Record: 62-59. Pace: 83-79. Change on last season: -7

How long ago it all seems now. Six months ago, to the very day, Rox Girl paid us a visit and said, "I propose a straight up season series challenge. Win more games against us - including any potential playoff games - and Snakepit Day will return to the Row next year." Technically, I suppose, the playoff games clause means this bet is still on: but with Arizona now 10-2 up, with six to play, and Colorado now nine games back in the standings, it seems all over bar the shouting. On the same date last year, they were only five back, - and still had to win fourteen of the last fifteen regular season games to squeak in to the post-season.

It's kinda interesting to look back on that piece and see the comments from both sidea, such as, "Runs such as the Rockies'... almost always happen when a team is in a multiple season success cycle. It's incredibly rare for mediocre teams to put together such streaks." But I'll save the "O RLYs?" and "Told you sos" for another time. What matters right here, right now, is that this victory means the pressure shifts on to the Dodgers as they try to beat the Phlailing Phillies once again - no doubt, after falling behind early. And I also get to spend the rest of the night relaxing, rather than clicking frantically on the 'Refresh' button every couple of minutes. Works for me, even if I feel bad for Mrs. SnakePit, who set up our dinner in the living-room, in front of the game. I hadn't the heart to tell her it was a replay - she finally worked it out when she realized it was still daylight at Coors!

The early innings of today's game were not exactly plain sailing. The Rockies scored first, a one-out single in the second being misplayed by Dunn into a double, for his first error in an Arizona uniform, and another two-bagger gave Colorado the lead. While that was the only damage Haren suffered, our offense was still apparently enjoying a nice continental breakfast, back at the hotel. Glendon Rusch was throwing the ball very effectively; after four innings, he'd retired 12 of 13 batters face, allowing only a single to Chris Young. There were stirrings of discontent clearly visible in the Gameday Thread.

Fortunately, the five-run fifth inning took care of that. Reynolds doubled to lead things off, and advanced to third on a groundout from Tracy. All we were hoping for was to get the game back to being level, having failed miserably in the ninth last night in the same situation: tying run on third, one out. Chris Snyder, however, wasn't going to settle for a measly sacrifice fly, instead hammering his eleventh homer of the season out of Coors, to give Arizona a 2-1 lead, his 49th and 50th RBI. Weirder was to follow, as Chris Burke went back-to-back after Snyder, with his first homer in 166 at-bats, and almost eleven months. That also got his average up to .200, tying the season high, though - no doubt scared by the altitude - he ended the day at .197.

After Haren struck out, Stephen Drew then extended his hitting streak to sixteen games with a single. That's tied for seventh in franchise history, and is the best by a Diamondback since Danny Bautista had a 21-game run, back in April 2004. Walks to Young and Jackson loaded the bases for Dunn, who somewhat redeemed himself for not coming through last night with the bags juiced, by delivering a two-run single to right, his first runs driven in for Arizona. An RBI double by Young in the seventh scored Haren - who had two hits, as did Young and Drew, and that completed the scoring for the Diamondbacks.

Dan Haren went eight innings, and threw 118 pitches, tying a season high. He allowed seven hits and two walks, striking out nine - also matching his top figure of the season. I was really surprised to see him go out there for the eighth, given he'd already thrown 103 pitches to get to that point, and the Diamondbacks were sitting on a five-run lead. The bullpen had hardly been taxed, with three innings in the previous two games, and we had both Rosales, unused since the 8th, and Cruz [since the 9th], fully available. Haren allowed a lead-off homer but got through - and Melvin instead turned to Rauch, for the third consecutive day. While I guess this was a 'confidence-building exercise', he took 18 pitches to retire his first batter, and almost turned the lead into a save situation for Lyon, with a double-play proved very, very convenient in closing out the win.

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Master of his domain: Dan Haren, +19.7%
Honorable mention: Chris Snyder, +15.0%
God-emperor of suck: Chad Tracy, -3.9%

The thread cruised past 500 comments, basically before we noticed - I think day games are probably less taxing on the SB Nation servers, which likely helped. Present were GaryTheGaucho [welcome!], kishi, Wimb, Azreous, DbacksSkins, utahdbacksfan, Muu, bcloirao, unnamedDBacksfan, emilylovesthedbacks, srdmad, ZonaBacks10, Scrbl, J Up, AJforAZ, TwinnerA, snakecharmer, 4 Corners Fan, TuLoRocks2008, pepperdinedevil and soco. No problems or real unpleasantness today, I'm pleased to report, so credit to everyone for keeping it civil.

Dodgers are three outs from completing a four-game sweep of the reeling Phillies, so looks likely that they will tie us up again. They will be facing Milwaukee this weekend, while we're in Houston - don't look now, but the Astros have just put together an eight-game winning streak, in time for our arrival. Still, with our Cy Young front-runner on the mound tomorrow, we have to feel optimistic. It looks like the rotation is being aligned so we can throw both Webb and Haren at the Dodgers towards the end of the month, which makes sense.

