Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #3: 4/1 @ Dodgers

Apr 2, 2023 - 12:00 AM

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Key to the game: STOP ISSUING WALKS, DAMMIT!! AND MAYBE TAKE A FEW???

Yeah, so far, in 65 plate appearances, precisely one Diamondbacks’ hitter has watched ball four. That was Geraldo Perdomo. In contrast, the Arizona pitching staff has issued no fewer than FOURTEEN walks over seventeen innings against Los Angeles. Across the other nine teams to have played twice, nobody is even in double figures. That number by the D-backs includes a startling nine last night. This is not a sustainable recipe for success, to state the obvious. Indeed, we’re very lucky to have won yesterday’s contest. In 2022, teams that issued nine walks in regulation contests were 2-20 in those games. So, the D-backs pitching staff needs to calm the hell down and throw strikes.

Of course, this is how we all expected the opening two games of the season to go. The Colorado Rockies have sole possession of first place in the division - with the best run differential in the majors, despite starting away from Clown Field - while the San Diego Padres are in the cellar. Everybody saw that coming, didn’t we? It’s just a reminder that we are a princely 1.23% of the way through the season, and I am prepared to cautiously predict that things will change between now and the end of the schedule. And that will include Arizona not having a 37 OPS+, as they currently sit. Jake McCarthy will get on base. And someone other than Perdomo will draw a walk... eventually.

One other fun fact regarding Drey Jameson. He picked up his fourth win last night, in only his fifth major-league appearance. He is the 20th pitcher in the wild-card era to do that, and the first since Shane Bieber for the 2018 Indians. [Two pitchers went 5-0: Kaz Ishii and Jered Weaver] Oddly, he’s the third Diamondback to do so, after Chase Anderson in 2014, and Zack Godley the following year. But, wait: didn’t Anderson win his first five starts? Yes: yes, he did. Except, in between #1 and #2, he also appeared as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning, replacing Eric Chavez. So technically, he was 4-0 in his first five MLB appearances. One of them just wasn’t on the mound! :)