Record: 60-58. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -7

Brandon Webb did what was expected of him, picking up his seventeenth win of the season, with six innings of one-run ball against a Braves offense who had scored 28 runs in the previous three games. Meanwhile, the offense pounced early, scoring three times during the opening frame, and sending the opposing starter to the showers after scoring six runs in four innings.

Drew and Ojeda singled to get the bottom of the first off to a good start. Though Jackson fouled out, Reynolds drove them both in with a double. He then stole third, and came home on a squibber up the first-base line by Young. However, his strikeout in the fifth was his 146th of the year, passing Troy Glaus's total from 2005 to set a new franchise record - with 44 games still to go. He's currently on pace for 202 K's, which would surpass all previous hitters in the majors - though Ryan Howard is still a couple ahead of him this season. 

Chris Snyder homered to lead off the second inning. That's his tenth homer of the year, and makes him the sixth Arizona player to reach double-figures this season. The others are Reynolds (24), Young (15), Drew (14), Jackson (12) and Upton (11). Two more runs followed in the fourth, from an unlikely source: the Braves walked Burke intentionally to get to Webb - artificially inflating Burke's OBP further - but he smacked one to right-center over the head of the shallow-playing CF, scoring two runs with a double. He now driven in the same number of runs as Burke: with runners in scoring position, Webb is 5-for-20; Burke [who, thanks to hotclaws, will henceforth be referred to as The Chocolate Teapot] is 3-for-31...

That was largely it as far as the offense went, with all the damage being done against Hampton. In four innings from the Braves' relievers, we managed one hit and one walk, while striking out six times. Jamie D'Antona - making his first start ever in the majors - was the only player to reach twice, with a pair of walks. Drew's knock in the first did extend his hitting streak to thirteen games, tying his career high. One more game, and he'll also tie the best one of this season for the Diamondbacks, set between April 4-19, by Eric Byrnes.

Quick shout-out to the bullpen too, who closed out the game with three scoreless innings. Chad Qualls went two frames, allowing a single, and Jon Rauch came in for the ninth and struck out the side. That came after six innings by Webb, who allowed six hits and two walks, with five strikeouts. The only trouble for him was the sixth, where he loaded the bases with no outs: however, he got out of the jam with just one run scoring on a sacrifice fly, thanks to a nice 1-2-3 double-play off the bat of Francoeur, right back to Webb. His ERA is now down to 2.88, and he's 5-0 in his last seven outings and 51 innings, with seven quality starts and an ERA of 1.59.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +18.3%
Honorable mention: Mark Reynolds, +15.9%
God-emperor of suck: Conor Jackson, -4.4%

A relatively small, but still very entertaining Gameday Thread, as we got a very much-needed win, to avoid the sweep by Atlanta, ending our four-game losing streak. Present alongside me were: unnamedDBacksfan, soco, kishi, emilylovesthedbacks, njjohn, snakecharmer, TwinnerA, dbacksbj, hotclaws, AZWILDCATS, Scrbl and Wimb. Almost as entertaining was the fact that the Los Angeles Chokers did it again: they came into the ninth inning with a lead against the Giants, but for the second straight game, couldn't get the final three outs to close it out. San Francisco scored twice, and boom, Los Angeles lose. That drops them 1.5 games back behind Arizona.

That's a huge boost, on the day we got news that Orlando Hudson will miss the rest of the season: he had surgery late Saturday night to repair a dislocated bone in his left wrist. The team called up Jeff Salazar to replace him, which seems like an odd move - replacing an infielder with an outfielder? No game for Arizona tomorrow, so a random off-day thread will be posted for your general amusement. Thinking of going to see Iron Man tonight, as we've got to head down to Chandler and hang posters at the cinema for the Phoenix Fear Film Festival.

We reconvene for baseball purposes on Tuesday in Colorado. Two wins in the series would be fine, and would also seal and deliver victory in our season's bet with Purple Row, so we could look forward to SnakePit Day over there again during the off-season. Though they get to dodge Webb and Haren - and we, unfortunately, won't get to face Livan Hernandez, who gave up seven earned runs in 2.2 innings, during his debut for the Rockies, as they got hammered, 16-7, by San Diego. Here's to more of that from them in the next few days.

Record: 59-54. Pace: 85-77. Change on last season: -4

It's nice to find myself writing a recap for a game at Chase before 9pm. For Brandon Webb - not for the first time this year - apparently had an appointment elsewhere, buzz-sawing his way through opposing hitters with alacrity. As well as a sinker. Had he not run into a spot of bother in the ninth, this would likely have surpassed his earlier shutout in Phoenix, when he took 1:52 to defeat the Nationals. Tonight, he took three minutes longer, and the shutout was gone during that nervous ninth, where Pittsburgh got hits from their first three batters, and had the tying run in scoring position with one out. However, Webb reached deep, and struck out the next two with beautiful change-ups, to give us victory.

That was the first time the Pirates had got anyone past first base all night. Webb scattered a total of nine hits, but only one - Sanchez's double, leading off the ninth - was for extra bases, and he benefited from three twin killings, which helped keep his pitch-count down. He relied almost exclusively on his sinker, with very few curves and, until he needed it for those last two batters, rarely even the change-up. The result was no fewer than 21 groundball outs for Webb, with only two in the air, and four strikeouts - for the second night in a row, our starter didn't issue any walks. Of his 103 pitches, 67 were for strikes, as he picked up another win, running his record to 16-4 and taking is ERA down to 2.93.

The past couple of games have been fortuitous, in terms of our offense and pitching syncing with each other. Yesterday, when our performances on the mound left a bit to be desired, the batters stepped it up and pulled out the win. Tonight, when our hitters found Zach Duke almost as baffling as the Pirates found Webb, the tables were turned and they found themselves bailed out by stellar pitching. We were outhit 9-6 by Pittsburgh, but made the most of our chances: four of those hits were for extra bases, each came with two outs in the inning, and they combined to produce all three of our runs.

In the bottom of the third, Duke started through the order for a second time - first time through, we'd gone 1-for-9 against him, with the sole hit a Hudson single. However, we immediately had better success, with Drew doubling to deep right with two outs. Young then came up and golfed a pitch from down around his ankles, into the left-field bullpen, to break the scoreless tie and give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. That was Young's fifteenth homer of the year, and the good news is, that means he has already matched his total for each of June and July in August. The bad news is, that would be "one."

