Record: 43-44. Pace; 80-82. Change on last season: -4

That was not the Diamondbacks I wanted to see. Once again, "momentum" proves to be nothing but a mirage loved by certain TV commentators, as there was absolutely no carry-forward out of Thursday's sterling resurrection from the dead against Milwaukee. Far from extending our hitting streak, Baek no-hit Arizona through the first five innings, and ended up pitching six shutout frames - just the latest in a long line of mediocre hurlers who have been made to look very, very good by the Diamondbacks.

There isn't much I can say, particularly about the first five innings, where we managed exactly one base-runner [an Orlando Hudson walk]. Though Dan Haren did a sterling job of keeping us in this one, matching Baek by posting zeroes - albeit not no-hit ones - on the board alongside the Padres' line. He had seven strikeouts through five, with the only runner to reach scoring position being Baek, who hammered his first-ever major-league hit by doubling to the wall. I'm not sure who was most surprised by this, but Haren calmly retired the next two hitters to end the threat.

The sixth ended both Haren's shutout and Baek's no hitter. A lead-off single was followed by another, but a poor throw from Upton allowed the latter to advance into scoring position. As a result, the ground-out that followed was no longer a double-play, and the runner reached third, to score on a sacrifice fly. Arizona tried to comeback in the bottom half; Drew doubled into the left-center gap, to break the no-no. Hudson then singled to left, and Drew was waved home, only to be beaten by the throw. I have to say, it was basically a perfect throw, and we had a beautiful view from our seats, as it curved towards home-plate. I think that was the point when I knew it wasn't going to be our night.

We did get a run back in the seventh, when a Texas Leaguer from Tracy exquisitely trisected three converging Padres, to bring Hudson home from third, and put Chad into scoring position. However, Mark Reynolds popped out to first, and angrily smashed his bat down, obviously and understandably frustrated. Pinch-runner Emilio Bonifacio stole third [that was the first we'd heard at the park of any roster moves], but Chris struck out looking, one of eleven K's for the Diamondbacks on the night, compared to only one walk.

Just when we thought we were clawing our way back, a horrendously-botched piece of defense gifted the Padres a run. With a man on first, Slaten got Gonzalez to ground the ball to Jackson, who stepped on the bag, then threw wide of second - in his defense, he had to move off first to try and get a clear throwing-lane, otherwise, he'd have hit the runner. The runner then headed for third, and would have been out by a mile...had Doug Slaten been doing his job and covering the bag. He wasn't, and so instead of bases empty, two out, there was a man on third and one out.

Who do we not want to see coming in from the bullpen in this situation? Chad Qualls. Who comes in from the bullpen? Chad Qualls. Discount what I said above: that was when I knew all hope was lost. And, oh, look: he served up a single on the very first pitch, allowing another inherited runner to score, and improving opponents' BA against him, with RISP, to a monstrous .353. How many times does Bob Melvin have to make the same mistake before he learns? I think we need to attach a car-battery to his genitals, and if we ever see Chad Qualls warming up in a close game, or worse yet, come in with runners in scoring position, it's 12 Volts Time.

Ojeda singled with one out in the eighth - he's really about the only player off the bench that I have been pleased to see enter a game all season for the Diamondbacks. His OPS+ of 112 trails only Conor Jackson on the entire roster: why he isn't batting lead-off on a more regular basis than once a week, beats me. However, Drew and Upton both struck out behind him, and that was it for Arizona, as we went down meekly in the ninth. The deficit at that point was four runs, as Rosales showed no inclination to repeat his performance from Thursday, walking the first two batters he faced, who both came around to score.

Probably the best thing about the entire night was the fireworks, and they were almost taken away from us, as the result of high winds. Fortunately, they avoided a riot by letting them go ahead, even if they were delayed to let part of the capacity crowd from the outfield bleachers onto the edges of the park so they could see the show. Musically, it was a mix of the good [Stars and Stripes Forever], the bad [John Mellencamp's R.O.C.K in the U.S.A] and the ugly [Proud to be an American, my most hated 'patriotic' song, by quite some margin], but you really can't go wrong blowing things up to the 1812 Overture, can you?

