I’d like to include a picture of Jon Rauch getting the crap kicked out of him by Doug Davis after the game, but the AP wire is strangely silent on this matter. So here’s the Padres’ catcher getting tossed instead.
Record: 19-27. Pace: 67-95. Change on last season: . Change on 2004:
At the start of the eighth inning, the Diamondbacks were “clinging” to a 7-1 lead, with what fangraphs.com called a 99.2% win probability. Let me repeat that: 99.2%. It takes a really special kind of player, to be able to deliver the kind of suckitude necessary to lose a game from there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Jon Rauch.
Ok, it’s not quite fair to solely blame him, but he was the certainly the catalyst. There was some debate in the Gameday Thread on whether Doug Davis - who had pitched seven fine innings - should be allowed out there to start the eighth, but the consensus was that he should be, albeit with bullpen support when needed. I’m not sure we quite meant that he should be left out there to load the bases with one out, though another in a seeming recent flood of errors by Stephen Drew did help in that process. However, the fateful decision was made to bring Jon Rauch in, and it appears Hinch had no memory of what happened the last time Rauch entered the game with the bases loaded.
That was on Wednesday afternoon in Florida, when he promptly uncorked a wild pitch and then gave up a three-run homer. Today was hardly any better, allowing hits and runs to both the batters he faced. And, while Clay Zavada got the first man he faced to pop up, the next one floated a three-run double to the gap in right-center [one Chris Young would probably have caught, except he had been replaced in center by Parra, part of a double-switch when Rauch entered the game], and it was a one-run game. An RBI from ‘Free’ Scott Hairston off Chad Qualls then tied the game in the ninth, and Arizona wasted a one-out double from Justin Upton, with Mark Reynolds and Chad Tracy having utterly dreadful at-bats, both swinging for the fences when a bloop single would have won the game.
At this point defeat was inevitable, and the only plus is that San Diego didn’t stretch out the torture. Tony Peña came in for the tenth inning, and courtesy of a Headley homer, the Padres were 9-7 up before he retired a batter. The procession which was the Arizona hitters going 1-2-3 to end the game was entirely predictable, and the team had blown a bigger, later lead than anything we overcame during the recent road-trip. No: Qualls was not the only pitcher deserving criticism this afternoon. But the fact remains, if he had not allowed hits to both batters faced, we would almost certainly have won this one. He was the center of the gurgling vortex of suck which were our relievers today, losing a six-run lead, and more in three innings. The final total for the bullpen: 2.2 innings pitched, eight hits, five earned runs, and three inherited runners all allowed to score.
After seven innings, this was quite the game for the Diamondbacks, thanks mostly to a five-run third inning which can only be described as “interesting”. It included a homer from Chris Snyder, a triple by Davis [the first from any Arizona pitcher in almost two years], a balk, a hit batter, a run-scoring wild-pitch and a Padres’ error. Almost as eventful was the bottom of the sixth inning. That one saw two intentional walks, the Padres’ catcher and manager getting ejected after a 3-2-3 double-play attempt was called safe at home, and Gerardo Parra driving in a run with a bases-loaded HBP, which really looked like he leaned into the ball rather than making any particular effort to get out of the way. It appears, going by subsequent events, that the baseball gods frown on such behavior, with extreme prejudice.
Beyond the third, the Diamondbacks were hitless with runners in scoring position, despite a number of opportunities, and that eventually proved fatal. Upton had a couple of hits and a walk; Drew drew a couple of walks; Reynolds and Snyder got a hit and a walk apiece. But the overall numbers were disappointing, with seven hits in 35 at-bats. Up until the eighth Doug Davis had been very good, the only damage a solo home-run to Adrian Gonzalez in the third. He did have some control issues, not least the back-to-back walks which followed the home-run, but he got out of the jams with his usual aplomb. His mediocre final line - four runs on five hits and four walks, in 7.1 innings, striking out six - was largely a product of the bullpen’s failings after he entered the dugout.
