September 2007 Archives

A mere 182 days ago the odyssey of the 2007 Major League Baseball regular season began. The Arizona Diamondbacks travelled to Denver Colorado to face the Colorado Rockies. This series contained the hopes and dreams of the franchise as well as its loyal fan base. When your favorite team begins the season on the road it is almost an unbearable situation. Each game seems to last an eternity and you are frustrated by the thoughts that other baseball fans are enjoying something you are being denied. This year I was not about to be left out and so I decided to make the road trip to Denver to open the season with the team attending my first out-of-town Opening Day. There is nothing quite like the pageantry of Opening Day. Everything is new and for that one moment all 30 teams are tied in the standings and have a shot at the play-offs. Once that day is over half of the teams will have lost and their fans will begin wondering whether this one loss is an indication of what they can expect over the next six months. That first game against the Rockies I watched the newly crowned Cy Young award winner struggle on the mound and leave after giving up 5 runs in 5 innings. The Diamondbacks bullpen would come in and allow one run for the remainder of the game and Arizona would mount a comeback scoring 3 runs in the eighth inning to record a win. The Diamondbacks were undefeated and on pace to win 162 games this season (hey, it could happen). I joked around with other fans wondering if this game was an indication of what we should expect. Little did I realize how accurate that joke may become.

Oh what a difference one day makes. Yesterday live was filled with fear, frustration, and an overall sense of impending doom. Although the Arizona Diamondbacks had their ace Brandon Webb on the mound there was still grounds for worrying since Webb’s numbers this season against the Rockies were not exactly Cy Young worthy. I know I should have had a positive attitude and confident at the Diamondbacks chances but when you are playing a team at home who has not lost since September 15 in front of a sold out stadium and your pitcher has not won a game against them all season doubts do linger in your mind. Adding to the stress was the fact that the second place San Diego Padres seems to be getting stronger every day erasing the Diamondbacks NL West lead to a single game. I’m no astrologist but it did seem to me that the heavens had conspired against this team. But oh what a difference 2 hours and 45 minutes can make to your outlook.

April 2nd seems like so long ago. We had so many hopes and dreams for the 2007 season. There I was in Denver Colorado eagerly awaiting what I hoped would be an exciting beginning to a 162 season. The core players for the Arizona Diamondbacks were young and inexperienced. I was hoping that this season would give them the opportunity to learn what the Major League game was like so that they could parlay that into a serious play-off run in 2008. The Colorado Rockies were in a very similar situation. They too had a fairly young ball club and were also hoping to gain some experience that they could use to build upon next year. I remember watching both teams warm up at Coors Field. None of these young kids seemed to be overwhelmed at the thought of starting on Opening Day. I was just in the stands and I was nervous so I was impressed to see that at least outwardly these players had somehow overcome their anxiety as they prepared for work. One hundred sixty-two baseball games is a very long time so this game marked the beginning of what many refer to as a marathon. No one could anticipate how this race would unfold. No one knew how either one of these participants would react to a race this long. There are so many things that can get in the way of success. Injuries can occur to key components. Trades can be made both good and bad that will change the outcome. Players can fail to adapt putting themselves in a difficult situation from which they cannot recover. There are just too many variables to accurately predict the outcome of a race that lasts six months. This year though in what looks like a genius scheduling move the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies return to the place where the season started bringing the 2007 regular season full circle.

About the only thing lacking from this three game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates was a visit by Captain Jack Sparrow. Over the course of the first two games the boys from Pittsburgh pillaged and plundered the treasure chest of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously someone forgot to read their script. This was supposed to be a romantic comedy not a swashbuckling adventure film. The Diamondbacks were to play the part of the lovable clean-cut boys next door out for a cross-country sightseeing drive with the top down and the wind blowing through their hair. Fans around the country would fall in love with these guys as they cruised to a play-off spot with the youngest team in the National League. A duet of The Boys of Summer by old school rocker Don Henley and new age rockers The Ataris would blend together to show how the rookies and veterans on this ball club melded to form a cohesive atmosphere in the clubhouse which in turn led to success on the diamond. It was the perfect story, something that summer Hollywood blockbusters are made of. Problem was that the Pirates were reading from a different story.