We only got two more runners into scoring position - and one of those came on a balk - over the next five innings, nor were we able to progress either past second. The final tally came with two outs in the eighth, with Hudson doubling to deep left, his second hit of the evening, and then Jackson bouncing one over the wall for a ground-rule double. That run extended the lead to 3-0, and certainly provided us with some comfort during the next half-inning, which proved more nerve wracking than most of us would have liked, even though our Win Probability never dropped lower than 72.4%.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +53.1%
Honorable mention: Chris Young, +16.1%
God-emperor of suck: Tony Clark, -4.5%

Thanks to everyone in the Gameday Thread, which pottered on after our own contest was over, as we waited for the Cardinals to beat the Dodgers. That took a little longer than expected, thanks to Los Angeles scoring four times in the ninth, but the end result was still what we wanted, albeit slightly later! Good job too, or I'd have had to start an overflow thread... Present there were: kishi, unnamedDBacksfan, utahdbacksfan, Wimb, snakecharmer, foulpole, hotclaws, soco, J Up (welcome!), Shums, Scrbl, TwinnerA, DiamondbacksWIn, Red Reign, luckycc, singaporedbacksfan, Snakebitten, 4 Corners Fan, srdmad, the mystical one, Muu, and SongBird.

The win, combined with that Dodgers loss, extends our lead back to 2.5 games in the division. We win the series, running our unbeaten streak there to five, and have the chance to go for the sweep tomorrow, Randy Johnson seeking to take his sixth victory in a row. It's an afternoon game, please note, with first pitch at 12:40, Arizona time. I look forward to a good turnout from the British contingent for that one!

Record: 48-50. Pace: 79-83. Change on last season: -2

Way to ruin our wedding anniversary, Diamondbacks. I should have realized this was going to go pear-shaped when we got to the cinema and due to an apparent scheduling change, were not able to see Wall-E. We saw Wanted instead which, while more than adequate, is hardly the kind of romantic, snuggly movie you want to go and see on your anniversary. Things were not improved subsequently by a) the tilapia at Outback not being very tasty at all, and b) the manager of The Sets not being present to give Mrs. SnakePit the cash she was due. The highpoint of the day was one of our burlesque dancers [who were rehearsing for their show next weekend] admitting she has had a crush on Mark Grace since eighth-grade. All told, the day pretty much went downhill from there.

At that point, Brandon Webb had just finished off the Dodgers in the seventh, and we had a three-run lead with six outs to get. At that point, our Win Probability was 94%, and it would get as high as 97.2% after Webb got a nice ground-ball double-play to end the eighth inning, with the score still 4-1 to Arizona. Then came Lyon. I had been wondering what would happen if the ninth was a save situation. While he has pitched three days in a row before, it's never been after having thrown forty pitches over the first two appearances, as he did Friday and Saturday. Now, obviously, the main alternative candidate, Tony Peña, was little better off, having thrown 37 pitches in those two games. But it was painfully obvious that Lyon was far from sharp yesterday, when he came within 90 feet of blowing all of a three-run lead. Sending him out again today seemed as suicidal as ordering Angelina Jolie's Wanted character, to get back into the kitchen and cook you dinner.

At the very least, someone else should have been ready to go in case of trouble. Instead, it took Bob Melvin seven batters, five hits, four runs and the lead being turned over to LA, before he decided our closer didn't quite have what it took. In mitigation, Lyon wasn't helped by Stephen Drew's inability to turn a double-play in the middle, instead getting only the force at second. However, it was still our fourteenth defeat when leading after six innings - in contrast, we have only five victories, when trailing at the same point. The bullpen, such a strength last year, is now on the verge of absolute implosion: in eleven innings this series, they allowed ten runs. Seven of those came off our closer, on eight hits over just 2.2 innings. That Valverde trade looks like a frickin' disaster about now, doesn't it? Qualls is unable to pitch, Burke is an offensive black-hole and Gutierrez has a 7.18 ERA with Tucson.

Another great start by Brandon Webb, yet the result was another no-decision - he's had four this season, and only in one of them has he allowed more than two earned runs. He wasn't perhaps at his very sharpest, allowing six hits and three walks, with four strikeouts, but he proved very capable of bearing down when necessary, getting the big double-plays almost on command. "I worked out of some jams, made some pitches when I had to and came out pretty much unscathed," said our ace afterwards. He threw 109 pitches and only three of the 24 outs he recorded came in the air, which is always a sign that his sinker is working at a high level.

Offensively, Stephen Drew was the star for Arizona, getting four hits for the second time in his career. Since June 30th, he is batting .333 (22-for-66) and is even hotter during his current seven-game hitting streak, having gone 15-for-35. His season average is up to .270, and it's good to see - hopefully it can continue to climb, up towards the .280-.290 range, last seen at the end of May. He almost managed to complete an inside-the-park home-run in the fourth, but was thrown out at home - it wasn't even that close a play, and we have to put the blame for that one at the feet of third-base coach, Chip 'The Windmill' Hale.

Mark Reynolds went 2-for-4, while Chris Young reached safely twice, on a hit and a walk. Tony Clark got the start at first-base, which raised some eyebrows, given his poor track record against Lowe (4-for-27 before today), and the great success currently being enjoyed by Chad Tracy: his July line is merely .404/.415/.577. It certainly didn't work too well today, Clark going hitless in four at-bats, striking out twice and also making an error at first. Still, can't put a value on all that veteran presence, eh? Chris Snyder was duly activated before the game, with Hammock going back to Tucson - he walked in his first at-bat, and also drove in our fourth run with a successful squeeze play in the sixth, as well as nailing Nomah when he tried to steal second. Welcome back, Chris.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +33.2%
Honorable mention: Mark Reynolds, +10.4%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Lyon, -78.9%

I think the above graph is pretty self-explanatory. Present in the Gameday Thread were kishi, hotclaws, Jim McLennan, 4 Corners Fan, TwinnerA, DbacksSkins, njjohn, unnamedDBacksfan, srdmad, DiamondbacksWIn, Scrbl, mrssoco, emilylovesthedbacks, soco, seton hall snake pit, Wimb, Silverblood, nargel and new poster "BS,L"yon - welcome to him. srdmad was nominally present, but his only comment was duly hidden under the new profanity policy, so he's excluded from the roll. Ditto visiting troll hollywood55, who has duly been warned. A little spikiness towards silverblood, which may not have been entirely justified, but is certainly understandable. Her visit was certainly unfortunate timing, at the very least.

