Oh, what a (Gonzo) Night! D’Backs 13 – Cardinals 1

On Luis Gonzalez poster night, celebrating his achievement of 300 homers and 500 doubles, (and perhaps letting the fans give him a formal good-bye), the D’Backs found their bats. Gonzo himself was 3 for 3 and an IBB. His hits included his 48th double, which established a franchise mark for 2-base hits. (He had set the old one, also). He’s now 20th on the All-Time doubles list. He had 1 RBI and scored 3 runs. And he was named the Spirit of Service player of the game. Gonzo was taken out after 7, perhaps to not risk his perfect night. He was due up in the 8th.

Some other bright lights included Conor Jackson, who went 3-5 with 4 RBI and 2 R,  Carlos Quentin, who went 4-5 with 1 RBI and made an excellent sliding catch in RF, and Livan Hernandez, who pitched 7 innings of 2-hit, 1-run ball.

The D’Backs got all the runs they would need in their first ups. They scored three runs when Orlando Hudson, batting 2 hit his 31 double of the year, Gonzo drove him home with a single, and then Eric Byrnes, batting clean-up and starting in CF—moving to left when Gonzo was pulled after 7--drove Gonzo in with homer No. 22. The homer was declared to be the Game Changing Play of the night. It was a strange night for Byrnes. The homer was the only hit he got, but he had 4 RBI and 3 R on the night.

No, it’s not being hypercritical for DTLFL to say there was a fly in the ointment in this game when, in addition to the victory, and the fine pitching performance, we were treated to a 4-RBI, 3 R night by Byrnes. In fact, it is Byrnes’ performance that was most disappointing. His hitting got worse and worse as the night progressed. He hit his 2-run homer to left in the first, RBI No. 3 came on a sac fly to center in the third. At this point, we were hoping he was on his way to a career night of 6 or 7 RBI. (His personal best is 5).

But his fly ball to left in the 4th left a two-out RISP. In the 6th inning, Gonzo was given an intentional pass to set up bases loaded with 1 out for Byrnesie. The score was 7-1, but Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa had not given up, and he knew that Gonzo, tonight, was hot, and that Byrnes, with the bases loaded, is not. Eric hit a soft grounder to 1B Albert Pujols, whose throw to the plate bounced. Catcher Yadier Molina could not hold it and so Craig Counsell was safe at home. Byrnesie got credit for RBI No. 4 on the fielder’s choice, but we wonder if we will ever see him get a bases-clearing XBH with the bags full.

In his last AB, in the 8th inning, Byrnes hit into another fielder’s choice, this time a 6-4 that nailed Chris Young, who had just singled while batting in Gonzo’s # 3 spot. The Cards tried to get two, but Byrnesie beat it out, setting up the situation in which he scored his third run. His accumulated 4 RBI now give him 67, 7 away from a new personal best. But only 1 hit in 5 plate appearances will not do, especially for a heart-of-the-order hitter. His batting average stays put at .272. His personal best is .283.

We’d like to know why Livan was lifted after 7. He was looking fine. He’s an innings-eater and we like complete games. The D’Backs scored 11 runs for him this game. They had scored only 15 over his previous 5 starts.

Sept. 16 is Eric Byrnes Dirty-T-Shirt Night at Chase. Yeah, we know. It's a merchandizing gimmick to entice a crowd to a contest between two teams in a race for last place in the division. But we love Byrnesie, and believe us, if we had the bucks to fly to Phoenix, we'd go get one. If someone cares to send us a digital photo, we'll post it.

K.R. still hoping to see 25 HR and 80 RBI from our ol' 'puter  in
Oakland, CA