After my well deserved day off yesterday I was ready for the Diamondbacks season to begin again. Twenty-four hours without Diamondbacks baseball is just about 23 hours more than I can stand. Today marks the beginning of the end of Interleague play for 2007 with a three game series against the visiting Baltimore Orioles. The series is a repeat from last weekend when the Diamondbacks visited Camden Yard. During that season the Diamondbacks had their way with the Orioles beating them three straight games to salvage a 3-3 road trip. The Arizona hitters seemed to enjoy their visit to Baltimore putting up 21 runs during the three game set. The pitchers likewise liked the environment or the lack of production by the Orioles bats. I don’t think this weekend’s series will be quite as easy. A lot has changed in the past 5 days since these two teams last met.
Shortly after the game last Sunday; Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo was fired and replaced on an interim basis by bullpen coach Dave Trembley. Trembley led Baltimore into Petco Park in San Diego where they took two of three games from the National League Western Division leaders. This was of course good news for the Diamondbacks as it allowed Arizona to climb into a tie for first place in the division. The bad news was that the Padres may have awakened the sleeping giant just in time to unleash it at Chase Field. That giant may have been knocked down a notch when Orioles team leader and perennial all-star shortstop Miguel Tejada was hit by a pitch during Wednesday’s game. That blow appears to have broken Tejada’s wrist making it questionable whether he will be able to play in the Arizona series. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand I do like the Diamondbacks chances with Tejada out of the line-up. That though is secondary as you never like to see anyone get hurt. Tejada held the fifth longest consecutive game streak with 1,152 games but that may be over if reports are true about his wrist. He could miss up to two months recovering from the break. Tejada attempted to play during last night’s game in San Diego. He made one at bat and bunted to move the runner to second. He was lifted for a pinch runner immediately and it appeared that swinging the bat was indeed painful for him. Hopefully the wrist is not badly injured and he will be back in the line-up soon.
The manager situation remains up in the air. ESPN reported that the job had been offered to former Florida Marlins manager and current New York Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi. Girardi publically withdrew his name from consideration yesterday making Trembley’s tenure a little longer. I am not sure whether this will help or hinder the Orioles. I would think this would be a constant distraction to an already struggling ball club but these players are professionals so they should be able to put that behind them. Given the struggling bullpen that Baltimore has, it is unlikely that their misfortune will be gone for long. So as the series is about to begin the Arizona Diamondbacks have a golden opportunity to take advantage of a struggling team and capture a few wins. This could end up as a big series with regards to the NL West standings. While the Diamondbacks host the last place Orioles. The Padres have a tough series at home against the Boston Red Sox and the Dodgers will face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The standings could be substantially different come Sunday night.
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