D-Backs notebook: Rizzo still at home with D-Back

PITTSBURGH - Mike Rizzo has been with Washington for 15 months, but he cannot help but feel he is watching his team while doing some scouting work here.

D-Backs lose to Pirates, 5-1

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Rizzo drafted or supervised the free agent signings of five of the Diamondbacks’ eight position starters Wednesday when he was the D-Backs’ director of scouting from 2001-2006.

“I feel a lot of pride, yes,” said Rizzo, who accepted a position as Washington’s assistant general manager and vice president of baseball operations after the 2006 draft.

“I’m rooting hard for them. I hope they win the whole thing, and I’m not afraid to say that. They are a great bunch of guys, and (manager) Bob Melvin has done a masterful job.”

Rizzo and his staff had a hand in 17 players in the D-Backs’ dugout Wednesday.

“The amount of young players on that team is unprecedented and remarkable in baseball,” Rizzo said.

“Three of their highest-paid guys aren’t with them for the last month of the season. It’s remarkable, the bang for the buck you are getting,” referring to the losses of Orlando Hudson, Chad Tracy and Randy Johnson.

Rizzo is following the same blueprint in Washington, and his 2007 draft featuring left-handers Ross Detwiler, Josh Smoker and Jack McGeary was considered one of the best by industry bible Baseball America.

COLORADO ARMS

Micah Owings will start the first game of the Colorado series Friday, and Edgar Gonzalez will start Saturday, Melvin announced Wednesday.

Gonzalez developed a blood blister in his right index finger in his last start Sunday, when he lasted only 3 1/3 innings, but wore a bandage during a bullpen session Tuesday and said it went well.

“This gets Micah in a day quicker and gives Edgar another day to get past it, but we could have pitched either one of them,” Melvin said.

Owings will pitch on eight days’ rest, his first outing since throwing his first major league shutout, 2-0, against San Francisco on Sept. 19. He made that start on 10 days’ rest.

“I love what I get to do, and any time I get the opportunity, I enjoy it,” Owings said.

The D-Backs lanced Gonzalez’s blood blister after the first inning Sunday, but his location was affected.

“It happens when I start to throw a lot of two-seam fastballs,” said Gonzalez, noting that seams rubs against the tip of his index finger.

SHORT HOPS

Bob Melvin did not stay up for the end of the Colorado-Los Angeles game on Tuesday and was not awake when either NL West Coast game ended Wednesday night, preferring to check the scores the next morning.

“To let it consume me, I’m not into that right now,” Melvin said. …

The D-Backs announced that playoff tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Chase Field ticket office, dbacks.com, losdbacks.com or by calling (602) 514-8400. Ticket prices range from $185 for a clubhouse box and $115 for dugout boxes to $30 for infield reserve and $15 for outfield reserve. Tickets also may be purchased at Tucson Electric Park or through the state-wide toll-free number, (888) 777-4664.

If the D-Backs qualify for home-field advantage, the first two games of a best-of-five series will be played at Chase Field on Oct. 3-4, with a possible Game 5 on Oct. 9. If they start on the road, the only home games would be Oct. 6-7.

Season-ticket holders were informed Tuesday that World Series tickets will cost $225.