Kuzul

In June 1995, two friends John Baur and Mark Summers were playing a racquetball game. One of them was hit with a ball and screamed in pain with an outburst of “Aaarrr!” that sounded very much like a pirate movie. The two men hatched an idea.

What if they could create a holiday where everyone talked like a pirate for one day? They chose September 19 as the date since it was Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday (how appropriate). International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) was born.

It began as an inside joke between two friends but gained coverage after Summers wrote a letter to humor columnist Dave Berry. Berry loved the idea and began to promote it. With the advent of social networking on the Internet, ITLAPD has gained popularity.

It is mostly a parody holiday concocted for fun but sometimes there are other implications. Looking at the Arizona Diamondbacks schedule it seemed somewhat fitting that the Diamondbacks would play the Pittsburgh Pirates on ITLAPD.

I found myself torn. Do I dress like a traditional pirate and take on the linguistic musings of a pirate or do I wear Sedona Red thumbing my nose at ITLAPD and root for Arizona to overcome a two-game losing streak ending a dreadful road trip?

As a loyal Diamondbacks fan, I chose the latter. With the game scheduled for this morning, I awoke early putting on my jersey, opening a bag of peanuts, and settling into my recliner for a day of baseball.

Daniel Hudson was on the mound, and he has been dominant since coming over from the Chicago White Sox. If anyone could get the team out of a losing streak it would be Hudson.

I knew I was in trouble in the bottom of the first inning when Pirates’ outfielder Andrew McCutchen hit a home run on the first pitch he saw from Hudson. “AAARRR!” I screamed at the television suddenly empathizing with Summers when he was hit with the racquetball 15 years ago.

My spirits were lifted in the fourth inning when the Diamondbacks scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead. I briefly considered calling my wife a wench and doing some pillaging and plundering but did not want to get too far ahead of myself.

Looking back that was a wise decision. After Hudson left the game in the seventh inning, the bullpen was asked to get the final eight outs of the game. If 2010 has taught us anything, it is never to rely on the bullpen.

Reliever Sam Demel entered in the seventh inning and induced a double play to the first hitter he faced to retire the Pirates. In celebration, I poured myself a bowl of Cap’n Crunch cereal complete with red and purple crunch berries.

I may have just jinxed the game. It started off well enough with the Diamondbacks adding a run in the top of the eighth to give them a 3-1 lead. Surely the bullpen can maintain a two-run lead?

Aaron Heilman came in to work the bottom of the eighth before turning the game over to Juan Gutierrez to close it down in the ninth. Unfortunately it never got that far.

Ronny Cedeno hit an infield single that dribbled to third baseman Mark Reynolds. After striking out Garrett Jones, Andrew McCutchen comes up and singles to center field putting men on first and third with one out.

A double-play ball would get the Diamondbacks out of this predicament. Jose Tabata hit a shot down the third base line that was miraculously snagged by Mark Reynolds who threw to second. The Diamondbacks could not turn the double play, and Cedeno scored making the score 3-2.

With two outs, the Diamondbacks needed just one out to maintain the lead. Before I could even put down the spoon in my Cap’n Crunch, Gutierrez gave up a home run to Neil Walker to dead center field.

Just like that the lead and the game was blown like a cannon ball to the hull of a ship. It could not have been any worse if pirates had commandeered my ship and stolen all of my cargo.

It is times like this I wish I had two eye patches just so I didn’t have to watch the bullpen blow another game. I began cursing like a pirate that would make even a sailor blush.

They say dead men tell no tales; I wonder if the same can be said about bad relievers? About the only thing that could make me feel any better would be if Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson would have made the relievers walk the plank.

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In what is likely the final September call-up, the Arizona Diamondbacks purchased the contract of Konrad Schmidt from the Double-A Mobile BayBears. Schmidt, who was with the Diamondbacks in spring training, left a very favorable impression with the coaching staff.

Everyone was impressed with Schmidt’s poise behind the plate and how he handled the pitching staff. Add to this the fact that he posted good offensive numbers while with the BayBears and Schmidt earned a late season call.

While in Double-A, Schmidt hit .315 in 107 games driving in 65 runs including hitting 11 home runs. Almost more important Schmidt struck out only 63 times. That may seem a tad high but considering he had 124 hits the hit to strikeout ratio is much better than the current players on the Diamondbacks roster.

Schmidt becomes the third catcher on the Diamondbacks roster behind starter Miguel Montero and backup Jon Lester. Interim manager Kirk Gibson has requested another catcher to give him some flexibility late in the game.

