Sedona Red Fireworks: Because winning is fun.

There are hits! And runs! Lots and lots of hits and runs!

Yes, the Dbacks had 16 hits. And, yes, they scored 9 runs. (Check out the Box Score: HERE)

But, the story of the night was  - without a doubt – Wade Miley.

1. Going into the game, the line-up looked highly similar to last night. But, when it is the line-up that stops a depressing losing streak, it isn’t a surprise that Kirk Gibson didn’t want to mess with it.

2. The offense showed up – big time. Jason Kubel and John McDonald (yes, that John McDonald) both went 3-for-4 on the day. Both Justin Upton and Jason Kubel hit solo-HRs. And, every one of the starters reached base by hit or walk tonight.

3. Speaking of Jason Kubel – Yes, he occasionally takes slightly less-than-efficient routes to balls hit to left field, but he’s shown a surprisingly a strong arm in the outfield. He recorded his 4th assist of the season, firing a one-hopper to home plate, to save a run. He’s tied for the NL lead in assists. Jason Kubel: More than just a bat standing in left field.

4. Not insignificantly, that play at the plate also illustrated that Miguel Montero is, in fact, an immoveable force. Wow.

5. Jonathan Albaladejo (called up from Reno in place of Daniel Hudson) made his Dbacks debut and was solid. 1 innings, 2 hits, no runs. As was Brad Ziegler: 1 inning, 1 hit, no runs. And, coming in for the final three outs of the ninth, so was Craig Breslow (who has pitched 8.1 innings in relief so far this season, tied with David Hernandez for the most number of innings pitched by a reliever who is not Wade Miley).

6. Joe Paterson. He’s had a very shaky 2012. He was solid as solid can be in 2011, but 2012 has been very, very rough (screencap from: here). He came in to start the 9th. He faced 5 batters: single, double, single, home run, home run. The numbers speak for themselves. This was a good game, and there has been so much negative lately, that we’re going to stick with focusing on the positives.

7. And, speaking of positives: Wade Miley. What else can you say about Wade Miley? He’s made a career acting as the stunt double for Josh Collmenter (c/o @dbacksbooth for the appropriate description) this season. He has saved the Dbacks on more than one occasion and tonight, when called upon to spot start because of Daniel Hudson going down…. The Dbacks are treated to this: 6.0 IP, 2H, 1BB, 7K. He was – again – sensational. This win is completely on him.

Score: 9-5, Diamondbacks win! Record 9-8. It’s (almost) all good in the hood.

Conclusion: This was a very fun 8 innings of baseball. For the second day in a row, it was a good day at Chase Field. 

Johnny Mac - Flashing the leather.

The losing streak has come to end, courtesy of a fine game by Mr. Ian Kennedy and a great performance from the rest of the team. Game 16/162. And, possibly in an attempt to shake up the offense, the game started with a shake-up in the line-up.

1. Gerardo Parra (CF) –  He was the offensive performance of the day. In the bottom of the second, trailing by a run with 2 outs, John McDonald was intentionally walked to pitch to Ian Kennedy with the bases loaded. Ian Kennedy walked on 4 straight pitches. Which brought Gerardo Parra to the plate. He deposited his second homer of the season into the pool (for the second time this season). Grand slam and a 5 run inning! 5-1 Dbacks. He also collected another hit and a stolen base on the day.

2. Aaron Hill (2B) – He was 1-for-4 on the day, but it was a well-timed hit. He doubled in the bottom of the 7th to drive home an insurance run. 6-3 Dbacks!

3. Justin Upton (RF) – Went 1-for-2 on the day with a walk and was hit by a pitch. Unfortunately, he was hit in his same, already-injured hand. He was the second hitter plunked on the day. (Check in with the HBP-o-Meter to see where the season stands!) And, then – in a fit of rage – he was promptly caught attempting to steal second to end the inning.

