Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 09, 2007
Close and High Scoring

The Arizona Diamondbacks knocked another game off their magic number as they cam back from a 7-3 deficit to defeat the Cardinals 9-8.

The Diamondbacks, staggered by the seven-run third inning, recovered quickly.

They came back with five runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by Stephen Drew's three-run homer. Miguel Montero drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, and pinch-hitter Carlos Quentin's chopper over the head of third baseman Brendan Ryan gave the Diamondbacks a two-run cushion at 9-7.

And the bullpen pitched well late as they allowed just one hit over the last three innings. Valverde picked up his 44th save, although he has blow seven.

What interesting is this stands as another one-run win for the Diamondbacks. Arizona's offense is weak, so you really don't expect their one-run wins to be high scoring affairs. But they are 5-1 in one run games where at least thirteen runs are scored, the best winning percentage in the majors (Texas is 9-2, which is also impressive). Overall, Arizona extends it's record in one-run games to 31-17, also the best winning percentage in the majors.

Bad news, however, in that they've lost Orlando Hudson:

Orlando Hudson talked it over with his mom and his grandma, his agent and his manager, and ultimately reached a painful conclusion.

He will have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. His season is officially over.

"We talked about it, and that's the best thing to do," Hudson said. "Doctor (Don) Sheridan, he's the best in the business. That (surgery) was the first thing to come out of his mouth, so you pretty much know it's going to get done."

That's a tough loss for Arizona, and it's too late to get a decent replacement. His injury hurts the DBacks on both sides of the ball, so we'll see if they can hold on to a playoff spot without him for the next three weeks.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:19 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)
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