Record: 53-51. Pace: 83-79. Change on last season: -3

Usually, teams that allow fourteen hits to their opposition in regulation do not win games - only ten times, of the 160 occasions it happened in the NL this year before today. But the key for the Diamondbacks as they finished off their first sweep in almost 2 1/2 months,, was less the number of hits, than the fact that they did not walk a single opposing batter. This is an area where the team has improved markedly this year: their overall BB/9 rate is 2.90 per nine; it was 3.41 last season. Though I imagine not having Hernandez v2.0 is likely helpful in this regard. :-)

Randy Johnson scattered nine hits over seven innings, with just two strikeouts, but  again, his good control helped immeasurably. As Randy said at the beginning of the month, ""If you have velocity, that's a luxury; but if you don't have location... That's a necessity." The results since those words bear out their truth: in four starts, the Big Unit has walked only two, in 26.1 innings - and has won all four games, with today being #292 for his career. He'll have probably eleven more starts this season, so three hundred remains a long shot. Still, who knows, especially if he keeps going like today, where he posted nothing but zeros, for the second game in a row. Perhaps surprisingly, that's the first time Johnson has had back-to-back starts with no runs allowed, in over nine years - the last occasion was July 15-20, 1999.

In contrast, the Giants pitching staff provided nine free passes to Diamondbacks' hitters; the problems this caused were most apparent in the four-run fourth inning. There, Barry Zito walked three hitters, including Chris Snyder with the bases loaded. All three men eventually came round to score, with the key blow a two-run knock from Drew, and our Win Probability finished the inning at 85%. Particular kudus to both Mark Reynolds and Snyder [though what they will do with their woodland African antelopes, I don't know...] for well-worked at-bats that eventually resulted in walks. Snyder was just great, fouling off some tough, tough pitches by Zito with a full count, before taking one out of the zone.

Conor Jackson - and stop me if you've heard this one before - had another extremely-productive day, reaching base safely four times, on three hits and a walk, getting his twelfth homer of the season. It's his fifth consecutive multi-hit game [the franchise record, in case you were wondering, is seven, by Gonzo in June 2001], and having gone 13-for-24 with three homers and seven RBI this week, he's going to be among the front-runners for Player of the Week honors. He's now batting .324, and it's been a while since the Diamondbacks had anyone that high on this date. Let's take a look back and see how far we have to go...

Some surprising names show up as contenders. Johnny "The Walkless Wonder" Estrada came pretty close, hitting .323 in 2006; Tony Clark was at .328 in 2005, but that was in less than 200 at-bats, compared to Jackson's 340. The same goes for Quinton McCracken in 2002, where he was at .340 on this date, though with just 188 AB. To find the last legitimate, full-time player with a higher batting-average than Jackson, it looks like we have to go back all the way to 2001, where Luis Gonzalez had a rather impressive line of .350/.439/.738 on July 29, with 41 HR and 102 RBI. Wow. I guess I'd kinda forgotten exactky how good Gonzo was in his prime.

Mark Reynolds hammered his 21st homer, and Stephen Drew had three hits in the lead-off spot, bouncing back from a schooling received at the hands of Lincecum last night. His OBP - a key mark for those atop the order - is up to .313. While still a little lower than we'd like, it's the highest it has been in over than six weeks, and is at a respectable .366 for the month of July. Some discussion as to whether Hudson - OBP .420 in July, and .365 overall - might be better off in the #1 spot, in part because that'd help avoid the double-plays into which O-Dawg hits. He now has seventeen for the year, as many as any other two players on the roster put together. The reason is clear when you look at the stats sorted by GroundOut/AirOut ratio;  Hudson is all the way up at 1.67, while none of the other regulars are above one. He's a ground-ball machine.

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Master of his domain: Randy Johnson, +24.1%
Honorable mentions: Jackson, 15.9%; Drew, +15.3%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Young, -7.4%

Nice turnout for a Sunday in the Gameday Thread, with appearances by Muu, AF DBacks Fanatic, unnamedDBacksfan, snakecharmer, hotclaws, srdmad, emilylovesthedbacks, Mr. Philosophical, Red Reign, dahlian, soco, AJforAZ, Scrbl, AZWILDCATS, 4 Corners Fan, SongBird, frienetic, Wimb, utahdbacksfan, mrssoco, DiamondbacksWIn, pepperdinedevil and TwinnerA. It's apparently the first time that we've swept the Giants in San Francisco over a three-game series, since May 2001. Frankly, it feels about as long as that since we have swept anyone.

But with the Dodgers beating up on the Nationals - not to mention the Rockies suddenly rediscovering how to play, and winning nine of their last ten games - it was important for the Diamondbacks to keep pace. Mission accomplished there. So, we retain a one-game lead and head down the coast to San Diego, while the Dodgers get to take their turn at San Francisco. They get to dodge Lincecum: curses! Still: we simply need to keep winning. Now we've got that difficult third victory under our belts, let's see how far we can go.

Record: 50-50. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -2

That was, all told, a damn fine evening. Dinner, followed by two and a half hours exploring the surreal universe which springs from the mind of Eddie Izzard - he spent the first 30 minutes alone riffing on Phoenix and its Wikipedia entry, which he pulled up on his iPhone. The city is, of course, named after the mythical bird which came here, died in flames, and was resurrected - only to discover it was still actually on fire. Anyone who can slide seamlessly from giraffes to the noises made by tennis players inside five minutes is...someone who shares my mental wiring.

And then I come home to find out that the Dodgers lost (Kershaw got slapped about something awful) - and, more importantly, that the D-backs were doing their best Davey Crockett impression, and hunting bear at Chase. I did manage to catch a little bit of the game at dinner, as Yusmeiro Petit got Ramirez to fly out to the warning track, ending the third inning. It looked like the batter thought that one was out of here, as he trotted out of the box casually. Nothing better than seeing the shock on an opposing hitter's face as his home-run trot has to take a sharp right-turn towards his dugout. At that stage, we were only 1-0 up, thanks to Jackson's tenth homer of the year, so this was by no means over.

Jackson also scored our second run in the bottom of third, sliding home from second after a single by Reynolds. The Cubs got a run back in the next frame, after their #8 hitter tripled, but that was the only damage they managed off Petit, despite a few hard-hit balls and four free passes. Still, as far as spot-starts go, on less than 24 hours notice, we'll be more than happy with five innings of one-run ball, on three hits and with four strikeouts. Melvin after the game said that Petit may get another start, with Owings going full-time to the pen, presumably tiding us over until Max Scherzer is ready to return to the rotation. Said Petit, "This year I feel a little more comfortable. It's easier to make adjustments, and so far I've been feeling good about what I've done."

