Snake Bytes -- 2009 Arizona Dbacks Dynasty

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Series Game 2; Season Game 20

Max: A Scherz Thing; Improves to 4-0

Arizona Bats Stay Hot ... 13 Runs on 16 Hits

April 24, 2009 - Phoenix, AZ -- The 'Big News' of the Arizona season so far has bee the hot start of right-handed phenom Max Scherzer. The rookie improved his already perfect record to 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA. The flame-throwing hurler held the Cubs offense to just 2 hits and 1 run by way of an Aaron Miles HR to left field.

Trailing 1-0 in the 4th, the DBacks took the lead on a 2-run HR by Justin Upton. 'Zona would continue the scoring as Chris Snyder doubled and was driven home by a Lopez triple. Lopez would score on a Chris Young ground-out to 2nd, giving Arizona a 5-1 lead.

The Snakes would never look back and went on to pile on 8 more runs, including homers by Mark Reynolds in the 7th and 8th innings.

With a win tomorrow, Arizona could enjoy it's first series sweep of the season, and be above .500 since the opening game of the season. Brandon Webb (1-3) will take on Carlos 'Big Z' Zambrano in the series finale.

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Series Game 3 (Final); Season Game 21

Zambrano Outpitches Webb; Cubs Win 4-3

Marmol Opens Door to Arizona Comback ... Then Slams It Shut

April 25, 2009 - Phoenix, AZ -- Perennial Cy Young candidates, Carlos and Zambrano and Brandon Webb battled each other through 7 innings of a tightly fought contest. The Cubs would eventually take the game 4-3, but not without some late-inning dramatics.

Arizona would land the first blow of night as Conor Jackson deposited a 2-out Zambrano pitch into the left field seats, giving ARZ a 1-0 lead in the 1st. The North-Siders would take the lead in the 4th when Soriano tripled home Bradley (singled) and Lee (singled). CHC 2-1

Lopez led off the Arizona 6th with a single, only to be thrown out at 2nd attempting to steal off Geovany Soto. Chris Young would immediately single and be forced out on a Drew fielder's choice. Conor Jackson would single to give ARZ runners and 1st and 3rd, and the tying run would be driven home on a Mark Reynolds single. Game tied 2-2.

Both starters continued to pitch well through the 7th, and then thing unravelled for Brandon Webb. After getting Fukudome to ground out to start the frame, Webb allowed to single to 'ever-dangerous' Aaron Miles and issued a walk to Milton Bradley. Ryan Theriot would get an infield single as Stephen Drew made an outstanding diving play deep in the hole to prevent the ball fro reashing the OF, which would have led to the go ahead run. With the bases loaded, 1-out, and on a 3-2 count Webb walked Derek Lee, allowing the go-ahead run to score. With the bases still loaded, Aramis Ramirez, hit a sacrifice fly to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead. (When was the last time you read a franchise where a pitcher walked in the go ahead run?)

After a clean 9th by Aaron Heilman, the Cubs brought in closer Carlos Marmol to finsih the game. The DBacks would not go quietly as Parra singled following an Upton ground out. With 2-outs following a Lopez walk, Young doubles, pulling the DBacks to within 1 of the lead (4-3). Marmol would get Drew to strike out, stranding the tying run on 3rd & the winning run on 2nd, and preventing the Diamondbacks from sweeping the first place Cubs.

Arizona will travel to Milwaukee for a 4-game set at Miller Park against the Brewers.

The 'Big News' of the Arizona season so far has bee the hot start of right-handed phenom Max Scherzer. The rookie improved his already perfect record to 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA. The flame-throwing hurler held the Cubs offense to just 2 hits and 1 run by way of an Aaron Miles HR to left field.

Trailing 1-0 in the 4th, the DBacks took the lead on a 2-run HR by Justin Upton. 'Zona would continue the scoring as Chris Snyder doubled and was driven home by a Lopez triple. Lopez would score on a Chris Young ground-out to 2nd, giving Arizona a 5-1 lead.

The Snakes would never look back and went on to pile on 8 more runs, including homers by Mark Reynolds in the 7th and 8th innings.

With a win tomorrow, Arizona could enjoy it's first series sweep of the season, and be above .500 since the opening game of the season. Brandon Webb (1-3) will take on Carlos 'Big Z' Zambrano in the series finale.

