Arizona Diamondbacks

2010 in Arizona: First-base AZ Snake Pit (blog) The past season was like the noted Abbott and Costello sketch for Diamondbacks fans: don't like who's starting first-base today? Come back tomorrow, you'll ...

This Week in AZ Baseball: winter meetings, drugs and Reno personnel AZ Snake Pit (blog) He concludes by saying, "The Diamondbacks will vault past the Rockies and Giants on their way to challenging for the wild card, if not the NL West title. ... D-Backs OK with slower off-seasonAZ Central.com

2009 Draftee Report Card, Part Three: Outfielders and Catchers AZ Snake Pit (blog) for the Diamondbacks, the great trio the Snakes trotted out in the 2001 World Series season has to be mentioned immediately - Luis Gonzalez in left, ...

The 2009 Diamondbacks Season, Part VII: Base-running AZ Snake Pit (blog) play in the NL West. The Diamondbacks' total of 22 trailed only the Dodgers and Rockies (tied with 26), and straight pickoffs - rather than those where ...

The 2009 'Pitties: Rookie of the Year AZ Snake Pit (blog) Leading the team in appearances and innings of relief Gutierrez in 2009 helped make the trade of Jose Valverde look good for the Diamondbacks. ...

Moments in Diamondbacks History: Randy Johnson K's 20 AZ Snake Pit (blog) We forget that, outside of Luis Gonzalez, the 2001 Diamondbacks were not great hitters. Among the regulars (250+ PA), the only ones with an OPS+ better than ...

This Week (and a bit) in Diamondbacks Baseball: Silver Sluggers, relevance and ... AZ Snake Pit (blog) Here's a name from past: Wally Backman. His tenure as Diamondbacks manager was among the shortest in major-league history, after unsavory incidents from his ...

By Jim McLennan Not apparently. The average team saw 2,184 PAs dealt with by their relievers last season; Arizona saw fractionally less than that, at 2,122 - it clearly helped to have one of the most durable starters in the league, in Dan Haren, whose IP/start was 6.95, fourth-best in the league. Jon Garland...

By Jim McLennan Almost two months left, but we appear to have a shoo-in winner of the "That is professional journalism?" category for 2009. Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star demonstrates his lack of knowledge of...well, just about everything, in a sorry little piece which feels like he did nothing but co...

By snakecharmer Every story has a beginning, and this one starts back in Spring Training. Coming off the 2008 season that saw Arizona lead the NL West for 136 game days – that last of those on September 5th – the Diamondbacks had work to do in Spring. Gone were Gold Glove second basemen Orlando Hudson, soon-to-...

By Jim McLennan Let's not kid ourselves. The loss of Brandon Webb was a devastating blow to the Diamondbacks in 2009, as much because it was completely unexpected to us. After all, over the previous five season, he had never made less than 33 starts per year. To be reduced from that, at an ERA+ of 140 to a single,...

By soco Miguel Montero would start things off in the top of the fourth with a single, and then be quickly moved to third with a Mark Reynolds double. The stage was set for the suddenly resurgent Chris Young, who picked out a three wood and drove a shot to left center, which would effectively be all the D...

By Jim McLennan At one point, it looked like we might be on our way to the first double-digit shutout inflicted on the Cubs at Wrigley since May 2003. That wasn't to be - in part because of what can only be described as Zavada interference - but the nine runs by which we won was a margin not surpassed there since t...

By Jim McLennan The bottom of the seventh saw Randy Johnson take the field, in his first relief appearance in our park since Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. He got a warm reaction from the crowd, perhaps sensing that it might be the last appearance ever in Phoenix for the 46-year old. He struck out the side, alb...

By DbacksSkins However, the Dbacks were facing mighty Jason ZOMGZ USED TO BE LEEDING THE NL IN WINZ!!! Marquis, (Not to be confused with ZOMGZSanchez) who promptly gave a run back. Chris Young singled to lead off the bottom, Stephen Drew followed with a single of his own, but Justin Upton, the best hitter o...

By Jim McLennan I've already rambled on far longer than I wanted to about this topic, though I could certainly go on a great deal further. Just to finish, throw a few random baseball-themed ones that can't go without mention. AFLAC duck: yeah, mostly lame but the one with Yogi Berra has to be one of the best adv...