This is probably the first time we can point a finger at AJ Hinch as far as a main reason for the defeat. He had showed a remarkable willingness to go against ‘the book’ on the road-trip, but inserting Rauch into this game was definitely the kind of thing Melvin would have done. Putting him in was tolerable, only if one of the A-pen guys was there in case of trouble. Rauch opened the door for the Padres, and it should have been slammed shut by Peña or even Qualls, rather then replacing The Biggest Loser with a guy making his third ever appearance above Double-A. The five runs conceded in that inning as a result, was when the save was blown - not the ‘technical’ one off Qualls during the ninth.
[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com] Master of his domain: Doug Davis, +20.7% Honorable mention: Justin Upton, +16.8% God-emperor of suck: Tony Peña, -40.3% Dishonorable mentions: Qualls, -18.9%; Reynolds, -14.0%; Tracy, -12.1%
soco led the Gameday Thread towards 500 comments, ably assisted by hotclaws. Also present were snakecharmer, kishi, Pyromnc, sayheyupton, Wactivist, TwinnerA, emilylovesthedbacks, pygalgia, 4 Corners Fan, mrssoco, AJforAZ, Scrbl, Muu, jazzbo13 and Smoggie. The way in which everything fell apart seemed to leave most people stunned rather than anything else, and it’ll be interesting to see how it affects the team too. This was a self-inflicted kick in the teeth , and it’ll leave a mark. We’ll see how the players rebound from such a disastrous loss tomorrow.
I’d like to take a moment to thank the Padres for sweeping the Cubs over the weekend - I got almost as much enjoyment out of that, as I did from Arizona completing a 6-3 road-trip. However, San Diego should now feel free to stop, and return to the sucky team we all expected them to be in 2009, in particular for the next three days. Although, as already documented this morning, as soon as the team leaves Petco, they appear to require little or no incentive or request on that front.
Doug Davis tries to bounce back from what can only have been a terribly difficult start last time: “Oh, did you hear? A team-mate’s wife just dropped dead. Now, here’s the game-ball. Go get ‘em, Double-D.” [Ok, I've little doubt that wasn't what happened, but I doubt there exists any way to lessen the impact]. I mentioned the Padres’ home/road splits, so we should also note that, so far, Doug Davis has been rather better in Chase than away from it - probably not what you’d expect from our hitter-friendly park. However, opposing batters are hitting 51 points lower in Phoenix, which has helped lead to a significant ERA split: 3.38 vs. 4.76.
Looking forward to this, and debating whether to take the laptop into the living-room, so I can multi-task. We watched both the original and the remake of Halloween last night, so I think I want to do a comparative review of them - if I have the laptop with me, while it’s still just as easy to get distracted, at least I won’t have to do all that ‘running back-and-forth through to the living-room’ thing, which certainly doesn’t improve the coherence of my writing…
Lineup
Parra LF
Ojeda 2B
Upton RF
Drew SS
Reynolds 3B
Tracy 1B
Young CF
Snyder C
Davis P
Interesting move to put Parra atop the order. Partly a reaction to the ongoing absence of Lopez - said Hinch, “It’s not something that we’re initially overly concerned about. We’ll be cautious enough, but he’s been around a long time and knows his body. It’s more to make a definitive plan and stick with it.” However, Parra has also shown a great deal of patience in his at-bats so far: he has only five K’s in 47 PAs to date, though his pitches/PA still are below league-average. Be interesting to see how he copes with the responsibility. Elsewhere, much as usual, though they are clearly trying to get Young to play through his struggles.
A cunningly-camouflaged Padre carries out a sneak attack on an unsuspecting Cubs catcher. Such tactics probably help explain that ten-game home winning streak.
If I were a San Diego fan, I’d be very, very confused at this point, feeling like I was the accused in some bizarre baseball variant on the old ‘good cop, bad cop’ scenario. The Padres sit exactly at .500 as they arrive for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks, but the way they have got there is about as far from equitable as can be imagined. They initially confounded expectations by roaring out of the gate to a 9-3 start, that had them tied for the lead in the division. However, the team predicted by many to lose a hundred games then showed up, and San Diego lost nineteen of the next 23 games, including two six-game losing streaks. But just when everyone was ready to bury them and their 13-22 record, they have reeled off nine straight victories, sweeping the Reds, Giants and Cubs, to get back level.
