Nick Piecoro is reporting, "Right-hander Micah Owings is one of the players to be named later in the deal that brought Adam Dunn to the Diamondbacks on Monday. It's unclear if Owings has yet to be placed on waivers. He will have to clear waivers if he is to be traded before the end of the season." There's no independent confirmation of this as yet, and no word on the third player involved in the deal.

Record: 53-52. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -4.

"No wireless networks were found in range." Are there any more depressing words in the English language? Well, nowadays, it's right up there with "Time, gentlemen, please," ["Last call" to you Americans...] and "Yankees win! Yankees win!" As is usual for Mondays, I'm watching the game in my isolation pod, able to experience, but unable to share the joys and frustrations of Diamondbacks fandom. So, here's my inning-by-inning diary of this contest.

1st inning. Arrived about the same point as last week, and see the Diamondbacks go down in order in the first. Scott Hairston is leading off for the Padres: seems a bit insensitive of them to do that to us. Have San Diego no compassion? Owings gets him to go down swinging at ball four, so it seems some things have not changed all that much. No problems for Micah in the first, and he matches Maddux, by retiring the opposition in order.

2nd inning. Maddux is looking a good deal better than he was when we saw him in Arizona. Not even the newly-anointed NL Player of the Week, Conor Jackson, is able to do much with him, and the Diamondbacks are retired 1-2-3 once more, with Mark Reynolds staring at strike three to end the inning. Owings starts off well, getting the first two Padres, but then walks Gerut on four straight pitches. Control has been an issue for him of late - you know what they say about two-out walks [I wonder if there is any statistical evidence to prove that?]. And, just as I type those words, Hippy Anime Character launches a two-run homer to give San Diego the lead. The third out follows, but the damage is done.

3rd inning. A leadoff single to Montero gets things going, and Owings moves him over to third with a nice-single to left-center. Drew brings him home with a sacrifice fly to get us on the board. Young, however, has the big blow with his first homer since Jun e 18, and we're back on top 3-2. Hudson singles, and Maddux is looking ropey, if not on the ropes. The inning ends, but our comedy host just lent me the Wanted comic-book, and we discuss The Dark Knight, so I'm vague on the details.

A very, very long flyball is off Owings, who did not fool E.Gonzalez. There is another two-out walk, so I have a sense of *deja-vu*, which Gonzalez heartily endorses with a double down the right-field line. What are Owings' split with no outs and two outs? [This year, not much difference: though tonight will have hurt the latter a lot] A single gives the Padres the lead, and I'm wondering why we brough Owings back into the rotation. He's all over the place - the only pitches over the plate are fastballs down the pipe - and another double gives San Diego a two-run cushion. Oh, look: Petit is up and throwing in the 'pen. Owings now hits Hippy Anime Character, who is not impressed. Still, he gets to trot home after a three-run blast by Hundley.

That makes it 8-3 Padres, before Owings finally, mercifully, gets the third out. Anyone reckon Maddux's winless streak is going to continue? Time to insert a brief rant here, since I am about to break my self-imposed quota of one beer at this show. There has been some debate over whether Owings or Petit should be in the rotation, with understandable questionmarks over Petit's peripherals, in particular his long-ball liability. Frankly, I no longer care. Owings has been rank beyond belief over the past couple of months: he has had more than his fair share of chances of late, and has failed to deliver. Including tonight, their lines since the start of June are:
  Owings: 35.2 IP, 42 H, 21 BB, 26 K, 39 R, 37 ER, 9,34 ERA
  Petit: 17 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 14 K, 3 R, 3 ER, 1.59 ERA
If the Petit Unit does not start on Saturday, I'll want to know why.

Fourth inning. Rant over. Back at the game [with another Stella Artois now located comfortingly in front of me] - I am pleased to see that the Dodgers are being similarly smacked about by the Giants, and are also five runs down in the fourth there. So, all things being equal, looks like we'll still be alone in first tomorrow. We do get a man on, thanks to another Montero single, but a fine snag of a Romero smash down the first-base line ends the inning. Petit is in for us in the fourth: he retires the Padres in order, with two K's. Any questions?

Fifth inning. After our first two go quietly, back-to-back singles to Young and Hudson give Arizona some hope of a late rally. Jackson puts a charge into the ball, but Hairston makes a leaping grab of the ball in left to rob him of extra-bases. I'm not sure if it was a good play or a bad read, but the end result is a zero for Maddux, who has now qualified for the win, even if a meteor now takes out the Padres dugout. Which is likely our best hope here. Petit out again, and allows a two-out chopper - but then, unlike certain recent starting pitchers I could mention, then gets the third out.

Sixth inning. Maddux looking flaky again. Tracy singles, then advances to second on a balk, and another single puts men on first and third with no outs. That will be it for Mad Dog, having done the very bare minimum required for a win - and if you've seen Office Space, you'll know what we think of someone who only does the bare minimum. :-) Not an auspicious beginning for the Padres bullpen, as the first pitch goes to the backstop, scoring a run and moving another one back into scoring position.

Montero strikes out, to his obvious discontent, but a nice piece of slap-hitting from Romero puts men back on the corners. Time for another call to the pen, and also for Tony the Tiger to step to the plate... He weakly grounds into a double-play, killing the rally. Really, whatever he brings to the locker-room, he's not bringing much to the plate. Two hit in sixteen at-bats now. Rosales is called out to replace Petit, and gets through the inning despite another walk.