Schmidt would have been called up earlier but the Mobile BayBears were involved in the Southern League playoffs and were not eliminated until Sunday night.

After a loss and an extended bus ride back to Mobile, Schmidt was notified of his call to the big leagues. He quickly packed his things and rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Cincinnati.

Arriving just before batting practice, Schmidt had a whirlwind day that ended with the culmination of a lifelong dream, to be a Major League baseball player. He did not have to wait long before seeing game action.

In the ninth inning Schmidt pinch hit for pitcher Juan Gutierrez walking in his only at-bat. So while he is still waiting for his first major league hit he should be content knowing his on base percentage is 1.000. Congratulations Konrad, and best of luck in what everyone hopes is a long and successful career.

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When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Edwin Jackson for Daniel Hudson back in July, I thought the Diamondbacks got a steal. Even though he projected to be a No. 3 starter, I thought he could blossom into in a No. 2 starter pitching in the NL West.

What I didn’t think would happen was Hudson pitching like a No. 1 starter. Since coming over to the Diamondbacks, Hudson has been flat-out awesome!

After pitching seven innings of one-run ball on Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants, Hudson moved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.91 in a Diamondbacks uniform. He also has a Greg Maddux-like 0.91 WHIP and is averaging 8.1 K/9.

Hudson is 6’4″ and features a fastball in the low-90s, a slider, and a change-up. His best pitch is by far his change-up. His change-up is thrown around 83 mph and has tremendous downward movement in the strike zone. He used his change-up to perfection on Wednesday night, especially to Cody Ross.

In the top of the second, Hudson threw two deadly change-ups down and away and then busted Ross in on the hands with a 92 mph fastball. All Ross was able to do was break his bat and hit a weak grounder to short.

The at-bat featured a pitch sequence that has been time tested to get batters out for the last 100 years. Soft down and away and hard up and in. While Hudson’s velocity isn’t the best, he can get away with a 92 mph because of his outstanding control.

With Hudson, Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright the Diamondbacks have the makings of a solid starting rotation in 2011. Hudson might be the best of them all.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Since September 1st, the Diamondbacks have had two waves of call-ups, or bringing members of their minor league clubs to the major league level. The first wave was the largest, bringing on four players (Tony Abreu, Brandon Allen, Carlos Rosa, and Leo Rosales). The second wave saw Arizona add two players (Zach Kroenke and Mike Hampton).

Indications were these would be the only additions to the roster. It was therefore surprising to arrive at Chase Field before last night’s game and see outfielder Cole Gillespie in uniform and warming up.

Gillespie has had two stints with the Diamondbacks this season with some levels of success. He has played well defensively while struggling during his last appearance with the Diamondbacks.

I had expected to see Gillespie on September 1st, but he seemed to be the forgotten player being left in Reno while others were called up to Phoenix. With Allen now getting time in the outfield as well as first base, you had to wonder whether Gillespie was still in the mix for a roster spot next season.

He may not have received an invitation back to the big leagues were it not for the injury Justin Upton received tweaking his shoulder during an at bat. Upton has been out of the line-up for seven games, and according to reports, his shoulder is not responding to treatment.

Rather than playing down an outfielder, the Diamondbacks recalled Gillespie to fill in until the team knows more about Upton’s injury.

After an MRI, team doctors do not believe the shoulder is structurally different than it was when Upton arrived at the major leagues in 2006. That is not to say there is no damage, just no more damage in the past four years.

Upton’s brother BJ had a similar shoulder issue and went under surgery to repair damage to his labrum. Team officials are not suggestion Justin have something similar, but if his shoulder does not get any better over the next week, there may be further discussions going into the offseason.

In the meantime, Gillespie received a return trip to Chase Field. It will be up to him to make the most of this opportunity and show team officials he belongs on the roster going into Spring Training 2011.

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Chances are that if you were around, you remember the 1986 baseball season.

A season capped by an exciting World Series that was best known for being the launching pad for several successful major league careers, including those of Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Barry Larkin, David Cone, Bo Jackson, Jamie Moyer, Steve Finley, Will Clark, and Rafael Palmeiro.

There were some impressive debuts that year, too. Will Clark hit a home run in his first at-bat, off of Nolan Ryan. Jimmy Jones pitched a one-hitter in his first major league appearance for San Diego. Greg Maddux had a shutout in his second career appearance.

Much like 1986, this season has been big on rookies.