Which is where they arrive here, and the good news is, it’s on the road that the Padres have experienced almost all their problems. In Petco, they are a devastating 17-6, with a ten-game home winning streak. But outside of the pitcher-friendly confines, San Diego are a dismal 5-16, having lost fourteen of the last fifteen away from home, including the past eleven games straight [their longest road skid since 1971]. When you look at the lines in Petco and elsewhere produced by their hitters and pitchers, it becomes particularly apparent exactly where that issue is. One of these things is not like the other:
Batting: Petco: .216/.314/.361= .674 OPS, 3.74 runs per game Away: .248/.311/.410 = .721 OPS, 3.81 runs per game
Pitching Petco: .217/.295/.325 = .620 OPS, 3.22 runs per game Away: .286/.368/.467 = .815 OPS, 5.95 runs per game
In case it’s not obvious [and in which case, I can only apologize that this post is not available in Braille], the Padres’ pitching blows chunks completely on the road, allowing almost six runs per game. Among the starters, the worst offender is Chris Young and his 8.03 ERA on the road, compared to 2.25 in Petco. Unfortunately, he pitched yesterday, beating the Cubs (in San Diego, naturally), so we won’t be able to take advantage in this series. But some of their bullpen have been even worse: Luke Gregerson is the absolute extreme example, and must really like home cooking. Gregerson at home: .127 BA against, zero ERA Gregerson on the road: .381 BA against, 10.61 ERA
The three starters we do face - Chad Gaudin, Kevin Correia and Jake Peavy [yeah, I thought we'd got rid of him too...] - are a combined 1-7 on the road. The sole win belongs to Peavy, and in fact is the only win recorded by a Padres starter outside of Petco this year. Their combined road ERA of 4.43 isn’t bad though, and it would be foolish to think we will just be able to waltz to a sweep, even if the last time the Padres tasted victory without the scent of Shamu in their nostrils, was all the way back on April 28th.
Ok, just realized it’s a 12:40 first-pitch, Arizona time, so need to get this up and posted. Gameday Thread to follow shortly, for the view from the opposing dugout, please visit Gaslamp Ball. And if you wish, unicorns and sparkly rainbows can be added to the site through this tool.
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.
Everyone in the NL West won yesterday, so the victory didn’t gain us any actual ground there - it sure did taste good, however. I was joking when I said we wouldn’t need to watch the first six innings of Arizona games any longer - but, much like the power of St. Penelope, I am close to being turned into a true believer now. To steal a line from some guy or other, “Anybody… Anytime… Any deficit.” For a team (and manager) written off by all the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity, they’re sure playing well, and don’t seem to have given up on the season.
This paragraph marks the first time in 2009, we have even been able to contemplate the following possibility, so bold-font, please. Today, we go for the sweep. Regardless of whether we achieve it or not this afternoon, this has been a very, very successful road-trip, with two series wins and a split. But if we can complete things with a victory, it’ll be even better, since it will be the Diamondbacks’ first sweep on the road since July last season in San Francisco - sixteen such chances ago.
Garland bounced back very nicely, with six innings of one-run ball against Florida, and we’ll be looking for more of the same today. Outman has only seen one decision in six starts so far, but allowed only one run over his last two, and 12 innings, with a very credible May ERA of 2.42. I suppose I should go into more depth on this, but I can smell bacon wafting from the kitchen, so feel free to go look up more information on him yourself.
Lineup
Roberts 3B
Parra RF
Upton DH
Drew SS
Reynolds 1B
Snyder C
Byrnes LF
Ojeda 2B
Young CF - Garland P
Reynolds moves back to first against the left-hander, with Roberts getting the start on the other corner. Upton is DH-ing, with Parra moving over to cover right, and Byrnes back from DH in to left. Ojeda gets the start at second, Lopez’s hamsters presumably still bothering him.
