Breaking Away: Diamondbacks 10 - Padres 3
(AP Photo/Matt York)
It was one of those days where getting home from work meant I missed the middle of the game. (For those of you wondering why I just did not stay at work to watch the game after my shift ended: It’s gotten outrageously windy again and with my Byrnes jersey air-drying after this morning’s trip to the laundry, I was woefully under-dressed to risk being out after sunset. The sudden gales have caught a lot of people by surprise today).
It was 1-1 when I left the radio station. It was 3-3, as I got the computer going, and just in time, too. The Snakes made it 4-3 and it looked as if they would have to win a close one. It also looked as if Eric Byrnes’ hitting streak would end at 13 when he took a walk, his second of the game, in the bottom of the seventh. But as Daron Sutton suggested that this was the end of the streak, I thought, “not if the D’backs rally.”
The baseball gods were reading my mind. The Diamondbacks put up a six spot in the bottom of the eighth. Mark Reynolds drew a one-out walk. Justin Upton doubled him to third. Stephen Drew was intentionally walked to load the bases for Chris Snyder. For the second day in a row, that was a bad idea. Snyder hit a sac fly to left. Jeff Salazar came up to pinch-hit for Chad Qualls and drew a walk. Again the bases were loaded.
Then came the moment when the floodgates opened. Chris Young hit a grounder to short that Khalil Green let go through his legs; how many times do you figure on seeing that? Upton and Drew scored, Salazar went to second, and poor Khalil Green looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.
That brought up Byrnesie, who wasted no time by hacking at the first pitch, an 89 mph cutter down the middle, a little lower than he generally likes, but still a strike. He sent it to deep left center and brought Salazar and Young home. That was Byrnesie’s 9th double and the hitting streak is now at 14 games. I love doubles, especially in RBI situations, and would rather see Byrnesie get to second via a double than a stolen base. (Not that I mind stolen bases, and he got one earlier in the game as the back end of a double steal with Chris Young. But I am looking for a reversal of last year’s stats: 50 doubles and 30 bags).
Orlando Hudson singled Byrnesie home for the final run of the night.
Once again, the Diamondbacks exhibited great teamwork, up and down the line up. Byrnesie had a very good night, going 1-3 with 2 BBs, 2 RBI, 1 run and 1 stolen base. But Chris Young, Orlando Hudson, Mark Reynolds, Stephen Drew, Chris Snyder and starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez each had an RBI, and the two guys who didn’t have one, Conor Jackson and Justin Upton, scored, Upton twice.
It is this kind of play that has me thinking that the Diamondbacks CAN play .700-.750 baseball all year, because the load is not falling on the shoulders of one or two guys. And the offense is taking the pressure off the pitchers. They don’t have to try to pitch a shutout each time out, from fear that they won’t get run support. I believe that the Diamondbacks, now 13-4, should really have been 16-1. They have been dominated only once, by Cincinnati’s rookie sensation Johnny Cueto. They have to be careful not to beat themselves, because, with this “everybody into the pool” style of play, not too many other teams are going to beat them.
Juan Cruz got the win, Chad Qualls got the hold and Brandon Lyon pitched a clean 9th. Tomorrow, Randy Johnson tries again for a win. He left the mound in San Francisco leading, but the bullpen could not hold. That is what I mean by the team beating itself. I mean, the Giants? C’mon.
Ok, guys, finish what you started. Vanquish the Padres. Then put the exclamation point on the homestand by taking the last 2 from the Giants. Stack up those early intradivison wins for the long season ahead.
ByrnesBlogger1
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Posted by ByrnesBlogger1
Kellia Ramares is a freelance journalist, poet and baseball blogger from Oakland, CA. Kellia writes (and does some audio work) about baseball, especially the Arizona Diamondbacks, on her blog, Down The Left Field Line: Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes. (http://byrnesblog.azsportshub.com), under the name ByrnesBlogger1. She expects to expand her sports journalism from baseball fandom to stories on social issues in a sports context in a website she is building in the fourth quarter of 2007 to be an annex to the "Byrnesblog".
Contact: ByrnesBlogger1[at]azsportshub.com
http://byrnesblog.azsportshub.com
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