The Thomas Diamond Era Begins: Cubs vs. Brewers Preview, Tuesday 8/3, 7:05 CT
by Al Yellon on Aug 3, 2010 5:00 PM CDT
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When the photo above was taken at Rangers spring training on February 23, 2005, Thomas Diamond was not quite 22 years old and coming off a good first professional season in the Rangers organization. In 2005, he was part of a Double-A team at Frisco in the Texas League that included John Danks and Edinson Volquez. He was a first-round pick of the Rangers in 2004 (the 10th overall pick).
Danks and Volquez eventually got traded and became solid major league pitchers... and Diamond got hurt. He missed the entire 2007 season, came back at a lesser level in 2008, and then the Rangers let him go after he had a mediocre 2009. The Cubs signed him last September at the urging of assistant GM Randy Bush, who was his college coach at the University of New Orleans.
Diamond isn't young any more -- he's 27 -- but he appears to have come all the way back from Tommy John surgery. He's had a solid year at Iowa with a 3.16 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and 104 strikeouts in 108.1 innings in 21 starts. He's worked hard to get back to what appears to be close to that #1 pick level, and maybe he'll be an, um, "Diamond in the rough" for the Cubs rotation (sorry, had to do it).
Lineup via tweet from Carrie:
#Cubs Tue lineup RF Colvin, SS Castro, 1B Lee, 3B Ramy, CF Byrd, LF Sori, C Soto, 2B DeWitt, P Diamond, making ML debut
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One more note about today's ML debut for Thomas Diamond. The last time the Cubs had a pitcher make his major league debut as a starting pitcher was August 16, 2006, when Ryan O'Malley made that famous ride from Round Rock to Houston to make the emergency start after the team went through the entire staff in an 18-inning game the night before. The Cubs had two other pitchers make ML debuts as starters in 2006: Sean Marshall on April 9, 2006, and Angel Guzman on April 26, 2006.
Chris Narveson has made one career start vs. the Cubs, on September 23, 2009. He allowed one run in 5.2 innings, struck out 10, and got the win. However, before that he made seven relief appearances vs. the Cubs. In those appearances he threw 8.1 innings, allowed 11 hits and five walks and posted a 6.48 ERA. That's the Narveson we hope we see tonight.
Tonight's game is on CSN Chicago and FSN Wisconsin. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. As always, be careful over there.
Tonight's first pitch thread will be up at 7 pm CDT, and the overflows will post at 8 pm, 9 pm and 9:45 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
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Go Cubs - Don't let me wake to another drubbing !!!
If the Cubs still have a chance, no matter how small, it’s still Go Cubs, damn the math and pass the KoolAid.
Jeez, I be dumb.
I thought you called him Diamond O’Malley. I thought you meant you hoped he did good tonight, and hoped he sucks for the rest of his career.
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." John Lennon
Let's hope after all the BAD baseball this team has been playing...
that this guy proves he’s a ’keeper". We really need something positive for a change.
Ron Santo - 8,143 ABs, .277 BA; 342 HR; 1331 RBI = NO Hall of Fame?
Brooks Robinson - 10,654 ABs, .267 BA; 268 HR; 1357 RBI = Hall of Fame.
Any more questions ?
Hmmm.
I haven’t been home since the Cubs loss to the Cardinals on Sunday night. Should I spend the evening watching this team, considering how badly things have gone?
Good thing I can't catch this game
I expect Diamond to be hammered and the Cubs to be held to 1 run or less.
RIP Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010).
I wish Thomas luck tonight.
I wish the rest of the team would start hitting the damn ball.
A lovely story:
One day, long, long ago, there lived a woman who didn't whine, nag or bitch. That would be me....
But that was a long time ago and it was just that one day.
The end
Did Silva get DL'd to make room for him?
"Chicago baseball fans, who are composites of scar tissue and mortifying memories..." - George F. Will
Avatar provided courtesy of AndrewJStone.
Diamond was replacing Lilly
"They say you don’t win a pennant in April, but you can sure lose one." - Ryan Dempster
"Stuttgart Kickers soccer player Sascha Bender once suffered a facial injury after being punched. The assailant, teammate Christian Okpala, said Bender "permanently provoked me by farting all the time." "
Ahh OK thanks
"Chicago baseball fans, who are composites of scar tissue and mortifying memories..." - George F. Will
Avatar provided courtesy of AndrewJStone.
And we FINALLY sent Brian Schlitter back down. That kid couldn’t buy an out (although lately it seems like nobody can.)
He take Cashner with him?
Ron Santo - 8,143 ABs, .277 BA; 342 HR; 1331 RBI = NO Hall of Fame?
