Snake Bytes 10/6: Going Up?

Oct 6, 2022 - 2:09 PM

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Diamondbacks News:

Merrill “The Mainstay” Kelly reaches 200 innings

Coming into play today there were just five pitchers who had already reached 200 innings in 2022. Two pitchers crossed that threshold in this game. Corbin Burnes came in with 199 innings, and pitched three scoreless innings before coming out of the game. Kelly reached the milestone in the sixth inning. The last time a Diamondbacks pitcher went 200 innings was in 2018, when Patrick Corbin and Zack Greinke did it.

Josh Rojas’ late homer ends Arizona Diamondbacks’ season on a high note

It closed out a year that amounted to undeniable progress — they won 74 games, 22 more than last year — but one that also was hard to categorize.

In a sense, the Diamondbacks in the second half developed an identity, that of a hard-nosed, aggressive team fueled by youthful exuberance. But just when it appeared they were turning a corner, the club stumbled down the stretch, winning just nine of its final 28 games.

D-backs end 2022 in a big way

“It’s important to take that next jump from the 70s to the 80s to the 90s,” general manager Mike Hazen said at the beginning of the season’s final series. “That’s the bigger jump. It’s a much bigger jump from this year to next year. Reminding guys of that is extremely important. The work that goes into that starts on Thursday. It doesn’t start in January.”

Diamondbacks’ Caleb Smith: Dealing with elbow injury

The specifics of the injury will be revealed when he gets imaging done Thursday. Luckily for Smith, he will have an entire offseason to heal before the D-backs need him again.

Baseball News:

2022 MLB Playoffs: Schedule, game times, TV channels, live stream, format as wildcard series kicks off Friday

Major League Baseball’s 2022 postseason is nearly here. The MLB regular season wraps up Wednesday (Oct. 5) and the expanded, 12-team playoffs get underway on Friday (Oct. 7) with the best-of-three Wild Card Series. This is the largest playoff field ever for a full, 162-game season, and you can read more on the new format here. The 12-team field is finalized after the Braves clinched the NL East on Tuesday night and the rest of the wild-card seeding was sorted out. Game times for the Wild Card Series were announced Wednesday.

Royals fire manager Mike Matheny

The news comes a few weeks after the Royals made a change atop the front office. President of baseball operations Dayton Moore was dismissed in late September, with general manager J.J. Picollo tasked to lead baseball operations. Picollo’s first major decision is to make a leadership change in the clubhouse, and the Royals will now turn their attention towards finding a new skipper.

Angels sign Phil Nevin to 1 year deal as manager

2022 got off to a roaring start for the Angels, with the club going 14-8 in April. For a moment, there was hope that the club could finally put it all together after years of not being able to capitalize on all the talent on their roster. However, the club slumped after that, eventually undergoing a 12-game losing streak across the end of May and early June, leading to Maddon getting fired as bench boss.

Nevin was promoted to interim manager at that point, losing his first two games to extend that losing streak to a 14-gamer. Overall, since the switch, the club has gone 46-59. Those aren’t exactly inspiring numbers, but it’s hard to know how much of that to pin on Nevin given the deficiencies of the roster.

MLB rules try to fix performance by handcuffing exceptionalism

As a baseball purist, I object to just about every rule change since, and including, the imposition of the designated hitter in the American League in 1973. Sadly, the National League caved and adopted the designated hitter full-time this season after using it during the 60-game Covid-shortened 2020 season for the first time (with the exception of interleague play, something I also abhor).