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Diamondbacks 5, Padres 3: Kelly Makes Us the Padres’ Daddy

Chris Etling — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:08:18 +0000

Record: 2-1. Pace: 108-54. Change on 2009: +1

Arizona came into tonight’s game looking to win its first series of the newborn season. Sure, their 162-0 year had been ruined, but there was still a lot to play for, right? I mean, with 160 games left, I guess there’s playoffs and wild cards and other things to consider that might be worthwhile.

Welcome to the Diamondbacks, Kelly Johnson! Mr. Johnson established himself in a big way tonight, going from 0-for-7 with a walk in the first two games…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on April 5, 2007. At the time, the baseball season was one day old and Brandon Webb’s shaky start was merely a blip on his way to successful season. In 2009, of course, Webb’s shaky start against the Rockies on Opening Day was his only start of the year. And look, he’s still hurt!

A full 2010 preview is coming next week.

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With Opening Day behind us, it’s time to take a look at where we stand.

The Diamondbacks started things off right…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on Feb. 7, 2007. Back then, the Super Bowl was a weekend later and clashed with the FBR Open. Now, the Open is free of such burdens…but it’s the Waste Management Open. Good times.

So here we are, just three days away from Super Bowl XLI. We’ve already read eight thousand articles about Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy being the first African-American coaches to make it to the big game, and countless more stories about how Chicago is lucky to be there. Meanwhile, Peyton…

5MM: Virtual Unreality

Chris Etling — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:57:37 +0000

I’ve spent a decent amount of time in the past seven months playing NBA 2K9. Yes, 2K10 is better in just about every way, but A) it has Kobe on the cover and B) it hasn’t come down enough in price yet to justify a one-year upgrade. Playing a virtual GM in the Association mode has its perks, because every other general manager in the league has Chris Wallace/Kevin McHale-type moments that can be exploited.

For example, landing Chris Bosh in place of Amare Stoudemire was as easy as a…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on April 19, 2007. I’m actually surprised at how many of these predictions panned out. A few were spot on, although there are also some noticeable misses (however, it’s strange how Doc Rivers became a better coach when the Celtics landed Kevin Garnett).

The NBA regular season ended yesterday, which means it’s time to throw out some random guesses on award winners. After all, handicapping a couple of the races at this point would require some kind of strange psychic powers. This is the…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:00:12 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on Nov. 15, 2007. At the time, I was just starting out at the Snakepit and this was one of the better interviews The Lumberjack had gotten, along with Sherman Alexie, Daniel Tosh and some others. Maybe it wasn’t the same star power, but the thoroughness of the responses was there. It’s certainly interesting to see how things have changed for the D-backs since then: no more Byrnes, both top Carlos prospects gone, the team crashed and burned after that 2007 NLCS appearance, etc.…

5MM: D-Back to the Drawing Board

Chris Etling — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:01:04 +0000

The Diamondbacks spent most of last season withering in last place. In general, being associated with the Padres is usually a bad thing, especially when the phrase “finished behind” is involved. One could argue that the problems plaguing this organization — stagnant offense, shaky bullpen pitching, awful back-of-the-rotation starters — really started after the unsustainably lucky first month of the 2008 season, a consideration that probably cost Bob Melvin his job just a month into the ‘09 campaign.

Josh Byrnes talked at length about the organization having money to spend…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on January 31, 2007. Times were simpler for the Suns then — no Shaq, no Porter, no home losses to the Bulls. But I digress.

The complaints are always the same.

Their running style is too helter-skelter to succeed. Other teams will dictate the pace in the playoffs. Their point guard will wear down from the minutes he plays.

All this for a team that’s won 73 percent of its games the past three years.

While everybody seems to be jumping on the Suns…

5MM: Here Comes the Suns (boo-hoo-hoo-hoo)

Chris Etling — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:18:13 +0000

Sing it in your head. It’s catchy, despite the bad grammar.

Working at the new job has been positive overall, with a couple of exceptions. I’ve only got every third weekend off, and working nights means I miss the vast majority of Suns games … okay, change that to “with one exception,” because I miss my weekends more than I miss the Suns these days. Last night was a prime example, as I settled in to watch Phoenix for the first time in a couple weeks thanks to a early…

5MM: Former Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:35:12 +0000

This 5 Minute Misconduct originally ran on Jan. 17, 2008. In light of Mark McGwire’s recent steroid confession (and in an attempt to update 5MM’s patchy backlog), it reappears here as it ran in its entirety in print.

Back when baseball cards were popular, there was one player’s rookie card that everyone coveted.

It had exploded in value over the course of his career as he continued to put up Hall of Fame numbers, and all the kids in little league wanted to be like him. His charity work was…

5MM: Solar Eclipse

Chris Etling — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:35:13 +0000

In retrospect, I probably should have written more about the Suns before Saturday night’s game against Memphis. Coming off wins against the Lakers and Celtics, it was easy to overlook some of the puzzling losses this team took in December, like the abysmal defensive performance they put up against the Warriors right before the LA game. By this point Phoenix’s flaws have been exposed, but the question remains: can they overcome those flaws to make an impact in the playoffs?

Rebounding: We knew size was an issue for this
…

5MM: Some Suns Thoughts

Chris Etling — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:47:46 +0000

Greetings, 5MM fans. I know, you’ve been waiting for another post for a while now. At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself. You never leave any comments, so I’m forced to make them up in my head.

Unlike last year, when 5MM was all-Suns-all-the-time during this part of the year, the basketball season has coincided with a bit of a hiatus while I’ve switched jobs and such. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton to talk about with Phoenix basketball, though. For example:

Channing Frye is the frontrunner
…

5MM: Friday Faceoffs

Chris Etling — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:39:29 +0000

5MM goes to once a week now that I’m employed and the Diamondbacks’ season is long gone. There will be more about the Suns next week, but for now you get two quickie notes:

I thought about doing an in-depth Suns preview before the start of the season, but there really wasn’t much else to talk about that we didn’t address a few months ago. Instead, you get a haiku.
Phoenix basketball
Rebounding’s an issue here
Nash and Hill, stay well

We saw a bit of
…

5MM: Throwing a Game

Chris Etling — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:52:04 +0000

I know, it’s been a while since we’ve talked about the NFL in these parts. 5MM has been somewhat quiet as we sit in between baseball season and basketball season — let’s face it, a Dodgers/Yankees World Series would be abysmal television.

So instead, it’s time to talk football. After keeping tabs on most of the games from this weekend, a trend is starting to reach the surface: like the teams in the league this season, quarterbacks are extremely hit or miss.

In a league where parity is king, it’s…

5MM: 2009 Diamondbacks Pop Quiz

Chris Etling — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:15:45 +0000

This quiz was part of the last Diamondbacks recap of the season (see last week’s post), but there’s a good chance some of you missed it. Well, you’re in luck; the link is still active and the answer key is after the jump. Quick, click here before you peek at the results. For the rest of the class, your grades are in red ink at the top of the next page…

First, we’ll go through the questions and talk about…