Oh, and if anyone has a late interest in going to SnakePitFest on August 23rd, we have three spare tickets since shoe will not be able to make it [albeit for reasons that are actually pretty damn cool]. Email me - address in the sidebar - if you, or anyone you know is interested. First-come, first-served, obviously.

Record: 59-58. Pace: 82-80. Change in last season: -7

"For the first time in over four months, the Diamondbacks find themselves sitting in second place in the National League West, the result of the Dodgers' extra-innings victory over the Giants." Dammit, I had a perfectly-good recap all written, bemoaning our fall into second. But the Los Angeles Chokers coughed up a tenth-inning lead in San Francisco, and so we still cling on to top spot, by our fingernails. It's a position we hardly deserve, particulary after a wretched sixth inning against the Braves, where a perfect storm of incompetence - management, pitching, defense - and bad luck, allowed Atlanta to score seven runs.

Arizona actually entered with a 3-2 lead. They clawed their way back into the game, thanks largely to an error by Escobar with one out in the fifth, that turned a potential double-play off the bat of Jackson into the tying run. A sacrifice fly by Tracy then gave us the lead. However, Haren's pitch-count was at 100, and given the score situation - and the "must win" nature of the contest - he should have been on a very short leash. A laser-beam to Romero in right was an out, but a single and double followed, and Haren should have been lifted. However, Melvin, adhering to his usual philosophy of mishandling pitchers, left Haren out there to surrender the tying and go-ahead runs to Atlanta, as well as another single, before coming to get him.

Worse - much worse, in any number of ways - followed. Juan Cruz came in, walked the first batter on four pitches, then hit the next guy. At this point, it was clear he had nothing, and I was reduced to hoping Melvin would yank him before the game was entirely out of range. Cruz did fan Jones, but a single to left scored three runs. It would have been two, except that a wild throw from Cruz to second - what we  called a "hospital pass" in my soccer days - sent O-Dawg right into the path of McCann, snapping his wrist back, and leaving him flapping on the deck like a stranded fish and having to be helped off the field, his wrist supported. Cruz then committed another error that let McCann score from second, completing the disaster. We came into the inning with a 65.7% Win Probability, and left it at 3.4%,

Outside of the first inning, where he allowed a two-run homer, Haren was okay. He clearly didn't have his best stuff, but those two runs were the only ones he allowed through the front five. However, his final line was an ugly 5.1 innings, 10 hits, three walks and six earned runs. He struggled with his control - it's only his second three-walk game of the season, and his ERA over his past two starts has gone up from 2.62 to 3.00. I hope he doesn't suffer the curse of the long-term contract that has already affected a few other Diamondbacks over the past couple of years: Eric Byrnes and Chad Tracy being the most obvious examples.

The rest of the pitching staff had a night to forget too, allowing five runs over 3.2 innings, though only two of them were earned - after Cruz came Pena, who continued to struggle, with two runs (one earned) coming in his inning of work, Qualls was the only one we sent out there to escape damage to his ERA, with a scoreless ninth. Our defense was pretty wretched too, with four errors in total: two for Cruz and one by Reynolds, both during the sixth, while Romero was also charged with an E, as he chased a ball around the outfield corner, like a dog following a car. Jackson also had an issue, taking a bad route to a fly-ball in left, that ended up being a double, and Drew threw wildly to first trying to complete a double-play, though fortunately, the runner didn't get to advance.

Offensively, it was good to see the team make their way back into the game, but after the sixth, they can hardly be blamed for giving up a little bit. Stephen Drew had a pair of extra-base hits, extending his hitting streak to twelve games. Miguel Montero also had two hits, while Tony Clark - who came into the game as part of a double-switch for Haren - reached twice, on a walk and a hit. However, the final play of the game pretty much summed up the night, as Jackson ran into his own batted ball, going up the first base line, and was out on batter's interference. That ended a wretched night for the Diamondbacks, one which I think everyone who works for or supports the team will want to forget.

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Master of his domain:  Conor Jackson: +11.3%
God-emperor of suck: Dan Haren, -35.5%
Dishonorable mention: Juan Cruz, -17.9%

Not the finest of nights in the Gameday Thread, with - probably understandably - a fair bit of negativity, as we slid out of the playoff spot for the first time since almost the beginning of the season. Still, it's nice to share the pain: thanks to hotclaws, snakecharmer, 4 Corners Fan, ZonaBacks10, Jim McLennan, soco, unnamedDBacksfan, njjohn, AZWILDCATS [who is now forbidden from mentioning the Dodgers - any such comments will be removed], TwinnerA, Muu, AF DBacks Fanatic, srdmad, foulpole, Scrbl, dbacksbj, Zephon and jazzbo13 for taking part in the pain-sharing. Atlanta has now outscored us 28-14 in the first three games, and it's up to Brandon Webb if we are to avoid the series sweep tomorrow.

