Long time Arizona Diamondback starting pitcher Randy Johnson probably won’t be with the team for the 2009 season. The Big Unit had hoped to re-sign with the Diamondbacks and even offered to take a 50% paycut to reamain with the team but management has other thoughts and that probably includes getting younger at the pitchers position.

“Randy instructed us not to file for free agency until we made every effort to reach an agreement.,” Johnson’s agents, Barry Meister and Alan Nero, said in a statement.

It will be interseting to see what teams are interested in the aging Johnson.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks blew a 4-0 lead in the final three innings of the game as they lost to the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon. Terrible way to lose a ball game and now they are hoping for a Dodgers loss this evening.

Starting pitcher Randy Johnson allowed three runs over seven innings to get a no decision in the game. The Big Unit allowed five hits including one home run and struck out nine Padres while only walking one. Chad Qualls took the loss as he pitched the eighth inning and allowed three hits and two runs to score. Chase Headley and Jody Gerut both hit rbi singles off of Qualls in the 8th inning.

Mark Reynolds, Miguel Montero, Chris Young, and Randy Johnson all had rbi’s for the Diamondbacks. All four of the runs came in the sixth inning as Reynolds had a sac fly, Montero a triple, Young a double, and Johnson a single. The bullpen just couldn’t hold onto the lead.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Diamondbacks are up 2.5 games on the Dodgers. The Dodgers can drop that down to two games if they beat the Nationals on Wednesday night. This weekend is going to be a huge series with the D-backs and Dodgers face each other.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks were able to beat the Chicago Cubs by the score of 2-0 in a pitchers duel on Monday night.  Diamondbacks starting pitcher Randy Johnson outdueled newly acquired Cubs pitcher Rich Harden as the D-backs took the first game of the three game series.

Johnson gave up two hits through seven innings and held the Cubs scoreless to improve to 7-7.  Johnson struckout four batters and was hit hard but none of the ball left the ballpark.  The Cubs did have 5-6 long fly outs that were caught at the warning track but they just didn’t have enough to get over the wall.

Micah Owings who was scheduled to pitched on Tuesday threw a scoreless eighth inning and then Chad Qualls pitched the ninth inning to record his second save.  Qualls did have some trouble in the ninth when the Cubs got the first two runners on base with no outs but he got Derrek Lee to ground into a double play on a 2-0 count and then Aramis Ramirez grounded out to end the game.

The Diamondbacks only had two hits at the plate but they made sure both of them scored runs.  Alex Romero hit is first home run in the sixth inning off of Harden and that broke up Harden’s no-hit bid while putting the D-backs on the scoreboard 1-0.  Stephen Drew then added a rbi triple in the eighth inning off of Bob Howry and Chris Snyder scored all the way from first base.

It was a good win over a good quality team in the Cubs.  Now the D-backs will send Yusmeiro Petit to the mound on Tuesday night as they try to go up 2-0 in the series.

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Starting pitcher Randy Johnson only lasted 3 2/3 innings on Tuesday night as he gave up eight hits and seven runs including two home runs.  The “Big Unit” put the Diamondbacks in a big hole early in the game and they were un able to dig their way out of as they lose to the Milwaukee Brewers 8-6.  Johnson is now 4-7 on the year and needs to start throwing the ball better.

Connor Robertson pitched three innings after Johnson left the game and allowed two hits and one run.  Leo Rosales and Doug Slaten pitched the final 2 1/3 innings without allowing another run to score.

Conor Jackson went 3-4 with three rbi and a two run home run to lead the Diamondbacks at the plate.  Jackson had a great game at the plate for the D-backs.  Chris Young, Miguel Montero, and Randy Johnson all had one rbi in the game but it wasn’t quite enough to pull out the victory.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks really struggled at the plate on Wednesday night as they were defeated by the Boston Red Sox by the score of 5-0.  The Diamondbacks only recorded three hits in the game.  It just wasn’t the Diamondbacks night I guess as they couldn’t get anything going at the plate and struggled on the mound.

Randy Johnson pitched six inning while allowing eight runs and two hits.  The Big Unit pitched pretty good there was just no run support to back him up.  Juan Cruz pitched a scorless seventh inning but then gave up a three run home run to Kevin Cash in the eighth inning and was pulled from the game.  Doug Slaten came in and finally calmed things down as he got all three outs in the eighth inning without giving up another run.

The Diamonbacks did threaten to score in the ninth inning as they loaded the bases with two walks and an infield single but Jonathan Papelbon came in and struck out Chad Tracy to end the game.

The Diamondbacks went 1-2 in the series with the Red Sox and will now travel to Florida to take on the Marlins this weekend.  The Marlins are a pretty good team so the Dbacks will have to play good on the road to win the series.

Diamondbackshomeplate is still looking for a Diamondbacks fan that would like to contribute on the blog.  From writing game recaps to just blogging whatever is your mind about the Diamondbacks, you can do it all!  If you are interested please use the contact us link on the main page or leave a comment in this post and we will get back to you.

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost for the second straight time to the Pittsburgh Pirates as they feel 5-3 on Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh.  The Diamondbacks had started the four game series off by winning the first two games but then lost the next two to split the series.  Another up and down series as the D-backs just can’t seem to get things going to run off a win streak of five or six games.

