Name: Miguel Montero
Age on Opening Day: 27
Salary: $3,200,000
2011 Stats: 140 games, 553 PAs, .282/.351/.469, 18 HR, 86 RBI
2010 Stats: 85 games, 331 PAs, .266/.332/.438, 9 HR, 43 RBI

The history of Arizona Diamondbacks catchers can essentially be reduced down to three players: Damian Miller, Chris Snyder, and Miguel Montero. Yes, there have been other catchers to play a year or two, but none have been long term solutions at the position. And this short list hasn't been particularly impressive. It's hard to find a good catcher, especially on offense, but it's been yet another position that Arizona has traditionally had difficulty fielding.

bWAR while in Arizona:
Miller 6.7 in 4 ½ seasons
Snyder 4.3 in 7
Montero 7.3 in 5

3 to 5 bWAR in a season seem to be good enough to be considered a top catcher, but the Diamondbacks have only ever had a catcher once get above 3. In 2011 year Montero had 4.5, good enough to be in the Top 3 in bWAR for the season. When you only consider players that played 75% of their games at the position, Montero is Top 2, behind only Alex Avila.

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Name: Juan Miranda
Age on Opening Day: 27
Salary: $414,000
2011 Stats: 65 games, 202 PAs, .213/.315/.402, 7 HR, 23 RBI
2010 Stats (NYY): 33 games, .219/.296/.422, 3 HR, 10 RBI

It must be difficult to be the guy before the legend. No one remembers who started in center field before Joe DiMaggio got the job, or in right before Ted Williams, or who the Yankee’s closer was before Mariano Rivera. The Man Before becomes a trivia question most of the time, because the great player probably wouldn’t have even come up with the club if he was being blocked by another great player. It’s rare that you see the actually passing of the baton, like when DiMaggio gave way to Mickey Mantle.

Paul Goldschmidt isn’t a legend, though people talk of him almost that way. He did a bang up job for a young rookie in an exciting division race. He’s the focus, while Juan Miranda plays the role of the Man Before.

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A World Series is often remembered for moments that actually defy the larger story.  A single game or play can define a Series for time immemorial, to that point that even those who witnessed it originally forget the truth.  These countervailing narratives are illusions that are passed down in the oral history of the game.  In 1986 the Red Sox are victim of the Buckner play, but this goes against the truth that Boston still had another whole game to lose.  The 1975 World Series is defined by the walk-off Carlton Fisk home run, but rarely mentioned is that the Reds not only won the series but did it with their own 9th inning come-from-behind win.  

These altered versions don't represent an alternate or parallel reality; the team that won still won, but the value of it becomes lessened in favor of some larger narrative.  It is more like a train that has had its track changed, and now it travels along to a new destination.  The original route is still part of its track, but it has been left behind.  This new story might seem like an illusion.

But remember, there is only one reality.

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If only I was a neutral observer.  Then it would be easier to watch this series, in particular the latest Yankees comeback, and enjoy a strangely competitive and interesting Fall Classic.  Dramatic home runs, late inning 

Unfortunately, I'm not a neutral observer, and if you're reading this site then you probably aren't either.  Tonight was an excruciating loss, the kind that gnaws at your bones and stares out at you from the mirror.  We went into New York in control of the series.  We now leave New York hoping to go the distance.  Grisly details after the jump.

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Age on Opening Day: 30
Salary: $414,000
2011 stats: 78 games, 110 PAs, .273/.289/.336, 1 HR, 8 RBI
2010 stats: N/A

The first concern when dumpster diving isn't whether the food is spoiled.  Most grocery stores throw out food that has passed the recommended shelf life, but they're just trying to limit their liability.  Much of what can be found is still edible, though, if you're careful.  You want to avoid most fruit or vegetables.  Bread is also no good, as is any meat product.  Canned food is the holy grail because it probably is something that will have most of the major food groups and still be good.  Most grocery stores strip the labels off in an attempt to dissuade dumpster diving, but the risk for the hungry is minimal.  You know the food in the can is probably still good.

No, the concern when examining two unmarked cans is, "which one of these is dog food?"

I guess if you're hungry enough dog food wouldn't be so bad.  But you're really hoping for a can of soup or stew.

