Yeah easy for me to say, easy for all of us to say. I love how the Arizona Diamondbacks struggle through the first 10 days of Spring Training and all anyone can say is that it is just March. Who are you kidding?
At some point you have to play well enough to make believers out of people and that starts in March. I don't like the saying that it is just Spring Training. It's like saying in April it's early. Sure, but they all count. Yes, I know spring games do not count, but they help a team prepare for the upcoming season. All they have learned so far is how to lose, mostly.
As usual, the pitching has been suspect and the offense missing. A 12-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox yesterday in Tucson illustrated both those points. Clearly the Dbacks have a long way to go. Come April 1st, these games do count. The two players with the most hits so far this spring are two guys probably not making this roster, Ryan Roberts and A.J. Pollock. For the record at the time of this blog, the Dbacks are pounding the Cleveland Indians 13-2. Go figure.
Of the regulars, Kelly Johnson is having the best spring so far with a batting average of .429. Roberts is hitting .688, which is pretty dang cool but I fear he is going to be caught in a numbers game. As a team, they've belted out 13 home runs, an average of one per game, which was to be expected.
The pitching has been less than stellar though. Joe Saunders has an ERA of 15.88, Micah Owings 15.43, Zach Duke 9.00. Those are three of supposedly eight guys fighting for a rotation spot. Not good. Not good at all. Juan "how far did it fly" Gutierrez's ERA is 23.62, starting right where he left off. At some point you cut your losses right? It's still March though. Ok, whatever you say.
Original Story:
http://venomstrikes.com/2011/03/08/db...
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