There was some discussion in the GDT thread during the Florida double-header on whether Jon Rauch was the worst pitcher ever to pull on a Diamondbacks uniform. Oh, ye of very short memory. Have you forgotten the nightmare which was Russ Ortiz? At the moment, Rauch ranks a mere 7th coming into today [as measured by OPS+, among pitchers with more than 40 innings for Arizona]. Here is the all-time top - or bottom - ten men, along with their ERA+, the number of innings pitched, and the time when they were causing heartburn to Arizona fans:
Name
ERA+
Innings
Years
Eddie Oropesa
61
64
2002-2003
Jeff Suppan
63
66
1998
Russ Ortiz
64
137.2
2005-2006
Felix Rodriguez
68
44
1998
Mike Fetters
69
43.1
2002-2004
Casey Fossum
69
142
2004
Casey Daigle
72
61.1
2004-2006
Jon Rauch
72
42
2008-2009
Dustin Nippert
72
70
2005-2007
Lance Cormier
73
124.2
2005-2007
Commentary - and also the list of our ten best pitchers - after the jump…
The list is a mix of all kinds of pitchers: career journeymen, prospects who fizzled out, veterans who passed through Arizona towards the end of their careers, etc. Perhaps surprisingly, the great majority of the list, including Rauch, are still active in the majors. The Huge Manatee is now playing for Houston (and hit a homer Tuesday, his first since 2003!), while Cormier is in the Tampa ‘pen, Nippert in Texas, and Suppan is in the Brewers’ rotation. Even Fossum has appeared with the Mets this season - Daigle is still trying to get back to the majors, currently with Houston’s Triple-A affiliate. Here is a little commentary on the ten not-quite staff aces.
Eddie Oropesa. The LOOGY defected from the Cuba national team in Niagara Falls, the same week as Rey Ordonez. Bounced around with the Dodgers and Giants before making his MLB debut at age 29. Control was always his issue with us, walking 42 in 64 innings. Last heard of in 2007, pitching for Sparta/Feyenoord in the Dutch league. With a 7.59 ERA over 79 games, it isn’t even close.
Jeff Suppan. Perhaps the most surprising name here - after all, he has made over 330 starts since leaving us. The D-backs got Jeff from the Red Sox as the 3rd pick in the 1997 expansion draft: he was barely starting out, aged 23 in that inaugural season. Part of our inaugural rotation [can you name the other four? Answer is below], he had a 6.68 ERA, won only once in 13 starts and was sold to the Royals at the start of September. He has got better since.
Russ Ortiz. Little more needs to be said. While not the worst ever to take the mound for the D-backs, his combination of abysmal performance and number of innings pitched is largely unparalleled in franchise history. As indeed, is his cost: say what you like about the others here [and "they blew chunks" would be kind], at least they mostly played for close to league minimum. Russ Ortiz… Not so much.
Felix Rodriguez. Can’t say I know much: I still lived in London when he pitched for us, though he was in the majors until ‘06 and is now with the indie Camden Riversharks. Did quite well too, with a career 113 ERA+ [and making over $14m after he left us!], despite his part in our dire first year, with a 6.14 ERA for Arizona. In 2001, he appeared in 80 games for the Giants, posted a 1.68 ERA and got MVP recognition, coming 20th.
Mike Fetters. Yeah, we loved all his endearing little jerks and quirks, beautifully impersonated by Grace in his pitching appearance. But while he had a good career [ERA+ 115], by the time we got him, Fetters was 37, and sucked farts out of dead dogs, performance-wise. While he wasn’t brilliant in his first stint here in 2002 [5.11 ERA] we still brought him back as a free-agent in 2004. The resulting ERA: 8.68 in 23 games.
Casey Fossum. Originally a D-backs draftee (7th round in 1996, but didn’t sign), we eventually got him as part of the ‘haul’ from the Schilling trade. He went 4-15 in his sole year with us, among the thirty worst Win %s since the 19th century, among pitchers with 25+ starts. That was 2004, but unlike Brandon Webb (7-16 that season), Fossum genuinely was wretched: his ERA was 6.65 and opponents hit over .300 off him.
Casey Daigle. Better known as husband of softball goddess Jenny Finch - and it wasn’t long before suggestions flew that she could pitch better. Went from Double-A to the majors in 2004, then gave up 5 homers in his major-league debut, the most since at least 1954. Memorably described on DBBP as possessing a fastball “straighter than a moose’s dick in mating season.”
