July 2008 Archives

July 31st 4 PM Eastern Time should come circled in red on every baseball fan's calendar; for Diamondbacks fans that would be Sedona Red. This is the day where every fan's hopes and dreams collide with the reality of what management thinks of their team's chances of reaching the post season. This is the "non-waiver trade deadline" in Major League Baseball. A lot of people simply refer to this as the trading deadline but that is not necessarily accurate. A team is capable of making a trade through the month of August; it is just much harder to do so. Let me try to explain it for those readers who may not understand the nuances that are Major League Baseball.

I am not sure the electrons even cooled from my post yesterday when I got a text message to go and check out Major League Baseball's web site. The late breaking story announced that Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira had been traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in exchange for Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman and pitching prospect Stephen Marek. Just like that the discussion we had yesterday regarding Chad Tracy potentially going to Atlanta alone with Micah Owings became academic.
Micah Owings was not completely out of the woods though. He was involved in a player transaction; it just happened to include a one-way plane ticket to Tucson. Owings was demoted to Triple-A to work on his command and pitch location. Hopefully he will be able to straighten out the problems he is having and will rejoin the team showing the form he had in April.
You would think that all of these moves and transactions would have been the big story for the day. Those stories would pale when compared to what would happen later.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", when Charles Dickens wrote that line in 1859 he probably had no inclination that he would be quoted in a baseball blog. Well that's probably a given since I am not sure Charles Dickens even a baseball fan and he definitely had no clue what a blog was. Still, there was never a more apropos quote to describe this time of the baseball season. We are now less than two days away from the non-waiver trading deadline and around baseball teams are trying to determine whether they are buyers or sellers and evaluating their team's assets to decide what they need in order to make a run for the 2008 post season. Some franchises view their chances as miniscule to make the play-offs and will be sellers trading away today's players in exchange for building blocks for a future contender. Others will see themselves as being very close needed just 1 or 2 pieces to get themselves over the bubble and make an appearance in October.

Yesterday's game against the San Francisco Giants was an interesting match-up. For the Giants you had Barry Zito who was the marquee pitcher from the free agent class two years ago. Much was made of Mr. Zito and how he would be the staff ace of whatever team he ended up going to. His agent was demanding massive amounts of money and years in order to sign him. At the time there were many Diamondbacks fans who were vocal with their opinions that Arizona should go after Barry Zito. Instead the Diamondbacks chose to go a different direction and traded for Doug Davis who was then with the Milwaukee Brewers. Fans were left scratching their heads. Members of the Diamondbacks front office I talked to went on and on how Davis' statistics were a mirror image of those of Zito and that the team was able to slide him into the rotation for a fraction of the cost that Zito was asking for. Turn ahead the clock to 2008 and let's look at their comparative stats.

This is always a great weekend to be a baseball fan. Not only are all the teams playing and games are going on at all hours of the day but there is also this little get together in New York that reminds us all of what these players and coaches are doing this for. No I am not talking about the Yankees and Red Sox series (which incidentally is being played in Boston not New York). No I am of course speaking of the events in Cooperstown. Today marks the induction ceremonies of the 2008 class to the Hall of Fame. This year there were several varied appointments to the Hall of Fame. From the most hated man in Brooklyn (who is also the most loved baseball man in Los Angeles) Walter O'Malley to Dave Niehaus as the Ford C. Frick Award winner to Larry Whiteside who was posthumously awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball writing to former commissioner Bowie Kuhn and manager Billy Southworth. The most emotional moment for me was the unveiling of the Buck O'Neill statue on Friday in front of the Hall of Fame entrance. Buck O'Neill was given the first lifetime achievement award that bears his name but the former Negro League player has yet to earn admittance based on his playing credentials which I still think is one of the greatest travesties in the game. For all that Buck O'Neill had done as a player he deserves to have his bust displayed in the player's wing of the hall like the other immortals of the game. Most of the focus of this weekend though was focused on the two recipients that were voted into the Hall of Fame.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are currently celebrating their tenth anniversary as a franchise. I know, I know, this is the 11th season they have played but no one would believe me. They kept saying 1998-2008 means 10 years. No one takes the time to stop and count. I am not here to debate whether that is right or wrong; I am just going to remind myself of the first rule of scuba diving, "1. Don't forget to breathe." As part of the celebration of baseball in the desert, Fox Sports Arizona is recognizing the 50 greatest moments in Arizona Diamondbacks history. Beginning with the July 19 game, the network began showing these moments as they make their way to the most memorable moment in team history.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have now left Chase Field and are heading to their charter flight to San Francisco where they begin a three game series against the Giants tonight. The team will be on the road for ten games as they make a west coast swing that will see them play the Giants then the San Diego Padres and finally a four game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium before returning to Phoenix the first week in August. With the Diamondbacks leaving town it can mean just one thing, it is time for another episode of the "State of the Home Stand Address" where I attempt to give a fan's perspective on the home series that just completed. This recap will cover the three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the three games with the Chicago Cubs. As always, the opinions expressed within this post and this blog are my own and in no way indicative of how others see the games or the series. So let's get started.

