Touch ‘Em All: More inconsistency in SF

And the inconsistency continues…

As I have said many times, the 2012 Arizona Diamondbacks
have only done one thing consistently all season… and that
is play inconsistently.

The consistently inconsistent squad was at it again this
week in San Francisco, as the D-backs dropped two of three
to the Giants. However, due to a Dodgers three-game losing
streak, the Snakes actually gained a game in the NL West,
and now only sit 9.5 games behind Los Angeles.

The thing that bothers me, and the thing that separates
this year’s D-backs team from last year’s, is the fact
that these Diamondbacks really have not taken any of the
opportunities they have been given to this point in the
season.

For example, with the Dodgers in the midst of a short
losing streak, the D-backs went into the 8th inning on
Tuesday with in a 1-1 tie against San Francisco. Bryan
Shaw was on the mound for the D-backs and instead of
holding the lead pat, which would have given the team a
chance to take the pivotal second game of the series, Shaw
gave up two runs and handed the Giants the win.

When you are hovering around 10 games back in a division
race, as a team you can’t afford to not capitalize on
opportunities when they are handed to you, or you don’t
stand a chance of coming back in the division.

However, there were a few absolutely fantastic things that
I saw in this series, one of which was the start by Ian
Kennedy on Wednesday. Man, were the Diamondbacks happy to
see that. For the first time this season Ian Kennedy
looked like the ace he is supposed to be. His 122 pitches
were a career high, but over 7.2 innings, Kennedy allowed
only five hits and one earned run in route to his first
win in over a month.

Normally, I would also be raving about he also outdueled
Tim Lincecum, which he did. However, I feel pretty
confident that I could outduel Timmy right now (I
couldn’t, but it’s fun to dream) because of the way he is
pitching.

Speaking of Tim Lincecum, “The Freak” cannot seem to
figure out Paul Goldschmidt. In my “Road Ahead” section
last series I pointed to this as a matchup to watch and it
really was. Goldschmidt went 1 for 2 with a walk and a
home run against Lincecum in the game. That’s now 4 home
runs for Goldschmidt in 13 at bats against Lincecum. That
is absurd!

Overall, this series was a disappointment for the
Diamondbacsk because they really could have won two of
three and been 8.5 games back. But instead they won one
game and are 9.5 back in the NL West.

Series Report Card

Record: C-
I just got done saying it; the Diamondbacks should have
won this series. They should have had a few more, as Mark
Grace says, “productive outs.” They should have stranded
much fewer than 23 runners on base in the series. However,
the D-backs did none of these things, and because of that,
they dropped two of three.

Offense: B+
The D-backs’ offense, which had actually been pretty good
of late, sputtered a little bit in this three-game series
with the Giants. I’ve already addressed the 23 runners
that were left on base in this series, so let’s take a
look at the batting average. The Diamondbacks had 23 hits
in this series, and hit .230 overall. When the first game
of the series is against Barry Zito, I would have expected
a little more production — not to mention that the D-
backs had as many strikeouts (23) as they did hits.

Defense: C+
It was certainly nice to have Miguel Montero back behind
the plate for the Diamondbacks. He gunned a runner down on
Wednesday to help preserve the lead, and that clutch play
is the sort of thing that spreads through a defense.
Overall the Diamondbacks played a clean, error-free series
defensively.

Pitching: C+
In the past, I have focused mostly on what was wrong with
Ian Kennedy. However, now that he has had a very good
start like he did on Wednesday, my focus is shifting to
Trevor Cahill. I know the Diamondbacks expected to get a
quality pitcher when they traded for Cahill, but here’s
the thing: I don’t think he’s getting any better. Cahill’s
numbers for this season are as follows: He has a 3.96 ERA,
with a 1.32 WHIP and opposing hitters are batting .249
against him. Those aren’t earth-shattering numbers, and I
think it’s time the D-backs and their fans just accepted
Cahill for who he is. Here are his career numbers: 3.91
ERA, with a 1.32 WHIP and a .253 BAA. Yes, you did read
that right; they’re almost exactly the same. Trevor Cahill
is right where he is supposed to be, sitting at a mediocre
level. Baseball is a game of numbers, so I don’t expect
him to get any better, or any worse. Sometimes, people
just are who they are and that’s that. Stay tuned… I’ll
touch on Bryan Shaw and his performance in a little bit.

Managing: A
I liked Kirk Gibson’s decision to bring Montero back when
he did. The Diamondbacks are finally getting healthy and
if Gibson wants the team to get going, he needs to put a
consistent lineup out there everyday; he’s said that
himself. Therefore getting Montero out there was a good
move, as he’s allowing his team to build some chemistry so
they can try and make a run.

Series Awards

Play of the Series:
The play of the series was Paul Goldschmidt’s home run off
of Tim Lincecum in the 6th inning on Wednesday, which
ended up being the winning run for the D-backs. Paul
Goldschmidt has owned Lincecum, and the Snakes really
needed someone to come through in that game and Goldy did
just that.

Player of the Series:
The player of this series goes to Ian Kennedy, who had a
HUGE bounce back game on Wednesday after one of the worst
stretches of his career. Kennedy is the Diamondbacks’ ace,
and the team really needs him to pitch like it. He did on
Wednesday.

The “Dikembe Mutombo Finger Wag award:
This award goes to Bryan Shaw for his terrible inning of
pitching Tuesday. Shaw walked two batters, gave up two
runs, and more importantly he gave up two runs that cost
the Diamondbacks the game in the 8th inning.

Best Moment of the Series:
The best moment of this series for me was on Monday, when
the fighter jets flew over the stadium during the pregame
Memorial Day festivities. I don’t know, there’s just
something about watching a flyover before a baseball game
that gets me every time.

The Road Ahead:
The Diamondbacks head to San Diego for a three-game set
with the Padres. The D-backs have Miley and Hudson on the
mound in the first two games of the series, so I’m looking
for them to jump on the Padres right out of the gates in
this weekend series.

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