Is Cole Hamels just getting unlucky? Or is it something else?

Unlucky.  Cole has had plenty of issues with run support before, and with bad luck, so combined with a slow start, he’s been pretty ineffective.  Especially for a guy we made such a big deal about signing for six more years.

The stuff’s in there.  We could just really use some more blatant examples of it recently, with so much less potent of a rotation backing him up.

Should Ryan Howard scare opposing fans anymore?

Absolutely.  Have you seen that contract?  They tell stories about it around the bonfire at training camp.

What’s the upside of this team? The downside?

The upside is that we have Cole locked up, Freddy Galvis is youthful and full of vigor, Chase seems to be hitting okay, and Cliff Lee is here.  The downside is that Chooch, Doc, and Chase are all up for reassignment, the team in general is not very good, Ben Revere looks more and more like a complete bust, the parts of the bullpen that work are wastes of money if the other parts of the bullpen that aren’t working continue to not work, and everybody’s only getting older.

Also, it’s all Charlie Manuel or Ruben Amaro‘s fault, depending on the day.

Why do the Phillies’ brass seem perplexed as to why their lineup doesn’t take walks? 

Related, have they heard of baseball reference before?

I’d say probably no.  Ruben Amaro shows a staggering absence of intelligence at times, for a guy who seems to have it all figured out.  His lack of belief in walks and the organizations disbelief in modern stats is sickening at times, and probably why some players (AHEM Dom Brown) have been mishandled in the recent past.

How mad are you at Kevin Towers for giving your divisional rival a christmas present of Justin Upton?

I would be pretty mad, but honestly, we’ve got about 1,000 problems to worry about before we can fathom taking on the Braves, let alone Upton.  Then again, he is an individual example of the Braves as a whole – lot of home runs, lot of strike outs.  They’re gonna hack.  And it’s already bringing them back down to earth.

Is Michael Young as classy as everyone says he is?

I’ll say sure.  But I was never worried about that.

If he could convince a ground ball to hop into his glove using that keen sense of clubhouse leadership, that’d be great.  But they’re usually moving too fast.

His questions and my answers:

So is Ian Kennedy going to be a problem or can we depend on his location sputtering out again?

This, sadly, is what we can expect from Kennedy. He’s been pretty mediocre for the past 12 months. And that’s mostly been tied to his lack of command with the fastball. While he isn’t walking a ton of people, he also grooves way too many to be effective.

J.J. Putz has decided to take some time off to be injured.  How reliable is the Dbacks bullpen now?  Express in terms of Chad Durbins.

I believe I saw that Putz was heading to the Dominican for a couple of months. I can’t confirm that, but nonetheless, it’s a weird time to take a vaca. However, I believe the bullpen should still be (just a tad) better than one Chad Durbin. David Hernandez has had a couple of shaky outings but has been pretty good and should get better. And outside of Heath Bell‘s first appearance, he’s been (stunningly) pretty good. Combined with Brad Ziegler and Matt Reynolds, the pen should be in decent shape still.

Is it correct to say Paul Goldschmidt is “becoming a star?”  And if so, what kind of a star; one that shines brightly for a long time, or when that grows too big and kills a lot of people?

He’s a star that’s going to kill a lot of people. Just not in the way you were meaning. I think he singlehandedly murdered Tim Lincecum‘s career and is in the process of burying the corpse of Chris Capuano now. He’s been a revelation. He’s improved his walk and strikeout rate, chase percentage and his fielding immensely over the past couple of seasons. He’s approaching top three first baseman in the league quickly.

Lie to me.  What do you think of this team without Roy Halladay?

They’re great. One of the best staffs that can’t pitch and one of the best lineups that can’t walk (or score) I’ve ever seen.

Is there a young prospect with a better name than “Didi Gregorius” in baseball right now?

Xander Bogaerts is a pretty dang good name. Adeiny Hechavarria? Basically all shortstops in baseball it looks like.

Arizona got off to a quick start on Sunday evening when third baseman Chris Johnson homered to left center in the top of the second inning, scoring Justin Upton and putting the snakes up 2-0. They would add another run in the very next at bat when Stephen Drew pounded his fist home run of the season to extend the lead to 3-0.

Philadelphia responded in the bottom of the second inning when Philadelphia outfielder John Mayberry Jr. scored on a wild pitch by Arizona starter Trevor Cahill. Phillies catcher Erik Kratz doubled to deep left field to score outfielder Dominic Brown, and cut the Arizona lead to 3-2.

August 5, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder John Mayberry Jr. (15) scores the game tying run under the tag of Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Henry Blanco (12) during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Diamondbacks 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

Chase Utley would then homer to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game up at 3-3.

Arizona responded in the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, putting the D-backs back on top 4-3.

Things would get interesting in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mayberry Jr. would advance to second base on a wild pitch by Arizona reliever David Hernandez, putting a runner on second with two outs. Brown followed by hitting a ground ball off the leg of Hernandez, after which Hernandez would pick up and throw off Brown’s back as he reached first base safely. As the ball was thrown away, Mayberry Jr. advanced from second all the way home. Goldschmidt picked the ball up in time to throw a strike to catcher Henry Blanco at the plate, and it appeared that Mayberry was out, but was called safe by home plate umpire Derryl Cousins, and tying the game up at 4-4.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Howard singled to right field off of Arizona reliever Josh Collmenter to score Juan Pierre from third and give Philadelphia the walk off win.

Collmenter would pick up the loss as he allowed the winning run to cross home in the ninth. Unfortunately for Trevor Cahill, the Arizona starter would pick up the no decision after allowing three runs off six hits in seven strong innings pitched.

Arizona sends pitcher Wade Miley to the mound tomorrow as the D-backs open up a four game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Oct 4, 2011; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Paul Goldschmidt (44) hits a grand slam against the Milwaukee Brewers in the fifth inning in game three of the 2011 NLDS at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

When Prince Fielder bolted for the Detroit Tigers this week and after Albert Pujols left for the Los Angeles Angels earlier in the off-season, it meant that now Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has a chance to be the power first baseman in the National League.  Now, he will still have competition, but I would have to give him better than average odds to lead NL first basemen in home runs in 2012.

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