Diary of a Diehard

The Arizona Diamondbacks started a three game series against the San Francisco Giants last night. Between now and the end of the season the Diamondbacks will play the Giants six times all of them in San Francisco. The match-ups don’t favor Arizona. They are scheduled to face San Francisco’s top three pitchers. Given that the Diamondbacks have not been lighting up the base paths with their hitting during this road trip, I was not too confident that they would be victorious. Livan Hernandez made his third start for the Diamondbacks which meant that the bullpen should have had a short night without much excitement.

Continue reading ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ »

Ever since Carlos Quentin arrived in the Diamondbacks clubhouse there has been speculation that Shawn Green could be dealt. I initially thought that Quentin was being brought up to showcase for a potential trade for a starting pitcher. While Quentin is a great player and should have a serviceable career, there are other prospects in the minor league system that have a higher upside than Quentin. His value would not possibly be higher so it made sense. This coupled with the fact that Shawn Green is under contract through 2007 with an option for 2008 made the Quentin scenario even more likely. What wasn’t expected was that Quentin would come up and get on fire hitting over .300 for his brief major league career. When the non-waiver trade deadline came and went it became obvious that perhaps it was not Quentin who was on the trading block but rather Green. The issue is that Green has in his contract a clause that states he can veto any trade to a team other than San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles Angels. That makes the suitors slightly limited especially considering how much Green is scheduled to make in 2007 and the option buy-out in 2008. But the Diamondbacks have shown with Russ Ortiz that they are not afraid to walk away from a contract if it makes the team better. The question is, does the team feel Green is a liability?

Continue reading ‘So Long Shawn?’ »

Beginning with the last home stand, they began to announce that voting has begun for the Comeback Player of the Year. I typically don’t pay much attention to this award since it normally is given to someone who either had a horrendous year last season then rebounded back to normal stats or some player that is well beyond their prime but caught lightning in a bottle one last time. Neither of these situations warrants an award but I figured I would check out the balloting and see who was included. When I navigated to the site, the first thing I noticed was the sponsor. There plastered across my screen was a graphic of a giant baseball and underneath in baby blue letters it stated, Presented by Viagra. Wow, now there is an award I am sure any player would be thrilled to have his name associated with. I mean think how proud you would be to take this home to your mother so that she too could share in the news that according to Viagra you were the comeback player of the year. Of course they would spend the next several years in therapy as they tried to explain to the doctor how traumatic it was to first bring Viagra up to your mother then how really traumatic it was to have your mom tell you she was well aware of Viagra and how it had helped your father. Yeah I can see no good coming from this.

Continue reading ‘Comeback Player of the Year’ »

With the Diamondbacks out of town, I was in the middle of my home stand. Today was one of those honey-do days where your wife meets you at the bedroom door with a sheet of paper that has a list of things to do and from the looks of the list it started about the same time as Opening Day in April. I was pretty sure that I didn’t have a choice so I took this punishment like any other prisoner who had just been sentenced to the chain gang. I grabbed my ball and chain and went to report to the warden.

Continue reading ‘Letter from Home’ »

It hardly comes as a secret that I am a baseball fan. Most of my wardrobe has either an A or a D on it in the shape of the Arizona Diamondbacks logo. I have a tie with baseballs all over it and dress socks that have the Diamondbacks logo on them for when I have to dress up. I have over 35 different Diamondbacks hats so I don’t have to wear the same hat two days in a row for a month. I’ve got season tickets to the Diamondbacks and with the exception of that three game series with the Los Angeles Angels where I had to be in Orlando because Trina refused to spend her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary at Chase Field and that one game where I had to be in San Francisco for a meeting I have not missed a game this year. I’m a fixture in Section 108 and I know most of the ushers at the ballpark by first name. But even with all of this overwhelming data I still get people who ask if I am really a baseball fan.

Continue reading ‘You Mean This is Real?’ »

This series with the Colorado Rockies has been interesting to say the least. But even before this series started there were things going on that should be put into perspective. During a road trip in July just before the all star break the Diamondbacks visited the Rockies. In that series Jose Mesa entered the game in relief. Craig Counsell entered the box to face Mesa and was drilled with a fastball in the ribs. At the time no one thought much about it but shortly after the break Craig Counsell went down in pain. When examined by doctors they found he had a broken rib, the result of the beaning by Jose Mesa. During the first game of this series Mesa entered the game on Monday and again went head hunting this time Luis Gonzalez was his target and he too was hit in the upper body this one squarely in the back. Tensions rose and while walking to first Gonzalez decided he had enough of Mesa’s pitch selection so he detoured to go to the mound to discuss the situation. Just so his message was received he brought 24 of his friends with him. The Rockies too were interested in what Gonzo had to say so all 25 of their players met at the mound to listen to the wisdom of the Diamondbacks elderly statesman.

Continue reading ‘A Game of Clue’ »

The Diamondbacks let one get away on Monday when the bullpen was unable to hold a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning. After being down 2-0 after seven innings the Diamondbacks came up big on a three-run home run by Eric Byrnes. It looked like the team was on their ways to a victory before Brandon Medders allowed the Rockies to score in the eighth to tie the game then rookie Tony Pena gave up three singles that let Colorado score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. After a heartbreaking loss coupled with a Dodgers win put the Diamondbacks another game down in the standings, the team could have mailed one in tonight. Instead it may be a turning point in the season and a defining moment for this team.

Continue reading ‘Two for the Price of One’ »

Chad Tracy was the seventh round draft pick for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. He was selected after a successful college career at East Carolina University where he hit .339. Tracy quickly found success in the minor leagues. He began as a member of the Yakima Bears and played 10 games there before being promoted to the South Bend Silver Hawks. His bat served him well as he hit .340 over 54 games. In 2002 Tracy played for the El Paso Diablos who were the Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate. He hit .344 there and was named to the Futures Game in Chicago. In 2003 Chad was promoted to Triple-A Tucson. As a Sidewinder he hit .400 and was named the eighth best prospect in the Diamondbacks organization. This meteoric rise ended in 2004 when the Arizona Diamondbacks brought Tracy up on April 21. Since that time he has become a bright young star and a tribute to the Diamondbacks farm system. But not everything has been brilliant in his short career.

Continue reading ‘E-5’ »

The Arizona Diamondbacks begin a ten game road trip today with a four game series against their National League Western Division rival the Colorado Rockies. This will be followed by three games in San Diego against the Padres then will end with three games at AT&T Park in San Francisco where they play the Giants. This trip will go a long ways towards determining whether the Diamondbacks will remain in the play-off hunt. For the rest of the season the Diamondbacks play only 13 games against opponents not in the National League West. Of those thirteen six are against the Washington Nationals, three are in Miami against the Florida Marlins and four are against the slumping St. Louis Cardinals. All of these non-divisional games occur in September meaning that the Diamondbacks will be able to define their own destiny through the rest of August. It’s going to be a long two weeks with the Diamondbacks out of town.

Continue reading ‘When Away Means Home’ »