who got the save.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Rin-Tin-Tin: Chris Young, +13.3%
101 Dalmatians: Aaron Hill, +11.4%
Old Yeller: Trevor Cahill, -28.1%
Cujo: Jake Elmore, -14.5%

A surprisingly-brisk GDT though AzDbackfanInDc accounted for about a quarter of all today's comments by himself, showing admirable fortitude in the face of...whatever this afternoon's game was. Recapper imstillhungry95 and Bryn21 were second and third, though the latter may be disqualified for blatant failure to read the intro...]. Also present: hotclaws, Clefo, Rockkstarr12, asteroid, onedotfive, dbacks79, GuruB, Jim McLennan, soco, snakecharmer, xmet, Medusas_Daughter, aricat, Husk, mrssoco, Rcastillo, egboyz, Augdogs, shoewizard, and Backin'the'Backs.

I only saw one comment that had multiple recs, and it was to depressing to be COTD. Sorry Clefo. Seriously people, give out more recs! You can't take them with you! This has been a Public Service Announcement*

*Please do not take this to mean that you should rec every single comment. That's not the message here.

The Cincinnati Reds are going to play a baseball game at Chase Field tomorrow. No word on if the Dbacks will as well. It's going to be at 6:40. Show up if you want to, but it you don't, I'm pretty sure we'll all understand.

Rodger Clemens to pitch minor league game Saturday

imstillhungry95 — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:30:44 -0000

Rodger Clemens to pitch minor league game Saturday

This man just does not know when to fade away into obscurity, does he?

Diamondbacks 8, Astros 2: This is our BROOM stick!

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 22:53:56 -0000

Record: 47-48. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -4

On a day when the Diamondbacks had scored 25 runs total over the last two games, so one really didn't know what to expect. Also complicating it (for some) Josh Collmenter was starting for the Dbacks tonight. Yet another thing to wonder about was if Jason Kubel would continue his domination of the past couple days. Tie this all together, and you have a game full of intrigue and excitement as we went for the sweep. Read on after the jump to find out what happened, or just look at the title.

Final - 7.22.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston Astros	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	9	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	0	1	0	0	0	7	0	0	X	8	12	0
WP: Josh Collmenter (2 - 2) LP: Jordan Lyles (2 - 7

Record: 47-48. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -4

Final - 7.22.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston Astros	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	9	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	0	1	0	0	0	7	0	0	X	8	12	0
WP: Josh Collmenter (2 - 2) LP: Jordan Lyles (2 - 7

The first inning was nothing to write home about, as each team only managed a hit, and the Dbacks promptly grounded into a double play right after theirs. Then it got worse for the Dbacks in the top of the second. Justin Maxwell was batting second in the inning, and Collmenter immediately gave him a home run. Now, the home run is a known weakness of Collmenter, so that was concerning. Not to mention, that was only the second lead the Houston Astros had had in the entire series.

We had a not-so-secret weapon, though, Jason Kubel. As you may have heard, going into this game, he had five home runs going into today's game, and three of them coming last night. Apparently, he saw no reason to change that course because he came out and hit another off the foul pole to tie the game. Miguel Montero followed it up with a single, but then Chris Young, Lyle Overbay, and Ryan Wheeler all made outs.

After that, it looked for the longest time that, unlike the first two games, this was going to be a pitcher's duel with both pitchers trading zeros until the sixth. Top of the sixth, things looked like they were going to completely unravel for Collmenter. The Astros started it off with back-to-back doubles by Scott Moore and Chris Johnson. Moore scored, and Johnson was then moved over to third by a Brian Bogusevic ground ball to first. Then with Justin Maxwell at the plate, the Astros manager called for a squeeze play. It didn't work. The runner on first (Johnson) broke for home, and Maxwell missed the bunt. The play went 2-5-6-3, and the threat was pretty much over. Maxwell finished the inning off with a pop up.

Besides that inning, Collmenter really had a nice day: 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, both earned, with one walk and four strike outs. Obviously, he should be sent straight to the bullpen, but I digress ;-)

So, we go to the bottom of the sixth, 2-1 Astros. It didn't start off like a big inning, with Parra flying out to left. Then it got fun. Three straight singles by Drew, Hill, and Kubel loaded the bases, and brought Miguel Montero to the plate. He hit a groundball up the middle and it looked like a tailor made double play straight to the shortstop. However, it didn't work out that way. Marwin Gonzalez made a good play to get the ball, but botched the toss to the second baseman, Jose Altuve, who wasn't able to keep the ball in his glove. Two runs ended up scoring on that play alone. They weren't done yet! Next batter, with two runners on base, was Chris Young. Hammered the ball right out of the park. Three more runs and TACOS! By the end of the inning, two more runs scored on a Parra single, but the inning ended right after when Parra was picked off at first.

