Miguel Montero
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Top 5: Reasons To Be Happy About The Diamondbacks
Diamondbacks Nation has been feeling a bit frustrated about the start to the season for the Snakes.
Perhaps our expectations were too high. Our sense is that this team is capable of much more than they have consistently shown so far. But we have not lost faith.
Rather, we think the team is capable to achieve great things in 2009. We only want to see the Diamondbacks play to the true level of their abilities.
There are plenty of reasons to be happy about the Arizona Diamondbacks. Here are our Top 5 --
1. The Rotation Is Strong. The win-loss record does not show it, but the Snakes' starting pitchers have been incredible in 2009. Through thirteen games, Arizona’s rotation has made five quality starts (defined as at least six innings pitched with three runs or fewer allowed). But even when they've not met the QS-standard, the starters have kept the team in games.
Only twice in the first thirteen have the Diamondbacks starters really taken it on the chin. Those games featured...
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Game Report: Snakes v. Rockies, April 20, 2009
Winning a pitcher's duel, like the Diamondbacks did on Saturday, is great. To rally from behind on three-run bombs is a blast. Losing just sucks. There's drama in each, but we've had enough drama for awhile.
For a change, we wished for the Snakes to take control of a game and hold it through the final out. Back home on Monday night, they did just that.
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Jon Garland did his part and got his deserved second win. Six and two-thirds innings pitched, with six hits, a pair of walks, just one earned run and five strikeouts. If Arizona gets innings like that from the back of the rotation, much else will fall into place.
Garland got help, too. Diamondbacks bats were silenced in San Francisco. Two home run calls announced their return tonight.
Mark Reynolds and Miguel Montero connected loudly on balls that cleared the outfield fence. Reynolds' lashed his into the left field stands for an early 1-0 lead. We dig the long-ball, if you’re offering.
More than that, though, we’re down...
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Diamondbacks Notes: April 14, 2009
* DO SNAKES HAVE BUTTS? - If they do, they're getting sore from yet another spanking by a visiting opponent. On Monday night it was the Cardinals who opened a three-game series by beating the Diamondbacks 2-1 at Chase Field. Starter Doug Davis pitched well and deep into the contest to finish with a line of 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 5 K. He took his second loss of the season despite surrendering only a pair of runs on solo homers, including a blast by monster slugger Albert Pujols.
As you can tell from the final score, pitching was not the problem for the Diamondbacks yesterday. Rather, it was the offense that failed to do its part. Arizona's bats scratched out a single run on Chad Tracy's RBI double in the fourth. Conor Jackson, who doesn't get a lot of attention for his base-running, raced around from 1B for the run. (It was the second such tally by Jackson on the season; he scored from 1B on a Chris Snyder double on Opening Day.) Monday's weak out-put continues a troubling pattern...
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Diamondbacks Notes: April 7, 2009
* ROCKIES TAKE GAME 2 - Colorado shut out Arizona 3-0 on Tuesday night, evening both clubs' records at 1-1. The season's second game was radically different from the opener. After trading runs early and often in Game 1, both clubs were held scoreless tonight until the fifth inning. Leading off the inning, Troy Tulowitzki cracked his second home run in as many games on a first-pitch curveball that Dan Haren grooved over the heart of the plate. The pitch was the only real miscue of the night for Haren, who didn't walk a batter and finished with a handsome line of 7 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 9 K.
If the Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez (7 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 K) was not quite as sharp, he came through when it counted. Jimenez induced a double-play to end Arizona's two-on, no-out threat in the second. He again put a pair of runners on before striking out Miguel Montero to end the Diamondbacks' threat in the sixth.
Colorado tacked on a pair of runs against Jon Rauch to extend the lead in the eighth,...
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2009 DIAMONDBACKS SEASON PREVIEW - PART III
* WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN - As a franchise, the Diamondbacks' age, payroll and record rocketed sky-high on the way to their 2001 World Series victory. Those expensive, aging veterans that won Arizona's first major professional title began to fall from the stratosphere in the seasons to follow. The 2002 Diamondbacks (98-65) managed to repeat as NL West champs, but were swept 3-0 in a NLDS rematch with St. Louis. By 2003, Arizona would slip to a third-place finish at 84-78 behind a half-hearted mix of veterans and youngsters.
Fortunately, Arizona had found its cornerstone in Brandon Webb, whose sinker opponents were helpless but to pound into the infield grass. Drafted in 2000 while the "old" school roster was still ascendant, Webb would make his debut in 2003 and come to exemplify the Diamondbacks' new strategy: to win by developing its own talent. Another pair of building blocks joined the organization that year with the selections of Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin....
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