Lopez had a severely schizophrenic season in 2008, blowing chunks so badly in the first-half of the season that he was dumped by Washington - and when a team on their way to 102 losses releases you, it’s not a good sign. However, he was picked up the St. Louis Cardinals and promptly caught fire with them down the stretch, batting .385 over 43 games, with an OPS of .964. If Lopez can recapture anything like that for Arizona next season, he’ll be among the most-productive second-basemen in the majors - last season’s best OPS was Chase Utley’s .915. The consensus seems to be that Lopez lost all motivation in Washington, and basically tanked it there. However, with the Diamondbacks expected to be among the contenders in the NL West, and with free-agency beckoning for Lopez again at the end of 2009, this shouldn’t be an issue in Arizona.

There are question-marks over his defense, but if you can ignore Hudson’s fondness for the incredibly showy Web Gems, and look at the objective statistics, there may not be as much of a difference as you’d imagine. Hudson’s defensive numbers have been declining steadily over the past few years, and being honest, the Gold Glove he won in 2007 was probably as much due to his reputation as anything. When measured by Range Factor - basically, the percentage of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that they convert into outs - Lopez was actually superior to Hudson last season, with both of his clubs. Stephen Drew’s left ear will probably also welcome the break.

The other major move of significance was the acquisition of left-handed reliever Scott Schoeneweis from the Mets, in exchange for Connor Robertson, who spent most of the 2008 season pitching in Tucson for our Triple-A affiliate. New York were kind enough to send a suitcase of cash along with Schoeneweis, to help offset his salary next year, which is $3.6m - Arizona will end up paying about two million. It looks likely that he will be replacing Doug Slaten as the LOOGY [lefty one-out guy] of choice in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen, and if used strictly in that role, should be very effective.

The emphasis in that last sentence is very important. He hardly endeared himself to Mets fans during his time there, but that was largely because their managers left him in there to face right-handed batters too. Over the past two seasons, he has dominated lefties utterly, restricting them to a .191 average, while righties have clobbered Schoenenweis at a .324 clip. A sniper should be positioned in the stands to take him out, should Bob Melvin repeat this mistake, instead of using him solely against the opposition’s best lefties, like Utley, Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder.

One surprise during the winter meetings in Las Vegas came on the last day, when the Diamondbacks picked up a player in the Rule 5 draft. After a certain time in the minor-league system, players have to be added to the 40-man roster by their team, or another franchise can pluck them away for $50,000 - the catch is, the gaining team must keep them on their 25-man roster [the major-league one] for the entire season, or offer them back to the original team for half the cost. While most such picks never amount to anything much, there have been a couple of exceptions: Johan Santana was plucked from the Astros by the Marlins, though he was immediately sold on to the Twins, and Arizona lost future All-Star second-baseman Dan Uggla to Florida in the 2005 draft.

The Diamondbacks picked 23-year old catcher James Skelton from the Detroit Tigers, and since efforts to move their other catchers, Miguel Montero and Chris Snyder, have met with no success, it seems the team will go into Opening Day with three on the roster. Skelton is slightly-built, a mere 5′9″ tall and listed at 165 lbs, which is well below average for major-league catchers, and there has been discussion about shifting him to second-base down the line. However, what the left-handed hitting Skelton has done throughout his minor-league career, is get on-base at a ferocious rate: over five seasons, his OBP is a startling .416, and between three stops last season (High-A, Double-A and a cup of coffee in the majors), it was an even more-impressive .456. Again, for comparison, the best AZ OBP last season was Conor Jackson’s .376.

Utility infielder Augie Ojeda will also be back, having signed a one-year deal for $712,500, but Chris Burke, Robby Hammock, Wil Ledezma and Jeff Salazar were not tendered contracts for 2009, and so don’t appear to be part of the team’s plans. However, the team is still negotiating with Tony Clark to be a back-up first-baseman and pinch-hitter off the bench, as well as to mentor the younger players. I’m not convinced this is a good use of a roster spot. While I wouldn’t be averse at all to having Clark as a coach, the purpose of having a left-handed backup first baseman escapes me, when the main player at that position (Chad Tracy) is also left-handed, and Clark has hit only .215 (28-for-130) off the bench in the past three seasons. Assuming a deal is reached, and I can’t see us having much competition for his services, this makes the 2009 roster look as follows at this point:

The uncertainties are in italics. Mostly, as you’ll see, the back of the bullpen where we have three spots which could go to any of the following: Billy Buckner, Juan Gutierrez, Reid Mahon, Yusmeiro Petit, Jailen Peguero, Leo Rosales, Doug Slaten, and left-hander Travis Blackley. The last-named was signed yesterday to a deal that’s really a speculative shot at a prospect with some upside potential, if he has fully recovered from the shoulder surgery which derailed his career after the 2004 season. He and Gutierrez are both out of minor-league options, so would have to make the roster or be exposed to other teams, so that probably gives them an edge at this point.

