Diamondbacks vs. Giants thread April 29 - May 1

[82CardsGrad]

A team built on "scratching and clawing" runs isn't going to score many. So by default you must rely in your pitching. Our SP although doing well are not exceptional at going deep into games so the BP must take on a lot of the load in that good pitching dept. as well. Since crap rolls down hill the fan base yells kill the BP for being less than perfect at their jobs. Somehow the offense gets a free pass because well, runs aren't important or something.

I haven't done the research to validate this, however, I have heard many "experts" claim that since MLB has taken a more aggressive posture regarding PED's, the trend has flipped from the league being an offensive minded league, to one of pitching and defense... Apparently, they claim that runs, hits, HR's etc are all down on average, as compared to the late 90's and early 2000's...
The sentiment suggests that MLB is now back to being a pitching dominated game, which places much greater emphasis on defense and the pen. Of course, in this context, from an offensive perspective, it becomes crucial to capitalize on the scoring chances you have (RISP), which of course, the Dbacks rank dead last in...

 

[Brian]

I would hope Goldy is really the last guy you're worried about and that Prado is a concern. Unless you accept paying $7M to a guy barely putting up a 600 OPS.

Prado is not a concern. He'll turn it around.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Hernandez blows the game and then calls out the fans,

Wow...I think twitter exists solely based on stupid crap famous people say.

 

[BC867]

I am surprised no one has mentioned the obvious. When 60-80% of your pitching staff goes bad, there are two constants.

--Either the pitching coach, Charles Nagy

--Or, if he is just an assistant to the manager making the pitching decisions, the manager Kirk Gibson.

I cannot see blaming this on the GM. Other than a couple of starters and a couple of relievers, the rest should not be performing as badly as they have been.

And I wonder if the weight of all of this is part of the hitting problem of the "captain" of the pitching staff on the field -- Miguel Montero.

I still feel that Josh Collmenter is our best candidate for closer. But these last two pages of posts mention his name only once.

 

[devilalum]

Wow...I think twitter exists solely based on stupid crap famous people say.

#assclowncloser

 

[AZ Native]

A team built on "scratching and clawing" runs isn't going to score many. So by default you must rely in your pitching. Our SP although doing well are not exceptional at going deep into games so the BP must take on a lot of the load in that good pitching dept. as well. Since crap rolls down hill the fan base yells kill the BP for being less than perfect at their jobs. Somehow the offense gets a free pass because well, runs aren't important or something.

I did not mean to rule out the home run, just supplementing them with the "scratch and claw" runs, which in turn should mean more runs scored. Sort of like a balanced offense.

 

[Avondale Red Rage]

So basically everyone sucks or is middling at best?

Yea, and its kind of cool that we're in every game and near the top of the division while we wait to get a 1/3 of our projected starting line up back on the field.

 

[BC867]

I did not mean to rule out the home run, just supplementing them with the "scratch and claw" runs, which in turn should mean more runs scored. Sort of like a balanced offense.

Swinging for home runs (putting the ball in the air) is one extreme. "Scratch and claw" (on the ground) is the other extreme. Neither is going to put you at the top of the National League.

What I would like to see is a steady diet of line drives into the gaps of right-center or left-center or down the 1B or 3B lines. My favorite home run is the one that reaches the seats in seconds rather than the one that goes high in the air.

If it doesn't reach the seats, the line drive doesn't give the fielder enough time to settle under it.

As they say, the best way to hit HR's is to not try.

 

[AZ Native]

What I'm trying to say is it's a combination of the two. It has served baseball very well for the 50 plus years I have been watching it. It is not reinventing the wheel. It goes like this, the leadoff runner gets on 1st (base hit or walk), steals 2nd, a single scores him. Now the number 2 hitter (who is also a threat to run) draws all the attention and you let the heart of the the lineup do their thing. The combination of some speed and some power is very effective. Line drives are great (look at the number of doubles Goldy gets). We'll take a home run (or more) but not at the expense of playing smart baseball. The combination of hit and runs, threat to steal and making solid contact is deadly. Eaton, Didi, Hill, Goldy, Montero, Kubel Parra and company can make this work. A little run support could make our pitchers that more effective.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

another tough loss. Here's an idea while the bullpen struggles - score more runs. In all reality, I'll take blame for this series as I got impatient and started the series thread. Back to you Coyoteshockeyfan....

