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.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
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: 47-47.  Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -2

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Click to enlarge in new window]
Masterof his domain: Randy Johnson, +21.1% - batting!
Honorable mentions: Tracy, +17.0%; Jackson, +17.0%
God-emperor of suck: Randy Johnson, -5.1% - pitching!

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

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

Record: 46-46. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -3

There are those out there who may mock our beatification [look it up...] of Penelope Cruz, canonizing her as St. Penelope of the Cross. But even the nay-sayers would be hard pushed to discount the miracles that followed immediately the invocation of her name, on not one but two occasions tonight. The first time was to break up the perfect game being thrown by Bergmann in the fourth - he'd retired the first ten Diamondbacks batters in a row. Immediately, the very next hitter, Drew, singled - as did the one after him, Hudson. Still, St. Penelope was only warming up: breaking up no-hitters is what drew her to our cause to begin with.

Even more impressive was her performance in the bottom of the 10th, after Peña had blown our second save opportunity of the night, coughing up three runs, while retiring one batter. The winning run was at third with one out, and the plaintive cry, "Help us, St. Penelope, you're our only hope" rang through the Gameday Thread. And lo, our prayers were heard: Flores grounded out, and Montero survived being plowed into by Kearns at home-plate. Another ground-out followed, and the hopeless cause which is the 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks lived to fight another inning - where Qualls finally managed to hold the third multi-run lead of the night.

Speaking of whom: all previous bad things said about Qualls are officially stricken from the record after his past trio of performances. In two of them, he came in with an inherited runner at third and one out, and that runner did not score [and the third was a 1-2-3 inning]. Mark Grace had an interesting observation, saying that he thinks Qualls is more effective when he takes a bit off his pitches, the increased movement making up for the lower velocity. I can see how that's the case, and Qualls has now retired the last ten batters he has faced, and pitched out of a couple of very sticky situations, not of his making. As an illustration, let's take a look at the Fangraph for this game. And remember, the louder you scream, the faster we go...

[Click to enlarge, in new window...IF YOUR HEART CAN STAND IT!!!]
Master of his domain: Chad Tracy, +44.7%
Honorable mentions: Qualls +42.7%; Haren +31.6%; Drew 26.6%;
Hudson +13.6%; Romero +11.8%
God-emperor of suck: Tony Peña, -78.6%
Dishonorable mention: Lyon -16.5%; Young -16.4%

A picture is worth a thousand words, though most of the words caused by the above were unrepeatable in polite society. I think this fangraph sets new records in a number of areas. Most AZ players at +10% or above: seven [Special K was at 10.1%, but for reasons I'm sure we'll mention shortly, he deserves no "honorable mention"]. Worst performance in a winning cause: Peña, -78.6%. And best performance in a losing cause goes to Austin Kearns of the Nationals, who ended the day at a staggering +77.5%, even as his team was defeated.

How, exactly, did this happen? How did Arizona turn an excellent first eight innings by Dan Haren into...that? Well let's start by asking Bob Melvin, who opted to send Haren out there for the ninth, though he was at 104 pitches, in pursuit of a meaningless complete-game shutout. Even after Haren walked the lead-off man, getting his pitch-count up to 110, his manager opted to leave him out there, and a single promptly followed, putting the tying run on base. Finally, at least one and perhaps two batters too late, Melvin went to Lyon for a save that had, quite unnecessarily, become a great deal more difficult than it would have been.

Exhibit B: Mark Reynolds. Lyon allowed a single to load the bases, still with no-one out, but then got Kearns to hit a grounder to third. Special K, however, backed up and let the ball play him; instead of a nice double-play, it went right past him into left-field, and two runs scored to tie the game. Worse was to follow, as two outs later, he clanked yet another ground-ball, loading the bases and forcing Lyon to get a fifth out in the inning. While fortunately, our closer was up to the task, added to another error in the game, it left Reynolds with three on the day, and a major-league leading eighteen on the season. Do have to wonder whether a Ryan Braun-like move to left-field might be best for all concerned? Oh, hang on... :-( [Stats LLC said that, had Washington not scored, we'd have become the first teams to play each other in five straight shutout games for 28 years]