You’ll probably notice that the fourth starter’s spot is blank; this is a change from what we previously thought, that Scherzer was going to be there, with someone like Petit taking the last spot on the rotation. it’s based on an online chat Diamondbacks’ CEO Jeff Moorad had with fans, where he said Scherzer would be the number five, with the fourth being “a player to be named.” This has set off a mini-storm of speculation as to what ; it’s not as if the budget appears to hold much room for acquiring a free-agent, and our catchers seemed to be about the only chips worth trading. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything comes of this, or if we do indeed end up with Petit as our fifth starter come next April.

And that’s the last from me in 2008. I want to wish everyone out there a happy and peaceful festive season, as well as all the best for 2009.

WHO GETS ARBITRATION?

Two groups of players are eligible for arbitration. Firstly, arbitration is automatically available to all players with between three and six years of major league service time [the top 17% of players with two years service also qualify]. On the 2008 Diamondbacks, this will include the likes of Conor Jackson and Chris Snyder. Until this point in their career, teams can pay their players whatever they want, which is almost always league minimum - though don’t cry, since we’re still talking about $400K!

However, once they hit arbitration, players can either work out a deal with their club (usually this is what happens, with a one year contract being the norm), or go through the arbitration process, as described below. Some players may agree, in advance, to sell their arbitration years. This is what Chad Tracy did; he signed an extension early in his third year, covering all the arbitration years, with a club option for an extra season in 2010.

Once a player files for free agengy, typically at the end of his sixth year in the major-leagues, his team may offer the player arbitration. There are a couple of differences here, most notably that it is optional on both sides. A team does not *have* to offer a free-agent arbitration, but if they don’t, they will lose any compensation for another team signing him. Similarly, a player does not have to accept arbitration: indeed, the majority will refuse, believing that they will receive a better return on the free-agent market, getting a longer contract and/or more money.

THE ARBITRATION PROCESS

During the month of January, both the player and the team submit their opinion of a one-year salary, without knowing what the other has given. They can still negotiate with each other, but if they have not come to an agreement, then at some point in the first three weeks of February, there is a hearing before an independent arbitrator. Each side gets one hour to present its case, with an additional thirty minutes to rebut the arguments of the other side. Things that may be taken into consideration are the player’s performance, the team’s record, and salaries of players with comparable experience.

The arbitrator will then decide whether the contract will be at the player’s valuation, or the team’s. There is no middle-ground: he can’t choose a value in the middle. This helps guarantee that both sides provide values in good faith, as any outrageous suggestion by either party will be unlikely to succeed. Generally, the clubs tend to win in the majority of cases: in this February’s hearings, they were victorious in six of eight cases, and took four of seven in the 2007 cycle. All told, since the current system started in 1974, they’ve won 58% of the time.

FREE-AGENT COMPENSATION

Another difference is that if a free-agent player declines arbitration, his team may get compensation, in the form of draft picks. A 3-6 year player can *only* sign with his current team, so they can’t lose him. But depending on the quality of the free-agent, if he refuses an offer arbitration, his team will get one or two draft picks. The quality is measured by the Elias Sports Bureau, using the statistics over the past two years. All players [not just free-agents] are grouped along with those of similar positions - for example, first-basemen, outfielders and DH are classified together. The top 20% are ‘Type A’; the next 20%, ‘Type B’; the remaining 60% are not classified.

If a Type A player refuses arbitration from Team X, and signs with Team Y, then Team X gets the first-round draft pick of Team Y, and a ’supplemental’ pick, which takes place between the first and second rounds. However, if Team Y’s first-round pick is in the top half [#1-#15 overall], then that is deemed too valuable, and they forfeit their second-round pick instead. For losing a Type B player in the same way, Team X just get a supplemental pick - Team Y don’t lose anything themselves in the case. Losing any players ranked below Type B results in no compensation.