The scope of Orlando Hudson's injury is still unclear, but it doesn't look good. Speaking after the game, Bob Melvin sounded very gloomy, stating that surgery seems likely, which would basically be likely to take Hudson out of things for the rest of the season. But they are waiting for him to be examined by a hand specialist in the morning, and the decision will likely be made then. However, it seems certain that, at the very least, we'll be seeing Augie Ojeda starting at second - and likely a lot more of Chris Burke...

Finally, as I'm writing this recap, I've also been watching The Eric Byrnes Show, and in this episode, there's footage taken at the North Phoenix Baptist Church card show, where he talks about how much he loves meeting the fans. Hmm. Or not so much. According to this piece about the event, "Autographs are $29 each per item. This will be the only autograph appearance Byrnes will make during the 2008 season." So much for "the opportunity to meet so many people I would otherwise never have met." As long as they have twenty-nine bucks to spare, it would appear... Yeah, I'm grumpy. I'm off to bed, to watch some Olympics. Maybe that'll cheer me up.

Record: 58-54. Pace: 84-78. Change on last season: -4

1st inning. This is not the start I wanted to see. Rather than us teeing off against the worst pitchers in the National League, it's Dan Haren who is being smacked about like a Little Leaguer. Three hits - albeit one a checked-swing bloop - and a wild-pitch give Pittsburgh the lead, and they have men on second and third with only one out. A strikeout gives hope of escaping without further damage, but he grooves one to Moss, who uncorks a two-run double off the wall in center. All of a sudden, we are staring at a three-run deficit.

Important to start getting back those runs quickly. Herrera has allowed opposing hitters to bat at a .408 clip, which in encouraging. Drew doesn't even need to bother, walking on four straight pitches, which is a start. Two more balls fly out of the zone before the seventh pitch finally finds the zone. The eighth gets slapped right back up the middle by Hudson, and we have two on with no outs. Jackson grounds out, but O-Dawg does a nice job of breaking up the double-play. Tracy walks on four straight too, loading them up for Reynolds. He swats the first pitch to left-center, and we're on the board, still with the bases loaded. However, Romero swings at a 3-1 pitch and grounds into a double-play. Blast. Still: Herrera looks eminently hittable, to say the least.

2nd inning. Need Haren to post a zero. He does, with a great deal more conviction than in the first, retiring the Pirates in order and hardly breaking a sweat. Time for us to keep clawing our way out of the sand on this one, having been buried up to our necks below the high-water mark, to use an appropriately piratical metaphor. Young legs out an infield hit, then takes second on a passed-ball. Snyder walks - the third already - and I'd be thinking about not having Haren bunt, since Herrera doesn't deserve to have any outs given to him. Still, Dan gets it down, and it's up to the top of the order. Drew does the job, two runs somehow scoring on a ball that doesn't quite get out of the infield. That ends Herrera's night, having coughed up the entire three-run lead in four outs, and we are into the Pirates bullpen already. Hudson grounds out, and Jackson flies out, but we're back in this one.

3rd inning. A sudden rush of comedic spectators distracts me (along with the unexpected arrival of The Complete Frank Miller Batman), and I am discomfited to see that the Pirates have somehow taken the lead again: I'm presuming a homer was involved, given the lack of men on base. However, that is all the damage, and we come out swinging, with a lead-off single to Tracy. Reynolds takes strike three, though it didn't look like it to me. Hmmph. Romero and Young fail to do much, so the Pirates have their first zero of the game and we still trail by one run.

4th inning. Another leadoff single against Haren, but outs follow - in particular a nice, leaping grab and swipe-tag by Hudson of a wild throw from Reynolds as he tried to start a double-play. There's nothing doing for the Pirates thereafter. Unfortunately, there's nothing doing for the Diamondbacks in our half of the inning either, and we are retired in order. Is it too late to ask for the Pirates to bring Herrera back? We miss him...

5th inning. Another lead-off hit: that's four in five now for the Pirates. Worse is to follow, with the next batter reaching too, and there's activity in the Arizona bullpen. A fielder's choice gets one out, but a wild pitch brings back memories of the first inning. However, Haren bears down and ends the inning without damage, keeping it a one-run game. We get a lead-off walk for Hudson, and Jackson ties the game with a double into the left-center gap. Tracy has a productive out to advance Jackson to third, but Reynolds doesn't, grounding out to third. Romero, however, gives Arizona the lead for the first time with a single, then steals second: he tries to reach home on a single by Young, but is gunned down quite easily. Doesn't show much faith in Snyder. We are now ahead for the first time, 5-4.

6th inning. It certainly didn't look like we'd still be seeing Haren at this point after he allowed three runs in the first. This might be his most impressive frame yet, as the Pirates go down easily, without a ball leaving the infield. Be nice to pad the lead a bit, and a leadoff walk gives us the opportunity, but the pinch-hitting Tony Clark grounds inNorto a double play. Drew reaches, and then steals second - our aggressive running-game raising its head again. Hudson walks, giving Jackson a chance to extend the lead. He comes through with a single and though Tracy goes down, the lead is up to two.