By Jim McLennan At the risk of picking open old wounds, stumbled across an article from Cleveland talking about Carlos Quentin. It says, "The Indians had serious trade talks with Arizona for Quentin, with Cliff Lee going to the Diamondbacks. Other players were involved. The Tribe decided to stick with Lee...

By Jim McLennan Here's an interesting thought as a replacement. Curt Schilling? He has expressed a lot of interest in potentially coming back to Arizona for a Clemens-like partial season. He said during an interview on KTAR [MP3, about nine minutes in] on November 4 that, "Arizona is absolutely one of tho...

By Jim McLennan Brandon Webb: 22-7, 3.30 ERA, 1.196 WHIP 226.2 IP, 206 H, 65 BB, 183 K, 13 HR, .242/.302/.334 Randy Johnson: 11-10, 3.91 ERA, 1.239 WHIP 184 IP, 184 H, 44 BB, 179 K, 24 HR, .260/.306/.422 Doug Davis: 6-8, 4.32 ERA, 1.534 WHIP 146 IP, 160 H, 64 BB, 112 K, 13 HR, .282/.356/.419

By Jim McLennan Josh Byrnes rolled the dice with the Diamondbacks in the outfield, and unfortunately came up snake-eyes. Various trades left the organization denuded of depth at the position, and the team really needed everything to go right for the line-up to work. Eric Byrnes had to live up to his contra...

By Jim McLennan Both sides put men on the corners with no outs in the opening inning. However, that's where any similarities ended. Arizona failed to capitalize: Jackson flew out and, after an intentional walk to Dunn, Upton struck out and Young grounded out. The Diamondbacks were 0-for-3 with men in scori...

By Jim McLennan Arizona took the lead in the first, a double by Tracy driving in Drew, who had also doubled. They added another in the second, when Doug Davis hit into a bases-loaded double-play that scored a run, but the Rockies tied it up with single runs in the fourth and the sixth. An error by Taveras in the s...

By Jim McLennan Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks stranded seventeen men in ten innings of work. That's the most by any team that scored one run or less in over seven seasons: the last team to do worse was on September 2nd, 2001 when - hey! - the Arizona Diamondbacks were shutout by the Padres, despite leaving 19 m...

By Jim McLennan No, I'm not going to dwell on this one. The Padres rolled over again for the Dodgers, and our lead is back down to 1.5 games. This weekend series is looking more and more likely to be the one where Los Angeles overtakes Arizona and leaves us spitting out their dust. Maybe I'll feel more optimistic t...

By Jim McLennan Anyone escape criticism? Jackson reached twice, on a hit and a walk, while there were two hits each for Drew, Montero and Ojeda. The last-named also got hit by a pitch, which gives him a share of the team lead, on eight. That's the same as Conor Jackson, who has about 270 more at-bats. Ojeda is act...

By Jim McLennan Yes, Brandon Webb rolled imperiously to his major-league leading nineteenth victory, with seven innings of shutout ball, that also reduced his ERA to 2.74, third-best in the National League, trailing only Volquez (2.73, 15 wins) and Lincecum (2.60, 13 wins) - and the gap is narrowed, or wi...

By Jim McLennan The Diamondbacks pounded the Astros once again, using two grand slams, by Chris Young and Miguel Montero to cruise to another easy victory. It's the first time the team have scored 10+ runs in back-to-back road games for over eight years: the last time, coincidentally, was also in Houston...

By Jim McLennan Top 6th: Arizona: Chris Snyder homered to deep left, Clark scored Top 7th: Arizona: Chris Young homered to deep left Top 8th: Arizona: Chris Burke homered to deep left, Clark and Reynolds scored Honorable mentions: Webb, +15.0%; Clark, +11.3% God-emperor of suck: Chris Burke, -7.4%

By Jim McLennan What genius was it who said, after the first inning, "I think our best hope is to take a lot of pitches, weather the storm, then plunder the Giants bullpen"? Oh, that was me. And the plan worked to perfection. After seven innings, San Francisco had the lead, and Lincecum was hit for in the bottom...