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Series Game 1; Season Game 22

Extra-Inning Blast Trumps Early-Game Blunders

Mark Reynolds' Bomb Wins Game in 10 Innings

April 26, 2009 - Milwaukee, WI -- The base-running blunders started early for the Diamondbacks with Chris Young being thrown out at second on an attempted steal following a single to lead-off the game. Arizona's aggressiveness would not be detered, as Justin Upton stole second after leading off with a single. Upton would be driven home on a single by Chad Tracy to give ARZ a 1-0 lead. The DBacks would hold the lead behind the strong arm of Dan Haren until the 4th when Milwaukee tied the game, 1-1, when JJ Jardy doubled home MIke Cameron (walked).

The Brew Crew would make Haren pay for a lead off walk in the 5th (P.Fielder) as MIke Cameron deposited a ball in the left field bleachers, giving MIL a 3-1 lead. Upton led off the Arizona 7th with a double. Chad Tracy drove a single to center, and JU10 was gunned down at the plate by CF Mike Cameron. It appeared that bad decisions on the basepaths would cost ARZ another rally, until Chris Snyder tied thegame with a 2-run HR, TIE 3-3.

Haren continued to battle through the 7th and 8th innings on a night when he would not have his best stuff, giving up an uncharacteristic 4 walks. In the top of the 9th with Clay Zavada and Tom Gordon warming in the bullpen, the Arizona bats would reward Haren's determination by taking a 4-3 lead on a single by Eric Byrnes scoring PR Gerardo Parra (Chad Tracy single).

Manager Bob Melvin would bring CLay Zavada into the game to face lefty Craig Counsell and CP Chad Qualls warming in the pen. Zavada retired Counsell on a fly-out, and with Qualls still warming (not quite ready), Melvin called on RHP Tom Gordon to face OF Corey Hart (No, not THAT Corey Hart). Hart tied the game on the 1st pitch he saw, sending a fastball over the center field seats and Bernie Brewer down the slide. Following the game-tying blast, Qualls entered the game with 1-out and was not effective.

Jason Kendall singled to CF to give the Brewers a scoring opportunity. THe next batter, Prince Fielder, singled to left and advanced to 2nd as Byrnes unsuccessfully tried to throw Kendall out at 3rd. With 1st base open, Qualls issued an IBB to Ryan Braun, loading the bases for Mike Cameron. On a 3-2 count, Qualls managed to get Cameron to hit into a 5-4-3 DP to end the inning and the rally.

"All or Nothing" Mark Reynolds, anticipating a 1st pitch change-up from Trevor Hoffman (6-for-6 in SaveOpp before today), slammed it into the left-field bleacher, putting ARZ up 5-4.

JJ Hardy led of MIL's 10th by reaching on a Stephen Drew error and was SacBunt'd to 2nd by Alcides Escobar. Angel Solome would fly out to deep RF, allowing Hardy to tag to 3rd. With the tying run at 3rd, and 2-out Counsell poppd up to 2nd base to end the 10-inning thriller.

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Man, this was a fun game. With bad base-running decisions and lackluster control I tried to give the game away multiple times. I really pushed it with Haren and he finished the game with 15% stamina. But all worked out in the end. It helped that Trevor Hoffman has essentially one-pitch, so I had a great idea of what to look for ... and had the "right" guy at the plate.

Also, fooling around with a new update to use once-in-a-while. I see things on TV that prompt ideas, and then just go with whatever creative juices are flowing.

Well, poop, I as looking for a "format" that could incorporate two images into 'one continual theme' ... and I've got some adjustments to make. (Just make it one image, dummy)

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-- I have no idea how this is gonna look --

Series Game 2; Season Game 23

Bush Gets 1st Win; Brewers Beats 'Backs 2-1

Struggling Starter, Bush, Pitches Gem Against Arizona

Bush ain't that good. Hitter's Eye was turned OFF. It's gonna take a coupla games to get it rolling. I was making decent contact, hitting bals to the track and lining out to IF's for much of the game.

Eh, I don't like the look.

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Series Game 3; Season Game 24

Braun Blasts Brewers Back; MIL 7-4

Arizona Bullpen Gives Away Another Game

April 28, 2009 - Milwaukee, WI - Jon Garland and Braden Looper were locked in 0-0 affair until the bottom of the 5th, when JJ Hardy broke the tie with a solo Hr to give MIL a 1-0 lead.

