After a disastrous weekend in Seattle, Max Scherzer stopped the bleeding on Tuesday night for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The young power pitcher shut down the slugging Texas Rangers, and the top of the D-Backs’ batting order poured on the offense in an 8-2 win at Chase Field. Everything that could…
Since the old Washington Senators franchise moved to Arlington, Texas, in 1972, to become the Rangers, it’s been consistently known for only two things: hitting and collapsing in the humid north Texas heat. Though the Rangers have fielded some talented teams over the years and are beloved, more or less,…
The Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team is staying in Glendale — for now. On June 15, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum ruled that a June 29 deadline on Canadian Jim Balsillie’s bid to buy the team and move it to Canada was not workable. But Baum didn’t set auction…
The score was knotted 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth Sunday at Safeco Field in Seattle when the unthinkable happened. Well, it would’ve been unthinkable except we’re talking about the hard-luck Arizona Diamondbacks. Veteran Tony Clark, who’s about the only true first baseman the D-Backs have left because of injuries, dropped…
Twenty-four runs in the past two games? What’s gotten into the Arizona Diamondbacks hitters? Whatever it is, fans hope the barrage will continue after the team took two of three games, including a 12-5 win Thursday night, against the Kansas City Royals. Starting pitcher Dan Haren wasn’t overpowering, but he…
Things looked mighty bleak midway through Arizona State’s baseball game against North Carolina yesterday afternoon. Then, down 4-0 in an elimination game at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, the Sun Devils loaded the bases for previously unsung outfielder Kole Calhoun. Calhoun deposited a pitch into the right-field bleachers to tie the game,…
D-Backs manager A.J. Hinch held a big clubhouse meeting with his players yesterday afternoon, which shouldn’t come as a surprise following the team’s absolutely embarrassing 5-0 shutout loss to Kansas City on Tuesday night. No press. No other staff. Just the skipper and his crew hashing out one of the…
Gross, dude. The Royals, a team that’s been irrelevant since 1985 (a World Series-winning season that also marks the last time they finished first in their division), made the sinking-ship-like D-Backs look like the irrelevant one. For example, Arizona’s line score in the team’s 5-0 loss at KC’s Kauffman Stadium…
Unlike football (Arizona Cardinals) and basketball (Orlando Magic), Major League Baseball is stingy with its surprises. Sure, the perennial-doormat Tampa Bay Rays made it to the promised land last year, but that was the rare exception to a longstanding MLB rule that separates contenders from also-rans. Though that unwritten baseball…
One step forward, two steps back. That was the story of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ three-game weekend series against the Houston Astros. In Friday night’s 8-1 win, the D-Backs played what might have been their best all-around game of the year. In Saturday’s and Sunday’s losses, the D-Backs were simply outpitched…
Granted, the Arizona Diamondbacks are not a well-oiled machine. We’re just not sure why. (Bad coaching? Poor team chemistry? Dodgy bullpen? Take your pick.) But there is one thing we know for certain: Thank goodness for Justin Upton. In the third, the should-be All-Star selection nailed a solo shot over…
By the time the Arizona Diamondbacks caught up to San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito on Wednesday night, the little things had all but done the D-Backs in. And by the “little things,” we mean putting down a sacrifice bunt, throwing accurately to first base on a pick-off attempt, and,…
Bar none, our favorite sporting event in the world is the the College Baseball World Series, played every year at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Been there just once, though, to watch and report on Arizona State’s third-place finish in the 1994 tournament. That was the one during which the Sun…
Billy Buckner probably wishes he could take back a few pitches from last night’s 9-4 loss to San Francisco, with an 89 m.p.h four-seamer to Pablo Sandoval during the fifth inning being chief among his regrettable throws. After all, the Giants slugger took that 3-2 fastball and transformed it into…
The game on Monday night in San Diego against the Padres basically summed up the season thus far for the National League West cellar-dwellers: Yielding the big inning to the opponent and questionable managerial decision-making. Leading 2-0 in the fifth behind a strong pitching effort by the D-Backs’ Jon Garland,…
It was a marathon game that the Arizona Diamondbacks seemingly had in the bag early. When ace Dan Haren left after seven innings, Arizona held a commanding 6-1 lead over the San Diego Padres. Haren had pitched brilliantly, giving up only four hits and striking out five. Then came the usual ass-pain…
One day after the Arizona Diamondbacks’ apocalyptic meltdown in Los Angeles, they came out swinging Wednesday night but, unfortunately, ran into the Dodgers’ version of the Terminator, flame-throwing righthander Chad Billingsley. The D-Backs’ Jon Garland gave a particularly gutty performance, matching Billingsley pitch for pitch, but timely hitting carried the…
One single out. Just three little strikes. That’s all the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen — or more specifically, Tony Peña — needed to protect a four-run lead with two away in the bottom of the eighth versus the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. But instead of landing that lone K (or…
The most pivotal moment in perhaps the Arizona Diamondbacks’ hoped-for turnaround took place during the top half of the second inning during their Monday-night game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in L.A. Facing Hiroki Kuroda in his first start since Opening Day, Stephen Drew led off with a double that…
The latest is, there’s a deal to put the name of the Tempe-based company on the jerseys of Phoenix Mercury players, which could open the door for similar sponsorship deals in professional sports, the Arizona Republic reports this morning. …
Paybacks can be a major bitch. Just ask Max Scherzer. After getting blanked by the Arizona pitcher during an embarrassing 12-0 rout two weeks ago, the Atlanta Braves destroyed the 24-year-old with 10 hits over the first four innings of their 9-3 thumping of the Diamondbacks yesterday at Chase Field…
Dan Haren set the pace for the Arizona Diamondbacks with a seven-hit, two-run, eight-strikeouts, no-walks performance in eight innings on the mound Thursday night.He improved his record to 4-4.And he got something he’s been denied in several starts this season: run production from his offense. Precisely, Arizona batters got 11 hits and five…
