Some Relief

What did we learn in the Phillies series?

• We played em at the right time, with Howard hobbling. 
• Eric Byrnes, Tony Clark and Orlando Hudson hit 4 homers in three games vs very mediocre pitching.
• Diamondback youth hit zero homers - and little else - against the same staff in a homerdome, and now is the time for Kevin Seitzer's role in their collective non-development to be acknowledged and altered.

The 8 neophytes - Drew, Young, Callaspo, CoJack, Quentin, Hairston, Montero and Barden - have acumulated 613 at bats. Together, they've hit nine homers, four by Chris Young. The cumulative .223 batting average is bad enough, but pales next to their .327 slugging % - which includes all those doubles they've been legging out.  For perspective, Tony Womack slugged .356 lifetime, Counsell .349.

Did we learn anything about Randy?

• Best case, he'll record his first win about a quarter of the way thru the season
• The bite in his slider is coming back
• He benefits from - and exploits - big strikezones.
• He's consistently missing spots

The Diamondbacks embark on a sixteen game swing today that represents the easiest segment of this year's schedule - at least on paper. Three games in Pittsburgh, sandwiched by 7 games against the Astros, a team that actually hits worse than Arizona, and a home n home against the stumbling Rockies.

This apparent windfall was preceded by a particularly tough patch of opponents, admirably survived, at 10-13(.434). What can we look for over the next sixteen games? Unlike the past few weeks, consider more of the up and down brand of .500 baseball a regression. This is an opportunity for Arizona to make a serious move in the standings, with a 10-6 or 11-5 mark. In my view, anything less than 9-7 fails to meet this team's implied expectations.

Yahoo's Jeff Passan has a terrific article on former Dodger Mike Marshall and his iconoclastic quest to prevent pitching arm injuries by deconstructing and reinventing the pitching motion, somewhere on the outskirts of Tampa.  Secretive and kooky, Marshall might be the kind of nut worth listening to. When he won the Cy Young Award in 1974, he pitched 208 innings, injury free.

In relief.

(photo courtesy of mlb and sptimes.com)