Gotta love a nice resurrection narrative on Easter Sunday.

Happy wet, soggy Easter, Dbacks fans, and yay to our boys in red and teal (which, according to Steve, is the color of 2024, and sure, why not) for rallying from last night’s disappointment to bring in a series win. I had a much better feeling about today’s game than last night’s, remembering the Brandon Pfaadt of the 2023 postseason, and I’m pleased on a whole bunch of levels that my intuition was correct.

Pfaadt handily delivered a 1-2-3 first, with Ezequiel Tovar flying out to Alek Thomas and both Nolan Jones and Elehuris Montero called out on strikes. Our half of the inning saw a lead-off walk by Corbin Carroll, a Ketel Marte strikeout (an unfortunate theme in today’s game, alas), and an RBI single by Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (1-0 DBACKS). Christian Walker did the business with a two-run homer after a challenge to the Rockies, who seemed to have some difficulty trying to throw Gurriel out at second, ultimately failing to deliver the goods. Joc Pederson singled, Eugenio Suarez and his LUSCIOUS!!! locks reached on a fielder’s choice, and the inning ended when Alek Thomas GIDP’d, another unfortunate theme of this series. Thomas was later retired for left hamstring tightness; we wish him the best and hope the baseball gods lift the hex that is causing his GIDP-ing.

Not a lot of activity from either side for a few innings, for which mad props to Mr. Pfaadt for keeping a cool head and a clear eye up on the mound. Tucker Barnhardt, our new backup catcher, got his first Dbacks hit in the bottom of the second, Christian Walker was hit by a Ryan Feltner pitch in the bottom of the third, and all was mostly quick and quiet until the top of the 5th, when Pfaadt’s wheels began to wobble, hitting Michael Toglia and opening up a single to Brenton Doyle. A Jacob Stallings single brought Toglia home, and Dbacks fans were beginning to bite lips and fingernails a bit (3-1 DBACKS). Fortunately, even though Pfaadt hit yet another Rockies batter (Tovar) with a pitch, Nolan Jones popped out to Suarez and Elehuris Montero grounded out to Geraldo Perdomo, saving Pfaadt from further turmoil.

The Dbacks’ 5th looked like more of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, but Steve prematurely called the third out, thus lifting the Bert Curse (that is not a thing, I am making that up) when Ketel Marte managed to reach on a Nolan Jones fielding error, bringing Tucker Barnhardt, who walked to start the half inning, home. (4-1 DBACKS). Some Pina Power was thrown in when Gurriel doubled on a sharp line drive and Marte was able to score (5-1 DBACKS). The fourth run may have been a gift run, but who doesn’t like to stumble into the rose bushes by accident and find the golden Easter egg? We’ll take it, thank you very much.

Scott McGough replaced Brandon Pfaadt in the 6th and kept the ship steady, delivering a 1-2-3 to the Rockies, with Ryan Feltner responding in kind. The Dbacks’ 7th saw the mound replacement of one Victor Vodnik, whose name, as Dano pointed out, sounds a bit like an off-brand "Rocky and Bullwinkle" villain. Evil Cold War spy monikers aside, Vodnik delivered a 1-2-3 right back at us, but Ryan Thompson kept up the trend on our side as well.

The top of the 9th saw Kevin Ginkel closing, and, while he did not manage to deliver a 1-2-3, with Brendan Rodgers singling on a line drive to Corbin Carroll, Ginkel nonetheless held it together to bring the Dbacks the win. I started watching the Dbacks in 2020, so I was not around for Ginkel’s early days, only his many suck years, and I am very happy to see he’s figured this pitching business out and managed to bring in some wins for our guys. Yay, Gink! And yay to the dude with the backwards baseball cap and the unabashed GinkelLurve. Live your life, dude!

The Gameday Thread topped out at 152 comments, and while there were several Sedona Red comments from which to choose, I’m going to give CoTG to kilnborn, who summed it up nicely and with fancy font tricks:

[Click graph to enlarge, in new window]
Chocolate: Brandon Pfaadt, +16.5%
Bunnies: Walker, +11.3%; Gurriel +10.8%
Peeps: Geraldo Perdomo/Alek Thomas, both -6.4%

Join us tomorrow evening at 6:40 pm, when we face off at home against the New York Yankees. In 2001, I was living in NYC, grieving for my city after 9/11 and rooting for the Yankees to bring home the win. I don’t think anyone, myself at the top of the list, would have thought 23 years on, I’d be living in Arizona, rooting for the other guys, but life is a strange and interesting beast.

As always, thanks for reading/watching, and, as always, go Dbacks!