MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Diamondbacks are Walking Wounded

Last night was just a bad night for the Diamondbacks, and it shows in the roster. Here’s a rundown of the casualties:

-Chris Snyder took a pitch to the groin on Monday night, so he’s suffering from a (wince-inducing) testicular fracture.  He’s going into surgery on Wednesday, and will be going to the DL.  They’re hoping he’ll be back after the 15 day period, after the All Star Break.
-Eric Byrnes re-injured a hamstring while trying to steal third in Monday’s game, and he’s back on the DL again.  According to Melvin’s post-game press conference today, he’ll be gone for a while.  I kind of wonder if he’s ever been at full strength since Spring Training.  Really, I can’t say I’m too sad he’ll taking a break- our offense will look better with CoJack in left, or even Salazar.  Heck, Burke isn’t really a downgrade at the plate, given how Byrnes is batting this season.
-Edgar Gonzales is on the DL, too.  He felt some elbow tightness after his last appearance, and it’s obviously bad enough that he won’t be an option for a while.  He’s on the 15-day DL, retroactive to June 28th, though we don’t know yet how long he’ll be gone.
-Micah Owings is injured, he’ll miss his start tomorrow, and Juan Cruz has a strained oblique, so he’s unavailable for now.

Yeah, that’s a lot of damage for the team to absorb pretty quickly.  We’ll see Yusmero Petit start tomorrow, and they called Connor Robertson and Robby Hammock up from Tucson- Robertson pitched in tonight’s game.

That’s pretty rough.  But, you know what?  I actually feel some optimism for this team.  Why, you might ask?

Mark Reynolds.  In the past week or so, Reynolds has shown the signs of stepping up to be a leader on this team.  Last week, after a loss to the Marlins, while Bob Melvin closed his door’s to reporters, Reynolds talked to them and told them exactly what was wrong with the team- nothing revolutionary or that we didn’t already know, but it was good to hear a player say it flat-out, rather than hedging their words.  Since then, I feel like he’s been stepping up at the plate- he’s 7 for 15 with 5 RBIs and 4 runs.  He’s also really making some good plays on defense- tonight, he got battered out there, but stuck with it and made some great plays.

If the Diamondbacks are going to stick together and comeback from their struggles, they’re going to need some good leadership, and Mark Reynolds is looking like he’s got the chops for it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.