4. Miguel Montero (C) – Wasn’t his strongest offensive showing of the season, 0-for-the day.

5. Paul Goldschmidt (1B) – Had a less-than-stellar day at the plate (0-for-3 with a walk), but he was defensive gold in the field today. Solid outing from the youngster. 3-6-3 double play! Smart, smart baseball.

6. Jason Kubel (LF) – 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. And, most impressively, was the put-out he recorded from left field, to throw out Dan Uggla, trying to extend a single into a double. It was a laser-beam, perfectly placed strike and it beat Uggla to the bag by at least 5 feet.

7. Cody Ransom (3B) – He made the most of his start today. He looked immensely comfortable at the plate. He went 2-for-3 with a run scored and was a solid stopper at the hot corner.

8. John McDonald (SS) – John McDonald had great day. He was his usually defensive whiz (Exhibit A) and also stepped up at the plate. 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.

9. Ian Kennedy (SP) – He had to battle all day, but he kept his head and kept his team in the game: 7.0 IP, 9H, 3R, 2BB, 5K. He also got an RBI by taking a 2-out, bases-loaded walk in the second inning. Exactly what you want from the ace of your staff.

9b. AJ Pollock (PH) -0-for-1 in his pinch-hit appearance.

9c. David Hernandez (RP) – 3-up, 3-down in his 8th inning appearance for his 4th hold of the year.

9d. Lyle Overbay (PH) – 0-for-1 in his pinch-hit appearance.

9e. JJ Putz (Cl) – He came in for the 9th inning with a 3 run lead.  A strike out, a solo HR (to Juan Francisco) and 2 fly ball outs en route to his 5th save of the season.

Score: 6-4, Diamondbacks win! Record 8-8. Back to .500 and it feels so good!

Conclusion: This is a solid team – from top to bottom – and, today, everyone chipped in to help get it done. A little shake up in the line-up and everyone came out swinging.

Update: The team announced after the game today that long man out of the pen, Wade Miley, is going to get the start tomorrow against the Phillies. Good luck, Mr. Miley!

Mid-week day games are hard to recap when I miss the beginning. Game 12/162.

1. The line-up is noticeably different without the presence of Chris Young (on the 15-day DL) and Justin Upton (possibly headed there soon). The “Chris Young and the Sunshine Band” offense doesn’t work without Chris Young.

2. Without pinch-hit man-off-the-bench Geoff Blum (also on the 15 day DL), the Diamondbacks managed to make it through this game without pinch-hitting for their pitcher.

3.  Daniel Hudson pitched a fantastic game and deserved a win today. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards.

4. There were two lead-off triples today. Willie Bloomquist tripled in the first and ultimately scored on a Jason Kubel single, but Aaron Hill‘s lead-off triple went to waste in the 6th. It should be a crime to waste a leadoff triple.

5.  AJ Pollock made his MLB debut today. He walked in the 7th inning, but was promptly thrown out attempting to steal second when he over-slid the bag. He has the speed to steal, that much is clear, and he’ll probably be dangerous when he harnesses his nerves. And, of course, in his first ever game, he came to the plate with 2 outs and Justin Upton standing on first base and represented the winning run. Welcome to the show.

6. Justin Upton did appear in the bottom of the 9th, pinch running for Miguel Montero – who runs like a catcher.

Score: 2-1, Diamondbacks lose (YET ANOTHER ONE RUN GAME); Record 7-5. The Pirates win their first series at Arizona since 2005. Losing winnable games hurts even more.

Conclusion: More than half of the Dbacks’ games this season have been decided by one run. It is starting to be that the fate of the 2012 Diamondbacks will rest on their ability to win the 1-run game. Losing winnable games is not going to help them where they want to be.

Tonight was game 11/162. And, it was equally as disappointing as the last time the Dbacks fell in extra innings.

And, in the spirit of disappointment, today’s recap will also be disappointing. Here are the highlights:

1. Justin Upton sat out the game and will reportedly have an MRI on his thumb tomorrow.

2. Chris Young slammed into the CF fence making a leaping catch and had to leave the game – likely with a shoulder contusion. He will also be having an MRI tomorrow.