Jon Rauch. The good news is, Rauch can get off the list, thanks to his currently small IP - and it won’t take more than mediocrity. If he allows 13 earned runs or less in his next 20 innings [a 5.85 ERA, so we're not demanding perfection here], he should drop below current #11, Brian Bruney. However, the long ball is not his friend: Rauch’s HR rate of 1.93/9 IP, is fourth all-time in AZ history [no prizes for guessing who's #1].
Dustin Nippert. Nippert was an enigma. I vividly remember him coming into a game against the Marlins with the bases loaded and no outs, and not conceding a run, finally throwing 3.1 frames of one-hit ball. Then, over his next two appearances, he allowed nine earned runs in 4.1 innings. That inconsistency is what damned the man we used to call ‘Bigfoot’ - though at “only” 6′7″, we have bigger in the bullpen now.
Lance Cormier. Initially a starter, his 2004 major-league debut was even worse than Daigle’s - 1.1 IP, 7 ER. After amassing a 10.97 ERA in the rotation, he moved to the ‘pen and had somewhat more success there, though was never more than a mop-up guy. Ended up as part of the trade to Atlanta for Johnny Estrada, but is doing very nicely with Tampa, and has a 2.10 ERA in thirty innings of work.
However, just for balance, and because I don’t want this to be entirely depressing, here are the ten best pitchers we’ve ever had under the same criteria [minimum of forty innings pitched for Arizona]. I don’t imagine most of these need any real introduction, but think you’ll find a fair number of surprises here too not least in the order.
It’s worth pointing out that, up until last night’s eleventh inning near-implosion, Chad Qualls was actually top of the list, with an ERA+ of 168. Yesterday’s game also caused Dan Haren’s position to slip two places. So it’s clear that, for those still with the team, these ranking are very volatile - as with Rauch, the fewer innings pitched, the more impact each future performance will have. But this chart may help explain why the team appears to have made extending Haren a greater priority than re-signing Webb, arm issues notwithstanding.
[Trivia answer. The inaugural Diamondbacks rotation consisted of Andy Benes, Willie Blair, Brian Anderson, Jeff Suppan and Joel Adamson, subbing for the injured Omar Daal]
Record: 19-24. Pace: 72-90. Change on last season: -8. Change on 2004: +2
Baseball is a strange game. Last night wasn’t one I expected to win, and tonight wasn’t one I thought we’d lose, feeling we’d torch Edgar Gonzalez, while Dan Haren shut down the A’s. While the final result was as anticipated, I am apparently not very good at this “expectations” lark. Still, one thing was business as usual: the team once again trailed, looking more or less dead and buried before storming back out of the grave - their previous five wins have been like that, with four of them involving deficits in the seventh inning or later. The only way to be sure of stopping the Arizona UndeadBacks from coming back, it appears, is by removing the head, or destroying the brain…
Otherwise, while one pitcher going against his former team this evening did have a good start, it was former D-back Edgar Gonzalez rather than former-A Dan Haren. You’d have got long odds against it unfolding like this beforehand, but the team launching bombs on a chilly evening in Oakland, turned out to be the home-town Athletics rather than the visiting Diamondbacks. It wasn’t just the pitching match-up which made that a surprise. The Oakland A’s came into the game, dead-last in the American League for homers. They didn’t have a single long-ball from April 14-21, and were averaging 62 trips to the dish per home-run this year.
But you wouldn’t know it, as they took Haren deep four times in the first twenty-four plate-appearances. Former 1st-round Arizona pick started the trotting with a two-run shot in the first, then Jason Giambi added the 400th* of his career to lead off the fourth inning and was followed one out later by Adam Kennedy. Nomah then completed the Night of the Long Flies in the bottom of the sixth. That’s only the second time in his entire career, Haren has seen more than two of his pitches leave the park, never mind giving up four homers. His final line: seven innings, nine hits and no walks, but five earned runs, all of them coming courtesy of the four-bagger.
