Baseball for the Thinking Fan

Login | Register | Feedback

btf_logo
You are here > Home > Baseball Newsstand > Baseball Primer Newsblog > Discussion
Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Pen fails, Cubs sweep D-Backs

The Diamondbacks bullpen handed over a late-inning lead for the second day in a row as the Chicago Cubs rallied for two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to complete a three-game sweep with a 6-4 win on Sunday at a cold and windy Wrigley Field.

Some regression to the mean was expected for this bullpen, but does it have to come all in one weekend? (AZ pen gave up 11 ER in the 3 game series)

shoewizard Posted: May 11, 2008 at 07:53 PM | 17 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralArizonaChi Cubs

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Page 1 of 1 pages
   1. NTNgod  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 08:38 PM (#2777242)
So who had the worse weekend - D'backs pen or the people behind Speed Racer (only $33m WORLDWIDE)?
   2. Barry`s_Lazy_Boy  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 08:42 PM (#2777253)
I'd rather it all implode in one series than many over the course of the season.
   3. Harveys Wallbangers  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 08:52 PM (#2777274)
than many over the course of the season.

Also known as a case of "Turnbownyosttogagneorama"
   4. shoewizard  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 09:09 PM (#2777311)
I'd rather it all implode in one series than many over the course of the season.


Well hopefully thats the case......just one bad weekend. Tough to tell.
   5. Gold Star 4 Robot Boy  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 09:26 PM (#2777345)
Also, very decent of the Dodgers to get swept themselves. Wouldn't want to unnecessarily scare a competitor. (rolls eyes)
   6. ValueArb  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 10:07 PM (#2777445)
At least the DBacks are watchable, unlike a movie that one critic compared to having needles stuck in his eyes;)
   7. Russlan wants Pedro to be a Met again  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM (#2777509)
The Diamondbacks are now 3-7 against in their last 10 games against the Mets, Phils, and Cubs. They had a pretty easy schedule in April and dominated but are struggling a bit now. I have a hard time grasping how good they are.
   8. Walks Clog Up the Bases  Posted: May 11, 2008 at 11:29 PM (#2777512)
I haven't kept pace with the team this year, but their 1-2 punch of Webb and Haren has to be one of the best in baseball, if not the top. With their crop of young hitters, you couldn't expect the poor offense trends from 2007 to carry over into 2008. That said, I'm not sure it's one of the best offenses in baseball, as they've been to this point. The tandem of Young, Jackson, Drew, and Upton is an offensive core I think a lot of teams would love to have, but aren't they lacking elsewhere?
   9. 1k5v3L, Useless  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 12:30 AM (#2777521)
but aren't they lacking elsewhere?
left #### field. also known as the #### bastard making 10 #### million dollars. no, i'm not bitter

coming into today, az's hitters ops+ for starters at each position

c, snyder, 120
1b, jackson, 147
2b, hudson, 103
ss, drew, 115
3b, reynolds, 92
rf, upton, 137
cf, young, 106
lf, byrnes, 70

the team has also gotten decent contribution from their bench; ops+ for reserves

of, salarar, 154
mi, ojeda, 144 (mostly subbing for hudson)
c, montero, 112

and then there were the remaining black holes
of, romero, 48 (10 at bats)
c, hammock, 39 (21 at bats)
mi, burke, 2 (51 at bats)

burke's ops+ is not a spelling error; his line is .137/.246/.137
   10. 1k5v3L, Useless  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 12:32 AM (#2777522)
The Diamondbacks are now 3-7 against in their last 10 games against the Mets, Phils, and Cubs.
the dbacks bullpen deserted them miserably in 4 of those 7 losses (1 to mets, 1 to phillies, 2 to cubs). with better luck and/or less suckitude, the dbacks could've been at least 5-5
   11. 1k5v3L, Useless  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 12:38 AM (#2777523)
mark reynolds's contact % this year is at 59%. there's no way in hell he'll ever amount to anything useful, as a baseball player or as a bat boy, with such a low contact %. he makes russ freakin' branyan look gwynnian out there.

unfortunately, i haven't seen any proof that reynolds can make adjustments to the steady diet of sliders he's been getting, so i am not at all optimistic about his chances to do anything meaningful at the plate any time soon.

luckily for him, burke sucks and blows, and tracy isn't anywhere close to coming back off the dl, so reynolds is safe for now. but i hope he's not investing in some expensive real estate in the valley, unless ebyrnes is paying
   12. Fred Garvin, Collateral Damage  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 01:00 AM (#2777526)
I haven't kept pace with the team this year, but their 1-2 punch of Webb and Haren has to be one of the best in baseball, if not the top.