Game Notes

• We didn't get a T-shirt either, and we arrived about half an hour before first pitch. I think they'd just run out at that point.
• Brought our own food, knowing the lines for concessions would be monstrous. Bizarrely, our cheese was the victim of special scrutiny by the security guard, apparently convinced it was some kind of plastique.
• The game was announced as a full house, but regardless of the number, there were definitely not 49,110 people in attendance. The row in front of ours was half-empty, though admittedly that was an exception. But you could see empty seats scattered throughout the ballpark.
• I fear this may seem churlish, but did there have to be so much mention of the military? I was kinda under the impression Independence Day was for celebrating all the good things about the nation, not just the armed forces. You wouldn't know it from last night though, which felt a lot more Memorial Day or Veteran's Day.
• That said: when they announced a soldier would throw out the first pitch...and this man with no legs and in combat fatigues, rolls towards the mound in a wheelchair... I don't think I've participated in a more well-deserved standing ovation.
• Good trivia question, following on from Thursday's comeback. What was the previous biggest ninth-inning revival by Arizona? The answer is three runs, in this game against Montreal in 1999, where we trailed 6-3 going into the ninth, but won 8-6.
• W00t! Free Diamondbacks' dogs! Or, at least, a coupon for one at Circle-K. We were in the "Rooting for Relish" section when it came time for the Hot-Dog Derby, and lo, our sausage pulled it out at the last minute. Er, if you see what I mean.
• Way to go, home team, taking the crowd out of it by feeble efforts at the plate, giving us nothing to cheer about. The loudest they got was trying to get Dan Haren through the last out of the seventh - without, I was pleased to see, prompting from the two-headed Minessa beast.
• No real problems getting out. We'd parked at my job, two blocks east of Chase, and largely sailed down the back streets to the freeway. Local knowledge and a parking permit are very helpful. :-)

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Master of his domain: Dan Haren, +8.8%
God-emperor of suck: Justin Upton, -13.5%
Dishonorable mentions: Reynolds, -11.5%; Young -11.1%; Montero -10.7%

Thanks to those who took time off from their festive fun to post in the thread:  that would be, unnamedDBacksfan, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, soco, emilylovesthedbacks, kishi, 4 Corners Fan, luckycc, nargel, Muu, dbacksfan01, peeklay, garyho, victor frankenstein and TwinnerA. Oh, look; our lead has basically evaporated, as the Dodgers won, we didn't and so now stand a massive one-half game clear at the top of the division, and face Jake Peavy tonight. Enjoy first-place while it lasts, folks - odds are, it's not going to be around for very much longer.

My tolerance of the complacency shown by management - summed up as, "Oh, we'll be alright, this is just a blip" - has now gone. We either start playing better or things will have to change. I'm not quite sure what those things might be. Sending Upton to Triple-A might be a start - look at the Braves, who just sent Francoeur down to the minors, and this is his fourth season in the majors. However, who do we have that we could pull up to replace him? DFA Burke, bring D'Antona up; that might be a start. Restrict Qualls to mop-up work. But, really, the phrase "re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic" comes to mind.

We need something much more, and for managing basically the same team that had an NL-best 90 wins last year, to losing 28 of the last 43... Hey, I didn't see him refusing the Manager of the Year award, so shouldn't be held responsible for the recent failings of the team too? However, I can guarantee you that nothing will happen for at least another two weeks, simply because it's Bob Melvin Bobblehead Night on July 19th, and it would be too troublesome to replace 25,000 heads with Kirk Gibson ones. Based on where we were two weeks ago, we'll be 3.5 behind the Dodgers by that point.

Of course, offense alone does not win you the game. Just ask the Marlins, who last night became the first team to score seventeen times and lose, since the 1979 Cubs went down 22-23 to the Phillies. The Rockies sterling comeback, from 13-4 down in the fourth, was almost as spectacular as ours on Thursday  - the WP for the Rockies at their nadir, of 0.9%, was one-tenth above ours. That game sure helped my fantasy team: between them, Willingham and Atkins, along with Hardy who had another four-hit game for Milwaukee, went 11-for-16 with six runs and seven RBI. After another dismal offensive performance like last night's, I have to take comfort where I can find it.