You may be getting tired of reading the stories about how the likes of Jaime Garica, Jason Heyward, Neftali Feliz, Buster Posey, Aroldis Chapman, Starlin Castro, Adalberto Mendez, Logan Morrison, Mike Leake, Travis Wood, Danny Valencia, Danny Espinosa, Daniel Nava, Mike Stanton, and Chris Sale are forming the best rookie class since that magical ’86 season.

You may be tired of the stories of the amazing debuts of Starlin Castro, Aroldis Chapman, Daniel Nava, and recently, Adalberto Melendez.

Hold on one second longer, because one rookie still doesn’t get his due when this amazing season is spoken about.

That man is Barry Enright.

Don’t be surprised if this is the first you’ve heard of Enright, who, at the tender age of 24, has been the Diamondbacks’ most consistent starter this year.

A quick sweep of Google will give you about 448,000 results for the phrase “Barry Enright”, but over 1.8 million for “Stephen Strasburg”.

He’s flown largely under the radar, despite one of the best rookie seasons in Arizona’s relatively short history.

All season, Enright has mowed down hitters with quiet precision, posting an ERA of 2.45, second among rookies to only Jaime Garcia. He has shown remarkable success in pitching to contact. Despite only averaging only five strikeouts per nine innings, Enright’s WHIP is lower than that of Garcia’s, and several major league stalwarts, like CC Sabathia and Danny Haren.

He’s done all of this despite pitching in an extreme hitters’ park, where a lack of strikeouts usually points to a tendency for the long ball.

And you’d be right. Enright has given up one homer per nine innings, but has been able to minimize mistakes otherwise. He holds opponents to a .191 average and posting a 5.5 K/BB ratio in 51 plate appearances with runners in scoring position.

Enright seems to know what’s going on, saying, “The tough times are the ones that truly show you who you are.”

By buckling down with runners on, he has shown tenacity and mental ability usually reserved for veterans.

Am I saying Barry Enright is my choice for Rookie of the Year? Not quite. His BAbip of .259 and xFIP of 4.84 show that his numbers can’t be held up for much longer. But with just one month left on the schedule, do they really need to?

For now, let’s just sit back and watch one of the most under-reported rookie seasons in years.

When people look back and talk about the stunning rookies that debuted this season, don’t be surprised if Enright’s name comes to the forefront of the discussion. Smart young pitchers are hard to find in this league.

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For the second year in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks have endured a miserable season. The Diamondbacks sit in last place in the NL West, 24 games behind the first place San Diego Padres.

Due to their poor season, it’s very rare they get any love here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham. Well today, I am going to give them some love.

Did anyone take note of the week SS Stephen Drew had last week?

Drew absolutely tore the cover off the ball last week to the tune of a .500/.517/1.179 hitting line. That’s not a misprint. Drew really had a 1.179 slugging percentage.

Out of his 14 total hits, Drew hit five doubles, four HRs, and one triple. He also scored 10 runs and drove in nine for those of you who are into those types of numbers. Drew raised his average almost 20 points last week from .259 to .274.

That is one hell of a week.

And while Drew might have had an off-the-charts week, he very quietly is having a very solid season in Arizona. He is second among all MLB shortstops with an .806 OPS and currently is leader amongst all shortstops with a 4.0 WAR.

Drew is much like his brother in that it never seems like he has a good year because he is so talented and expectations are so high that nothing will ever be good enough. But when the season comes to an end and you look at the stats, Drew is always at the top of the charts among shortstops.

Based on offensive and defensive metrics, Drew has been the most valuable shortstop in baseball. Not bad for a guy that nobody has talked about much in 2010.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The Arizona Diamondbacks begin a three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field tonight. These two teams met a week ago at Petco Park with the Padres winning the first two games of the series before dropping the finale.

The Diamondbacks’ win in that third game marked their first win this season in San Diego. Since that time the Diamondbacks went on to take two out of three from the San Francisco Giants while the Padres were swept at home by the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Diamondbacks went a respectable 3-3 on their latest road trip. For a team that is a paltry 22-43 on the road, a .500 road trip is grounds for celebration. It wasn’t just this trip that has Diamondbacks fans excited.

Regardless of what happens over the next two nights, the Arizona Diamondbacks are guaranteed to have a winning record for the month of August. The worst they can finish is 15-14 if they lose tonight and tomorrow.

For a team that is 27 games under .500, there is not a lot to look forward to other than a winning percentage for a given month. To put this into perspective, the last time the Arizona Diamondbacks had a winning record for a month it was August 2009, exactly a year ago.