ARBITRATION AND THE DIAMONDBACKS

Arizona has no less than seven free-agents this off-season. Two of these [David Eckstein and Tony Clark] were not ranked by Elias, but the other five were. Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson and Juan Cruz were Type A, while Brandon Lyon and Randy Johnson were Type B. However, only three - Hudson, Cruz and Lyon - were offered arbitration hearings. Dunn and Johnson were not. It’s perhaps worth looking a bit further into the logic behind the particular decisions made by the team.

Offering Hudson and Cruz arbitration was pretty much a no-brainer. Hudson is looking for his big payday and is, by a very long way, the best second baseman on the free-agent market. So he will decline arbitration, and Arizona will get two draft picks as a result. Juan Cruz, one of the best relievers in the league over the past couple of years, earned less than $2m last season, so even if he accepts arbitration, would probably only get a million or so more, still making him good value. Again, if he opts to test the free-agent market, Arizona will vacuum up the draft picks.

Not offering Johnson arbitration also makes sense. Negotiations broke down because Arizona wouldn’t offer him even 50% of his 2008 salary [$14 million]. In arbitration, it would be very rare for the player to be awarded less than that. and so, any such hearing was a no-win situation for the Diamondbacks. I was somewhat surprised that Lyon was offered arbitration. If he’d remained our closer, this would have been the right decision, but at $3m this season, he isn’t cheap, and I’m not sure what market there will be for a failed closer. He could well accept arbitration, and win or lose, the team will end up paying quite a lot for someone scheduled to be only a set-up man this year.

The case of Dunn is probably the most interesting one. Initially, when we traded for him in the late summer, the expectation was to offer him arbitration, which he’d decline, instead heading off for a big payday in the free-agent market. That was, however, then: this is now, after a financial crisis which has sent a lot of franchises closing their wallets. The anticipated usual bonanza for top-level free agents like Dunn could prove to be a mirage, and it’s easy to see him opting for arbitration and a guaranteed one-year contract in 2009. This would only delay his free-agency and the market might prove a good deal more fruitful by the time early 2010 comes around. He’s young enough that twelve months might not make a difference.

Dunn accepting arbitration would have been a budget-buster for the Diamondbacks. Most wisdom shows them as having about $10 million to spend this off-season, and that includes filling the hole at second-base. Dunn earned $14 million last year, and after his fifth straight forty-homer year, arbitration would have certainly increased that total by a couple of million. To be blunt, Arizona could not afford that kind of payday - so, they couldn’t afford the risk of offering Dunn arbitration. and him accepting. Oddly, Ken Rosenthal states that the Diamondbacks “made one last run at Dunn, proposing a two-year deal shortly before the arbitration deadline at midnight ET Monday.” It’s hard to see what kind of offer they could have made him, while remaining within their expected budget.

Another factor to be taken into consideration is the cost of signing all those additional draft picks. Last year, the Diamondbacks spent less than $4.5 million on signing all their draft choices. Adding a large number of early picks could easily double or almost triple that amount come the summer. As is, if Hudson, Cruz and Lyon opt to decline arbitration, the team will have no less than six picks before the start of the second round. While helpful in the long run [especially with a farm system that's been heavily mined in the past couple of years], it may not be something the franchise will be able to afford.

It will be interesting to see whereabout the team will spend their ten million dollar war-chest in the coming months. It clearly doesn’t appear that it’s going to be on Adam Dunn, Randy Johnson or Orlando Hudson…

1. Who’s on Second?
Orlando Hudson is a free-agent, and despite the injury which ended his season early, looks set to receive a big pay-day from somewhere else. I don’t really mind that too much. He’ll be 31 before Christmas and, while still likely to be productive for a couple of seasons, it’s likely whoever signs him will get at least one or two years of offensive decline, depending on the length of the deal. This is already apparent in O-Dawg’s defense, where the objective evidence, as measured by stats like Range Factor, is already trending towards average, if not below. Whatever deal he gets will be over-valued, so I’m at ease with him going elsewhere, and Arizona getting draft picks as a result.

The question then becomes, who plays second for Arizona? With all due respect, and much as I love the guy, Augie Ojeda is not the answer. A .642 OPS last season - and that’s actually better than his career average - won’t cut it for production at the plate, though he will still likely have a role as a bench player. The list of free-agents isn’t exactly overwhelming either: the only one younger than Hudson is Felipe Lopez, who hit .234 for Washington before being cut [St. Louis picked him up and, admittedly, he did well for them]. There’s not much in the farm system either: after the trade of Emilio Bonifacio, getting the starts at second for Tucson was career minor-leaguer Don Kelly, who’ll be 29 by Opening Day and has never played a single game in the majors.