It has been five days since our household was put on alert. According to the intelligence that has been gathered we could expect contact with the courier at any time between now and Friday. I woke up well before the sun rose over the horizon this morning. Sleep was the farthest thing on my mind. I laid there in bed thinking about what I should expect and planning for the potential rendezvous with the double agent. Without realizing it I began humming the theme song to Mission Impossible. This was going to be the day contact was made, I could just feel it.

It's interesting how many things in your life seem to intertwine. I have several hobbies that on the surface seem to be unrelated. For example I used to race downhill mountain bikes where speeds would reach more than 70 miles an hour and one lapse of judgment could result in meeting trees and rocks up close and personal. Mountain bikes evolved into motorcycles and with it the pain and injuries also seemed to rise exponentially. Once while racing the motorcycle slid out from under me and both my bike and I went off a cliff. I guess I was lucky; I landed on a tree my bike landed on a rock. One day I came home from work and announced to Trina that I had enrolled us in a Scuba Diving class. I have no idea why, it just seemed like an interesting thing to do. Diving has led to several interesting adventures including swimming with Hammerhead sharks off the coast of Mexico. Of course we had no idea what we were doing and none of us in the dive group even pondered the fact that we didn't have a shark cage or any protection should the sharks not appreciate our company. It seems like every time I start to get a little bored I come up with something new and somewhat bizarre to try. It would be different if I did this alone but I seem to always drag Trina into this as well; a fact she is not exactly thrilled about. The one common denominator to all of these "hobbies" seems to be the adrenaline that each activity brings. Nothing quite matches how focused your life becomes as when trees are blurring by your peripheral vision at 75 miles an hour and you've just realized your bicycle's disc brakes have lost their grip and you don't have any way to stop.

Today marks the first day after the ending of a home stand and that can mean just one thing; it is time for the final installment of the State of the Home Stand Address. This has become a season long series where I attempt to look back over the previous home stand and identify things that went well, things that didn't go well, and things around the ballpark that may have changed. The home stand going from September 17 through September 23 marked the final home stand of the 2007 regular season. Hopefully there will be three more home stands this year as that would signify that the Arizona Diamondbacks have made the play-offs and advanced to the World Series. When (notice I didn't say "if") these occur I'll add an address entry for those too. For now though let's concentrate on the last two home series of the 2007 regular season.

It seems like only yesterday that I was eagerly awaiting delivery of our season tickets that would signify our troop readiness to PLAYCON 5. I remember fondly carefully opening that package and seeing the booklet that contained tickets for each home game of the 2007 season. I reverently turned each page admiring the artwork and tried to imagine what each game would be like. At that time September 23 seemed like an eternity away. So many things could occur over the course of 81 home games and I held in my hand the keys to those dreams. Each of those tickets was special and represented a chance to be a part of history. You never know what may occur when you enter through the turnstiles. This may be the night you witness a perfect game or an unassisted triple play. It may be a night where a rookie makes his big league debut or it may be a farewell game to a player you have followed his whole career. This ticket booklet held all the hopes and dreams of the 2007 baseball season that would play out at Chase Field and these 81 pieces of paper guaranteed I would be able to be a part of that.

Beginning in 1998 the Arizona Diamondbacks have always held a promotion during the final weekend series of the season. This promotion is called "Fandemonium!" and is an opportunity for the team to recognize the fans and thank them for their support. Unlike other promotional giveaways that are received as you walk into the gates, "Fandemonium!" is carried out throughout the game as a series of prizes that are rewarded to lucky fans sitting in seat locations that are randomly drawn. The operative phrase there was "lucky fans". That designation has somehow eluded me over the past 10 seasons. Not once during that time have I ever even been remotely close to winning one of these prizes. It has become a running joke in our family as everyone seems to find pleasure in rubbing in the fact that this is one aspect of my life with the Arizona Diamondbacks that hasn't had a happy ending.

