Diamondbacks at Marlins: Series Wrap-up

As the first 4 games of their 10 game road trip are behind the team, I’m going to offer a quick recap on the Diamondbacks’ series with the Marlins called the ‘Good, Bad, and the Ugly.’

GOOD: Starting Pitching. This should really be listed as Great. Because over this four game set, these four guys were nothing short of terrific. That includes 20 year old rookie Patrick Corbin who didn’t allow a run until his fifth inning of work on his way to his first big league win. The four combined for a 1.32 ERA over 27 1/3 innings and 3 wins. Joe Saunders continues to pitch like he is the ace on the team producing a career best performance Friday night. This is the best four game stretch we’ve seen from the starting pitchers and an encouraging sign as they move on to May.

*Gerardo Parra stole his team leading 6th and 7th base of the year. Three off of the MLB lead. He stole 15 bags in 141 games last year.

*The Diamondbacks are tied for the MLB lead in stolen bases as a team with 21.

*The offense produced 42 hits and 24 runs over the four game set vs the Marlins.

*Through April the Dbacks’ record is 12-11. This is the first time since 2008 that the team finished above .500 in the first month of the season. In 2011 the team sat at 11-15 after April.

BAD: *Despite averaging 6 runs over the 4 games, the Diamondbacks hitters struck out 36 times including a stretch on Saturday where they were retired 18 straight times with 15 K’s.

*Josh Collmenter, Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan Roberts are off to less than favorable starts- I know, I’m being generous. This is becoming quite the dilemma for Gibby- especially with Goldschmidt and Roberts. The Dbacks will need Roberts and Goldschmidt to get it going soon to be able to compete over the 162 game season. I’m sure all three of them are happy April is over.

UGLY: The bullpen. As stated by our very own J. Levi yesterday, the bullpen has quietly posted a 4.66 ERA and have given up 10 homeruns in just 22 games. Four save opportunities have been missed in just 11 attempts. 2011 included just 13 blown saves all season. Is this reason for panic? Probably not. Most of the relievers have been solid- and with such a small sample set- it is easy to be alarmed if you just look at their ballooning ERA’s. Nagy and Gibson know they have plenty of options for relief with Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, and Barry Enright chomping at the bit for their turn in line.  

Overall a very encouraging series and great month to build off. Here’s hoping for a repeat of last year’s 19 wins in May!