Posts Tagged ‘Arizona Diamondbacks’

How was your week

Posted: November 26, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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The Atlanta Braves added their third free agent of the off season as it’s being reported that they have a deal in place with utility man Sean Rodriguez on a 2-year $11 million dollar deal. Rodriguez will be entering his 10th season and he’s a career .234 hitter. Rodriguez posted career highs in games (140), home runs (18) and RBI’s (56) last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rodriguez is a true utility man as throughout his career he’s played every position except for catcher. Career Stats It appears as though Rodriguez will spend time at 2nd base, 3rd base and rightfield for the Braves, but as through his career can and may fill in at the other positions.

If you’re a Braves fan I’m interested to know what you think if this signing. This signing like the other two the Braves had made are just short term. It’s two years for Rodriguez, one year for R.A. Dickey with an option for a second year and then a year long deal for Bartolo Colon.It looks as though these guys are just place holders as there younger players try to get major league ready. I guess what I really want to know is do you feel these three signings will help the Braves improve from last seasons 68-93 record.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners made a trade this week and I have to tell you from the Mariners side of the deal I don’t understand it. The Diamondbacks acquired starting pitcher Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte while the Mariners received shortstop Jean Segura and two minor league prospects outfielder Mitch Haniger and left handed pitcher Zac Curtis.

Now Segura did lead the National League in hits with 203 and is an upgrade at shortstop over Marte, but adding Walker to the deal hurts a rotation that had it’s issue last season. Now I get it Walker had his issues last season and was even sent to Triple-A for a short stint, but he’s just 23 years old. Walker made 25 starts for the Mariners last season tied for second most on the team. Seattle had 13 different pitchers make starts for them during the 2016 season and losing a pitcher who had a rotation spot locked up can be tough to replace. Marte is also a young player (22 years old), but looked to be the Mariners shortstop for a long time. Segura fills that role, but how do the Mariners replace Walker. The free agent starting pitching market is down this season; so you have to think they have someone from there own system in mind or will they make another trade to get a starter.

Of course the Mariners got the word every team loves to hear in a deal back PROSPECTS!. Haniger split last season between Double and Triple-A and hit .321 with 25 home runs and 94 RBI’s combined. Haniger did play 34 games for Arizona last season and hit ..229. It was just 34 games, but you have to wonder if Haniger’s skills will translate to the major league level. Zac Curtis spent time at high Class-A and Double-A before the Diamondbacks called him up. Curtis pitched in 21 games for Arizona last season. Curtis was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and one blown save opportunity over 13 and 1/3rd innings. Curtis has pitched strictly in relief and maybe the Mariners are looking at him as a future closer. Curtis has 53 career saves in 59 chances in the minors.

Will Arizona make Marte the everyday shortstop or is he going to be added to there three man rotation at 2nd base/shortstop. Chris Owings and Nick Ahmed are the other two guys that rotate in these positions. Owings and Ahmed both missed time with injures last season and Owings spent some time in centerfield as well. Walker may have to win a spot in the Diamondbacks rotation. As it looks like there are six pitchers for five spots, but then again the Diamondbacks could go with a 6-man starting rotation.

I guess like all trades we’ll have to wait and see how this works out for both teams, but just looking at it I think Arizona got the better end of this trade on paper. Of course we all know they don’t play the games on paper.

The Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 117-104 last night. Now it looks like just your typical Western Conference NBA game, but the Rockets set an NBA record in this game by taking 50 3-point shots in the game. The Rockets made 21 of the 50 3-points shots they took in the game. Eric Gordon took the most 3-pointers going 4 for 12. Trevor Ariza and James Harden each took 11. Ariza made 6 and Harden made 3. Ryan Anderson took 7 making 3 while Patrick Beverly took 4 making 2. Sam Dekker took 3 making 1 and Corey Brewer took 2 3-pointers and made both of his.

While we’re talking about the 3-point shot the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team to make 20 3-point shots in back to back regular season games. The Cavaliers made 21 3-pointers in there Wednesday night win over the Portland Trail Blazers and then last night Cleveland made 20 3-pointers in there win against the Dallas Mavericks. The Cavaliers accomplished this feat in last season playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks. Now I’m sure you’re thinking that the Golden State Warriors have done this a number of times, but they’ve never done it in back to back games.