The game stayed close until the bottom of the seventh, when Hudson got his eighth homer of the year, a shot that made it a 5-1 game, after Drew scored on one of three Cubs wild pitches [they were also charged with three errors - so it is not just us!]. While the Cubs pulled one back immediately, Arizona poured it on in the eighth. They sent ten men to the plate on four hits and three walks, with the key blow a two-run double by Clark - after the Cubs had intentionally loaded the bases by giving Drew a free pass, in order to get to Jackson. CoJack continues to be on fire, with three hits and three RBI this evening: Drew, Hudson, Tracy and Reynolds all reached safely twice with a hit and a walk. We had five walks and only four strikeouts, a good ratio

After Petit left the game, he was followed by Rosales, Qualls, Peña and Rauch, with the only tally a solo HR off Peña. Rauch was one of two debuts for the Diamondbacks in tonight's game, and both proved to be successful. Jon Rauch, acquired from the Nationals in exchange for Emilio Bonifacio, pitched a scoreless ninth inning, though by that point, it was no longer a save situation, thanks to the four we scored in the eighth. He struck out the first two batters he faced, and though a single and wild pitch followed, he got Fukudome to ground out, clinching the game. connor Robertson was sent down to Tucson to make room for Rauch in the pen, and the departure of Bonifacio meant Jamie D'Antona made his debut, pinch-hitting for Qualls in the seventh. He promptly singled to left-field, in his first ever major-league at-bat. Here's to many more.

The chance for that might come sooner rather than later, thanks to a scary moment in the eighth, as our hottest hitter this month, Hudson, was hit on the ankle by Hart, dropping O-Dawg like a sack of potatoes. The fortunate thing is, there appears to be no permanent damage, with X-rays proving negative. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sitting out tomorrow, so he'll have a couple of days to rest thanks to the off-day on Thursday. Much discussion at BCB at to whether someone - possibly Micah 'Up & In' Owings, second in the majors for hit batters - will exact retribution tomorrow at some point. Romero was also plunked earlier in the game, though as noted, given the general wildness of the Cubs' pitchers, maybe they just sucked. :-) Sweeping them out of Arizona would, however, be far sweeter than engaging in pseudo-macho nonsense, much as I really want to see Chris Snyder in a brawl some day!

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Master of his domain: Yusmeiro Petit, +18.0%
God-Emperor of suck: Miguel Montero, -6.1%

Very busy Gameday Thread(s), with over 900 comments, even with the Chat Room operating [how did that go? I popped in when I came home, but there was just Emily and Phil left at that stage]. Present in the "formal" thread were DbacksSkins, soco, Scrbl, snakecharmer, Zephon, mrssoco, emilylovesthedbacks, TwinnerA, 4 Corners Fan, foulpole, AF DBacks Fanatic, Muu, kishi, hotclaws, DiamondbacksWIn, dahlian, AJforAZ and unnamedDBacksfan.

These have been a pair of very impressive performances, shutting down the most productive offense in the National League to only two runs in eighteen innings - games started by our #4 pitcher and a spot-replacement, to boot. Now, let's go for the jugular tomorrow and finish off the reeling and demoralized Cubs: they swept us at Wrigley earlier in the season, so turnabout will be very fair play.

Record: 47-47.  Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -2

Well, that was unexpected, wasn't it? I mean, in a serious, lightning from a clear sky kind of way. The Phillies had just tied up the game at two on a Victorino homer, and the first two in the Arizona fourth went down quietly, exposing the bottom third of our order, which had been - and would be again - wretchedly ineffectual [Outside that inning, slots 7-9 went 0-for-10, in fact]. But Romero rifled a ground-ball into right-field, and Hammock drew an unintentional intentional walk. That brought up Randy Johnson - who, since the end of the 2004 season, had hit .080 [4-for-50] with one RBI. Little wonder that the limit of my hopes and aspirations at this point were, "Well, at least we've got the offensive epicenter of the Gurgling Vortex of Suck(TM) out of the way."

Eaton quickly went 1-2 on the Big Unit, but the third strike proved remarkably elusive. Johnson, somehow, managed to lay off the bad pitches and foul off the good ones, finally working the count full. Then, on what I think was the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Eaton sent down a fastball, and Johnson smashed it into the left-field corner for a two-RBI double. Eaton would have been better off taking the baseball and cramming it down his throat in a suicide bid. As by the time the third out was eventually recorded, nine consecutive Diamondbacks had reached base safely, on six hits plus three walks, and we'd scored eight runs, all with two outs.

- A. Romero singled to center
- R. Hammock walked, A. Romero to second
- R. Johnson doubled to deep left, R. Hammock and A. Romero scored
- S. Drew walked
- C. Jackson doubled to deep left, R. Johnson scored, S. Drew to third
- O. Hudson intentionally walked
- C. Tracy singled to center, S. Drew and C. Jackson scored, O. Hudson to third
- M. Reynolds homered to deep center, O. Hudson and C. Tracy scored
- C. Young singled to center

Ah, that's the kind of inning that has been a long time coming as far as the Diamondbacks are concerned, with a cunning mix of bloops [Tracy's broken-bat blooper - especially impressive as it came off a leftie pitcher, brought in specifically to face him] and blasts, Reynolds getting his nineteenth homer of the season with a three-run bomb that capped the inning. If he gets one tomorrow, he'll be the first Diamondback hitter to reach twenty homers before the All-Star break, since Steve Finley had 21, back in 2004. Special K's 58 RBI is already the most in the first-half for five years: Gonzo had 67 in 2003.

So, victories are like buses for Randy Johnson: you wait forever for one to show up, then two come along together. After seven weeks for career win #289, he had only six days before #290 gets tucked in his locker. He wasn't brilliant; more 'good enough'. Johnson allowed four runs on five hits and a walk, including two homers to the light-hitting Shane Victorino, who had only three round-trippers in 312 AB this season prior to the game. He could perhaps have gone longer, having thrown 84 pitches after the sixth; however, he suffered cramps in his calf while warming up, a result of his running the bases. [Must be said, he didn't look comfortable there. Mark Grace joked Randy was looking for an oxygen mask in the dugout. I commented his hit would have been a triple, if he hadn't had to stop at first and ask for directions.] Better safe than sorry though, and with about nine days till his next outing, he should be fine.

Tracy had three hits - two off southpaws - while Drew and Jackson each reached safely three times, with a pair of hits and a walk. Every starter bar Hammock had a hit, though Young's 1-for-5 with two K's is...about par for the course of late, unfortunately. There just is no alternative right now: he has played 816 of the 836 innings there this season; Alex Romero, with thirty-five minor league games at the position, and one in the majors, is not the answer. However, if we continue to get decent production from 1B and LF [on this road-trip, Tracy and Jackson are 8-for-20 and 7-for-21 respectively], then we might be ok. If I don't want to say we're out of the woods yet, in fourteen games since our team BA reached a low of .244 on June 27, we've hit .264 and gone 7-7.

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Masterof his domain: Randy Johnson, +21.1% - batting!
Honorable mentions: Tracy, +17.0%; Jackson, +17.0%
God-emperor of suck: Randy Johnson, -5.1% - pitching!