Seventh inning. We need to start scoring more runs. Welcome to this week's edition of Stating the Bleedin' Obvious, with your host, Jim McLennan. We get a man on, but he doesn't get anywhere past first, and it looks like our chances of pulling this one out are getting slim to the point of non-existent. I am somewhat worried to discover that the Dodgers have come back and are now only a couple of runs down. Rosales out again for the seventh, and the SnakePitette serves me another Stella. The Arizona bullpen continues to kick ass, with Rosales working around a one-out walk. Dodgers have pulled to within one of the Giants. Make it stop.

Eighth inning. An unusual play here, as Montero tried to reach first on a dropped third strike: except, with a guy on first, you can't. Still, the Padres catcher throws to first anyway, the ball gets away, and Reynolds goes to second on the play. An infield single puts men on the corners, and a walk to Ojeda loads the bases and brings the tying run to the plate, in the shape of Drew. He works the count full, but then grounds out. My fantasy team - which includes Bell - thanks you. My real team - the Arizona Diamondbacks - don't. Giants still holding on. Pena in for us. Jackson goes fo an acrobatic slide in foul territory: unharmed, fortunately. The third Stella is kicking in. That's why my sentences are short. Nice catch by Romero. 1-2-3 inning. Yey! [This paragraph was last seen vanishing into a grammatical singularity, and has now relocated somewhere near the Crab Nebula]

Ninth inning. Leadoff double by Young - good to see him getting on base a bit more regularly. One out later, Jackson doubles him home to extend his hitting streak. That makes it a save situation and in comes the all-time saves leader, or whatever he is these days. Chad Tracy, your mission is to get on base, by any means necessary. Chad Tracy, you fail: while Hoffman may be past his best, his change is still lethal. Reynolds swings at the first pitch. Game over. Now, how did the Dodgers do?

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Master of his domain: Chris Young, +19.8%
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -58.7%

Looked like a fun and lively Gameday Thread, so sorry to have missed it. Much discussion of the rumored ongoing Teixeira trade [see the link for the latest updates] and - in better news - the potential upcoming contract extension for Dan Haren. "I'm pretty confident something will get done sooner rather than later," Haren said, and that would be a great boost for the team, even though they already have him under control (including the team option) through 2010. Getting him and Webb locked down for the long-term would be an extremely positive step. Anyway: present tonight were utahdbacksfan, kishi, soco, Azreous, mrssoco, Scrbl, unnamedDBacksfan, Muu, AF DBacks Fanatic, hotclaws, emilylovesthedbacks, Zephon, thetomcat87 [welcome!], TwinnerA, 4 Corners Fan, srdmad, AJforAZ, luckycc,  and friendly visitors TuLoRocks2008 and victor frankenstein.

There endeth the streak, at three. So, what did we learn tonight? Not much, except that Owings needs to go back to the bullpen. After a promising start, his sequence of disastrous outings has reached the stage where he no longer even qualifies as a back of the rotation starter. In contrast to yesterday, I note that he gave up two walks and a HBP tonight, all three of whom came round to score, giving the Padres their margin of victory. Petit will be a better option, until the anticipated return of Max Scherzer - though reports suggest this may not happen until the rosters expand in September. Good outing by the bullpen, who gave us five scoreless innings. Shame about the first three. Now, we need to regroup tomorrow, get a strong outing from Davis, and then turn the ball over to Haren on Wednesday for the series win.

Hey, at least the Dodgers lost...

Record: 45-46. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -4

You know things are pretty bad when the worst team in the National League blanks the Diamondbacks. The Nationals replied to our six-hit shutout from yesterday, with a three-hitter of their own on our offense - which has suddenly decided to entirely give up making any significant effort. I know the Washington stadium is pitcher-friendly, but over the past two games the Arizona line-up is hitting .125, having gone 7-for-56.

The word "pathetic" doesn't seem to do that level of ineptitude justice, somehow. I'm not sure there is a single word - or even several of them, placed next to each other for literary effect - which can quite capture the depths to which we have sunk here. Even the Associated Press recap sank to previously-unseen levels of sarcasm:

The game pitted the two worst hitting teams in the National League as well as two pitchers without a victory in their last 14 combined starts. On Tuesday, the teams played a 2-0 game in which neither run was earned. The product, therefore, was mind-numbing... For the first five innings, the game almost deserved to be rained out, but somehow the dark and stormy clouds that virtually surrounded Nationals Park managed to dump their rain elsewhere.

Conor Jackson reached safely twice, on a walk and a single. Hudson and Owings also singled, but the Diamondbacks didn't need to worry about failing to hit with runners in scoring position today. That's because they didn't get any runners into scoring position, failing to advance anyone beyond first-base. Part of the reason for that was that they managed to hit into four double-plays, during the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings. You have to admire, in a deeply-perverse way, any team where the twin killings they hit into, outnumber the actual hits. [Perhaps surprisingly, that's not a first for the D-backs: in particular, it's an eerie echo of a game against Florida on August 9th, 2005, where we had three hits, four double-plays...and lost 5-0.]

I think we'd better leave the festering cess-pit which was our offense today, before I re-enact the most memorable moments from The Exorcist, directly onto my monitor. Let's turn, instead, to Micah Owing's, ah, "interesting" performance today. He left after 5.2 innings, having allowed one run at that point. This would seem to suggest a very solid outing: however, the manner in which that run made its way round the bases will shed some light on the reality. Single, hit by pitch, hit by pitch, bases-loaded walk. All told, Micah allowed nine base-runners - only one of whom actually earned their way there with a hit.