One of the best, perhaps, but both the Reds (Volquez/Harang) and Angels (Saunders/Santana) have been better so far.
   13. shoewizard  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 01:05 AM (#2777527)
Can't really argue much with Volquez/Harang....although Saunders/Santanas somewhat debatable.

So far.

They've all been very good.

EDIT: Taking a closer look, I guess I'd have to agree with you on Saunders/Santana too.
Talk about season savers for the Angels.

Good stuff.
   14. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory)  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 08:51 AM (#2777595)
So who had the worse weekend - D'backs pen or the people behind Speed Racer (only $33m WORLDWIDE)?

If you go in with low expectations like I did, you can definitely enjoy "Speed Racer". That may not work as well with the AZ bullpen, though, so I'm going to go with the pen having a worse weekend. (Than mine.)
   15. SoSH U at work  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 09:00 AM (#2777602)
One of the best, perhaps, but both the Reds (Volquez/Harang) and Angels (Saunders/Santana) have been better so far.


Not quite the innings totals as the other three, but Lee and Carmona probably edge them all rate-wise.
   16. Mike Emeigh  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 09:13 AM (#2777608)
mark reynolds's contact % this year is at 59%. there's no way in hell he'll ever amount to anything useful, as a baseball player or as a bat boy, with such a low contact %.


Reynolds's problem, I think, is that he's *taking* too many pitches. I took a look at the pitch breakdown on Baseball-Reference and noted that (a) his called strike percentage this year is up significantly and (b) fully 1/3 of his strikeouts have been on called third strikes. It's counter-intuitive, I know, but perhaps Reynolds would benefit from attacking more often early in the count.

-- MWE
   17. Artie Ziff  Posted: May 12, 2008 at 09:22 AM (#2777615)
Dang, Larry Bowa Approves, the poor grammar gives me a headache! But you have a point when mentioning how bad their bullpen has been. I have to agree with Barry's Lazy Boy that it's better for Arizona fans to have a rotten series than have this spread over an entire month.
Page 1 of 1 pages

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

 

<< Back to main

Support BBTF

donate

Thanks to
aleskel
for his generous support.

My Bookmarks

You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.

Vivid Seats is a sports ticket broker, concert ticket broker and theater ticket broker offering the best baseball tickets like Yankees tickets, Cubs tickets, and Red Sox tickets, as well as Police reunion tour tickets and Jersey Boys tickets.

We have baseball tickets, the NFL schedule, college football tickets and Cowboys tickets. We have NBA tickets like Celtics tickets and Lakers tickets. Plus, buy concert tickets, Patriots tickets and Colts tickets. Also check out our MLB baseball schedule

Baseball Bats

JustGreatTickets.com provides the best value for Chicago Cubs Tickets, MLB tickets including Red Sox Tickets, Yankees Tickets, SF Giants Tickets, LA Dodgers Tickets, Cleveland Indians Tickets. Get the best concert tickets like Jonas Brothers tickets and more Chicago Tickets.

Concerts Theatre NFL Angels Dodgers MLB Celtics Theater NBA Tickets Venues NHL Lakers Tickets NFL Yankees NHL Phillies NBA Wicked Marlins MLB Concerts Cubs Mets Red Sox Wicked WWE Red Sox Mets Yankees Dodgers

Major League Baseball: All Star Game, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, LA Angels, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, and the Chicago Cubs.

Find terrific deals on Yankees tickets for the new home, Cubs tickets for classic Wrigley, or Red Sox tickets for Fenway with OnlineSeats. We have seats for every baseball game, including Dodgers tickets.

Page rendered in 0.6553 seconds
84 querie(s) executed