Snake Bytes 6/25: Okay, Who Drank Jobu’s Rum?

Another Diamondbacks win, another Diamondbacks to the IL.

Diamondbacks News

Marte Home Run Leads Diamondbacks Victory Charge
An early solo-shot from Ketel Marte got the Diamondbacks off on the right foot and helped guide them to a 4-1 victory against the woeful Whit Sox.

Marte Endures Disgusting Verbal Assault from Chicago Fan
Hopefully, the fan is banned from the stadium for life.

Torey on the incident

Diamondbacks Suffer Yet Another Injury
Backup third baseman, Ildemaro Vargas was hit squarely in the foot by a pitch in last night’s game, fracturing the fifth metatarsal. Vargas was lifted from the game and utilityman Tim Tawa took his place. Tawa was solid defensively at the Hot Corner, making a play that helped secure the win. Blaze Alexander was lifted from the game in Reno after the HBP.

Reno Scores 18 to Win Slugfest
The good, the Reno Aces scored 18 runs last night. The bad, the Reno Aces gave up 15 runs last night.

Other Baseball News

Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement
A 9th round pick by the Royals in 2010, Merrifield made his MLB debut in May of 2016 as an advanced age utility player before he made his mark and established himself as a regular starter for the club.

A Conversation with Max Scherzer About Importance of Conviction
Max Scherzer speaks about many things, including how advanced analytics have helped him to simplify his game.

Cruz Removed from Game for Losing Track of Outs
Nothing is going right for Pittsburgh these days.

A New Formula for Bringing Pitcher Wins Back to Life
Pitcher wins are a deceased stat, but that doesn’t mean that pitchers should be deprived of credit for wins. But, the way wins are figured needs to change for it to work. Game Score Wins might point the way.

Randy Johnson is briefly discussed in this article and the fact that his dominant 2001-2002 run would go from 45-11 to 60-9 actually feel sort of right.

There’s a reason we chose Skenes as our jumping-off point. As mentioned, Skenes’ 4-6 mark over his first 16 starts tells you nothing about a pitcher with a 1.85 ERA. His game score record (11-5) is a lot more on the mark.

The Tigers have been the best in baseball since being active sellers at last season’s deadline

I miss the days of Arizona having pitchers like this. It has been a very, very long time.