SB Nation Arizona - D-backs Magic Is Back; Down Six Battle Back To Beat Giants, 7-6

San Francisco's Buster Posey Has Long Day In The Field

2012-04-09T16:52:52Z

For the San Francisco Giants, catcher Buster Posey is arguably their most important player. He changes their lineup when he is in it and he manages a pitching staff that is very good. But coming back from his devastating ankle injury from last season when he was involved in a home plate collision, he is not all the way back, at least defensively, it seems.

Offensively, he is fine. He had two hits, including a two-run homer. He had four hits for the series.

But defensively, he had struggles, especially on Sunday.

He had four plays that were questionable. First, attempting to throw out Willie Bloomquist stealing, the throw went into center-field for an error. Had the throw been anywhere near on target, he would have gotten Bloomquist out.

On a pop foul, he gave up on the play when he was near the railing.

On a sacrifice bunt, he chose to throw it to third to get the lead runner, but Lyle Overbay slid in safely. In Posey's defense, while the decision was questionable, Overbay made a tremendous slide.

But the biggest play was the run that won the game for Arizona. With the bases loaded and a ground ball hit to third, the play went to the plate for the force and Posey made the catch, but his foot was a couple inches away from the plate. Error, run scores, D-backs take lead and ultimately win the game and sweep the Giants.

It is understandable that Posey might be squeamish at the plate with a runner sliding. However, it was one of several plays. It is going to take time, obviously, but it look like the Giants are going to have to bear with their start player making some mistakes out in the field for a bit.

This time, it was a fortunate thing for the D-backs.

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Fans Show Up In Large Numbers To Arizona Diamondbacks Opening Weekend

2012-04-09T15:00:51Z

Opening Weekend for major league baseball fans is quite a treat. When your team has the chance to be good, it is even batter. And when your team wins its first series, especially at home, the energy in the stadium is something else. For the Arizona Diamondbacks, the attendance was very good for the first homestand of the season.

The attendance for the first weekend was greater than it has been since 2003. The 49,130 that attended Opening Day was the fourth largest crowd ever at Chase Field. Saturday's and Sunday's games followed that up with 34,789 and 24,193 in attendance. The total was 108,112 for the weekend. In 2003, the attendance was 113,709.

On Opening Day, there were a couple of notable things with the attendance. First, the crowd was very red. The Giants draw a decent crowd here typically, but red was the color of choice on Friday.

Next, the excitement all weekend was palpable. A lot of that is because the games were great, and Phoenix crowds respond to that.

Perhaps the greatest step forward was something you would understand if you have been to games before. Often what causes the most crowd noise is nothing on the field, but rather the free T-shirts that get thrown around. On Friday, the game noise was far better than the T-shirt cheering.

There is still a ways to go for Chase Field to become one of the hardest places to play for opposing teams, but there was at least a start, a step in the right direction with Opening Weekend.

Diamondbacks Still Magical, Battle Back To Beat Giants, 7-6

2012-04-08T23:21:16Z

More: Easter Miracle Brings AZ Back From Dead

It's not clear if the Arizona Diamondbacks were feeling the effects of too much Easter candy or if there's some other attributable cause, but this team did not look ready to play. Fortunately, they woke up and showed up in the sixth inning to notch another come from behind win.

Down six runs they fought back to sweep the Giants with a 7-6 win. The magic is back. What a game. What a team.

"That one will make you smile," manager Kirk Gibson said with a smile after the game. "It really does. The guys battled. It was an interested game and we got the job done. We competed very well today."

It all started with starting pitcher Josh Collmenter, who looked good in the first inning but then gave up six runs over the next two before ending his day early with just three innings pitched.

In the field, the D-backs recorded a total of five errors, just one shy of a franchise record, with Parra, Montero, Bloomquist, Roberts and Hill getting in on the "fun".

Surprisingly, momentum in this game turned around in the field.

In the sixth inning after yet another error, Roberts made a great play on a ball hit by pitcher Matt Cain. Roberts was charging for the expected bunt when Cain pulled back and slashed the ball right at him. Ryan was able to snag the ball and get an out.

In the next half inning, the D-backs seemed fed up and woken up and put three runs on the board. Roberts went yard for a two-run home run which was followed by a solo shot from Lyle Overbay who made a couple of nice plays in the field.

Despite Roberts heroics, the star of the game, however, was reliever Wade Miley.

Miley came in for Collmenter in the fourth inning and pitched four frames without giving up a run. He allowed no hits and just two walks and overcame four errors to keep the D-backs in the game long enough for the batters to figure out Matt Cain.

"We just needed someone to stop the bleeding and Miley did a great job. We played horrible defense behind him but he was still able to keep his composure which shows a lot for him," Overbay said after the game.

Things got crazy in the D-backs seventh inning. Down 6-5, they put two across thanks to two walks and two errors.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford booted a bases-loaded ball from Montero that allowed Bloomquist to score from third. Chris Young followed that with a bouncer to third that Pablo Sandoval threw slightly off the plate, but it was Buster Posey who didn't stay on the dish and was charged an error, his second of the game.

