Friday, July 08, 2005
The Bounce
I prefer the mad dash -- The Bounce, for whatever reason, looks dorky to me.
But it was nice to see the Diamondbacks mob Luis Gonzalez at home plate and do The Bounce after Gonzo's walk-off homerun off Ray King in the Diamondbacks' 2-1 victory over the Cardinals Thursday night. After spoiling a great Claudio Vargas outing by giving up the tying run in the top of the 8th, National League Rookie of the Year Lance Cormier pitched a solid 9th inning, then was the lucky beneficiary of the win.
So after two games in which the Cardinals looked every bit like the favorites to win the World Series and the Diamondbacks looked every bit like the softball team for your corner Circle K, the D-Backs came back with two closely fought games, avoided the sweep, and remained in 2nd place in the NL West. 5 1/2 games out, yes, and 7 1/2 games out in the wild card race, but 2nd place nonetheless.
One wonders if Vargas will soon lose the magic he's shown recently, as have a number of other D-Back pitching pickups did thus far this year (Javier Lopez, anyone?). But with news that Shawn Estes is heading to the DL, Vargas' spot in the rotation seems secure for awhile now. And, frankly, Brad Halsey has more to worry about when both Estes and Russ Ortiz come back.
So now the Diamondbacks are 3 games below .500 with the Cincinnati Reds coming into town. I've said this before when bad teams come into town, but we should sweep this series. And the D-Backs have let me down (Royals, anyone?) But, really, a sweep of the Reds is doable (unlikely, perhaps, but doable), and going into the All-Star Break with a .500 record would be waaaay satisfactory.
But it was nice to see the Diamondbacks mob Luis Gonzalez at home plate and do The Bounce after Gonzo's walk-off homerun off Ray King in the Diamondbacks' 2-1 victory over the Cardinals Thursday night. After spoiling a great Claudio Vargas outing by giving up the tying run in the top of the 8th, National League Rookie of the Year Lance Cormier pitched a solid 9th inning, then was the lucky beneficiary of the win.
So after two games in which the Cardinals looked every bit like the favorites to win the World Series and the Diamondbacks looked every bit like the softball team for your corner Circle K, the D-Backs came back with two closely fought games, avoided the sweep, and remained in 2nd place in the NL West. 5 1/2 games out, yes, and 7 1/2 games out in the wild card race, but 2nd place nonetheless.
One wonders if Vargas will soon lose the magic he's shown recently, as have a number of other D-Back pitching pickups did thus far this year (Javier Lopez, anyone?). But with news that Shawn Estes is heading to the DL, Vargas' spot in the rotation seems secure for awhile now. And, frankly, Brad Halsey has more to worry about when both Estes and Russ Ortiz come back.
So now the Diamondbacks are 3 games below .500 with the Cincinnati Reds coming into town. I've said this before when bad teams come into town, but we should sweep this series. And the D-Backs have let me down (Royals, anyone?) But, really, a sweep of the Reds is doable (unlikely, perhaps, but doable), and going into the All-Star Break with a .500 record would be waaaay satisfactory.
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