A very disappointing series: we had chances to win all three games, and certainly should have taken at least a couple of them. Oddly, the one we did is where we scored least runs, and we lost both the contests where we scored five or more - totally the reverse of the standard pattern this season. Regardless, instead of being four up on the Dodgers - or even two ahead - we find ourselves level with them. And now we just have to face the NL Central-leading Cubs, with the back end of our rotation, in Johnson, Owings and Davis. Anyone feel comfortable about taking two out of three there, which now becomes almost a necessity? No, me neither. About the only plus is the Dodgers have to go to Colorado, where the Rockies have suddenly re-discovered how to win, albeit only by sweeping Pittsburgh.

I think I am gradually coming to terms with the fact that this team is not actually very good. Oh, there are some components of it which can shine on any given day, but the odds appear to be in favor of another component countering this competence by sucking so badly, that we still manage to lose. When we hit [Friday], our starter blows chunks; when our starter is great [Saturday], we get no offense; when our starter is great and we get some offense [Sunday], our closer decides he will spend the day redefining the term, Gurgling Vortex of Suck (TM), with a career-worst appearance. If all three components ever aligned some day, the defense would, no doubt, step up their efforts in the service of a loss.

Still, what can you do? See you tomorrow for the Cubs game...

Record: 47-48. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -2.

So, there you have it: the Diamondbacks have a losing record over the first-half of the season. It really didn't seem likely when we started off the year winning twenty of our first twenty-eight games: at that point, it looked like we were going to run away with the division and clinch a playoff spot by the middle of August. Not quite the case, shall we say. The question of what the hell happened is something that we'll be discussing during the All-Star break. Tomorrow should see my mid-season report on the team, looking at what went well, what didn't, and who should be held accountable. For the moment, however, let's just concentrate on this single loss.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Another quality start from our pitchers goes unrewarded. Arizona wastes its offensive opportunities, not helped by a fundamental lack of basic skills on the base-paths. And the bullpen fails to keep the team in the game, Chad Qualls getting tagged with the loss. Does any of this sound about as familiar and welcome as a re-occurring nightmare? Indeed, except for a pleasing amount of offense - fourteen hits for the Diamondbacks - this was, to a large extent, the 2008 first-half in miniature.

The lack of runs is what killed us once again. It's only the second time in franchise history we have had so many hits, and come away with so little to show for it. Back on August 1st, 2003, we had fifteen hits in Wrigley Field, and like today, only managed to plate a runner three times. Cole Hamels gave up a career-high eleven hits; we should have buried the Phillies as a result. The seventh inning was particularly painful, as a combination of poor management and bad execution snuffed out a rally, following hits by Webb and Drew to put two men on, with nobody out. The score was 2-1 to Arizona at this point, so here was a real chance to add on to that lead, and go on from there, perhaps to take the game and the series.

However, Bob Melvin's love for the bunt cost us the first out, as our best hitter, Conor Jackson, wasn't allowed to hit: his sacrifice failed to advance the runners, so we still had first and second, now with one out. Hudson then sent the ball to the outfield, where Jenkins couldn't quite corral it. Unsure whether it would be caught, Drew was held at third by Chip Hale - a questionable decision in itself. A thousand times worse, though, was Orlando Hudson steaming around first, not noticing the log-jam on the bases ahead of him, where Jackson had been forced to stop at second, since Drew was holding at third. O-Dawg was caught in a rundown, and another out was gifted to the Phillies. This is at least the third time I can recall this season, where Hudson has shown a running game which would be an embarrassment at the Little League level. At what point is someone going to deal with this?

Overall, frustrating though it was, we can't really blame the offense here. Not when Chris Burke has three hits. Yeah, that matched Burke's total from his previous eighteen games combined. You will understand why that was more of a surprising bonus than anything else. Drew, Hudson and Tracy all had two-hit days as well, with Tracy smashing a home-run off a left-hander. That was his first off a southpaw in more than two years [the last being a grand-slam against Brian Fuentes in Colorado, on July 8th, 2006]. The only factor I can really criticize is one walk for the entire team, against eleven strikeouts, and this would be why it took Hamels less than a hundred pitches to get through his seven innings of work.

Brandon Webb had a solid outing, allowing seven hits and no walks over seven frames, striking out six Phillies hitters. He kept Arizona in the game, and deserved a better fate than a no-decision. Chad Qualls came in for the eighth, and has absolutely nobody to blame for the loss but himself. There were no inherited runners, and he still contrived to allow four runs while retiring one batter - he served up a three-run homer to Burrell and a solo one to Feliz. It's interesting to note that, in a tied game, with the go-ahead run at second and no outs, Burrell was allowed to actively hit. I suspect that, had we been in that situation, Bob Melvin would have activated the flashing neon, "BUNT!" sign, regardless of who was at the plate. This may or may not be connected to the Phillies having a 52-44 record at the break, while we languish below .500.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +13.7%
God-emperor of suck: Chad Qualls, -37.6%
Dishonorable mention: Conor Jackson, -11.8%

4 Corners Fan, Zephon, srdmad, njjohn, hotclaws, soco, mrssoco, snakecharmer, DiamondbacksWIn, Scrbl, TwinnerA, kishi, Mr. Philosophical, seton hall snake pit, MamaLing, garyho, unnamedDBacksfan, emilylovesthedbacks, mikeb, Stile4aly, NewJackCity and Azreous were all to be found in the Gameday Thread this afternoon, so thanks to them for their contribution. With the Dodgers looking all but certain to polish off the Marlins [9-1 up in the eighth], it seems that our lead will be one game going into the All-Star break.

It is still a lead. Though it does make the first series back after the break, where we face the Dodgers, one of enormous importance. We have set up our rotation so that we will be sending Davis, Haren and Webb to the mound - I can only imagine that the Dodgers will be doing the same, so that looks like it will be three impressive pitching match-ups. That said, and even if the resulting runs were not as plentiful as we'd hope, I was impressed how we took it to Hamels - the only starter save Haren, with a WHIP below one coming in - and we will need to hit well in the second-half if we are going to stop this slump.

Things should still be pretty active round here though. I will be posting the mid-term report tomorrow morning [I need to wait for some stats to be updated before I can complete it], and I have a few other topics we can throw into the mix for discussion. Tuesday will have the All-Star Game and Random Thread, and I believe Zephon has been working on a minor-league mid-term, which he'll be posting at some point in the next few days as well. So, stay tuned...