There were five walks and no less than three hit batters for Owings - that gives him 11, tied for the major-league lead with Cabrera of Baltimore, and he has thrown 26.1 more innings than our pitcher. After today, I'm beginning to think the best song to play for Micah as he comes up, is probably Front 242's Headhunter. The trio today already put his 2008 season at tied for fifth on the franchise all-time single season record, so we'll keep an eye as we go forward and see if he can threaten the mark of 18, set in 2001 by - who else? - Randy Johnson. Three also ties the franchise record for a game, done five times, most recently by the late Joe Kennedy. He managed to do it in an appearance that lasted exactly one out, against the Marlins.

Still, despite a severe case of wildness, it was only 1-0 to Washington when Owings left, so he did keep us in the game. This is more than can be said for Connor Robertson, however. Brought in with two on and two out in the sixth, he was clearly auditioning for the Chad Qualls role, recently vacated by Chad Qualls, as Designated Inherited Runner Scorer. Robertson first allowed an RBI double, and then a three-run homer to Jesus Flores - who hadn't had an extra-base hit of any kind since June 14. Mop-up duty was hastily scheduled for Rosales and Petit, who managed to post zeros in the remaining two innings, though the way we were hitting, they could have each thrown a complete-game shutout and we would still have trailed the Nationals.

To add to the joy you're no doubt experiencing if you saw any of this atrocious performance, Justin Upton was dropped from the lineup after he pulled a rib cage muscle during batting practice. Said Bob Melvin, "It certainly could be a DL, not sure, we'll know more tomorrow." Great. Just great. Looks like we will be enjoying the comic potential of Emilio Bonifacio in right-field again tomorrow, and possibly for some time to come. I can only quote Diamondhacks' reaction in the Gameday Thread, after a Bono misplay that gave the Nats a 2-0 lead: "When Bonifacio ran in on that ball over his head, I think that was the fastest I’ve ever seen an out of position player run the wrong way on a ball. Verrrry exciting player."

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Master of his domain: Micah Owings, +14.4%
God-emperor of suck: Connor Robertson, -23.6%
Dishonorable mentions: Ojeda, -11.4%; Reynolds, -10.9%

Witnesses for the prosecution today were golfmanthee, DbacksSkins, Zephon, nihil67, emilylovesthedbacks, LucaMaz3, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, srdmad, nargel, victor frankenstein, Muu, Wimb, SunDevilsDen, Scrbl, kishi, Diamondhacks and AZWILDCATS [welcome!]. Once again, we drop back into a tie with the Dodgers for first-place, as they pipped the Braves by the odd run in three. Was this our worst performance of the season to date? It certainly has to rank down there near the bottom. Still, we send out Dan Haren tomorrow who, like Webb, blanked the Nationals the last time he started. But based on today's (lack of) hitting, I think he may need to do so again, for the team to have any chance to win. It may depend on who gives up most unearned runs...

Record: 42-41. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -4

As this game wore on, it seemed the question was going to be, less whether Arizona would score enough runs, than whether they would have enough able bodies to man all nine positions. First, Eric Byrnes basically collapsed half-way between second and third, as he tried to steal a base in the second: he never even made it to third. Though he limped off the infield under his own steam, he went straight to the dugout, and it looks likely that he is going back onto the DL with a re-occurrence of the hamstring injury which kept him out for four weeks earlier this month. If it is the same problem, one has to wonder whether he came back too soon, before the injury healed properly - especially since it came basically the first time he hit full speed. If so, whose fault is it? Byrnes, for claiming fitness, or the Diamondbacks' training staff for not spotting it?

He was replaced in left-field by Jeff Salazar, and the game continued. However, in the fourth inning,. Chris Snyder also got taken out of the game - in rather unfortunate fashion. The Republic describes it as "an unspecified injury," but here's what happened. A foul ball ricocheted off the ground and up into... Well, let's be honest here: Snyder's crotch. Now, catchers do wear a protective cup, but that's designed to protect the family jewels from frontal assault. Judging by the way our catcher dropped to the ground like a stunned heifer, this ball managed to bypass the armor with a degree of accuracy that would have made Lee Harvey Oswald proud. Mark Grace was not exactly sympathetic, squeaking "I'm not quite ready yet!" in a high-pitched voice as Snyder got back down, somewhat uncomfortably, behind the plate. Chris toughed out the inning, but was replaced by Montero for his at-bat in the bottom of the fourth.

The fifth inning saw another bump at home-plate. We had men on second and third, when Jackson hit a ball to right-field. Hart successfully duped Ojeda, on third, into thinking he'd have to tag to score, even though the ball dropped in front of him. Augie scurried home, getting there at the same time as the ball, and ended up colliding with Kendall and going down in a heap. The ball got away, and Drew scored behind Ojeda as well, though there seemed to be a bit of a clinch going on between Augie and Brewers' catcher Kendall. Not quite sure who was to blame there, but Kendall probably needs to pick on someone his own size. No-one touches the Littlest Ballplayer and gets away with it. :-)

That play, and a subsequent RBI double by Reynolds, proved to be the turning points in the game, giving Arizona a three-run lead. Not that it was all chocolate and flowers from there on, the sixth inning being particularly interesting, shall we say. It started with Davis plunking Prince Fielder, presumably some kind of attempt by Doug to prove that, yes, he can hit the broad side of a barn. Two walks followed, and Davis was yanked in favor of - cue screams from the assembled masses - Mr. Inherited Runner, Chad Qualls. Yes, probably the last person we wanted to see with the bases loaded, and a mob with torches began to assemble in the foyer at Chase Field. He then walked in a run for Milwaukee, but with the tying run a bloop away, managed to get Weeks swinging for the third out. The mob decided to go to Chili's instead, and put away their copies of 'Skins visual aid regarding Qualls.