This leads me to part of the reason I don’t enjoy the NBA game. How many times in a game do you see a guy pass up a short jumper to kick it out to the 3-point line for that shot instead. The NBA seems to be a league where you either get a player driving to dunk the basketball or he throws it out to the 3-point line for that long jumper. While the dunks can be fun and exciting to watch, but players standing at the 3-point line waiting for the basketball to be passed to them isn’t great basketball to watch. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who enjoy this style of basketball, but I’m not one of them. From time to time I’ll see a play where a team has great ball movement and it ends with them finding the open man for a 3-point bucket. I’m fine with that, but there are just way too many times where it’s one guy handling the basketball and then just tossing it out to the 3-point line for the shot. You’ll have to let me know if I’m off base here. How do you feel about the state of the NBA game right now?

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Diamondbacks rattle the Great One

Posted: June 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, post season, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Diamondbacks/Cubs series wraps up with Patrick Corbin taking on Jake Arrieta looking for his 10th win of the season.  He starts off the first inning with a K followed up by a walk and then two more strike outs to end the inning.  Corbin would get the first two outs of the bottom half but then gives up a single passed shortstop to Kris Bryant who would advance to second when Jorge Soler gets hit by a pitch.  Javier Baez would ground out to end the inning.

The second inning, The Great One off his game gives up two singles to Chris Herrman and Chris Owings.  Yasmany Thomas would see the first pitch as a ball but then takes the next one to right center scoring both Chris’s making it a two RBI double.  Jake would settle down by striking out the next three batters to end the top half of the second.  Arizona 2-0.  With one out in the bottom half of the inning, Matt Szczur would send a line drive to left for a single but would be forced out when Miguel Montero sends a ground ball to Goldschmidt who throws it to short for the force.  With two outs, The Great One steps in the box and sends a double to center scoring Montero.  Fowler would end the inning with a ground out to third.  Cubs 1, Arizona 2.  The top of the third and Jake only strikes out two batters and gets the other to ground out.  Corbin would only have one K in the bottom half but it would be a 1-2-3 inning for him also.

Arreita would again strike out three batters to end the inning but not before giving up another single to Chris Owings.  Corbin repeats his third inning with one K and 1-2-3 inning.  The top of the fifth would see Jake giving up lead off single to his counter part Corbin, and then three straight singles to Michael Bourn, Phil Gosselin and Goldschmidt, which his would score an RBI.  He would get Jake Lamb to strike out for the second out of the inning.  Chris Herrmann would get his second single of the game but Phil would get caught in a run down for the third out.  Arizona 3, Cubs 1.  The bottom half, Montero would lead off with a single and then advance on Jake’s sac bunt but he wouldn’t cross home as Fowler and Zobrist would both ground out.

Trevor Cahill would enter the game in the top of the sixth and get the first two batters out, gives up a walk to Brandon Drury but ends the inning striking out Corbin.  Corbin stays in the game get the first two batters to ground out.  With two outs, Javier Baez would send one just over the right field basket for his fourth home run of the season.  Russell would ground out to end the inning.

Cahill still in the game strikes out the first two batters and then appears to strike out Goldscmidt on a check swing, but it turns out to be ball 4.  Joel Maddon walks out of the dug out and questions the call no before even making it to the field is ejected.  He “gets his money’s worth” making his case for a short delay.  Justin Grimm comes into the game getting Jake Lamb would ground out to end the inning.  Corbin still in the game, strikes out two and gets one batter to ground out.

Travis Wood comes into the 8th giving a lead off single to Hermann who advances on Ahmed’s sac bunt.  Wood gets Tomas to strike out then intentionally walks Drury.  Rickie Weeks, Jr, pinch hits for Corbin to pop out to end the inning.  Tyler Clippard enters the bottom half of the 8th getting Fowler to fly out to left.  Zobrist walks, but Bryant strikes out and Soler grounds out to end the inning.

Wood stays in for the ninth, striking out Michael Bourn to be replaced by Adam Warren.  Adam gets Gosselin to ground out but walks Goldshmidt.  He does end the inning by getting Jake Lamb to line out.  Brad Ziegler enters the game for the Dbacks getting the first two batters out.  Anthony Rizzo walks to breath some life into Wrigley.  With two outs and Rizzo on first Miguel Montero steps into the box and sends a soft grounder to Goldscmidt to end the inning.

Although the Cubs lost 3 to 2, Arreita strikes out 12 in 5 innings walking 1 but giving up an unusual 9 hits that would score the 3 runs.  The bullpen really kept things together with four innings giving up only 1 hit on 6 strike outs.  The Cubs embark on a 9 game road trip headed east, #LetsGoCubs.