Record: 33-28. Pace 88-64. Change on last season: -3

Not perhaps the most convincing of victories. But at this point, I feel like a sailor who has just completed a single-handed circumnavigation of the world, i.e. "I don't care how ugly it is, it'll do for now". While we may only have gone 6-for-33 at the plate, we broke the three-game losing sequence, and are now moving in the right direction - at least for the moment.

This one, of course, comes to the Diamondbacks courtesy of their ace, Brandon Webb - and I'm losing count of how many times we've said that this season. He picked up his eleventh win of the season on a sticky Pittsburgh night, that likely made his actual pitch-count of 95 seems a good deal more. That got him through seven innings, in which Webb allowed only three hits and no walks. Webb also chipped in by driving in a run, coming back from 0-2 to rifle a full-count pitch back up the middle - he said,  "I knew he didn't want to walk the pitcher. I was swinging no matter what." That was his fifth RBI - two more than Miguel Montero, and only one less than Chris Burke.

It was certainly among his most welcome win if it wasn't perhaps his most dominating outing of the year - he fell behind more often than usual, struck out only three Pittsburgh batters and had just four swinging strikes all night. He commented, "The arm felt fine and the legs had kind of a dead feeling and the ball just wasn't coming out of my hand real good, and I was flipping curveballs that didn't have too much bite and changeups kind of the same way."When you get out there in the first, usually the adrenalin kicks in and takes over, but the first inning I still had the same kind of stuff. It just wasn't jumping out of my hand and it didn't have a whole lot of movement." On that basis, it says a lot that his stuff still proved good enough to have a no-hitter up until two outs in the fifth inning.

It's also the fifth time this year he has won after a loss in our previous games: "I look to do that. I had to do it a couple of times this year. I've been fortunate enough to be that guy. I enjoy doing that. You don't want to be in those kind of situations, but it does happen." We are phenomenally lucky to have Webb, and I dread to think what we'd be right now without him. Oh, hang on: we'd be the Arizona Padres. It's only our second win of the season scoring three runs or less - the first being Webb's 2-1 victory over Peavy on April 27 - so improves our record to 2-18. That's actually a bit worse than the overall percentage in the National League with three or less, which is .196 [82-336], so we'd expect to have taken a couple more. Remarkably, the Giants have already ten such games in their W column: between April 23-May 3, they won six times, and scored a total of only seventeen runs in those victories.

Peña and Lyon polished off the win with a pair of shutout innings. You can probably forgive the latter for looking a little confused before the ninth - he probably had to look up "save opportunity" in the dictionary, since it has been so long since his last one, more than three weeks. This one was a bit of a struggle, with the tying run ending up on base, and it would likely have been worse yet, except for a line-drive which LaRoche smashed right at Hudson. Still, it's both 21 straight games and innings without a run allowed, the best streaks in the majors by a reliever this season. The games is a new franchise record, and the innings ties Willie Banks' bullpen mark from back in 1998. Perhaps more impressively, Lyon hasn't allowed an extra-base hit, and only two walks, in that time.

It was, however, also our twentieth consecutive game with ten or less hits. That's now the longest in the majors this year, passing Florida's nineteen between May 9-30. Indeed, this hasn't been surpassed since the Expos did it for 30 straight, from September 13, 2003 through April 22 the following season. [It seemed curiously fashionable at the time - for a week in September, as well as the Expos starting off a run, the Mets and Detroit were coming to the end of their own 25- and 21-game streaks respectively]. Simply by random chance, I feel it can't continue for much longer. However, I am far from happy to be relying on 'luck' for such things.

No-one had more than a single hit yesterday: Hudson and Tracy had a walk and a hit, while Salazar added two walks. That dropped our batting average on this trip down to .202, but is basically continuing a theme of the past three weeks. Since the Tigers arrived in town on May 16, the team is hitting a collecting .212. Justin Upton is the poster-boy for the slump, having gone 7-for-59 [.119] with 29 strikeouts over that time. That's almost down to Eric Byrnes' [6-for-62, April 27-May 14] level - at this rate, we'll probably end up trading Upton away to someone in the AL Central, for a nameless A-ball player. :-(

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb: +36.2%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Snyder, -9.0%

Thanks to those who were in the Gameday Thread, which largely wasn't me, due to an unexpected power outage. Those less electrically challenged were: Azreous, hotclaws, Stile4aly, DbacksSkins, dahlian, unnamedDBacksfan, Wimb, foulpole, kishi, TwinnerA, peeklay, emilylovesthedbacks, soco, mrssoco, luckycc and srdmad. Let's focus on the positive, as Webb notches his eleventh win - nobody else in the league has more than eight, and he also leads the league in WHIP [Dan Haren, incidentally, is tied with Ben Sheets for second]. Barring a sudden collapse over the remaining month, we are looking at the National League starter in the All-Star game.

It doesn't seem like he'll have much company from Arizona: in the most recent figures from voting, we have a number of players in the top five, but no-one is even close to being elected. Upton leads our vote-getters with 329,467 - I'm assume few of those were cast in the last three weeks - but even he is languishing in eighth, more than 160K out of an automatic spot. We're getting decent showings from Hudson (5th, but barely a quarter of the votes for leader Chase Utley), Reynolds (4th, more than half a million behind Chipper Jones), Snyder (5th, trailing Soto by about 400K) and Young (14th, with 240K votes). Says something about the rest of the NL West, that the only other players from it among the 40 listed are Russell Martin and Matt Holliday.

There is other good news, in that Conor Jackson looks ready to return to the starting lineup after his quadriceps-enforced layoff. Melvin said our first-baseman was available to pinch-hit yesterday, and will be good to go today. "We ran him pretty good out here on the field today and tested him at about as high a level as you could test him other than playing in game conditions." Byrnes is also making progress: He did some agility drills today," Melvin said. "It was the first day for that. We'll progressively lead into the running part, which he is champing at the bit to do, but it was the first day that he did agilities out on the field." The way our offense has been hitting, we need all the able-bodies we can get.

Record: 31-25. Pace: 90-72. Change on last season: -2

One hour, fifty-two minutes. That was the first sub-two hour game in over a year [April 22, 2007, a 2-1 loss against the Giants, took 1:56], the shortest Diamondbacks contest since August 25, 2004, when Josh Fogg beat Randy Johnson 2-1 in Pittsburgh, in a game which took a phenomenally crisp 1:47, and was also the shortest ever in Chase Field history. It kinda renders the early, 5:10 pm start somewhat redundant, when the game itself is over in less time than the average Michael Bay movie.