Mark Reynolds was the offensive force of the game, going 3-for-3 with a walk, and all three hits being for extra-bases - including his 17th homer of the year, matching his total from all of last year, despite 91 fewer at-bats to date. The three runs driven in gave Special K 52 in total, and he is currently on pace to become the first Diamondback to reach three figures for a season, since Luis Gonzalez had 104 RBI in 2003. Augie Ojeda had two hits from the lead-off spot, and scored both times he got on base. This makes perfect sense, since it's what the lead-off hitter is supposed to do, and his on-base percentage (.394) is second only to Jackson (.400). Certainly beats Drew (.297) and Byrnes (.272), though since he was only in the starting line-up to give O-Dawg a day off, expect normal service to be resumed tomorrow. Drew had two hits, and Montero a pair of walks.

Doug Davis picked up the win, but his control issues in the sixth meant he fell one out short of a fourth straight quality start. He began in somewhat wobbly form, falling behind 2-0 before retiring the second Brewer of the night, but buckled down from there. The only further damage was the run charged to him on Qualls' bases-loaded walk in the sixth: Davis's final line was 5.2 innings, with five hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Qualls came back out for the seventh and pitched around a lead-off double, while Pena came in for the eighth and Lyon the ninth. Be very interesting to see what happens in the event of a close game tomorrow, as both Pestileñce and War have now pitched in the past three games. Cruz to close and Qualls to set-up?

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Master of his domain: Mark Reynolds, +25.8%
Honorable mention: Stephen Drew, +12.8%
God-emperor of suck: Justin Upton, -10.1%

Looked like it was going to be a low-key Gameday Thread early on, but just as the Diamondbacks did, participants kicked up their output in the middle innings, and finished strong - albeit somewhat off-topic. Dbackskins cracked the two hundred mark, while everyone else lollygagged in double-digits: also present were kishi, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, seton hall snake pit, DbacksSkins, soco, unnamedDBacksfan, mrssoco, emilylovesthedbacks, Muu, snakecharmer, LucaMaz3, DiamondbacksWIn and The Main Man, so thanks to all those who showed up.

Dodgers lost. Giants lost. Rockies lost spectacularly, coughing up an 8-3 lead to lose 15-8 to the Padres, for their eighth defeat in a row. The net result is that the standings in the NL West are basically unchanged from what they were on June 8, even though we've gone 8-12 in that time:

Finally, a quick note on Micah Owings, since injuries seem to be the theme of the day. It's still up in the air whether he'll make his scheduled start on Wednesday: He said, "We're planning on it right now, but we'll see how it feels after I do some more treatment... I wish I could explain it. When I went down for the ball, my lower right side and upper glute just locked up on me... I've never had anything like that happen." The Petit Unit looks likely to get the start if Owings is not ready to go.

Oh, and tomorrow is a special Gameday Thread, in which all discussion of the game in the comments will be prohibited while it is in progress. Marshals will be carefully monitoring for any violations of this condition and all violators will be punished harshly. Suggestions of alternative topics to discuss are welcome.

Record: 40-40. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -5.

On May 21st, Arizona faced the Marlins in Florida, and Ricky Nolasco allowed one run as his team beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 - the defeat dropped our lead over the Dodgers to three games. On June 27th, Arizona faced the Marlins in Florida, and Ricky Nolasco allowed one run as his team beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 - the defeat dropped our lead over the Dodgers to three games.

Of course, there were some differences: Nolasco went one additional frame, allowed a couple more hits and struck out a couple more people. But the difference between then and now is stark. Then, even after the defeat, Arizona were still a robust ten games above .500, and Los Angeles were the only team within single-digits of us. Now, this looks like a team in absolute offensive free-fall - without a clue, without a hope and without a prayer at the plate. We have managed to score just thirteen times over the seven contests on this road-trip so far. Give us one more defeat, and we'll enter the rarefied territory, of teams who have a sub-.500 record, and still lead their division. We'd only be good enough for fifth in the AL East. Yet if the playoffs began today, we play the Phillies in the NLDS. Any minute now, we're going to get a tap on the shoulder and turn around to find Ashton Kutcher, telling us we've been Punk'd.

Things started off brightly enough. Drew singled, Byrnes followed up with a double, and we had men on second and third with nobody out in the top of the first. However, all we managed to get there was a sacrifice fly by Hudson. That was the end of the Diamondbacks' scoring - and that was also as many runners as we got into scoring position over the eight innings which followed, none of whom made it past second-base. Snyder was the only batter to reach safely more than once, with a hit and a walk. Young went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Tracy: 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Salazar replaced Upton in right, and did no better: 0-for-3 with a strikeout. One walk and a total of ten K's for Arizona.

Really. I don't know what to say about this team any more. How many ways are there to point out the obvious failings of a lineup that musters six hits, five of them singles, a solitary walk, and doesn't get past three runs for the sixteenth time in 22 games? What is there I can meaningfully write? We're almost half-way through the season and our starting lineup boasted exactly one player - Hudson - with a batting average higher than .255. What do you think is going to happen when they face major-league pitching? Melvin closed the doors and made himself unavailable to the media after the game, for only the second time in his managerial time here. Hard to imagine what he told the players, beyond the blindingly obvious. I'd like to think the hitters already know that they're not playing well enough. Any suggestions as to what you might tell them?

Meanwhile, the pitching did its best to keep us in the game, which is another recurring theme story over the past couple of weeks. Things weren't helped by Micah Owings having to leave the game after four innings. Running to cover first on a ground-ball in the fourth, Owings stretched awkwardly and came up lame, having tweaked his quadriceps muscles. He said, "I felt OK to go, and then I came back in [to the dugout], shut it down for a little bit and it stiffened up on me. But I should be fine." Gonzalez, Rosales and Qualls took over after the fourth, and retired all twelve hitters the Marlins sent up there. However, the three runs Owings allowed, were more than enough to send him to another defeat - like Randy Johnson, he will be winless in the entire month of June.