3. And, in the post game, Nick Piecoro reported that Kirk Gibson announced that Geoff Blum pulled a muscle in batting practice and he will  be headed to the DL and AJ Pollock is coming up from Reno.

4. In terms of baseball stuff: Ian Kennedy was immensely hittable (though, everyone is allowed a bad day now and again, so I don’t begrudge him that).

5. When Chris Young left the game, Jason Kubel moved to RF, Willie Bloomquist moved to LF and Gerardo Parra moved to CF. That put John McDonald in at SS (and, third in the batting order). He showed off his usual quick hands and – in another uncharacteristic show of offense – he blasted a game-tying home run. Which, like his two-double game in Colorado, wasn’t quite enough of a cushion for the bullpen.

6. Bryan Shaw collected the loss, giving up a 2-out infield single by the slimmest of margins to the speedy Alex Pressley. That was followed by hits from McGhee and McCutcheon and the one run that scored was the difference in the game.

7. And, the remainder of the Blue Jays reunion tour infield had a pretty good night defensively (Aaron Hill had a great pick, Ryan Roberts had a diving catch and Lyle Overbay dug a whole pile of throws out of the dirt at first). But, overall, this game was a giant bummer.

The after-effects of tonight’s mess will probably be spilling over into tomorrow. When they get to do it all over again.

Hopefully wrapped in bubble wrap.

Score: 5-6, Diamondbacks lose (ANOTHER ONE RUN GAME); Record 7-4. This one hurt. Literally and figuratively.

Conclusion: Ow.

image from flickr user: paul hadsall (flickr.com/photos/paulhadsall/4854585169/)

Your game recap, brought to you in the form of the starting line-up. Game 7/162. Unfortunately, this game turned into the bullpen olympics, which is not something you want for the first game of the series. There was a lot of hitting in this game, but in what has becoming a recurring theme, the timely hitting wasn’t there.

In the 4th inning, the boys ended up with runners on second and third and nobody out and they couldn’t get any of the runs across.

The team went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base as a team. Individually, the hitters left 17 men on base and, unfortunately, they fell just shy of being able to keep step with the Rockies.

It was a cold night, the team is tired from their late getaway day and hopefully things look better in the morning.

1. Willie Bloomquist (SS) – Snapped his hitting streak by going 0-for-5 on the night.

2. Jason Kubel (LF) – 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

3. Justin Upton (RF) – 2-for-4 with a walk. Notably, he bunted for a base hit. With his hand still hurting, this was a stroke of brilliance. When you run like him and no one is expecting it, it works. Also, there was a misplay of a flyball in the 3rd inning which led

4. Miguel Montero (C) – 2-for-4 with a walk. Hit a long homerun and hopefully this will be able to get him into the groove for the season.

5. Chris Young (CF) – 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

6. Paul Goldschmidt (1B) – 2-for-5 with one strikeout. Unfortunately, he made a catching error on an attempted pickoff move which allowed Tulowitzski to move from 1st to 3rd and score the unearned run that was the difference in this game.

7. Geoff Blum (3B) – 0-for-3 with one strikeout.

8. Ryan Roberts (2B) – 1-for-3 with a walk.

9. Daniel Hudson (P) – In probably the story of the night, this is not a performance that Daniel Hudson is going to be replaying again. 3.2 IP, 10H, 6R, 3BB, 3K, 2HR. His command was all over the place and he just never seemed to settle in.

9b. Brad Ziegler (RP) – Came in and pitched an inning and a third and, taking one for the team actually had to bat for himself and didn’t do too badly for a relief pitcher from the american league in – to the best that I can discover – his first plate appearance in his MLB career.

9c. Craig Breslow (RP) – Came in and pitched 2 innings of 1-hit, 2-walk ball and kept the Rockies at bay.

9d. Aaron Hill (PH) – Pinch hitter for Craig Breslow and went 1-for-1 on the day.