Finally, please join me in welcoming Zephon to the list of authors, with special responsibility for our minor-league system. He's been covering prospects for a bit, and will shortly be adding a minor-league round-up, so it seemed only fair to give him the ability to post directly, rather than through Fanposts. Which I inevitably promote to the front-page anyway. :-) I appreciate the informative posts, and they always seem to stimulate discussion.

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: 32-26. Pace: 89-73. Change on last season: -2

Ooh, look at the Diamondbacks queuing up for the all-you-can-eat Blame Buffet this evening. There's Mark Reynolds, piling his plate high. Chad Qualls looks particularly hungry too. Doug 'Batting Practice' Slaten is forming an orderly line, right in front of Augie 'Mini EB' Ojeda. I see Chris Snyder, letting Prince Fielder steal in, right before his eyes. And Bob Melvin is coming back for a second helping, while we try to work out the logic behind his baffling managerial choices. Even Doug Davis is nibbling on an appetizer, since Fielder's theft of third-base was likely as much on his head as Snyder's.

Otherwise, though, up until the seventh inning, Davis was pretty much everything you could want, with just one run on five hits and a walk. Sure, the Brewers had runners in scoring position with no outs in the first and second inning, and two outs in the third, but the only damage after six frames was Fielder's manufactured run: single, wild-pitch, steal, sacrifice fly. I was more than a little surprised - and said so at the time - that he was allowed to bat for himself in the sixth, then go back to the mound for the seventh. With a fully-rested bullpen [only two innings over Saturday and Sunday], it seemed to be pushing our luck somewhat, especially as we only had a two-run lead.

And events proved these fears entirely justified. Another infield single [one of five on the night, which seems like an awful lot], Drew's off-line throw pulling Tracy off the bag, and then a walk, marked the end of Doug's night, but was only a warm-up for the atrocity exhibition to come. Chad Qualls came in, and Kendall tried to sacrifice - Qualls, with plenty of time to get the runner, threw wildly and again pulled the fielder covering first away from the base. That meant everyone was safe, with the bases now loaded with Brewers, and still no-one was out. Worse was to follow: Qualls then coaxed a ground-ball to Reynolds, who fired the ball home. Or, more accurately, fired the ball about five yards to Snyder's right, allowing two runs to score and tying the game.

Remarkably, Qualls then managed to escape the second and third, nobody out jam without further damage, on a strikeout, a walk and a double-play - let's just review the Win Probability as the inning unfolded:

Milwaukee Win Probabilty - 22.3%
B Hall Single - 29.3%
J Hardy    Walk - 39.7%
C Qualls relieved D Davis
J Kendall SacBunt+Err - 53.0%
G Kapler FC+Err - 82.3%
R Weeks Strikeout - 73.5%
M Cameron Walk - 73.5%
R Braun    Ground DP - 50.0%

"Ok, we somehow got out with the score still tied. We just need our bullpen to..." Barely had that thought crossed my mind, when Doug Slaten served up a fatty to a fatty, and Prince Fielder promptly crushed the ball to deep center. It may not have landed yet - the results of that pitching change made the NL Manager of the Year look a bit crap, didn't it? In the ninth, some luck finally broke Arizona's way: back-to-back errors by the Brewers allowed Reynolds and Upton to reach. With the tying run on second, we were back in the game; a sacrifice bunt by Snyder [and, for once, this actually increased our Win Probability, albeit by a massive one-half of one percent] brought the tying run to third with one out. Even a sacrifice fly would do.

But there then followed a pair of mystifying decisions by Melvin. Firstly, letting Burke - about the worst hitter on the roster - hit for himself. Somehow he managed to work a walk, loading the bases for a pinch-hitter. Who do you think Melvin sent up? Miguel Montero? Jeff Salazar? Even, perhaps, the injured Conor Jackson, for some Kirk Gibsonesque heroics? No: try Augie Ojeda, a man who has been in the majors since 2000, has amassed eight sacrifice flies in that time and was getting his first at-bat since May 25. Really: much as I love the littlest ballplayer, he's not who I wanted to see at the plate. I have a better chance of driving the ball to the outfield than Ojeda. He immediately fell behind 0-2, just got a piece of a couple of pitches that were miles outside the zone, then popped up weakly on the infield. Drew got screwed by the umpire for strike three, though the way we played over those final innings, we can hardly complain - we don't deserve to win a game for the rest of the season.