Welcome to Randy Johnson's Bizarro World. I think it may be a very, very long time before we see Johnson master of his domain...for his ability at the plate, rather than for directing 94 mph sliders over it. However, that was genuinely a decent at-bat he put together, and sometimes that, and a little luck, will bring unexpected dividends to even the least effective hitter. Today was his first multi-RBI game since October 2nd, 2004, and the eighth of his career overall. The win sends us back to .500, and guarantees that the worst we can finish the first half is tied for the lead in the division.

A chunky Gameday Thread, passing 600 comments - admittedly, the game itself seemed well down on the list of priorities, even before our eight-run outburst effectively ended it as a spectacle. Present were seton hall snake pit, AF DBacks Fanatic, DbacksSkins, TwinnerA, hotclaws, kishi, golfmanthee, mrssoco, soco, Zephon, AZWILDCATS, Mr. Philosophical, emilylovesthedbacks and, unnamedDBacksfan. We now get to kick back and see whether the Dodgers can break their two-game streak against the Marlins this evening. Then, tomorrow morning, it's Brandon Webb against Cole Hamels, to decide whether we finish the first-half over .500 or under it. Should be fun: see you for that!

Record: 30-24. Pace: 90-72. Change on last season: -1

That one hurt. In the first two games, we were never really in them, so the defeat was more inevitable than anything too disturbing or shocking. This one, however, was looking pretty good through the seventh inning, as we held on to a one-run lead, and Randy Johnson just missed out on passing Roger Clemens for second-place on the all-time strikeout leaderboard. He tied Clemens by fanning the first hitter of that inning and seemed to get to two strikes on everyone else he faced, but was obviously running out of gas, and couldn't quite get the final one he needed to overtake The 'Roid Rocket. Still, he was looking good for win #289, if we could only get the last six outs.

Then, enter Peña and Jackson, who each deserve about equal blame for the eighth inning fiasco that followed. I don't think I can quite stomach a full recap, so let's just go with the play-by-play:

T. Pena relieved R. Johnson
A. Rowand flied out to center
B. Molina walked
E. Burriss ran for B. Molina
R. Durham safe at first on first baseman C. Jackson's fielding error,
       E. Burriss to second
O. Vizquel grounded out to first, E. Burriss to third, R. Durham to second
J. Bowker hit by pitch
F. Lewis walked, E. Burriss scored, R. Durham to third, J. Bowker to second
C. Qualls relieved T. Pena

Well done, Conor and Tony! You must get up very early. The Giants scored the tying run without actually - oh, I dunno - needing to get a hit or anything like that, on two walks, an error and Jackson booting what seems like his ten-millionth simple groundball of the year. We could still have escape on Vizquel's hard grounder, but a clearly-rattled Jackson opted to go to first for the simple out, rather than trying to turn the inning-ending double-play. One plunking and a bases-loaded walk later, and exit Win #289, muttering something about beating the traffic.

Okay, so we still had a chance to win, right? Right? Hello? Is this thing on? I suspect that no-one really felt too confident of our chances, and when Randy 'Snake Eater' Winn homered to lead off the Giants' ninth, the reaction seemed to be one more of inevitability and disappointment than anything else. Perhaps it was the seed I planted before the game, pointing out our poor record - now 1-15 - when scoring three runs or less. It never really seemed that three runs would be sufficient to hold off the Giants, any more than it was sufficient to hold them off in the first two games of the series.

[Obscure factoid for the day #1: Hitting. It was actually the fourth consecutive game scoring exactly the same total of runs, so at least we're consistent - albeit consistently inadequate. That sets a new franchise record: we've had a number of three-game streaks with the same offensive output, but this was the first such four-peat. The Diamondbacks still have some way to go to match the 2003 Cleveland Indians, who scored exactly four runs in seven consecutive games between July 12 and July 20.]

Justin Upton continues to show signs of life, getting his first multi-hit game in a couple of weeks, whacking his first homer since May 8, and adding an RBI triple. That's seven bases in all, the most he's had all season, and the first time too that he's had more than one extra-base hit in the same game, so there's hope he's getting back onto track. He did strikeout twice though, and is now ahead of Mark Reynolds in that category. Orlando Hudson continued his hot hitting with two more hits; since coming back from his layoff, he's hitting .396 [21-for-53]. However, he also grounded into his team-leading seventh double-play. Jackson and Reynolds each reached safely twice, with a hit and a walk.

The best thing to come out of the game was, without question, Randy Johnson's outing: seven innings, six hits, two walks and two runs, with those nine strikeouts bringing him level with Clemens on the all-time list at 4,672. It's just a shame he didn't quite manage to reach #2 in front of the home fans, but it seems all but certain he'll do so again the Brewers next week. He showed excellent control, and managed a couple of strikeouts that left the Giants' hitters looking particularly incompetent: one even falling over onto home-plate after striking out. In his past three starts, Johnson has pitched 20 innings, allowed three earned runs and has a K:BB ratio of 24:3.

[Obscure factoid for the day #2: Pitching. The loss dropped Chad Qualls to 0-5; that's the worst start to a career for any Arizona pitcher, since Willie Blair lost his first seven decisions back at the beginning of our inaugural season in 1998. Next up for Qualls: the consecutive loss streak for an Arizona reliever is seven, by Greg Swindell in 2001-02, and then for an Arizona pitcher overall, the 0-11 record by Edgar Gonzalez between September 2003 and June 2006. EdGon also holds the record run of futility by an Arizona starter - the above was part of a streak where he had thirteen losses in 14 outings, but he swiped a couple of relief wins during it]

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Master of his domain: Randy Johnson, +21.1%
Honorable mention: Justin Upton, +16.7%
God-emperor of suck: Tony Peña, -27.4%
Dishonorable mention: Chad Qualls, -14.8%

Another very busy Gameday Thread, with 'Skins posting his second straight double-century, finishing at 206 posts for the night. soco hit three figures too, and also present were, unnamedDBacksfan, dahlian, hotclaws, mrssoco, victor frankenstein, srdmad, dstorm, foulpole, RAMJB, TwinnerA, peeklay, Wimb, UofAZGrad, acidtongue, luckycc and LucaMaz3. The final tally was over eight hundred; it seems clear that the number of comments has little or no correlation to team performance. But we need to await 'Charmer's doctoral thesis on factors affecting Gameday Thread participation for a full analysis. :-)

I'm thinking maybe it's time to update our slogan: perhaps something along the lines of, "Hey, at least the Dodgers lost again too." For they also dropped their fourth in a row; while our wretched performance sees the Diamondbacks firmly entrenched, at 10-16, in their first losing month since 2006, Los Angeles has managed to catch up exactly one-half game on Arizona since May 2nd. Don't look now, but San Francisco are seven back...though that too is only one-half game closer than they were on May 2nd. Indeed, to prove how little has changed, despite our poor performance, here are the full NL West standings then and now:

And with that, to bed. I'm trying to talk Azreous into doing the recap for tomorrow night - because, to be honest, after the past three games, my enthusiasm has been stretched painfully thin. The Nationals should present something of an easier challenge, but all hopes of a winning home-stand now lie, like dust in the wind. I just hope that, when we go to Sunday's game, we are not looking to stave off back-to-back sweeps. That may seem unduly pessimistic, but after this series, it doesn't seem utterly implausible.