9e. Bryan Shaw (RP) – Took the loss in this battle for pitching the 8th inning. His record falls to 0-1 on the year, with an ERA of 0.00. Unfortunately, following a one-out single by Carlos Gonzalez, an attempted pick-off ended up with CarGo ending up on third and he scored on a ground-rule double. A hard luck loss on an unearned run.

Score: 7-6, Diamondbacks lose; Record 5-2

Conclusion: After struggling to produce runs in San Diego, the runs were plentiful – but for both teams. So far this season, each game has been decided by 2 runs or less. When the margin for error is so tiny, you’re really living on the edge.

image by flickr user - BaseballBacks (flickr.com/photos/baseball-backs/6081656674/)

Your game recap, brought to you in the form of the starting line-up. Game 2/162

1. Ryan Roberts (3B) – He was 0-for-3 in his first few plate appearances and eventually singled in the bottom of the 6th and made a wicked slide into 2nd to try to break up the double play that immediately followed. He wasn’t successful, but the effort was appreciated.

2. Aaron Hill (2B) – Homered in the first inning (solo HR) and then again in the 2nd (this time, Daniel Hudson was on base as well). 3 RBIs. 2-for-4 with 2 home runs… exactly the number he wears on his back.

3. Justin Upton (RF) – A good day offensively and defensively for the Dbacks’ 2011 MVP. 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk.

4. Miguel Montero (C) – Wearing a microphone, it was a treat to listen to him make fun of Aaron Hill’s lack of height following his first homerun. And, poking Madison Bumgarner when he came to bat – “Don’t worry, it’s a long season.” (ie: Yes, we’re lighting you up.) Going from first to second on wild pitch is probably not something we’ll see too often from Miguel Montero. Because, while he is a very good catcher, he is still a catcher. And, he runs like one.

5. Chris Young (CF) – Doubled in the bottom of the first to drive in the 4th run of the game. Doubled in the bottom of the 5th to drive in a second run. 2RBI. He was drilled on the right hand in the bottom of the 7th. Between today and Miguel Montero being hit yesterday, this is not helping ease tensions between the Dbacks and the Giants.

6. Paul Goldschmidt (1B) – He got a little respect in the bottom of the first when he was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out to bring up Jason Kubel.

7. Jason Kubel (LF) – Showed why he’s an “offensive weapon” in the top of the 4th. I try to be positive around here, so I will say this once and then not say it again – Gerardo Parra would have made that catch off of Aubrey Huff in the top of the 4th. 0-for-3 with an intentional BB on the day. I’m willing to be that he’s had better days. Many of which, I hope, are still ahead of him in Sedona red.

7b. David Hernandez (RP) – Double switch. The pitcher’s spot was due up. He might as well go ahead and scribble his name in sharpie in the 8th inning. He continues to be a rock star.

7c. JJ Putz (RP) – Two 5-pitch at-bats ending with a swinging 3rd strike on his splitter. And, then a grounder and a footrace to first base between JJ Putz and Brandon Crawford. Thunderstruck.

8. John McDonald (SS) – Johnny Mac can play baseball. Watching him run out to left field to cover Jason Kubel is a thing of beauty. He also made a (another) sparkling play, causing everyone watching to remember why he has a job – an important one. When they walked Jason Kubel intentionally with 2 outs to bring him to the plate, he nearly was able to put a ball through the middle, but for a pretty excellent play by Crawford that for a force out of Kubel at 2nd (though, it was a nice, hard slide by Kubel in an attempt to force an error from Crawford).

9. Daniel Hudson (P) – Started off the day 2-for-2 (1 LOOOOONG and 1 regular single), tossing his hat into the ring early for a Silver Slugger repeat. In his third at-bat, he smashed a liner back to the pitcher and hustled his way up the first base line and nearly beat the throw. #PitchersWhoRake: Live it, learn it, love it. He had a really good game going, until he was pulled at 97-pitches following 6 2/3 innings: 5H, 4R(ER), 2BB, 4K and 2HR. It was the long-ball that did him in today, but overall he looked really good. Its the difference of a few bad pitches, but they were ill-timed.

