azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Javier Vazquez plans to huddle around the videotape machine today to see whether he might have been tipping his pitches to the Chicago hitters during Monday's 16-6 Opening Day loss to the Cubs.
Although it simply may have been a case of good hitters anticipating pitches in a certain zone and putting together good swings in tagging Vazquez for seven runs and 10 hits in the first two innings, the Diamondbacks right-hander wants to make sure he wasn't giving anything away for free.
"They hit everything hard, and when you're throwing 94 (mph) and you have good off-speed pitches, it's tough to figure out," Vazquez said. "I'm going to have to look at some tapes. . . . I'm speechless, man, because I had really good stuff today."
Manager Bob Melvin and catcher Koyie Hill said they were willing to consider the possibility that Vazquez may have somehow inadvertently signaled to the Cubs what pitches he was going to throw and when, but also wanted to reserve judgment until today.
"It's definitely something you've got to think about," Hill said.
Winging it
When Arizona's Jose Cruz Jr. hit a solo home run in the second inning over the left field wall, a bird inexplicably fell from the air and dropped near the feet of Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee.
There was some speculation that home run ball might have hit the bird in flight, but the Cubs weren't so sure.
"No way the ball hit it," Lee said. "The ball went off to the left. It was like the bird got scared. It heard the crowd go crazy and had a heart attack."
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster came out of the dugout to retrieve the bird, using Lee's glove to scoop it up, and a bird rescue unit was summoned from the clubhouse. Dempster said he thought the bird had a broken wing.
"I gave it some sunflower seeds and a comfy place to sit," Dempster said.
By the numbers
The Diamondbacks finished spring training leading the majors in hits (370), runs (213) and RBIs (208) and finished second to Oakland (139) in walks (116). How much stock does Melvin put in those numbers?
"If I put stock in that," he said, "then I'd have to look at the pitching numbers, too, and I wasn't really happy about those."
Arizona's 6.58 ERA was the highest in the majors and the staff allowed the most hits (393) and most runs (243), and tied with Kansas City for the most walks (124).
Spring fling
Third baseman Troy Glaus led the majors with 33 RBIs during the spring, and his .847 slugging percentage ranked fourth overall. "It's nice to come in and play well, but those numbers don't count," said Glaus, who signed a four-year, $46 million deal with Arizona after leaving the Angels as a free agent. "Everybody is going to have zeroes across the board to start the season. I definitely wouldn't mind putting those numbers in there if I had a bad month, though."
Short hop
Former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali sat behind the Arizona dugout and was treated to a standing ovation when he was introduced at the start of the game.
Staff writers Bob Young and Tim Tyers contributed to this report.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0405dbnb0405.html
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Javier Vazquez plans to huddle around the videotape machine today to see whether he might have been tipping his pitches to the Chicago hitters during Monday's 16-6 Opening Day loss to the Cubs.
Although it simply may have been a case of good hitters anticipating pitches in a certain zone and putting together good swings in tagging Vazquez for seven runs and 10 hits in the first two innings, the Diamondbacks right-hander wants to make sure he wasn't giving anything away for free.
"They hit everything hard, and when you're throwing 94 (mph) and you have good off-speed pitches, it's tough to figure out," Vazquez said. "I'm going to have to look at some tapes. . . . I'm speechless, man, because I had really good stuff today."
Manager Bob Melvin and catcher Koyie Hill said they were willing to consider the possibility that Vazquez may have somehow inadvertently signaled to the Cubs what pitches he was going to throw and when, but also wanted to reserve judgment until today.
"It's definitely something you've got to think about," Hill said.
Winging it
When Arizona's Jose Cruz Jr. hit a solo home run in the second inning over the left field wall, a bird inexplicably fell from the air and dropped near the feet of Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee.
There was some speculation that home run ball might have hit the bird in flight, but the Cubs weren't so sure.
"No way the ball hit it," Lee said. "The ball went off to the left. It was like the bird got scared. It heard the crowd go crazy and had a heart attack."
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster came out of the dugout to retrieve the bird, using Lee's glove to scoop it up, and a bird rescue unit was summoned from the clubhouse. Dempster said he thought the bird had a broken wing.
"I gave it some sunflower seeds and a comfy place to sit," Dempster said.
By the numbers
The Diamondbacks finished spring training leading the majors in hits (370), runs (213) and RBIs (208) and finished second to Oakland (139) in walks (116). How much stock does Melvin put in those numbers?
"If I put stock in that," he said, "then I'd have to look at the pitching numbers, too, and I wasn't really happy about those."
Arizona's 6.58 ERA was the highest in the majors and the staff allowed the most hits (393) and most runs (243), and tied with Kansas City for the most walks (124).
Spring fling
Third baseman Troy Glaus led the majors with 33 RBIs during the spring, and his .847 slugging percentage ranked fourth overall. "It's nice to come in and play well, but those numbers don't count," said Glaus, who signed a four-year, $46 million deal with Arizona after leaving the Angels as a free agent. "Everybody is going to have zeroes across the board to start the season. I definitely wouldn't mind putting those numbers in there if I had a bad month, though."
Short hop
Former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali sat behind the Arizona dugout and was treated to a standing ovation when he was introduced at the start of the game.
Staff writers Bob Young and Tim Tyers contributed to this report.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0405dbnb0405.html