@DanZeeeMan
The Podcast

Cubs round the Diamondbacks

Posted: June 4, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Game 2 of the the series with the Cubs taking on the Diamondbacks who would send Edwin Escobar to the rubber against Jason Hammel.  Hammel would start the game off getting the first two men out.  He would give up a two out walk to Paul Goldschmidt.  With Paul on first Jake Lamb with a 1-0 count, Jason tosses one up and Lamb sends one to right center for his 10th home run of the year.  Dbacks up 2-0.

Bottom of the first, Dexter Fowler takes Edwin to a full count and sends one deep to left field for his 7th home run of the season but that would be all for the Cubs after 1, it’s a 2-1 ball game.  Both men would calm down in the second not putting a base runner on.  In the top of the third, Hammel would give up a two out walk to Brandon Drury but that would be all the action.  Fowler would get a 2 out single but that would be all the action for the Cubs.  Jason continued to keep the Dbacks at bay.

Anthony Rizzo would get a 1 out single to left field, then Ben Zobrist would walk.  Jorge Soler sends a deep fly ball to left-center that bounces off the warning track and gets stuck in the ivy for a ground rule double giving him an RBI scoring Rizzo.  Arizona decides to intentionally walk David Ross to get to Jason Hammel.  Hammel would turn it against them by sending one right up the middle adding two more runs to the board.   After 3 and 2/3, Edwin would be pulled from the game for Randall Delgado who would end the inning striking out Fowler.  Hammel would continue to hold the Dbacks with out a base runner.  Delgado copies Hammel in the bottom half of the inning.  Hammel continues the same in the top of the 6th.  In the bottom half of the 6th, Delgado gets the first two batters out but gives up a single to Addison Russell but would get Ross to line out to center to end the inning.  Cubs up 4-2

Jason Hammel would continues into the 7th mowing down 12 consecutive batters.  Josh Collmenter enters the game for the Diamondbacks and would get all three batters out in a row.  Pedro Strop enters the game in the 8th inning for Jason Hammel and gives up a lead off home run to Yasmany Tomas but would get the next two batters out.  However, he would give up singles to Jean Segura and Brandon Drury.  This would prompt Maddon to bring in Trevor Cahill who would walk Goldscmidt only to get himself pulled from the game for Travis Wood who would get Rickie Weeks to line out to end the inning.  Cubs are still up 4-3.

The bottom half of the 8th inning would see Daniel Hudson enter the game for Arizona striking out Kris Bryant but would give up a solo home run to Anthony Rizzo, his 13th of the year.  Zobrist would walk and Javier Baez would reach first on a fielding error by shortstop Nick Ahmed but would get Russell and Ross to strike out to end the inning.

Hector Rondon enters the 9th with the save opportunity on the line.  He gets Wellington Castillo to fly out to right for the first out, then gets Chris Herrmann to fly out to left.  Yasmany would be the Dbacks last hope but would line out to Zobrist to end the game.

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast

Cubs rule the Diamondbacks

Posted: June 3, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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The Arizona Diamondbacks enter the friendly confines with sophomore Archie Bradley at the rubber taking on John Lackey who’s looking for his sixth win of the season.  Lackey would start the game off with a strikeout and knock out the rest of the batters to end the top of the first.  The young right hander strikes out Fowler & Heyward but gives up a two out double to Kris Bryant.  Bryant wouldn’t score as Rizzo grounds out to end the inning.  In the second, Lackey would give up a single to Wellington Castillo and would walk Chris Owings but gets the next two batters out to end the inning.  Zobrist leads off with a ground out.  Tommy La Stella sends a double to left but stays there as Miguel Montero walks.  Archie does strike out Baez & Lackey to end the inning.  Both men would have a perfect third inning. 

The top of the fourth would see Jake Lamb & Wellington but Chris Owings grounds into a inning ending double play.  Rizzo leads off the bottom half with a walk but Ben grounds into a 4-6-3 double play and La Stella strikes out to end the inning. 

The fifth would have both pitchers almost mirroring each other getting the first batter out and striking out the next two batters to end the inning. 

Lackey continues with a perfect sixth in the top half.  Archie strikes out Fowler but gives up a single to Heyward.  Then he strikes out Bryant but then gives up a two out double Rizzo, his 11th of the year scoring Jason.  The Diamondbacks intentionally walk Zobrist but strikes out La Stella again.  Cubs up 1-0

Lackey comes back out for the seventh getting the first two men out but walks Owings.  Yasmany Tomas singles giving Arizona some hope but Maddon brings in Adam Warren who ends the inning.  Jake Barrett replaces Bradley striking out the first two batters but walks Soler.  With two men out and a man on first, Fowler pops out to end the inning.  

