Diary of a Diehard

Before the season started I looked over the schedule and this was the stretch I was most worried about. Over the course of two weeks the Diamondbacks would face the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, and the Detroit Tigers. That is 17 games against teams who had been predicted to be strong play-off contenders when the season started. That is also a stretch of 17 games with only 1 off day early in the season. Who could have guessed that the Tigers and Mets would have struggled starting the year (you wouldn’t have guessed the Mets were struggling the way they played at Chase Field this month)? And who could have imagined how badly the Colorado Rockies would look after 5 weeks of the season? So after a brief three-game road trip to Chicago where the Diamondbacks were swept, what would be better than hosting the Colorado Rockies for three at Chase Field?

Continue reading ‘Rock-tober is Over’ »

Usually I balk at the thoughts of having a day without Diamondbacks baseball during the regular season. It is not that I don’t think the players deserve a day off; it is just that it is extremely painful not to have a Diamondbacks game to watch. I feel as though a piece of me is missing and I end up wandering around aimlessly as if I have nothing to do. Oh sure I could be updating Now Hitting and I could even use this time to rearrange the entries on Diary of a Diehard but it’s just not the same as going to a game. I guess the pain of a long off-season is just too difficult to be reminded of this early in the season. Today though was slightly different. I didn’t mind so much that the Diamondbacks had the day off.

Continue reading ‘Taking a Day Off’ »

It’s Mother’s Day! This realization struck me dead in the face along with the backside of Trina’s hand when I didn’t have an appropriate gift wrapped and sitting on the table when she got up. First off, I don’t know how many times I have to keep telling her; she is not my mother. Second, I didn’t forget it was Mother’s Day. I merely chose not to expose her to the unnecessary commercialization of such a revered holiday. I don’t know how many times we have had a similar discussion about Christmas and how the true meaning is lost. I figured she would appreciate me taking her side when it came to Mother’s Day. Um, yeah I guess I figured wrong. I therefore had very little time to react if I was going to somehow escape unscathed from this dilemma. Luckily for me Dakota was sick today so someone needed to stay home with him. By luckily I don’t mean “great news my kid is sick!” It’s more like “great news, a kid throwing up in the bathroom just bought me an hour to figure out what I am going to do about a Mother’s Day gift!” I had 60 minutes to come up with something and from the looks of Trina’s reaction it better be good.

Continue reading ‘A Mother of an Idea’ »

When the Arizona Diamondbacks are on the road I feel kind of like a kid who lost his best friend. I wander around a lot and don’t exactly know what to do with myself. It seems so foreign to watch a game on television. I never know exactly how to act. I try sitting in my Chase Field seats with my seat cushion thinking maybe it will make me feel like I am at the game but it never seems to work out. Maybe it’s because Trina keeps yelling at me every time I throw peanut shells on her floor. I keep telling her that she doesn’t have to worry because there are people who come in after every game and hose things down before the gates open for the next game. She insists that a) people do not come in and clean our house and b) there are no gates to open. Oh and please quit asking to see people’s tickets every time someone rings our door bell. The neighbors are starting to question what is wrong with me. So I am forced to sit on the couch and watch a game without peanuts or a stadium. How do people do that?

Continue reading ‘Another Letter from Home’ »

Welcome to the latest edition of my State of the Home Stand where I look back over the just concluded home series to provide my feedback of how things went. I try to include items on the field as well as around the stadium. If possible I try to identify anything new that may be around Chase Field and give fans some tips of things to look for during their next visit to the stadium. So without further adieu let’s look back at the home stand that began April 28 and lasted through May 8. This home stand is the longest stretch of home games the Diamondbacks have all season so fans had a lot of baseball in town.

Continue reading ‘The State of the Home Stand Address – April 28 – May 8’ »

I kept looking at the calendar today to see if I had somehow done a Rip Van Winkle and overslept a day. I have no other explanation for the sheer number of afternoon games that the Diamondbacks are playing this season. For the second time in the home stand the Arizona Diamondbacks game starts in the early afternoon. This time is a real getaway day not like against the Astros when the next day was an off day for both Arizona and Houston. No, after the game today the Diamondbacks will travel to Chicago to take on the Cubs tomorrow afternoon; how appropriate. But before we get ahead of ourselves looking forward to the Cubs series, there is still the little matter of the final game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Continue reading ‘Farewell Phillies’ »

I have been an Arizona Diamondbacks Season Ticket Holder for the majority of the Diamondbacks existence. I was there the no-hitter by Jose Jimenez in 1999 and I saw the bloop hit by Luis Gonzalez to win the 2001 World Series. I endured the 2004 season; all 111 losses. And I was there last season as the Diamondbacks won their fourth National League Western Division title returning to the post season. Over the course of 81 home games each season I have pretty much witnessed just about everything that a fan could possibly see at a baseball game. So you would think that there wouldn’t be much that would surprise me. But there you would be wrong; I find myself experiencing something completely new and different at every game. Most of the time the game experience is relatively normal but the last couple of games have even left me scratching my head wondering what is going on with Major League Baseball fans.

Continue reading ‘When the Fit Hits the Fan’ »

After a rough outing against the Houston Astros, everyone was wondering how Randy Johnson would respond. Was the 6 runs in two innings an aberration or is this what they could expect from a 44 year old pitcher coming off yet another back surgery. Around the ballpark I heard countless comments of how the Big Unit was not the pitcher he once was and that he should just hang it up. I think they are underestimating how much Johnson has left in the tank or what he can contribute to the team. Personally I would much rather have a Randy Johnson at this point in his career over say an Edgar Gonzalez at this point in his career. Oh sure we may never see another 99 mile per hour fastball leave Johnson’s hand but he is still capable of getting big league hitters out and making them look badly in the process.

Continue reading ‘Countdown Goes to Fourteen’ »

What a heart breaking loss at yesterday’s game. It was such an awesome game and completely lived up to the billing of a pitcher’s duel. Dan Haren continues to prove why the Diamondbacks had targeted him as an acquisition last off-season. Likewise on the other side it was clear why it was so important for the Mets to go out and get Johan Santana. Augie Ojeda continued his dominance at the plate filling in admirably for Stephen Drew who was given the day off against the left-handed Santana. When the starters left the game it was a low scoring event with the Mets up 2-1. Although Haren had given up 2 runs he had allowed only 3 hits while striking out 7. That was definitely a quality start and no one could have expected much more. When the Diamondbacks tied the game in the seventh inning it looked for sure like this was going to be an extra inning game. But the wheels seemed to fall off in the ninth inning when a Conor Jackson error allowed the go ahead run to score and ultimately two more would cross the plate making it a 3-run loss. It was pretty hard to deal with losing like that.

Continue reading ‘Cinco the Boat’ »