Usually at this point of the year the mail man has overcome his fear of the crazed Diamondbacks fan that lives on his route. I am typically too busy calculating play-off "magic numbers" or developing a seat relocation strategy to be bothering postal workers. About the only time I get too out of hand is when my D-Backs Insider magazine is late arriving. I have this theory that my magazine is late because the guys at the post office are each reading it before they deliver it to me. Trina thinks I am turning into a conspiracy theorist. Personally I think Trina is in cahoots with the post office but that is just a theory. Anyway, my magazine had arrived on time this month so I was content leaving the mail man alone. That is until I got today's mail.

It seems like only a week ago that we were cheering at the thought of third baseman Chad Tracy returning from the disabled list. Tracy has been struggling for most of the season with a knee that has been giving him trouble. The thought was that a little bit of rest would help Chad to heal enough so that he could contribute. On paper that sounded great but in reality it didn't work out quite that well. The rest did not seem to help and Tracy found himself unable to accomplish the things he wanted to do. Additional tests were run and it became clear that surgery was probably the correct treatment for him to finally get better. So with only 9 games remaining and in the middle of a play-off run Chad Tracy's season was over.

After the 2006 season the Arizona Diamondbacks decided they needed to make some changes to their roster and in particular they needed to upgrade their starting pitching staff. Although the 2006 team had the National League Cy Young Award winner as its ace, there was not a lot of consistency after Brandon Webb. The bottom of the rotation was especially troublesome with the number 4 and number 5 starters both being extremely inconsistent. Juan Cruz and Claudio Vargas both gave a lot of effort but you never knew whether you were going to get 7 innings or 1 inning of work out of them. No, if the Diamondbacks were going to compete they were going to need to get a lot better results from their starting pitchers. The plan began to materialize in August when the Diamondbacks traded for workhorse Livan Hernandez. He was an innings killer which is exactly what Arizona needed. If they could get more innings out of their starting pitchers that should equate to less wear and tear on their bullpen which in turn should mean more consistency late in the game. Front line starting pitching does not grow on trees (at least I have never seen a starting pitching tree and no one at the nursery that I called had ever heard of one) so the Diamondbacks were going to need to wheel and deal in order to find someone who could fill this desperate need.

This is the time of year that I really have to be careful. With a one game lead in the National League West and a heart breaking defeat late in the game I have a tendency to overreact. One loss does not doom a season and a single failure on the mound by the bullpen does not mean that all hope is lost. It is not yet time to climb out on the ledge and threaten to jump if the team does not win a game. Unless of course you are Rally Sally then any day may be a good day to climb out on that ledge and take one giant step forward. Trust me, no one would stop you. Anyway after Monday's bitter defeat to the Giants I'll admit I had a lump in my stomach and not just because I tried the Keilbasa at Taste of the Majors (I don't necessarily recommend that particular delicacy). Even though the Diamondbacks had won 6 of their last 10 I wasn't exactly brimming with confidence at their chances of making the play-offs. And with rookie Micah Owings on the mound tonight that knot was getting bigger and bigger the closer it got to first pitch. Again, it is not that I don't have confidence in the Diamondbacks; it is just that... ok I guess it is that I don't have a lot of confidence. I'll admit I was scared to death of the game tonight.

One of the hidden benefits to having seats along the left field line is the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks play the San Francisco Giants 18 times during a season with 9 of those games being held at Chase Field. This gives the fans 162 innings to give Barry Bonds grief assuming he plays every game. This assumption has for the most part been false this season. It seems like every time the Giants come to town Barry seems to have some sort of issue that keeps him out of the line-up. Everyone keeps touting that steroids help you to heal faster. I think Barry must have gotten a bum deal (pun intended) on his batch because he's always hurt. The Giants were officially eliminated from play-off contention when they lost to the Diamondbacks last Wednesday. They were unofficially eliminated from the play-offs when they re-signed Barry Bonds at the winter meetings in Orlando last year. So with the play-offs out of reach for yet another season the question became; how committed would Barry Bonds be to playing out the rest of the season?

