Reforming Arizona Pro Sports - 2006 and beyond

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January 1, 2006 Phoenix, AZ - In a shocking announcement the Owner of the Phoenix Suns, Robert Sarver, has managed to purchase the other three pro teams in Arizona; MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, NFL's Arizona Cardinals and NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. Mr. Sarver brokered the deal and got approval from all the commissioners and owners of the respective leagues in record time. While some teams are still in "mid-season" the owner ship change won't take effect until the new season starts.

MLB season begins today Jan. 1, 2006 (OOTP9)
NFL season starts Aug. 12th (FOF2k7)
NHL season starts Aug 30th and (EHM 2007)
NBA season starts Oct 4th (DDSPB)

Mr. Sarver has hired one man to be the GM of all four pro teams in Arizona an unprecidented move that if successful should spur a trend across other teams.

"The people of Arizona deserve better and I'm gonig to provide them that," said Sarver. "The Phoenix Suns have been to the NBA Finals twice in their history coming up short both times and the Arizona Diamondbacks have a World Series Trophy from five years ago, but other than that the people of Phoenix and Arizona want a winner and that is my goal. I will continue to make the Suns and Diamondbacks winners and bring along both the Coyotes and Cardinals."

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Diamondbacks

The baseball offseason is under way.

I take a look at my roster first.
I'm fine with my starting Pitching with Webb, Orlando Hernandez, Miguel Batista as my 1-3 guys. My # 4 & 5 might need to be upgraded, but both are young (Claudio Vargas & Enrique Gonzalez) so I'll let them try to earn the spots. Valverde is my closer and I'm happy with him there. My relievers could be a concern. I go from an ageing Grimsley to on time started Russ Ortiz to young guys in Lyons and Medders. We'll see what we can do here.

My Outfield has Jeff Devanon, Shawn Green, Luis Gonzalez, Eric Byrnes & Chris Young. Chris Snyder and Johnny Estrada are behind the plate.
3B will have to be manned by Craig Counsell unless I get a good trade somewhere. Orlando Hudson will be my 2B with Stephen Drew at SS and Chad Tracey at 1B backed up by Tony Clark. Daminon Easley is my backup 2B and 3B.

***ADDED****

Coaches:

Manager: Ron Miller is a 19 year veteran coach who is under contract until 2009. He's a very average coach and the bench coach is actually better suited to be the manager in his skill set.

Bench Coach: Antonio Freitas is also a 19 year veteran. He is signed until 2008 and actually makes more money than my manager. He only rates lower in handling veterans and handling rookies, but not by much. If Miller is fired at any point he is more than capable to be the new manager.

Hitting Coach: Jose Perez is a a first year coach who only has a two year contract. He's not bad overall and is very good at teaching hitting so he'll probally be resigned for next year...unless I can find someone better and cheaper.

Pitching Coach: Alex Cox is a 9 year veteran witn one year left on his contract. He's average or below in pitching categories so I'd expect him to be replaced at year end.

Scouting Directon: Jean-Sebastien Guilb is a 3 year veteran signed through 2008. He is very average...we'll just leave it at that.

Team Trainer: Enzo Gutierrez is the youngest person on our staff and has no experience. He is also signed through 2008. I won't really know how good or bad he is until someone gets hurt, but his ratings aren't too bad.

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The Phillies offer me an aging C and minor league 2B with cash for Byrnes. I decline right away.

I do however offer Grimsley to Texas for 20-year old reliever Fabio Castro.

Castro is a lefty with a fastball & splitter and my scout rates him as a 5 star prospect who is at 4 stars now...if true a major upgrade and I save about a million bucks on payroll too.

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Busy day for the D-Backs today.

I'm looking to shore up my pitching staff today and hopefully have a future 3B too.

I Contact the Tigers and inquire about SP Dan Haren whom they just got from the A's. They will straight up trade Chad Tracy for him. I think no problem I have Conner Jackson in AAA who is about ready to be brought up so I make the deal.

Next, I shop Easley out there. I don't want him so we'll see what someone offers. The Rangers offer AAA 3B Brent Mosley so I jump on it. I may have my future 3B here.

Now I need to see if anyone wants my weakest starting pitcher since I have Haren on board. I again shop Claudio Vargas...to my suprise San Diego offers up the best closer I think there is in Trevor Hoffman. I have to think about it a bit as Trevor was a former Wildcat, but I let my college loyalites lie and make the deal.