Blast... I was really hoping somebody else would get hot.

 

[BC867]

What I'm trying to say is it's a combination of the two. It has served baseball very well for the 50 plus years I have been watching it. It is not reinventing the wheel. It goes like this, the leadoff runner gets on 1st (base hit or walk), steals 2nd, a single scores him. Now the number 2 hitter (who is also a threat to run) draws all the attention and you let the heart of the the lineup do their thing. The combination of some speed and some power is very effective. Line drives are great (look at the number of doubles Goldy gets). We'll take a home run (or more) but not at the expense of playing smart baseball. The combination of hit and runs, threat to steal and making solid contact is deadly. Eaton, Didi, Hill, Goldy, Montero, Kubel Parra and company can make this work. A little run support could make our pitchers that more effective.

 

[DWKB]

Yea, and its kind of cool that we're in every game and near the top of the division while we wait to get a 1/3 of our projected starting line up back on the field.

I could be wrong about it but I don't think outside of Hill we are missing much. Parra is replacing Eaton just fine. Didi doesn't have a history of offense.

What is cool is that we have only played one team with a record below .500 and that's the LAD who are only 1 game under. Meanwhile COL has played 12 games against teams under .500 and are 11-1 in them. They are only 6-10 against teams over .500.

 

[DWKB]

What I'm trying to say is it's a combination of the two. It has served baseball very well for the 50 plus years I have been watching it. It is not reinventing the wheel. It goes like this, the leadoff runner gets on 1st (base hit or walk), steals 2nd, a single scores him. Now the number 2 hitter (who is also a threat to run) draws all the attention and you let the heart of the the lineup do their thing. The combination of some speed and some power is very effective. Line drives are great (look at the number of doubles Goldy gets). We'll take a home run (or more) but not at the expense of playing smart baseball. The combination of hit and runs, threat to steal and making solid contact is deadly. Eaton, Didi, Hill, Goldy, Montero, Kubel Parra and company can make this work. A little run support could make our pitchers that more effective.

So it took 50 years of watching baseball to discover that being able to do everything well on offense is the best way to score runs?

Baseball is about choices because most teams don't do everything well. That's why it's up to the GM to find out how to mask the weaknesses. I'm saying ours didn't succeed in that based upon this teams design.

 

[82CardsGrad]

What is cool is that we have only played one team with a record below .500 and that's the LAD who are only 1 game under. Meanwhile COL has played 12 games against teams under .500 and are 11-1 in them. They are only 6-10 against teams over .500.

GREAT stat that bodes well for us in the months ahead!!

 

[82CardsGrad]

So it took 50 years of watching baseball to discover that being able to do everything well on offense is the best way to score runs?

Baseball is about choices because most teams don't do everything well. That's why it's up to the GM to find out how to mask the weaknesses. I'm saying ours didn't succeed in that based upon this teams design.

C'mon now... you can't make a statement like that without comparing what other GM's have done.
I'm not at all suggesting Towers is flawless... who is?
We're only a month into the season so it's just too early to make conclusive arguments on this matter... But, comparing the Dbacks to the rest of the league, how many other teams would you place above them in terms of how they dealt with "masking their weaknesses"??

 

[AZ Native]

So it took 50 years of watching baseball to discover that being able to do everything well on offense is the best way to score runs?

Baseball is about choices because most teams don't do everything well. That's why it's up to the GM to find out how to mask the weaknesses. I'm saying ours didn't succeed in that based upon this teams design.

OK, so I'm a slow learner. I don't think we will see this team's real design until we have Hill, Didi and Eaton in the line up. I can't guarantee that will help but I am sure looking forward to it to find out.