Diamondbacks Notes
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Snakes Shake Lopez To Brewers
The Diamondbacks today unloaded Felipe Lopez, a player who came to symbolize the gap between talent and performance on the 2009 club. Lopez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for a pair of low-ceiling prospects -- outfielder Cole Gillespie and right-handed reliever Roque Mercedes. The move is as much a dump of salary as of bad karma.
Lopez made undeniable offensive contributions in his half-season in Arizona colors. His two home runs on Opening Day -- one from each side of the plate -- provided hope that the Diamondbacks had found a worthy replacement at second base for Orlando Hudson. While Lopez proved not to be an especially powerful hitter, his .301 batting average and .364 on-base percentage led the team through 92 games.
But Lopez's contributions on offense were overshadowed by his sloppy and often thoughtless efforts in the field and on the base-paths. Despite above-average range and a strong arm, Lopez often muffed the balls he reached. His nine errors to...
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Diamondbacks Notes: May 24, 2009
Justin Upton doesn't get a lot of credit for his glove because (a) his bat commands so much attention; and (b) he makes mistakes of inexperience that create the false impression he's a poor defender. But the same talent that makes him a monster at the plate is being harnessed in the field.
See here, as Upton dives for a liner in the gap, similar to a ball he'd muffed earlier in the evening.
On the first attempt, the lights of the football stadium in which the Oakland Athletics play baseball blinded him to the ball. With a second run at it, Upton was able to pluck from the air a dying drive that would have been a double or a triple against a less rangey fielder.
That sequence from Arizona's 8-7 comeback victory on Saturday night represents in microcosm Upton's rapid development. His youth and 0-for-14 after two weeks had some ticketing him for AAA. One month later, Upton is recognized as the obvious choice to bat third in the order.
The trick for the Diamondbacks is not asking...
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Diamondbacks Notes: May 22, 2009
Say, did you get a load of that moustache Clay Zavada was sporting in Miami last night? I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. Wasn't sure if I was watching a creative anachronism replay of 1890s base-ball or V for Vendetta. Whatev, kid ... pitch like that (1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, W) and you can call yourself Rollie Fingers.
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Not that we're due all the credit, but Arizona is 4-2 since Diamondbacks Nation declared the club a hopeless wreck. Just saying. Reverse psychology, baby.
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Diamondbacks Notes: May 10, 2009
* RESISTIBLE FORCE V. MOVABLE OBJECT - Some series you see on the schedule and you think: "Aha! This is the soft spot. The Diamondbacks are sure to make up some ground here."
Didn't the three-game home set against Washington look that way? A Nationals club with a team ERA over five and an incapacity to induce strike-outs seemed the perfect tonic for Arizona's ailing offense. Instead, the Snakes managed to overcome their futility at the plate only in Game 3. After scoring six runs total in losses on Friday and Saturday nights, the Diamondbacks recorded a 10-8 victory on Sunday to salvage a series split.
Arizona earned its win in Game 3 -- and the first of AJ Hinch's managerial career -- by hitting well with runners in scoring position. The Snakes were 8/21 in scoring situations on Sunday; in the first two games of the series, they were 3/26 with runners in scoring position.
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* DYNAMIC DUO - In winning the weekend set, Washington got tremendous contributions from its two best...
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Diamondbacks Notes: April 28, 2009
* A CONFESSION. - I was on the mountain preserve on Monday night when the battery died on my radio with the score 1-1. I had heard Chris Snyder hit the ball that sent Ted Lilly into an apoplectic fit. Justin Upton had beat out the grounder to Aramis Ramirez at third base. Then the signal cut and I heard nothing for 45 minutes, the time it took for me to get down the mountain and to my car.
My XM Radio receiver displays the score and inning of the game. I half looked at it as I started the engine, registering the 5-1 score. While I drove a friend home, we talked over the low-set volume of the play-by-play call. Only just before I dropped him off did I understand what I was hearing.
Reflexively, I had assumed that the Diamondbacks were trailing the Cubs late in the game. Dan Haren had finally been touched up by an opponent after 26 innings of nearly immaculate pitching. On second glance, I saw the score in fact read: Arizona 5, Chicago 1, Bottom 7.
This realization produced both...
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