Game Report: NW Arkansas 3, Frisco 1

FRISCO --  Thomas Nicklaus Diamond made his third rehab start just short of a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery at Dr. Pepper ballpark last night.  

He lost.  

He walked four.

He needed 91 pitches to get through his 4.1 innings.

I loved it:  I thought he looked great.

Diamond began with 44 consecutive fastballs ranging from 88-92, with one hitting 93 and another -- a strikeout pitch in the first, when he just wanted to drive a stake through a guy's heart -- hitting 94. 

And then, on his 45th offering, he unleashed his new and-improved 74 mph sharp-breaking yakker, dropping it in for a called strike.

And that's when I knew that the new TD is going to be better than the old TD.  Much better.   In the roughly 15 starts I'd seen Diamond make during his pre-injury stint with the RoughRiders, I never saw him throw even one breaking ball like that 45th pitch he threw last night.  

Not even close.

In the first, Diamond was especially impressive, facing four hitters and starting off with a first-pitch strike on all four.  He got through the frame on 17 pitches, 13 of which were strikes.  He fanned the first two hitters he faced, including a nasty 92 mph fastball with explosive life to get the first hitter and the 94 mph old-school TD heat to get the second.   His command and confidence were noteworthy.

In an efficient 14-pitch second, TD fired eight strikes and recorded his third whiff.   The one hit he surrendered in the frame was a popup to first base that a confused Max Ramirez failed to field.

Diamond began to show some signs of rust in the third, needing 21 pitches to get through the inning, tossing only seven strikes.   The inning was marred by another awkward play by Ramirez at first when a bad throw pulled him off the bag.  Ramirez fielded the throw, but took a good 10 seconds to realize that the runner never touched first.  He realized the situation (with much prompting) in time to apply the tag, but his poor reaction to the play allowed a baserunner to take an extra base.  In this frame, Diamond began to miss his spots, throwing across his body at times.

In the fourth, Diamond fanned the first two he saw --both on hard-breaking curves at 73 mph and 72 mph  -- then gave up a base on balls, followed by a two-run jack as he began to run out of gas. 

Diamond showed poise.  He, at times, showed killer instinct.   He had more movement on his fastball than he had before the injury.   I know that, eventually, Diamond is going to regain his mid-90's velocity.   I believe he's going to be a guy with three plus pitches.  And he came across as a guy who is (a) having more fun, and yet (b) much more driven than he was in 2006.

In other news, don't pencil Max Ramirez in as a first baseman any time soon.  He's got a lot of work to do.  

And I mean,  a lottalottalotta lot of work.