The two possibilities are a trade - something almost impossible to predict - or shifting Mark Reynolds from third to second-base. The latter in intriguing; while his major-league leading number of errors might have you wincing, most of those were on throws to first, something that should be alleviated by a move to half the distance or less. There’s no doubting Reynolds’ athleticism, and he did play the position sporadically throughout his minor-league career. Whether that will convert to the big leagues is the key question: his bat was a potent one, and if he proves capable of turning the double-play with Stephen Drew, this would seem the most likely solution.

2. Will Randy return?
Johnson’s performance in 2008 proved a small wonder, passing all expectation in terms of his durability, even though he didn’t reach the goal of 300 career victories. He finished five short, despite his first nine-inning outing in over three years, on the final day of the season against Colorado, but the back issues which curtailed 2007 were all but absent. The Big Unit had an ERA of 2.41 after the All-Star break, sixth best in the National League [min. 60 innings]. Like Hudson, he’s going to be a free-agent - the question is both, can the Diamondbacks afford to bring him back and, can the Diamondbacks afford not to bring him back?

The team is due to get some payroll relief with the expiration of Johnson’s current deal, which paid him $10m this year, Hudson ($6.25m), and also the merciful end of Russ Ortiz, who got paid $8.5m by the team to sit on his useless ass and recover from surgery, having been waived in June 2006, less than half-way through a four-year deal. It’s generally though payroll will receive a small bump too. However, against that, many of the current players under contract are due to receive increases - Dan Haren’s new agreement, gives him $7.5m for next year, compared to $4m in 2008. Those all total around $13m, eating significantly into available funds.

The question is really how much of a home-town discount Johnson is prepared to give the team with which he won a World Series, threw a perfect game, etc. If they can agree on a figure, perhaps around $8m, then I think everyone would be happy, though the D-backs might have to forage down the back of Ken Moorad’s sofa to get together that much money. But if Johnson demands eight figures - and even at his age, based on his 2008 performance, it’s not unreasonable to think he’d get it elsewhere - then we could have an impasse. Again, even with the likely arrival of Max Scherzer, there isn’t much to look forward to coming up in the farm system. But that might change…

3. Is it just me, or is there a draft in here?
Almost as important as who the Diamondbacks sign, is who they don’t sign. Because, to help maintain competitive balance, if you offer a free-agent player arbitration, and he declines, you receive one or two draft picks in compensation. What you get depends on a) the player signed, and b) the team they sign with, so it’s important to keep an eye on this over the winter, as Arizona could end up with as many as nine picks in the first, second and supplementary [between the first and second] rounds of the June draft, though initial reports suggest it’s going to be a pretty weak selection of players].

Free agents are divided, based on their performance over the previous two years, as Type A, Type B or unclassified. You get nothing for losing the last category. Type A players will get us a supplemental pick and a compensatory pick from the signing team. Type B free agents get us just a supplemental round pick. The compensatory picks are the highest available the signing team has, but the first 15 picks in the first round can’t be lost: a team would give us their second round pick instead. And If a team owes multiple draft picks to different teams, the team whose player had a higher score gets the higher ranked pick.

Of our free agents, Hudson, Dunn and Cruz look likely to be Type A, with Lyon a Type B. If we don’t sign any of them, that would therefore be seven additional picks to Arizona, in addition to our own two: nine of the top 80 or thereabouts. Quite a haul, as we look to rebuild the farm system. So not signing free agents is not necessarily a bad thing. Oh, and in case you’re wondering Randy Johnson, while a free agent, is unclassified, largely because his 2007 season was so poor, and the system uses two years of results. If we sign him this season, then at the end of next year, his status will be based on 2008 and 2009, and might be much better.

4. The crowded outfield.
This is one of those issues that could end up solving itself to a certain extent. But, in an ideal world, we would have Adam Dunn at first next year, with an outfield consisting of Eric Byrnes, Conor Jackson, Justin Upton and Chris Young. Unfortunately, you’ve probably noticed four outfield players named and, I need hardly point out, only three spots. Even with the odds being against Dunn getting re-signed, we may well see Chad Tracy the full-time incumbent at first, though that depends on whether Reynolds gets moved to second-base or not.

We are, as you can see, dealing with a domino-like situation of positions and players here, which makes it extremely difficult to come up with any accurate predictions at this point. One thing seems sure: Eric Byrnes has made it abundantly clear [link goes to MP3 of interview] that he isn’t going anywhere, saying, “No Trade Clause to any team. If you try to trade me, I have my middle finger up in the air so don’t even worry about it. Save the phone call.” Since it seems safe to assume Young, Upton and Jackson aren’t going anywhere, this one will be interesting.