We have to wonder if Posey is thinking about protecting his feet and ankles from the sliding runner. That miscue allowed Aaron Hill to score on the fielder's choice and the D-backs were ahead 7-6 after trailing 0-6 earlier in the day.

With David Hernandez and J.J. Putz unavailable after pitching the first two games, Gibby went to new-comer Craig Breslow in the eighth and young Bryan Shaw in the ninth. Breslow allowed a walk and then got a strike out and a double play. Shaw, a closer last season for AAA Reno before being called up, allowed two base runners before striking out Buster Posey with three pitches to get the win.

Shaw, looking more nervous facing his first large media crowd than he did on the mound against Cabrera, Sandoval and Posey, said he threw all cutters. "Obviously, it was real exciting, the first (save) of my professional career."

The D-backs bullpen, without Hernandez and Putz, allowed just one hit and no runs over six runs.

What a game. What a team.

The D-backs are off Monday and then head to San Diego for their first road series of the season.

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Diamondbacks Vs. Giants: Collmenter's Mechanics, Cahill's Fire and Easter Sweep Time

2012-04-08T18:50:56Z

Josh Collmenter will take the hill for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Easter Sunday as the home team looks to start their season with a sweep of the NL West rival San Francisco Giants. The task will be tall thanks to Giants starter, Matt Cain.

Cain was nails last season with a 2.88 ERA over 221 innings with an impressive WHIP of 1.083. The D-backs did well against him last summer though, recording 18 runs and 15 walks and hanging a 3.92 ERA on the Giants starter over six games. Of course, Matt did win four of those.

Josh Collmenter has struggled this spring (9.95 ERA) but he had a good final start and his skipper thinks they figured out the problem.

"His arm was just lower, lower angle. His head was separated from his arm and he wasn't really over the top of his legs and going down towards his target," Kirk Gibson said before the game.

Gibby put together some video clips and worked with Collmenter to correct the problem which came about in part from his throwing more curve balls. Throwing the breaking ball apparently threw off the release point of his fastball which takes away some of his deception.

Starting lineups

Diamondbacks:

Willie Bloomquist (SS)
Aaron Hill (2B)
Justin Upton (RF)
Miguel Montero (C)
Chris Young (CF)
Ryan Roberts (3B)
Lyle Overbay (1B)
Gerardo Parra (LF)
Josh Collmenter (RHP)

Giants:

Other Notes:

- Gibby is giving starts to Overbay and Parra and said he will look to get his other bench guys starts this week in San Diego. As we learned last year, he likes to use his players and keep them engaged and ready.

- With a day off Monday, the D-backs could skip a start for their fifth pitcher but won't. Gibby wants to give his top of the rotation guys an extra day of rest early in the season when their arms aren't stretched out and in mid-season form. He also does it for team chemistry and because he believes that, "everybody deserves a chance to fail."

- J.J. Putz and David Hernandez both pitched Friday and Saturday. Gibby wouldn't say if they were available today but he would obviously prefer not to have to use them. But with a day off on Monday, my bet is they go if needed.

- Gibby said that they are still learning about new pitcher, Trevor Cahill. He said that Cahill, despite coming across as a laid back guy, gets pretty hyped and has a tendency to overthrow. Gibby related that during Trevor's bullpen session on Saturday he was nails until Gibby stepped in and Cahill started to get a bit over anxious. The team will work on that with him and find ways to get him mentally ready to start games.

The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Arizona and there will be a bumping live game thread at AZ Snakepit.

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Crazy Statistical Projections After 2 Games For The Arizona Diamondbacks

2012-04-08T13:01:01Z

The Arizona Diamondbacks have done a great job so far in keeping the fans' excitement going by winning two close games to open the season against the San Francisco Giants. In doing so, there have been a few very good offensive numbers.

Something that is fun to do (for stat geeks) is project stats over an entire season. After two games, you can get some crazy projections. Let's take a look at some.

After two games, Chris Young has four RBI. That projects to 324 RBI over an entire season. After not homering in game two, his HR projection cut in half from 162 to 81. That's a huge drop on production.

Aaron Hill went from have a zero projection to being on pace for 162 HR and 243 RBI.

On the less positive note, Paul Goldschmidt just might be a bit like Mark Reynolds. With three strikeouts on two games, he is right now on pace to surpass Reynolds' records. Goldschmidt thus projects to 243 Ks, which blows by even Reynolds.

Realistic? Not at all. Fun? Certainly a little bit.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Beat San Francisco Giants, 5-4

2012-04-07T22:44:19Z

For the second game in as many days the Arizona Diamondbacks didn't waste any time putting numbers up on the board. Aaron Hill hit the club's third, first inning home run of the season and Chris Young doubled in Justin Upton to take a two-run lead.