The bullpen picked up its tenth loss of the season, against only three wins, wasting another quality start. The Diamondbacks' rotation has now gone 29-16, the most victories in the majors - even including the AL, where starters go deeper and so have more chance of a decision. In comparison, last year, our relievers didn't pick up their tenth defeat for another entire month, until July 4. It's turning into a real Achilles heel for the team: Qualls and Slaten have combined to go 0-7, in just 43.2 innings of work. I know wins and losses are not the most reliable method of judging performance - especially for relievers - but a 3-10 record would seem to provide credible cause for concern.

The offense sputtered, coughed, and fell back into the trough from whence they came, going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. And even that hit resulted in an out: Reynolds singled to the infield, scoring Drew from third - but Chris Young motored around too, trying to score from second and was thrown out at the plate. That run would have been very nice to have later on, shall we say. Reynolds and Snyder has a pair of hits apiece, with Snyder adding his fifth homer of the year. Burke had a hit and two walks, while Drew reached twice, on a hit and a walk - he was caught stealing on a strikeout/thrown-out double play. That's the first time he's been nailed in the majors, after 13 successful attempts.

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Master of his domain: Chris Snyder, +22.5%
Honorary mention: Mark Reynolds, +21.1% No, I'm calling that null and void
God-emperor of suck: oh, where to start? Deep breath...
Augie Ojeda, -22.4%
Stephen Drew, -23.3%
Doug Slaten, -25.5%

Tonight's fangraph looks like the overnight pulse-rate of a man whose bedroom was visited at 4am by Al Qaeda, 5am by Jenna Jameson, and finally, at 6am by the Grim Reaper. Not one for the ages, shall we say. I did still mostly enjoy the Gameday Thread, so thanks to the contributors: DbacksSkins, Azreous, kishi, dahlian, foulpole, mr.tunes [welcome!], hotclaws, soco, luckycc, DiamondbacksWIn, Wimb, RAMJB, LucaMaz3, njjohn, Zephon, 4 Corners Fan, Goose, TwinnerA, unnamedDBacksfan, mrssoco and shoewizard.

No-one seems to know how long Jackson will be out. He took batting practice today and is scheduled to run some agility drills tomorrow, which will hopefully answer some questions there. The MRI he received on Saturday showed a small tear in his quadriceps, and Melvin said yesterday that "We're going to try to shut him down for potentially three or four days and see where we're at. If he's back in the lineup a couple days after that, it's kind of what we're hoping for." Seems like it might be the middle of the Pittsburgh series before we get him back fulltime, at best. The latter story does say Jackson might be available as a pinch-hitter, and Melvin describes him as "usable, but not my first option." Which makes his absence in the ninth today all the more puzzling.

The Dodgers, to no-one's great surprise, closed the gap to 3.5 by beating the Rockies, who dropped their eighth game in a row. If Colorado keep this up, they are going to end up right alongside the 1998 fire-sale Marlins, for the biggest implosions in baseball history: Florida went from 92 wins and World Series champions, to just 54 the next year; the Rockies have now lost 16 of their last 21 games, and are on pace to go from the World Series to a 56-106 season. More importantly, we can't expect them to take the next two games from Los Angeles, and so winning tomorrow and Wednesday become doubly-important. 

Record: 21-9. Pace: 113-49. Change on last season: +5.

The final score makes this one look a lot more convincing than it was. Yes, Webb got his seventh win of the year. Sure, we out hit the Mets 15-6 and had a total of 23 baserunners. But, with three outs to get, this was only a one-run game and it looked like we would be relying on Brandon Lyon for a tense final inning. Then, the Mets' Duaner Sanchez imploded, retiring only one of the six hitters he faced and also uncorking a run-scoring wild pitch. By the time the innings finally ended, with Micah Owings striking out as a pinch-hitter, victory was no longer in any significant doubt, with Win Probability having gone from 86.5% to 99.7%.