9b. Bryan Shaw (RP) – He came in with 2 outs in the 7th (immediately following the Brett Pill home run) to get Angel Pagan. Mission accomplished.

9c. Gerardo Parra (LF) – Double switch. Came in (for the second day in a row) as a defensive replacement (in the 8th inning) – to a rather warm reception. Flew out to CF in the bottom of the 8th. It will be something to watch and see what happens to his batting average, coming off the bench. He may require a period of adjustment.

Score: 5-4, Diamondbacks win; Record 2-0 (Hit by pitch counter = 2)

Conclusion: With 2 homeruns, maybe Aaron Hill should consider changing his jersey number… let’s start with 3.

Ryan Roberts - image credit: Mark Winograd (WikiCommons)

1. Willie Bloomquist (SS) – In the lead-off spot had the first hit of the game in the bottom of the 1st. He also got on base again in the 7th with another single and was caught leaning the wrong way and picked off first by Guillermo Mota. Interestingly, there was a slo-mo analysis later in the inning that analyzed Mota’s pick-off move and, well, let’s just say that he’s going to have to be careful about who’s officiating when he pitches. That pick-off could have just as easily turned into a balk.

2. Chris Young (CF) – Batting in the second spot for the… first time under Kirk Gibson (he didn’t even play there during spring training) and only the second time in his career. He went 1-4, but he made it count. A long, 2-run home run in the top of the first. It might not be the last time we see CY in the 2-hole.

3. Justin Upton (RF) – 1-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and a strikeout. But, like Chris Young, he made it count. He ripped a ball into the LF corner that hopped into the crowd for a ground-rule double.

4. Miguel Montero (C) – 1-for-3 with a strikeout and a hit-by-pitch. That’s not going to do anything to calm the waters with an already heated rivalry. With Daniel Hudson pitching tomorrow, it’s probably for the best that Affeldt doesn’t come to bat.

5. Paul Goldschmidt (1B) – Number 5 agrees with him. In the first inning, he dealt the second big blow with a monster of a home run to LF. He went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and 2 runs scored. Good day.

6. Jason Kubel (LF) – He ended up going 0-for-3 on the night. He reached on an error (one of three by the Giants on the day) and had one strikeout. He was only really tested once in the field and it wasn’t a smooth play, but fortunately, even though Melky Cabrera ended up with a double, he didn’t come around to score.

6b. Gerardo Parra (LF) – As promised, Parra did make it into the game in the top of the 7th. He only had one ball hit his way – a routine grounder – and had one at-bat (a routine groundout). We’ll be seeing more of him in the next couple of days, I don’t doubt it.

7. Ryan Roberts (3B) – I made a joke on twitter that people should just start walking Ryan Roberts intentionally when he comes up with the bases loaded. And, it is a little hard to talk about a player being clutch. But, if anyone is clutch, its Ryan Roberts.

• With the bases loaded (15PA): 462 / .533 / .846 /1.379
• In the post-season (20PA): .350 / .350 / .700 / 1.050
• With a runner on third and 2 out (18PA): .400 / .500 / .867 / 1.367
• And, “late and close” (89PA): .347 / .455 / .542 / .996

And, he did it again tonight. He ground out and struck out in his first two at bats. But, when he came to bat with the bases loaded in a tie game in the bottom of the 6th, he picked a very good time for his first hit of the game. He went 1-for-4 (but reached on an error later in the game), but he was clutch tonight. And, as we saw at the end of this game, the Dbacks don’t win this game without him and his 2-RBI double.

8. Aaron Hill (2B) – Twice tonight (once on a throw from Justin Upton from RF and once while he was covering second), Aaron Hill had to practically levitate horizontally to stretch out and make a catch and save some runs. He may have gone 0-for-4, but he definitely saved a couple of runs in the 6th inning.