7th inning. Haren is done, and Pena comes in. It's looking like it could be a long nine outs, with a leadoff homer. But there's no more damage and we still have a one-run lead as we stand and stretch. The lead is immediately re-extended in the bottom half, with Reynolds' 23rd homer - we're now helping to increase the Pirates' road average. After Romero pops out, but Young triples down into the left-field corner: it looked like he was going to try for an inside the park homer, and thought better of it. He still managed to make the out at home, getting caught in a rundown after a botched suicide squeeze by Snyder. Shame, since Snyder and Clark then singled. So much for aggression, eh?

8th inning. Rauch out of the bullpen. A pair of rather too long to be comfortable fly-balls and a strikeout later, we are done with that, and the Pirates are down to their last three outs. Hudson leads off our half of the eighth with a double, becoming the fifth D-back to have a multi-hit game tonight - Young leads the way with three hits. "Anyone but the Dodgers," seems to be his motto. An Ojeda single makes it a three-run lead - and for the firs time tonight, I feel somewhat comfortable.

Reynolds adds another tally, and we are officially piling-on. Bases-loaded walk? Sure. Ground-rule double for Tony Clark? Bring it on. Run-scoring wild pitch? Don't mind if we do. We may have learned only one thing tonight: the Pirates pitchers clearly are as bad as we heard. It's something of a relief when Hudson grounds into his eighteenth double-play of the year to end the inning, with the game blown apart and the score 13-5. Fifty games still to go, and O-Dawg is already #6 on the franchise all-time list for GIDPs in a season.

9th inning. Surprised to see Lyon out for the ninth, but I guess he was warmed up. Maybe he got cold again, as he walks the first hitter and after a strikeout, gives up back-to-back hits to help the Pirates give the score some respectability. Another single loads the bases for McLouth, Pittsburgh's best hitter, and I begin to shift nervously, as a long ball here would make things...interesting. He singles, and the Fangraph, which flatlined after the eighth, twitches as if hit with a defibrillator. Fortunately, with Cruz warming in the pen, a flyout and groundout ends things.

Focusing on the positive; season high for runs and hits. Three hits each for Reynolds and Young, while Drew, Hudson and Snyder all reached safely four times, on hits and walks, and Jackson added a couple of hits. A grand total of 28 base-runners, on eighteen hits and ten walks - that's one below the franchise record for a regulation nine innings [September 26, 2001, against Milwaukee: also eighteen hits and ten walks, but we had someone reach on an error too].

The pitching... About the only nice thing I can say is, it's the first time we've won this season while giving up seven or more earned runs. Haren did jack up his K:BB ration, with eight more strikeouts and no walks, and after that first inning, he pitched commendably. Having had a few tough decisions go against him early on, it's about time he got a W in a game where he might not have fully deserved it, based on his performance. Our bullpen is certainly in a lot better shape than the Pirates', who were forced into 6.1 innings of work this evening.

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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +22.0%
Honorable mentions: Drew, +13.5%; Hudson, +12.0%
God-emperor of suck: Dan Haren, -6.1%

The Gameday Thread was very, very busy, with 31 participants: DbacksSkins clearly missed us while he was away, returning with 231 comments. Some of which even were to do with the game. :-) [I would gently remind participants that we have an off-topic chat room for a reason... Basically, when the thread can't go any further right, go chat-roomwards.] Also present, were 4 Corners Fan, kishi, snakecharmer, Zephon, soco, TwinnerA, Shums, G Dub, utahdbacksfan, J Up, hotclaws, Wimb, unnamedDBacksfan, njjohn, the mystical one, Muu, srdmad, singaporedbacksfan, MamaLing, dahlian, DiamondbacksWIn, foulpole, AZWILDCATS, nargel, TuLoRocks2008, AJforAZ, JUPTON10, Scrbl, mrssoco, and emilylovesthedbacks. Sorry to have missed discussing this one.

Not quite the well-pitched exhibition I anticipate, though you can't complain any time you score more than a dozen runs. Limited action in the rest of baseball; no Dodgers game, so we are 1.5 games clear, fractionally more breathing space for Arizona. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this isn't the start of Haren's second-half slump. However, the team victory is the most important thing, starting off the home-stand on the right foot; let's just not make a habit of needing to score eight or more runs for victory, shall we?

Record: 55-52. Pace: 83-79. Change on last season -3.

Dan Haren did not have his A-stuff tonight. Indeed, early on, B-stuff would likely have been an improvement, as he gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, and the Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning. Yet, despite that, and a nasty moment on the base-paths, where it looked like he turned his ankle, our co-ace worked around three hits in the first and three more in the fourth to take the win. He has now pitched seven innings or more in eight straight starts, the second-best streak in the NL since 2005, when Chris Carpenter had eighteen such games in a row [Cole Hamels had nine earlier this season for the Phillies].

