Arizona Diamondbacks Drop Fourth in a Row
By Jesse Borek
Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Losing for the fourth consecutive night, desperation may be setting in for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
A habitually hapless franchise like the New York Mets should have been the right potion to help a scuffling D-Backs club get back to their winning ways. Being failed by their pitching once again, the Mets took the series opener by a score of 7-3 in front of just over 18,000 at Chase Field Monday night.
The scoring got underway in the bottom of the first on a ball that was hammered by Miguel Montero and caught by Curtis Granderson, at least until he crashed into the wall with his arm still extended, forcing the ball out and creating for a disgusting scene as his wrist went in opposite direction. Initially shaking it off, Granderson had to leave later on in the contest.
It comes as no surprise that the offense would be fighting an uphill battle, especially with Josh Collmenter taking to the hill. While the organization raves about the fact that his right arm possesses greater elasticity than any of ours, he was clearly not stretched out enough to be expected to make a quality start. Scuffling through four innings of work, Collmenter finished the day allowing three runs on five hits, while walking one and striking out three.
Avoiding the big hit all night, Arizona danced around serving up anything too meaty to New York hitters. In fact, only Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy had extra basehits, both of which were doubles. The other 11 hits came of the single variety.
Undergoing heavy fire almost instantaneously has been manager Kirk Gibson. Even the Mets announcers (Gary Cohen and Ron Darling) were highly critical of Martin Prado’s positioning in the batting order, noting, “he’s the prototypical two-hitter.” On top of that, it was released earlier this afternoon that Archie Bradley’s agent believes his prized prospect should be up with the big boys. Neither claim made above is incorrect.
No matter how dreadful things may get this year, and it’s beginning to look like there are more storm clouds ahead, there will always be Paul Goldschmidt. Collecting two more hits on the night, he raised his average up to .333, positioned perfectly in the Diamondbacks number three spot in the order. The new face of the franchise missed out on the MVP trophy last season due to his team’s lack of Postseason accomplishments, it would be a disappointment to see it happen again.
In typical 2014 D-Backs bullpen fashion, both Mike Bolsinger and Ryan Rowland-Smith had to allow some Metropolitans to cross the plate before their days were done. The vicious cycle of being behind when the game is turned over to the ‘pen, thus not allowing the premier relievers to come in, is starting to deteriorate the club’s morale.
Sitting at 4-12, the worst mark in the Majors, these are not happy times in downtown Phoenix. A large onus will be placed on the durable shoulders of Bronson Arroyo as he attempts to play the role of stopper tomorrow night at 6:40 P.M. The bats will undoubtedly be ready to hit, as Jenrry Mejia takes to the hill for the Mets, a less than intimidating opponent.
For the time being, the panic meter remains on a low level DEFCON, but should things continue in this fashion, heads may roll.