Bleacher Report - Articles by Neil Rubenstein

Arizona Diamomdbacks: 2007 in Review

Neil Rubenstein — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:11:42 -0400

The Diamondbacks have continued to fight adversity all year long. Arizona, signed Randy Johnson last offseason and are paying him a HUGE salary-$10 million per year.

When the D-Backs made this signing, I thought it was a terrible idea for a few reasons:

Reason One: We finally had cleared our roster of overpaid and old players—Finley, Gonzo, Schilling, and Randy. Then we go and take on a Yankee contract we can't afford, just to get Johnson back!

Reason Two: He was getting paid way too much for the amount that most people expected him to produce. He got HAMMERED in New York and just looked over the hill and in his last years in the Bronx. Yes, he was playing injured most of 2006—I'll give you that. But is that really someone you want to sign? A 43-year-old pitcher who was playing hurt most of the prior season?

He came back to the Valley he loves so much (Randy we love you too and thanks for being the best pitcher we will EVER see here in the PHX) He started out pretty bad—13 ERs in his first 18 IP, 6.50 ERA-and boy, was I pissed. I was saying things like, "I knew this was a huge mistake and we still owe him around $30 million over the next two years!"

He then came STORMING back and pitched very well over his next six starts (8 ERs in 36 IP, 2.00 ERA). Then he got hurt in his next start and missed the rest of the year.

Around the same time, the D-Backs also lost their starting third baseman and one of their top hitters: Chad Tracy. Tracy is a fantastic defender (although hr does have a weak arm for a third baseman), hits for average, and is a consistent double and RBI man. The man can hit and field, and is a veteran leader for the young D-Backs.

So we lost our No. 2 pitcher and one of our five most important fielders/hitters. In addition, three of our best four prospects— Stephen Drew, Carlos Quentin, and Alberto Callaspo—upon whose shoulders rested the burden on their shoulders for last year’s success, had worse than imaginable seasons offensively.

Quentin just couldn’t lay off a pitch all year (.213 BA, .299 OBP). Stephen bat .229 after hitting .315 the year before, and had an OBP of .306—as a No. 2 hitter. He had a ton of great at-bats but they just didn't produce hits.

Orlando Hudson WAS having a career year. He is by far the best defender the Diamondbacks have ever had—and that is a statement with Steve Finley in CF for a few years. O-Dog was on pace for career highs in BA, HRs, 2Bs, 3Bs, RBI, Walks, SBs, AVG, OBP, and OPS—before getting injured sliding head first into third base and tearing a ligament in his thumb; and has season ending surgery.

We had two rookie SPs in the rotation after Randy went down to injury. We platooned players at 1B, 2B, 3B, RF, and C all year long.

And after all that, so many great things came to fruition last year. Eric Byrnes had the best year of his career. He had 45 SBs (up from 25 the year before) and went 30 straight attempts without being thrown out—the longest streak in MLB that year. He had career highs in RBI, walks, SBs, BA, hits, runs, OBP, and OPS.

Tony Clark stepped up offensively and defensively, and definitely became the clubhouse leader. All these young guys (15 rookies, eight starters) have looked up to him and Orlando for guidance on how to act, play, and deal with this head game called baseball. He had two walk-off HRs and was clutch all year.

Chris Young had a great chance at being the first rookie ever to have 30 SBs and 30 HRs, falling short by only three bags. Not to mention, Young is a fantastic center fielder by any standards, let alone for a rookie.

Three of Arizona’s starters began 2007 in Double A—the most notable being Mark Reynolds. After starting off the year batting .400 in his first month, the following two months Reynolds hit .150. But he turned it all around and consistently got hits and on base for the rest of the season. So after hitting .150 for two straight months, his BA was still .279, which is incredible.

We had the worst BA of any team in the majors, the worst runs-scored/runs-allowed ratio of any playoff team, the worst ERA for our No. 4 and 5 starters in the MLB playoff hunt, and the worst BA with runners in scoring position of anyone in the chase.

Despite all this turmoil and adversity, the D-Backs are won their division and posted the BEST record in the National League.

If you told ANYONE in April the scenario laid out above would play out over the course of the season, they would have laughed, and said the D-backs are probably going to be one of the 10 worst teams in baseball this year. And I, a huge D-backs supporter, would have HAD to agree.

There seemed be just too much to overcome in order to make the playoffs. But, in this end, this team wins. That's it, they just win games. Orlando Hudson, Eric Byrnes, and Tony Clark have shown these young guys how to win. Unless you have watched them all year you wouldn't know how. They are the example of how very little stats can mean in sports. Sometimes they do paint the right picture...but not every time.

Only the Angles, Indians, Red Sox, and Yankees had a better record than the D-Backs. We swept the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs. And then we ran into the hottest team in baseball—the Rockies—and were swept 4-0.

Colorado proved to have that slight edge on us when it came to desire. Look at the D-Backs’ poor performance in clutch situations at the plate. We had 36 hits in those games, but managed just eight runs in four games—with four of those runs coming in one game.

But the bright lights of the season would not be dimmed so easily. Although Chris Young barely missed his attempt at being the first 30/30 rookie ever, if he can improve on his Avg. and OBP—.237 and .295, respectively—he could have 35/35 this year, no problem. He proved he can be a gold glove in center field as well.