All hail Augie Ojeda, replacing the injured Hudson, who joined an elite group: Diamondbacks with 6+ RBI during a game. There are now only ten names on that list - Steve Finley did it twice in 1999 - many not the ones you'd expect. Only two [Finley and Gonzo] appear in the franchise top ten RBI list: present instead are Micah Owings, Orlando Hudson, Damion Easley [starting, by coincidence, for the Mets today], Shea Hillenbrand, Carlos Baerga, Chad Moeller and Erubiel Durazo. Ojeda singled in two runs during the second, doubled down the right-field line to add two more in the fifth, and repeated the medicine as part of the five-run ninth. Given he'd never driven in more than three before - and that all the way back in 2001 - this was truly a day he'll remember.

He's not the only Diamondbacks to have a career game, though the other one has much less of a career - thus far, at least. With three hits and two walks, and at age 20 years and 252 days, Justin Upton became the youngest player to reach base safely five times in a game since Ken Griffey (20 years, 173 days) on May 13th, 1990. The one before that was Alan Tramell (20, 136) on July 7th 1978. Young, Drew, Jackson and Snyder all joined Upton and Ojeda with multiple hits: CY and CoJack also added walks, as we reached double-figures in runs for the first time in exactly two weeks.

This was a major relief since, despite being voted NL Pitcher of the Month for April (well, duh...), Brandon Webb did not have his best stuff, missing his spots and falling behind hitters much more often than he has cruising to a 6-0 record and an ERA below two. That said, he only really made one mistake he couldn't correct: that was a 1-1 pitch to Carlos Delgado with two outs in the sixth, which was promptly dispatched into the right-field corner for a three-run homer. All of a sudden, what had been looking a fairly comfortable 5-1 lead, suddenly became a great deal more nerve-wracking. Webb ended the day after that inning, having allowed four runs on only five hits and two walks.

The A-Bullpen were, however in full effect. Qualls extended his streak of innings without an earned run to 16.2 innings, and is now within sight of the franchise record for a reliever. That stands at 21 innings - from another surprising source, journeyman bullpen arm Willie Banks, over 16 games between June 25 and August 23 1998, after coming over from the Yankees. Tony Peña was perhaps the most impressive of the trio, as he mowed down the heart of the Mets 1-2-3, first taking Church to school [if you see what I mean...], then retiring Wright and Beltran. Lyon allowed a single to Easley, but that was it, and we evened up the series, in advance of what should be a great game tomorrow.

It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops today. Our defense was once agaib flaky, with errors being charged to Drew and Webb - the former letting a ground-ball under his glove, the latter apparently trying to throw a high chopper by Easley, before he'd actually caught it. Byrnes and Reynolds struggled again: before they came to bat in that eighth inning [Eric singled and Mark walked], they were a combined 0-for-8 with nine men left on base. Special K's average is now down to .226, and he was overtaken by both Young [.244] and Snyder [.227] today.

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Master of his domain: Augie Ojeda, +21.1%
Honorary mention: Justin Upton, +14.0%
God-emperor of suck: Mark Reynolds, -10.8%

After last night, it was definitely good to come out on the winning end of this one, and the emphatic margin will hopefully give us some momentum going into tomorrow [I'm not sure if there is such a thing or if it's one of those unproven myths like two-out runs being worse to give up]. I kinda thought we'd have more people in the thread today - for the second consecutive game, we didn't need an overflow thread. Still, thanks to those present: Turambar, Jim McLennan, 4 Corners Fan, foulpole, luckycc, Muu, hotclaws, dahlian, Snakebitten, DiamondbacksWIn, soco, mrssoco, kishi, Azreous, TwinnerA, snakecharmer and njjohn.

The victory was particularly crucial as the Giants and Padres have both won: the Dodgers and Rockies are in another slugfest at Coors [17 runs last night, 15 already this evening and we're only in the sixth], but LA look to have the edge there. And with that, we're thinking about heading off to see Iron Man tonight. We'll let you know if Mark Reynolds has a cameo role... :-)

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.