D’Backs blow it in the final frame
(AP Photo/Paul Connors)
The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped the rubber match of their three game series against the Mets, 5-2. This is the first time they have lost a series since the opening series against Cincinnati.
They really beat themselves in this one. Dan Haren matched up well with Johan Santana, yielding only 2 runs. But the D’Backs offense left its clutch hitting in the bat rack; the Snakes left 12 men on base compared to the Mets’ 6. Maybe if they got a few more in they could have withstood Conor Jackson’s 9th inning error. Reliever Chad Qualls got Carlos Delgado to hit a grounder but Jackson threw it into left field and instead of runners on first and third with one out, the Mets had runners on first and second with none out and a run scored. They got two more off Qualls that inning and then Billy Wagner slammed the door shut in the bottom of the ninth.
On the good side, Mark Reynolds hit an RBI single and Chris Snyder an RBI triple. But Snyder’s triple missed being a home run by inches and he was stranded at third.
Eric Byrnes continues to be a disaster, going 0-5 with three Ks. He’s swinging a the bad stuff, letting fast balls down the middle go by, and looking like a fool on change ups. (Stop guessing, Byrnesie, wait for something in your hitting zone, then swing at it). It’s depressing, really, and I wonder how long Bob Melvin can put up with this vacuum in the top third of his order that is Eric Byrnes of late.
On to deal with Philadelphia, as Max Scherzer makes his major league debut as a starter. An absolute fireballer versus the most potent offense in the league. Ought to be interesting. Crafty Jamie Moyer, who is old enough to be Scherzer’s father, starts for Philly.
BTW I am still waiting to hear from people who have an Eric Byrnes story to tell for that DVD set of the 2001 World Series. It is a very good set. C’mon folks, where are all the people who wave 22’s at Chase, or the people who used to sit behind the Eric Byrnes Fan Club sign in Oakland?
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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