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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +7.5%
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -16.4%
Dishonorable mention: Chris Young. -11.2%

Awful game, reflected in what was probably the lowest volume Gameday Thread of the season, and who can blame anyone? I've run out of things to say that aren't simply retreading old ground. Thanks to those who did take part: dbacksfan01, dahlian, Muu, kishi, emilylovesthedbacks, 4 Corners Fan, TwinnerA, srdmad, snakecharmer, hotclaws, Augie's Army, Wimb, soco, Diamondhacks, SunDevilsDen, Elway4Prez and unnamedDBacksfan. My enthusiasm for the team is pretty low right now, and the best thing looming on the horizon is the All-Star break. It's about the only chance this team has of remaining undefeated for three days in a row.

Record: 39-34. Pace: 87-75. Change on last season: -3

Pop quiz. Bottom of the seventh inning and it's a 1-1 game. However, you have runners on the corners, and only one man out. The pitcher's spot is up, and you have the following pinch-hitters available on your bench:
  Player A: .268/.308/.479, 16% strikeout rate
  Player B: .235/.356/.388, 33% strikeout rate
  Player C: .261/.333/.370, 41% strikeout rate
If you said, emphatically, "Player C," you are Bob Melvin. Because, with the game on the line in exactly the manner outlined above, he sent up the player with the worst OPS and highest K rate, pitcher Micah Owings, to hit [the other two were Drew and Salazar, the former rewarded for his three-hit night by getting dropped from the line-up]. The result, inevitably, rather than the go-ahead run, was a swinging K and the runner ended up stranded at third.

Much as we love Micah, and his ability to give us an extra hitter, it's time for him to be taken out of the pinch-hitter equation. That's four straight appearances in the role where he has struck out, and since his two-run homer back in April, he is 1-for-8 with five K's off the bench. We have better options - but not to Melvin's eye: he has used  Owings more as a PH in June than in any other month - more than Burke, Montero or Salazar. Is it just coincidence that his last four starts have also seen Micah go 0-3 with a 9.95 ERA? Or is the unnecessary and unproductive pinch-hitting proving a distraction to our young starter?

That wasn't the only poor decision made by Melvin in the late innings. He also used up his first out by getting Snyder to sacrifice Young from first to second - a move that dropped our Win Probability by 2.6%. And when Jackson walked after Upton's homer, he inexplicably put on the hit-and-run for CoJack, with Special K at the plate and a full count. Yes, Mark Reynolds, currently ranked second in the majors for strikeouts. To no-one's surprise - except, it would appear, Bob Melvin's - the result was a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double-play, which ended any chance of us adding an insurance run before sending Lyon out there. As mentioned in the Gameday Thread, this was a game we won in spite of the Mad Scientist, rather than because of him.

Fortunately, Justin Upton rescued us from the questionable decision of our manager, leading off the eighth with a what can only be described as a bomb into the pool area, on a full-count pitch from Foulke. He was the only Diamondback to touch home-plate from the right direction this afternoon, as he also scored our opening run, doubling to lead off the fourth, and eventually coming home on Chris Young's sacrifice fly. Could the recent discussion about sending Upton down to Tucson have concentrated his mind? Not according to Justin:

There’s no confidence issues. It’s just baseball. A lot of people who don’t play the game don’t know how tough it is mentally and how physically draining it is on the body. You can so quickly lose your swing and your mental approach at the plate, and you’ve just got to find it again... It has been pretty tough, but in the end, it’s a game where you’re going to fail a lot, and it’s something you have to live with. But to play the way I did today, hopefully it turns things around.

Doug Davis was stellar once again, and deserved better than yet another high quality no-decision. He has now allowed one earned run in the past thirteen innings of work - however, DD still hasn't won since May 23rd. The reason is simply a lack of run support: while he has been on the mound in his past four starts, now covering 22.2 innings, the Diamondbacks have scored just four runs. Today, he was a little less economical - it took him 103 pitches, ending with a very helpful double-play, to get through six innings. However, the only damage was a bloop RBI single down the line by Jack Cust in the sixth. Said Doug, "I had everything working out there for me once again. It was just like the last outing. I executed getting ahead and that was the big thing, getting ahead and getting strike one and being able to expand the zone from there."

After him, it was on to the bullpen, and the seven strong innings thrown by Haren in Wednesday's game meant that the A-group were fully rested. Qualls, Peña and Lyon responded impeccably, retiring all nine hitters they face, with the win going to Tony. I was somewhat concerned about Lyon, as the A's hitters had owned him when they first met on Tuesday; however, he was back to normal form this afternoon and picked up his fifteenth save with a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the three-hitter. Not that our offense was exactly on fire, managing only five hits themselves, with two each for Upton and Young. We did manage five walks though, with Reynolds getting a pair.

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Master of his domain: Justin Upton, +27.7%
Honorable Mention: Davis, +20.9%; Lyon, +16.8%; Peña +11.0%
God-emperor of suck: Augie Ojeda, -15..8%
Dishonorable mention: Owings, -11.5%, Hudson, -11.0%, Snyder -10.2%

I hope you all failed miserably to get any work done this afternoon. I know I did. :-) Thanks to those who similarly tried to look busy: DbacksSkins, dbacksfan01, srdmad, kishi, emilylovesthedbacks, hotclaws, luckycc, dahlian, soco, TwinnerA, snakecharmer, Diamondhacks, seton hall snake pit, 4 Corners Fan, Wimb and bcloirao. It was great to take a series which felt a long, long way out of grasp after the nightmare which was the opening drubbing, and will hopefully give us some good momentum as we head off into the realm of the DH, to take on the Twins and Red Sox on their home turf.

