Diamondbacks Notes: April 14, 2009
* DO SNAKES HAVE BUTTS? - If they do, they're getting sore from yet another spanking by a visiting opponent. On Monday night it was the Cardinals who opened a three-game series by beating the Diamondbacks 2-1 at Chase Field. Starter Doug Davis pitched well and deep into the contest to finish with a line of 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 5 K. He took his second loss of the season despite surrendering only a pair of runs on solo homers, including a blast by monster slugger Albert Pujols.
As you can tell from the final score, pitching was not the problem for the Diamondbacks yesterday. Rather, it was the offense that failed to do its part. Arizona's bats scratched out a single run on Chad Tracy's RBI double in the fourth. Conor Jackson, who doesn't get a lot of attention for his base-running, raced around from 1B for the run. (It was the second such tally by Jackson on the season; he scored from 1B on a Chris Snyder double on Opening Day.) Monday's weak out-put continues a troubling pattern for the Snakes, who have scored a total of six runs in their five losses on the year.
Since we're looking hard for bright spots, we note that the Diamondbacks tied a season high with three doubles and struck out only four times, their second lowest total on the season. Still, some of the responsibility belongs to the St. Louis pitching staff, which sent Todd Wellemeyer (7 IP, 7 H, ER, 4 K), Kyle McClellan, Dennys Reyes and Ryan Franklin to the hill. None of those guys has shut-down stuff.
* YOU KNOW YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT WHEN ... - You know the Arizona farm system has been pretty good when the products who didn't make the cut come back to bite the Diamondbacks. We've seen Dan Uggla and Carlos Quentin develop into All-Stars. Micah Owings (23.2 IP, 20 H, 10 BB, 24 K, 1.52 ERA, 1.27 WHIP in the spring) won a rotation spot in Cincinnati and remains a weapon at the plate. Speedster Emilio Bonifacio is off to a blazing start for the Marlins.
The latest to make the Snakes regretful is Cardinals infielder Brian Barden, whose eighth inning home run off Davis sealed the win for St. Louis. Barden was Arizona's sixth round draft choice in 2002 out of Oregon State University. He climbed up the chain to Tucson, where Barden's Diamondbacks career stalled. After spending parts of the 2004 through 2007 seasons with the Sidewinders, Barden enjoyed a brief call-up to Phoenix. Eight games, a dozen plate appearances and one single later, Barden was waived by Arizona and claimed by St. Louis.
Now 28, Barden has not registered as a prospect since 2007, when Baseball America rated him at No. 20 in the Diamondbacks organization. They wrote of Barden: "He has a nice line-drive stroke and is a good situational hitter ... On defense, his hands are as good as just about anyone in the organization. While third base is his best position, he played all four infield spots [in 2006.] ... In the right situation, he'll be a great role player for a big league team."
That seems to be exactly what Barden's become. He is listed on the Cardinals depth-chart at 3B and started there on Opening Day, but was in the line-up last night at 2B. A right-handed hitter, Barden has drawn both his starts on the season against lefties (Pittsburgh's Paul Maholm and Davis). Skip Schumaker, who converted from OF to serve as the primary 2B for St. Louis, bats from the left side and lacks much pop in his bat. As a right-handed platoon partner, Barden looks like a good fit ... and yet another Diamondbacks farmhand to make a mark in the bigs.
* TOP BILLING - By losing last night's opener, Arizona broke its early season form. The Snakes had won the first games of its series against the Rockies and Dodgers, then dropped the last two of each set. Here's hoping the Diamondbacks can fully flip that pattern. They'll do so if they can put together back-to-back victories starting tonight. In the prime pitching match-up of the series, Max Scherzer will show his stuff for the TV audience in his native St. Louis, Missouri as he takes on 2005 NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter.
Tonight will be Scherzer's second career start versus the Cardinals, but his first time seeing most of their hitters. In a 4-2 loss at St. Louis, Scherzer went 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB and 4 K. With post-season elimination a certainty, the Cardinals watered-down their line-up for that September 2008 contest. Consequently, neither Pujols nor Ryan Ludwick has ever faced the Diamondbacks right-hander. That may play to Scherzer's advantage this evening.
Scherzer will be making his first ML appearance of the 2009 regular season. On the DL to open the year, Scherzer made a rehab start last week for Class A+ Visalia, in which he lasted four and two-thirds innings, striking out five and walking four before reaching his pitch-count limit.
For the Cardinals, Carpenter will try to improve to 2-0 on the year. He is 3-0 lifetime against Arizona, with a 2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 18 K in 29.1 IP. Each of those victories over the Diamondbacks came at Chase Field, where Carpenter has a 3.60 ERA and 1.15 WHIP all-time. However, most of that domination came against players no longer on the Arizona roster. Current Snakes have had limited exposure to Carpenter, who missed almost all of 2008 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Of those who have faced him, Miguel Montero is 1/1 with a double and Chris B. Young singled in his lone at-bat. Felipe Lopez (3/14 lifetime) has struggled to make contact against Carpenter, but has been productive nonetheless, with 2 HR and 3 BB for a .996 OPS. Another player we're almost certain to see this evening is Tony Clark, who has stung Carpenter for 11 H, 2 2B, HR, 6 RBI and a .355 / .412 / .516 in 34 career plate appearances.
Would a reprise of the Lopez-and-Clark heroics from Opening Day be too much for Diamondbacks Nation to ask? We don't want the boys to press, but the way the offense has sputtered lately, that kind of show from the Snakes would be most welcome.
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