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 With the offseason starting some of us will looking around in every direction for a way to satisfy the baseball itch.  Luckily the game of baseball has a wide variety of side pursuits, that while might not replace the game can at least distract while we wait for spring.  Baseball simulator games, softball and baseball leagues, films and books created to document and celebrate the game.  These are all ways to hold on to summer well after it has lost its glow.

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When the summer ends we're left to pick up the pieces.  The clubhouses have been cleared, and Chase Field is empty.  We'll all need to find ways to survive the coming winter.  We'll attempt to reflect on the season that just was, and attempt to imagine what will be.  We'll find other pursuits, ones that have differing degrees of satisfaction.  But most of all we'll wait for baseball to return.

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One day I hope to wake up and have everything I always wanted.  

A new car?  Sure!  Time to go to every sporting event I like, and see all of my friends, and write an award winning novel?  Of course!  The safety and good health for the people I love?  Why not!  If you keep dreaming, then anything is achievable, right?  There's nothing wrong with a little fantasy every once and awhile.

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The Diamondbacks find themselves in the unenviable position of being down 0-2 in the NLDS.  Their backs are against the wall because of the short series format; the first two games go to the team with home field advantage, then two at the other team's home, then back to the first location.  The Brewers did exactly what you would expect a team to do: play well at home.  Now it puts the D-backs on the brink since the series is only 5 games.

You know all these details.  The 5 game series has been part of the baseball format since 1995, when MLB added an extra round to the playoffs in an attempt to create more excitement after losing the World Series to a labor dispute the year before.  Since 1995 there have been 64 completed series in the first round.  The D-backs are playing in their fifth NLDS.  Again, you know all of these.  What you might not know is the likelihood a team comes back from an 0-2 deficit in a 5 game series.

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161 games down, only 1 to play.  It's hard to remember a time when the baseball season wasn't in effect, but now it's almost over.  Put away your gloves and scorecards.  No more peanuts, or crackerjacks.  Dig out your sweaters, and get ready for months of looking for distraction.  After today there will be nothing else to do but stare out the window and wait for spring.  

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How do you take a book that has little center narrative and turn it into a prestige film?  You don't, or so the traditional thinking goes.  Moneyball doesn't have the advantage of a built-in sob story like the Blindside, and it doesn't have America's Sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, starring in it.  It was made for what could probably cover the craft services of the last Transformers movie.  It was barely made at all.

Moneyball as an idea has been so ingrained in the baseball narrative since the book came out that it is a bit hard to remember what it was like before the book.  It has existed as an idea, an ideology, a way of life, an abomination.  Could the story be seen with fresh eyes?  Or would it be caught up in the larger than life franchise of Moneyball?

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When I was young summers were an eternity.  The time between starting vacation and heading back to school stretched to the horizon and curved with the earth.  There never seemed to be the end of any day, until one day it did all end and I was back at a desk.

The baseball season slips by with a similar lack of time.  In March baseball is finally back.  A month of exhibition games, then 162 regular season games, then playoffs (hopefully).  It seemingly stretches without end.  Wasn't I just wandering the new Salt River Fields complex with my wife and Devin?  Wasn't I just at the home opener?  Wasn't I just at the All-Star festivities?  In two days autumn will arrive, 5 days after that the end of the season.  Wasn't it just summer?

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The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is the novel that seems to have all the right pieces, appeals to an obsessive non-niche audience, and yet fails to ultimately be anything more than a quick read.  It features a generic sports movie plot, paper thin characters with odd motivations, and does not necessarily show a high level of writing craft.

If it seems like I'm unfairly ripping the book, well perhaps I am.  I wanted desperately to like the book.  I love reading, novels in particular, and I love baseball.  This should be a perfect match.  But Fielding was ultimately undone by various errors that culminated in the equivalent of a .500 season when a team should be in the playoffs.  Not really that bad, but you're disappointed for what could have been.

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The Diamondbacks are now in their 5th season in the "new" uniform set.  The Sedona Red and Black were introduced with a cloud of hype in the offseason before the 2007 season, with the hopes of boosting merchandise sales.  That the players might prefer to wear red instead of purple was also a consideration.