Pedro Strop enters the eighth inning scoring a 1-2-3 inning.  Zac Curtis enters the game in replace of Barrett.  He gets Heyward to ground out but hits Bryant.  Rizzo singles but trying to make it a two bagger is tagged out.  Maddon challenges the tag but it’s upheld. Zobrist is intentionally put on.  Silvio Bracho comes in and gives up a huge two out double to Addison Russell putting the Cubs up by 3.  They decide to walk Montero.  Javier Baez is up with two outs and two men on and sends a sharp line drive to center scoring two more runs.  Tim Federowicz reaches on an error and Fowler is hit by a pitch but Heyward strikes out to end the eighth.  Cubs 6-0. 

Justin Grimm enters the top of the ninth giving up a leadoff double to Paul Goldschmidt.  But then shuts down any hope for the Dbacks by getting Lamb to ground out and striking out the next two batters to end the game.  

Lackey goes 5 2/3 innings striking out 9 walking 2 and giving up 5 hits.  Warren, Strop and Grimm finish the game giving up only one hit and striking out 3.  

@DanZeeeMan
The Podcast

Cubs heat up the desert!

Posted: April 8, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Cubs open a four game series in the valley of the sun with John Lackey getting the nod in game 3 of 162.  He doesn’t get off to the best start of the season or donning the Cubbie Blue with a first pitch leadoff home run to former Milwaukee Brewer Jean Segura.  He’s able to strikeout Nick Ahmed but walked Paul Goldschmidt and gave up a double to David Peralta.  It was Jake Lamb’s single to center that put them up 3-0.  In the bottom of the second, the Cubs would suffer their first injury with Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler colliding in center allowing Segura his second home run of the night but this one scored as inside the park.  In the third, he would find himself in trouble again, giving up a triple to Peralta that scores Goldschmidt.  Peralta would then score on a sac fly to left by Lamb.  Lackey would make it through the 4th, 5th & 6th with out anymore damage. He would end up with a W but also a 9.00.  My two biggest questions coming into this season were Lackey and the bullpen.  The seven-eight-nine, Pedro Strop, Travis Wood & Hector Rondon would combine for six strikeouts giving up no runs.  I think the biggest question mark will remain with Lackey, but maybe he just needs time to catch s groove.  

He did get his first win of the season but had huge help from his offense. Ruby De La Rosa would get out of the first but wouldn’t make it passed  4 innings giving up 6 hits and 6 earned runs.  First he hit Rizzo, gave up a double to Bryant, walked Kyle and with one out gives up a 2 RBI single to Addison Russell.  After the collision in center, Bryant would move to left and Tommy La Stella would take over at third.  

In the third Heyward would reach on a single to right and would end scoring due to Rizzo’s sharp ground ball to center putting Zobrist at third.  He would end up scoring after Bryant popped out to Wellington Castillo and a bad throw to second allowing Rizzo to move to third.  Russell would start off the fourth with a double to right and scored on a triple by Fowler to right.  Ruby would walk Heyward and that would be all she wrote.  Jake Barrett would replace him with no more luck.  Fowler would score on a wild pitch.  After walking Zobrist, Rizzo would triple bringing in two more runs.  Bryant would single to third and then try to advance on a throwing error by Yasmani Thomas.  He was called out at second but it was overturned with a challenge by Maddon.  Rizzo would score.  After 4 it was 9-6 Cubs!

Kyle Drabek would come into the game for Arizona in the 5th would get into a little trouble but was able to make it through 6 only to be pulled in the seventh after walking Russell and giving up a single to pinch hitter Matt Szczur. Fowler would lay down a bunt to score Matt but Andrew Chafin would make it through the 7th.  

Strop would replace Lackey in the seventh, putting Bryant back at third and benching La Stella, with Szczur staying in left.  Randall Delgado would make it through the eighth unscathed for the Diamondbacks but wouldn’t get so lucky in the ninth.  He would walk Fowler, give up a single to Heyward, Zobrist would smack an rbi double to set up Rizzo for a three-run homer to right field.  He was able to close out the ninth but not before giving up a single to Bryant.  The Cubs continue thier domination at the plate and go 3-0 on the season. 

Schwarber’s x-Ray’s would come back with a sprained ankle.  Just waiting to hear back on his MRI.  