Record: 30-20. Pace: 97-65. Change on last season: +3.

Redemption comes in various packages, both small and large. But today's game certainly counts among the latter for Eric Byrnes. He'd already failed once with the bases-loaded for the Diamondbacks, coming up in the top of the third inning after they'd walked Chris Snyder to get to him. There, Eric popped out to second, leaving him 0-for-2 on the day, with five men left on base. Little wonder then that Snyder received an 'unintentional intentional' walk with two men on in the fifth, so that Tom Glavine could pitch to Byrnes. After all, what harm could it do? This was Byrnes' 857th career game and he'd never hit a grand-slam; indeed, after the pop-out, he was batting only .224 with the bases-loaded, as well as .135 during May. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, on a 2-2 pitch from Glavine, Byrnes struck, sending the ball into the crowd in left-field to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead with one swing of his bat. It was not perhaps the longest homer of Eric's career: indeed, it bounced off the top of the wall and into the seats. But for importance, particularly to our struggling left-fielder, it can hardly be rivaled. It was the first grand-slam for Arizona in over a year, since Tony Clark against Pittsburgh on May 20, 2007, tying that game at seven. Here's the full list of Diamondbacks' slams.

• 1998-04-14 Matt Williams vs. St. Louis
  1998-05-20 Matt Williams vs. Florida
  1998-06-09 Yamil Benitez vs. Anaheim
  1998-06-26 Devon White vs. Seattle
  1998-09-23 Karim Garcia vs. Colorado
• 1999-04-12 Travis Lee vs. Los Angeles
  1999-04-23 Matt Williams vs. San Diego
  1999-05-10 Steve Finley vs. Montreal
  1999-05-18 Travis Lee vs. San Francisco
  1999-07-11 Jay Bell vs. Oakland
  1999-07-21 Tony Womack vs. Houston [inside the park slam]
  1999-08-26 Damian Miller vs. Florida
  1999-09-07 Matt Williams vs. Milwaukee
• 2000-04-05 Lenny Harris vs. Philadelphia
  2000-05-09 Damian Miller vs. Dodgers [walkoff slam in bottom of 12th]  
  2000-09-24 Matt Williams vs. San Francisco
• 2001-04-21 Reggie Sanders vs. Colorado
  2001-05-13 Mark Grace vs. Philadelphia
  2001-06-17 Tony Womack vs. Detroit
  2001-06-21 Luis Gonzalez vs. Colorado
  2001-06-27 Jay Bell vs. Houston
  2001-07-03 Luis Gonzalez vs. Houston
  2001-07-21 David Dellucci vs. San Francisco
  2001-09-21 Matt Williams vs Los Angeles
  2001-09-26 Steve Finley vs. Milwaukee
• 2002-04-02 Damian Miller vs. San Diego
  2002-08-17 Erubiel Durazo vs. Chicago Cubs
• 2003-04-17 Carlos Baerga vs. Colorado
  2003-05-05 Matt Williams vs. Philadelphia
• 2004-05-11 Steve Finley vs. New York Mets
  2004-07-01 Roberto Alomar vs. San Diego
• 2005-07-31 Chris Snyder vs. Chicago Cubs
  2005-08-28 Shawn Green vs. Philadelphia
• 2006-05-02 Chad Tracy vs. Los Angeles
  2006-07-08 Chad Tracy vs. Colorado
  2006-07-31 Orlando Hudson vs. Chicago Cubs
• 2007-05-20 Tony Clark vs. Pittsburgh
• 2008-05-28 Eric Byrnes vs. Atlanta

It's interesting to see how the rate of grand slams has really dropped off for the Diamondbacks in the past few years. The 2001 team had no less than nine, which matches the total posted by us in the past five years. Matt Williams has seven, easily the most for us: he had twelve in his career overall. Perhaps a surprising name is next: Damian Miller has three, as does Steve Finley, while Chad Tracy, Tony Womack and Luis Gonzalez all have two apiece.

The home-run was more than slightly reminiscent - except for that whole bases-loaded thing, admittedly - of the one by Chris Young which led off the game, giving us a quick 1-0 lead. Similarly to the Byrnes slam, this one barely crept out of Turner Field and, indeed, might well have received a valuable assist from the Braves' left-fielder. Still, after the misery which was our offense yesterday, we'll take matching that production by the second pitch of the game. Snyder added a sacrifice fly before the inning was out, giving us a 2-0 cushion. However, Owings handed it back in the second on four straight hits and a two-out walk with the bases-loaded.

Atlanta then took the lead, thanks to a two-base error by Upton in the third inning. That's his sixth error of the year, and adding on the five made in 38 games during 2007, means that, in little more than half a season (87 games), J-Up has now made eleven errors. As a comparison, the most error-prone outfielder in the majors last season, the Phillies Pat Burrell, only made 10 errors in 138 games. And yet, he also nailed another runner unwisely trying to advance to second base, for his fourth outfield assist of the season, good for =4th in the majors among right-fielders. I know neither statistic is a perfect mark of defense, but in this case, most of his errors have been obvious and most of the assists equally astounding.

Once we'd taken the lead back, we cruised, more or less, from there. The Braves got the tying run to the plate in the seventh: Owings was, somewhat surprisingly, sent out there and then yanked after he walked the first batter. Cruz added another walk, but struck out the side - that now gives him an insane 30 K's in 20.1 innings [as well as 17 walks, of course...]. Cruz still fractionally trails Octavio Dotel of the White Sox, who has 31 strikeouts in 19 innings of work coming into today.Chad Qualls and the recently-absent Brandon Lyon completed things with perfect eighth and ninth inning, though the margin had been increased by the end, thanks to late RBIs from Hudson, Upton and Young.

Micah Owings delivered the seventh straight quality start by a member of the Arizona rotation, which is good to see, even if we have lost the majority of those games. He struggled with his location early on, particularly in the second, where the only way he seemed able to throw strikes was right over the middle of the plate. However, there is no arguing with the final line: six innings, two earned runs on six hits and two walks, with 104 pitches. As noted, it was something of a shock to see him sent out for the seventh, since he was already at 100 pitches and we had a fairly-well rested bullpen, but no permanent damage resulted and Owings ran his record to 6-2.

i was particularly impressed by Arizona's plate discipline today. We took no less than eleven walks, a figure not surpassed since a 13-walk game against the Astros on June 5th, 2002. Conor Jackson was a perfect 5-for-5 at getting on base for the second time this year. He also did it against the Dodgers on April 8, but in that case it was with two hits, a pair of plunkings and an error: today was more impressive, and also a good deal less painful, as he had two hits and three walks. Young (two hits and a walk), Orlando Hudson (three hits) and Byrnes (the slam and two walks) were the other top performers at the plate.