At the time, for those who don't remember, it was the catalyst for debate amongst the Diamondbacks fanbase.  Some cheered the change from purple for a variety of reasons, especially the jarring purple/teal combination that screamed the 1990's.  Others felt the purple was the only true color, especially since a World Series was won with the look.  You can still see some of these people on any given game day, rocking faded purple caps.

Overall, though, it seemed there was relief at a new design.  The D-backs changed some element of their uniform nearly every year until 2007.  It's been nice to have some stability.  Still, the purple uniforms deserve to have another look.  A Nostalgia Fact-Check, if you will.

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The MLB schedules for 2012 were released today, and it looks like the Diamondbacks will have a chance to make a statement in the division early.  They open up home play for a three game set against the Giants.  Hopefully we'll be defending Champs when it comes around, but I would imagine the Giants and the fans will be looking for revenge.

After the opening series against the Giants, the D-backs head out of a town on a West Coast roadtrip.  

Interleague for 2012 has the Diamondbacks facing off against the AL West and the Royals.  So all the Frenchy lovers will get another chance to scream for him.  Don't forget that in 2012 the Royals host the All-Star Game, so it's like the proverbial torch is being passed off.

The season ends with a series against the Rockies on October 3rd.  Surprising that they're not ramming down our throats all of the Rockies games in the being of the season.  Also, weren't they going to push back the start of the season to ensure World Series' can't go into November?

Anyways, a full schedule is here.  Any games at Chase Field you're looking forward to?  Or if you're out of state, are the Diamondbacks coming to a park near you?

There seems to be an opportunity for exchanges, with the 2001 Championship Reunion Weekend coming up.  On Saturday 9/10, the Diamondbacks will be giving out replica championship rings to the first 25,000 fans.  

Unfortunately, not everyone can attend the game (whether it's because they're working, or don't live in the city).  Some people would still like an opportunity to get this ring.  I'm sure there must be some people going to this game that have no want for the ring, or going with a significant other and don't want two.  

So this FanPost is to connect people who want a ring with people who have an extra to give away.  This is only to connect the two sides.  The SnakePit or I are not responsible for any losses that may occur due to an exchange.  If you want to pay for your ring, or give a piece of merchandise in return, then that is up to you to negotiate with a potential ring giver.

I'll give this a bump when we get closer to the game, but I thought I'd get it up now so people can have a chance to maybe make some connections early.

Pop culture loves nostalgia.  It loves nostalgia because it is inherently a narcissistic culture.  From the 80's revival (soon to be 90's) going on right now, to grown people actually reminiscing about plastic video game boxes, pop culture is always looking inward on itself because it lacks the ability to have perspective.  It celebrates, after all, what is popular.

The bucket list, the idea, not the awful movie, seems in many ways a practice in nostalgia.  Let's make a list of things I need to do to feel accomplished!  It's a very ends-based thought process, but it should instead be means-based.  In other words, to use an overused parental phrase, "it's not the destination that matters, but the journey."

So with that in mind I thought I'd share my baseball bucket list, and perhaps encourage others to talk about things they'd like to experience with baseball.  Ultimately, though, it's about who you experience these things with.

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A win by itself doesn't really mean much for a pitcher.  For a team it's the only result that matters, but to that starting pitcher it's the result of a lot of things the pitcher can and cannot control.  No, a win by itself is not much to consider when talking about starting pitchers.  A collection of wins might not have any more meaning, but there are certain historical boundaries that can be celebrated.

Ian Kennedy, the reluctant ace of the Arizona Diamondbacks, is in position to try for a 20 win season.  Perhaps each of his current 17 wins don't measure his value, and perhaps it's silly to analyze him according to an arbitrary standard.  This isn't about analyzing the wins, or even his value.  It's acknowledging his potential to join a slowly shrinking club, one that has interesting historical meaning even if the "money value" of it has been stripped away.

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There are many ways to predict if a team will make the playoffs.  That's not what this post is about.  Instead, I'm going to break down a rather simple way to "countdown" to the clinching point for a baseball team.  In other words, this a way to tell just how many more positive events need to occur for your favorite baseball team (hopefully the Diamondbacks) to clinch a postseason berth.

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Record: 72-59.  Pace: 89-73.  Change on last year: +20.  Magic Number: 29.

