Tuesday Night, Homerun Fight!

What a Slugfest tonight! The Dbacks had it all going tonight except of course for pitching. Of the Dbacks 13 home-runs this year 6 have been with two outs and only 5 have been solo shots. That is great clutch hitting.

Kurt Gibson showed the fire we need out of manager tonight as he was thrown out of the game for arguing a call with the home-plate umpire. The umpire called Montero out after a checked swing two innings in a row! Montero clearly did not swing and that's why Gibbie took one for the team and got thrown out instead of Montero. This confrontation will be great for the ball club.

The Dbacks just need to just trade for Lance Berkman somehow. He hit 3 home-runs in 3 at-bats between last night and tonight.

Justin Upton smashed a homer into the Fatburger restaurant! They measured it at around 480 feet!

The lineup tonight was exactly how I wanted to see it. Ryan Roberts at third and Willie Bloomquist in LF. Also Russell Branyan started at first and made a very agile play to his right to get an out. His defense is looking pretty good.

One of the best plays of the game was by a fan who almost caught a ball down the right field line. The key to this play was that neither Pujols or Berkman caught it!

My boy Ryan Roberts was clutch tonight with a 2-run double down the left field line. How many times do I need to say this...KEEP HIM IN THE LINEUP!

The bullpen once again has the worst ERA in the league and showed flashes of their dismal 2010 campaign. They have got to lock down and start throwing strikes. The walks are killing them. Thank God for David Hernandez. He seems to be the only one that doesn't want to have his ERA skyrocket. Lets make him our 8th inning guy?

Galarraga was not very consistent tonight but at least he got through 5 innings and only gave up 4 runs.

The defense and pitching was really able to lock-down at the end of the game to secure a win 13-8 for the Dbacks. Hopefully there will be many more of those in the future. Thanks for reading

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The Fall of King Albert? Gutierrez is terrible once again

Well I didn't get to see all the game today because my daughter had a softball game. Ironically her team is also the Dbacks and their bullpen is a little shaky.

I almost feel bad for Albert Pujols. He couldn't hit a watermelon if someone threw it over the plate! I know this probably wont last for long but could this be the end of a baseball great? Is the invincible King Albert finally starting to show that he is human after all? For baseball's sake I sure hope not. King Albert has more draw than almost any other player and he may be the last of a dying breed.

That dying breed is a classy player who can also perform. He has been so consistent over the decade that he has been in the league and there is never any drama that follows him. He truly loves the game and I believe he plays for the right reasons. Albert please start hitting the ball(preferably after this weeks series against the Diamondbacks). Thanks

Willie Bloomquist is a stud. Enough said.

Barry Enright did a decent job tonight. He wasn't too wild and he kept the damage to a minimum.

The Dbacks batters had 6 hits tonight through 7 innings! We could only score one run off of that!?! Kyle M. is a chump and not a great pitcher. We should have done a better job working him.

Melvin Mora finally had a decent game and got a couple hits. I still would have rather seen Ryan Roberts out there.

Why is Miranda playing first? He is hitting around .130 and his defense is good but not great. We might as well put someone with less defense but more bat in there.

Once again Juan Gutierrez is the worst bullpen pitcher in the league! We have to release him or waive him. What we should do is bring Tyler Skaggs or another left hander into the bullpen. Just having Joe Paterson as a lefty specialist is not enough. I think Tyler would be a great addition to the 'pen.

Well a disappointing loss especially when Ryan Roberts struck out. Those last 4 runs off of Gutierrez were very disheartening. Let't get it together and win tomorrow. Thanks for reading

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Dbacks win 10-8 over Reds

What a comeback! The Diamondbacks came back from a 5-0 deficit to win this game 10-8. Joe Saunders was roughed up and ended up having to leave early. Kam Mickolio was brilliant in my opinion and did a very good job keeping the damage minimal giving the Dbacks offense a chance to come back and put some runs on the board. And boy did they make a comeback!

Ryan Roberts with a 3-run blast to left field to take the lead! I just mentioned how much I like this guy in my last post and I am glad to see him come through in a clutch situation. More playing time and I think this guy will be valuable.

Later in the game Chris Young added to the lead with another 3-run homer in the 8th inning to put the home team up 10-7. Chris Young's defense was also superb as he made a brilliant catch in the ninth inning to save a couple of runs.

JJ Putz was able to punch out a pinch-hitter and Jay Bruce to earn himself a save. I like what I'm seeing out of Putz but I think he needs to throw more strikes and stop dancing around batters. Have confidence and go right at them!

