June 4, 2010
On March 30th of this year the Arizona Diamondbacks said farewell to their Spring Training facility located in Tucson Arizona. Tucson Electric Park had been their home since 1998 when the team came into existence. In a well documented story, the city of Tucson saw Spring Training disappear from the local landscape after the Chicago White Sox left for McDowell Ranch two years ago.
The departure of the White Sox started a domino of events where the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks exercised clauses in their leases terminating them if fewer than three teams were located in Tucson.
Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Announce Spring Training Facility Name’ »
June 3, 2010
Last night I sat glued to the television like many baseball fans throughout the country. The MLB Network had just cut in to show the final inning of the Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Indians game. The game itself was relatively meaningless to the overall standings like most games played in early June of a 162-game schedule.
The interest in this game was the fact that Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was within three outs of a perfect game. Major League Baseball had already witnessed two perfect games this season and three over a one year time period. This had never happened in the history of baseball and the nation was about to see history made.
Continue reading ‘What is the Cost of Perfection?’ »
June 3, 2010
Today marks the Arizona Diamondbacks first off-day since they began the horrendous road trip going 0-9 through the National League West. While the players have the day off, team officials are far from idle. Beat writer Nick Piecoro had an opportunity to catch up with Diamondbacks Managing Partner Ken Kendrick to ask for his comments about the team’s performance. Kendrick’s unabridged comments can be found in their entirety on Piecoro’s blog.
Kendrick’s comments range from on-field performance to evaluating the organization as a whole. This insight helps fans gain a perspective of what may be going on behind the scenes to address the abysmal season the Diamondbacks have had so far.
Continue reading ‘Underachieving Diamondbacks Ripe for Change?’ »
June 2, 2010
Sigh, is it over yet? Nine games against their National League Western Division rivals. Before this road trip began it was seen as a way for the Arizona Diamondbacks to climb back into the divisional race. If they could somehow win each of these series they would gain six games on the teams immediately in front of them.
Even if the San Diego Padres remained red hot, taking six games in the win column would make a race out of it and let the other teams in the division know that the Diamondbacks were not just the National League West doormats. But just when it looked as though this team would emerge from the coma they have been playing in for the better part of two seasons, the team folded like a T-Shirt at the Gap.
Continue reading ‘Merciful End to Horrible Diamondbacks Road Trip’ »
June 1, 2010
In 2003 a rookie left-handed pitcher burst onto the scene and put together a season that would earn him Rookie of the Year honors. Dontrelle Willis started 27 games that season going 14-6 with a 3.30 ERA in 160.2 innings of work.
Diamondbacks will remember that as the year they were robbed. They had their own candidate for Rookie of the Year, one that would put up better numbers in nearly every category. Brandon Webb would make his Arizona debut and go 10-9 with a 2.84 ERA in 180.2 innings of work with 172 strikeouts.
Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Take the D-Train’ »