So while this may not be the kind of news that will set the town to dancing in the streets, it is a positive direction. Something we have not had in a very long time.

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Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks finally have something to look forward to.

Webb is expected to make a September return and pitch for the bullpen.

Brandon Webb hasn’t pitched since April of 2009. Since then, he has been making a push to return from shoulder surgery performed in October of last year.

On Saturday, the 2006 NL Cy Young award winner was ecstatic after throwing a simulated game that “went so well.”

“I’m on cloud nine right now. It feels great. It doesn’t take much to get you back on the positive side and look forward and see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Webb’s simulation was 52 pitches, and afterwards left him visibly excited. D-backs pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre explained his pitches as “filthy.”

“Today, for me, was a huge breakthrough and a movement forward. Realistically, looking at what we have left in the season, the probability of him pitching now is high,” Stottlemyre said.

Webb was clocked in at 80 MPH, which is nothing great compared to when he is 100 percent. The D-backs are waiting until Webb can reach the mid-80s. It is not known how soon Webb will reach that velocity, but timing is a major factor in his return.

“If he can add a couple miles per hour more on his next statement and…if he can go get one more gear and sustain that and then fine-tune and harness his other stuff, then you could say…two or three of these more and he has a chance of getting out there,” Stottlemyre said.

Look for Webb to make a September return, barring any setbacks. We will see if Webb can return to his elite pitching status, being the former Cy Young award winner in 2006.

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In an article first reported by Nick Piecoro, the Diamondbacks beat writer for the Arizona Republic, team officials admitted they are considering changes to Chase Field that would change the way the stadium plays.

It is no secret that Chase Field has long been a hitter’s paradise. The ball seems to fly out of Chase Field faster than a four-dollar beer on a 110-degree afternoon game.

And if the roof happens to be open, the ball flies even further, averaging roughly 10 more feet of flight.

This is not a new phenomenon; hitters have always had an advantage at Chase Field.

The reasons have been attributed to the high elevation, thin warm air, and low humidity typical of a summer day in Arizona.

Few people realize that Chase Field is actually the second highest elevation ballpark in Major League Baseball behind only Coors Field in Denver. The air pressure is less dense as altitude increases giving the ball less wind resistance than a ball hit at sea level.

Temperature also plays a factor in the way the ball carries. A typical summer day in Arizona will see temperatures well over 100 degrees. Even with the roof closed and air conditioning, the temperatures are in the high 80’s in the air above the playing surface.

While no one is attributing the air conditioning to how the ball flies, you have to wonder what effect it has. The majority of the air conditioning vents are at the back of the seating areas.

With most of the seating areas behind the plate and down the lines, this means the air conditioning is blowing out to the outfield.

Common sense would suggest this would be similar to the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Perhaps not as brisk as wind blowing towards Lake Michigan, but it should still be a factor adding a few feet to the travel of the ball.

So if the field has been hitter-friendly for the past 13 years, why consider changes now? Diamondbacks CEO/President Derrick Hall suggested the team is being built on young pitching and defense.

If that is the case, why wouldn’t they want to make changes to the ballpark to protect the team’s strengths?

The suggested changes are interesting. One suggestion, which at first seems rather drastic, is modifying the playing field dimensions. The team is considering moving the left and right field fences back approximately 10 feet.

The right field fence would be rather easy to adjust to an extent. There is approximately 10 feet beyond the current outfield fence that is used for handicapped seating and as a walkway for those in the swimming pool area.

That space could be eliminated with the outfield fence now being the much taller bleacher fence. The swimming pool in right-center would be a problem.

Plans would be to leave the pool area undisturbed, making the field even more asymmetrical with a 10-foot jut-out now being in play.

Adjusting the left field fence would be more problematic. The team would have to remove five or six rows of seats in the left-field bleachers to move the wall back.

By removing the seats, it would reduce seating capacity and would also increase the height of the wall, since the remaining seats would start higher than the current front row of the bleacher.

The natural question to be asked is how many home runs are barely clearing the left and right field walls? A trip over to the great reference site Hit Tracker allows us to look at spray charts of where home runs have landed at Chase Field.

Looking at the graph for Chase Field for 2010 we can see changes to the left field bleachers could have a substantial effect on the number of home runs.

Several this season have landed in the first few rows which, with the fences extended, may have been long outs.

The 2010 graph is consistent with other seasons of data gathered by Hit Tracker, leading credence to Hall’s suggestion that home run totals could be significantly reduced with a minor change to the outfield walls.