The Giants battled back a few times over the course of the game but the D-backs never gave up the lead and won 5-4 for the second time.

Hill homered again in the second inning to build that lead to four but Dan Hudson wasn't quite in mid-season form as he gave up four runs of his own before leaving the game with a 5-4 lead in the seventh.

"He had great stuff. I just told myself to relax," Hill said.

The Giants did their damage in the fourth inning when big Pablo Sandoval crushed a ball to right that plated himself and Melky Cabrera. That shot cut the D-backs lead in half.

After another RBI double from Chris Young, the Giants used a pinch-hit, two-run homer from Brett Pill in the seventh to close the gap again.

We were left with a classic battle of the bullpens with the D-backs nursing a one-run lead for two and a third innings. Bryan Shaw did his job in the seventh and David Hernandez was lights out in the eighth. The Giants bullpen were just as good, holding the D-backs to just one run over four innings.

The game ended, as 45 others did last season, with a J.J. Putz ninth inning save.

Giant's starter Madison Bumgarner went just four innings, giving up four runs and two walks and those two home runs to the second baseman, Aaron Hill.

Daniel Hudson went 6.2 innings with five hits, four runs, four strikeouts and four walks. He also had two hits and scored a run.

"(Hudson) threw the ball fine. He threw his worst pitch of the game to Pill," Kirk Gibson said. "He gave us six and two-thirds innings. That's a great effort. Bryan Shaw came in and cleaned it up and David (Hernandez) and J.J. (Putz) threw the ball well today."

Josh Collmenter will face Matt Cain in the series finale on Sunday.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Vs. San Francisco Giants, Game 2 Lineups

2012-04-07T18:21:09Z

The Arizona Diamondback and San Francisco Giants play Game 2 of their season-opening series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. The game will will be broadcast on Fox TV with Dan Hudson facing off against Madison Bumgarner.

Manager Kirk Gibson, just two days into the 2012 season, shows no sign of changing his tendency to have a constantly shifting batting order. Chris Young batted second on opening day and will be in the five hole on Saturday. Here's the full lineup:

Ryan Roberts (3B)
Aaron Hill (2B)
Justin Upton (RF)
Miguel Montero (C)
Chris Young (CF)
Paul Goldschmidt (1B)
Jason Kubel (LF)
John McDonald ( LF)
Daniel Hudson (RHP)

Gibson explained that he wanted to have two right-handed hitters in his batting order to split his lefties Montero and Kubel. This way the Giants might have to use an additional pitcher out of their bullpen in a late game situation.

The Giants lineup is:

Angel Pagan (CF)
Melky Cabrera (RF)
Pablo Sandoval (3B)
Buster Posey (C)
Aubrey Huff (LF)
Brandon Belt (1B)
Ryan Theriot (2B)
Brandon Crawford (SS)
Madison Bumgarner (LHP)

Other Notes:

-- Takashi Saito coming along with his calf injury that landed him on the 15-day DL to start the season. The injury wasn't serious and he will throw flat ground Sunday.

-- Gibby wasn't going to say who he will use in the 7th inning with Saito out. He used Joe Paterson for one batter on Friday in the seventh and generally doesn't want to throw bullpen guys back to back if possible. But he will still go with David Hernandez and J.J. Putz in the 8th and 9th again if in the lead.

-- Gerardo Parra came in for Kubel on Friday and will continue to be used as a defensive replacement. Kubel had a quad injury in spring that's not 100% and Parra is a "defensive weapon", according to Gibby. Kubel is good with it.

- Gibby said that Chris Young is a warrior and an impact player who always has a great attitude. "He's an extremely confident young man."

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Kirk Gibson Still Humble, Always Confident

2012-04-07T18:01:32Z

If you ever get the chance to walk into Kirk Gibson's home, you won't see a case full of awards won over his long and illustrious career.

Gibby's 2011 MLB National League Manager of the Year plague presented before Friday's season opener is destined for storage and eventually will be sold to help fund his foundation just like his 1988 NL MVP Award.

Kirk Gibson during opening day ceremonies at Chase Field.Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

"I'm not a big displayer," Gibson said, "I'm not going to have my kids arguing over my stuff."

Gibby explained that he has a "screwed up mechanism" in his mind that prevents him from enjoying individual accolades.

"Those are team awards. I guess I'm pretty humble and shy about receiving individual awards to be honest with you...It's not uncomfortable, but I don't enjoy it. It's not my make up. If the whole team could have got an award, like a World Series trophy and some rings, that would have been fun, I would enjoy that."

Gibby quoted his former manager Sparky Anderson, "The players make the manager, it's never the other way around."

And while that might be true, there's also no denying that Gibson's defining personality traits are readily apparent and reflected his Diamondbacks team. Chief among them, humility and confidence with plenty of grit and determination.

If the 2012 Arizona Diamondbacks can continue to play in the image of their manager, they have a real chance of adding "Champion" to that list.

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