If the 2009 baseball season were a restaurant, the Arizona Diamondbacks would be waiting for a table here.
A message to faithful, loyal and patient Arizona Diamondbacks’ fans. Take heart, there’s only 24 games left.
I know many of you were counting after this weekend’s debacle in Colorado, which ended in a 3-game sweep by the Rockies. The current 4-game losing streak has left the D-Backs at 61-77, tied for last place in the National League West with the woeful San Diego Padres, who seemingly gave up on the 2009 way back in April.
Yesterday’s 13-5 loss at Coors Field was maybe the strangest game of the season. If I told you that Chris Young would hit 3 home runs, Mark Reynolds would draw three walks, and the Diamondbacks would draw 9 walks as a team, you’d like their chances, right?
Wrong.
But that’s exactly what happened. Young’s 7th career multi-homer game (and 2nd at Coors Field) was the definite highlight of his season, and if nothing else, at least signals maybe he’s breaking out of a season-long slump which has seen him bat .198 to this point. In the National League, only San Diego’s Brian Giles has more than 200 at-bats and a lower batting average than Young.
Reynolds drew three walks in a game for only the 2nd time in his career, which has spanned 394 games.
Justin Upton was yanked in the third inning of Sunday’s game after hitting a deep fly ball to center field that he thought was a home run. It bounced off the wall, and Upton, who spent a good amount of time admiring his handiwork, ended up with your garden variety 420-foot single. Embarrassing, no doubt.
Kudos to manager A.J. Hinch for pulling Upton out of the game, sending the message that it doesn’t matter who you are, or how out of it the Diamondbacks are, a lack of hustle will not be tolerated.
Listening to the game yesterday, Diamondbacks’ play-by-play man Jeff Munn brought up an interesting point about Hinch, the Diamondbacks, and their role in how the National League playoffs will look in about a month. With September call-ups behind us, Munn talked about how the Diamondbacks have a lot of new pitchers, namely Daniel Cabrera, Kevin Mulvey and Bryan Augenstein, whom the club would like to see in some spot starts the rest of the way, but Hinch is very respectful of the pennant and Wild Card races, and doesn’t want to be perceived as not putting his best players out there.
Using yesterday as an example, doesn’t Justin Upton give you a better chance to win (even when he’s loafing) than Alex Romero? Haven’t the Diamondbacks limped to a division-worst record that’s 16 games under .500 by putting their “best players” out there? How many more times do you want to see Yusmeiro Petit get shelled this season?
Forget the other teams. Hinch needs to worry about his own team. The Diamondbacks have an opportunity to monitor what some young players can do in big league situations for the next month.
Let the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies worry about their own teams too.
With that being said, here’s today’s starting lineups for the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers, who start a three-game series at Chase Field…
Arizona Diamondbacks (61-77)
1. 14 Ryan Roberts – 2B
2. 6 Stephen Drew – SS
3. 10 Justin Upton – RF
4. 27 Mark Reynolds – 3B
5. 26 Miguel Montero – C
6. 24 Chris Young – CF
7. 9 Gerardo Parra – LF
8. 25 Brandon Allen – 1B
9. 39 Max Scherzer – P
Los Angeles Dodgers (81-57)
1. 15 Rafael Furcal – SS
2. 27 Matt Kemp – CF
3. 16 Andre Ethier – RF
4. 99 Manny Ramirez – LF
5. 7 James Loney – 1B
6. 3 Ronnie Belliard – 3B
7. 13 Orlando Hudson – 2B
8. 55 Russell Martin – C
9. 44 Vicente Padilla – P
