It’s far too early.
Roster move
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:
- Recalled INF/OF Andrew Young from Triple-A Reno.
- Released C Bryan Holaday from the roster.
This one is going to be brief. since it does not look like there’s a Torey Lovullo media call scheduled for this morning. Which makes sense, since going off the previous games in the series, it would have to be at about 7:30 am, Phoenix time. Given it’s 132 games into a dead season: it might end up being the only media call where Lovullo was the only person in attendance. To be clear, even this preview is being pre-scheduled, it that was not already apparent. It’s just approaching midnight, and I’m banging it out before going to bed, after a pleasant evening watching movies and going through a “Beers of the World” selection box which SnakePit Jr. left behind when he moved out. Thanks, SnakePit Jr.
The lack of a call is kinda convenient for Lovullo, in that he won’t be asked about the team’s poor performance last night. It was the team’s 13th shutout of the year, a figure only previously surpassed in team history by the 16 times they were blanked in their inaugural season of 1998. This year’s model are actually ahead of that pace, as the 1998 team had 11 shutouts to this point, adding five more down the stretch. That included a dismal series against the Braves, where they were shutout three times in four days (Andy Benes beat Greg Maddux 5-0 in the other game). All told, the D-backs have been held to two or fewer runs more than one-third of the time (44 games). No wonder it hasn’t been much fun to watch.
Here’s another “fun” stat. The last time the Diamondbacks won a game while scoring two or fewer runs was almost two years ago, on the final day of the 2019 season – the 1-0 walk-off over the Padres. Since then, Arizona are 0-65 in such contests. Every other team in the majors has managed at least one victory over that time – even the Orioles and Rockies. It’s another version of “taco(less) hell” that we experienced earlier in the year. Our opponents today, the Phillies, have eleven such wins in 2021 alone. Their record when scoring exactly two runs? 11-12. Arizona’s? 0-20. Hard to say whether this puts more pressure on the pitching staff or the hitters.