A Quick D-Back Review

Paul Goldschmidt’s MVP-type season was a bright spot for the 2013 D’backs. Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The following is a quick review of what my feelings are about the 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks. The staff at venomstrikes.com will no doubt have more detailed analysis over the coming days and weeks including what we expect to happen in the offseason.

It’s funny, in my Spring Training prediction I thought the team would end the season around .500. The thing is, there is no way anyone could have forecasted HOW the D-Backs would arrive at that number. To say this team gave us a lot of thrills and disappointment would be an understatement.  You don’t play a record number of extra innings without providing a lot of drama.

I suppose what I liked the most about this season was that the team on almost every night, was never out of any games. I always got the feeling that even if Arizona got down big early, they would still make the game interesting, particularly early on. Paul Goldschmidt was real hot, Gerardo Parra was swinging the bat very well and Martin Prado, even though he struggled, you got the sense he could snap out of it with one big hit.

Of course, you can’t mention any brief review of the 2013 D-Backs without bringing up the bullpen. I thought the ‘pen would be decent but I wasn’t as optimistic as the organization. That being said, there is no way any of us anticipated the amount of huge hits they would surrender (first in home runs allowed) or leads they lost (led the league in blown saves). The odd part about the relievers is that their ERA of around 3.40 was one of the better ones.

It was a season that was frustrating at times. However as August turned to September, I became content with the fact that the D’backs would miss the playoffs for the second straight season. The MVP-caliber season of Goldschmidt and the emergence of Patrick Corbin give me more reasons to smile than any lead the bullpen wasted or any dismal offensive effort. Hopefully, this season will be a springboard to a better 2014.

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