D-Backs notebook: Hammock savors spot in majors

Luis Gonzalez wasn’t the only player to enjoy a homecoming of sorts during the Diamondbacks’ most recent homestand.

When Robby Hammock hit a pinch-hit double in the club’s home opener on April 9, it was only his second appearance at Chase Field since he was a member of the Baby ’Backs youth movement in 2003 and 2004.

He spent 2005 and 2006 recovering from surgeries on his right shoulder and right knee and working his way back to the majors as a utility player. At one point he was even released by the Diamondbacks.

“It’s doubly impressive,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “One, for anyone to make it to the big leagues (once). Two, to go through what he had to go through to get back to the big leagues.”

Hammock was one of the last players to secure a spot on this year’s active roster. When the team was introduced prior to the home opener, Hammock received one of the loudest ovations.

Hammock said Diamondback fans he met during his time away from the bigs were overwhelmingly supportive, though he chalks much of the enthusiasm to the circumstances in which he’s found himself during his career.

He was a Baby ’Back, he caught Randy Johnson’s perfect game and (after the offseason departures of Greg Aquino and Mike Koplove) he is now the organization’s longest-tenured member.

He’s been around, but that hasn’t made stepping onto the grass at Chase Field any less strange.

“It’s a little surreal,” he admitted. “I just remember thinking if I can get back to where my shoulder feels right and doing what I used to do and if I was good enough to make the big leagues then, why can’t I do that again?”

DIRTY PENNY?

Dodgers starting pitcher Brad Penny slid awkwardly into Arizona second baseman Orlando Hudson on a potential double-play ball Monday, but the D-Backs didn’t retaliate.

That was probably a good thing considering the beanball war that broke out when the teams met in Los Angeles last July.

When Melvin was asked about the play Tuesday, he responded: “You don’t know if it’s a pitcher who’s sliding in there and catapults himself over the base or if he’s trying to go in there hard. I didn’t think it looked great, but it is what it is. You guys all saw it.”

Q FEELS FINE

Right fielder Carlos Quentin said he was experiencing “standard spring training” soreness, but nothing else prior to playing his fourth game in as many days Tuesday.

He doubled twice in his season debut Monday and had another solid game Tuesday after making back-to-back rehab starts with Triple-A Tucson over the weekend.

TOGETHER AGAIN

Melvin wound up in the same spring training camp as first-year Diamondbacks hitting coach Kevin Seitzer with the Royals back in 1992. Seitzer was released by the team near the end of spring training and he ended up playing six more major league seasons, mostly with the Brewers.

Their brief time together had little impact on the Arizona manager’s career .233 batting average.

“Look at my numbers. Obviously he didn’t help me out,” Melvin joked. “Actually, I did hit .314 that year in Kansas City but he was gone after spring training. I’d like to give him credit for that but I think it’s more the 70 at-bats I got that year.”