After retiring the first 2 batters of the 6th, the wheels would come off for Looper. Upton singled, followed by a walk to Parra, and then the excitement started. Earlier in the game Looper beaned Ojeda with 1st bade open. With 2-on and 2-out in the 6th, Looper beaned Montero, and the ARZ catcher had enough and charged the mound. The emptying of the dugouts and the pushing & shoving that occurred at the mound seemed to affect Looper.

Looper issued back-to-back walks to Ojeda & Young, bringing in 2 runs. Looper walked Lopez, which forced in the 3rd run on BB's. After a wild throw on a pick-off attempt at 3rd, plating another run and moving runners to 2nd and 3rd, Looper intentionally walked hot-hitting Conor Jackson to re-load the bases. With Mark Reynolds (8 HR) coming to dish the move seemed like a bad one, until Looper got Reynolds to flu out to end the inning, but the damage as done. ARZ 4-1.

The Brewers would get to Garland in the 7th as they scored 2 runs on a 2-out double by Casey McGehee, drawing to within 1 run of lead, ARZ 4-3.

Garland would be allowed to start the 8th, but after a lead-off walk he was replaced by Clay Zavada who walked Hart and gave up an IF single to Hall to load the bases for Prince Fielder. Zavada kept Fielder in the park, but the fly out resulted in a game-tying Sac Fly, plating Escobar who was walked by Garland to start the inning.

Arizona again turned to Tom Gordon, and for the 2nd straight appearance Gordon gave up a HR to the 1st batter he faced, this time a 3-run shot to Ryan Braun that gave the Brewers a 7-4 lead.

Hoffman would retire Arizona 1-2-3 in the 9th to earn his 8th save and hand Zavada (with help from Tom Gordon) his 2nd defeat of the season. The bullpen, or lack thereof, continues to be a problem for the Diamondbacks. Dammit.

On the plus side, I'm adjusting to no hitting aids. It ain't easy. A lot of pitches on this game break late. Realistic for sure, but very challenging.

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Series Game 4 (Final); Season Game 25

Scherzer Stops Losing Streak At 2; Moves to 5-0

Arizona and Scherzer Cruise to 8-2 Win; Split Series at Miller Park

April 29, 2009 - Milwaukee, WI - People around baseball knew Max Scherzer was good. They knew he had electric stuff. But, no one could have anticipated his 5-0 start (0.99 ERA) as the 5th starter in the Arizona Rotation. Scherz dominated again tonight, throwing 6 scoreless innings before leaving the game to get recently promoted Esmerling Vasquez some MLB experience to aid a fledgeling bullpen.

Arizona jumped all over MIL SP Jeff Suppan in the 2nd when Mark Reynolds led of with a double in the gap and rookie 1B Josh Whitesell sent a belt-high fastball 454-feet over the RF bleachers "Sammy Sosa style". The Dbacks would score 2 more runs in the 3rd on RBI singles by Reynolds & Whitesell. ARZ 4-0.

Arizona would complete their scoring by adding 4 runs in the 6th, led by HRs by Justin Upton and Stephen Drew. Vasquez would finish out the game, earning the 3-inning save, while allowing 2 runs on 6 hits in 3 IP. The search for bullpen effectiveness continues.

Arizona will face the rival Dodgers in the next series, the 9th series of the season to close out the month of April and welcome May. The Dodgers have fallen into last place in the NL West following the season ending-injury to LHP Randy Wolf. All 5 teams in the NLW are hovering around the .500 mark (standing to be presented shortly).

Guess it takes 2 games to get used to NO hitter's eye. 8 runs on 13 hits, 3 HRs ... either that or just facing Looper and Suppan.

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Series Game 1; Season Game 26

DBacks Win Close One In Series Opener

Bullpen Solid; Gordon Finds Redemption

Top of the 1st -- Drew gets a 1-out single followed by a Jackson single, moving Drew to 3rd. Drew scores on a Reynolds SacFly. Josh Whitesell hits his 4th HR of the season, a 2-run shot to deep RF. ARZ 3-0.

Bottom of the 1st -- Struggling Casey Blake hits a 2-run HR plating himself and Furcal (single). ARZ 3-2.

Top of the 2nd -- Young singles home Lopez (single, SB). ARZ 4-2.