At Haren’s final pitch, that looked like more than enough offense for the A’s, on a night where it seemed like the long road-trip finally caught up the Diamondbacks - they looked tired and lethargic in just about every aspect of the game. Never mind Gonzalez’s major-league career ERA of almost at six, in seven Triple-A starts this season, his ERA was 5.26. But after Felipe Lopez doubled and Gerardo Parra singled to put men on the corners with no-one out in the first, it was all downhill for Arizona against EdGon. While we did eventually get one of those men home, on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Drew, the team only had one other at-bat with runners in scoring position while Edgar was in the game - and he didn’t leave until the sixth inning.
The Diamondbacks had their chances, not least in that sixth, where they made the A’s throw no less than forty-one pitches, yet somehow still failed to score. Justin Upton and Drew both walked, which saw the exit of Gonzalez, but Mark Reynolds grounded out and Miguel Montero flew out. Eric Byrnes worked a nine-pitch walk, but all that did was set the table for Chad Tracy to strike out with the bases loaded. However, things dramatically turned the other way in the eighth after veteran Russ Springer - who debuted in 1992 - loaded the bases again, this time with no outs. Byrnes and Tracy delivered fully this time, each swatting two-run hits, and yet another final-third deficit had been overcome.
Would it be enough? The missed opportunities in the second-half continued to pile up for the Diamondbacks. After tying the game in the eighth, and again in the ninth, Arizona had a man on second with one out, but couldn’t get him any further: Chris Young, Ryan Roberts, Drew and Reynolds also going down swinging. A lead-off man in the tenth was also erased, on a line double-play. And into extra innings we went, with the bullpen advantage clearly in favor of Arizona - Oakland’s fifth pitcher had gotten three outs before we even had to replace Haren. Juan Gutierrez threw two hitless frames and Tony Peña added a scoreless tenth, before we entered what proved the decisive and final eleventh.
The key at-bat was probably by Justin Upton, with one out and a man on first, and a new reliever in for Oakland. He promptly uncorked a pitch that would indeed have dispatched any zombies standing in the batter’s box, sending Upton to the ground in a heap. We’ve seen what happens next, against the Rockies last year. Don’t make Justin angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. The next pitch, chest-high, was rifled into left-field, and a single back up the middle by Drew scored the go-ahead run for the Diamondbacks. Mark Reynolds then delivered a two-run double into the right-center gap, adding a pair of insurance runs that would become very, very important in the bottom of the eleventh, as Chad Qualls came in to defend an 8-5 lead.
After getting Matt Holliday to ground out, things fell apart for our closer, as four consecutive hits scored two runs and put the tying man on third with only one out. In Qualls’ defense, only one of the balls was hard hit, with two infield singles and an excuse-me swing by Nomah off the end of his bat on an 0-2 pitch. However, they all count, and what had been a 98.1% chance of victory after the first out, was now more than 40% lower. However, Qualls has shown an almost mystical capability of coaxing ground-balls when necessary, and Hannahan obligingly swun at the first pitch he saw. Drew flipped the ball to Roberts on second for the force, who then fired over to Tracy to end the game and complete the latest in a series of stunning comebacks.
Given we had only four hits through the front seven innings, I’m frankly astonished that we ended the game with fifteen. Drew and Upton each had three hits and a walk, while Reynolds and Lopez each picked up a couple. The latter was forced out of the game after his second hit, pulling up lame with what was described as tightness in his left hamstring. It didn’t look too serious, however, and I imagine they were just being cautious on what was, as mentioned, a cool night [the temperature at first-pitch being only 55 degrees, and I'm sure it was much less than that by the end of the game, approaching four hours later]. Montero and Byrnes each had a hit and a walk, but Young went right back into the pit whence he came, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
[Click to enlarge, at Fangraphs.com] Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +40.3% Honorary mentions: Gutierrez, +25.3%; Upton,. +16.7%; Pena, +14.3% God-emperor of suck: Dan Haren, -20.9% Dishonorable mentions: Young, -19.3%; Parra, -11.3%
It’s perhaps worth going through those five come-from-behind victories in the past week, and seeing what the low-point of them was, as far as win probability goes: Monday (5-3 vs. Marlins): 16.7%, RBI single makes it 2-0, two out, sixth inning Wednesday (11-9 vs. Marlins): 6.2%, exit Peña/enter Qualls, eleventh inning Thurday (4-3 vs Marlins): 15.3%, Tracy K’s, first out, seventh inning Friday (2-1 vs A’s): 30.5%, no-out Oakland single, second inning Saturday (8-7 vs. A’s): 2.8%, one-out Oakland double, seventh inning So by that measure, tonight’s game might have been the most impressive comeback of them all, from four runs down with just six outs left.