Reynolds did redeem himself somewhat in the tenth, as our offense girded its loins [Chris Snyder was excused loin-girding, for obvious reasons] and posted a three-spot on four straight hits with two outs. It started in fortunate fashion, Rauch - at 6'11" the tallest pitcher ever in the majors - unable to field a half-swing from Jackson. Tracy and Reynolds followed with RBI doubles, and Montero added a third run to the cushion. That hit rejuvenated our Win Probability to 96%, after it had dropped as low as 18.1% during that troublesome ninth. Surely, Tony Peña would come in and lock down the save in the bottom of the tenth - especially as Reynolds had been removed for the defensive wizardry which is Augie Ojeda.

Er, no. Pestileñce allowed hits to four of the first five hitters he faced, and the lead evaporated entirely - that Win Probability collapsed entirely, going all the way back down to 17%. As noted above, Qualls - with a little help from St. Penelope - turned back the tide, and handed things over to the offense. Ojeda got plunked to lead off the eleventh, was bunted to second, and came home on a double by Drew. After Hudson was walked, Jackson delivered another hit, but Drew was thrown out at home - with only one out, seemed a bit questionable to send the runner from third, rather than keep the bases loaded. However, Tracy added an insurance run to make it 7-5, and Qualls pitched a remarkably stress-free 1-2-3 inning to give us what we should have had all along - a two-run margin of victory.

We might want to play extra innings more often, based on this performance, as our offense clearly loved it - they got seven hits in the tenth and eleventh, which is exactly the same number as the first nine innings combined. Drew, Jackson and Tracy all had three-hit days, while Hudson had two hits and a walk. Particularly pleased to see Tracy getting hot - they're picking the match-ups for him, but in eight July games, he is batting .407 [11-for-27] with six RBI. Chris Young went 0-for-5 and continues to struggle a bit: since June 20 he is now hitting .203 with only five walks, for an OBP of just .257. Yet Melvin continues to bat him lead-off.

Lost in this was another brilliant outing by Haren, who pitched eight innings, allowing three hits, two walks and two runs (one earned) while striking out a season-high nine Nationals. That's his eighth quality start in a row, even if Haren only has been credited with the win in three of those. His ERA over that time is 1.45, with a K:BB ratio of 52:11. If there is a hotter pitcher in the National League over the past month and a half, I'd be surprised, and it would be no shock if his next appearance is starting the All-Star Game for the National League on Tuesday. It'd certainly be well-deserved.

A "somewhat tense" Gameday Thread today, and we surged past 800 as a result - pleased to see some new (or newish!) faces, so a formal welcome to NewJackCity, AF DBacks Fanatic and MamaLing. There was also a good turnout of regulars: Zephon, srdmad, kishi, nihil67, 4 Corners Fan, Muu, Scrbl, TwinnerA, Azreous, Counsellmember, soco, Wimb, mrssoco, Geno Ardi, golfmanthee, ChandlerDad, hotclaws, SongBird, garyho, dstorm and Diamondhacks. The net result is that we did indeed take two out of three in Washington, ugly and lumpy though this last victory was. The Dodgers are still playing - tied 4-4 with Florida in the eighth as I write - but at the very least, we will be tied for first as we head off to Philadelphia for cheesesteaks and the Phanatic, quite possibly the finest mascot in all baseball. If the games are less pulse-pounding than this one, I wouldn't mind too much!

Record: 37-31. Pace: 88-74. Change on last season: -1

Breaking records here and there: your 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks. For the first time in Dbacks history, we've now played three straight extra inning games. After finishing 9 full innings tied at love all, Chad Tracy came through with the first walkoff home run of his career to win the game 1-0 in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was our first 1-0 win since August 11th of last year, when Webby beat Washington's John Lannan during Brandon's gazillion-inning scoreless streak. All told, we played in a total of four 1-0 games last year -- two of them wins by Webb, one an EdGon loss to Zito, (ouch!) and one 1-0 win last August 3rd -- pitched by Double D against Chad Billingsley in Los Angeles. Yep, the same Double D who shut out the woeful Royals for 7 innings tonight, to give our bullpen a bit of much-needed relief. Davis sprinkled 5 singles, a double, and 4 walks through 7 frames while striking out 7 Royals as well; in the process, lowering his season ERA from 4.88 to 3.99. If there's any night he deserved to win, it was tonight, yet he was stuck with a no decision.