Major League Baseball has been moving more and more into the world of multimedia and interactive entertainment. They are no longer interested in just television and radio revenues. MLB has expanded into the ever burgeoning area of the Internet. They started off fairly modestly offering a web site for the league. Soon they brought each team's web site under central control managing each brand while allowing the teams to develop their own content. Now there is not just the written content that goes with a web site but it has also been augmented with audio and video providing a very robust user experience for the fan. MLB has concluded that multimedia is capable not only of capturing the interest of the diehard fan but also can be used to bring in the casual fan or even those who have no interest in the game happening between the foul lines. One of their more intriguing concepts is a program they call "The Dish". Before anyone thinks this is the latest program on The Food Network; let me explain. "The Dish" refers to home plate; plate=dish (cute huh? well my wife thought so).

Yesterday happened to be one of those days when just about a million different things occurred that could potentially be a blog entry. We had player transactions, an explosion by the opposing manager, injury news, strange and unusual game experiences, and of course the game. My head is swimming in the minutia and I'm not exactly sure which direction I should go. So rather than attempt to choose one single theme for this entry I decided to take the National Rifle Association approach and just shotgun blast everything in sight and hope that one of them was a good target, This of this as a smorgasbord of thoughts, some coherent and others that are just out there. I bring you the ramblings of the mind of a deranged Diamondbacks fan.

Yesterday I alluded to the fact that I thought perhaps the Diamondbacks fans may be outnumbered and overrun by Cubs fans. Today I am feeling a little bit like Nostradamus as that prediction was definitely true. When I arrived at Chase Field I was greeted by a sea of Cubbie blue sprinkled with the Sedona Red of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a really strange experience for me as I am a recovering Cubs fan myself. Throughout my childhood I grew up on Cubs baseball which probably explains a lot of my abnormal behavioral tendencies. I remember watching Ferguson Jenkins on the mound and lived for the sound of Harry Carey's voice. My first baseball game in person was a Cubs game and I'll never forget the sights and smells of Wrigley Field. But since the inception of the Arizona Diamondbacks I have learned the error of my ways. I stowed away my Cubs gear and adopted the D-Backs. So I was not necessarily as uncomfortable being surrounded by Cubs fans as I would have been if it were say the Yankees or the Mets.

When I was a kid we always looked forward to Friday nights especially if we happened to be going to a sleep over. On Friday night one of the local television stations (there were only 2 stations and those covered pretty much most of the south eastern portion of the state) had something they called Creature Features. This was a program where they would show classic science fiction and horror movies. Creature Features came on relatively late so that small children would be in bed and not subjected to nightmares after watching these films. One of the earliest movies I remember seeing on Creature Features was Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not the remakes but the classic 1956 version starring Kevin McCarthy, Carolyn Jones, and Dana Wynter. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it although it may leave you mentally scarred.