Who do you think should DH for us? I am leaning towards Tracy at the moment, allowing everyone to get in the lineup without us having to play out of their normal positions [Conor, thank you for your efforts in left]. However, especially for the Twins series, before Byrnes comes back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Melvin exercise his man-crush and put Micah in the role for at least one of the games. I'll close with this interesting paragraph stolen from Athletics Nation and their recap of the game. I made some very minor changes: does this sound at all familiar?

Thanks to the Angels’ Dodgers' own troubles, we are still hanging in there in the AL NL West, 3.5 4.5 games out up, but it’s no secret that the A’s D-backs are still at least one key element away from being a competitive team; they have flashes of talent, and a couple of good, young players who will develop, but they are ETA: still too inconsistent to be a competitive team, and they are not the team you want in a close, low-scoring game. At some point, how many times can you excuse a poor offensive performance by crediting the pitching?

Record; 35-30. Pace: 87-75. Change on last season: -2

8.6%. That was the meager extent of our Win Probability after Stephen Drew flied out, becoming the second batter retired in the fifth inning. With just thirteen outs left, and a four-run deficit to overcome, things were looking distinctly bleak for the Diamondbacks, and another defeat on this miserable road-trip loomed large in front of us like....like a large, looming thing. But wait! They say it's always darkest before the dawn; and the victory snatched from the jaws of defeat tonight, the result of eight unanswered runs, might possibly - just possibly - be the tendrils of dawn creeping over the horizon like...like a creeping, tendrily thing. I'm sorry: that game drained me of all literary aspirations, you'll have to wait for the simile bank to refuel.

The game brought a merciful end to the sick streaks which have plagued Arizona of late. We scored more than five runs for the first time since May 26, and broke past eight hits for the first time since May 27. We ended up with twelve - seven of them in four innings from the Mets pen - which is a number not seen since May 15. Drew, Hudson, Jackson and Snyder got two apiece, including a homer for each man, with O-Dawg and CoJack adding a walk. Hudson started the fightback with a two-run homer in the fifth, but it was Augie Ojeda who had the key blow, a two-run single in the sixth which brought the scores back level. At the end of that inning, the winds swirling around Shea brought a 61-minute delay to proceedings, and it seemed possible the game might be held over till tomorrow.

Fortunately for the Diamondbacks, it wasn't, as they dominated the final three frames. Snyder broke the tie with a solo homer in the eighth, and Peña made it stand up with a scoreless frame, going through the top four slots in the Mets order. Romero led off the ninth with a slap-double down the left-field line, and after Young made his fifth out of the evening, Drew smashed the ball into the largely-deserted outfield bleachers, to provide us with some breathing room. Jackson followed with his own blast, and though not a save situation, Lyon posted his 23rd straight zero in the ninth, despite a leadoff double. [One quick note. Sutton said it's the longest scoreless streak by a reliever since Carlos Marmol last year. Not so. J.C.Romero of Philadelphia went 28.1 innings from September 2, 2007, through May 1, 2008.]

It all looked pretty unlikely in the first inning, as Micah Owings retired only one of the first seven New York hitters to come to the plate. The early lead Arizona had taken, on an RBI single from Jackson, proved to be a fleeting, stillborn thing. If Snyder hadn't managed to gun down Reyes as he tried to steal second, we could well have ended the first further behind than two runs. We soon were anyway, as David Wright uncorked a two-run homer off Owings. He struggled on beyond that, but was bailed out by Cruz after 4.1 innings, with his final line being eight hits, three walks and four earned runs - a third non-quality start in a row for him, though he did single and score on Hudson's homer.

Much credit is due to the five members of the pen who followed Owings. Cruz, Slaten, Qualls [who finally broke his streak of five losses, and got his first win in a Diamondbacks jersey], Peña and Lyon, who combined for 4.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits and no walks. Perhaps equally important, they were economical with their work, those 4.2 frames requiring only 56 pitches, so our bullpen should be relatively fresh, especially with Webb going tomorrow, and averaging almost seven innings per start. Compare the Mets pen, who took 82 pitches for their four innings - Vargas (29 pitches) and Sanchez (24) will likely be unavailable on Wednesday.

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Master of his domain: Augie Ojeda, +21.9%
Honorable mentions: Snyder (+15.6%), Peña (+14.6%),
Hudson (12.8%), Jackson (+12.1%)
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -34.3%
Dishonorable mention: Chris Young, -13.7%

I think that may be a record: I don't recall a game before where we had five players in positive double-digits. Of course, this was largely because of the large hole dug for us by Micah Owings early on. However, kudos are due to all the players mentioned in bold-type above, who all played key roles in the game. This was a great game to win: Todd Walsh, from beside the Diamondbacks dugout, said he could see the whole body-language change, and that they now clearly couldn't wait to get to the ballpark tomorrow. Whether that's true or not - and 'momentum' may be as over-rated as Pulp Fiction - if this victory doesn't turn our season around, then nothing short of fifty thousand Volts will.

Tumbleweeds rolled across the Gameday Thread in the second through fourth innings: I think we added only about 45 comments in the hour or so between me leaving work and getting home. However, early and late, there was a great deal of activity, and we ended at not far short of overflow levels. Present were Wimb, DbacksSkins, TwinnerA, hotclaws, luckycc, Augie's Army, bcloirao, foulpole, dahlian, CPAYNEonaplane, soco, kishi, unnamedDBacksfan, Counsellmember, srdmad, Stile4aly, emilylovesthedbacks, 4 Corners Fan, dstorm and mrssoco, so thanks to them for their attendance. Though perhaps the most entertaining thing in the game was the called strikes from home-plate umpire Jim Joyce - they sounded somewhere between a trumpeting elephant and the horn on a Model T Ford.