Tonight, Haren allowed three runs - a little high by his standards - on seven hits, walking none and striking out six. The outing improves his K:BB ratio to 134:24. That leads the league: to put it into context, the best figure for the last few years were:
   2008 - Dan Haren, 5.58
   2007 - John Smoltz, 4.19
   2006 - Roy Oswalt, 4.37
   2005 - Pedro Martinez, 4.43
Haren is blowing the recent champions away - you have to go back to 2004, with Ben Sheets (8.25) and Randy Johnson (6.59) to find a better figure. The next best behind Dan this year (min 60 IP) is Sheets, but he's all the way down at 3.72.

It helped that the offense continues to click on all cylinders pounding out thirteen more hits, with ever starter - including Haren - getting at least one. Hudson had two hits and a walk; Young, Tracy and Reynolds all added two each, with Special K slamming his 22nd homer in the eighth. That was immediately followed by Chris Snyder's ninth, and our catcher also reached on a walk. The turning point was a four-run fifth, where the Diamondbacks turned a two-run deficit into a two-run lead, helped by some shoddy defense by the Padres.

Romero doubled to lead off the frame, and was able to take third as the result of an error by Headley in left. Haren then hit a chopper to Kouzmanoff at third, whose not-very good throw was handled tentatively at home by Bard, as Romero charged home. That's probably understandable, since Bard missed two months with an ankle injury after a collision at home - in the same game against the Cardinals, where evil Chris Young took a liner to the nose. The ball skittered away, Romero was safe, and Haren advanced to second. Young smacked an RBI double off the outfield wall; Hudson walked; Jackson loaded the bases on an infield hit; but it was Chad Tracy who had the big knock, floating a two-run single to right-field. He has 29 RBI in only 46 games.

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Master of his domain: Chris Young, +18.7%
Honorable mentions: Tracy, +17.3%; Haren (bat), +13.6%; Haren (pitch), +11.2%
God-emperor of suck: Stephen Drew, -11.5%

Present in the thread were kishi, AZWILDCATS, Turambar, AF DBacks Fanatic, Scrbl, dahlian, Azreous, Muu, hotclaws, TwinnerA, foulpole, AJforAZ, snakecharmer, luckycc, srdmad, soco, mrssoco, unnamedDBacksfan, Zephon, Shums (welcome!), singaporedbacksfan and emilylovesthedbacks. Thanks to them for their participation, as the team took their third straight series, and improved to a very credible 5-1 on this road-trip. It takes the Diamondbacks three games over .500, for the first time since we won the opener of the series in Boston, back on June 23. We're 7-3 in the past ten games, our best record over such a stretch since we also went 7-3 from April 21-30, exactly three months ago.

It was yet another crucial win, as the Dodgers were blanking the Giants for the second consecutive day - for the seventh consecutive game, Arizona and Los Angeles had the same result, either both winning or both losing. Obviously, the streak stops here, since the two teams play each other for the next four days. Each side will miss the other's "ace" - in terms of the starter with the lowest ERA, being Haren for us and Billingsley for the Dodgers. There are still some intriguing matchups: a sinkerballer rematch between Webb and Lowe tomorrow, and then Randy Johnson, at age 44 years 10 months, versus fellow lefty Clayton Kershaw, age 20 years 4 months. Kershaw wasn't even six months old when the Big Unit made his major-league debut. Now, they face off on Friday. And that's just the first couple of games...

Onwards to LA!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Record: 41-41. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: -5

This was a game which we would have won, if only... That sentence can be completed in a number of ways. If only Mark Reynolds hadn't made a hash of a ground-ball from Willingham, turning it into a double. if only home-plate umpire Brian Runge had been able to count - Orlando Hudson was denied a walk to lead off the fourth, despite getting ball four. If only Brandon Lyon hadn't allowed his first run in a save situation since April 6. If only Hermida's subsequent double had been six inches to the left, and so foul.

However, if wishes were horses, the Diamondbacks would be spending most of their time mucking out their locker-room, and the post-game buffet would consist largely of sugar-lumps. To no great surprise, the team failed to score enough runs to put the opposition away, and the bullpen coughed up three runs in 1.1 innings, allowing the Marlins to escape from a Win Probability of only 11.8%, after Lyon retired the first hitter in the bottom of the ninth. That was his only success; Ramirez homered to tie the game up, then Hermida doubled, advanced on a wild-pitch, and a single punched through the drawn-in infield, gave the Marlins victory.

Poor Dan Haren. He was, once again, incredibly solid, going seven innings with the only run allowed was an unearned one in the sixth, after Reynolds' fourteenth error of the season. Haren allowed five hits, two walks and seven K's, and left the game with a 3-1 lead, in line for the victory. Our bullpen took care of that, however; Peña gave up a walk, two hits and a run in the eighth, and then Lyon blew the save and took the loss in the ninth. I suppose we know Lyon's streak of saves was bound to end eventually: just a shame that it robbed such a deserving start by Haren of the win. I think there's no doubt Haren was player of the month for Arizona in June: he went six-for-six in quality starts during the month of June, with a minuscule ERA of 1.32, and certainly deserves more than three victories.

