This is an average team, right? Well, they produced average results to kick off the year. No shock necessary.
April 6: D'backs 6, Padres 3
April 7: Padres 6, D'backs 3
April 8: D'backs 5, Padres 3
Don't get me wrong, that's a nice little way to start the season off in the desert. It's only the San Diego Padres, but there are a ton of new guys in new roles that needed to get their feet wet. (Metaphorically, of course. Water doesn't exist in Phoenix.)
Good Things
At least they can count on Dan Haren. He went seven innings in the opener, allowing one run. And a few people actually hit the baseball! Justin Upton led the way with a 5-for-12 series. Miguel Montero went 4-for-7. Braves castoff Kelly Johnson smacked two dingers in the final game, which means he'll be traded for spare parts by midseason. Arizona had seven homers in all. And ... the defense was rather impressive.
Bad Things
Hey, home runs are always, ALWAYS happy events. But nine of their 14 runs came via long balls. Take away some of those, and their offense would look rather bad. Maybe they get swept.
Adam LaRoche has yet to reach base (0-for-12, 6 K). In all, the team has 24 hits, 24 strikeouts, and nine walks. Also, after a sold out Opening Day (42,000+), the attendance dipped down to 19,177 for the second game and 17,673 for the finale. (For the cheapest tix in baseball?) We know not everyone was at the Suns game.
Things That Are Just Things
American League imports Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy both showed their stuff to the D'backs audience, and somebody copied off the other's homework, but we're not sure whom. Each went five innings, allowing three runs and getting rewarded with no decisions.
Overall
Blah. This was not a very promising start. The pitching appears to be decent enough, but that lineup needs to instigate some physical contact with the bases. I mean, kudos on roughing up Jon Garland and Kevin Correia, but this is the NL West. Wait until they stand in the crossfires of pitchers like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Clayton Kershaw, and Ubaldo Jimenez. They could be staring down another solid fourth place finish.
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