On the downside, Mark Reynolds was 0-for-4 with another K, giving him 61 strikeouts on the year. This would put him on pace for 198 in the season, which is precariously close to Ryan Howard's all-time mark of 199, set in 2007. Justin Upton wouldn't be far behind, with 57 so far, which extrapolates to 185 by the end of the regular games. Upton does, at least, have 28 walks too, now tied for the lead with Chris Young, and J-Up did lead the team regulars in OBP coming into today's game - though has since been surpassed by Jackson, who is now at .395 compared to Upton at .379. Jackson also nailed his fifth triple, tying him for the major-league lead with Jose Reyes and Stephen Drew, among others.

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Master of his domain: Eric Byrnes, +29.9%
Honorary mention, Conor Jackson, +11.2%
God-emperors of suck: Drew and Reynolds, each -7.6%

if it hadn't been for his first couple of at-bats [-11.9% for ending the first and third innings and leaving five men on base], Eric Byrnes would have been even more of a runaway victor here. The home-run was worth a massive +43.1% in Win Probability, which has got to be among the best possible for any at-bat as early as in the fifth inning. We came close to an overflow thread today, for the first time in a while, ending at 430 comments. Present were hotclaws, likeavirgin, Wimb, dahlian, Azreous [thanks for last night's recap], kishi, Muu, unnamedDBacksfan, srdmad, isoldout, njjohn, bcloirao, friendly visiting fan RAMJB [sorry about "that" remark!], shoewizard, UofAZGrad, TwinnerA, DbacksSkins and soco. None of whom apparently noticed the huge typo in the Gameday Thread title. Which I now apparently am unable to correct. :-(

This bit is for Sutton and Grace, who were wondering during the game about the origins of the "Augie! Augie! Augie! Oi! Oi! Oi!" chants, sometimes heard of late during contests at Chase. The chant became popular in Australia in the 1970's at cricket matches, but really took off after the 2000 Sydney Olympics: there, the chant was "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!". However, the original version was "Oggie! Oggie! Oggie! Oi! Oi! Oi" - which, amusingly, while the usage at Chase is a corruption of a corruption, actually makes it closer to the original! It's that original chant which was first heard in British football stadia during the seventies [Welsh comedian Max Boyce played a significant part in spreading it]. According to Wikipedia, the word "Oggie" refers to a kind of pie, and the chant is thought to have started in Cornwall or Scotland where it was used by the local women to call men from the mines for meals. So, now you know. And, hopefully, so Daron and Mark!

Early start tomorrow morning. I think we're looking to have a long lie ourselves, so may not be about, but I'll try to remember to get the Gameday Thread scheduled in advance.

Record: 13-4. Pace: 124-38. Change on last season: +3.

Today's game perhaps illustrated the greatest difference between this team and previous versions of the Diamondbacks. Last year, if the team was behind 3-1, and their only hit in the first five innings had been by their pitcher, it would probably have been time to plan for tomorrow. [In 2007, we were 10-50 when trailing after five innings] However, watching today's game, I felt little or no sense of despondency, more a calm certainty that our offense would come around. And lo, we scored a run in the sixth, added two more in the seventh to take the lead, and then blew it open by once again putting up a six-spot, Conor Jackson making both the first and the last out of the eighth inning.

I don't know if the Padres bullpen were still suffering a hangover from their 14 innings of work on Thursday. But Thatcher and Cameron, who'd thrown 24 and 27 pitches respectively in that marathon, proved pleasantly ineffective, combining for 1.2 innings, six hits, four walks and eight runs - though five were unearned, thanks to a complete miss of a grounder by Khalil Greene [I'm pretty sure the Gameday Thread resounded to the rafters after that one, though I have yet to check]. Thanks to the wildness [seven walks in total], we scored ten runs on only nine hits: Upton had a pair, though Byrnes reached safely twice on two walks and a hit.

Credit also to Jackson, who singled, then stole second and came home to score the tying run in the sixth on a single by Reynolds [Special K was thrown out on an ill-advised attempt to reach second, though the camera missed it entirely - all we got to see was Reynolds rolling in the infield dirt about ten feet past the base. Not quite sure what happened there] I know stealing off Josh Bard is like robbing the blind little match-girl, but he did so with such ease, I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing more. He seemed to enjoy showing off the new-found wheels: Jackson already has more triples this season (three) than in his 310 prior career games.

On the other hand, what was up with Orlando Hudson? I think someone needs to buy him a copy of the Official Rules. Last week, he tries to advance on an infield fly, then this afternoon, after our first two hitters get on, he tries to bunt them along, but gets called out for batter's interference, because his back foot was very obviously not in the box. Even if he'd done it right, it seems a strange decision - after the pitcher has walked the first two hitters, I'd be inclined to take a couple of pitches, and not give him an easy out, especially with the nuclear offense we are running out there these days. Did he do that on his own? Inquiring minds want to know: he has been scuffling lately, just 5-for-27 in the last seven games.

Solid enough outing by Edgar Gonzalez, who went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and four walks - he battled control problems, but the only damage came on a pair of long balls. Some discussion in the thread about how what we should expect from EdGon. While I share Foulpole and Phil's concern about his HR rate, Jeff Sackmann took a look at this over at The Hardball Times, and found that the ERA of the average #5 pitcher in 2006 was a meaty 6.24. In his 32 starts, Gonzalez's ERA is now 5.69 - and that's pitching in a distinctly hitter-friendly home-park. I don't think even Edgar's mother would describe him as a potential Cy Young winner, but as a back of the rotation fill-in until Doug Davis returns, he's a lot better than most teams have available. [In another piece, Sackmann also found most teams use between ten and twelve starters per season, suggesting that depth is an important aspect of any rotation]

Elsewhere on the pitching side, is anyone else a little concerned about Juan Cruz? Sure, his ERA is a very nice 2.35, with only four hits in 7.2 innings. But after today, he has now walked eight hitters already - tied for most on the club, even including all the starters. Last season, he'd only walked eight hitters on June 7, though did have some time on the DL. His raw "stuff' seems as good as ever; I think I saw him hit 99 mph on the radar gun this afternoon. But a lot of the pitches that were missing the mark were not anywhere close to the plate. No damage today though; still, something to keep an eye on. Chad Qualls extended his scoreless streak with another zero, and Brandon Lyon, having warmed up, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in what was a non-save situation, thanks to our six runs in the bottom of the eighth.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Chris Young, +23.4%
Honorary mention: Stephen Drew, +22.2%
God-emperor of suck: Orlando Hudson, +12.8%

I got to watch this one at my sister-in-law's, while enjoying some extremely tender ribs [not normally a fan; much like wings, they're often more trouble than they're worth, but these just fell off the bone], tiramisu and Stella Artois. The latter may have been partly responsible for my complete failure to understand Joe Garagiola Sr. when he started trying to burble about BABIP and what it meant. I love Joe, and think it's great he's trying to understand the new baseball math - even if the result is like watching your grandfather attempt to program the iPod he was given as an ill-advised Christmas present. However...a little more edumification on the basics, before attempting to discuss it on television, would help avoid him sound like the infamous "the Internet is a series of tubes" politician.

