Hudson Out

September 9, 2007 by Nasser Kompani

The worst was confirmed yesterday. Orlando Hudson will in fact miss the rest of the season because of a torn ligament in his thumb. It’s a huge loss for the Diamondbacks. O-Dog had been one of their most reliable hitters in a very inconsistent offense. The two-time Gold Glove winner’s defense is matched by very few in the league and his leadership on the field is irreplaceable, but all hope is not lost.

The D-Backs have surprised us all this year every time someone doubted them. They just keep battling and pulling out wins. They already have 80 wins, a mark which some thought they wouldn’t even reach this season. This team does not deserve to be given up on. Losing Hudson was a big loss, but they can still win this division and do some damage in the playoffs.

As many of you know, Hudson will be replaced by Augie Ojeda and Alberto Callaspo. Ojeda is a great defensive player and he showed some of that with a late-inning play a couple days ago. He should do a fine job replacing Hudson in the field. On offense it’s another story. Ojeda is hitting .236, Callaspo is near the Mendoza line and neither have any power. Even with those awful stats, there is hope. Ojeda has been a nice pinch hitter and was hitting .382 before the all-star break, though with very few at-bats. He has the ability to have a very good month and the D-Backs will need that from him.

Most of the offensive help needs to come from Eric Byrnes. He signed that nice extension that he wanted, but has since went into his usual second half slump. The good news is that he has been very productive in the last five games (8/18, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB). He needs to lead the Diamondbacks through this. The younger guys, such as Young and Drew, also need to pick up the slack.

Ironically, the same thing that has worried me all season has given me some hope for the rest of the way. That is the starting pitching. It has been very inconsistent, but the top four guys all have the ability to have great games. Webb should be solid as always and Doug Davis has been phenomenal in the second half. The other two, I’m unsure about. Livan Hernandez has had some great late-season starts throughout his career. We’ve seen some dominating games out of him so hopefully he’ll do some more of that soon. The same goes to Micah Owings, but he doesn’t need to have great starts. I’d be satisfied if he just ends the habit of giving up six runs early to teams we should beat. All he needs to do is keep the team in the game and they have a chance because of the AL line-up that they have with him in the ninth spot.

Orlando Hudson was very key to the Diamondbacks success, but there is still hope to make this a memorable season.

Posted in arizona diamondbacks, baseball