Tony Clark
Showing Results 1 - 5 of 6
Page 1 of 2
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...
Continue reading to see the post in its entirety.
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.
***
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...
Continue reading to see the post in its entirety.
Melvin’s Pink Slip is Showing
Press, press, press. For two weeks now, the Diamondbacks have pressed. And for a long time before that, if we want to be honest.
Spring Training was Pressure Fest ’09. We shouldn't care about wins and losses in the Cactus League, but we couldn't help notice the way the Snakes were losing. Arizona had Mark Reynolds booting balls, Justin Upton striking out, Brandon Webb and Max Scherzer and the bullpen all not right.
That followed an off-season in which nothing went to script, from Randy Johnson’s departure to San Francisco, to Orlando Hudson’s defection to Los Angeles, to the degradation of the infield defense, to the egg-on-our-faces discovery of money for Jon Garland when Johnson and Hudson were allowed to walk to division rivals.
We understand that an arbitration offer to Adam Dunn could have been a disaster. Were he to accept, he might have commanded a salary in the eight-figure range. The team already has four starting OF and only one 1B job for Chad Tracy, Tony Clark and...
Continue reading to see the post in its entirety.
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...
Continue reading to see the post in its entirety.
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,...
Continue reading to see the post in its entirety.