when will the 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks come back to earth?

I think they're gonna rule the West from start to finish, and probably lose in the playoffs to a team from the East.

Who'd they go 1-2 against in the Central? (Plz say Pittsburgh.)

can someone link me to something intelligent that talks abt AZ DBAK homegrown talent phenomena --ie. drafting, scouting, grooming, etc...did they bring over every player evaluator from the expos back in the day or wtf??

Interesting question although I suspect that they don't do anything different than most other teams that draft well (i.e. spend money on scouts and picks i.e. NOT the Pirates.) Getting the #1 pick when there is a once in a decade star (see Griffey, Rodriguez, Upton) tends to make your organization look brilliant esp. if you surround it with a lot of other solid talent, but I doubt they do anything significantly different than the Dodgers, for example (who've probably had similar draft positions.)

Johnny crunch: http://diamondbacksbullpen.org/

huh not really what i wanted per se but linked from that, their dir of player dev has a blog:

http://dbackspd.mlblogs.com/

That's not really very informative, but I wouldn't expect him to give away trade secrets or anything. Even that book on the Braves' player development is hardly revelatory apparently.

idk i just have some weird affinity for this franchise ive decided

part of it is cuz of this show that apparently only i saw

under the radar prospect, two differently colored eyes...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/01/sports/draft190.jpg

freakout!

What is its name?

max scherzer

Oh that's perfect, he's a pitcher.

He has the gaze of a cockatrice. Should make for some good stare-ins.

He has the gaze of a cockatrice.

:o :D

\(*_o)xxxxxx(つ3) ~~~~~~ O

Did you just get me pregnant?

Wasn't me!
It's supposed to be a pitcher with 2 different eyes.

\(•_º)/

Max Scherzer got called up. Sitting in the pen at Petco.

NOT looking fwd to Mets facing Owings, Webb, Haren next weekend, tho at least two of em are mortal.

SAN DIEGO -- Max Scherzer was preparing to head out to the seats to chart Triple-A Tucson's game Saturday in preparation for his start the following night when he heard that he was headed instead to the big leagues.

"It definitely caught me by surprise," said Scherzer, who caught an early flight and arrived in San Diego at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Love call-up stories.

Crystal Gayle could be part of a Scherzer joke.

(Not a very good one.)

Crystal Gayle could be part of a very good joke if Crystal Gayle happened to be violated in a particular place.

N/M

I hear he has a ch-ch-ch-changeup.

um...

M. Scherzer 4.1 0 0 0 0 7 0 0.00

NOT looking fwd to Mets facing Owings, Webb, Haren next weekend, tho at least two of em are mortal.

-- Dr Morbius, Monday, April 28, 2008 6:38 AM (Yesterday)

define mortal.

Max Scherzer petrified 13 straight batters with his deadly gaze!

Difficulty: 8
Attacks: Pitch 1d3, Petrification

--You behold Max Scherzer . . .
--You are terrified by his 2-color eyes, and cannot move . . .
--You cannot see the release point . . .
--You hear Max Scherzer's fastball hissing!
--You have become a statue.

^LOL

the one on one interview that the world demands:

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/06/29/amd_crawford.jpg

Scherzer was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 43rd round (1291st overall) in the 2003 Major League Baseball draft but did not sign

:``( stl-grown :) holee shit @ the d-backs pitching

PH 2-run HR for Micah owings today.

saw conor jackson on espn today who said micah is the best slugger on the team and that if he had 500 ABs he'd hit like .280 w/ 40 tacos o_O !

20 wins for the month is not to shabby

I'm not actually sure that Jackson is wrong actually. Owings is putting up some pretty crazy #s.

Owings has a higher career OPS than Pujols and is close to Bonds.

*cough* small sample sizes *cough*

Good question may be how long before Owings gets intentionally walked so some pitcher can face Chris Young instead!

jtrichey (Indianapolis): Hi Joe, thanks for the chat. At what point do you start getting Micah Owings some starts in the field? Or starts every day?