Anyway, present in the Gameday Thread here were: paqs, Captain D Bag, peachy rex, kishi, foulpole, DbacksSkins, soco, Philip from LA, seton hall snake pit, Snakebitten [welcome!], azshadowwalker, dahlian, Wimb, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws [loved the macro!], Craig from Az, njjohn, singaporedbacksfan, Songbird and oklahomasooners. Though Skins appeared to spend more time over at GLB, posting pics of co-eds, in an apparently successful attempt to thaw relations with them. Perhaps this is something the State Department should look into: "Hey, Al Qaeda! Drop the jihad stuff and we'll give you all lifetime subscriptions to Maxim." It's insane, but...it...just...might...work...

Anyway, another series win in the back, and we continue to roll, with our fourth win in a row. The Rockies have matched us there, but the Padres (5.5 back) and Dodgers (six behind) are already beginning to find themselves looking up at a sizable gap. We've now scored exactly double the runs of our opponents in the 17 games so far, 112-56 - no other team in the majors has even reached three figures for runs. Long may that continue. And, finally, some good news on the Doug Davis front:

Nine days after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer, Arizona LHP Doug Davis threw from 120 feet on Saturday afternoon. "I felt real good out there throwing the ball," Davis said. "I don’t feel any different right now than I did before surgery. A little sore in the neck area." Davis has targeted May 9 at the Chicago Cubs for his return to the rotation.

Get well soon, Doug, needless to say.

That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh), we like it...

Record: 12-4. Pace: 122-40. Change on last season: +2

It's amazing how relaxed a time you can have, when the Win Probability for the Diamondbacks reaches 93.9% before your hitters have made the second out in the first inning. Quite a contrast to the last game I got to watch - Randy's first start, where the defense combusted spontaneously, on its way to a one-run defeat. The difference, on every level, between the two teams tonight was startling. Yeah, I know the Padres had come off a demoralizing 22-inning defeat and arrived in Arizona at 4am. But that last time I saw a performance phoned in to such a degree, was when I watched Cellular. Tonight was a mismatch, on a level not seen since the Christians had a three-game series on the road versus the Lions at the Coliseum in Rome. The Gameday Thread on GLB didn't turn up until their team was down seven; actually, neither did the Padres.

Certainly, that first inning was unique in my experiences at Chase as we scored six runs and sent eleven men to the plate. Let's just review it in full, shall we?

- C. Young singled to left
- E. Byrnes singled to right center, C. Young to second
- O. Hudson flied out to deep center, C. Young to third
- C. Jackson tripled to deep right center, E. Byrnes and C. Young scored
- M. Reynolds singled to pitcher
- J. Upton singled to center, C. Jackson scored, M. Reynolds to third, J. Upton to second advancing on throw
- S. Drew intentionally walked
- C. Snyder doubled to right, S. Drew, J. Upton and M. Reynolds scored
- D. Haren lined out to first
- C. Young walked
- E. Byrnes flied out to right

The key was, I think, Chris Snyder taking personally Maddux walking Drew to get him, and clearing the bases with a double into the gap. We already had a three-run lead at that point, but Snyder doubled it. We might still have been batting - or, at least, added the extra point after the touchdown - but for Gonzalez robbing Haren of a hit on a laser down the line. I have to say, Dan looks quite "hitterish", as Mark Grace would say: while he's not Micah v2.0 perhaps, he has good at-bats for a pitcher who spend the last three season in the American League. Some day he's going to run into a pitch, and it could be interesting.

Nice comment from a fan behind us after that outburst: "Guess it's not going to take us twenty-two innings to beat San Diego." That pretty much summed up the atmosphere at Chase; from then on, the only anticipation left available to fans were the fireworks after the game. Though the D-backs offense provided some more of their own, notably Conor Jackson, who chose to run through the cycle, instead becoming the first D-back to triple twice in a game since Robbie Hammock, on June 8, 2003. Eleven total bases or more in a game had only been done seven times before by a D-back at Chase [the last was Mark Reynolds, in his 5-for-5 with two homers contest], so I'm glad to have caught this once-per-season or less event.

"Psst! Adrian! Want any hitting tips?"

Plenty of praise to throw around though. Our 4-5-6 hitters [Jackson, Reynolds and Upton] were a combined 9-for-12 with six RBI and six runs. Upton had three hits, while Reynolds and Byrnes both had a pair of knocks. And let's not forget Dan Haren - while he may have been overshadowed by the early offensive explosion, he still threw seven shutout innings, giving up just three hits and one walk, to reduce his ERA for the season down to 1.80. Medders and Petit followed up and retired all six hitters they faced. The defense was also solid, with particularly-good plays by Reynolds, Drew and Young, the last named covering a ton of ground in center to preserve the shutout.

Despite his loosing of some non-PG language, I do have to give credit to Greg Maddux, for going out there and throwing 113 pitches, giving his team seven innings, on a night when he was clearly sucking one up for the team - and after the first, gave them a quality start. He hasn't thrown that many since September 2005; the time before that was June 2001. He has never allowed nine earned runs in a game before, and this was his 711th start. But he gave the bullpen the night off they desperately needed. In hindsight, scoring six in the first may have been counter-productive, since it basically ended any realistic chance San Diego had here. If had been close, we could have lured them into pulling Maddux early with the illusion that they might win, and then taken their bullpen out for the entire series.

Yes, a perfect night at the old ball-game...

Still, I'll happily settle for an emphatic nine-run victory, which takes us to 11-2 against our divisional rivals. I know they say titles can't be won in April, but heck, if we extrapolate from the first 10% of the season, and things continue as they have, we will win the NL West by forty-one games. That's how dominating this team has been over the first stretch of the season.

Game notes

• Roof open! Was a little surprised at that, but it was pretty much a perfect night. They said it was 85 degrees outside, about ten cooler inside at the time of first pitch.
  
• The new Jumbotron is pretty slick, despite some glitches tonight which had, for example, Chris Young's pic up there, but Chris Snyder's stats still hanging over from his at bat. Nice to see them use, and explain, things like OPS, and Mrs. SnakePit also appreciated the graphic showing who was on base where.

• Taking your kids to the ballgame is nice. Having to sit next to said kids, when their interest in the game has clearly waned - and been replaced by seeing how hard they can bang their seats down - is not so nice.
• Fireworks = mildly cool. Though there seemed a distinct lack of variety. They go up, they go pop, they explode into a sphere. I seem to remember there being different styles when I was young. However, that was in a country where they sold fireworks over the counter - the best ones had the instructions entirely in Chinese... I wonder if they have to clear the area of airplanes?
• The dreaded wave made an entirely-expected appearance in the sixth, and the Padres immediately threated. I was depressed to see how many people are still amused by waving their arms in the air and going "Woooo!" Still, this is also the country where American Idol is the most popular TV show, which explains a lot, I feel
• I do sense prices have dropped at the concession stands, which is great to see. Two Polish dogs, a large fries and a large soda cost us $20.25, which seems less than last season.
  