Sometimes the planets just seem to align against you and you can't seem to buy a break. This was especially the case for me and the Arizona Diamondbacks today. My dilemma and problems began Friday which coincidentally was also the first day that D-Backs also saw the weirdness begin. I had been on vacation and I wasn't exactly sure whether I was going to be able to attend this weekend's games. Well that's not entirely true, I was confident I would make it back but still you have to plan for contingencies. I had therefore arranged for replacement fans to be in my seats just in case I somehow wasn't in town. This of course leads to a small problem. When you get back into town, these replacement fans are sometimes less than willing to give back the tickets. I can't really blame them so I decided to make alternative arrangements and get extra tickets rather than ask. For Friday and Saturday this was not a problem. I was able to find appropriate seats and the replacement fans willingly traded with me so that I was sitting in my regular seats. For Sunday's game I went to the ticket booth fully expecting to do something similar and get a couple of extra lower deck seats. Much to my surprise I was told that the lower deck was completely sold out and there were very few seats available in the Diamond Level. This left me with the only option being the upper deck.

Before the season started the Arizona Diamondbacks announced their promotional schedule. This is always a big thing around our house as it usually determines which games each of my kids choose to attend. It never ceases to amaze me that free stuff given away at the gates will actually factor into whether you go to a baseball game or not. I just figured that you always go to the game and the free stuff was just a bonus. Looking around the stands though that is obviously not the case. On days of cool giveaways there are always larger crowds. There are times where the giveaways just jump off the page with all the subtlety of a Las Vegas neon sign. Bobble head dolls are one of those items that just demand you go to the game. Sometimes these great giveaways have a hidden cost that you don't realize until you get to the game. This was one of those nights.

Today marks the first day of the second half of the season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Technically it is not really the first game of the second half as the Diamondbacks have already played 95 games before tonight which is 14 more than half but the all-star break is what most people equate to the first and second half so we'll just go with that. The team was last at Chase Field on Sunday July 6 so it has been nearly 2 weeks since I have been to a baseball game. You may as well have cut off one of my legs and asked me to run a marathon it has been that painful. I am not well equipped to handle this kind of lay-off especially going cold turkey. The pharmaceutical industry really needs to put their heads together and come up with a patch to help those of us going through baseball withdrawals. To say I was excited for this game would have been an understatement. When the day started I was in Page Arizona travelling home from vacation. Considering that was roughly 5 hours away from Chase Field I was just a little stressed out. What if traffic was so bad that I couldn't make it? What if the game time was changed while I was in the car? What if a water main broke and flooded the field and I had the Diamondbacks beach towel in my car that could have saved the game? These were just some of the things racing through my mind. So while Trina and the kids wanted to sleep in and have a relaxing day on our last leg of our vacation journey. I wanted nothing to do with it. We were up by 5 AM and packed ready to leave. I waited impatiently at the McDonalds drive-thru window to pick up breakfast for the kids before driving like a madman towards Phoenix.

Today the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that they had completed a trade with the San Diego Padres that will bring first baseman Tony Clark back to Arizona in exchange for minor league pitcher Evan Scribner. This is an interesting transaction on many levels. Clark became a free agent after the 2007 season and all indications made it seem probable that he would resign with Arizona. Clark's agent though thought the Diamondbacks were undervaluing his client and suggested to Tony that he wait before signing. That wait ended up costing Clark as the Diamondbacks moved on and after the Jose Valverde trade that brought Chris Burke to the desert there was no room for Clark and the offer was rescinded. Subsequently Clark signed a one-year contract with NL West rival San Diego.

This is indeed one of the darkest days in baseball. Some of that may be attributed to the fact that the final all-star game ever to be played in Yankee Stadium saw a Boston Red Sox player standing on the field receiving the game's most valuable player award. Some of that may be attributed to the comments made by Bud Selig after the game where he publicly stated that this game would have gone on forever if necessary and that a tie would not have been an acceptable outcome. I wonder how well the Commissioner's words would echo today in Tampa Bay or Philadelphia if the game had gone 4 or 5 more innings and their teams best pitching chances for making the playoffs were used to the point past exhaustion or lost due to injury? Selig of course would say it was the managers' fault for not properly using their pitching staff or some such nonsense. He will also point to the fact that all the worrying was for naught since the game ended before any of these scenarios played out.