@DanZeeeMan

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: December 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It’s tough for me to get to watch the Golden State Warriors with my work schedule unless they’re playing on the weekend. Luckily for me last night they had their game against the Indiana Pacers shown on NBA-TV; so I got to sit down and watch 3 quarters of the game. The Warriors actually struggled shooting the basketball early in the game before finding their shot and putting up a 44 point 1st quarter. Golden State had a 16 point lead after the 1st quarter 44-28. Golden State out scored Indiana 35-32 in the 2nd quarter for a 79-60 lead at halftime. Golden State came out after the half and added 9 points to their lead by out scoring the Pacers 32-23 in the 3rd quarter. Golden State had a 111-83 lead at the start of the 4th quarter and this is where I had to stop watching.  What I missed was the Pacers putting up a 40 point 4th quarter while Golden State only managed to score 20 points in the 4th quarter. While Indiana was able to take a big chunk out of the Warriors lead it was still an 8 point Golden State win 131-123 for their 23rd straight win to start the season.

Klay Thompson led Golden State in scoring with 39 points. Thompson went 13 of 21 from the field. Thompson picked up the bulk of his points from behind the 3-point line where he went 10 of 16 in the game. Stephen Curry had a double-double with 29 points and a team high 10 assists. Andrew Bogut also had a double-double for Golden State with 14 points and a team high 10 rebounds. Brandon Rush (13) and Festus Ezeli (12) also scored in double figures for Golden State. Golden State shot 44.4% from the 3-point line going 16-36.

Paul George led the Pacers in scoring with 33 points and also handed out a team high 6 assists. C.J. Miles added 24 points while George Hill and Chase Budinger (off the bench) scored 12 points apiece. Jordan Hill came off the Pacers bench to score 12 points while Solomon Hill grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Indiana. The Pacers also shot well from behind the 3-point line going 14 for 33 (42.4%) in the game.

Golden State is 5-0 on this road trip and 13-0 on the road which is a new record. They’re off until Friday when there road trip takes them to Boston to face the Celtics. They have a back to back over the weekend after Friday in Boston the warriors turn right around Saturday and face the Milwaukee Bucks to wrap up this road trip. Will one of these games see the end of the Golden State winning streak? Or will they return to California 25-0?

We’ve seen quite a bit of player movement during the baseball winter meetings in Nashville Tennessee and the meetings aren’t over. We’ve covered most of the teams moves on the Sports Time Radio podcast, but after we went of the air last night a couple of more deals where announced.

The Arizona Diamondbacks where finally able to work out a deal with the Atlanta Braves involving Shelby Miller. The Diamondbacks will send outfielder Ender Inciarte along with right handed pitcher Willie Blair and last years #1 overall pick shortstop Dansby Swanson to Atlanta. In return the Diamondbacks receive Miller and left handed pitcher Gabe Speier. The Braves where able to pick up and outfielder they seemed to have been looking for. They also got a couple of young prospects to work towards their goal of being a contending team when they open that new ballpark in 2017. The Diamondbacks add a young starter for their rotation that features the newly signed Zack Greinke and the returning Patrick Corbin. I’ve heard this question thrown out there a couple times after this deal was made so I’d like your answer. Are the Arizona Diamondbacks the best team in the National League West?

The other 2 deals made last night feature the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs turned out to be the surprise team in the Ben Zobrist free agent derby as he inked a 4 year $56 million dollar deal last night. Most if not all reports had the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and the Washington Nationals being the main team interested in Zobrist services. With the signing of Zobrist the Cubs made a corresponding move by trading Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for pitcher Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan. Looking at this deal it appears that the Yankees real got the better of it and you have to wonder if the Cubs just wanted to ship Castro anywhere once they signed Zobrist. Don’t forget that I actually predicted last year that Castro would end up with the Yankees. Does it count a year late? The Yankees get a 3-time All-Star and a career .281 hitter who seems to have found his position at 2nd base. In return the Cubs get a journeyman infielder (Ryan) who’s a career .234 hitter and the right handed throwing Warren who is 13-15 over his 3 seasons in the majors, but does have a very good ERA of 3.39. Will the Cubs try to force Warren into their rotation or did they give up a quality player for a middle reliever?

There are a couple of deals we may see get done today. The Seattle Mariners are trying to make another deal as reports are they are very close to working out a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers for left handed hitting 1st baseman Adam Lind. I’ve also seen multiple reports that the Chicago White Sox are having “serious” discussions with the Oakland A’s on 3rd baseman Brett Lawrie. Maybe one or both of these deals get done or possible we get a free agent signing or two.

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