Bottom of the 6th -- Orlando Hudson singles home James Loney who led off the inning with a single of his own. ARZ 4-3.

Bottom of the 8th -- Zavada pitching: Loney reaches on an error by Reynolds. Ethier walked by Schoenweiss. 2-on 1-out, Tom Gordon enters the game and induces Orlando Hudson into a 6-4-3 inning-ending DP. ARZ 4-3.

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Series Game 2 (Final); Season Game 27

Byrnes: Disgruntled to Hero in Epic Finale

Relievers on Display as Arizona Wins 5-4 in 15 Innings

Top of the 1st -- Upton's 2-run HR gets ARZ on the board. The game starts as last game did, an ARZ HR in the 1st to take the lead. ARZ 2-0.

Bottom of the 1st -- Kemp leads of the game with a HR off Haren, cuts the lead in half. Loney delivers an RBI single to tie the game. TIE 2-2.

Bottom of the 3rd -- Manny hits a solo HR to RF as Haren hangs a change-up over the outside corner. LAD 3-2

Top of the 5th -- Single by Ojeda scores Parra. TIE 3-3

Top of the 8th -- Upton's solo HR regains thelead for Arizona. Runners on 1st and 3rd, 1-out. Parra tries to score on a shallow fly out to RF,Either guns him down at the plate for the inning-ending DP. ARZ 4-3

Bottom of the 8th -- Haren, battling, is allowed to start the 8th. Furcal leads off with a single, followed by a base knock by Manny. Blake grounds out the first, moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Haren IBB's Loney and heads for the showers. Petit replaces Haren. Petit fans Ethier and Hudson to end the inning. (Hell freackin' yeah)TIE 4-4.

Top of the 9th -- Byrnes leads off with a single, steals 2nd. With 1-out, Jackson receives the IBB. Reynolds lines up the middle, great diving catch by Hudson to save the game. Whitesell flies out to end the inning. TIE 4-4

Top of the 10th -- Upton leads off with a double, picked off 2nd. (It's rare that I feel the AI "screws me", but in this case, due to Upton's speed, I DID NOT extend the lead-off.) The AI says "I'm Sorry" as Furcal drops a pop up, allowing Parra to reach base. Broxton retires Snyder and Ojeda to end the inning. TIE 4-4

Top of the 13th -- Parra leads off with a single. Snyder lays down a perfect bunt down the 3rd base line to sacrifice Parra to 2nd. Ojeda hits a liner up the middle that snagged by Broxton on another game-saving play. Inning ends with no runs scored. TIE 4-4

Bottom of the 14th -- Vasquez relieving Petit. With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1-out Furcal lays down a great bunt down the 1st base line, Vasquez gets Furcal at 1st ... runners at 2nd and 3rd, which allows me to walk Manny to load the bases with 2-out. Blake K's with the bases loaded. TIE 4-4.

Top of the 15th -- Byrnes leads of the inning with a solor HR, giving the lead to Arizona. The 1st run scored in 7 innings. ARZ 5-4

Bottom of the 15th -- Qualls retires the Dodgers in order to earn his 6th save and end the marathon. Arizona gets its 1st series sweep of the season. ARZ 5-4

One of, if not THE, best game I have ever played.

Bullpen is pulling itself up by the bootstraps.

I try not to play Byrnes to stay realistic since ARZ is disgusted with him, but he's mashing in this franchise. I played him to help team chemistry. I'll have to get him some more starts, platooning in the OF, as Parra's production is slipping.

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Don't know why I didn;t think of this format earlier .... paying homage to game itself by using in game images (feature boxes, headers, score ticker, etc).

Will post April standings and stat leaders tonight.

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I'll fancy these layouts up later on in the season. For now, the basic template gets the job done.

Angels are allowing less than 3 runs per game.

Looks like the clock struck midnight for Tampa Bay.

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Lots of inter-division games have quite a few teams beating each other up and not many starting to pull away.

LAD lost Randy Wolf (pitching great) for the year due to injury and the offense, other than Manny and Kemp, is sputtering.

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I'll do something 'better' with the player pics later on.

Fuentes does not qualify for the ERA lead by MLB qualificatio rules (1 IP x # of team games). I'm not sure what basis MVP calculates this. I'll figure something out.

Boston must be winning quites a few games late (19-8 overal), b/c Okajima is their setup man.