  
[Click on graph, to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Conor Jackson. +18.0%
Honorary Mention: Dan Haren, +11.5%
God-emperor of suck: Orlando Hudson, -3.1%

Okay, the graph above is more of an artist's impression, but I think you'll find it good enough for most practical purposes. :-) soco, unnamedDBacksfan, Captain D Bag, kishi, foulpole, seton hall snake pit, Wimb, hotclaws, Philip from LA, oklahomasooners, snakecharmer, DbacksSkins, Muu, peachy rex, frienetic, njjohn, Azreous, Turambar, babypuncher [welcome!], singaporedbacksfan, 4 Corners Fan and victor frankenstein were present in the Gameday Thread here, which bobbled along in the warm glow, much as you would expect.

Okay, we were facing a team who have now scored three runs in the last 43 innings and have batted .152 over the past six games. They don't have an offense, they have a futile. But they are still professional ball-players, and do not like having their asses kicked in a humiliating fashion. I know that if the boot was on the other foot, the D-backs would want to get right out there and prove themselves; I've little doubt the same is true for the Padres. With their bullpen now a little bit rested, and with their #2 on the mound this evening, against our #5, this series is not over by a long way. But, for one night, I was a privilege to watch our Arizona Diamondbacks, and see close-up why, right now, they are the best team in baseball.

Record: 7-2. Pace: 126-36. Change on last season: 0

The Arizona Diamondbacks: inhabiting Joe Torre's nightmares since 2001. He may have moved from one coast to the other, but he can't escape the torment caused by the Diamondbacks. We completed the sweep over the Dodgers, racking up our sixth win in a row - and, in sharp contrast to the offensive blowouts of the first two games, this was an old-school nailbiter, where there was never more than one run separating the two teams from the first pitch to the last. Kept homerless for the first time all year, this was much more like the 2007 version of the team, scratching out hits and grinding out a one-run win, as they did 32 times last year.

Micah Owings was just good enough: three runs on seven hits and a walk, but the key was that he pitched seven innings, thereby giving the besieged bullpen a much-needed breather. "There were times when he might not have the command that he did in Colorado, but boy, to give seven innings there when our bullpen was not full up down there, those guys know it," said Melvin after the game. Owings also made an opening statement, plunking Rafael Furcal to lead off the first inning - I have to think that was retaliation for the hit-fest inflicted on Arizona the night before.

Not that it stopped the Dodgers, with Conor Jackson forced to leave the game in the top of the sixth with a bruised left hand after being hit again, this time by Kuroda - CoJack's third HBP in two games. Fortunately, X-rays proved negative, and hopefully he'll be back in the lineup for the weekend series against the Rockies, after tomorrow's off-day. Chris Burke came in as a replacement, and went 1-for-2, though could be the recipient of some blame for Furcal's double down the line, on the first batter after he entered the game. Still, you take your impromptu corner infielders where you can get them, I suppose.

This was back and forth all game. The Dodgers took the lead in the second on a double by Pierre. The Diamondbacks returned, taking advantage of an error by Loney to score twice, on a groundout by Mark Reynolds and a Justin Upton single, in the fourth. The Dodgers tied it up again in the fifth, and a Loney homer made it 3-2 to them in the sixth. However, a crafty bunt single from Augie Ojeda, a more normal hit by Robby Hammock and a very-disciplined base on balls worked by Micah Owings, loaded the bases with one out. However, to much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, our newest multi-millionaire popped out [Young is 1-for-11 with 6 K's since signing the contract!].

But Eric Byrnes delivered his most important contribution of the season so far, with a two-run single that gave us the lead, this time for good. Byrnes enjoyed his first three-hit game since September 11, and was joined there by Augie Ojeda. The Littlest Ballplayer was making his first start of the year, playing shortstop in place of Drew [sitting this one out due to a sore right quad] and got his first three-hit game since August 28. Er, that's August 2004. Upton added two, his fourth multi-hit contest of the season, while Hammock, starting in place of Snyder after last night's lengthy contest, reached base twice on a hit and a walk.

After Owings completed the seventh inning, it was over to what was left of the bullpen. I can imagine them all looking nervously at each other when the phone rang, and going "Well, it's clearly not for me..." Juan Cruz was the lucky recipient of another outing and got around a one-out walk with the aid of a double-play. Then it was Lyon time, and though he gave up a deep fly to the first batter he faced, got the next man to ground out and then finished with a flourish, sending Andruw Jones down swinging, to notch his second save and seal the season sweep. Despite some qualms, the bullpen has been getting it done, posting a 2.36 ERA thus far, with seven earned runs in 26.2 innings.

Master of his domain: Eric Byrnes, +27.3%
Honorary mention: Brandon Lyon, +16.8%
God-Emperor of suck: Chris Young, -12.6%

Props over the past 24 hours to Azreous, for writing a kickass report after Tuesday's game - I'm hoping to get him doing regular recaps - and for watching over things in today's Gameday Thread, starting an overspill when the molasses crept in to the first one, around the 500 post mark.  We have a double-dose of 'Charmer roll-call goodness, starting with yesterday, where present in the comments w peachy rex, AZDarkKnight, dstorm, soco, foulpole, 4 Corners Fan, snakecharmer, Azreous, DbacksSkins, singaporedbacksfan, Wimb, TwinnerA, Turambar, jsk6788, kishi, hotclaws, Captain D Bag, DisplacedAZfan, Mr. Philosophical, Frank Squishy, peeklay, DiamondbacksWIn, seton hall snake pit, oklahomasooners and calltyriu.

Today was even more of a monster: 935 comments in total, which is not just a regular season best, it surpasses the all-time record of 932 in Game 2 of the NLDS last October. And this was for a weekday afternoon game, without much contribution from me. I think four figures is definitely within reach. jsk6788, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, AZDarkKnight, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, soco, dstorm, seton hall snake pit, foulpole, jweech, TwinnerA, smartsnake [welcome!], Azreous, bcloirao, AZSEAfan, kishi, Craig from Az, Wimb, leemellon, batster, Captain D Bag, frienetic, Huxtable Reunion, TuLoRocks2008 [welcome, though you might get comments about your username!] and peachy rex were present this afternoon.

Another sweep against a divisional rival, and I find myself in the unusual position of cheering for the Giants, as they're battling the Padres to a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the eighth at the moment. Be nice if they came out on top, as that'd give us a 2.5 game cushion on top of the the division, as we welcome Colorado into the Shire, ready to administer some further strict discipline to those naughty Orckies. Actually, the imagery that sentence conjures up in my mind, is probably something I could have done without.