9. Ian Kennedy (P) – IPK wasn’t at his best today, but he harnessed it in and was able to pitch well enough to collect the W. 6.2IP, 9H, 3R/ER, 2B, 3K, 1HR. And, when you can collect your win, even when you’re not at your best, you must be doing something right.

9b. Joe Paterson (RP) – Joe Paterson came in with 2 outs, runners on first and second, and collected his first hold of the season after a 9 pitch duel with Aubrey Huff.

9c.David Hernandez (RP) – He owned the 8th inning last year and he owned it again tonight. He threw 9 pitches and collected 2 strikeouts and his curveball probably had more than a few people cursing on the San Francisco side of the field. And, its nice to see that the recent arrival of his second child might be keeping him up at night, but he hasn’t lost his edge.

9d. Geoff Blum (PH) – a brief pinch-hit strikeout in the 8th inning, but we’ll see more from him.

9e. JJ Putz (CL) – He came in in the 9th inning and made it more interesting than some Dbacks fans might have liked. He gave up 2 hits, 1 run, but closed it out, collected the save and started the Diamondbacks’ season off with a win and there’s no reason to complain.

Score: 6-5, Diamondbacks win; Record 1-0

Conclusion: Ryan Roberts – still clutch in 2012.

And, now we do it again tomorrow! See you then.

Sometimes, when I’m on the internet, I end up clicking on one baseball-related link, which contains another baseball-related link and I end up wandering down a twisty-winding path that is about a million degrees away from where I started.

I don’t even remember how I ended up on the Arizona Diamondbacks page for the All-Time Franchise leaders…. but, I did.

And, I’m a stat junkie, so I ended up spending more than a little time browsing through the numbers.

Unsurprisingly, its a list that’s comprised of more-or-less 2 names, with Luis Gonzalez leading the way for the offensive categories and Randy Johnson heading up most of the pitching categories.

So, inspired by the lack of variety on that list, I decided that I would construct a list of the “also-rans” (second place finishers) and the “active leaders” (leaders among the current Diamondbacks).

Today we’ll cover hitting. We’ll tackle the pitching leaders in the next post. Just in case you ever need to impress your friends at a party or something.

In order to put some of the raw numbers in perspective…. here’s a little background information on who has a leg-up on the competition, simply because of the number of times they’ve come to bat in a Dbacks uniform:

• Games Played/At-Bats  —Luis Gonzalez (1999–2006)- 1,194 // 4,488

• Also ran: Steve Finley (1999-2004) - 849 // 3049
• Active leader: Chris Young (2007 – ) – 784 // 2848 – 3rd place
• Noteworthy: Luis Gonzalez is the only Diamondback to play in all 162 games in a season.

• He did it twice: 2001 and 2002.
• In 2001, this was his quadruple slash line: .325 // .429 // .688 // 1.117

• No, seriously. His OPS was 1.117 (perspective: Jose Bautista led MLB with 1.056 in 2011)

Now, that being said:

» Continue reading “Dbacks Franchise Leaders. Or: Part One – Hitting Leaderboard”

image from flickr user: paul hadsall (flickr.com/photos/paulhadsall/4854585169/)

So, a couple of weeks ago, Daniel Hudson ran his mouth a little on the subject of Justin Upton leading the National League in being hit-by-pitches last season.

In an interview with Arizona Sports KTAR 620, Daniel Hudson had the following to say, when he was asked about the number of times Justin Upton was hit last season:

“If it’s a starting pitcher, remember, he’s got to hit. “They either have to hit their spots, or expect something in return.”

This was on a Monday.

On the Tuesday, Daniel Hudson spoke to MLB.com, where he clarified what he meant by his comments. But, wasn’t willing to take them back entirely:

“The scouting report may be to throw him inside, pound him inside, but it comes to a point where you either hit your spot or you don’t, and when it becomes a problem is when you do it more than once in a game, more than once in a series. Then it becomes a problem. I said what I said and I stand by it, but like I said, it got perceived a little bit different than I actually said it.”

