Venom Strikes » Kurt Suzuki

Corbin Leads D-backs Past Nats

Nicholas Valenzuela — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:11:38 +0000

Patrick Corbin lead the Arizona Diamondbacks (58-57) to a 7-4 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals (71-44) to end their 8-game winning streak.

Paul Goldschmidt would put the D-backs on the board first in the bottom of the second inning. After reaching second base off a throwing error by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, Goldschmidt would steal third base and score when catcher Kurt Suzuki’s throw got away from Zimmerman.

Arizona would add a couple more runs in the bottom of the third inning when Goldschmidt doubled down the left field line to score Chris Young and Jason Kubel, to put the D-backs up 3-0.

The D-backs tacked on another run in the fifth when Aaron Hill’s double to deep center field would score Young. Hill would then score from second on a single by Goldschmidt in the next at bat and Goldy would be brought in on an RBI double by Justin Upton to put the D-backs up 6-0. Arizona catcher Miguel Montero drove in Upton on a double to deep right field to add another run to the scoreboard. Goldschmidt would finish the game with two hits and three RBIs.

Washington would plate a couple runs in the top of the seventh inning off an RBI single by Zimmerman and a sacrifice fly by former D-back Adam LaRoche. They tacked on a couple more runs in the top of the ninth inning off an RBI groundout by Jayson Werth and an RBI single by Tyler Moore.

The comeback in the late stages of the game wouldn’t be enough for Washington to overcome the strong start by Arizona starter Patrick Corbin as he allowed only four hits and two runs through seven strong innings pitched.

Arizona travels to St. Louis tomorrow to start a three-game series with the Cardinals. Ian Kennedy takes the mound tomorrow in game one of the series for Arizona.

Snakes Stay Hot at the Plate, Beat A’s

Nicholas Valenzuela — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:35:27 +0000

The Arizona Diamondbacks (29-30) continued their hot streak at the plate, pounding visiting Oakland Athletics (26-34) for 12 hits and eight runs.

The D-backs struck first with an RBI single by Jason Kubel in the bottom of the first inning. Oakland responded in the top half of the second when Kurt Suzuki doubled to deep right, plating Brandon Moss.

With one out in the fifth, Gerardo Parra led the offensive charge with a single to center. Parra would then move to third on a single to right field by Willie Bloomquist and was brought home on an RBI double by Justin Upton. Kubel would be intentionally walked to load the bases for Paul Goldschmidt.

Jason Kubel raised his average to .300 with 3 hits on Saturday night. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

With one out, the bases loaded, and the D-backs hottest hitter at the plate, it looked like it would be a big inning for the boys. However, Jarrod Parker buckled down and was able to get Goldschmidt to strike out swinging on a 97 MPH fastball. This would bring Miguel Montero to the plate. On a 1-1 count, Montero scalded a ball to deep right-center field, blowing the lead wide open to 6-1.

Each team would tack on two more runs; Arizona with two in the eighth, and Oakland adding one run in each of the eighth and ninth innings.

In an interesting pitching matchup, Trevor Cahill took the mound against the team that traded him over the offseason. To make things more interesting, his adversary just so happened to be the player he was traded for, in former D-back Jarrod Parker. Both pitchers showed good command of their pitches early, before things fell apart for Parker in the fifth. Cahill would win this battle, throwing 7.1 strong innings, allowing seven hits and only two runs.

With the win, the Diamondbacks have won their fourth straight game, their third straight series, and are one game away from the .500 mark. Goldschmidt was able to extend his hit streak to a season high 16 games, and Kubel was able to raise his average over .300. Arizona will send Joe Saunders to the mound tomorrow to go for the sweep.

Follow me on Twitter at @Nick_Valenzuela and our team at @venomstrikes.

MLB Network’s Top Ten Then and Now: (Catchers)

J. Levi Burnfin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:50:44 +0000

Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

At the beginning of the 2011 season, the MLB Network released their top-10 ranking of all MLB catchers and how it turned out is below:

MLB Networks 2011 Rankings: Catchers:

Joe Mauer
Buster Posey
Brian McCann
Victor Martinez
Yadier Molina
Carlos Santana
Carlos Ruiz
John Buck
Kurt Suzuki
Matt Wieters

Looking forward to this year, the top five would actually stay close to the same with only some slotting issues (to be discussed later) and the elimination of Victor Martinez because of injury and the lack of playing time at Catcher. But there are a couple of additions to this list that are drastically needed, including the D-backs own Miguel Montero.

I’ll start from the top and say that Mauer is still fantastic but after last year’s injuries and the continued success of Brian McCann, McCann has to take the top spot. McCann is entering his age 28 season and has had four straight seasons of .800 OPS or above while never playing less than 128 games in the last four seasons. That should put Mauer second and Posey third with the elimination of Victor Martinez from the list. And there is a strong argument to be made for Yadier Molina being above Posey given his defensive acumen. However, those four are definitely a tier of their own because there is a pretty big drop off to number five.

(more…)