Joe Sheehan: Never. He's a good pitcher, and not a good enough hitter to play a corner on that team. I would, however, be using him as a PH with alarming frequency. He could get 150 PAs for me.

I like this team of freaks! The giant, the tweak, the slugger, crazy eyes.

The Chase field remodel is sooooo nice.

I don't really see them losing to anyone in the West or the East.

On the May edition of "The Eric Byrnes Show," the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder continues his matchmaking ways with his own version of the mid-1960s game show.

Samantha chose bachelor #1 Connor Jackson over bachelor #2 Justin Upton and #3 Micah Owings. Over Micah Owings!

well, playing the East seems to be lowering their orbit just fine. Scherzer: no Superman.

Bachelor #3 24 AB .417/.481/.625

Chipper Jones 142 AB .415/.475/.683

Lance Berkman 143 AB .392/.470/.790

Well, there's that question answered. Have lost 10 of 14.

If they don't overcome this 4-run deficit, their record will be 3 games better than the Pirates'!

Yeah, what happened.

I haven't been watching them that carefully but it was pretty awesome having the Cubs sweep them after they ripped the guts out of our postseason last year.

What happened is their young dudes stopped hitting so great basically. Also their non-Webb/Haren pitchers declined too.

. . . which also not-so-mysteriously correlates to playing teams in the non-Pacific or Mountain time zones, now that I check their April/May schedule.

As Doc suggests.

I'm going to Webb vs Mets on Wed night, so they may get back on track...

big unit and mienkiewicz almost brawled today

That should be fun to watch. Why is Webb not matched up against Santana as the probable? Don't they usually try to stay in sequence?

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/images/photos/2007/12/04/44s4adkg.jpg http://encyklopedie.dune.cz/images/thufir.jpg

Jul 1 Matt Paulson, of the East Valley Tribune, reports the Arizona Diamondbacks have placed C Chris Snyder (testicle) on the 15-day disabled list with a left testicular fracture.

Well that was quite something!

The testicular fracture or the Brewer's bullpen implosion?

Wow, just saw the highlight of that 9th inning, OW.

It sucked to be an infielder in Brian McCann's way last night.

Adam Dunn is now a Diamondback

Nice to see the Dodgers give a crap about winning the NL West.

why didn't LA block the deal? what's one more outfielder on the Dodger roster?

Ned Coletti, brainiac.

And the Reds got 2 PTBNL and a 2006 draftee that underwent Tommy John surgery last year? Ned probably could've given up Ethier + 1 and gotten it done (tho lol @ LAD OF defense if that actually happened).

Love that Dallas Buck's Wiki page has the trade in it already, but still says he MAY undergo TJ.

Stark is smarter than the average ESPN hack, and I think Webb may end up fully deserving the Cy, BUT...

Jeff (LA): Is Brandon Webb even the Cy Young of his own team? Haren has more quality starts and strikeouts, a better WHIP and near identical ERA.

Jayson Stark: (1:59 PM ET ) Dan Haren might be third in this race, at worst. But I don't think he's the Cy Young. Brandon Webb has that ace aura. And he's 17-4! Haren has absolutely pitched great, and he's been a tremendous assistant ace. But I think other teams still look at Brandon Webb as The Man on that staff.

That's par for Stark's course, Morbs!

If they make the playoffs, I would not want my team to have to play the D-Backs. Going with Webb and Haren to open a playoff series would be nasty and a team could be down 0-2 before the paint even dries. The Unit has also been pitching better and he might be able to fire up the mullet for a night.

CC and Sheets ain't much of a picnic, either.

FLASHBACK

Updated: December 3, 2007, 4:33 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Chicago White Sox added depth to their inexperienced outfield Monday, acquiring Carlos Quentin from the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league first baseman Chris Carter.

Could you imagine the D-Backs with Quentin?