On Monday, it was Randy Johnson taking the loss as he threw 5 2/3 innings while allowing six hits and five runs (four were earned).  The Big Unit walked four batters while striking out three so he did have some control issues.

Three errors by the Diamondbacks defense sure didn’t help out the pitchers either.  Johnson, Miguel Montero, and Mark Reynolds all had errors in the game.

At the plate for the Diamondbacks, three different players had a rbi in the game.  Reynolds connected on a solo home run in the fourth inning.  Chris Young had a rbi ground rule double in the seventh inning and in the eighth inning, Stephen Drew hit a solo home run.  The D-backs just needed to have some runners on base when those two home runs were hit.

I should also not that that Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin was ejected from the game in the second inning when he argued about a home run call that was over turned.  Reynolds hit a fly ball to right field that was caught by a fan that put their glove over the wall.  The call was an initial home run, but the umpires later ruled that it was a double instead.  Melvin was quickly tossed after that.

The Diamondbacks will play the New York Mets on Tuesday night.  Diamondbacks Home Plate will also have a new blogger in place as “B” who blogs for our Mets Blog, will be covering the Diamondbacks series here at Diamondbacks Home Plate as well.

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The Milwaukee Brewers once again got the best of the Arizona Diamondbacks as the Diamondbacks continue to struggle.  This time it was a 7-1 loss to the Brewers that dropped the Diamondbacks record to 32-27 on the season.  You would think that they would get out of this slump somtime, but it just hasn’t happened yet.

Randy Johnson took the loss and is now 4-2.  The Big Unit tossed 6 1/3 innings and gave up six hits and four runs in the game.  Juan Cruz then came in and recorded the last two outs of the seventh inning.  Max Scherzer was called upon to pitch the eighth inning and gave up three hits including two home runs.  That pretty much put the game out of reach for the Diamondbacks especially the way they have been swinging the bats.

The one run for the Diamondbacks came in the fourth inning when Mark Reynolds doubled and scored Orlando Hudson.  Other then that, the Diamondbacks stunk it up once again.

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Tony Pena and Chad Qualls each gave up a run in the eithth and ninth inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks blew a one run lead and lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 4-3.  It was too bad that the bullpen couldn’t hold things down and get Randy Johnson a win as he pitched pretty good.

Qualls gave up the game winning home run in the top of the ninth inning to Randy Winn as he took the loss and is now 0-5 on the season.  In the eighth inning, it was Pena walking Fred Lewis with the bases loaded that scored the third run for the Giants and tied the game.

Johnson had thrown seven innings of six hit baseball while giving up two runs in the game.  He was in line to get the win but the bullpen just couldn’t do their job.

Justin Upton had a solo home run and rbi triple to lead the Diamondbacks at the plate with two rbi.  Conor Jackson also had a rbi on a single in the fourth inning.

It was just a bad series for the Diamondbacks as they were swept by the Giants.  Can the D-backs bounce back this weekend as they take on the Washington Nationals?

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The Arizona Diamondbacks score three runs in each of the first two innings against Jeff Francis and the Colorado Rockies and then they went onto beat the Rockies 8-4.  The Diamondbacks put a lot of pressure on Francis in the game and they scored all eight runs off of him in only 4 2/3 innings.

I love to see the offense come out and score runs like that early in the ball game.  The three runs in the first inning all came on singles that scored one run each.  Orlando Hudson, Conor Jackson, and Mark Reynolds all had rbi singles in the first inning.

In the second inning, it was Stephen Drew connecting on a three run home run to score all three runs for the Diamondbacks.  It was Drew’s fifth home run of the season.  The Diamondbacks then scored one run in the fourth and and fifth innings as they extended their lead.  Hudson had another rbi single in the fourth inning while Chris Burke had a rbi single in the fifth inning when he was pitch hitting for Randy Johnson.

Speaking of Johnson, he picked up his third win of the season as he improved to 3-1.  Johnson tossed five innings of baseball as he gave up nine hits and four runs.  He did give up one home run but it was a solo home run so it didn’t hurt too bad.

Juan Cruz, Chad Qualls, Tony Pena, and, Brandon Lyon all got a inning of action in the game.  All four pitchers did a great job and held the Rockies to zero runs.

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Randy Johnson pitched six inning and allowed four runs while the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 6-4 on Tuesday night.  With the win, Johnson improved to 2-1 on the season.

Johnson gave up six hits and four runs including two home runs in his six innings of action.  He still need to locate the ball a little better but I think he will get that location back as he gets a few more innings of action.  Brandon Lyon picked up his tenth save of the season as he closed the door on the Phillies in the ninth inning.

Stephen Drew had the big hit for the Diamondbacks when he hit a three run home run in the fourth inning that put that Diamondbacks ahead for good.  He said he knew he got a good swing on it, but didn’t think it would be a home run.   Well it sure was a home run and proved to be the game winning hit for the D-backs.  Chris Young, Conor Jackson, and Randy Johnson all had one RBI in the game as well.

With the win the Diamondbacks are at 22-11 on the season.  Diamondbacks Blog