It's a damned good thing our pitching was so good, too. I find my tongue planted firmly in cheek in calling the Royals woeful, because the Diamondbacks hitters tonight were abysmal. Granted, Zach Greinke is no scrub, and our hitters always seem to do badly when facing a starter for the first time, but even though Greinke held us to 1 Tracy single and 2 Drew singles through those 7 innings, we had plenty of chances to score. Why? Because Greinke walked a whopping seven (count 'em!) hitters -- over 7 innings. Royals reliever Ron Mahay added an 8th walk in the bottom of the 9th. Upton, in the 8 spot, was the recipient of 3 of those, and Drew, CoJack, Tracy, Reynolds, and Snyder all drew free passes as well. In fact, Hudson and Young were the ONLY members of our starting 8 not to reach on balls. Snyder also singled in the 8th. So, what did we do with those 12 baserunners through the first 9 innings? Well.... you get the picture. It was UGLY. In the 2nd, Greinke walked Upton to load the bases and get to Davis, who promptly obliged by grounding back to the mound. He's Doug Davis; can't really blame him for THAT. However, the very next inning, on a Drew single and walks to Tracy and CoJack, the bases were loaded with two outs for Reynolds. It wasn't too much of a shocker (although it was quite a disappointment) when Reynolds struck out on a full count to end the inning. To be blunt, you're not going to win too many freaking games when you strand 12 men through 9, and we were only lucky to score before Kansas City did. I sure hope that the entire starting lineup bought the beer for Davis tonight.

As noted, Upton continued his torrid rate of -- walking, and he's now on pace for a Bondsian 93 by the end of the season. Lefties Drew and Tracy were both 2-4 with a walk each, and... those were basically the bright spots of the offense, plus Snyderman's single in the 8th. On the other hand, our leadoff hitter -- no, in this case, our leadoff batter -- who will remain nameless, wore the Texas star, going 0-5, including 4 strikeouts. At least two of those, it should be noted, were called third strikes at least an inch and a half inside. In fact, on the night, it seemed home plate umpire Lance Barksdale decided to move the entire dish 2 inches inside without telling anyone; from my own viewing, it seemed that the inside corner was being called a strike with extreme prejudice, while the outside 2 inches of the plate was not. It was like having an NL strike zone on the inside and an AL strike zone on the outside. I may respectfully suggest that Barksdale have his peripheral vision checked.

Both starters left after putting up seven goose eggs, but neither team fared well against the bullpen, either. Obviously, Arizona's was slightly sharper than Kansas City's, with Qualls, Peña and former Royal and AAA callup Billy Buckner (for the last time... NO RELATION) combining for 3 shutout innings, no walks, 3 strikeouts and only a blown call on a ball that was actually caught by Upton and ruled a single. Buckner, in his first appearance with the Diamondbacks since being traded from the Royals for Alberto "I-can't-hit-a-ball-but-I-can-hit-my-wife" Callaspo, gave up a few hard hit balls but, with the exception of the aforementioned blown call, pitched an otherwise perfect top of the 10th to earn the win. It was a damn good thing Tracy was able to walkoff the team against Yasuhiko "Say-my-name-five-times-fast" Yabuta, because our bullpen right now is more like a cage full of double amputees. I think I saw Augie jogging down to the 'pen to warm up right before Tracy won it for us.

It's worth noting that both Chad Qualls and Tony Peña seem to have gotten through their rough patches, with both coming out and packing heat and looking pretty sharp on the mound. Peña hasn't allowed a run now since mid-May, and his ERA is down to a more 2007-like 2.84; Qualls got a K, a K, and a grounder in his inning, and lowered his ERA to 2.45.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Consuls of their domain: Doug Davis, +45.3%; Chad Tracy, +39.3%
Honorable mentions: Buckner & Peña, +14.3%; Qualls, +11.0%
God-emperor of suck: Chris K. Young, -17.5%

That EKG-like printout (which appears to culminate in a cocaine overdose) is not exactly a ringing endorsement of our offense; besides Tracy, only Drew (+5.1%) and Upton (+2.0%) were in the black. Greinke, of course, also received the same +45.3% as Davis, and just like Johan Santana yesterday, Davis and Greinke were rewarded with... Chacon's bane, the no-decision.