The Major League Baseball All-Star game has lost its luster. It is a game that faces a huge dilemma. It is an exhibition played in the middle of the season. The starters representing each league are chosen by the fans in what is basically a popularity contest. Spots are rewarded more by home town affiliation than actual merit. Rosters are further complicated by the rule that every franchise be represented so valuable roster spots are taken up by lesser players whose only criteria for selection was that they sucked less than any of their other teammates. Further stipulations are placed on each all-star manager by the clubs stating how they want their stars to be used for this more or less meaningless game. The fans just want to see their favorite players play together on the field and enjoy a celebration that marks the midpoint of the baseball season. Commissioner Bud Selig during his tenure saw interest and ratings deteriorating for this game especially after the debacle in 2002 when the game ended in a tie after both managers used all of their players. Selig irresponsibly decided that he winner of an exhibition game would determine home field advantage to the World Series.

Another popular All-Star festivity is the Home Run Derby. For whatever reason; fans are drawn to the long ball and will pack the stadium to see the most prolific hitters stand in the box and drive balls into the deepest confines of the stadium. The Home Run Derby is not open to everyone. A select few are invited to participate in this event. Leading up to the All-Star game it is hotly debated who should be in this contest and who should be passed over. Major League Baseball for the most part does a very good job in deciding who should be a part of this activity. MLB always tries to invite a member of the hosting team to participate to give the home fans someone to cheer for.

One of the more interesting activities during all-star festivities is the Futures Game. This is a contest that features the future stars we should expect to see in the major leagues. These are the best of the best that are currently in the minor leagues. For many of these kids it is the first time they are playing on the grand scale as professionals. They may have been starts on their high school or college teams but this is definitely different. The Futures Game is held at the same field as the Major League all-star game meaning that this year it will be at Yankee Stadium. This will be the only time most of these players will ever see the insides of the "House that Ruth Built" as the stadium will no longer be used after this season. That has very special meaning and has brought the excitement to an even greater level for the participants.

In his last start Randy Johnson looked like his vintage self from 2001. He dominated the San Diego Padres en route to his 289th career victory. In that start he was working the location of his pitches with pinpoint accuracy. His slider had a lot of bite and he was changing speeds on his fastball making it extremely difficult for hitters to adjust. This was substantially different than his previous several starts and I think baseball fans everywhere were wondering whether that game was a fluke or if it were a premonition of things to come. Tonight marked Randy's next start and I was keenly interested in seeing which Randy Johnson was going to show up.

"Over the course of the first half of the season the Arizona Diamondbacks have been relatively injury free." Even before the final words of that sentence left my mouth I knew I should never have said that. There are a few things that as a baseball player or fan you never mention. You don't talk about a no-hitter while it is going on; you never comment on how quickly a game is progressing; and you definitely don't talk about injuries. There is nothing that will jinx a team quicker than ignoring those three premises. So when I happened to mention the lack of injuries the Diamondbacks had gotten in the first part of the season I should have expected what would happen next.

This game looked like another one of those contests that will have you reaching for the Rogaine. After last night where the Diamondbacks were able to amass only 3 hits, tonight's game seemed to be following suit. Over the first 7 innings the Diamondbacks were only able to accumulate 6 hits. What was a little better than last night was at least those hits resulted in 2 runs giving the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. With Dan Haren on the mound that should be enough for a Diamondbacks victory. Well like so many times before the Diamondbacks have found new and interesting ways to prove me wrong.

The last time I checked the Washington Nationals were at the bottom of the Major League Baseball food chain. They were the owners of the worst record in baseball and were at or near the bottom of most of the major statistical categories that are tracked. If that is the case, can someone please explain to me how is it that the Arizona Diamondbacks who are currently in first place in the National League West can accumulate only 3 hits against this team and lose by the score of 5-0?

I have really hesitated to broach this subject but I decided that I just could not let it go without a few comments. A week ago during the second game of the Milwaukee series the Diamondbacks lost two important pieces to their line-up. The first was Eric Byrnes who during an attempted steal of third base re-injured his hamstring and news today was that Byrnes is likely lost for the season. Doctors have recommended surgery which will have a recovery time of 4-6 months. If Byrnes chooses not to have surgery his rehabilitation time is still listed in months rather than weeks. If that were the only injury the Diamondbacks suffered that night it would have been a huge blow but the Diamondbacks also lost starting catcher Chris Snyder when he took a foul tip during an at-bat.