Brooks Robinson - 10,654 ABs, .267 BA; 268 HR; 1357 RBI = Hall of Fame.
Any more questions ?
No, although he should have. Mitch Atkins did get recalled though.
by cubs til I die on Aug 3, 2010 6:54 PM CDT up reply actions
Diamond needs a nickname.
If he strikes out a lot of people, we can call him Kay’s. But we need a nickname for right now.
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." John Lennon
that picture of him reminds me of George Raft
just replace the clothes with 1930’s and the ball with a coin 
"They say you don’t win a pennant in April, but you can sure lose one." - Ryan Dempster
"Stuttgart Kickers soccer player Sascha Bender once suffered a facial injury after being punched. The assailant, teammate Christian Okpala, said Bender "permanently provoked me by farting all the time." "
which dubious record will we set tonight?
"You win because of the quarterback. We have to get that position stabilized. We're fixated on that." -- Jerry Angelo (12.30.2008)
Jerry Angelo trades for Jay Cutler! (4.2.2009)
by SackMan on Aug 3, 2010 5:43 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I'll go with
Highest “beers sold per spectator” figure in Wrigley history.
"One of the things I like about baseball is that between innings you can go to the restroom.'' ~Manny Acta.
I wish this game was on ESPN
cause then we would get 2 hours worth of "Diamond’s moving comeback story "
(This story was produced by BCPDnewservice. Our motto: If you don’t like this story then suck it!)
by BrewCrew'sPrinceofDarkness on Aug 3, 2010 5:44 PM CDT reply actions
which would be certain to include him living out of his car at some point...
…during his comeback. All those stories do….
I turned down a chance to go to the game tonight.
What is wrong with me?
"Fasten those seatbelts!"-Pat Hughes
nothing
if it was 2008, then there would be a problem
"They say you don’t win a pennant in April, but you can sure lose one." - Ryan Dempster
"Stuttgart Kickers soccer player Sascha Bender once suffered a facial injury after being punched. The assailant, teammate Christian Okpala, said Bender "permanently provoked me by farting all the time." "
diamond
he can be a cheap innings eater and that could be quite beneficial. he isn’t what he was before he got hurt but he’s certainly come a long way back.
Man in that pic of Diamond
those are some ominous looking clouds for Surprise, AZ in the spring.
I have a BCB question:
For some odd reason, I wound up reading the “100 Greatest Cubs” profile on Mark Grace last night. Don’t know why, but I had never read it before. I thought it was extremely well written.
When I looked at some of the comments that went along with the piece (many of which were over the top ridiculous) I noticed that probably 80% of the usernames are ones that you doesn’t see here anymore.
Has there been that large a turnover in participants on BCB, or is it mostly the same people, just with different screen names? Just curious.
How old was it?
I don’t remember if that was before the SBN great username combine that resulted in some people having to get new names
It never gets to be easy
by chitownhawkeye on Aug 3, 2010 6:45 PM CDT up reply actions
It was before the username switch
But I’m sure there still is a lot of turnover. So I’d say some of both.
Feb. 2007
Some names I recognized: Maddog (NOT Jessica, she is on there as Jessica, but as we all know is Doggie Stalker now), sparkles, Faith Plus 1 (who really HATES Mark Grace), gravedigger, etc.
Interestingly, Al is on there as Al Yellon. He used to be just Al didn’t he? When you change your screen name, does it automatically change it on all your old posts, like it does for the avatar?
Yes, it does change for all previous posts if you change your username.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
People come and go a lot.
Some people say they are leaving only to return. But then you already knew that.
A lovely story:
One day, long, long ago, there lived a woman who didn't whine, nag or bitch. That would be me....
But that was a long time ago and it was just that one day.
The end
GBCW
I can’t take this site anymore!
Back after dinner.
by The Deputy Mayor of Rush Street on Aug 3, 2010 6:54 PM CDT up reply actions
You seriously mean you don't know this?
I thought you knew everything, based upon your posts here.
I didn't believe it last August, but it turns out that love survives.
Mount Washington conquered July 5, 2010
State high point count: 3/50
by Vermont Cubs Fan on Aug 3, 2010 7:03 PM CDT up reply actions
I know one thing
if there was an block function on BCB you would be an excellent poster to use it on.
Maybe I can make it.
Would you like to be the one I test it on?
I didn't believe it last August, but it turns out that love survives.
Mount Washington conquered July 5, 2010
State high point count: 3/50
by Vermont Cubs Fan on Aug 3, 2010 8:39 PM CDT up reply actions
Diamonds 1st MLB start
I missed the game, but looking at the box score I can see they (the Cubs) allowed Diamond to throw 122 pitches in his 1st MLB start. WTF?!? Say hello to the DL after 1 or 2 more starts.
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