Finally, I put several players "on the block" who are too old to be in the minors or washed up to be in the bigs still. I'll take a bag of balls for most of them as long as I don't take a hit $ wise. With the shuffling of players I demote Castro down and put in a claim on SS Juan Uribe from the White Sox to be my backup SS/2B/3B, we'll see if I get him.

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My claim for Uribe failed as Seattle got him. Oh well I'll just call up someone from AAA now.

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Mr. Sarver thinks we should play .500 ball this year after going 10-14 in the preseason.

The good news is I didn't suffer any injuries in the preseason (knock on wood)

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Diamondbacks April 3, 2006

Opening Day!

After Spring Training here's what our starting rotation and lineup looks like.

Webb, Haren, O. Hernendez, Batista & Gonzalez

1B Jackson
2B Hudson
SS Drew
3B Counsell
C Snyder
LF Byrnes
CF Young
RF Davanon

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We open the baseball season with a 3-game series at Colorado.

In game #1 Webb goes 8 innings giving up only 1 run as we win 5-1. My #2 & #3 hitters (Hudson & Drew) go 5 of 10 with 3 RBIs and pace our team along with Counsel going 3 for 3 with 1 RBI.

In game #2 after taking a quick 4-0 lead at the end of 3 innings the Rockies battled back to send it to extra innings where we won 7-5. Valverde blew the save and allowed the game tieing run in the 8th only to have Hoffman close it out in the 10th after Counsell & Young got a run each in out half of the 10th.

In game #3 we close out the three game sweep with a 5-1 win as Hernandez proves to be too much for the Rockies' hitters allowing only 3 hits in 8 and 1/3 innings.

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Our road trip continues with a 3-game series vs. the Brewers.

Game #1 we suffer our first loss of the year and we get killed 9-0 as Batista only goes 4 innings in the route.

Game #2 started much better as we took a quick 2-0 lead in the 1st and held a 2-1 lead until the bottom of the 8th. Webb had 2 outs before giving up a solo HR to R. Weeks, a single to M. Lamb and then a 2-run HR to C. Lee to suffer his first loss of the year 4-2.

Game #3 couldn't end soon enough as we suffer our third straight loss and head home licking our wounds after a 9-5 pounding by the Brewers.

Lucky for us we get a day off before hosting the Rockies for three games and the start of a 10-game home stand.

[RendeR]

Wait, Arizona has pro sports????

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Originally Posted by RendeR

Wait, Arizona has pro sports????

ya the Rattlers and the Mercury

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Home stand vs. Colorado

Game #1 Dan Haren give us a solid performance as we hold on to win 3-1. We only got 5 hits in the game, but we made them count.

Game #2 saw a pitchers duel as Orlando Hernandez left the game tied 1-1 after 7 and 1/3 innings for Jose Valverde...who proceeded to blow the game in the 9th. We lost 3-1. At 4-4 we are 2.5 games back of the Dodgers sitting in 3rd in our division.

Game #3 Brandon Webb, the ace of the rotation, gets us back on the winning track as we win 4-0. Webb pitched 7 shutout innings for us.

We are playing a lot of small ball with only 4 HRs thus far.

Next up is Houston and we won't be facing Clemens

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Game #1 well just when I thought we'd only play small ball we hit 3 HRs and cruise to an 8-4 win behind Miguel Batista's pitching. Jackson, Drew & Snyder all get HRs in the game.

Game #2 Enrique Gonzalez is a very poor 5th starter. I don't want to demote him so quick, but he's have two poor outings now. We lose 6-2

Game #3 Harren and Valverde were both horrible, but we only lost 7-5. The middle of my lineup went only 2 for 11 at the plate...we need to score more runs. We may just be a .500 team after all.

The homestand will end for a 4-game series vs. The Giants.

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The Giants sit at 4-9 and in 5th place coming into Bank One Ballpark, but they are on a 3 game winning streak.

Game #1 The Baby Backs are struggling at the plate as we fall 3-2. We're getting the hits just not the runs in this game. I think I'll suggest to the manager to "alter" the lineup a bit.

Game #2 Our losing streak hits four as we fall 7-4 in 12 innings. Medders gives up 3 runs in 2/3's of an inning for the loss.