And, that same day, Luis Gonzalez (who knows something about playing baseball in a Diamondbacks’ uniform) took to the air and voiced his opinion on the matter:

“You know what I do now, I go in the locker room and I pull him to the side and I say ‘shut your mouth, don’t say that, and you just do it on the field because you earn more respect. Because now, if that happens in a game and he doesn’t do it, you’ve got it on tape…and fans are listening to this and they’re going ‘well why the heck would he say that if he’s not going to back it up?’”

It was interesting to note that, nowhere in either session with the media, was anyone saying that the Diamondbacks would be against the concept of retaliation.

And, interestingly, in both Hudson and Gonzalez’s speeches to the media, they indicated that plunking an opponent in retaliation had to be timed appropriately, so that when a game was on the line, opponents weren’t getting a free pass to first base.

So, when today – in the first game of a double-header, Justin Upton found himself plunked for the second time in as many days in the fourth inning when the game was knotted at 0-0, immediate retaliation wasn’t practical – even in a meaningless spring training game – seeing as wins have been so hard for the Diamondbacks to come by. But, in the top of the 7th, with the Diamondbacks down 2-0 to the Padres, there were two outs, Will Venable found himself trotting to first base after being hit by a pitch delivered by David Hernandez, a RHP out of the Dbacks’ pen.

Following the incident, warnings were issued to both sides. And, hey, if Ozzie Guillen can get himself ejected during a spring training game, a little beanball might be hard to sneak past the umpires.

It looks like Luis Gonzalez didn’t have to worry that his pitchers wouldn’t back up their words.

After the game, Hernandez spoke to MLB.com:

“For me, in the spring, I’ve been trying to get the ball in to lefties. That’s been a weakness for me. I got the ball in to the first lefty I faced. That’s something I’ve got to work on.”

That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

“As a pitcher, you definitely have to protect your guys, but I was trying to go in and it got away and it hit him.”

No, really, He’s sticking to it:

And, just in case he needed back-up, there is at least one other person who is singing the same song:

No, that’s not highly suspicious, guys. Not at all.

As was pointed out at the official site, the Diamondbacks play the Padres 18 times during the upcoming season.

And with the 2011 NL HBP Leader Justin Upton (19) playing for the Diamondbacks and 2011 MLB (and AL) HBP Leader Carlos Quentin (23) now playing for the Padres, everyone who is planning on coming to the plate during their match-ups should likely invest in some high-quality body armor.

And, if you’re thinking about making a drinking game out of this season’s plunkings…. you’re probably going to need a very large bottle.

Play (bean)ball!

image from flikr user afagen (flikr.com/photos/afagen/3803285289/)

When it comes to trade rumors, you don’t have to look very hard no matter which team is your team. And, for most teams, they ebb and flow and sometimes the rumor mill is quiet and other times, you can’t walk five steps without tripping over four or five rumors.

For the Diamondbacks, there’s been a slight resurgence in rumors this week.

Here’s what we know:

1. Miguel Montero would like to stay a Diamondback.
2. Miguel Montero and the team halted discussions of an extension until the end of the season, which would make him a free agent for 2013.
3. The Dbacks are a small market team with big market dreams and went over their projected payroll this year and are hoping that the people who hopped on the badwagon last year stick around to support it.
4. Yadier Molina just signed a pretty hefty, long-term deal that may become a bargaining chip in Montero’s free agency.
5. There’s a general lack of catching depth in the Dbacks’ organization. (And, frankly, in terms of prospects, the prospects are very heavily weighted towards pitching, pitching and more pitching.)
6. If something happens to Miguel Montero this season (dear heavens find some wood to knock on, y’all), then the Diamondbacks are more-or-less without an everyday catcher. And, if he’s gone at the end of the season, there’s a bit of a hole there for 2013.

So, when trade rumors that the Diamondbacks could be interested in Toronto Blue Jays catcher JP Arencibia, it does give reason for pause.

And, what are blogs for, if not to speculate?

» Continue reading “The Rumor Mill Goes Around And Around… Or: Dbacks Trade Speculation”