Diary of a Diehard

Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall has had a very busy month of September. While his team is trying to salvage a few wins in the last month of the season, Hall has been working to set a team in place that will lead the Diamondbacks back to the playoffs.

No, Hall is not out scouting new players for the Diamondbacks. Instead he is interviewing candidates to fill the General Manager’s position that has been vacant since the team fired Josh Byrnes earlier this season.

Continue reading ‘And Then There Were Two’ »

Despair and tragedy are usually just one or two relievers away when talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks. This fact was validated over the past road trip where the Diamondbacks went 2-8 getting swept by both the Colorado Rockies and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Watching your team go winless versus an opponent is never easy. It’s bad enough when that opponent is a divisional foe such as the Rockies but you can at least justify it by rationalizing that the Rockies are the hottest team in baseball.

Continue reading ‘The End Is Near’ »

In June 1995, two friends John Baur and Mark Summers were playing a racquetball game. One of them were hit with a ball and screamed in pain with an outburst of “Aaarrr!” that sounded very much like a pirate movie. The two men hatched an idea.

What if they could create a holiday where everyone talked like a pirate for one day? They chose September 19 as the date since it was Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday (how appropriate). International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) was born.

Continue reading ‘Arg, Matey! We Be Losin’ Again’ »

For the third consecutive game Diamondbacks right-handed pitcher Barry Enright struggled. In tonight’s game Enright lasted just over three innings. This is the second consecutive game where Enright lasted less than four innings.

The most recent three innings were enough to derail the rookie. Enright allowed just six hits. Unfortunately of those six, two were home runs. Add to this the four home runs Enright allowed during his previous start and there is plenty to be concerned about.

Continue reading ‘Enright Continues to Struggle’ »

The 2001 season will forever be on the minds of Arizona Diamondbacks fans. Bring up that year and fans will wax poetic about having a team of destiny. A team that would bring down the vaulted New York Yankees and give the desert its first world championship.

Discussions will center on luminaries such as Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and Luis Gonzalez. Fans will talk about a dominating pitching staff that would record 1,297 strikeouts including 372 by Johnson and 293 by Schilling.

Continue reading ‘Closing in on a Dubious Record’ »

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez had not won a game in nearly two months despite pitching better as of late. The reasons for the losses have been varied.

The beginning of August was especially brutal for the right-hander. As a fly ball pitcher Lopez has gotten into trouble this season giving up home run balls like trick-or-treat candy at Halloween.

Continue reading ‘Lopez Ends Winless Streak’ »

It used to be that Major League Baseball would quietly release their regular season schedule during the long off-season. While most of the country was buried under snow and baseball was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind, teams would post the schedule to their web sites.

Making matters worse, the schedules would be inconsistent. Teams would show the same opponent on the same day or both teams in a game would be listed as the home team. Part of the problem is that Major League Baseball goes through several iterations of schedule seemingly making changes almost daily.

Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Announce 2011 Schedule’ »

In what is likely the final September call-up the Arizona Diamondbacks purchased the contract of Konrad Schmidt from the Double-A Mobile BayBears. Schmidt who was with the Diamondbacks in Spring Training left a very favorable impression with the coaching staff.

Everyone was impressed with Schmidt’s poise behind the plate and how he handled the pitching staff. Add to this the fact that he posted good offensive numbers while with the BayBears and Schmidt earned a late season call.

Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Call Up Konrad Schmidt’ »

When the Arizona Diamondbacks signed starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez, they did so knowing that he was a fly ball pitcher. What they didn’t anticipate was that the fly balls he would give up would leave the yard so quickly or so often.

For most of the season Lopez would lead not only the team in home runs allowed but also he would be the leader of that category for all of Major League Baseball. When your offense ranks towards the bottom of runs scored that tends to be a problem.

Continue reading ‘Long Balls Doom D-Backs’ »