azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Dan Zeiger, Tribune
The Diamondbacks’ drastically retooled lineup on Friday night flexed its muscle against the defending National League West champions, turning a three-run deficit into a threerun lead.
Then, a chance to make an early-season statement was buried under the rubble of one final comeback. Four runs in the ninth inning, the last two on a two-out, pinch-hit home run by Jose Valentin, lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-7 victory at Bank One Ballpark.
Closer Brandon Lyon was unable to make his pitches, and third baseman Troy Glaus — moments after putting Arizona in front with a three-run homer in the eighth — committed a crucial fielding error. Each run in the ninth was unearned.
"For the fan — especially a Dodger fan — it was a great baseball game," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "It was back and forth. We came back, but they came back just as hard as we did."
With one out and the DBacks leading 7-4, Lyon induced Antonio Perez’s ground ball to third.
"I was indecisive," Glaus said. "I wanted to backhand it, but decided to try and get in front of it, and by then, it was too late. I kicked it. That’s the only way to put it. I just flat kicked it."
Jason Phillips flied to left field for the second out, but Perez was balked to second base and scored on Ricky Ledee’s double. Ledee came in on a single by Cesar Izturis to cut the lead to a run, bringing Valentin to the plate.
Lyon quickly got ahead 0-and-2, but then threw a slider that got too much of the plate. Valentin lost it in the right-field seats.
"It obviously was not the location I wanted," Lyon said. "This was a tough loss for us because everyone battled so hard. . . . I didn’t make pitches I wanted to. I’ll just have to try and do better the next time out."
After a solid spring, Lyon was appointed the closer by Melvin and saved Arizona’s win against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.
"He wasn’t flustered (after the error)," Melvin said. "He gave up some hits. It‘s going to happen. He almost had a perfect spring and was good up to this point, but those are big league hitters in the other dugout, and they got some good swings on them."
Super closer Eric Gagne is on the disabled list with an elbow strain, so L.A. called on Yhency Brazoban to nail down the win. The right-hander tossed a perfect ninth for his first career save.
"It was a great baseball game," manager Jim Tracy said. "That was a great character builder, something that was indicative of how we played in the 2004 season — that you don’t beat the Dodgers until you record 27 outs."
L.A. built a 4-1 cushion in the sixth inning behind starting pitcher Elmer Dessens, who while with the D-Backs in 2003 and the first half of ’04 frustrated the team with his inconsistency and inability to work deep into games.
But Dessens was on track to win until Arizona center fielder Jose Cruz Jr. ripped a tying two-run homer off reliever Buddy Carlyle in the seventh. In the eighth, Tracy ordered an intentional walk of Luis Gonzalez to bring up Glaus with two on and one out.
Glaus hit submarining righthander Steve Schmoll’s 2-2 pitch into the left-field seats, giving the D-Backs the lead — but not for long.
"Both teams played hard and didn’t say die," Glaus said. "Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us. Every team is going to have games like that, but hopefully, we can keep them to a minimum."
Left-hander Shawn Estes, making his pitching debut for Arizona, cruised through the first five innings but allowed four runs in the sixth. He walked one and struck out three.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39299
The Diamondbacks’ drastically retooled lineup on Friday night flexed its muscle against the defending National League West champions, turning a three-run deficit into a threerun lead.
Then, a chance to make an early-season statement was buried under the rubble of one final comeback. Four runs in the ninth inning, the last two on a two-out, pinch-hit home run by Jose Valentin, lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-7 victory at Bank One Ballpark.
Closer Brandon Lyon was unable to make his pitches, and third baseman Troy Glaus — moments after putting Arizona in front with a three-run homer in the eighth — committed a crucial fielding error. Each run in the ninth was unearned.
"For the fan — especially a Dodger fan — it was a great baseball game," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "It was back and forth. We came back, but they came back just as hard as we did."
With one out and the DBacks leading 7-4, Lyon induced Antonio Perez’s ground ball to third.
"I was indecisive," Glaus said. "I wanted to backhand it, but decided to try and get in front of it, and by then, it was too late. I kicked it. That’s the only way to put it. I just flat kicked it."
Jason Phillips flied to left field for the second out, but Perez was balked to second base and scored on Ricky Ledee’s double. Ledee came in on a single by Cesar Izturis to cut the lead to a run, bringing Valentin to the plate.
Lyon quickly got ahead 0-and-2, but then threw a slider that got too much of the plate. Valentin lost it in the right-field seats.
"It obviously was not the location I wanted," Lyon said. "This was a tough loss for us because everyone battled so hard. . . . I didn’t make pitches I wanted to. I’ll just have to try and do better the next time out."
After a solid spring, Lyon was appointed the closer by Melvin and saved Arizona’s win against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.
"He wasn’t flustered (after the error)," Melvin said. "He gave up some hits. It‘s going to happen. He almost had a perfect spring and was good up to this point, but those are big league hitters in the other dugout, and they got some good swings on them."
Super closer Eric Gagne is on the disabled list with an elbow strain, so L.A. called on Yhency Brazoban to nail down the win. The right-hander tossed a perfect ninth for his first career save.
"It was a great baseball game," manager Jim Tracy said. "That was a great character builder, something that was indicative of how we played in the 2004 season — that you don’t beat the Dodgers until you record 27 outs."
L.A. built a 4-1 cushion in the sixth inning behind starting pitcher Elmer Dessens, who while with the D-Backs in 2003 and the first half of ’04 frustrated the team with his inconsistency and inability to work deep into games.
But Dessens was on track to win until Arizona center fielder Jose Cruz Jr. ripped a tying two-run homer off reliever Buddy Carlyle in the seventh. In the eighth, Tracy ordered an intentional walk of Luis Gonzalez to bring up Glaus with two on and one out.
Glaus hit submarining righthander Steve Schmoll’s 2-2 pitch into the left-field seats, giving the D-Backs the lead — but not for long.
"Both teams played hard and didn’t say die," Glaus said. "Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us. Every team is going to have games like that, but hopefully, we can keep them to a minimum."
Left-hander Shawn Estes, making his pitching debut for Arizona, cruised through the first five innings but allowed four runs in the sixth. He walked one and struck out three.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39299