Looks like we'll not be getting Eric Byrnes back this series. While he's eligible to come off the DL tomorrow, Melvin ruled out any possibility of that happening before the team's return to Arizona on Friday. "He will not come off here, much to his chagrin... I want him to be able to run full speed and not have to hold anything back. That's a big tool in his game, whether it's psychologically or fundamentally. A lot of his game comes from being able to run and put pressure on a defense, like he does in the outfield. He's got to be able to go out. I'm not saying he has to be a certain time down the line, but he's got to be able to run and not hold back."

Oh, look - the Dodgers won... ;-)

Record: 32-28. Pace: 86-76. Change on last season: -4

If this game was a horse, it would have been put down after the fourth inning, and would now be exiting Miller Park in cans of Alpo. Worst performance of the season to date? It certainly could be: this was the biggest margin of defeat inflicted on the Diamondbacks, certainly. There was hardly an aspect of the game which was played by Arizona at an acceptable level. As baseball analyst Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, "How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways..."

Our starting pitching was awful. Micah Owings failed to complete five innings for the first occasion this season. Indeed, we'd have been happy to settle for four, but even his hitting ability couldn't save him and he was gone after only three. To be honest, I think Melvin was a bit quick with the hook: sure, Owings had allowed eight hits, but only four earned runs and had thrown only 67 pitches. With the game basically out of reach by the middle of the fourth [Win Probability down to 9%]  I'd have thrown him out there for one more frame. After all, he could hardly have done any worse than what replaced him...

Our bullpen was awful. Okay, that's actually somewhat unfair to Messrs. Slaten and Lyon, who pitched two scoreless, indeed perfect, innings. However, the collective line for the relief corps today was five runs in five frames: all of them came in a brutal fourth inning for Edgar Gonzalez, in which he allowed four hits, two of them homers a walk and five earned runs [About the only comfort is that Foulpole was missing from the Gameday Thread, so we were spared his obvious comments.] Admittedly, he was not helped by Justin Upton butchering a ball in the outfield, allowing the quick but hardly mercurial Corey Hart to scurry all the way round for an inside-the-park homer. Which brings me to...

Our defense was awful. The above play had Upton exhibiting all the agility of a new-born foal, diving, failing to make the play, then falling over as he tried to get to his feet. Of course, this is countered in typical J-Up style by a great grab he made of a near-HR (this one more normal) by Hart, then doubling the runner off second. That was a rare good play, on a day which started with an infield hit to Reynolds that should not have happened, and was followed immediately by a throwing error from Owings which let the runner advance to second. Add bobbles by Upton and Young in the outfield which also gifted the Brewers' extra bases [albeit ones they scarcely needed. 

I want to stress that errors are entirely objective, and so not a reliable method of judging defense. However, I think there can be little argument that our fielding has not shown the improvement, hoped for as a result of our increased experience. Last season, we had 107 errors - instead of cutting back, we're currently on pace for 110,  the most in franchise history, save the nightmare which was 2004. That season, we committed no less than 139 errors, including 34 at third-base and 22 from the outfield. Again, this is far from an objective assessment, but it's still kinda disturbing to see that J-Up has a lower fielding percentage than we've got from our third-basemen this year.

Our offense was awful. Even after moving Micah Owings to the #8 spot, and dropping Chris Young all the way to #5, the result was still painful: a solitary run, only six hits and two walks, compared to 13 strikeouts. Chris Burke went 3-for-4, which was a very pleasant surprise. Hudson reached safely twice, on a walk and an error. But the rest of the lineup? Yuck,. Slots #5-9 - Young, Owings, Upton, Snyder and Romero - combined to go 0-for-15 with one walk and seven K's. That makes the K:BB ratio for the team over the past five games 43:10; we're not just failing, we are failing very badly.

It's now nineteen games in a row the Diamondbacks have gone without getting more than ten hits. This breaks the franchise record of seventeen, set May 30-June 18 last season. The comforting thing is, that team eventually came out of the slump, which was if anything, worse than the present one. We hit about the same (.215 then vs. .213 now), but last year, got only 39 walks in those seventeen games. The two free passes today give us 72 in nineteen, so we are getting on base at a better clip. The same 2007 team also had three other lengthy streaks with ten hits or less, which lasted sixteen, twelve and ten games. Of course, over those 55 games of offensive indifference, last year's model still went 24-31. We're now 6-13 in this current abyss of apathetic at-bats.

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Master of his domain: Orlando Hudson, +10.5%
God-emperor of suck: Micah Owings, -32.5%

soco, unnamedDBacksfan, DbacksSkins, kishi, dahlian, hotclaws, 4 Corners Fan, TwinnerA, luckycc, Zephon, Azreous, dstorm, Muu, friendly (and sympathetic) visiting fan BrewerLover, Wimb, IndyDBack and srdmad were present, though the optimism which was present early on, soon evaporated in favor of petunia-like indifference, i.e. "Oh, no - not again." At least...well, I've changed our slogan in favor of something more appropriate for the past month.

Tomorrow is an off-day. Insert obvious comment there, about it being impossible to tell the difference as far as our offense goes. We'll regroup, and see what Pittburgh brings, although the hoped-for 5-5 record on this trip is looking about as likely as the 4-2 record at home was...