Micah Owings emerged as the best pure-hitting pitcher I have ever seen, by a long shot. Livan Hernandez and Greg Maddux can hit, but Micah can SMASH! In 60 ABs he had 20 hits— seven 2Bs, one 3B, and four HRs. That's amazing: 12 extra-base hits out of 20, with 15 RBI. He’s a pitcher with a .683 slugging percentage—and he was also a rookie.

Our bullpen was fantastic all year long. We had five RPs with an ERA of 3.27 or less. Jose Valverde finished with 47 saves.

Chris Snyder earned the majority role behind the plate by the end of the year. He calls a great game and proved he can hit for power and average.

And last but not least, Webby did his normal thing (3.01 ERA, 236.6 IP, 18 W, 194 K, 4 CG ,3 SHO). Not bad, right? Well he did do something kinda cool: 42 straight IP without giving up a run. No biggie. But he had 3 CG shutouts IN A ROW during that streak. You don't have to pitch every inning to keep that streak going—but he did, for three straight games!

That's unheard of. The fact that Bob Melvin even allowed this is incredible. He easily could have taken Webb out in the seventh in either game. Amazing.

Suns-Spurs: In A Suns State of Mind

Neil Rubenstein — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:09:04 -0400

On February 6, the Suns traded Marion and Marcus Banks (he needs a first name intro) for The Big Shaqtus. I was enraged—just like every other Phoenician in the Valley of the Suns.

Marion has been a fan favorite since the Suns drafted him. He is a great basketball player that is as flexible as anyone we have EVER seen in the league. He could guard Chris Paul one night and Tim Duncan the next, and still put up 15 points and 10 boards.

Off the court, Marion is a wonderful figure to have in the community. He was constantly running his own charity events in the Phoenix area and getting other big names to help him.

Losing his presence, I thought, would send us into a downward spiral, and might mean the demise of the Suns.

March 9 rolls around, The Suns are 3-6 with Shaq on the court. While the Phoenix organization is preaching patience with the team; all you hear about on SportsCenter and local radio is how much trouble the Suns are in and how they are done being a powerhouse.

I actually started to buy into it a bit. There are only 20 games left, and I know Suns need to learn how to play more efficient halfcourt offense when Shaq is in the game.

But the 3-6 record with Shaq is all that has mattered to people. Not the fact that they played the Lakers, Pistons, and Celtics in a row, not to mention the Hornets, Jazz, Nuggets, Blazers and a surprisingly hot Philly squad in those nine games.

Those are some very good teams right there. The Lakers are playing the best ball in the league. The Pistons and Celtics are the rolling through the JV League. The Hornets and Jazz could come out of the West to the Finals. The Blazers are much improved, Philly had won four in a row and 12 of 15—no, I don't think the Sixers are for real, but still.

Seven of those teams are going to the playoffs. The Suns could have very easily gone 3-6 with Marion—ANY team could have. But all everyone heard about was the record, not who the Suns played, and how it was all because of this "travesty of a trade!"

And then it happened: the unanimous preseason pick for the Western Conference Championship Game. The San Antonio Spurs, our most hated rival and our toughest opponent over the last five years, came to town. This was the game that was going to tell us how far the Suns had "fallen"—if that was the case.

This game and every other from here on out, is all about turnovers for the Suns. With Shaq they had averaged a horrific 15-plus turnovers per game in their losses; and had been outscored by at least seven points off turnovers in each game. You can't consistently win in the NBA, no matter how good you are, by averaging more TOs and fewer Points off TOs.

On Sunday, the Spurs only coughed the ball up 10 times. Even though 10 TOs is pretty low, the Suns' D played extremely well against San Antonio. Instead of turning the ball over, the Spurs were forced into bad shots and shot just 35 percent from the field.

And while the Suns may have turned the ball over 14 times, they scored four more points off TOs than the Spurs did.

All is fine in Phoenix again—we beat the damn Spurs.

We now have the opportunity to prove what I am preaching here—we have turned the corner. All season, Phoenix has had trouble putting away weaker teams. It is a curse that the Suns have been given by the basketball gods. How long have we been saying that for—five years?

Tonight we play the lowly Grizzlies, who we played in Memphis on Feb. 26th. We won that game by 14, but it was an ugly win. The score was 116-110 with 1:45 to go. Rudy Gay torched us for 36 on 14-27 shooting, and Mike Miller was injured.

Shaq only played 24 minutes, the lowest total he has had with the Suns since his acquisition. That was also the only game that the Grizzlies scored over 90 points without Miller, 113.

This game will be close until the end of the second quarter. The Suns will beat the Grizzlies up on the interior on offense and defense, and Memphis will wear down. Their club is not deep, and if Stoudemire and Shaq can stay out of foul trouble. they will eat the Grizzlies alive.

The Suns will get into the bonus early on this team as well in every quarter and Kwame will probably foul out. Phoenix should smash the Grizzlies by 15 points or more. And even if that doesn't happen, I still won't be worried.

Suns fans need to listen to the organization—which has been honest with them from day one—and be patient.

Phoenix has the toughest schedule in the league for the rest of the year, so the Suns' record might not be great—but look deeper, be a real fan, and see if the team continues to show the caliber of play we saw against S.A.

The Suns are fine, and will continue to prove that all the way to the promised land—the NBA Title.

On the streets of Phoenix, the second coming wears No. 32 with the "S" on his chest.