Game #3 Batista gets shelled for 6 runs in 1 and 2/3's innings and we never have a chance to get into the game. Our losing streak hits 5 as we lose 10-2

Game #4 another loss 10-1, but the bad part is Jose Cruz gives up 6 runs in the 9th. Time to alter the roster a bit.

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Finally, we unload Russ Ortiz to the Cleveland Indians for minor league pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. Ortiz was a clubhouse cancer and was bogging down the payroll so it's a wash in my book.

In roster moves we sent Chris Young down to AAA and brought up Carlos Quintin. Also Juan Mateo was brought up to replace Edgar Gonzalez in the rotation. Medders was sent down in favor of Brandon Lyons and Andy Green (2B) was brought up to take Mosley down.

We also put in a trade request to the Boston Red Sox.

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Up next is the Division leading Dodgers at 9-7 they hold a 3 game lead over us.

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vs. Dodgers

Game #1 Webb gets his 3rd win and Hoffman his 3rd save as we break our losing streak and win 2-0.

Game #2 Juan Mateo gets his first start of the year and goes just 2 innings giving up 5 runs as we lose 7-3. This loss falls on the starting pitcher.

Game #3 the bats go cold again as we lose 4-1.

next up is a trip to San Diego

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Our trade with the Red Sox is still a work in progress.

The initinal offer was rejected: We send RP Luis Vizcaino, minor league SP Carl Washington and SP Enrique Gonzalez. They send in return SP David Wells, and minor leaguers SP Jon Lester and hometown hero 2B Dustin Pedroia.

We've added per the Red Sox request RP Juan Cruz, but ask for some cash in return...now we cross our fingers. Wells would give us a starting left hander and Pedroia will be our 2B of the future. Lester could be a starter down the road too or trade bait in the offseason.

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vs. San Diego

Game #1 a recurring theme is happening...our pitchers are keeping us in games, but our bats aren't helping us....we drop the game 4-1

Game #2 Former D-Back Claudio Vargas lead the Padres to a 4-2 victory over Webb. Did I mention we need more runs?

Game #3 a 3-2 loss hurts...but it looks like Boston accepted our trade. We get a much needed day off before heading to San Francisco for a 3-game series.

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Game #1 I guess a little trade gets the juices flowing as we win 5-2. Jackson goes 3 for 5 with a 3-run HR in the 7th to win the game for us.

Game #2 we have a back and forth game as both teams blew a save before we lost 4-3 as Hoffman gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th.

Game #3 Webb again pulls us up with a 5-0 8 inning shutout win. Johnny Estrada (C) was injured while running the bases...he'll be out for a week.

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We end the month 9-16 and trail the Dodgers by 7 games. I know we're in it for the long haul now. With a 2-game series coming up vs. LA we have a shot to make that lead shrink.

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vs. The Dodgers

Game #1 we open a 7 game homestand with a big 3-1 win over LA as Dan Haren pitches 8 innings of great baseball holding the Dodgers batters in check.

Game #2 Newely aquired pitcher David Wells pays off as he pitches 8 shutout innings in a 2-0 win. Hoffman gets his 6th save of the year.

Next is a 2-game home series vs. the Cubs

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Game #1 Carlos Quinton goes off vs. the Cubs going 3 of 4 with a solo HR and 3 RBIs. O. Hernandez got lots of run support picking up his 3rd win of the year as the D-Backs won 7-2.

Game #2 We delt Ryan Demptser his first loss of the year as we kill the Cubs 11-2. It was a total team effort as we got 11 hits to the Cubs 3.

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The Reds come to town for a 3-game series. Cincinnati is 10-19 on the year so far and 5th in the Central Division 11 games back.

Game #1 Webb picks up win # 6 as we win 8-5.

Game #2 It was a 1-1 game until the bottom of the 8th when Byrnes hits a RBI triple and Snyder comes behind him to hit a 2 RBI HR to give the D-Backs the 4-1 win and Hoffman his 8th save.

Game #3 David Wells gets his 2nd win for us as C. Jackson goes 3 for 4 and we extend our winning stream to 7 games and win 4-2.

We get a day off before heading to Pittsburg for 3 games then St. Louis for 3 games.

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We've improved to 16-16 on the year and sit 4 games back of the Dodgers.