It would also seem to all but rule out any chance of Luis Gonzalez returning to the team. He expressed interest in returning, but there seems to be little chance of this. Not only is there no credible spot for him on the roster, it appears that a number of the young players [Drew and Young in particular] were rubbed the wrong way by the veteran during his previous tenure. Now that these some young players are the core of the team, it would be extremely risky for clubhouse chemistry, if management were to bring back Gonzalez for a last hurrah, simply to satisfy the nattering nabobs of negativity on the AZ Central message boards.

5. A bullpen that’s full of it.
“It” in this case being reliability. Whatever the cause, there’s no doubt that the 2008 version was a good deal less effective than the one in 2007: last year, the relief corps had a record was 17-28, compared to 30-19 when we won the pennant. Oddly, the ERA was only marginally higher, at 4.09 compared to 3.95, so it seems as if the raw talent wasn’t much changed: perhaps they just gave up runs at the most inopportune moments. We’ll likely be losing Juan Cruz, who posted the lowest ERA at 2.61 and struck out 71 in only 51.2 innings, a rate better than almost everyone else in the majors. And Brandon Lyon is also eligible as a free-agent, though whether anyone wants him or not, remains to be seen.

Chad Qualls is currently the incumbent in the closer’s spot, and he performed admirably in the role, converting seven straight chances. He didn’t allow a run in the final month of the season, throwing 14.2 scoreless innings and allowing only six hits and one walk, while fanning 13. Behind him, Tony Peña looks likely to start 2008 as he did this season, in the set-up role. The key question is how Jon Rauch bounces back from his dreadful performance since being traded from Washington. He had a 6.56 ERA and was tagged with an 0-6 record in only 23.1 innings, the long-ball in particularly proving problematic. He’s under AZ control through 2010, so a rebound from him would be nice.

The other four bullpen spots are more or less open. Leo Rosales and Jailen Peguero both did okay in their time with us, while Doug Slaten remains the LOOGY of choice, in part due to a lack of credible other options. The long-relief and/or mop-up role looks to be between Yusmeiro Petit and Edgar Gonzalez, assuming the latter makes a good return from a strained elbow. It’d be nice if two or three of those turned out to be solid options for Melvin to turn to, late in games.

What worked

1. April. The team has a simply blistering start to the year. After dropping the first series in Cincinnati, they reeled off eight wins in a row, and they didn’t lose another set until into May. They finished the opening month with a record of 20-8 and by April 25, had built a lead of as much as 6.5 games - a record for that date in the season. Conor Jackson had a line of .348/.430/.630, uber-prospect Justin Upton hit .327 and Brandon Webb went 6-0 with an ERA of below two. Add Haren and Owings, and those three starters had a record of 14-1. You couldn’t ask for a better early return than that.
2. Stephen Drew. There’s no doubt that our short-stop was one of the main disappointments from 2007. The first-round pick hit only .238, figures reminiscent of former light-hitting AZ shortstops like Clayton, Womack and Counsell. Drew blossomed into the man we hoped for this season, producing offensive numbers that surpassed other, far more renowned players at the position. He hit .291/.333/.502 - that OPS of .835 was second among all qualifying shortstops, behind only Hanley Ramirez and ahead of such names as Miguel Tejada, reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes and even Derek Jeter. Add in solid enough defense, and it’s one position we can ink into the line-up for 2009.
3. The rotation. On Opening Day, there were question marks about almost every one of our starting pitchers behind Webb. Doug Davis had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer; Randy Johnson’s back was largely unproven; Dan Haren had slumped in the second-half. By the end, however, the rotation had proven themselves the team’s strongest asset: even in a hitter’s park like Chase, they posted an ERA of 3.95, fourth-best in the league [NL average was 4.41] Webb and Haren had a 38-15 record, the best of any duo in the majors and Johnson deserved better than an 11-10 record - over one streak of seven Big Unit starts, the offense gave him a total of thirteen runs in support. Prospect Max Scherzer chipped in late, and will likely be in the rotation for 2009.
4. Conor Jackson. There was some discussion coming in, as to whether Jackson could conceivably provide the production traditionally required from first-base. In the first couple of months, he was performing credibly enough, but the loss of Eric Byrnes for the rest of the season meant change was in his future. Jackson became the everyday left-fielder, despite having only two major-league games experience there and, after the inevitable period of adjustment, slotted in nicely, surprising fans more than once with his range and accuracy. He hit .300 in each half of the season, though his power did drop notably, with the last of his 12 homers on July 27. Still, Byrnes might have a fight to get his old job back next year.
5. Justin Upton. This one comes with a few caveats, the most obvious one being that Upton wasn’t old enough to drink until August 25th. You could argue he would have benefited from some seasoning in the minors: his defense, in particular, was often casual to the point of careless, though he nailed his fair share of runners too. But it was his performance at the plate that impressed most, particularly in April, as noted, and after he returned in late August - down the stretch, his line was .278/.352/.570, with 13 of his last 22 hits going for extra bases. Overall, since 1966, only two 20-year olds with 400 PA’s, have had an OPS better than Upton’s .816: Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