Going into this series with the Los Angeles Dodgers I had hoped that the Diamondbacks would take two out of three games at a minimum and hopefully sweep the Dodgers and put some space between them and their divisional rivals. Instead the Arizona Diamondbacks went into today's game in a must win situation to avoid being swept by the third place team in the division. In my mind the Diamondbacks had their best opportunity to win in the first two games. Doug Davis was in my mind our best chance of getting a win since he had dominated the Dodgers during his career. Likewise Livan Hernandez has had past success and has historically been a much stronger pitcher in the second half of the season. In both instances the Diamondbacks were turned back by timely hitting and strong pitching by the Dodgers. This left the fate of the series in the hands of Edgar Gonzalez the last remaining Gonzalez on the current active roster. I have to be honest I've had happier thoughts this season.

This week has been a blur. With the play-off push and the constant calculation of the magic number and the endless explanation to everyone around me of what the "magic number" is and how it is calculated and what makes it so magical; I just plain missed covering an epic event in the Arizona Diamondbacks 2007 season. No it is not that the Diamondbacks have the National League's best record since the all-star break. That is note worthy and makes a great back story but not necessarily something I want to write about. I'll probably change my mind and dedicate two whole weeks to discussing how the Diamondbacks went from an also-ran limping into the all-star break to a force to be reckoned with by season end. Who knows, maybe that will be the basis for a piece that describes when fortunes turned and led ultimately to a world championship against the hated Boston Red Sox (this is new for me. For years it was the hated New York Yankees but now that the Red Sox have won one work series in like 78 years they have become more obnoxious than the Yankees). Still, I'm not here to take on the Red Sox nation (yet). Instead I want to talk about Flipping Friday.

I rushed to the Internet and navigated my browser to Google. There I frantically entered the search terms "interplanetary, disaster, misalignment, impending doom". I half expected the number one result to come back with the address www.diamondbacks.com followed by a link to NASA that told of a rogue asteroid that is streaking towards the earth that would collide with the planet making us as extinct as the dinosaurs. There really was no other explanation for tonight's game. The gravitational pull of the earth had somehow become misaligned causing changes to the ocean tides and disrupting the magnetic poles of the planet. I appreciate that neither Bob Melvin nor Doug Davis wanted to use this as an excuse but the facts remained that there had to be some sort of outside force that had caused Davis to pitch the way he did in tonight's game.

The schedule noted a day off for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team desperately needs this day to help them to regroup and in many cases heal from the nagging injuries that occur over the course of 147 games. The team starts an important three game series with the surging Los Angeles Dodgers tomorrow which is all the more reason for them to kick back and relax for a day before getting back into the grind. It is a little bit different for a fan. With the exception of a few paper cuts from turning pages in the scorebook and trying to heal from when I got a piece of peanut shell in my eye I don't have a lot of injuries to show for this season. Oh sure there is the usual writer's cramp that occurs when there is an extended home stand with extra inning games but that is why we have Spring Training so we can get into shape for the long regular season. Since I don't have any injuries that would require me to rest I am left trying to find something to do with myself on a day where there is no Diamondbacks baseball. I briefly thought about watching the Dodgers and Padres game but I am not sure who I would root for and I have enough stress in my life without adding any more to my blood pressure.

