Offense Finally Scores a Win For Haren
Today it only took seven innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks to score for Dan Haren, who once again pitched a brilliant game. After he was pulled for a pinch hitter, Ryan Roberts came up and delivered a single to right center field to score Chris Young and give Arizona a 1-0 lead. The lead eventually climbed to 2-0 on a Conor Jackson walk and the game ended that way. Those two runs soured what was an otherwise great start by Colorado Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa.
The bullpen behind Haren did its job, with Tony Pena pitching a scoreless eighth inning and Chad Qualls pitching a scoreless ninth to give Haren his first victory in four tries, despite an ERA of 1.38. You won’t find many starters with a 1.38 ERA and only have a record of 1-3. That’s the Arizona Diamondbacks for you.
When Roberts got the hit to give Haren the lead after he had been pulled, Mark Reynolds gave Haren a hug as if he had just won the World Series. For Haren, it almost has to feel like that, doesn’t it. Getting a run, one run, for Haren these days, is the equivalent of the government bailing out General Motors or Citibank. However when you have a major league team getting excited over a RBI single, you know your offense is having issues.
The little things could have come back to haunt the D’backs today. Little things such as Stephen Drew not completing an easy double play in the second inning or Chris Young being the second D’backs runner to be picked off in the series. Drew also struck out in the seventh inning rally with the bases loaded. Think Drew was a little rusty after taking the last few games off?
Well, I must be off. I need to go read Eric Byrnes his favorite book, it’s one of those pop-ups that makes every kid smile.
*AZScot is a Sports Jabber contributing author. You can view more of his work at Venom Strikes.
Leave a Reply