What didn’t

1. The bullpen. A source of strength in 2007, the relief corps was a ticking time-bomb of disaster this season. While the starters went 65-52, the bullpen posted a record of only 17-28 - in one particularly wretched spell, from July 11-September 14, they had two wins and 13 losses. Brandon Lyon was initially solid as the closer, but fell apart after the break, with a second-half ERA of 8.48. He was replaced by Chad Qualls, who started and finished well, but had a horrible spell in the middle where it seemed every runner he inherited scored. Tony Peña was inconsistent, and Juan Cruz, probably the best of our relievers, was horribly mis-used by Melvin. Then there’s Jon ‘The Biggest Loser’ Rauch - 6′11″ with an 0-6 record - but he probably belongs under…
2. Trades. Outside of the deal for Haren, it seems that every other trade the Diamondbacks made misfired. We dumped closer Jose Valverde: while Lyon struggled, Valverde led the league in saves again. We brought back ‘veteran presence’ Tony Clark, who had a lower batting average than Dan Haren. And we brought in Washington closer Jon Rauch to shore up the bullpen, and he lost six games in just twelve innings of work. But the worst move of all was dumping Carlos Quentin to the White Sox for an A-ball prospect, who was subsequently a fragment of the Haren trade. Quentin had 34 homers and 100 RBI for Chicago, numbers far in excess of anything we got from right-field.
3. The bench. Particulaly in the outfield, Arizona’s depth was found to be painfully thin; as well as Quentin, we had dealt away Scott Hairston (17 HR in 326 at-bats for San Diego) and prospect Carlos Gonzalez. That mean little or no coverage above replacement-level was available when we lost both Byrnes and Justin Upton to injury; Jackson filled one of the holes, but generally, our backup players and those who came off the bench failed to deliver. Our pinch-hitters batted .226 with three homers in 217 at-bats, and the team inexplicably gave 39 starts, at six different positions, to Chris Burke, who rewarded us with a line of .194/.310/.273.
4. Eric Byrnes. There were rumblings of discontent among better-informed fans when Byrnes was given a three-year, $30m contract in the middle of last season, something apparently instigated more by owner Jeff Moorad than GM Josh Byrnes. The first season of that deal proved massively disappointing to all concerned - likely including Byrnes. He was hobbled by hamstring issues, almost from Opening Day, rushed back too quickly after a stint on the DL, and promptly injured them again on June 30, this time taking him out for the year. He hit only .209 over 52 games, and stole a mere four bases, compared to fifty the season before.
5. Bob Melvin. If Melvin gets credit for 2007 - and the Manager of the Year award on his mantelpiece suggests this to be the case - then he also deserves the blame for 2008. I can’t comment on his skills in the locker-room, but his in-game management seemed to leave a lot to be desired. The lineups he constructed seemed to make little or no sense [see Burke, Chad above], his use of the bullpen seemed entirely illogical and the frequency with which Melvin asked his best hitters to put down sacrifice bunts infuriated me enormously. I don’t generally tend to think of the manager as actually affecting the outcome of many games, but I’m hard-pushed to think of victories this year that were attributable to our manager - the ‘Mad Scientist’, as Sutton and Grace call him.

AZ 3, Cubs 1 It was important for Brandon Webb to give the D-backs the start to the post-season that they needed, and our ace came up strong, pitching seven innings and restricting the Cubs to just one earned run. That came in the sixth, with the score 1-0 to Arizona, and was about the only time the reigning Cy Young winner struggled. A pair of two-out walks loaded the bases, and Theriot hit a chopper just over the fingers of Mark Reynolds at third. Drew did keep the ball in the infield, but the tying run scampered home. Webb, though, was overall a master, striking out nine and allowing only four hits in those seven innings.