The Dbacks are playing .500 ball right now at 4-4. I hope they can keep this up but I just don't see how the young pitching staff and solid play of some of these veterans can hold up. Willie Bloomquist is human...I think.

Saturday night loss to the Reds

What a waste of a great start for Daniel Hudson! He has a small hiccup in the first inning and gave up 2 runs. He settled down after that and ended up with a quality start and racked up 8 K's. Juan Gutierrez is terrible. No question about it. He has an ERA over 4.00 for his career and has many more losses than wins. We need to post a sign at the exit of the dugout that says "Keep the ball down, throw strikes". That's all it has to say! No free passes! We need to get rid of Gutierrez and bring up some minor leaguer who wants to throw strikes. There has to be someone in AA or AAA who can do it. Parker or Zavada would probably do great if given the chance. I know Zavada has had struggles but lets give him another shot. Parker would be lights out in the bullpen and it would give him a chance to get some major league time. I know they don't want to start the clock on him but we are going to have to do it some time.

The batting wasn't much better either. Actually the Dbacks did a great job of getting guys on base but just couldn't push those runs across the plate. Gibson said that Arroyo was sneaky and almost magic when they had runners in scoring position...no he wasn't!!! The problem was that every batter who stepped into the box with a RISP tried to crush the ball and do too much with it! All we needed was for someone to put the ball in play and at least give us a chance! Instead all we got was fly balls and strikeouts. The Dbacks had been playing some great small ball up until then and had really shown some fight. It seemed like they completely forgot how to push runs across the plate last night.

My final thought is the Dbacks need to release Juan Gutierrez. Or at least send him to the minors. He is can not be trusted with the baseball. How can we expect him to throw the ball over the plate when he can't even make the throw to first base? Get rid of him and call up someone else, anyone else. Thanks for reading

2011 Arizona Diamondbacks

Where do I even begin? How about we begin with 2011 spring training? Perfect. Sounds great. Even though the Dbacks had a terrible record in spring training, I was still very encouraged by the heart and fight they showed. Juan Miranda, Brandon Allen, and Russell Branyan put on a great show, each trying to earn the 1st baseman spot. Branyan was clearly the best hitter and Miranda the best fielder. Sorry Allen, this year may not be your breakout year after all (although I never thought it would be anyway). The left field and 3rd base battles were less entertaining but I do think the team is doing the right thing by basically having "platoons" out there. Xavier Nady has shown promise and I am all but fed up with Gerardo Parra. Any other team and he would probably be at the AA level. Having a good arm, average defense, and a little speed does not make up for his poor hitting, especially in key situations. Melvin Mora is a nice asset to  have at 3rd especially because of his clutch hitting. However, Ryan Roberts is a stud. He may not be the most toolsy player on the team but he makes up for it with "heart". What is "heart" you say? Well I can understand your confusion about this word if you have been watching the Dbacks for the last couple years. Let me expand on "heart" for a minute. This is what makes a player run to first as hard as he can even though he knows he will get thrown out. It makes a man slam his helmet and bat to ground when he strikes out, and makes a pitcher scream into his gloves when he records a K for the last out of an inning. "Heart" has been one of key things missing from the Dbacks for the last couple years. Which makes Gibson a godsend to our team. Manager Kurt Gibson has "heart". He did when he played and he does now as a manager. Ryan Roberts shows "heart" every game, every inning, and every at-bat. He runs hard and shows emotion not to mention he straight raked in Spring Training. He hit .519 and had over .600 OBP. I know, I know...it's only Spring Training. But isn't that where players go to prove themselves and earn playing time!?! I think he more than deserves a shot to play regularly between 3rd base and left field. The same goes for Willie Bloomquist. He plays hard and is a great example for our young players. Now on to pitching for a moment. The young starting rotation (with the exception of Saunders, sorry Joe) is very exciting! Possibly the most exciting part of the team. Kennedy is lockdown and Hudson has some nasty stuff that will strike out lots of batters. Barry Enright is a fighter and plays with that "heart" that was mentioned before. The bullpen looks revamped except for Juan Gutierrez. Why is he still on this team? He has never had an ERA below 4.06 and seems to blow a ton of games. He is the weak link that still remains. Other than him the bullpen has the chance to be quite good. Really it wouldn't take much to improve upon last years results. I had the privilege to see Jarrod Parker pitch this spring and he looked very good. I actually think he should have been the 5th starter. We have to give the kid a chance at some point! Why not now? Now for my amateur prediction for the Dbacks record at the end of the season.....75-87! In other words getting better but not quite there yet. Thanks for reading