At the conclusion of yesterday's game the Arizona Diamondbacks left Chase Field and began their last scheduled road trip to the east coast for the 2008 regular season. They will be visiting the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies. The road trip will end with the beginning of the all-star break followed by the first home stand of the second half when the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town. This means that the current home stand has been completed which means it is time for another rendition of the "State of the Home Stand Address" where I try to recap what was the most recent home stand at Chase Field. Just as a reminder, the viewpoints and opinions expressed within this post are my own and in no way are indicative of how others might view the team or Chase Field. This entry covers the four game series against the Milwaukee Brewers and the three game series against the San Diego Padres.

For many families, ours included, August marks the end of summer. Before long school bells will ring beckoning children to return to their education. This event of course is met with both elation and disdain depending on whether you are a parent or a child. So before the kids returned to the halls of higher learning it is time for that age old tradition of the family vacation.

As a kid growing up I played a lot of organized baseball. That may be the understatement of the year as I was constantly on one team or another playing ball. Like most places we had a tryout where all the kids would go through various drills of hitting, throwing, and fielding. On the sidelines would be all of the coaches from the league. They each had a clipboard where they marked and evaluated each kid's skills. Once the tryout was over the coaches would congregate and assess their team's needs. From there they would hold a draft and select players. Not everyone who tried out made the team. That was just a given. If you were fortunate enough to make the team you received a phone call from the coach and given instructions of when practice would be and what you needed to bring.

After yesterday's game it was hard to imagine anything coming close to the level of excitement we had already witnessed. The Diamondbacks hitters had somehow gotten confused and thought that yesterday was Independence Day and lit their own style of fireworks in the ninth inning. There was all kinds of buzz around about the Brewers game and how the Diamondbacks had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Today is game one against the visiting San Diego Padres. Everyone was looking forward to this game for a multitude of reasons.

It's Thursday, it's a home stand, which must mean that it is another afternoon game at Chase Field. I always knew that there were a lot of Midwestern fans that had relocated to the Phoenix area. This is evident by how quickly the Chicago Cubs sell out their Spring Training games. I think it's awesome that the Arizona Diamondbacks have picked up on this and are trying to make these fans feel like they are home by scheduling several of their games similarly to the start times at Wrigley Field. About all that is lacking are the ivy walls, the bleacher bums, Waveland Avenue, drunk Cubs fans, and Lake Michigan. Besides those few things it is exactly the same thing; well almost. Afternoon games in the summer are also "Camp Day" at Chase Field. I've mentioned this before but for those who are not aware, the Diamondbacks offer discounted tickets to children's summer camps to bring the kids to the stadium for a baseball game. You can always tell a "Camp Day" game. As you approach the stadium you will see a long line of school buses that are parked along 7th Street. This will be followed by what seems to be an endless single-file line of children all wearing identically colored shirts. The kids are for the most part very well behaved and all sit together in assigned sections. It's just great to see the stands a little fuller regardless of the ages of those sitting in the seats. They are also a little more vocal than the normal Phoenix baseball fan so that is a plus too. It's refreshing to hear the sounds of thousands of children all chanting in unison "Let's go Diamondbacks!"

Those who are regular readers of this blog know that for the most part my members of my family are Diamondbacks and baseball fans. Each of the kids have a keen interest in athletics, well all of them except Whitney. In the past Whitney has had little interest in baseball and even less in the Diamondbacks. I have long ago began calling her my book worm and she refers to me as her father the "sports fanatic". Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of Whitney's intellectual accomplishments. She has an outstanding future ahead of her and I am grateful that when report cards come home she is the one child I never have to worry about. Last night for some odd scheduling reason it was Whitney who went to the game with me.

It's time to stop living in the past. Being the 2007 National League Western Division champions no longer holds any bearing on what this team is capable of doing. Starting off the season 20-8 doesn't mean that the Diamondbacks are the team to beat or destined to make the play-offs or World Series. Likewise going 22-33 in May and June doesn't matter. As of right now Arizona is one game above .500 and in first place. It basically means that from this point forward the Diamondbacks have been given a gift of one more win than loss. It's only one game so it's not like we have to make a big deal about it. It's time to reset our expectations and look forward to what we have ahead of us for the next 79 games.