Lou Piniella found himself second-guessed tremendously, pulling his ace, Carlos Zambrano, after only six innings and 85 pitches - he allowed only one run too, a solo homer to Stephen Drew, to lead off the fourth. However, Pinella’s plan was to use Zambrano again, on short rest, in game four, hence the decision to give him a short leash. Unfortunately for Piniella, Zambrano will now be [em]really[/em] well rested for Opening Day, 2008. Because four pitches after he left the game, Carlos Marmol - who had been one of the best relievers in the league - was taken deep by one of Arizona’s rookies, Mark Reynolds, giving the D-backs a lead they would hang on to.

Snyder walked one out later, and former Cub Augie Ojeda punished his old team with a double down the right-field line. Conor Jackson brought Snyder home with a sacrifice fly to give Arizona an insurance run and a 3-1 lead. The bullpen, in the shape of Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde, took things from there, though with an inevitable sense of drama, Valverde brought the Cubs’ top home-run hitter, Soriano, to the plate as the tying run. But he grounded out, to give Arizona their first post-season victory since Game Seven of the 2001 World Series.

AZ 8, Cubs 4 The next night, Chase was Sedona Red again: the expected hostile takeover by Chicago fans never quite materialized, though their team’s sorry performance perhaps kept them quiet and subdued. They did briefly poke their heads out in the second, when rookie catcher Soto gave them the lead for the only time with a two-run homer in the top of the second. However, they were silenced utterly in the bottom half of the inning: with Snyder and Upton aboard, Chris Young cranked a fastball from Ted Lilly into the left-field bleachers to give Arizona the lead once again.

That was, perhaps, the crucial point of the series. The Cubs’ hitters started to press, trying to hit homers in every at-bat, and Doug Davis exploited this aggressiveness very well. Soto’s blast were the only runs he allowed until after he’d left the game: a tiring Davis walked two hitters with two outs in the sixth, and Juan Cruz allowed both to score on a double off the outfield wall. However, by that stage, Arizona had extended their lead to 8-2, so there was some room for error. Tony Peña, Lyon and Valverde followed Cruz, combining to strike out five in 3.1 scoreless innings of work, with three hits and one walk.

As noted, the offense picked up the pace in this one: after Young’s homer, a triple by Eric Byrnes scored another run, and Drew tripled home two in the fourth to make it 6-2 to Arizona. Ojeda added a seventh in the next inning, and a beautifully-executed safety squeeze by Doug Davis, sent Upton scurrying home from third in the fifth,and finished off the D-backs scoring for the night. Drew and Ojeda had two hits each, and Young walked twice, in addition to supplying the long-ball that cemented Arizona’s hold on the series, and with hindsight, drove a stake deep into the heart of the opposition.

AZ 5, Cubs 1 The Cubs were delighted to return to Chicago, where a vociferous crowd would surely boost them to victory in Game Three. That would allow them to turn the ball to Zambrano in Game Four, then take their chances with Webb in a Game Five, back in Phoenix. Chris Young, however, had other ideas and for the second game in a row proved a Cub-killer, homering on the first pitch of the game, to silence the raucous crowd. That gave Arizona a lead they’d never surrender, until Soriano flew out weakly to right-field off Jose Valverde, ending the series in a chorus of boos from the Wrigley faithful.

Livan Hernandez saved his most…Livan-esque performance of the year for his first post-season outing since 2002. The Cubs had runners in scoring position every inning until the sixth, but as he’s done throughout the season, Hernandez wiggled out of trouble. The killer blow was in the fifth: the D-backs had a two-run lead, but he walked the bases loaded with one out, and Wrigley Field was alive for the first time in the game. Even though he fell behind Mark DeRosa 3-1, Livan wouldn’t back down and got the hitter to ground weakly into a double-play. That ended the inning and sucked the last signs of life from Chicago: they sent up only one batter over the minimum the rest of the way.

The offense was solid enough. After Young’s homer, Upton singled home Drew in the first, and Eric Byrnes added to the lead in the fourth, just legging it out to avoid a double-play and drive in a run. He added a solo homer in the sixth, and Drew has his second long-ball of the series in the ninth. Drew ended with three hits - his third multi-hit game in a row, and eighth in ten including the regular season - while Byrnes and Upton had two each.

News and Notes
Soaring: Stephen Drew (7-for-14, 2 HR); Augie Ojeda (4-for-9); Brandon Webb (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER); the bullpen (8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 8 K). Falling: Conor Jackson + Tony Clark (1-for-14 combined); Chris Snyder (1-for-7); Doug Davis (5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 4 ER).