A good game all the way around to day with the Dbacks taking the sweep of the lowly Astros. As was pointed out by Jim in the intro to the GDT, nothing less would have been acceptable, and you got the feeling the team knew it. Always fun when that happens.

[Click to enlarge at fangraphs.com]
Jason Kubel: Miguel Montero, +23.3%
Kubel Lite: Kubel, +19.0%; Young, +10.8%
The Anti-Kubel: Lyle Overbay, -4.7%

Guest recapper imstillhungry95 also topped the list of commenters, finishing ahead of $-The Moneyman-$ and AzDbackfanInDc. Also taking part: Clefo, soco, grimmy01, hotclaws, onedotfive, asteroid, edbigghead, SongBird, SenSurround, GuruB, xmet, Rockkstarr12, rd33, BattleMoses, 4 Corners Fan, oldspartan, G.O.B., piratedan7, txzona, Zavada's Moustache, Jim McLennan, Muu, luckycc, CaptainCanuck, shoewizard, Britback, kishi, blank_38 and Stupendous Man. There was only one green comment today, and it voiced a sentiment that I'm sure we all agree with:

Happy Anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. Snakepit!
Love ya Jim & Chris! Have a wonderful day!
by Rockkstarr12 on Jul 22, 2012 1:20 PM PDT reply actions 7 recs

Tomorrow, we face the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field at our normal time of 6:40. I'll see you there! Or I won't. Who knows.

The Diamondbacks Special: A Critique

imstillhungry95 — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:55:15 -0000

If you're on this site, odds are you're a Diamondbacks fan. If you're a Diamondbacks fan, odds are you know about the Diamondbacks Special: the free tacos Taco Bell gives away with the purchase of a large drink from 4-6 PM the day after our Dbacks score six runs or more. My brother Nick and I really didn't have any other plans for dinner tonight, and were, of course, hungry, so we thought we'd give them a try. Fair warning, there's going to be five or six pictures in this post.

I decided early on that I would give five different scores: Service, Presentation, Taste, Nick's Opinion and Overall, with pictures to illustrate as I go along. Each catagory will be scored 1-10 stars, ten of course being the highest, one being ~~the expected score~~ the lowest. Should be fun! That's me, by the way.

Service:

The service was actually very good. They took our orders very quickly, and by the time I had filled my 32 oz. drink, the tacos were hot, ready to eat, and exactly what we ordered. Fast, accurate service is a good thing so 10 stars

Presentation:

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Other times it's worth ten thousand. And don't think I'm picking the worst one. They all looked like this. 2.5 stars.

Taste:

I decided to judge this solely on fast food standards. It wouldn't be fair to compare this to really anything else. Another point, I got my tacos Miggy style. For those that don't know, that means they add tomatoes and sour cream. In all honesty, I don't think it added much to the taco. There was way to much sour cream, and it really over powered everything else. Besides that though, as far as fast food goes, it wasn't bad. 5 (fast food) stars

Nick's Opinion:

My brother loved these tacos. He devoured them, and then looked hungrily at mine. When I asked him later, he said that he would give them 7-8 stars. Granted, this is the guy who thinks Little Caesar's is some great pizza, so there's that.

Overall:

Will I do it again? Probably not. Would it take a team of wild horses to drag me back? No, not really. It's fast food tacos, but the price is hard to beat ($2.84 if you get it Miggy-fied), you get free refills (I got three), and few hours later, I haven't experienced any of the fabled side effects. I'd give it a solid 5 stars, based mostly off the price and service.

One final point, if more than one person wants the special, you'll have to order separately, so bear that in mind.

Dbacks to wear Italian themed jerseys

imstillhungry95 — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:46:33 -0000

Dbacks to wear Italian themed jerseys

Not really sure I understand why the Brewers are having an Italian Heritage Night, but they are, and we're in town, and will be participating. I kind of actually like the uniforms we're going to be wearing, though

Diamondbacks 4, Brewers 3: Home Series Win!

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 27 May 2012 23:10:40 -0000

Record: 22-26. Pace: 74-88. Change on last season: -2

The last time the Diamondbacks won a series at home, the stadium was still called Bank One Ball Park, the losing pitcher was Mariano Rivera, and Luis Gonzalez knocked in the winning run with a walk off bloop single. Okay, it hasn't actually been that long, but it sure was beginning to feel like it. In addition to being a chance to win only our second home series this year, it was the return of Daniel Hudson from the DL. Would the Good Guys win the series? Would Hudson have a good start? Hit the jump for all the details!