Looking at the schedule I am sure the Diamondbacks had hoped that a three game series against the San Francisco Giants would be an opportunity to pencil in three victories and hopefully allow them to increase their lead in the National League Western Division standings. After the first game on Monday it looked like that hope may just be realized. The Diamondbacks took the first game 5-3 on a strong pitching performance by the bullpen after Livan Hernandez struggled early. Struggle in this case is a relative term since Livan gave up only 3 runs in 6 innings. The problem was that the Diamondbacks were facing Giant uber-phenom Todd Lincecum who has been trouble for Arizona this season. All of that was mute though with pinch hitter Jeff Salazar launched a Brian Hennessey pitch into the stands for a 3 run home run and the victory. This was a great start to the series and a definite momentum builder. That momentum somewhat faded in game 2 of the series when the Diamondbacks bats went silent in a 1-2 loss on a sacrifice fly by Giant Pedro Feliz in the eighth inning. It's funny how a series will ebb and flow like the tides of the ocean. Just when you think things are going your way and the waves of momentum are swinging your direction they come crashing down being carried out to sea. This made today's game extremely important and fortunately for the Diamondbacks they had their Giant killer on the mound.

It's hard to believe that it has been 6 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and hence 6 years since baseball suspended games for a brief period of time while the country mourned the loss of loved ones and devastation of property. For most of the country this seems like a distant memory but for those who lost someone or who lives in the area impacted by the attack there are still constant reminders of the horror of that day.

The recent home stand by the Arizona Diamondbacks was especially rewarding. Not only were there 6 exciting games to watch but the games were all meaningful having play-off implications. The first three game series was against National League Western Division rivals the San Diego Padres. The teams entered the series tied and after a couple of hard earned victories the Diamondbacks left the series with a one game lead in the west. After a well deserved off day the Diamondbacks started a three game series against the charging St. Louis Cardinals. I had expected at least a split and potentially for the Diamondbacks to lose that series but the team is now starting to hit their stride in yet another winning streak and swept the Cardinals and in the process extending their lead over the other teams in the NL West. Arizona now leaves on a six game road trip to the West Coast against divisional rivals San Francisco and Los Angeles. These next six games will be crucial to their play-off hopes. For now though let's concentrate on the past home stand with the latest state of the home stand address.

In a game earlier this week with the San Diego Padres; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Orlando Hudson raced around second base and headed for third. In a relatively close play O-Dog slid into the bag and was called safe. The Diamondbacks fans in attendance cheered at the aggressive base running. When Hudson got to his feet he called time out and walked around the base. I turned to Trina and commented that it appeared Orlando Hudson was hurt. He wasn't limping and stayed in the game but something about the way he got up from that play made me think something was not quite right. A couple of innings later Hudson was removed from the line-up. The game was going well for the Diamondbacks so it could have been a precautionary measure to give him some rest but again something didn't seem right. After the game manager Bob Melvin in his post-game press conference announced that Hudson had injured his thumb and would go in for tests to determine the extent of the injury. Diamondbacks fans everywhere held their collective breath wondering whether the injury was serious or not.

Since March when the promotion schedule was released for the Arizona Diamondbacks this has been one of those Sedona Red letter days that have been circled on the calendar. It is the fifth and final bobble head giveaway for the 2007 regular season. Like for the previous four bobble head days I had purchased extra tickets to allow more of the kids to attend the game. So how did this bobble head day compare to the others?

After surviving another never-ending day off where the Arizona Diamondbacks did not have a game (does Major League Baseball not understand how painful this is for the fans?) I was ready for another series to begin. This weekend the Arizona Diamondbacks host the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in a critical three-game series. The Cardinals have struggled this season battling injuries and tragedy but have come on lately to be competitive in the mediocre National League Central Division. This series therefore has play-off implications as the Diamondbacks continue to push for the NL West crown or at a minimum for a wild card berth. The Cardinals hopes for the post season hinge on putting together a series of wins to overtake the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. Even a month ago no one would have ever expected to use the words "Cardinals" and "play-offs" in the same sentence. It is yet another example of how quickly things can change in the standings and how closely teams are grouped in the divisions.

