When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

09.11.2008
An Uncomfortable Melvin

I hesitate to call a manager a bonehead when I probably don’t have access to all the facts, but, oh, what the hell: Putting Adam Dunn in right field yesterday was a huge bonehead move by Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin.

Dunn misplayed Eugenio Velez’s deep but catchable fly ball in the third inning. What would have been a sac fly turned into a two-run double and a crucial extra run. Though he was mostly a left fielder with Cincy, Dunn has played 1B since he arrived in Arizona — a wise choice.

But Melvin apparently wanted to get Chad Tracy’s bat into the lineup, so Tracy started at 1B, and Dunn shifted to RF. Need we point out that Mays Field probably has the toughest RF in all of baseball? If Melvin absolutely needed to play Dunn in the outfield, why not LF, where he has had plenty of experience? Is LF Conor Jackson, himself a converted first baseman, so wretched that Dunn in right was a better option? Watching Jackson plod around yesterday from my seats in the 1–3–8, the answer might actually be yes, Dunn had a better chance than Jackson to acquit himself in RF.

That’s not a good sign. Nor was it good that in a must-win situation, the D’Backs made three huge errors (not including Dunn’s misplayed double) and couldn’t make much dent against Brad Hennessey, he of the 12–something-something ERA coming in.

I don’t want the Dodgers to win the division, but the current D-Backs don’t look capable of turning their slide around. (And for those who say they’d rather see the Giants lose to Arizona than L.A. win the division, for shame.)

Brandon Lyon must be cursing the fates. In the ninth Molina hits a fairly routine grounder into the hole for a single — off an ankle-high pitch, no less. Then Aaron Rowand, who swings at the shadows of seagulls these days, lays off a few pitches for a walk. Then Lyon throws two beautiful curves to Velez and has him set up perfectly for a high fastball. He throws it right where he wants it, about neck-high, and Velez places a fly ball, not particularly well struck, perfectly into the right-center gap. CF Chris Young was shaded toward left-center, as the situation called for. Game over.

One more game note: Brian Wilson, burned again with a fastball on the outside half of the plate.



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6 Comments

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Fire P. Television | September 11, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply

I took the day off to go to the game yesterday and I couldn't believe how terribly Dunn was playing. I don't think he could've walked any slower toward Hennessey's double in the second inning, and it looked like he just gave up on Velez's hit. There was a foul ball that landed near the AZ bullpen, too, that he couldn't get to because he was just moseying along, and that I thought should've been an out for sure...but I guess I'm just used to seeing Randy Winn always making that catch.

ELM replied to comment from Fire P. Television | September 11, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply

I was there with Elbo and we coined a new nickname for Dunn:

The Hesitant Lummox.

FPTV replied to comment from ELM | September 12, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply

Heh. My buddy and I came up with "The Tumbler" for Sandoval, after his game winning "slide" on Tuesday night and his play on the ball Dunn hit past the shift.

Johnny Disaster replied to comment from FPTV | September 12, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply

"Meatwad"

giantsrainman | September 11, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply

I hear you on Wilson's refusal to throw inside. This is clearly his bigest weakness. Fixing this and adding a true quality offspeed pitch is all that seperates him from the good closer he is now and the elite closer he could be.

It is essential that Brain start to throw effectively inside or he risks not even continuing to be good. It is not essential that he develope a quality offspeed pitch but when he adds this to throwing his heat inside he will be elite.

david_sf | September 11, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply

One of the shamed here ... I don't want the Giants to lose, I just don't want the Dodgers to make the playoffs. Turns out I may not get to have both.

Maybe this will all work out and the Giants will sweep the Dodgers out of the playoffs, or better yet maybe the Dodgers will make the playoffs, lose miserably (Kent dropping a ball at a crucial point & Manny getting tagged out at home plate to lose the final game) ... then in the off season they think they are just close to good enough and deplete their farm system for one more push.

maybe, but worse things have happened.

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