Six hundred comments exactly in the thread, not bad at all for a night when ‘Skins was given the game off. soco led the way, punching past three figures, with able help from muu (79 - excluding the one we had to hide!). Also present in the thread were unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, Azreous, TwinnerA, hotclaws, mrssoco, Fiona, luckycc, sergey606, Wimb, pygalgia, Asfan4ever723, snakecharmer, Wactivist, sayheyupton, Counsellmember, 4 Corners Fan, Sprankton, jazzbo13 and Scrbl.
This series isn’t just a return for Haren - it also marks one for AJ Hinch, who was drafted by the A’s in 1996, and played three season for them from 1998 to 2000. His first series here as manager has proven eminently successful, with victory locked up before the finale tomorrow, in which the Diamondbacks go for the sweep. The road trip is now at 6-2 with one to play, and the victory evens Hinch’s managerial record at 7-7 - and, I note, does the same for his record in one-run games at 3-3, after a trio of consecutive successes since Thursday. Whatever may happen tomorrow, it’s been a roaring success. But why stop now?
Not just a season-high three-game winning streak, but three consecutive wins in which Dan Haren didn’t appear. Y’know the last time we managed that? May 13-15 last year: 163 games ago. Ok, technically, we had some four-win streaks since, where Haren pitched a game in the middle, so there were three victories in non-Haren games consecutively, but not three consecutive games. If you see what I mean. I begin to wish I’d never started this, to be honest…
Instead, let’s just say that Billy Buckner shaved 9.40 runs off his season ERA last night, and we won a game I had more or less written off. So that gives our money–in-the-bank, quality-start-at-least ace a chance to make it four wins in four days. And got to fancy our chances, going against the Diamondbacks reject, Edger Gonzalez. He wasn’t quite bad enough to make it into the Ten Worst AZ Pitchers Ever article that’s coming tomorrow, but his 5.97 career ERA is hugely unimpressive, and since he played six seasons for Arizona, we can’t claim a lack of familiarity.
Lineup
Lopez 2B
Parra LF
Upton RF
Drew SS
Reynolds 3B
Montero C
Byrnes DH
Tracy 1B
Young CF, + Haren P
Interesting to see Byrnes as the DH, Parra’s glove in left apparently preferred. Reynolds gets to move back to his corner, so we can get Tracy’s bat in the lineup as well. That would be because southpaws murder EdGon at a .321/.390/.600 clip over his career, so we want to cram every one of those we’ve got into the line-up. Here’s to Arizona making it four in a row.
Here’s the latest edition of Wimb’s Diamondbacks Fancast: I think you’ll find this one a bit more upbeat than previously. We may not be dancing in the streets and singing Happy Days are Here Again, but things certainly seem a little brighter than previously!
Chris Young is all smiles after hitting his first home run in a over month. His solo shot in the 5th inning gave the Diamondbacks the lead and the win.
The Diamondbacks play the final leg of this road trip in my own backyard, starting Inter-league Play here in Oakland, California. They’ve done really well so far this trip, going 4-2 in games in the very warm and humid environments of Atlanta and Miami. How would they do in the cold air of the Oakland Coliseum? Would the team struggle after getting in at 3am the night before? And would my winning streak of attending games continue? Keep reading to find out…
Tonight’s matchup featured Arizona’s recent callup and “#6″ starter, Billy Buckner, against Oakland’s #2 starter, Trevor Cahill. Buckner’s ERA coming into tonight’s game was 15.75, courtesy of a horrible relief appearance early in the season against L.A. when he gave up 5 runs in two-thirds of an inning. Tonight was Buckner’s first start since late 2007 with Kansas City. Cahill is very much a rookie - his first career game was Oakland’s second of the season. He has been decent, but not consistent, and in his last start in Detroit, Cahill gave up 7 runs and couldn’t get out of the 3rd inning. The Diamondbacks have had a tendency to make struggling pitchers look like Cy Young candidates, and according to my friend, the A’s have had trouble when facing new pitchers.