But, what it lacked in duration, it more than made up for in a great pitching performance by Brandon Webb, who threw his second complete game of the year and his first shutout since the 42-game inning streak last season. 113 pitches; six hits, all singles; no walks; eight strikeouts - only three Nationals got past first base, and two of those had to steal second to get there. After a very wobbly outing last time out, this was the Brandon Webb we wanted...no, make that needed to see, and he became the first major-league pitcher to hit double-figures in wins. The five-game losing streak was ended, and if May will remain eminently forgettable, at least we ended it on a high note, bringing our lead over the Dodgers back to 3.5 games.

The offense was...well, I guess you can't complain about hitting four homers in a game, but they were all solo shots, and from what I see, we didn't get anyone past first-base either. Can't be many times that a team scores four runs, and doesn't get a single at-bat with runners in scoring position! Instead, we relied on the long-ball: Mark Reynolds had two of those solo homers, both monsters in one dimension or another. The first, which broke a scoreless tie in the second, was over by the Fatburger sign in deep left, and estimated at 450 feet. We'll wait for the more accurate assessment out of HitTracker.com, but it didn't feel very much shorter than his April 7th blast to the same area, which was measured at 463 feet. His second only reached the front row of the bleachers in left, but felt like it went 450 feet straight up. They both counted exactly the same though.

That one was immediately preceded by Justin Upton launching his eighth of the year, and Chris Young, not be outdone, re-took the team lead in homers [Reynolds had matched him on eleven] during the eighth, homering onto the porch in left-center for his twelfth of the season. Outside of the long-ball, there wasn't much to offer: singles from Drew, Hudson and Webb, and no walks, though as we only had 30 plate-appearances, chances were somewhat limited. Bergmann posed questions which proved tricky to handle for most of our line-up, outside of those homers. Helped by the pitcher-friendly Angel Hernandez behind the plate ["If it didn't bounce on its way here, it's a strike"], the two hurlers combined for 16 K's and no walks, which also contributed to the swift page.

Couple of other points to note. Bob Melvin called a closed-door clubhouse meeting before the game. Hard to say if it had much effect, as we scored four or less for the seventh game in a row. [Still well short of the franchise record of 15, which we did most recently last May] Stephen Drew batted leadoff, for the first time this season - I'd kinda forgotten, but he was actually our regular in that spot at the start of last season. Jackson And, I have to say, Mark Reynolds' diving sprawl to take a bloop hit away from Dmitri 'The Meathook' Young, leading off the ninth, was an almost certain nominee for play of the year. Of course, the infield needed to be on their feet the entire game: only three outs were recorded by Webb on fly-balls, with sixteen groundballs and the eight K's, No problems on that front today, I'm pleased to report.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +53.3%
Honorary mention: Mark Reynolds, +15.5%
God-emperor of suck: Chris Young, -9.4%

A thoroughly-enjoyable Gameday Thread, helped both by Webb's great performance, and this month's selection from the Beers of the Month Club, a birthday present for which I have to thank Mrs. SnakePit. [She was out this afternoon, because her mother demanded a picture of St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes, so she could sent it to the Globe, because they ran a cover story about Patrick Swayze being on his death-bed. These things are not apparently easy to find.] A fairly light turnout, but I had a lot of fun, so thanks to those who turned out: soco, Muu, unnamedDBacksfan, DbacksSkins, UofAZGrad, TwinnerA, hotclaws, luckycc, Wimb, Ridster09, RAMJB, UptonMVP and Zephon.

Looks like we will be without Conor Jackson for a couple of days. He strained his quadriceps trying to avoid a pitch during Friday's game; it's apparently something he has had problems with earlier in the season, and was aggravated as a result of this game. He had an MRI, but hopefully, it won't be enough to take him out for long: According to Melvin, "He's been playing with it, but it was hurting him significantly enough where he needed to come out. We were thinking last night and earlier today that maybe [he'll be out] a couple days, but we'll see what the MRI has to say. Our feeling still is that this will just be something that will keep him out for a couple of days." At least with Tracy, we have coverage there, and Chad made a couple of very nice plays at first today.

Not much more to add, for the moment. I have to do a review of the month, but I don't know if that will be tonight (unlikely), tomorrow morning (marginal), or tomorrow evening (probably most likely). In the meantime, here's the poll for Diamondbacks' Player of the Month for May.

Record: 30-21. Pace: 95-67. Change on last season: +2

I think, coming into this series against one of the hottest teams in baseball, with close to the best record at home, we'd have been happy to settle for a split of the four games. However, I can't help feeling disappointed: having taken two of the first three, and with our ace Brandon Webb on the mound, we seemed to have a chance at three of four. Instead, Webb - with a little help from the defense - takes his second consecutive loss, and we complete the road-trip going a pretty-wobbly 2-5.

As big a part as Mark Reynolds' error, and the three unearned runs which it spawned, played in today's defeat, I think Brandon Webb would be more than willing to admit that he did not have his best stuff today, on a number of levels. He allowed ten hits in only 4.1 innings of work; that's only the second time in 114 appearances since September 2004, where Webb has failed to get through at least 5 innings. Reaching double-digits in hits is also a rarity: that happened just once all of last season and only nine times in Webb's entire career [today was his 174th start].

He seemed to have problems with his location; particularly early on, his sinker, while sinking, was starting off too high, and so descended nicely into the middle of the plate. The net result was five hits and two walks for the Braves in the first two innings. The hot and humid conditions [around 80 degrees with 50% humidity] also sapped Webb's stamina, and he four of the five hitters he faced in the fifth to reach safely, before being pulled by Melvin, having thrown exactly one hundred pitches. In an interesting twist, Max Scherzer came in for long relief, going 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk, while striking out four. Edgar Gonzalez pitched a scoreless ninth.

Mention has to be made of Mark Reynolds error in the second, which help take a one-run game and blow it open for the Braves. With two on and no out, the pitcher laid down a bunt, upon which Reynolds and Webb convened. Rather than going for the sure out at first, Special K tried to get the lead man at third, but threw the ball away. Everyone was not only safe, but they got to advance an extra 90 feet. Webb responded by striking out the next two hitters, but Teixeira delivered his second two-run hit of the day to give the Braves a 5-1 lead, all three runs being unearned. [I did enjoy Mark Grace's commentary on the inning, as he explained Webb's pitch selection - more often than not, getting it spot-on].