Final - 5.27.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Milwaukee Brewers	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3	7	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	X	4	10	0
WP: Bryan Shaw (1 - 2) SV: J.J. Putz (11) LP: Jose Veras (3 - 2)

Record: 22-26. Pace: 74-88. Change on last season: -2

Final - 5.27.2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Milwaukee Brewers	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3	7	1
Arizona Diamondbacks	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	X	4	10	0
WP: Bryan Shaw (1 - 2) SV: J.J. Putz (11) LP: Jose Veras (3 - 2)

Top of the first, the Brewers tried to get something going quick, with Norichika Aoki and Ryan Braun getting back-to-back one out singles. This was Hudson's return, however, and he would not allow himself to be roughed up this early. The next batter up was George Kattaras. On a 1-2 fastball, Hudson got him to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Randy Wolf started the game for the Brewers today, and for the first three innings, the Diamondbacks couldn't manage much off of him. Other than a Hill double, they only got two other people on base, one on a walk, and the another on a single. Then Paul Goldschmidt came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, with two outs. By the end of his at-bat, the home team had a one, nothing lead on a home run that ESPN reported was the longest hit at Chase this year at 471 feet. Ryan Roberts followed that up with a base hit, but true to Dback form, was promptly picked

The Brewers didn't like that much, and showed their displeasure at this turn of events. Taylor Green lead off the top of the fifth with a double. Cody Ransom comes to the plate, the recent Diamondback, singled him home to tie the game. But they weren't done there. Ransom then advanced to second on a Hudson wild pitch, and then to third on a Nyjer Morgan ground out. Cory Hart came to the plate, and took care of the fact that the game was tied. He singled, which easily brought home Ransom. Aoki K'd to end the inning, but the damage was done.

This was the end of Hudson's night, but it was a very solid return from injury. Other than fifth, he only gave up three hits and a walk. It was a little short, but that's to be expected after a more than a month break.

After the Diamondbacks only managed a Bloomquist single in the bottom of the fifth, Gibson called on Mike Zagurski to pitch in the sixth. If anyone can explain this to me, I'll be eternally grateful. Moving on, Zagurski showed once again why he should never be used for anything other than mop up work where the game is out of hand either

He managed to get one out on a fly out to Chris Young, but that was the only out he got today. He then proceeded to give up two walks, an RBI double, and another walk to load the bases. With the score now 3-1, Gibby had seen enough, and called in Shaw to put out the fire. And put out the fire, he did. One pitch, and he got a 6-2-3 double play, the third the team had recorded up to that point.

In the bottom of the sixth, the offense finally woke up. Aaron Hill lead off with a double, Jason Kubel drove him in with a single, Goldy reached on an error, Ryan Roberts got an RBI single, and Henry Blanco got another to drive in what turned out to be the winning run.

That was pretty much it for either team, with both of them only managing one baserunner each from there on. J. J. Putz came in for a save that could have used a bit more Easy Button, but it was pretty good, nonetheless.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Rin-tin-tin: J.J. Putz, +16.6%
101 Dalmatians: Hill, +15.8%; Kubel, +15.7%; Roberts, +12.7%, Hernandez, +12.2%
Goldschmidt, +11.3\%; Shaw, +10.7%; Blanco, +10.5%
Bad dog!: Mike Zagurski, -18.8%
Old Yellers: Young, -15.5%; Upton, -13.1%

Almost 900 comments from 29 users, AzDbackfanInDc and imstillhungry95 cracking three digits, with hotclaws following in third. Also present: 4 Corners Fan, luckycc, BattleMoses, Clefo, Jim McLennan, SongBird, snakecharmer, GuruB, Bryn21, JoeCB1991, Augdogs, Ridster09, txzona, blue bulldog, Britback, jinnah, kishi, piratedan7, Husk, Zavada's Moustache, Circa4life, DbacksSkins, porty99, CaptainCanuck, shoewizard and rfffr.

Not a very witty GDT today, so COTD goes to Jim for his jab at Mark Grace

Sure, Grace - you used to hang out with pitchers
Pitchers of beer, pitchers of margarita…

"Let there be, let there always be,
Never-ending light..."

by Jim McLennan on May 27, 2012 2:46 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs

And That's how we finally got a win in a series at home! Tune in tomorrow at 2:05 PM Arizona Time for a Memorial Day match up between your Dbacks and the San Fransisco Giants!