Oh, look: Arizona scored three runs or less, for the twelfth time in the past fifteen games. Two came on a homer by Drew in the third, after Haren had doubled [it's worth noting he has driven in more runs than Owings this year, and has the same number of RBI as Miguel Montero]; the other came courtesy of Chris Burke, who just got a hit to drop in front of the charging left-fielder, scoring Jackson from third with two outs. Jackson was lucky to be there: he should have nailed trying to turn a single into a double, but the throw from left bobbled past the infielder. Candiotti - whom I usually enjoy listening to - praised the "aggressive base-running," but I put it in the category of "psychotic" rather than "aggressive". See also our stolen-base percentage, now sitting at an inefficient 66%, compared to 82% last season. Jackson had two hits, Drew and Montero a hit and a walk.

The remarkable failure of Runge to give Hudson a walk after the fourth ball does deserve some more attention. It looked like Hudson thought it was ball four, but no-one in the Diamondbacks dugout seemed to back him up: was nobody over there keeping count? I know someone is supposed to be charting the pitches, often the next day's starter. Did Doug Davis not pick this up? I can understand the other umpires staying quiet - a cardinal rule is not to offer an opinion on another umpire's decision, unless asked for it. But someone from Arizona should have been willing to ask Runge to double-check. It's also worth noting, something Sutton brought up: the official record of the game on MLB Gameday was quickly censored to remove ball four. That's just wrong. I certainly hope someone speaks to Runge, as he had a horrible game, with a strike-zone that was more of a strike-shiftingamorphousblob.

Here's a startling section from the AP recap. "The Diamondbacks took fielding practice before the game after committing two errors the night before. Arizona has only taken fielding practice two or three times this season, Melvin said." Am i missing something obvious here? Do players stop practicing on their weaknesses once they reach the majors or something? Our defense has been a constant, obvious issue in the first three months, Arizona has allowed the most unearned runs in the NL - and our players have "only taken fielding practice two or three times" in the entire first-half? What, pray tell, have they been doing before the other 78 games? Taking care of all the ponies, it would appear.

The good news is, Byrnes, who didn't play today, "probably" won't be hitting lead-off on his return. The bad news is, the candidates Melvin keeps talking about rolling out there are Drew and Young, who both have on-base percentages almost at .300. It won't be O-Dawg, much though that idea has its appeal - not least, because it'd help stop him from hitting into so many double-plays, for which he is on course for another franchise record, smashing the one which he set last season. Melvin described him as, "Our most consistent guy. If you move him up to solve a problem, you might open up another problem." At this point, I think anything is worth a shot.

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Master of his domain: Dan Haren, +32.1%
Honorable mention: Stephen Drew, +18.7%
God-emperor of suck: Brandon Lyon, -79.1%

Present in the GameDay Thread were; DbacksSkins, soco, mrssoco, unnamedDBacksfan, Zephon, luckycc, kishi, emilylovesthedbacks, hotclaws, TwinnerA, Wimb, srdmad, 4 Corners Fan, seton hall snake pit, dahlian, peeklay and garyho, so thanks to them for their participation. The road-trip ends on a downer: Arizona lost all three series, went 2-7 on the trip, and go back home with their lead cut to 2.5 games. Fortunately, the Dodgers were on the receiving end of a 1-0 game this afternoon, or things would likely be worse. However, we face another team over ..500, in the shape of the Milwaukee Brewers, who are in town for four games. I think taking two of those would be something of an achievement, based on the woeful output of our bats on this trip.

And it almost worked. Unbridled Pessimism day at the Pit nearly pulled off a stunning upset, with the Diamondbacks leading the Red Sox by two runs, with just four outs left to get. But, inevitably, the lead was coughed up by Chad 'Inherited Runners' Qualls and we snatched disaster from the jaws of triumph. If only we had maintained a united front of gloom and doom in the Gameday Thread. But nooooo: someone decided they were "all about positivity." "I'm not going to join in," said the Cheerful Charlie. "Deal with it." It only takes one to spoil the barrel of vinegar, and as a result, I refer you to my post of 5:30 pm:

You'll be sorry when the inevitable implosion comes, and the rest of us say, "Told you so…"

All together now: told you so.

Let's not be selfish, since there's plenty of blame to go around. Start with our hitters, for failing to capitalize on a host of opportunities during the early frames. After six innings, we had seven hits and four walks - enough to have buried the Red Sox totally. However, all we had to show for it was Tracy's three-run homer and an RBI single, also by Chad. Chris Young grounded into a double-play to end the fifth, and the chances dried up: from that point on, we went 1-for-14, and didn't  get another man into scoring position. Even allowing for our deep disdain for all things positive, a three-run lead just never felt like it was going to be enough, even though Davis was pitching well.