By Jim McLennan Elsewhere, the Rockies and Dodgers got together for a 26-run game of pinball at Coors, with the Dodgers coming out on top to stay level with Arizona. And Jose Valverde out-Lyoned Lyon, allowing six earned runs in one-third of an inning of work for Houston, as they coughed up a late lead. His ER...

By Jim McLennan The first balk, in particular, proved crucial, as it moved Chris Burke - who had reached on an error - into scoring position. A single by Chris Young then brought Burke home, and that was all the offense Arizona would need. they did add another run in the sixth - though that was equally as depend...

By Jim McLennan On May 21st, Arizona faced the Marlins in Florida, and Ricky Nolasco allowed one run as his team beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 - the defeat dropped our lead over the Dodgers to three games. On June 27th, Arizona faced the Marlins in Florida, and Ricky Nolasco allowed one run as his team beat the Di...

By Jim McLennan Arizona threatened to end the shutout in the ninth, loading the bases for Chad Tracy with two outs. That put the Diamondbacks just a bloop and a blast away from tying up the game, and sent our Win Probability shooting all the way up from 0.2% to the dizzying heights of 1.3%. Clearly terrified, Red...

By Jim McLennan The offense were who we thought they were, getting only three runs, though they did get ten hits. No walks, however - even Upton couldn't manage anything there, going 0-for-2 with two K's - and since they were playing catch-up from before they got to the plate, it was a thankless task. Three hi...

By Jim McLennan All of a sudden, the NL West has awoken. Between today and yesterday, the division which was the worst in baseball has gone 10-0 against other NL teams. Admittedly, the only team in the top two of the Central or West we're currently playing is the Cubs, but it's a start. Beat up on the bottom feede...

By Jim McLennan Haren: 8 out of 9 Webb: 8 out of 9 Owings: 7 out of 9 Johnson: 2 out of 7 Gonzalez: 1 out of 6 Scherzer/Davis: 2 out of 5 Click to enlarge, in new window] Master of his domain: Orlando Hudson, +21.8% God-emperor of suck: Justin Upton, -28.1% Dishonorable mention: Chris Young, -26.0%

By Jim McLennan I think we all know who Player A is, so let's move on, shall we? Player B, however, might surprise you: Luis Gonzalez, in a less-than-full time role for the surprising (and NL East leading) Florida Marlins. Over on Major-League Jerk, Hef speculates on how Gonzo's career might have played ou...

By Jim McLennan His final line was six hits, no walks and four strikeouts over the nine innings, with three runs allowed, two earned: up until the final stretch, this was probably his best outing of the year so far. Even so, it still runs Webb's record to 8-0, a stunning achievement given that no-one else in t...

By Jim McLennan I know that Reynolds was incredibly streaky last year, but he was one K away from having ten consecutive games with multiple strikeouts. The seven in a row he did manage, was a franchise record, and hasn't been surpassed in the majors since Cory Snyder's eight, from Sep. 27-Oct 5, 1986. Ten wou...

By Jim McLennan My kid brother, Timmy Sickface, was diagnosed with terminal boneitis back in spring of 2001 shortly after his puppy died saving the lives of a bunch of orphans and kittens and bunnies. Aside from training puppies to save lives, Timmy's favorite pastime was watching the Arizona Diamondba...

By Jim McLennan M. Reynolds singled to pitcher J. Upton singled to center, C. Jackson scored, M. Reynolds to third, J. Upton to second advancing on throw C. Snyder doubled to right, S. Drew, J. Upton and M. Reynolds scored D. Haren lined out to first E. Byrnes flied out to right

By Jim McLennan In the face of such mediocrity, the offense would have been hard pushed to catch up. They did have their moments, getting the tying run on base in the fourth, and to the plate in the sixth, but the absence of Young in the leadoff spot was sorely felt. Eric Byrnes hit there instead, and went 1-for-...

By Jim McLennan Monday - Opening Day - marks ten years to the day since the first-ever game for the Diamondbacks. The Tribune cover the past decade in a series of articles, going back to the moment when Colangelo nearly bailed, after MLB suddenly upped the expansion fee by $20m. There's also a 76-picture sli...

By Jim McLennan The game was totally sold out. I don't think I've seen so many scalpers at a Spring Training game before. That was probably no surprise; we bought our tickets a couple of months back, and even at that point, the best seats remaining were in the last section bleachers, out by the AZ bullpen.

