[Pinches self] Nope. He’s still a Cardinal..."s Farm TeamsGameday ThreadsDiamondbacks NewsDiamondbacks Game ReportsFang FoodSnake and know how much there is to gain from it.” Weaver Felix Hernandez Jersey , 25, said it will take “easy fixes” to get him back to his 2017 form, when he posted a 3.88 ERA in 60.1 innings. He cited several bad starts as the reason his numbers took a dip in 2018.[dbacks.com]Kelly, Weaver excited for opportunity in Arizona - Kelly said of Molina, who is revered for his ability to work with pitchers and call a game. "I've gone to five Spring Trainings with him, so I've got to see firsthand the work ethic and what it takes to be a Gold Glove catcher and the leader of a team. I've just taken that stuff to heart. I've written a lot of stuff down. I like to write stuff down. I've taken a lot of information in and applied to that to my game and now I feel that I'm getting my opportunity to go out there and perform and show what I've got."[Sports360AZ] Carson Kelly Looking to Grow, Help Luke Weaver Do the Same - Learning from one of the best catchers in baseball can be a double-edged sword. Kelly could learn the lessons to make him great from Molina, but he couldn’t apply those lessons consistently in Major League scenarios because of his mentor’s stranglehold on the position. In 117 at-bats over the course of three years, Kelly hit .154 with no home runs and 10 RBI. “It was a tough situation for sure,” Kelly said. “It was more the mental side than the physical side I thought I was ready to play but getting those opportunities and not knowing when you might get another one, it weighted heavily on me. I think that is part of the reason I haven’t had a ton of success at the big league level yet is because of that.”[Arizona Sports] President Derrick Hall hopes Paul Goldschmidt can be a D-back again - “I’m so happy for Goldy. He is such a good human being,” Hall said. “The difficult part for our baseball staff was trying to separate the man from the decision. Speaking to him yesterday, I was emotional on the phone with him. I teared up and let him know how much I loved him. He is so important to me. He’s a member of my family. As I told him at the end of our conversation, ‘Goldy, I hope you’re back with us, either as a player in the future or working for us and for me because that’s how important you are to me and our organization.’”[Inside the 'Zona] 2019 D-backs Top Prospects: #1-10 - After a ton of debate Hisashi Iwakuma Jersey , checking my own thinking, re-reviewing the stats, checking my notes on guys I’ve seen, and talking to scouts and evaluators, the final ten are set. And let me say for the record: this top-10 was harder than any other. There’s legitimate argument for who should be #1 overall, and it doesn’t get any easier from there. It’s a matter of weighing upside and certainty, tools and performance, the known and the unknown. Disagreement is expected, not because I took wild chances, but because everyone’s preferences are different. So it goes鈥Cronkite News] ‘Goldy’ gone: Arizona sports scene suffers another blow as D-Backs trade Goldschmidt - The trade left many to wonder who will replace him as the face of the franchise. “I think we have a number of players who have invested quite a bit into this team,” Diamondbacks Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike Hazen said. “From Jake Lamb to David Peralta, Robbie Ray, Nick Ahmed, I think we have a number of players. Hopefully some of the younger players like Ketel Marte see this as an opportunity to take a lead in that area.”[WDEF] The Diamondbacks are committed to a rebuild after trading Paul Goldschmidt - how drastic will it be? - The team’s best hitter and best pitcher from last season are gone, with A.J. Pollock and so many others poised to follow, so it makes little sense to cling to other veterans still under team control...Nabbing Kelly plus a buy-low on Weaver in exchange for one season of Goldschmidt is exactly the kind of move that Hazen should be empowered to make with the rest of the current roster. If DBacks fans want to see winning baseball again relatively soon Ken Griffey Jersey , they should root for more of the same with just about everyone who’s still left. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lucas Giolito hasn’t lost or given up more than three runs in a start since mid-April. The Royals have been striking out at an alarming rate.Given those trends, Giolito’s latest dominant outing wasn’t much of a surprise.Giolito worked into the eighth inning and had a career-high 11 strikeouts — all in the first five innings — to win his seventh consecutive start, outdueling Brad Keller as the Chicago White Sox beat Kansas City 2-0 on Saturday.Article continues below ...“Giolito’s tough on everybody right now,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He has changed his whole delivery over the last year and a half, two years. Now he’s shortened up his arm stroke and his changeup is dynamic. It’s a plus-plus changeup. He’s got great arm speed. His slider’s a plus slider. Anywhere from 93 to 96 (mph) with his fastball, with command. He’s just kind of come into his own and quite frankly has developed into one of the best pitchers in this league.”Giolito (9-1) allowed three hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings and lowered his ERA to 2.28. He has allowed no more than one run in six of his seven straight wins. Giolito went 10-13 with a 6.13 ERA in 2018, his first full season.The hottest pitcher in baseball said he was merely executing catcher James McCann’s game plan.“I threw a lot of fastballs and sliders, because I’m usually fastball/changeup heavy,” Giolito said. “They had some righties in the lineup, so we waited until the fourth inning. We were able to keep them off-balance and get a lot of weak contact.”Or no contact at all.Giolito recorded eight consecutive outs via strikeout from the start of the second inning until he retired Nicky Lopez on a foul pop to end the fourth. Then he struck out the side again in a perfect fifth.The Royals have seen him more than anyone — he’s 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in four starts against Kansas City this season.“His numbers don’t lie,” Keller said. “He’s been throwing the ball really, really well. You know it’s going to be a low-scoring game. You just try to limit them as much as possible.”Rookie Eloy Jiménez hit a two-run homer in the second inning off Keller (3-8), who otherwise was nearly as good as Giolito. Jiménez’s blast snapped a 42-inning homerless streak for Keller, who worked eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out four.“Keller did a nice job minimizing damage http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , holding us to two runs,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “It was a pitching duel on both sides. It was a nice game.”The Royals reached double figures in strikeouts for the 10th time in their last 15 games. They have 149 Ks over that span. Ryan O’Hearn fanned in his first two at-bats, extending his streak of games with multiple strikeouts to five.Yost was ejected for arguing a strike call to Alex Gordon in the sixth inning.TRAINER’S ROOMLHP Danny Duffy, who was hit by a line drive in Thursday’s start against Boston, is on track to make his next start against Detroit. “He’s feeling better. He’ll get an extra day because of the off day on Monday, but we’ll make the determination when we get closer,” Yost said.UP NEXTThe White Sox will send RHP Reynaldo Lopez (3-6, 6.62 ERA) to the mound in Sunday’s series finale. RHP Glenn Sparkman (1-1, 3.77), who was ejected in the second inning on May 29 against Chicago when he hit shortstop Tim Anderson in the head with a changeup, starts for Kansas City. The Royals will try to win the rubber game of a series for the first time since May 30, 2018 — an 0-13 stretch in that situation.