He'd allowed five hits and a walk through the front seven, with the only damage a one-out homer by Pedroia in the first inning. Beyond that, he was great at throwing the Red Sox hitters curves when they were expecting cutters, and vice-versa. From the second through the seventh innings, Boston only had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position. His final line was seven innings, seven hits, one walk, six K's and three earned runs: another very solid outing, another no-decision. It leaves the unfortunate Davis still winless in over a month, even though four of those six appearances have been quality starts.

Way to go, Melvin: leave your starter in too long, bring in the wrong reliever, and then leave him out there until the game is lost. You must get up very early. With Haren publicly saying last night, how he was done after 98 pitches, what made you think Davis was still fresh after 94? And how many times has Davis got any outs in the eighth inning for AZ? Exactly once in 41 starts. Lo, the Red Sox got two hard-hit singles, and the tying run was suddenly at the plate, with the big guns in their order coming up, in the shape of Pedroia, Drew and Ramirez. Time to go to the bullpen, for sure - even if Melvin was late to get anyone warming up there. So who does our manager pluck out of the pen, with men in scoring position? Chad Qualls, who has shown a horrible fondness for botching situations like that this season.

Here are Qualls' splits for the year, coming into today's game:
   Bases empty: .176/.263/.250
   Men on base: .242/.310/.355
   Runners in scoring position: .333/.404/.487
The last figure will now look even worse, as Boston went 3-for-5 tonight there against Qualls - a quick bit of button-pushing reveals opponents are now batting .364 against him with RISP. I know Melvin was aiming for the twin killing, but Qualls has just one double-play since April 24, covering 33 at-bats with someone on first. Give him an empty inning, and he is fine; bring him in with the bases clogged, and this is why Qualls leads the majors in losses by a reliever, with a 1-6 record. You'd think lessons might have been learned after Saturday in Minnesota, where he retired just one of six hitters he faced with men in scoring position.

That's the third defeat in a row where we had the lead, and couldn't hang on to it. Only three outs left, so we didn't have much hope of pulling this out of the fire: especially facing Papelbon, who has a 1.52 ERA post-2005, the lowest in the majors of any pitcher with 100+ innings. A one-out walk by Byrnes gave fractional cause for hope: might he steal second, and put us just a bloop away from tying the game? In a word, no. He almost got picked off once, and after that, he never looked like he was even going to try. Drew fanned, and Hudson grounded harmlessly out, to end the game.

Positives, outside of Doug Davis? Well, the Dodgers lost. Tracy looked good, driving in all four runs with two hits, and also getting a walk. Jackson also reached safely three times, on a hit and two walks, while Hudson chipped in with a couple of hits. But Young continues to free-fall going 0-for-4, and one wonders why Reynolds and Upton were both benched for the night; replacements Ojeda and Salazar were 0-for-7. Beyond that, I can offer nothing better than Dbackskins' fabulous visual aid:

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Master of his domain: Chad Tracy, +34.9%
Honorable mention: Doug Davis, +13.3%
God-emperor of suck: Chad Qualls, -62.7%
Dishonorable mentions: Drew -16.4%, Snyder -11.3%

Another monstrous Gameday Thread, almost necessitating a double-overspill, and ending at 928 posts for the night. Present were 4 Corners Fan, DbacksSkins, Muu, dbacksfan01, Zephon, hotclaws, TwinnerA, soco, dahlian, kishi, luckycc, emilylovesthedbacks, Augie's Army, seton hall snake pit, Counsellmember, likeavirgin, mrssoco, Wimb, Diamondhacks, dstorm, srdmad, unnamedDBacksfan and ChandlerDad. Thanks to them for their presence, and a brave but futile pursuit of Unbridled Pessimism day: I don't think we'll be trying that again in a hurry. Still, we regroup and get ready to come back strong tomorrow, when we will be formally auditioning a new potential saint for the Diamondbacks pantheon. So that'll be nice...

Record: 40-37. Pace: 84-78. Change on last season: -4

There's a lot to be said for unbridled pessimism. After the dismal muggings we received in Minnesota, where the Twins snuck up on the Diamondbacks from behind, and whacked them over the head with an inning full of runs, I was entirely convinced that we were going to get our asses seriously kicked in Boston. After all, the Red Sox are only the reigning World Series champions and possessors of the best record in baseball this year. Plus, in Josh Beckett, they were sending to the mound, the only guy in the AL to win twenty games last season. What chance did the miserable Arizona CubicZirconiabacks have, having plated more than three runs just once in their past nine games?

Scoring. It's vastly over-rated. Because, for the third time in the last four victories, we needed two runs or less to take the win: a bit of a turnaround, given we managed it once in the first 36 W's. This was largely thanks to the heroic efforts of Dan Haren, who pitched seven shutout innings against a potent offense. While Webb has struggled in June, Haren has not, pitching 34 innings in five starts, all quality ones, and allowing six earned runs, for an ERA of 1.59. This was probably his best outing of the season, giving up only two hits and a walk, with one Red Sox advancing past first base until the seventh inning.