Truth be told though, this was a game where the offense didn't do much to help out cause either. We had runners in scoring position every inning from the second through the fifth, and although Hudson had his fourth homer of the year, otherwise, there was very little to cheer about. After the fifth, we sent just one batter over the minimum to the plate the rest of the way. Drew, Snyder and Salazar [the last-named starting in right, giving Upton a mental-health day] had two hits apiece, with Salazar adding a walk. Hudson had two RBIs, and reached safely twice, with a walk in addition to the home-run. Sympathetic mention must be made of poor Chris Young who went 0-for-5 with what seemed like an endless procession of balls hit hard, just straight at Braves' fielders.

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Master of his domain: Jeff Salazar, +10.6%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Webb, -44.8%
Dishonorable mention: Chris Young, -10.2%

At least we got an overflow thread, which is the first time we've needed one in quite a while. We ended up with a total of 555 comments: DbacksSkins and soco were responsible for almost half of those, both reaching three figures. Also present were Azreous, seton hall snake pit, mrssoco, TwinnerA, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, Muu, dahlian, acidtongue, Wactivist, srdmad and kishi. And at least the Dodgers lost (to the Cubs), so our division lead remains at 3.5 games. Curious to only have five National League games going on what is generally regarded as a major holiday: well, Mrs. SnakePit and I are certainly not working!

Perhaps the best thing to come out of the game was the return of Chad Tracy, who got to pull on a Diamondbacks jersey for the first time, bar a single plate-appearance, since August last year. Good to have him back. However, was a little surprised to see him replacing Jackson at first: they may simply be easing him back into the swing of things, though dropping Tracy directly into the clean-up spot seems to argue otherwise! At the moment, however, I think it's the opposite corner of the infield where we have more need of his bat - Reynolds today did get a hit, and also avoided striking-out, bringing his projected total for the season down to 194... Tracy got a solid knock on his second time up, rifling a single straight back up the middle. According to Nick Piecoro, but with emphasis added:

Just from listening to Tracy and the tone in his voice, it sounds like his knee isn’t great, isn’t all the way back to pre-injury levels, but is passable. Sounds like he thinks it is good enough -- or at least that he’s trying to tell himself that it’s good enough... Melvin wasn’t specific -- wouldn’t set anything in stone -- about how he’s going to handle the Tracy/Jackson/Mark Reynolds situation, but from reading between the lines it sounded to me like Tracy is going to have a much better chance getting into the lineup at third base than at first. And, well, Reynolds is hitting .225, is 17 for his last 100 (.170) and is known to be a bit streaky. We’ll see how Tracy does at third base, if there’s any limitations with his knee. From what they’re saying, there haven’t been any issues with him defensively.

However, Tracy also says it will be 18 months - the start of the 2009 season before he is entirely recovered. "It gets a little sore after a game, but once I get it going the next day it's OK. It's just something I have to deal with for a while. I still can do what I need to do on the baseball field. I'm just going to play, I'm sure there are going to be obstacles that I'm going to face, but I think I'm ready for it." That necessitated a roster move. At first, it seemed like there was a chance that Robbie "The Invisible Man" Hammock would dodge another bullet, thanks to the groin injury suffered by Augie Ojeda, running out a ground-ball yesterday. However, he's only expected to miss a day or two, so Hammock was optioned off down to Tucson.

Okay, including the Gameday Thread, that's no less than four things I've posted to the site today, so I think i deserve to take the rest of the day off. Back to Phoenix tomorrow, and more divisional foes, in the shape of the Giants. Is this where I mention that the three worst records in the National League are now all in the NL West?

Record: 28-18. Pace: 99-63. Change on last season: +3.

And the winner of this month's Nostradamus Award for prescience goes to UofAZGrad, who led off the Gameday Thread with the following, remarkably astute prediction: "While there is always a chance that Webb will get lit up (happens occasionally to best pitchers), my guess is that Webb’s first loss will result from lack of offense. Hence, my prediction: Webb gets 4 or more tonight then he gets a win or a no-decision." Spot on the mark there: four runs from the offense would have left Webb at 10-0. But it was not to be. In honor of us playing the Marlins, it appears our hitters once again went to the plate wielding fishing-rods.

For the offense sputtered even worse than on Tuesday night, the only tally we managed today being Stephen Drew's solo homer to lead off the fourth - indeed, the rest of the lineup, not named Drew, managed a grand total of exactly one hit. That was a double by Chris Snyder, but since we were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, that wasn't much help. Three of those four at-bats came in the eighth, where pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda walked to lead off the inning, then reach second on a passed ball. After Young flew out, Drew singled, but Ojeda got a bad read on the ball and had to hold at third. And that was where he stayed, Hudson and Jackson both going down swinging.

They weren't exactly alone. We fanned eleven times in all, making 24 over the first two games of the series and the sixth time in the past eleven games we've reached double-digits there. Over that time, we've struck out more than twice as many times as we've walked [97:48 in total]. Today, Byrnes and Reynolds, who seemed locked in a desperate battle to out-suck each other of late, combined to go 0-for-8 with five K's. Over the past month, Reynolds is hitting .174 [16-for-92], while Byrnes is at .143 [13-for-91]. Between them, they have 13 walks and no less than sixty strikeouts during that period. At least we will have Tracy back shortly, so that should give us a left-handed alternative to Reynolds; but after the false dawn of Byrnes' homer last week, he has only one hit in fourteen at-bats, so nothing much has changed there.

The Republic, however, reports that Byrnes aggravated his hamstrings once more. According to Melvin, "He's a guy that can play hurt as much as anybody we have here. But he's still not 100 percent yet, and part of his game is running. We won't see all of Eric Byrnes until he's able to use all his weapons." Here, Bob - let me correct that for you. What you meant to say was:
  " We won't see all of Eric Byrnes until he's able to use all his weapons."
For just because you can play hurt, doesn't mean you should. Over the past month, I think it should be clear to just about everyone, that Byrnes operating at less than 100% has done more harm than good for the team.