Pittsburg is up. The Pirates are 11-22 on the year 11.5 games back in the Central in 5th place.

Game #1 Well the streak had to end at some point. Brandon Lyon blew a 4-3 lead in the 7th as we fall 5-4.

Game #2 Ouch! Webb gives up 3 runs as we fall 7-1. The bats just are cold again. Game 3 is a must win now.

Game #3 Quinton hits a Grand Slam as we win 6-4 to end our skid.

St. Louis here we come.

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St. Louis is 20-15 sitting 4 games back in the Central

Game #1 Chris Carpenter put on a pitching clinic and the magic of Wells has worn off as we get shelled 19-2. Wells gave up 7 runs in 2/3s of an inning.

Game #2 We outplayed St. Louis but still fell 4-2. A 3 run 7th was the difference in this one.

Game #3 We drop this game 5-2 and it appears my 10 man pitching group is in need of some more arms as we couldn't hold the lead. Time to tinker again.

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Flores, Young & Pedroia were all called up from AAA while Marte was sent down along with Green placed on waivers and sent to AAA. I was actually at a 24 man roster for a while there and didn't notice it so now I'm back to 25.

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I noticed I didn't review my coaches so I added their info to my 2nd post.

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We open up a 9 game home stand starting with a 3-game series vs. San Diego.

The Padres are a game and a half behind us and 9.5 behind the Dodgers. San Diego is 16-23 on the year.

Game #1 Brandon Webb was solid giving up only 4 runs and the bats were hot as 5 players hit HRs and every player in the starting lineup got a hit too. We won 10-5.

Game #2 5 more HRs and a solid outing by Dan Harren leads us to an 11-5 victory. Drew goes 4 for 5 with 4 RBIs.

Game #3 David Wells gives up 6 runs in just over 5 innings. At the same time the bats go cold against Jake Peavy and we drop this one 10-2, but take the series.

In other news the Dodgers have lost Brad Penny for a month, he was 7-0 for them thus far.

In D-Backs news Shawn Green wants to be starting over Devanon...we'll see what the manager has to say as I don't really have a say in that at all.

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Instead of keeping Shawn Green as my 6th outfielder and paying him $20 mil over the next 3 years I've decided to trade him to Seattle for two minor league pitchers. I bring in potential future starter John Puckett and reliever Mark Lowe. I'll also call up minor league pitcher Santiago Arias who is a lefty.

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Atlanta is up next with a 21-21 record

Game #1 we lose 6-4...we just got beat by a better team, it wasn't anyone's fault in this one.

Game #2 we lose a heartbreaker in 12 innings 10-9. Again I can't put this one on anyone person.

Game #3 Haren pitches 6 strong innings and Hoffman gets his 10th save as we win 6-4

next up Pittsburg for 3 games

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We currently sit 8 games back of the Dodgers in 3rd place in the NL West. We are 4 games below .500, but we've made a ton of moves on the roster to get where we are.

Pittsburg is coming to town for a 3 game series. The Pirates are 15-30 so this is a chance to sweep a series and hopefully gain some ground on LA. If we don't sweep then I'm not sure what I'm going to tell the team and manager.

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Game #1 This one went extra innings and my bullpen blew it as we took and early 4-0 lead after the 1st inning, but Pittsburgh battled back and scored 4 in the 9th and one in the 10th to steal this one from us.

Game #2 Another extra innings game and another heartbreaker. We lose 4-3 in 10 innings, but we battled back to tie the game with 2 runs in the 8th and one in the 9th before Pittsburgh added one in the top of the 10th to beat us again.

Game #3 We snap the losing streak, but had to make it interesting as we score 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to win 4-1.

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A trip to Cincinnati starts off our 10 game road trip.

The Reds are 21-26, but as we saw during our last series it doesn't mean much.

Game #1 One run games are killing me. A 6-5 loss in the bottom of the 9th kills me. I put the manager on notice...shape up this team and soon.

Game #2 Finally, a one run game and extra innings even goes our way in a 5-4 win as Luis Gonzalez hits a scarafice fly in the 10th to score the winning run.

Game #3 A batters game as we win 14-11. David Wells didn't fare so well though giving up 5 runs in 3 innings.

A trip to the Mets is up next to end the month.