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: 25-15. Pace: 101-61. Change on last season: +4

The good news is, yes, The Sets now has wi-fi. The bad news is, my PC never went past "Acquiring network address", so full connectivity proved elusive this evening. Still, I was able to watch some of the game, albeit on a TV with a dodgy cable connection. This was a different one from last week's frozen mosaic device: this one was old-school lines and static. Still, he are are my notes, pretty much written as the game unfolded. I arrived just in time to see Eric Byrnes' first at-bat of the evening, which can only be described as possessing all the hideous fascination of a car-accident. Even when he was 3-0 ahead, you knew it was going to end in another Flying Nun, and after swinging at ball four, that's exactly what happened as he struck out swinging. There were some poignant and painfully appropriate signs in the crowd: the one that sticks in my mind said "Eric: don't hit it here. Just hit it."

De La Rosa had a very nice curveball; makes you wonder if he'll eventually be another one of those pitchers we look back on and regret trading away [a.k.a. the Brad Penny Hall of Fame]. Turns out he passed through our organization not once, but twice: we signed him back in March 1998, then sold him to Monterrey in 2000, before his brief transit as part of both the Schilling and Sexson trades. He struck out Owings and Young with it in the third, despite the sign in the crowd saying "Our lineup has nine hitters. Does yours?" - the more cynical among you are probably muttering that this is being somewhat kind to certain members of said lineup. Interesting to see Snyder trying to drop down a bunt with Reynolds on first. Not many times you'll see the #8 hitter in an NL lineup doing that, with the pitcher on deck. Just another way that the presence of Pwnings changes the dynamics of the game.

Owings was pitching with admirable efficiency - well, from what I can tell anyway. The entire top of the fourth, bar the final fly-ball, happened in the time it took me to write the above paragraph [my laptop is out of sight of the television, so I keep having to scurry across the bar, watch some baseball, and then run back to our table.] We finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth; a Drew double, an infield single by Hudson, and a Jackson single, spectacularly misplayed into a double by Hawpe, which brought the first run home. The Rockies walked Upton to get to Byrnes, who promptly obliged by grounding into a double-play, albeit one that did score another run. He was just trying SO hard, it was...sad and painful and about a dozen other emotions, all in one. The volume was down on the TV - how was the crowd reaction?

Perhaps the biggest hit was Orlando Hudson's two-RBI knock in the bottom of the fifth, that doubled our lead and made the score 4-0. We had men on second and third with one outs, but Drew struck out and it looked as if De La Rosa was going to escape the inning unscathed. However, O-Dawg muscled a bloop into the outfield, and both base-runners advanced. A walk to Jackson ended the Colorado starter's evening with two outs in the fourth, but another free pass, to Upton, meant that Byrnes came up with the bases-loaded again. One headfirst slide later, the inning was over - ironically, just in time for the start of the comedy show, which basically suspended my ability to pay much attention to the game, except sneaking surreptitious glances out of the corner of my eye.

What I did see, in a squinty way, was Colorado gradually pulling closer after Owings left. In contrast to yesterday, while much the same bullpen was in operation, they didn't exactly look lights out - tonight, it was seven hits and three runs in three innings. Each of Qualls, Slaten and Peña were tagged for a run by the Rockies, which meant Lyon was faced with a one-run lead in the ninth. If one pitch can be said to have decided the outcome, it was a 3-1 pitch to Matt Holliday that he thought was ball four: the home-plate umpire disagreed and Holliday grounded out. That proved crucial as Lyon subsequently allowed a pair of two-out singles that put the tying run at third-base. However, he then got Hawpe to pop out to Reynolds, for his fifteenth straight shutout inning, eleventh save and Arizona's 25th victory.

Excellent outing by Owings, who gave us six scoreless innings, on five hits and two walks, with five K's. He got into and out of trouble in the first, loading the bases with one out, but got a crucial strikeout of Atkins and escaped without damage. The Rockies didn't get another runner past second base until the last batter Owings faced, to end the sixth inning. However, Owings did go ohfer, dropping his average down to "only" .370 - he might have been robbed by a call at first, however. Arizona was actually outhit quite significantly by the Rockies, 12-7, but they left the bases littered with wasted opportunities, stranding a dozen men. Drew and Hudson had two hits, the latter also surviving a nasty moment when he stumbled coming out of the batter's box, which led to the grounds crew drying up the area around home-plate.

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Master of his domain: Micah Owings, +31.5%
Honorary mention: Orlando Hudson, +16.0%
God-emperor of suck: Eric Byrnes, -8.8%

Solid turnout in the Gameday Thread - we might even have needed an overflow thread, if I'd been able to get connected. However, thanks to those who did not experience technical difficulties; soco, mrssoco, DbacksSkins, Wimb, unnamedDBacksfan, 4 Corners Fan, kishi (happy birthday!), foulpole, snakecharmer, hotclaws, TwinnerA, isoldout, dstorm, frienetic, dahlian, UptonMVP, batster, srdmad, seton hall snake pit, Zephon and singaporedbacksfan. With tomorrow night's marquee pitching match-up, however, I will be clearing the decks and should be in full effect.

Finally, here's one of those player comparison things:
Left-fielder A: .214/.275/.357     
Left-fielder B: .276/.343/.429
I think we all know who Player A is, so let's move on, shall we? Player B, however, might surprise you: Luis Gonzalez, in a less-than-full time role for the surprising (and NL East leading) Florida Marlins. Over on Major-League Jerk, Hef speculates on how Gonzo's career might have played out, had he decided to stay here. It's an interesting domino-esque effect, had Gonzo stayed as the fourth outfielder in 2006, backing up Quentin, Young and Byrnes. Who can say?