As in the opener, this wasted another solid outing and a quality start by our rotation. This time, it was Brandon Webb who took the tough loss, tasting defeat for the first time this year, despite allowing three runs over seven innings. He fanned seven and walked none, but the Marlins were just very efficient, leaving only three men on base all game. The Marlins took the lead after a triple from Luis Gonzalez - his first since last June and he was likely helped to third by Young - and a suicide-squeeze bunt from Treanor. However, the next batter rendered that somewhat pointless by blasting a solo homer, only the third allowed by Webb all season. Those two plate-appearances provided all the offense that the Marlins would need to get the win.

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Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +19.8%
God-emperor of suck: Conor Jackson, -15.7%
Dishonorable mentions: Byrnes and Hudson, -13.2%

Understandably, in the light of such a weak performance from the Diamondbacks, attendance in the Gameday Thread was light. Present were UofAZGrad, Muu, DbacksSkins, hotclaws, Wimb, Zephon, luckycc, Azreous, TwinnerA, dahlian, foulpole, unnamedDBacksfan, Augie's Army, LucaMaz3, kishi, SongBird, IndyDBack and  srdmad. Particular credit to Muu, who not only had the most comments of anyone today, but managed to put everything into the right context., by telling us how he was robbed at gunpoint today. Suddenly, losing a baseball game hardly seems like it matters much.

Interesting piece at fangraphs.com, comparing Webb and Haren, and their performances so far. The key difference found is that Webb tends to get better in "high-leverage" situations - that's plate appearances that provide the biggest swings in Win Probability. With the usual warning about small sample size [in this case, the high-leverage group covers only 48 trips to the dish], Webb seems to thrive in such situations: there, opponents have a stunning line of .100/.208/.175. Haren, on the other hand, seems to pitch much better when the game is not on the line. As author Eric Seidman puts it, "Give me Webb over Haren with one game to make or break a season, but give me Webb and Haren over other twosomes, at least right now, with two games on the line." Well, let's certainly hope for a bit more run support in Haren's cause tomorrow.

Record: 26-15. Pace: 103-59. Change on last season: +5.

Brandon Webb got his ninth win of the season tonight: no-one else in the National League has more than six. It was also his eleventh consecutive victory, a streak only seen once in the National League since they lowered the pitching mound before the 1969 season. This was, however, not a laugher. The ninth inning, in particular, was a masterpiece of tension worthy of Hitchcock himself, even though the Diamondbacks had a five-run lead as they started on the final trio of outs. Courtesy of Brandon Medders, the Rockies loaded the bases on three hits and forced Melvin to turn to closer Brandon Lyon. A chopper off home-plate and everyone was safe, meaning the Rockies had three chances with the tying run at the plate. However, Lyon yanked his belt up another notch, and retired Spilborghs, Barnes and Holliday to complete the sweep over Colorado.

Webb started off in phenomenal form, facing one batter over the minimum through the first five innings, brutalizing the opposing hitters with his usual mix of sinkers and changeups. He did tire somewhat towards the end, and Melvin admitted in his post-game comments that Webb was probably left out there a little too long. He ended up needing to be rescued in the eighth, and allowed three runs on six hits and a walk, with eight strikeouts, in 7.1 innings. It's the longest winning streak in the majors at the start of a season since Andy Hawkins took care of his first ten games for the 1985 Padres. The way Webb pitched early on, it is difficult to see Webb's streak ending anytime soon. His next start will be Wednesday in Florida.

The offense did a good job of responding whenever the Rockies threatened, doing just enough to ensure that the Diamondbacks were never headed. Early on, Cook's sinker was causing almost as many problems for Arizona, as Webb's was for Colorado. But we still took the lead in the first, Orlando Hudson continuing to be red-hot with runners in scoring position, singling home Chris Young, the third of three consecutive hits for the D-backs to start the game. We couldn't quite capitalize any more there, and over the next three innings, we had further chances that went begging: Drew at third with one down in the third, or getting the first two men on base in the fourth. I did start to wonder if we'd end up rueing all these wasted opportunities.

The fifth inning ended these doubts. Back-to-back doubles from Young and Drew made it a 2-0 game, and after a walk to Hudson, Chris Snyder took an 0-2 pitch, and slammed a three-run homer into the left-field bleachers. It was his third long-ball of the week, and he ended the day with two hits, raising his season average to .284. It was good to see him back in the #5 spot in the lineup: while that was probably because of his excellent record against Cook previously, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets to stay there. Over the past month, Snyder is hitting .333/.400/.600, which are the best figures from any of the eight regular starters. Jackson is next, at .330/.406/.532, and Drew third, with a line of .304/.366/.565.

Speaking of Drew, he went 4-for-5, finishing a homer short of the cycle. You could argue a case that he deserved a five-hit night - he reached in the eighth, but it was called an error on the Rockies' second-baseman. That was his second four-hit game against Colorado this season, and he really seems to enjoy facing them, batting a cool .457 versus them this year [16-for-35]. Young, Hudson and Burke also had two hits each, and it didn't seem that the offense missed Byrnes or Jackson, both of whom were given the night off. The Rockies came back in the eighth, getting the tying man to the plate there, and making the score 5-3, but the D-backs added three crucial insurance runs with two outs. Perhaps the most impressive at-bat was from Justin Upton: it looked like Fuentes was trying to hit him, but J-Up simply ripped a triple to the gap in right-center. The two RBI which resulted certainly came in very, very handy during the ninth.

Remarkably, the win came despite no less than four errors by the Diamondbacks. Reynolds and Hudson muffed ground-balls; Hudson also failed to handle a throw from the outfield (though it may have taken a weird bounce off the second-base bag); and Qualls threw the ball wildly to first. I think the last time we committed so many, was August 7th last year, when we lost 8-3 to Pittsburgh. However, that game will be remembered more for Justin Upton's home debut, where he ended a single short of the cycle.

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Co-masters of their domain: Brandon Webb (+20.9%)  and Stephen Drew (+21.3%)
God-emperor of suck: Jeff Salazar, -11.3%

That was a lot of fun - although the final couple of innings were better to look back on, once the win had been clinched, than to experience at the time! The victory was thus strangely reminiscent of last year in that way. Present in the Gameday Thread were 4 Corners Fan, unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, Wimb, foulpole, UofAZGrad (welcome!), dahlian, Azreous, DbacksSkins, hotclaws, singaporedbacksfan, visiting fan PinchHitLancePainter, srdmad, frienetic, Stile4aly, likeavirgin, Augie's Army and the late-arriving Turambar who, wisely, managed to avoid getting tagged with the "albatross" label as a result of his delayed showing.