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The Mets are 24-26 sitting in 4th place in the NL East

Game #1 Webb pitches 7 great innings of baseball when Flores gives up 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to lose the game 3-1. Pedro Martinez got the win and it was # 200 for his career. Glad I could be a part of history.

Game #2 Batista had a horrible game giving up 5 runs in 6 and 2/3 innings with only 2 strikeouts. We lost 5-4.

Game #3 The losing streak hits 3 as we drop another one run game 5-4

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Stephen Drew was named Rookie of the month in the NL.

In the 28 games this month he batted .324 with 36 hits in 111 at-bats with 2 HRs adn 13 RBIs.

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The NL West isn't very impressive this year. Thus far the standing look like this.

LA Dodgers 33-20
Colorado Rockies 27-26
San Francisco Giants 24-30
Arizona Diamondbacks 23-30
San Diego Padres 20-34

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A 4-game series vs. the Braves is up next as we face a team that is 29-25 on the year and has already gone 2-1 vs. us this year.

Game #1 A disappointing 10-3 loss has caused me to make a change. Ron Miller has been fired and I will try and fill in for the rest of the year. Miller just wasn't getting the job done.

Game #2 Wells bounces back with 8 and 2/3 innings of shutout baseball as we win 9-2.

Game #3 At worst we'll get a split in the series as Webb carries us to a 3-2 win and Hoffman picks up save 11 for us.

Game #4 We close out the series on a high note picking up our 3rd win in a row. A 6-5 win paced by Connor Jackson's 2 run HR in the in the 4th inning lead the team.

a 10 game homestand starts for us next as the Phillies, Mets and Giants come to town.

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The Phillies are just under .500 at 27-30 so this could go along way for either of us.

Game #1 what looked like a 2-0 loss ended up a 4-2 win as we rallied in the bottom of the 9th to score all 4 runs (3-run HR by Snyder and solo HR by Hudson) and pull off the win.

Game #2 O. Hernandez struggled to get anyone out as we drop this one 8-4

Game #3 Wells seemes to have broken out of his funk as we took an early lead and held on to win 8-7

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The Mets are up again at 31-28 and are 3-0 vs. us this year already.

Game #1 This game got ugly, but only after the brawl between Pedro Martinez and Conor Jackson. Stepehn Drew hit a 2 run HR in the first and Jackson was plunked as the next batter by Martinez. Both players were ejected and later suspended for 9 games by MLB. The outcome of the game wasn't much better for us as Hoffman blew a 7-6 lead in the 9th to lose 10-7.

Game #2 We fall back into the 1-run, lose the game in the 9th curse as we drop this one 5-4

Game #3 A nice bounce back 5-0 shutout win by Dan Haren.

Game #4 ....followed by a 4-1 loss. We miss Jackson's bat in the lineup today.

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A 3 game series vs. the Giants is up. San Francisco is only one game behind me at 28-36, they are also on a 3 game losing skid.

Game #1 This might sound like a broken record, but we lose 11-7. The cause is a 5 run 9th where we were tied 6-6. Medders is the man behind the loss again and will be sent to Triple A tonight.

Game #2 Jon Lester was brought up in place of Medders and was put in as the starter moving Wells to the bullpen. Lester does well in his major league debut giving up 4 runs in 5 innings pitched, no decision, and we win the game 6-4

Game #3 Haren loses a 5-1 game to Jason Schmidt as we are held to just 3 hits.

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June 15, 2009 - MLB Draft

I picked 11th in each round.
In the first round I picked a left handed starting pitcher Kane Pye.
In the second round I picked a right handed starting pitcher Marcos Rosales.
In the third round I picked catcher Sergio Escamilla
In the fourth round I picked first baseman Miguel Bennett
In the fifht round I picked right handed middle reliver Jason Lee.

I won't bore you with the other 15 rounds, but I looked for some left handed pitching whenever I could as I believe in developing my pitching in the minors and filling out my lineup with free agents or trades if I don't have the talent coming up from the minors.

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A 3 game trip to the Texas Rangers is up next. Texas is 36-32 leading the AL West with a 5 game winning streak. In a bit of odd news Texas shipped off Phil Nevin to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (my next opponent). Nevin has hit 20 HR this season alone which is 2nd in the AL to his future Tampa Bay teammate Russell Branyan.