By Jim McLennan We're approaching Fantasy Baseball draft time, so it's been interesting to see ourselves as others see us. Patrick of The Fantasy Baseball Generals takes a look at five D-backs, but seems to find much of concern: Eric Byrnes "will break your heart"; "it wouldn't be a surprise if [Drew] con...

By Jim McLennan At the other end, poor Justin Upton had 288 baseballs, 61 bats, 120 photos and 39 jerseys: including team items, that's 508 pieces, most on the team, so it's clear they expect him to reach superstar status in 2008. Webb would likely have come top, except they only got him to sign six bats - and I...

By Jim McLennan Scott Bordow, East Valley Tribune - "Is it possible to pat the Diamondbacks on the back with one hand while scratching your head with the other? Because that's how I -- and, I'm guessing, a good number of fans -- feel this morning. Arizona got pitcher Dan Haren from the Oakland Athletics for a...

By Jim McLennan The winter meetings ended in Nashville, without further action on the part of Josh Byrnes and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hard to say exactly how close we came to pulling off a trade: Steve Gilbert says "they were close on a few things at the Meetings, including a three-team deal that include...

The Diamondbacks' week in review AZ Snake Pit, AZ - Bob Melvin acknowledged the possibility during a session with reporters on Tuesday, saying "It's potentially, depending on how our roster looks, an option. ... D-Backs’ Quentin dealt to Chicago East Valley Tribune all 2 news articles

By Jim McLennan No question about the big news over the last week; the trading of Carlos Quentin to the Chicago White Sox for a young prospect, who won't even be able to drink legally for another couple of weeks. It's a sad end to the career of someone who was expected to be a cornerstone of the Diamondbacks' fu...

By Jim McLennan Overall, that's 488 in 1983 - one every 4.06 at-bats. The overall rate in the National League last season was one every 5.13, so the Diamondbacks do appear to support this theory. The study also noted that students whose names began with an A or B got better grades than those where the first lette...

By Jim McLennan You can tell the Diamondbacks' season is over: for the first time in a long while, there was absolutely no mention of them to be found in the Republic sports section this morning. Not even all that much baseball, just a little bit about Eric Wedge of the Indians, whose team are one game from the...

By Jim McLennan A rare picture of Doug Davis, standing on second-base - and wondering where to go from there. :-) Gameday Graph Click graph to enlarge, in new window] Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +23.2% God-emperor of suck: Augie Ojeda, -23.9% Honorary suckness: Bob Melvin, minus several million

By Jim McLennan Ouch. That was not the National League Championship Series I signed up for. I signed up for the one in which the two best teams in the league collided, an ultimate test of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Whenever that series starts, please let me know - because it clearly w...

By Jim McLennan Certainly, you can look at other factors, to analyze where and how a team is performing,. But claiming the Diamondbacks are not a good team is like saying Bill Gates isn't rich because he drives a Lexus. You can look at someone's car, and it might give you a good idea of how rich they are - though w...

By Jim McLennan The Chicago Cubs are going to win the 2007 World Series... From lovable losers to World Series champions? Good things come to those who wait. Their pitching was so good and so deep, they allowed the second-fewest runs in the National League (behind only San Diego) and the third-fewest in baseb...

By Jim McLennan Couple of random game-notes. Chase Field did not become Wrigley SW: most reports say Cubs fans were no more than 20% of theose in attendance, and were rarely heard, on TV at least. Credit too, for having Jerry Colangelo throw out the first pitch before the game: perhaps a sign that fences are b...

By Jim McLennan Last night, we had a good spread of contributions, with nine different players crossing home-plate: every starter bar Conor Jackson, but including Brandon Webb. He and Ojeda did a good job of legging it out on a bunt by Webb, turning a potentially inning-ending double-play into a failed f...

By Jim McLennan Looking at the Cy Young award, here are the four real contenders (I debated about including Hudson, but his ERA+ is only 141, so I've left him out), ordered by ERA+: Chris Young: 213 Jake Peavy: 188 Brandon Webb: 176 Brad Penny: 170 God-emperor of suck: Orlando Hudson, -9.8%