Stephen Drew
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Diamondbacks Notes: April 8, 2009
* ROCKIES TAKE GAME 3, SERIES - Colorado took a get-away game by a 7-2 margin on Wednesday afternoon. As a rule, we would be disinclined to read too much into any 3-game set, especially this early in the season. But there's a continuity between the issues the Diamondbacks faced last season and in the spring and what they've shown in the second and third games of the season. Namely, too many strikeouts, too giving a bullpen, and too many defensive miscues.
There were several ugly plays in today's contest, but a couple of Felipe Lopez gaffes stand out. On the first play, Stephen Drew fielded a grounder and flipped to Lopez, who seemed surprised by the offering. Although he caught it, Lopez neglected to step on the 2B bag. Later, Lopez shovelled a ball to Drew ... or rather, he shovelled it to where Drew would have been if Drew were playing LF. Some of these issues may be kinks that come with breaking in new double-play partners, but Lopez's reputation suggests we weren't witnessing...
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2009 DIAMONDBACKS SEASON PREVIEW - PART IV
* LOOKING FORWARD - Having once been a team of veterans drawn from other clubs, Arizona enters 2009 with a roster whose players are predominantly young and of local origin. For most of these players, the coming season will be their third together as a group. The experience of developing as a team is rare in modern baseball, where free agency and trades shuffle almost every organization's roster annually.
Indeed, the Diamondbacks have not been immune to turnover on their pitching staff or in the field. Several key players are gone from the 2008 edition. Unable to work out a new pact with the club, Randy Johnson has taken his quest for 300 wins to San Francisco. Orlando Hudson has joined another division rival, signing on to play second base with the Dodgers. A third NL West team, the Padres, have made David Eckstein their starting second baseman. The Nationals reached a two-year agreement with Adam Dunn, who will play first base in Washington. Ex-closer Brandon Lyon joined the...
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2009 DIAMONDBACKS SEASON PREVIEW - PART III
* WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN - As a franchise, the Diamondbacks' age, payroll and record rocketed sky-high on the way to their 2001 World Series victory. Those expensive, aging veterans that won Arizona's first major professional title began to fall from the stratosphere in the seasons to follow. The 2002 Diamondbacks (98-65) managed to repeat as NL West champs, but were swept 3-0 in a NLDS rematch with St. Louis. By 2003, Arizona would slip to a third-place finish at 84-78 behind a half-hearted mix of veterans and youngsters.
Fortunately, Arizona had found its cornerstone in Brandon Webb, whose sinker opponents were helpless but to pound into the infield grass. Drafted in 2000 while the "old" school roster was still ascendant, Webb would make his debut in 2003 and come to exemplify the Diamondbacks' new strategy: to win by developing its own talent. Another pair of building blocks joined the organization that year with the selections of Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin....
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Diamondbacks Notes: August 14, 2008
* ARI @ COL, GAME 2 -- Arizona fell behind early Wednesday night before mounting a pair of rallies, first to tie the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning, then again to draw to within a run in the ninth following Brad Hawpe's two-run HR off Jon Rauch in the bottom of the eighth. Despite the Diamondbacks' resilience, Colorado evened the series as Brian Fuentes struck out Adam Dunn with the bases loaded to seal a 6-5 Rockies win.
* WEB GEMS -- With runners on the corners and no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning of last night's game, Augie Ojeda combined with Stephen Drew to turn a pretty double-play. Drew fielded an Ian Stewart grounder, then checked Brad Hawpe at 3B before throwing to Ojeda to force Troy Tulowitzki out at 2B. Ojeda, who started at 2B for the third straight game following Orlando Hudson's season-ending wrist injury, smartly saved a run by again looking Hawpe back to the bag before firing to 1B to finish the 6-4-3 twin-killing.
* TRACY GETS HOT -- The Dunn...
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Diamondbacks Notes: August 13, 2008
* DUNN DEBUTS -- Adam Dunn lived up to his reputation in his first game for Arizona. Batting fourth and playing RF, the Diamondbacks newly acquired slugger did (almost) everything expected of him.
In the top of the first, Dunn worked a full count, then struck out swinging at a Ubaldo Jimenez sinker that bounced in the dirt. Dunn followed up by taking a pair of called strikes to lead off the fourth, but rallied for a walk on four consecutive pitches, including another sinker that bounced in front of the plate for ball four.
His first Diamondbacks hit came as Dunn drove an 0-1 fastball to RF for a double in the fifth. He would have earned an RBI had Stephen Drew not been caught in a run-down at 3B as Conor Jackson reached by fielder's choice on the preceding play. Dunn took four straight Jorge de la Rosa fastballs for his second BB to start the seventh, but the bottom of the order left him stranded for the third time on the night.
Batting with a runner in scoring...
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