Said Haren, "Against a lineup like that, you can't fall behind. You can't walk guys. I was pretty aggressive with my fastballs. I probably threw more fastballs than I usually do. It's such a good lineup. I've faced them quite a bit. When I was ahead, I made sure I stayed ahead.," adding, "It really wasn’t the game plan coming in. I was just able to keep it down and away." Obviously, with the Red Sox rarely more than a swing away from going ahead, there was little room for error:  "The adrenaline going in a nothing-nothing game. There is so much effort in every pitch. Here, every pitch meant so much, especially the last inning, being second and third, tying run at second. I'm letting pretty much every pitch go, and snapping every breaking ball as hard as I could. It was a max-effort 100 pitches." Well done, Dan: well done.

It was scoreless after six: the Diamondbacks had almost as much trouble solving Beckett, as the Red Sox did against Haren. However, it was the Boston pitcher who cracked first. Jackson walked to lead off the seventh, and Reynolds singled with one out. Young then doubled off the Green Monster to break the 0-0 tie. We then caught a potentially game-changing break: first-baseman Kevin Youkilis had departed, the Greek god of black-eyes, after getting hit under the right eye by a one-hopper from Mike Lowell during warmups before the fifth. With backup 1B Casey, suspended for his part in a brawl with Tampa, Boston had to use outfielder Brandon Moss at first. This proved critical, as he bobbled Snyder's grounder, allowing Reynolds to score from third, when there might have been a play at the plate.

Subsequent events made that run very, very important. After Tony Peña got the first batter in the eighth, a walk and two singles loaded the bases with one out, and put the tying run into scoring position. Stephen's big brother, J.D. Drew, then hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-1, and bring Manny Ramirez to the plate, in front of the baying Fenway faithful. He blistered a screaming line-drive towards the left side of the infield, and my unbridled pessimism looked to be entirely justified.  However, somehow, Reynolds got his glove on the ball to end the threat. After that, Brandon Lyon retiring the Red Sox in order, on a mere five pitches in the ninth, proved something of an anti-climax, albeit an extremely welcome one.

Eric Byrnes was activated from the DL before the game, despite having gone an unimpressive 1-for-12 during his rehab stint with Visalia. "We look forward to having a healthy Eric Byrnes and hopefully he has all his weapons to go and he can run and do some of the things he wasn't able to do before he went on the DL," said Melvin. Insert obvious, snarky remark here, for Byrnes was immediately inserted into the leadoff spot...and immediately returned to his former results, going 0-for-5 with six men left on base. But, dammit all, with the team having gone 9-16 in his absence, he can go ohfer as many as he wants, just as long as we win the game. Alex Romero was optioned down to Tucson to make way for the return of our most highly-paid position player.

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Master of his domain: Dan Haren, +44.8%
Honorable mentions: Young, +24.9%; Lyon, +20.9%
God-emperor of suck: Eric Byrnes, -18.5%. Welcome back, #22...

Very nice Gameday Thread, totaling over 860 posts at time of writing. Those present were: Zephon, kishi, seton hall snake pit, TwinnerA, DbacksSkins, 4 Corners Fan, LucaMaz3, soco, Wimb, snakecharmer, hotclaws, Muu, luckycc, dahlian, srdmad, emilylovesthedbacks, Counsellmember, Turambar, Diamondhacks, dbacksfan01, friendly visiting fan Allen Chace and unnamedDBacksfan. Just to echo something mentioned in the thread, please do try and refrain from the unnecessary use of F-bombs and similar words. While understandable under some circumstances, it does appear to have become more common of late, and I'd rather posters find alternative terms - or, indeed, languages! - to express their disappointment. I don't want to have to start rattling a virtual swear-box under your nose. :-) We appreciate your co-operation in this matter...

But this was one he...ck of a good win. It doesn't change anything though: indeed, I am now determined than ever to go through the rest of the road-trip, convinced that Arizona is going to lose each and every game. So, go on, D-backs - surprise me again tomorrow, why don't you? Final, upbeat note for the night: first-round pick Daniel Schlereth is healed, near deal with D'backs.

"Everything's fine. The Diamondbacks know what it is. It has not scared them away. It bothered them a little bit when they saw on TV that I was icing my elbow, but that was not the problem. We are in negotiations. It's going well. They came up with an offer and all we are looking for is a fair deal, and I'm sure we will get it done." [He] was originally thought to have a strained oblique muscle, according to UA coach Andy Lopez... Schlereth, a left-hander, said it was more of a minor triceps injury that started three days before the first game against Miami. "I knew I pulled something," he said. "I felt I would just throw through it, but couldn't. I felt it would go away, but when I started to warm up in the bullpen (during the first day) I just couldn't throw with it."

For more draft coverage, Nick Piecoro has a nice set of round-by-round capsules on the players we picked. This covers the first ten picks, and a couple of interesting selections beyond that. Didn't realize the Justin Parker we chose in the sixth round, was the older brother of last year's first-round pick, Jarrod Parker. Good stuff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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