The GameDay Thread was talkative and, as always, eclectic; topics included science fiction books, foulpole's player nicknames, Emily's sign for tomorrow, mrssoco's love of all Dbacks first basemen, and the suggestion that I have a Napoleonic complex. For the second night in a row, we were careful not to post an overflow thread while transitioning to extras, although we ended up with over 610 comments. Present and accounted for were 4 Corners Fan, TwinnerA, Jim, foulpole, Muu, myself, emilylovesthedbacks, hotclaws, soco, kishi, unnamedDBacksfan, Stile4aly, DiamondbacksWIn, Azreous, dstorm, UofAZGrad, luckycc, dahlian, srdmad, mrssoco, and Zephon.

Although we usually score more than... oh, I dunno, one run while at home, I'll take the end result, and we start this homestand 1-0. Randy Johnson goes for his 289th win... again... tomorrow, and you KNOW he's gotta be frustrated. So, you won't want to miss what happens to the first Royals batter who so much as accidentally spits a sunflower seed shell in his general direction. I'll say this much: there will be blood.

Hopefully, Mr. and Mrs. Snakepit enjoyed the fireworks after the game, despite the lack of fireworks IN the game through the first 9, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we're all pretty disappointed that the Snakepits weren't shown on camera. Now Jim HAS to tell us what his sign(s) said.

Jim's Game Notes

• Met up with Shoe for drinks before, and discussed how to relieve the problems ailing the team's offense. Trying a few more bunt hits seems like a good idea: not only would we have a good chance to succeed with the speed of Upton, Young, etc. but forcing the infield to play in would also help.
• Young looked awful in the leadoff spot, going 0-for-5 with 4 K's. It took him eleven pitches, over three at-bats, before he touched the ball. Drew had a couple of solid hits, and looked pretty good; Upton had three walks though one was intentional and another unintentionally-intentional; and I was pleased to see Tracy round into form. The rest of the lineup? Sheesh.
• What is up with chief Rallyback Mike's hair? And whatever it is, can he please stop it?
• Doug Davis's curve = awesome. First time he's pitched seven shutout innings at Chase since joining us,
• When the announcement came in the ninth, "Now pitching for Arizona, Billy Buckner," the sense of "Who?" was palpable.
• We sit twenty-two rows back, looking up the third-base line, and even we knew Justin Upton caught that ball. How in hell did the four umpires get together and come to a different conclusion? If we'd lost due to that, I'd have been miffed. Looked like it rattled Buckner, and the double-play which followed was a blessed relief.
• The pitch before Tracy's homer, he just fouled off an 0-2 pitch that ended up about three feet behind home plate.
• The firework show was appropriately Friday the 13th themed, with music from Psycho, Jaws, The Twilight Zone, Ghostbusters, Friday the 13th and Attack of the Giant Leeches. Ok, maybe not the last one.
  
• Afterwards, more beers with Shoe and Scott S, where we picked their brains about a possible baseball trip for Mrs. SnakePit and I, to Washington and Philadelphia next month. Good times.

Random fun facts

• Last team to play three consecutive extra-inning game and concede less than the seven runs we've allowed: the Braves in September 1993.
• Second 1-0, extra-inning win in franchise history. First was the 18-inning monster vs. the Giants, May 29, 2001. 
• First walk-off homer since Tony Clark's in the 11th against Atlanta, July 27 last year.
• The two teams combined to leave twenty-one runners on base before Chad sent us all home. That number hasn't been surpassed in a 1-0 NL game, since September 2, 2001, where Arizona stranded 19 and San Diego 5, as we went down 1-0 in thirteen innings. The one before that was the marathon against the Giants mentioned above, where thirty were left on base.

And since Skins asked, here's our sign... :-)

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.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
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?