azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Dan Zeiger, Tribune
Javier Vazquez was supposed to take the reins from Randy Johnson by pitching on opening day for the Diamondbacks. He ended up taking them from Casey Daigle.
After Monday’s 16-run deluge by the Chicago Cubs at Bank One Ballpark, Daigle relinquished the distinction of owning the worst-ever performance by a pitcher making his debut for Arizona.
That now belongs to Vazquez, a highly touted offseason addition who allowed 10 hits and seven earned runs in 1 2 /3 innings.
"I’m speechless," Vazquez said. "The stuff I had was good. Coming out of the bullpen, I felt great. It’s just . . . I don’t know."
Daigle was drilled a year ago this week by the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up 10 hits and eight runs, including five home runs, in 2 2 /3 innings at BOB. But he was a 23-year-old pitching in his first game above the Double-A level.
Vazquez is a seven-year veteran, an All-Star who will earn $33.5 million through the 2007 season. The right-hander was acquired in the trade that sent Johnson to the New York Yankees, and the D-Backs wasted little time in naming him their opening-day starter.
Much better was expected from Vazquez.
"It certainly wasn’t the way he wanted to start, but it happened," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "They nailed some good pitches and didn’t miss every pitch that he hung. It ended up being a bad outing."
It was the fifth time in his career that Vazquez was unable to get out of the second inning. The last time was on Aug. 31, 2004, when he gave up six runs in 1 1 /3 innings of a 22-0 Yankees loss to the Cleveland Indians.
That disaster in the Bronx was the low point of an dreadful second half of 2004 for Vazquez, when he was 4-5 with a 6.92 ERA. During the offseason and spring, Vazquez made mechanical adjustments and insisted that his probprocess of scoring two runs on four hits in the first inning, catcher Koyie Hill visited the mound.
"To Javy’s credit, he made a lot of good pitches," Hill said. "To the Cubs’ credit, they hit them. They came out aggressive, like we knew they would. I told him to keep doing what he’s doing, keep making pitches, and he’d get those ground balls."
In the second, though, the wound became a gaping one. With one out, Carlos Zambrano — the opposing pitcher — doubled, the first of five hits in a row. A double by first baseman Derrek Lee made the score 7-0 and chased Vazquez from the game to a chorus of boos from the BOB crowd.
Having made dubious franchise history, Vazquez has four days to make himself right.
"I don’t know, man," Vazquez said. "It was a tough day for the team. I’m disappointed in how I pitched."
.
But in his final Cactus League appearance, Vazquez allowed nine runs in five innings against the Chicago White Sox. On Monday, it was the North siders’ turn to tee off on him.
"They hit everything hard, man," Vazquez said. "When you are hitting 94 (mph) and have good off-speed pitches, it’s tough to figure out. I’m trying to figure out what happened."
Melvin said that Vazquez might have tipped pitches. The D-Backs will try to look for clues by studying video today.
"It crossed my mind a few times that (the Cubs’ hitters) looked like they knew what was coming," Melvin said.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39074
Javier Vazquez was supposed to take the reins from Randy Johnson by pitching on opening day for the Diamondbacks. He ended up taking them from Casey Daigle.
After Monday’s 16-run deluge by the Chicago Cubs at Bank One Ballpark, Daigle relinquished the distinction of owning the worst-ever performance by a pitcher making his debut for Arizona.
That now belongs to Vazquez, a highly touted offseason addition who allowed 10 hits and seven earned runs in 1 2 /3 innings.
"I’m speechless," Vazquez said. "The stuff I had was good. Coming out of the bullpen, I felt great. It’s just . . . I don’t know."
Daigle was drilled a year ago this week by the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up 10 hits and eight runs, including five home runs, in 2 2 /3 innings at BOB. But he was a 23-year-old pitching in his first game above the Double-A level.
Vazquez is a seven-year veteran, an All-Star who will earn $33.5 million through the 2007 season. The right-hander was acquired in the trade that sent Johnson to the New York Yankees, and the D-Backs wasted little time in naming him their opening-day starter.
Much better was expected from Vazquez.
"It certainly wasn’t the way he wanted to start, but it happened," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "They nailed some good pitches and didn’t miss every pitch that he hung. It ended up being a bad outing."
It was the fifth time in his career that Vazquez was unable to get out of the second inning. The last time was on Aug. 31, 2004, when he gave up six runs in 1 1 /3 innings of a 22-0 Yankees loss to the Cleveland Indians.
That disaster in the Bronx was the low point of an dreadful second half of 2004 for Vazquez, when he was 4-5 with a 6.92 ERA. During the offseason and spring, Vazquez made mechanical adjustments and insisted that his probprocess of scoring two runs on four hits in the first inning, catcher Koyie Hill visited the mound.
"To Javy’s credit, he made a lot of good pitches," Hill said. "To the Cubs’ credit, they hit them. They came out aggressive, like we knew they would. I told him to keep doing what he’s doing, keep making pitches, and he’d get those ground balls."
In the second, though, the wound became a gaping one. With one out, Carlos Zambrano — the opposing pitcher — doubled, the first of five hits in a row. A double by first baseman Derrek Lee made the score 7-0 and chased Vazquez from the game to a chorus of boos from the BOB crowd.
Having made dubious franchise history, Vazquez has four days to make himself right.
"I don’t know, man," Vazquez said. "It was a tough day for the team. I’m disappointed in how I pitched."
.
But in his final Cactus League appearance, Vazquez allowed nine runs in five innings against the Chicago White Sox. On Monday, it was the North siders’ turn to tee off on him.
"They hit everything hard, man," Vazquez said. "When you are hitting 94 (mph) and have good off-speed pitches, it’s tough to figure out. I’m trying to figure out what happened."
Melvin said that Vazquez might have tipped pitches. The D-Backs will try to look for clues by studying video today.
"It crossed my mind a few times that (the Cubs’ hitters) looked like they knew what was coming," Melvin said.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39074