The other suggested change was the installation of a humidor at Chase Field to store baseballs in a climate-controlled area until used in the game. The humidor would eliminate the effects of dry warm air on the baseball.

The use of a humidor is not new. The Colorado Rockies have been using such a device since 2002. The MLB Commissioner’s Office has studied the effects and were at one time considering instituting the use of a humidor at all stadiums.

In the past I’ve suggested using a humidor at Chase Field to level the playing field for pitchers as well as hitters. Some have claimed using a humidor to adjust characteristics of the ball is cheating.

I question that thinking. The temperature and humidity levels introduced with a humidor bring the ball into compliance with the conditions in place when the baseballs are manufactured.

It could be argued not using a humidor is cheating since teams are adapting the baseball to local conditions rather than what the ball was designed and developed to operate.

All of these measures are designed to eliminate the advantages of the hitter at Chase Field. While I applaud the team’s thinking, I wonder whether these changes would have a positive effect for the team.

Neutralizing the field would mean less home runs and fewer runs generated by both the opposing team and the home team.

When a team is winning, that may not be a bad thing since the stands tend to be fuller when the team is having a winning season.

But what about years such as this season and last when the team is playing sub-par baseball? What then? Would fans be winning to sit through a losing season when the home team is unable to score and there are fewer home runs?

If 1998, taught us anything it is that the casual baseball fan loves to see home runs. Even in cases where a team is losing game after game, if they can see someone hit a bomb that flies 480 feet to regions of the stadium thought untouchable, it breeds excitement.

Perhaps the Diamondbacks should consider incremental changes when adjusting the playability of Chase Field.

Add the humidor and have instructional league games played at Chase Field with balls stored in the humidor and those not and gauge what effect it has on playability.

This may not be so drastic a change and yet still bring Chase Field into a more neutral range.

At the same time the minor league pitching staff needs to work with the Diamondbacks’ young pitchers to teach them how to keep the ball down in the strike zone, which would be a far cry from what we have seen this season.

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For all intents and purposes, the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks have been a disappointment. There have been high points such as the no-hitter by Edwin Jackson on June 25, 2010 and the emergence of young pitching such as Ian Kennedy and Barry Enright, but overall, the team has failed to live up to expectations.

No one expected that the 2010 team would not only fail to be competitive for the National League West, but would actually be worse than the 2009 team that finished in last place, 25 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

There is enough blame to fill Chase Field. Whether it be injuries to key personnel at the wrong time or the failure of players to live up to expectations, this season has been a disaster. But how bad has it really been?

The Diamondbacks are currently 50-78 with 34 games remaining in the season. In order to finish where the 2009 team ended, Arizona would have to go 20-14 for the remainder of the season. That does not seem out of reach, but given the opponents they face in the final month of the season, that might be too much to ask.

It is inevitable that the Diamondbacks will finish with a losing record. To avoid that, they would have to go 31-3 to finish at .500. While I would love to see that kind of finish, it’s clearly unobtainable.

In a fit of boredom, I began tracking the Diamondbacks’ historical game results. I plotted these results on a line graph to show how each season unfolded. What I found most interesting was not that the 2010 Diamondbacks are well below last season at this juncture, but how closely this season compares to the 1998 inaugural season.

The two lines nearly match game for game, wins and losses over the past month. The difference being that the 2010 Diamondbacks are one win better this season than they were the first year of existence.

I remember that first year and how excited we were to have baseball in Phoenix, and how well the Diamondbacks were doing for an expansion team. The goal that year was to finish with less than 100 losses, a noble goal for a new franchise.

The Diamondbacks would finish that season with a record of 65-97, making them the sixth-best expansion team in Major League Baseball history. That 65th win occurred in the second-to-last game of the season, and I remember celebrating the accomplishment.

Now 12 years later, the team is on a near-equal path. They are scrambling to try and find a way to win at least 63 games in the season to eliminate any chance of losing 100 times for only the second time in franchise history.

The difference, of course, is the level of talent on that 1998 squad versus the 2010 team. This year, they have a lot more potential, and the skills at nearly every position are better this year than they were in 1998. That’s probably what makes this season so frustrating. The Diamondbacks should be better than they are showing on the field.

For the next 34 games, all we have left to cheer is hoping the team goes at least 15-19 so they can at least be better than they were during the inaugural season. It’s sad we are left hoping the team plays just under .500 ball for the rest of the season.

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