Game #1 Looks like Texas could have used Nevin's bat as they lose in extra innings 4-3 in 11. They also didn't hit a HR. Nevin didn't help his new team though going 1 for 4 with an error as they lost 8-4.

Game #2 O. Hernandez pulled out of his slump for one game pitching a seven hit, 2 run, 6 and 1/3 innings of baseball to lead the team to a 6-2 win.

Game #3 A 4 run 5th inning does us in as Webb struggles in the loss 7-3. We do take the series however.

Next up is a day off then a 3 game series to Tampa Bay.

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Tampa Bay is a struggling team at 25-45 they sit in last place in the AL East and are 20 games behind the leader. I'm hoping for a series sweep.

Game #1 There goes the sweep as we lose 4-3 and Nevin hits a 2 run HR off Haren for his 23rd of the year.

Game #2 This one was in the bag until Hoffman blew the save in the bottom of the 9th to send it to extra innings and a 7-6 loss. Nevin hit another HR against us too.

Game #3 This one hurts as we lost 5-4 and got swept by the Devil Rays...guess our guys took them too lightly.

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We host the Angles for a 3 game sereis. They are 37-36 on the year in 4th place, but only 1.5 games out of first.

Game #1 Webb takes the loss giving up 4 runs, 1 earned, and our bats go cold in a 4-2 loss.

Game #2 Good news, our bats are back as we win this one 8-5. However, we lose Orlando Hernandez to a torn leg muscle for 2-3 months. We Place him on the 60 day DL and call up pitcher Juan Mateo. Pitcher Fabio Castro is also ailing a bit so we put him on the 15 day DL and call up pitcher Brandon Medders, which I may regret

Game #3 A 6-3 win and series win helps us out. Haren pitches great and picks up win number 5 on the year.

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Seattle now comes to AZ for a 3 game series. the Mariners are 39-38, losers of their past 3 games and sit in 3rd place in the division 1 game back of the leader.

Game #1 A blown save by Hoffman giving up 4 runs in the top of the 9th casue us to lose 5-3.

Game #2 I may regret the 1 year extension I gave Miguel Batista as he has struggled to a 3-7 record as we lose another one 6-2.

Game #3 Santiago Arias got only his 3 start ever, but improved to 3-1 on the year as he pitched over 7 innings of 1 run ball and help us win 12-1.

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We prepare for a 9 game road trip before the All Star break with a 3 game series at Oakland, LA Dodgers and Colorado. This will either make or break us from here on out.

Oakland is 41-38 on the year leading the AL West.

Game #1 We did very well against Barry Zito losing 6-4 as Jon Lester picks up his first loss on the year.

We end June at 35-45, 10.5 games back of the Dodgers as we sit in 4th place in the division. I knew we wouldn't contend for the World Series, but 10 games under .500 is not what I was wanting either.

Game #2 Haren put the team on his back in this one leading us to a 7-0 shutout win as he pitched a complete game 6 hit game.

Game #3 Webb did his best to keep us in this game, but Oakland scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to take the win 8-7.

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games vs the LA Dodgers

Game #1 We battled, but 2 runs on 5 hits won't do it as we lose 5-2

Game #2 Batista is making me look like a fool as he costs us the game in an 8-6 loss.

Game #3 It's time to start shopping the large salries around as we lose in the series sweep 4-2. I'm not sure if I need a bat or better pitching at this point.

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Hey it's the Rockies who are in 2nd place at 43-41, but are only 1-5 vs. us this year.

Game #1 Haren pitches back-to-back shutouts as we win again vs. Colorado 9-0.

Game #2 Webb will crawl into the All-Star break with a 7-7 record as he loses this one 3-1.

Haren is named the lone Diamondback to the All Star team.

Game #3 Gosh I hope my team plays every game after the All Star break like they did this one. A 22-1 thrashing of the Rockies gives us a high.

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Before we start the second half of the season we make some more moves to free up money and allow some younger palyers to get some time.

We ship RF Jeff DAvanon to Florida for struggling, but high potential left handed SP Dontrell Willis. This will allow me to start both Chris Young and Carlon Quintin in the outfield at RF & CF.

In our second move we disgruntled 2B Orlando Hudson to Detroit along with reliever Brandon Medders for reliever Todd Jones. This forces Pedroia to be the everyday 2B and helps shore up my bullpen which has cost me several games.