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I'm noticing a complete lack of "Pujols" on this leader board. Probably not going to stay that way.

Scherzer has been unreal for me.

I've faced Cook and Lincecum twice (each), that was fun.

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This sucked, I was going for 5 in a row. Re-ject-ed.

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That's what I hate about guys like 'Big Donkey'. Ya make em look like an idiot all night, then he wins the game or puts it out of reach.

Scherzer (5-0 0.89), pitching his best game of the year (8 K's throgh 4.1) takes a liner off the leg. Leg Fracture, out for 45 games.

Meanwhile, Justin Zimmerman take a liner off the head, 2B throws out the batter at first, and Zimmerman stays in the game. Damn.

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I seriously hate Eric Byrnes .... but the way he's playing, I have no choice but to keep him in the lineup.

If this were a "fantasy franchise", I'd trade him while the stock is high. Trade him for something good too ... like a case of Dill Pickle Sunflower seeds.

[JoeRudi26]

I haven't updated here since posting at VSN. I'm up to 46 games played and wondering what I want to do from here: [1] sim up to current date, [2] alt sim/play to catch up, [3] just play all the games even if it runs into november.

I'm not really sure what to do, although I'm leaning towards #3.

I didn't realize that, I haven't even gone over to VSN in a few weeks, I thought maybe you had gotten side tracked and weren't playing for some reason.

Either way, present it how you feel you need to, like I said, I love the format and writeups (new and old), so even if it does run into the fall and winter months, at least we have a good solid dynasty to follow.    :D

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1 GB of COL for 1st place. 2 games over .500 at 17-15 (most games over .500 so far this year). Pads are in 4th place at 16-16, and it looks like it may stay this jammed all year. SFG are gonna be tough, they don;t allow many runs per game ... at all.

Next Series: 18-14 Reds for 3 games, CIN is tied with the Cubs for 1st place. Please stay above .500, Please stay above .500, Please stay above .500, Please stay above .500, *grin*

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Gonna try just series updates for a little bit as I try to gain ground on the current MLB schedule (and my 'summer vacation' is nearing an end).

This series flat-out sucked. 1st place CIN came to town, and 'they came, they saw, they .... ah, you know the rest.'

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Rebounded a bit. Thought I'd ge the sweep myself, but I left 'dubba-D' in the game for a couple of batters too many, and my relievers could not prevent the inherited runners from scoring.

Next Up: 4 games at FLA.

ARI is currently 1.5 games back of 1st place San Diego (?), with the Pads, Rocks, Giants, and DBacks all grouped together in mediocrity. LA is a sleeping dog that I hope nobody wakes up.

[Maestro23]

Good stuff CC. Templates and format are money. :good:

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Been busy as heck.

I've got a great method down for making roster/ratings using a combination of "projection stats" and "historical stats". I'll likely update my current dynasty with ratings from a historical08/projected 09 combo and finish this season, and then use the same format for a historical09/projected10 roster/ratings for next year.

It should be pretty cool, and more challenging ... as I won't have 5 guys with 80+ speed.

I'm also using a fielding rating combo of strat-o-matic, out of the park, and baseball mogul ... so that fielding is much more realistic and "downgraded'. Far too many "poor fielders" are not only adequate currently, but outstanding. For example, Mark Reynolds on the DBacks is a diving/jump catch machine, and rarely, if ever, commits an error. In real life he plays 3rd base while wearing "boxing gloves". I want the game to reflect that.

I really like strat-o-matics' research, because they are tough graders on fielding.

Will update soon.

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Series 14 ...

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Series 15 ...

Game 2 was the game I have talked about in another thread. Giambi blasted a HR on a low inside deuce, so I had to "show him who was boss", byt throwing the same pitch, same location in his next at bat ... another HR. I talked myself out of it in the 3rd at bat.

OAK has some decent young hurlers.

Will update to Series 20 tonight to get the thread up to date, and the post some league leaders, all-star voting, standings, etc.

[JoeRudi26]

Good to see you back updating, CC.  

Good job on getting that split with Florida, I have no idea why, but when I was playing in the NL (Cubs), I could not beat them no matter what I did. Very tough in MVP.

But at least you did let Oakland get the drop on you in that series.  Giambi hit 2 hr's? Wow, I couldn't get him to make contact.   <_<