Was it really just a couple days ago when everything in the world was wrong?  When it felt like the Diamondbacks were the worst team possible, and were punting away their division lead?  After opening with a win against Roy Halladay and the Phillies, the Diamondbacks proceeded to go on a 6 game losing streak.  I'm sure you remember it.  They were standing 1-6 on a hellish roadtrip, and the Giants suddenly were winning again.  The offense had a historically bad week, and we all felt the doom and gloom closing in.

Then the Diamondbacks played the Nationals, and all was right in the world.  That isn't to say the Nats are a pushover by any stretch of the imagination.  They have some good players, and one of the best home records.  The Diamondbacks looked awful, and weren't scoring any runs.  But after today we end the last hard roadtrip of the year at 4-6.  That's not too bad.  

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, without calculating the numbers and plugging into the mainframe, that the Fan Confidence number is going to be fairly low for this week.  Never mind that the numbers are seemingly still in our favor (assuming you don't believe Baseball Prospectus).  Never mind that of the last six losses, four of them were either remarkably well pitched, or close enough that the D-backs should have still been in it.

Right now the sky is falling because offense isn't producing.  Part of this has been the constant presence of Sean Burroughs, Cody Ransom, Collin Cowgill, and Willie Bloomquist over the past six games.  But it's also been that virtually no one has been producing over the past week besides Lyle Overbay, Paul Goldschmidt, and MIguel Montero.  Suddenly the Diamondbacks look like the Giants: pitchers are afraid to give up a run because they know the offense won't be enough to get more than that.  I guess that's schadenfreude.

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Record: 69-55.  Pace: 90-72.  Change on last year: +20.

The Diamondbacks entered the rubber match of their final regular season series against the Phillies up 2.5 games in the division.  They had a tremendous comeback win off one of NL's best pitchers on Monday, then were routed on national TV last night.  Which Diamondbacks team would show up today?  The one that won 7 straight?  Or the one that seemingly did everything wrong last night?

It was somewhere in between, but the Diamondbacks still took the loss.  Luckily, the Giants lost, too.  Details of the D-backs game after the jump.

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We just endured over 2 hours of rain delay, and now the D-backs have a half inning to either get another rain delay, or enough runs to prevent this game getting called against us.  Luckily the Giants have already lost 1-0, so the D-backs can do no worse than stay 2.5 games up.  Obviously we want to pile on.

So pray for runs, or pray for rain.  

In August summer still stands strong.  It hasn't burnt away, it hasn't been sapped of it strength yet.  In August children return to school.  The magic of summer vacation is now a memory, one immortalized in What Did You Do On Your Summer Vacation prompts and on the skin of its participants.  

In August some baseball teams are still in the race, while others have fallen hopeless behind.  It isn't the end yet, but the end is in sight.  By mid-August a team is either in it or out, most times.  It is the Ides of August for baseball hope.

So maybe the Ides of August doesn't have the same punch that the other Ides, but let's take a look down memory lane to see where the Diamondbacks have been on August 15th.

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Record: 67-53.  Pace: 90-72.  Change on last year: +20.

Another year, another set of Snakepitfests down.  What started as a small get-together at the last game of the 2007 season has grown in to a rather raucous affair.  Opposing left fielders fear us, opposing fans hate us, and women and children everywhere adore us, we are the Snakepit.  

We gathered today to watch your first place Diamondbacks take on the New York Metropolitans.  How Queens is metropolitan I'll never understand, but that's a question for another day.  Instead, as play started we wondered whether Daniel Hudson would bounce back from a horrendous start against the Astros earlier this week, if the Diamondbacks could keep their 2 game lead in the West, and whether people who start the Wave are actually people.

The answers to these questions and more, after the jump.

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Record: 65-53.  Pace: 89-73.  Change on last season: +18.

It was a game full of disappointment.  One that threatened the good feelings pulsing through the veins of every fan in Arizona and beyond as the Diamondbacks stood on the precipice of losing any numerical edge in the division.  It was a game that featured poor defense, bad luck, batter lost at the plate, and a late deficit.  Don't get too excited.  After the pride comes the fall.

But the Diamondbacks haven't fallen yet.  Down to their last out, they found a way to keep it going.  After that, anything can happen.  And it did.

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