"CC and Sheets ain't much of a picnic, either."

That's true. It would be a show to have those four starters meet in game 1 and 2 of a playoff series.

The D-Backs bullpen isn't as good as last year, but it is not quite the kerosene corps in Milwaukee. That Brewer bullpen is a sad face waiting to happen.

this has been lost in ryan howard's "pursuit" of the single-season strikeouts record, but even with howard having 163 Ks in 473 ABs, mark reynolds has 156 Ks in 421 ABs. howard is on pace for 211 Ks and reynolds is on pace for 205.

Dunn continuing to make JP Ricciardi look like a chump.

Adam Dunn is what he is and for what he is it is somewhat consistent. The guy is a perfect fit for what they needed and I would not be surprised if Dunn ends up getting signed by Arizona. The guy has hit 200 HRs (and counting) in the last five years. No matter what, there is just not that many guys that have hit 40 HRs five plus seasons in a row. Dunn will never hit for much more average than he does, but I think all of those walks even that and the K's out a bit.

I think whatever team has him would probably be better to get him playing first base if he stays in the NL.

They just got swept by the Padres, but to be fair, it's hard to compete when the Padres are throwing studs like Baek and Reineke out there and the Dbacks have to counter with Webb and Randy Johnson.

it doesn't even matter. the dodgers are in such a tailspin right now not even manny and alyssa milano can help.

Yeah, but here come the Rockieees.

Dunn's going to start sprinting out those grounders now...

Looks like Haren would now have more of a CY case than Webb.

Lincecum should be the clear choice at this point. Of course, ESPN is now casting it as a race btwn Webb and ... Sabathia!

Morbius has a point.

Which player would you rather have on your team?

Look for the unselfish one.

2nd Y Molina homered to left center.
2nd J Mather homered to left.
2nd A Dunn homered to left.
3rd A Pujols homered to left, R Ludwick scored.
3rd F Lopez homered to left.
3rd D Eckstein hit sacrifice fly to right, S Drew scored.
4th C Young homered to left.
5th S Drew homered to right.
6th R Ludwick doubled to deep center, C Izturis scored.
6th M Reynolds homered to left center, A Dunn scored.

Is this Daron Sutton doing the play-by-play? Maybe he should be tranquilized.

Tony Clark pinch running!

Tony Clark parked at third for a couple solid seconds watching Stephen Drew attempt to leg out a triple. "No, dude, you got a double -- second's back there."

haha that was great

he was physically pointing at the base!!

Brian (Brooklyn): What makes Webb a more deserving Cy Young candidate than Santana? Is it Johan's fault that the bullpen has blown a ton of leads for him?

Rob Neyer: (12:38 PM ET ) Santana's having a great season, but there's a big difference between their home ballparks. And the difference favors Webb in these discussions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill W (Brooklyn NY): Right now Webb is NINTH in the NL in VORP (park-neutral, yes?) behind Lincecum, Santana, Sheets, Dempster, Hamels, Peavy, Haren and Billingsley. Isn't what makes him the Cy co-favorite right now nothing more than that lucky ol' W-L figure?

Rob Neyer: (12:52 PM ET ) Sure. As always. I do think Webb's better than the ninth-best pitcher in the league; for one thing, he's third-best in innings pitched and might finish No. 1. But yeah, he's been lucky.

Sep 25 The Associated Press reports Arizona Diamondbacks 3B Mark Reynolds set a major league record with his 200th strikeout Thursday, Sept. 25.

Wow so much focus on Howard I didn't even realize Reynolds level of sucktitude.

Not that striking out = sucking, but Reynolds had a crappy year overall.

nice combined 9-inning no hitter, pitchers ive never heard of

J Rauch 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 14-8 5.26
E Vasquez 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 29-20 5.23
C Zavada 2.2 0 0 0 3 2 0 45-22 0.00
L Rosales (W, 1-0) 3.1 0 0 0 0 4 0 34-27 5.40