Randy Johnson made his second - and probably final - rehab start down in Tucson. This one seemed to go a good deal better than his first, as the Big Unit struck out seven in six innings, allowing three hits and a walk and throwing a total of 85 pitches. According to Nick Piecoro, "Working off a fastball that sat in the 89-92 mph range, Johnson also was effective with a slider, splitter and change-up," and all being well, should be ready to slot into fellow left-hander Doug Davis's spot in the rotation, when it comes up next on Monday, in San Franciso. Worth repeating at some length Randy's comments after the game:

It's a lot easier to say, 'You know what? I can pitch a major-league start and feel comfortable because I had a game like today. I'll wait and see what they (coaches) say. But I do feel a lot more positive about this start... I was pitching ahead in the count, and that makes all the difference. All three (off-speed) pitches were working. I was pitching both sides of the plate. Now, if you take those pitches and equate them to what would happen if a major-league batter is up? I don't know. But I would take my chances, because I was pitching where I want to pitch.

With the signing of Young, that appears to end the contract discussions for the foreseeable future. The question of Hudson remains lurking on the horizon, and the Tribune thinks O-Dawg is not going be cheap: "Hudson, a three-time Gold Glove winner who will become a free agent after this season, is said to be seeking a yearly salary similar to the $15 million Philadelphia’s Chase Utley will receive." Regrettably, I think this means that we will be playing Where in the World is Orlando Hudson? this off-season. I just do not see the Diamondbacks being prepared to commit to a long-term deal at those rates, especially as he turns 31 before the end of the year. 

Finally, an interesting tidbit at Fangraphs.com who point out that Mark Reynolds has "cut down on swinging at pitches outside the strike zone by 6%." Whatever he's doing, it's clearly having the right effect. And, hooray, the Giants prevailed over the Padres, 1-0, with a ninth-inning run. Surprisingly, Trevor Hoffman was not involved in that loss. But it leaves us with the hoped-for comfortable lead, and a very satisfactory off-day tomorrow. Lolback and random stuff to follow, no doubt.

Record: 1-1. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: 0

Well, that ninth inning certainly gave me a chance to practice some of those choice epithets, from yesterday's "foul language in 19th century baseball" treatise. We entered the ninth, as in the opener, with a two-run lead, Qualls and Pena having again posted scoreless innings on the back of six frames from our starter. As above, so below. However, Brandon Lyon diverted drastically from Monday's script, going single, single, three-run homer (after a failed bunt!), to dramatically snatch defeat from the jaws of victory without even teasing us by, oh, retiring any hitters.

Expect the second guessing to begin immediately. For Jose Valverde never had an outing where he failed to retire a batter. He only allowed three earned runs in two of the 253 games he played for us. I also note that Brandon Medders and Jose Cruz were both warming up in the bullpen during Lyon's appearance, indicating that Melvin was perhaps not over confident in his closer. On the other hand, crank the Wayback Machine to the second game of last year, and you'll find Jose Valverde blowing the save that day too; he allowed two runs in the bottom of the eleventh at Coors, to end up tagged with the loss.

Still, when I wrote about Lyon and his qualifications as closer yesterday, "I suspect we won't know for sure until he's blown his first save - how he responds to that, will be the true test of his mettle," I must admit, I was kinda hoping it would take him less than 24 hours to deliver said blown save. :-( Lyon's incredible ability to avoid the long-ball last season, with no homers in his first 44 appearances, has not continued into this year, pretty much as predicted. And now we need to see whether he can follow the advice of famous baseball analyst Rudyard Kipling:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,..
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man closer, my son!

We'll see, before too long, whether Lyon is a man or a mouse. If he can come back from this - and it's difficult to imagine a more horrific, disastrous pit into which to be plunged - then we'll be okay. Best, perhaps, to get it out of the way early on. And with that, we'll move on.

Dan Haren made his first start, pitching five great innings and one fairly-sucky one. The net result was a quality start, with Davis going six innings and allowing three earned runs, all of them coming in the fourth inning, on a pair of home-runs, with a walk between them. We'll take that, especially since he was feeling less than 100% on his arrival at the park - seems a common issue, with Conor Jackson forced out of the game in the fifth inning [more on which later]. Haren allowed four hits and a walk in six innings, striking out four too. Overall, a very respectable start; the home-runs could be a problem (and this was thought likely to be an issue), but outside of those, he was solid, and even had a double and a sac-fly; not bad for someone whose last hit was in June 2005. Qualls and Pena were, once again, extremely solid, each with one hit in their inning.

On the offense, good outings by Hudson, 2-for-3 with a walk, and Stephen Drew, who also had two hits, including his first homer of the season. Chris Young had a double to lead off the game, and scoring our first run on a groundout, and had his first-ever three walk game, which is just what we want to see from our leadoff hitter. However, I certainly feel that we should have added on a few more runs; overall, the Diamondbacks were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The most painful failure was in the top of the ninth, where we loaded the basis with one out. Byrnes  had a hideous AB, which ended when he managed to run into his own batted ball and was out on interference, then Chris Burke struck out swinging, setting the stage for Lyon's implosion.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +19.3%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Lyon, -90.3%,
which appears to be an all-time low...

Still, what can you say? It's only one game, even if it's one we should certainly have won. I also note that Jose Valverde, in his Astros debut, coughed up the go-ahead run to the Padres in the eighth inning, but ended up the lucky winner, as Trevor 'I used to be quite good, y'know' Hoffman allowed four runs in the ninth. [On that note, a big hello to Phantom and California Penal over at GLB, who were gloating about AZ blowing the save, "On a three-run shot, no less," moments before Hoffman allowed a three-run HR of his own. Beautiful] To sum up, San Diego Colorado and the Dodgers all lost, so no ground lost to our rivals tonight. There are only two unbeaten teams left in the National League: the Brewers and...pauses to rub eyes...the Nationals? It's a long season.

The Conor Jackson issue is worrying. According to mlb.com, Jackson was taken to hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. Doctors there took chest X-rays, gave him some medication and said it was possible that he had pneumonia - so much for the "flu-like symptoms" which were reported, eh? That would be a real blow for our cleanup hitter, though he did get back to the park before the end of the game, "They're going to start me off on antibiotics and see what happens," he said. Hope he gets well soon - and, possibly just as important, doesn't infect anyone else on the roster.

Right up until the middle of the ninth inning, that was a thoroughly enjoyable Gameday Thread, with a turnout only fractionally short of Opening Day. Present and correct were bcloirao, kishi, dstorm, njjohn, Muu, Craig from Az, seton hall snake pit, DbacksSkins, Azreous, foulpole, Mr. Philosophical, hotclaws, 4 Corners Fan, unnamedDBacksfan, isoldout, oklahomasooners [welcome back!], Wimb, singaporedbacksfan, Captain D Bag, snakecharmer, frienetic and Wactivist. Early start tomorrow, folks: afternoon game in the Nati, so that'll be about as stern a test of Gameday Thread attendance as imaginable...

However, there is a 70% chance of rain there tomorrow afternoon, according to the forecast, so it seems there is a good chance the game might be delayed, or possibly even postponed. This is the only time we'll be in Cincinnati, so that would mean a return trip would have to be squeezed into the schedule somewhere. Wondering if that would mean they'll skip Davis's turn in the rotation (given his situation), or just push it back a day to Colorado? That's probably getting ahead of ourselves. Gameday Thread [weather permitting] to follow in the morning.