Arizona Diamondbacks

to the Brewers in the Wild Card and Street will be key in those close games. 

Chad Qualls (Arizona Diamondbacks) – Last year, Qualls became the first player in Major League history to have 20+ holds in 4 consecutive seasons. He is a setup man to the bone. Unfortunately for him, the D-Backs are looking for him to be their closer. Granted, he’s got 13 saves in 16 opportunities. Not bad, but he’s had his struggles this season. At one point, Qualls even blew 3 saves in 3 consecutive appearances. Like the ‘Stros, Arizona is in the cellar, deep in the cellar.  I believe Arizona is playing him out of position and if they continue to be cellar-dwellers this season, they’ll trade him. 

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5 spot.)

4-Arizona Diamondbacks: Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Jon Garland, Doug Davis, and Max Scherzer. 

It's always a pleasure to have two aces, and that's what Arizona has here in Webb and Haren. However, Haren had a fine year statistically in '08, but I detected a little deterioration in his stuff. Look out for that this season. Regardless, he should still be good for 15 wins in the offensively-challenged National League West.

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Schilling, 42, who was awarded the 2001 World Series co-MVP with former Arizona Diamondbacks teammate Randy Johnson and is only the second person in history to have twice won or shared Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsmen of the Year” honor, said he departed the game with “zero regrets.”

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With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Been a while since I posted, in part because I was out of town last week at a trade show in San Diego. Not a bad place to go for a working vacation, and a week ago we got to take in a game between the Padres and the D-backs. My dad's a rabid D-backs fan, beside which my fandom (or fanhood, as the ESPN ads call it) seems rather small. He brought his own logo-coordinated Arizona hat and shirt, having overcome his anger at their change in colors and logo, which seemed to him (correctly) to be an effort to boost merchandising sales.

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Arizona has just traded for Adam Dunn, reports Baseball Digest Daily, bolstering their outfield to offset injuries to Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton, as well as to counteract the Dodgers' recent acquisition of Manny Ramirez. That Dunn passed through waivers is both an indication of his big salary for the year, as well as his undervalued status among GMs.

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est Show on Turf” fielded one of the most potent offenses in the annals of the NFL.

4) 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks- In a 7 game series, with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling throwing in the primes of their careers, the Diamondbacks could have beaten any championship team in history.

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4) 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks- In a 7 game series, with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling throwing in the primes of their careers, the Diamondbacks could have beaten any championship team in history.

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efore that big project hits your desk.

One of the potential destinations of Teixeira has been the Arizona Diamondbacks, in return for Conor Jackson or Chad Tracy, both fan favorites, but this seems unlikely, unless Arizona thinks it can sign Tex to a long-term deal. They could certainly use another bat, but why make a move for Tex, so soon after snatching up the venerable Tony Clark from San Diego? 

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;ll try and puzzle this out.

Tony Clark, who experienced a career resurgence the day he put on an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform back in 2005, hs returned to the cozy confines of Chase Field. Petco, where hitting a homer is as hard as hitting the lottery, wasn’t as kind to the aging Clark as Chase has been, so he’ll certainly improve on his 2008 line of .239/.374/.307. His 32:19 K:BB ratio, as well as hs 165-point difference between BA and OBP, will tell you his batting eye is fine, and some power should follow.

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One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

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Facing the second batter in last night's game against the Giants, Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens at #2 on the all-time strikeouts list. With the third batter, he gained sole possession of the second spot, a place he should hold for a very, very long time.

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After another game where stranding base-runners has become a common theme, what Lou Piniella had the right words to sum up the Cubs recent slide, "Like I told my guys after the ballgame, make the other team beat you, don't just give it to them," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "You play like that and you're going to lose quite a few of them, or most of them. Anyway, it's over with. Done."

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For many baseball fans, last night wasn't a great night to watch baseball, as blowouts predominated early on. But, because of the beautiful game that is baseball, only three of them continued in their lopsided fashion, with the best of them highlighted by a homer from Micah Owings, the best-hitting pitcher in baseball, whom teammate Conor Jackson said had the "best pop" of anyone on the team. And all of them showed something about the winning and losing teams, proving that any baseball game is worth watching, even when it doesn't seem exciting.

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First up is the National League West.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Will Brandon Lyon be able to replace Jose Valverde as closer?

Arizona finished with the best record in the National League last season despite giving up 20 more runs than they scored, thanks in large part to their outstanding 32-20 record in one run games. The key factor in this was a bullpen that did not relinquish leads, no mater how small, that was anchored by Jose Valverde and his 47 saves. Valverde took off in free agency and now Brandon Lyon will move into the closer’s role for 2008. With no significant changes on offense, it seems likely the Diamondbacks will have to rely heavily on their pitching again and need their bullpen to nail down save opportunities.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Preview Part One: National League West"

The Arizona Diamondbacks surprised a lot of people by winning this division last year and should only get better this year.  Their young talent in the line-up, Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson, Chris Young and Justin Upton will be better this year, which is scary.  They still have some very solid veterans with Eric Byrnes and Orlando Hudson (back this year after being injured a lot of last season).  This team also has a very scary starting rotation.  Brandon Webb is a perennial CY Young candidate, they brought in Dan Haren (who should be even better in the NL) and they hope Randy Johnson can stay healthy (he was having a very good year before injuring his back).  Their bullpen is the only question mark to me.  Brandon Lyon is a solid closer and they have some young talent but they lack the experience.  This team should be right back in the hunt for the division crown again this season.

Continue reading "Part III: NL West"

ere are bunch of teams this team can not compete with.  Look at how the Cubs got embarassed by Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS last year.  It showed which division was far superior even with the lack of hitting Diamondbacks had.  All I got to say is the New York Mets are out for blood after their historic fall from grace with their new top gun Johan Santana.  No way is any team going to march pass them.

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