Miserable Start to Season Continues for Arizona Diamondbacks
By Jesse Borek
Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports
It’s a lonely feeling being at the bottom. Just ask the Diamondbacks, they have the worst record in baseball.
Blame Australia, if you will. Blame those damn buzzing bees that hijacked centerfield. Blame the mysterious schedule makers who gave the club doses of the Dodgers and Giants so much during April that they could vomit. After placing all this blame, the D-Backs still have to look themselves in the mirror and figure out a way to turn this around.
Teams go 2-8 during 10-game stretches during the season without this much hub. Of course, everything is magnified because we have been clamoring for baseball for so long. Thankfully, the season is still young and the Diamondbacks have time to turn things around.
They should probably start by never throwing a pitch near the strike zone again when Brandon Belt comes to the plate. Riding on the back of their breakout star first baseman, the Giants cruised to a 7-3 victory on their home opener, the D-Backs fourth of the year.
Of course, if you can’t score, you can’t win. Less than one week ago, Tim Hudson stymied the Arizona bats. This afternoon, it was rinse, wash and repeat for the veteran right-hander, who is now the leader in wins of any active pitcher. Dealing over the course of eight innings, Hudson allowed just two earned runs, neutralizing the D-Backs and any shot they had of crawling back into the game.
Where the straws snapped the camel’s back today was with two outs. The Giants had two separate two out, two-RBI singles by Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford that made the difference in the contest. When a staff is struggling as a whole the way the Diamondbacks is, getting into the dugout and avoiding the big inning becomes imperative.
Trevor Cahill becomes the unlucky recipient of being the first man to three losses as a pitcher on the year. While most have not even made their third start, Cahill is already significantly behind the 8-ball to start 2014. A few weeks back, many wondered who would take the leap forward with Patrick Corbin going down for the year with Tommy John Surgery. It became consensus opinion that a group effort from everyone on the staff improving was the way to go, but Cahill must have missed that memo. The rugged right-hander has gotten off to a less than enviable start.
Even the clubs masher in the middle of the order, Mark Trumbo, had an off day, going 0-for-4 and not driving in a run. Trumbo has gotten off to such a rapid pace in early April that any day he doesn’t drive in a run, it becomes a surprise.
One man who is more than ready for tomorrow night to arrive is Paul Goldschmidt. He has clobbered Tim Lincecum in the past and gets his opportunity once again on Wednesday night when the D-Backs return to some normalcy in their schedule. It will be a rematch of last week’s matchup at Chase Field, but this one will take place in front of a packed home crowd for the San Francisco Giants.
Alone with just the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds for the lowest win total in baseball, the Diamondbacks look to get back to their winning ways at 7:15 P.M. tomorrow night.