Saturday, May 20, 2006

Has anyone watched the DBacks this year?

I'm a life-long Red Sox fan, and that's not going to change, but I've caught a few Diamondbacks games on TV this year, including last night and tonight.

With the exception of Luis Gonzalez and maybe Shawn Green, the team is pretty much anonymous. An deservedly so, for the most part. That's not a knock on the players; most of them are young and/or role players. And they are all good baseball players.

There aren't any 'five-tool' superstars in the making here, though some of the players, such as Chad Tracy and Conor Jackson, have the makings of perennial all-stars.

The team is just plain fun to watch. They play good defense (and as someone who grew up with a team that put Butch 'E5' Hobson at third, I appreciate this), they are good at situational hitting, and milking good pitching performances out of rookies and career journeymen. Except for Brandon Webb, who may be the lowest-profile dominant pitcher in MLB today.

They won't win 'em all, or even most of them, but they never give up (see Friday's game) and they'll never be boring. And in a couple of years, if the team doesn't have to do a Florida Marlins-style firesale, they're going to be very good.

Anyway, this is an entertaining team to watch. More people should be doing just that.

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