The Dbacks are the most educated team in baseball

imstillhungry95 — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:50:47 -0000

The Dbacks are the most educated team in baseball

Not really news, but an interesting article

Trevor Bauer Shameless Self Promotion

imstillhungry95 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:15:46 -0000

Trevor Bauer Shameless Self Promotion

Brisbee had this article over on SB Nation today about a YouTube video Bauer posted of his strike outs in his last start. It has since been removed, but Brisbee wonders if this was a good idea considering how the Dbacks tend to operate. I don't think it would absolutely be a bad thing, but am willing to be convinced. Discuss!

Dbacks Eager to Prove They Belong on Top

imstillhungry95 — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:45:42 -0000

Dbacks Eager to Prove They Belong on Top

Absolutely none of this will be new to Dbacks fans, but still an interesting article on how the boys are defending against the collapse that apparently everyone is still waiting for.

Cheers to the Next 100 Years in Arizona Sports

imstillhungry95 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:42:45 -0000

Cheers to the Next 100 Years in Arizona Sports

The Heat Index over on azcentral.com put together a prediction about how the next 100 years will go for us Arizonans. I found it interesting, but some parts sad as a Dbacks fan

Owings has signed with the Padres

imstillhungry95 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:35:34 -0000

Owings has signed with the Padres

We knew he wasn't coming back, and now we know where he is going. Good luck, Micah. We wish you luck against 28 of 29 baseball teams you'll face!

Armando Galaragga signs with Orioles

imstillhungry95 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:00:48 -0000

Armando Galaragga signs with Orioles

I know you all are going to be horribly distrait about this, but Armando Galarraga did not sign with us again so he could take more of our money. I'm sure our thoughts and prayers go out to all Orioles fans as is only proper.

Lincecum signs with Giants; Avoids Arbitration

imstillhungry95 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:12:38 -0000

Lincecum signs with Giants; Avoids Arbitration

I was kind of hoping that they would go to arbitration, duke it out, ruin their relationship, and make Timmeh want to sign else where later on, but it just wasn't meant to be. Details: 2 years, 40.5 million

Which 2011 Postseason Teams Will Take A Fall In 2012?

imstillhungry95 — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:03:19 -0000

Which 2011 Postseason Teams Will Take A Fall In 2012?

Rob Neyer has an article over on SB Nation about the 'odds' of the 2011 play-off class returning to the play-offs in 2012. For those who don't feel like reading the article, he puts the Dbacks right in the middle.

Cody Ransom's Top Five Hits in 2011

imstillhungry95 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:33:33 -0000

Cody Ransom's Top Five Hits in 2011

Here's a best of the year list Jeff Sullivan put together over on Baseball Nation all about Cody Ransom's top five hits. Also Melvin Mora retired

Jason Marquis Signs One-Year Deal With the Twins

imstillhungry95 — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:20:20 -0000

Jason Marquis Signs One-Year Deal With the Twins

Marquis has signed a one-year deal with the Twins for 3 million. Hope he has some better luck there than he did with us

Gibby to be Grand Marshal of Fiesta Bowl Parade

imstillhungry95 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:02:47 -0000

Gibby to be Grand Marshal of Fiesta Bowl Parade

In addition to being the maanger of the NL West champs and winning Manager of the Year award, Gibby will get the supreme honor of being the Grand Marshal at this year's Fiesta Bowl Parade.

Wily Mo Pena will be in Japan next season

imstillhungry95 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:38:46 -0000

Wily Mo Pena will be in Japan next season

Wily Mo won't be in America next baseball season. He's signed a contract with Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, reigning champs of the Nippon Baseball League. Details in the article, but I'm saddend that he won't be spiting in his helmet here in the US of A next year. The article is from SB Nation

Salt River Rafters (AFL) will be representing AFL East in Champ Game

imstillhungry95 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:43:37 -0000

Salt River Rafters (AFL) will be representing AFL East in Champ Game

This Saturday, the Salt River Rafters, Arizona Fall League affiliate of the Dbacks, will be playing in the Fall League Championship game at Surprise Stadium against the Surprise Saguaros. This isn't an official (or even unoffical) meetup, I just thought I would make sure you all knew.

An Article About Our Former Shortstop

imstillhungry95 — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:17:02 -0000

An Article About Our Former Shortstop

Here is an article brought to us by Jeff Sullivan about dearly possibly departed shortstop Willie Bloomquist and how baseball as a whole should appreciate him more. Scott Boras Approved (c)

ESPN Predicts the next 25 World Series Champs

imstillhungry95 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:16:16 -0000

ESPN Predicts the next 25 World Series Champs

I originally saw this on MCC as a FanShot, and I thought I would share it with you all. As usual, the Dbacks aren't chosen to win a single Series