The win runs our record against the West to an extremely-solid 20-5, and keeps our lead over the Dodgers at 4.5 games. We now head into our first encounter with the American League, in the shape of the underperforming Detroit Tigers, currently tied with the Mariners for fewest wins in the AL, I'm sure they will be glad to be missing Webb, but won't be looking forward to facing Arizona, who now have a 17-7 record n our home park. And an early warning. Sunday is KidKaster day. Those who had to endure that hideous ordeal on television last month will understand why I will be ensuring all exits are available from the living-room that day,

Record: 23-12. Pace: 106-56. Change on last season: +4.

Outside of a somewhat wobbly top of the first inning, where our defense again gifted the opposition a run, this was just what the doctor ordered. Brandon Webb gave the bullpen a much-needed day off, with his first complete game of the season, and the offense came through, providing plentiful run support - they've scored eighteen runs for their ace over his last two starts.

Webb was particularly dominant through the first eight innings, allowing only an unearned run. That came as the result of a passed ball by Chris Snyder, through Burke should also have made the play at first, and there could have been a twin-killing during the inning. However, Webb settled down and retired 16 of 17 Phillies, the only one to reach being Bruntlett, hit by a pitch. He had a three-hitter going, entering the ninth: while he did see to flag somewhat there, allowing two runs on three hits, he finished off by getting another double-play with his 104th pitch, to complete his 13th career complete-game.

His final line was six hits, no walks and four strikeouts over the nine innings, with three runs allowed, two earned: up until the final stretch, this was probably his best outing of the year so far. Even so, it still runs Webb's record to 8-0, a stunning achievement given that no-one else in the National League has more than five wins so far. That's also Brandon's tenth victory in a row, the longest run in the National League since John Smoltz won eleven consecutive games for Atlanta near the start of 1996. The only other NL pitcher to reach double-digits over the past 30 years, is Andy Hawkins, who matched Webb, with ten straight in 1985.

After the Phillies took the lead, Arizona jumped right back out there, on Young's two-run homer in the bottom of the first. his eighth of the year, giving him the team lead. But it was in the fourth where the D-backs really blew things open, scoring four times on three hits, two walks, an error and a sacrifice fly. Chris Snyder had the key knock, a two-run double, which meant he went 10-for-24 on the homestand, with six RBI. Over the twenty games he's played after his batting average sunk to .083 on April 11, Snyder has hit .357. It's time for him to be moved out of the eighth spot, and get more use out of his offense.

On the other hand, let us now speak of Eric Byrnes,, who went 0-for-5 this afternoon, and was saved by a Jenkins error from hitting into a double-play. That reduces his season average to .232 - startling, given that he was batting .293 on April 26, less than two weeks ago. Since then, he is 5-for-46, with no walks or extra-base hits, one RBI and ten strikeouts. He batted leadoff for the D-backs today, and was the only position player a) not to get a hit, and b) not to drive in or score a run. There are really only two possibilities left: he's injured, or he sucks. In neither case, should he be in the top third of the batting order any longer - yet as I mentioned in the Gameday Thread, the worse he gets, the higher up the order he moves. His OBP is now below .300, the worst of the regular eight starters. Much as I love Byrnes...he's killing us.

There were a couple of interesting changes in the lineup today, one of them enforced by the absence of Jackson and Hudson, but the other was more optional. Chris Young started out of the lead-off spot for the first time this season, and was in the three-hole instead, somewhere he was last seen late in 2006. And behind him, making his debut batting fourth, was Justin Upton: how many teams have a 20-year old in the clean-up slot? Seemed to work pretty well for both of them: they combined to go 3-for-7 with three runs scored and three driven in, and each had a homer.

Upton's line for the season is now .344/.407/.566: I know it's early, but if he sustains an OPS of .973 by the end of the year, it'll be the fourth-best ever by a player his age. He'll be trailing Ted Williams (1.045 in 1939), Alex Rodriguez (1.045 in 1996) and Mel Ott (1.084 in 1929). Even if he loses a hundred points of OPS the rest of the way, that'd still be second only to A-Rod since 1959, when Vada Pinson put up a .316/.371/.509 year for the Cincinnati Red. Today, however, Mark Reynolds was the star, getting his first three-hit game of the season; we'll even forgive Webb going 0-for-4 with five men left on base. Happy to take the complete game any time.

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Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +17.8%
Honorary mention: Chris Young, +15.3%
God-Emperor of suck: Chris Burke, -7.2%

The afternoon game inevitably affected Gameday Thread attendance a bit, and perhaps there was a hangover from yesterday's fiasco too. I managed to sneak in for a bit at lunchtime, and also present were paqs, Bcawz, unnamedDBacksfan, soco, El Stuart, IndyDBack, kishi, dahlian, Craig from Az, Lisalisa8 [welcome!], 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, SongBird, peeklay, Azreous, Smoltz's Beard, dstorm, DbacksSkins and singaporedbacksfan. And, hey, no irritating Dodgers fans to be found...and I so wanted to use the ban button for the first non-spamming time on SB Nation 2.0! We'll see what happens tomorrow, but bear in mind that it's another day-game: indeed, more of a morning game here in Arizona, so I will have to remember how to get something up before starting work!

Looks like there'll be no DL for Hudson, with Melvin saying before today's game, "At this point, I look to start [Hudson] Saturday, but he's in a pinch-hit role today and tomorrow." I hope that is indeed true, though I have heard an over-optimistic prognosis out of Melvin before in this case. Conor Jackson also looks to be ready to return, and could have been used as a pinch-hitter today had he been needed. "I'm surprised my arm is OK, to tell you the truth," he said. "I think that kind of took the brunt of it, but the helmet got me pretty good right below the temple, kind of in the orbit of the eye. I never lost consciousness, but I was definitely seeing stars." Remember, folks: please don't try those kind of moves at home, because Conor Jackson is a trained professional... :-)

Here's a reminder of something from last December by Nick Piecoro, which will probably have you gnawing off the odd limb in frustration. "Can you believe what Cliff Lee has been doing? The guy goes into New York last night and improves to 6-0 with seven shutout innings. And to think the Diamondbacks nearly had him. Twice. They were close on a deal last year at the All-Star break and then again prior to the winter meetings. Both deals were built around Carlos Quentin." Yes, the same Quentin whom we eventually handed over to the White Sox for an A-ball first-baseman... Sleep well, folks: see you in Chicago tomorrow!