Since his selection during the 2005 amateur draft; Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton has been a marked man. Upon signing his first contract the expectations for Upton began. As the number one overall pick in the draft he may as well have been playing with a target around his neck. No matter where he went or what team he played on; he was the center of a lot of attention. That is a substantial amount of pressure to place on a kid who just months before was worrying whether he had gotten a passing grade on his high school math exam or who he would be taking to his Senior Prom. The pressure did not seem to affect him much though as he set about learning a new position and adjusting to wooden bats.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone.
"Did you buy something from the Arizona Diamondbacks?" Trina replied without even giving my hello a response.
"Who is this?" I asked. The silence on the other end made me realize that she might still be a little ticked off about yesterday and that I probably need to quit messing around. "No, I didn't order anything from the Diamondbacks that I can remember. Why do you ask?"
"A large envelope came for you today and the return address says it is from the Arizona Diamondbacks." Trina said. I racked my brain trying to remember if I had ordered anything lately from the team without Trina knowing about it.
"No, I don't think I ordered anything from the Diamondbacks." I replied. Not that I haven't ordered something from the team without Trina knowing it; I just didn't remember doing that this time.
"Can I open it?" Trina asked.
"No, it is a federal offense for you to open mail when it is not addressed to you." I answered. There are two things you don't mess with. You never open someone else's mail and you don't remove those tags off your mattress. Breaking either of these rules is sure to result in chaos and anarchy and I don't want to be blamed for that. Dejected Trina hung up the phone. I knew what would happen next. I would be getting calls every hour asking when I was going to be home and whether she could open the package. I've played this game before.

Sometimes I just have to wonder how in the world Trina and I ever got married in the first place. I am not questioning whether I love my wife; I am questioning whether she has lost her mind. We agree on certain things like Rally Sally being insane and that Derek Jeter may very well be the reincarnation of Satan but then there are other things where I just have no idea where she is coming from. Some of these differences are subtle like how we differ in shopping for gifts for each other. She seems to think there are places besides the Team Shop and I don't. There are also differences in our food tastes. I like the Italian Sausage with sauerkraut from Hungry Hill while she likes the Polish Sausage with grilled peppers, onions and sauerkraut. These are the kinds of things that you can deal with. After all, every marriage is made up of some compromise isn't it? But sometimes the differences between her and I are gaping holes which in one particular case seems to be wider and deeper than the Grand Canyon.

After a four game series in San Diego against the San Diego Padres where the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 3 of 4 and a three game home stand against the Colorado Rockies where the Diamondbacks lost 2 of 3 I was not exactly enthusiastic about the Padres coming to Chase Field for another three games. San Diego arrived in a virtual tie with the Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West. The teams seem to be going in opposite directions right now. San Diego is 9-4 in their last 13 games while Arizona is 5-8. That is not exactly the kind of momentum you are hoping for to begin the last series against your divisional rival. The pitching match-ups for this series are quite similar to those last week which didn't work out too well for the Diamondbacks either.

I feel like I write a lot about the Arizona Diamondbacks promotional schedule. With the exception of the bobble head dolls and the dreaded lunch box there were not many of the promotional items that I really cared about. That is not to say that I didn't like them; quite the contrary I think the Diamondbacks marketing department should be commended for the promotions they have had. What I meant was that I had not marked any of the promotional days as "must have". I'm not really sure what that means though because I am always at the game early to make sure I am included in the number of free gifts that are being handed out. In many cases I have been pleasantly surprised at the giveaway. Trina seems to be slightly less enthusiastic. As the season begins to wind down I am hearing more and more complaints from her about how our home is looking more and more like a Diamondbacks Team Shop. I took that as a compliment but she has assured me that it was not meant to be.

It seems like only yesterday that I was counting down the days to when the 2007 baseball season would begin. Now I find myself involved in another countdown. This time I am counting down the number of games remaining in the regular season. It's funny that for the first countdown I was eager with anticipation being able to hardly wait for baseball season to arrive. Now though I find my enthusiasm much lower as each game played means I am one step closer to the off-season where I have to try and survive without baseball to occupy my time. But this year is slightly different. Instead of just playing out the season the Arizona Diamondbacks have an opportunity to make the play-offs. That makes all the difference in the world.