Los Angeles @ Arizona preview
Chase Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 2, 2010 ) Arizona 0, LA Dodgers 1
It just might be one of the worst cases of cronyism in the history of sports.
At least it came to end Thursday when the Arizona Diamondbacks fired general manager Josh Byrnes and manager AJ Hinch. There is a press conference scheduled Friday at Chase Field before Arizona takes on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The firings come about 13 ½ months after Bob Melvin, the National League Manager of the Year in 2007, was fired. Byrnes replaced him with Hinch, who was his right-hand man in the scouting department and had zero managing experience.
Byrnes said “organizational advocacy” would be the key to moving forward, meaning there would group decisions at times in the day-to-day management of the team.
The organization received harsh criticism then and it was only compounded by the fact that Arizona finished 58-75 (.436) the rest of 2009 under Hinch. In 2010, the D’backs have the third-worst record (31-48, .392) in baseball.
The front office has been very vocal about its displeasure in how the season has played out. It was obvious that a move had to be made.
Byrnes was signed through 2015 and Hinch through 2012.
Vice president of personnel Jerry DiPoto was named interim GM and bench coach Kirk Gibson was named interim manager.
It takes a lot to overshadow the start of a pitcher coming off a no-hitter, but that is what the Diamondbacks have managed to do.
Arizona’s Edwin Jackson is making his first start since no-hitting the Tampa Bay Ray last weekend in 149 pitches. The right-hander was given a few extra days of rest to allow for his arm to recover sufficiently after throwing so many pitches, mainly because he walked eight in the no-hitter.
The historic outing against Tampa Bay was a culmination of a good string of starts that has seen Jackson lop nearly 3 1/2 runs off his ERA since May 2, when he had a mark of 8.07. He has won four of his last five decisions over his last eight starts and stands at 5-6 with a 4.63 ERA overall.
Jackson will be facing a Dodgers squad that is coming off a sweep of San Francisco and will send out right-hander Hiroki Kuroda.
Kuroda (7-5, 3.27) has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his last nine starts, including a win over Arizona on May 12 at Chase Field, when he allowed two earned in 7 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts and a loss.