Arizona is drinking at the Laz Chance saloon today.
I guess, in the end, Laz Diaz blowing the checked-swing call didn’t make any difference in the outcome of the game. It was just the trigger for a half-inning which is likely to go down as one of the most… um, interesting ones in the 2025 campaign. With 150 games left, I feel that’s a fairly safe pronouncement. Of course, as the world turns, so do the umpires, which means that we have Mr. Diaz calling balls and strikes behind home-plate today. Might be a bit awkward when Torey Lovullo has to go out there and exchange line-up cards. I always wonder how that works. Will there be avoidance of direct eye-contact, like if you meet an co-worker with whom you had a terse email exchange at the water cooler?
If Diaz screws us again today, it’s probably nothing personal, just Diaz being his usual level of incompetent. According to UmpScorecards.com, among the 90 umpires to work the majors last year, his accuracy percentage of 92.68% ranked Laz Diaz 84th. This year hasn’t started off much better, Diaz currently coming in 70th of 79 with an accuracy rate of 91.78%. Small sample size applies though, since he has only been behind the plate for three games. So plenty of time for him to… uh, improve. I did enjoy Awful Announcing reporting of the Orioles’ announcers ripping into the umpire in a piece they posted this morning. We’ll see today if Diaz carries a grudge, in addition to being inept.
Staff ace Brandon Pfaadt and his… /checks notes 5.25 ERA takes the mound for the D-backs. Yep, that’s still the lowest ERA of any of our starters to date. Though with a FIP of 6.15 for Pfaadt, it doesn’t feel like he has simply been unlucky. Not missing many bats so far, with nine strikeouts over the 48 batters faced. Though on the plus side, he has issued just the one walk, which is good. Keeping the ball in the park is going to be a big help, Brandon having allowed four home-runs in twelve innings. If he could stop doing that, we’ll all be a lot happier. But the team has a chance to win the series, and considering where we started, I think we would all settle for that.