Despite the ominous look at the start based on numbers and history, this game ended up being a pitcher’s duel! Both pitchers, who each pitched 7.1 innings with a similar pitch count, had pretty good stuff tonight - from where I was sitting, sliders and sinkers kept the hitters off guard. (Buckner said after the game that he didn’t have his curve ball - but he didn’t seem to miss it.) Both starters were good at getting around base runners, either with double play balls or deep fly ball outs. The cold marine layer (it was 50 degrees and breezy at first pitch) kept most of those fly balls from being anywhere near dangerous. Matt Holliday’s solo home run in the 2nd inning and Chris Young’s home run in the 5th inning (his first home run in a month!) were the crux of each team’s offense. Aside from that, both teams had only two base runners reach 2nd base. Augie Ojeda stole second and scored the Diamondbacks’ first run in the 3rd inning, and Justin Upton was stranded on third base in the 9th. For the A’s, Kurt Suzuki and Nomar Garciaparra reached second in the 8th and 9th innings respectively, and neither scored. Jon Rauch came in for the save in place of Chad Qualls and pitched himself out of his own mess (two on with two out) to lock down a 2-1 win for the Diamondbacks.
Other Diamondbacks highlights in an otherwise quiet game: Billy Buckner also had to pitch around two D’back errors, and did so very adeptly. He essentially gave the tired bullpen a night off, something greatly appreciated by his manager, A.J. Hinch. His pitches seemed controlled and he pitched at a very fast pace. (At 9:00, this game was in the 8th inning.) Gerardo Parra had another RBI, giving him as many RBI as he has games played. For not being a natural left fielder, Parra played pretty well in the field tonight, as did Ojeda at 3rd base. He pulled a Mark at one point, bare-handing a slow roller and launching it to Reynolds at first base. With his first home run in a month and a single later on, Chris Young ended the night 2 for 3 - let’s hope this is a start of good things to come for him! And most importantly, the win tonight guarantees the Diamondbacks a winning road trip (a record of 5-2 so far), with things looking in our favor the rest of the weekend. Dan Haren faces off against former Diamondback Edgar Gonzalez tomorrow night, and Jon Garland will start against Josh Outman (who?) on Sunday.
Master of his Domain: Billy Buckner, +37.9% Honorable Mention: Chris Young, +14.3% God-Emperor of Suck: Stephen Drew, -9.5%
Quite a quiet gameday thread tonight! Eh, it was a pretty boring game to be at too actually. (Sorry if the recap’s a little boring too!) Only 22 people made 311 posts - with Muu (75) and hotclaws (56) taking the top two spots tonight. Present were kishi, sayheyupton, Smoggie, soco, Muu, luckycc, Jim McLennan, paqs, venomfan, Wimb, SeanMillerSavior, TwinnerA, Fiona, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, Scrbl, katers, unnamedDBacksfan, jazzbo13, mrssoco, snakecharmer and sergey606.
If interested, a few of my photos from the game are behind the jump.
Billy Buckner warms up before the game.
Zavada and Vasquez warm up in the 8th inning. Both were ready well before Hinch needed them - very good bullpen management tonight.
Look, base runners!! A rarity in this game. Upton at 3rd, Reynolds at 1st. I swear, at one point even Chris Young was on 1st base, but he was erased on a double play before I could take a picture.
Jon Rauch warms up to close it out. This man is scary-tall in person.
Victory!! The only shot I managed to get before people were in my way.
Welcome to the AZ SnakePit, the SB Nation blog about the Arizona Diamondbacks. Summer in Phoenix: \"Would you like to sit on the porch? Or would you rather live?\" -- Eddie Izzard.
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