Roster Report: Six players didn’t see any action during the Division Series, but there doesn’t look likely to be any wholesale changes in the roster for the Championship Series. The speedy Emilio Bonifacio might be added as a pinch-running threat, and there’s always the possibility of an additional arm joining the bullpen, because Coors Field can be rough on pitching staffs.

The Week Ahead. The Championship Series starts this evening for Arizona, facing the Colorado Rockies - between them, the teams have only been this far in the post-season once before, during the D-backs’ 2001 run, of course. Here are the pitching match-ups for the first four games:

Game 1 (today, Phoenix): Colorado LHP Jeff Francis (17-9, 4.22) vs. Arizona RHP Brandon Webb (18-10, 3.01)

Game 2 (Friday, Phoenix): Colorado RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4, 4.28) vs. Arizona LHP Doug Davis (13-12, 4.25)

Game 3 (Sunday, Colorado): Colorado RHP Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.94) vs. Arizona RHP Livan Hernandez (11-11, 4.93)

Game 4 (Monday, Colorado): Colorado LHP Franklin Morales (3-2, 3.43) vs. Arizona RHP Micah Owings (8-8, 4.30)

Once again, the Diamondbacks are being selected to fail: the majority of the ESPN experts are picking Colorado, though after what happened to the Cubs, that should not be of any concern to the team. It’s probably crucial that we get off to a good start this evening, with our ace on the mound: there’s no doubt he is the best pitcher on either roster but, particularly early this year, the Rockies owned him., His final start, in the last series of the regular season, was much better, and he needs to repeat that tonight.

The Rockies are, however, winners in seventeen of their last eighteen games, so have a lot of momentum coming in, and their lineup is fearsome. It’s perhaps worth nothing though, that the eighteenth game was against Brandon Webb… It’s possible Melvin could use Webb on short rest in Game Four, and then regular rest in Game Seven, but that would be a last desperate throw of the dice, and I doubt that will happen. The series promises to be much closer than the Cubs one, and I can’t see either team getting a sweep: I think whoever takes Game One will have a crucial edge. Both sides play very well at home, and with an extra game at Chase, I think Arizona will win in six. I certainly hope so, because the prospect of Hernandez pitching a winner-take-all Game Seven…well, let’s just not go there, shall we!

AZ 5, Pirates 6 The crucial final week started badly, Doug Davis allowing a home-run to the first batter he faced, and Pittsburgh leapt out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Though we pulled a run back on an RBI single from Augie Ojeda, Tony Peña had another unfortunate outing, facing four hitters and retiring only one, with the other three all coming around to score, and give the Pirates a 5-1 lead.

Arizona weren’t quite done, getting five hits in the eighth, with Chris Snyder’s RBI double, a two-run pinch hit single by Conor Jackson, and a broken-bat blooper by Stephen Drew tying the score at five in the top of the eighth. Unfortunately, having come all the way back, we couldn’t hold on: Brandon Lyon allowed Pittsburgh to take the lead in the bottom half of the eighth, and this time, they made it stick. Drew, Tony Clark and Jeff Salazar had two hits each.

AZ 1, Pirates 5 The D-backs stumbled again the next day, the offense sputtering their way to only one run, in contrast to the Pirates, who pounded out fifteen hits, ten of them coming in only four innings off Livan Hernandez. He was tagged for four earned runs, easily enough for Pittsburgh, though the bullpen mostly did well, Juan Cruz striking out three over two perfect innings.

Pirates’ starter Matt Morris had done nothing in his previous starts, but owned Arizona in his career, and continued that domination, with seven innings of one-run ball, allowing six hits and no walks. Drew and Ojeda had two hits each; Jackson drove in the only run with a sixth-inning double. We didn’t get the tying run closer than the on-deck circle the rest of the way.

AZ 8, Pirates 0 With rain threatening, Brandon Webb was pushed back a day, to face Colorado, and Micah Owings made manager Melvin look like a genius, pitching shutout ball into the seventh, before the heavens did open, necessitating his removal. Pittsburgh managed just four hits, and he walked none, finishing the season with an ERA of 4.30 - he looks to have secured his rotation spot for 2008.

Oh, and did I mention he also went 4-for-4 with three doubles and three RBI? Owings became the first pitcher in more than 50 years, to have multiple four-hit games in the same year, and over the season posted the best OPS figure of any fulltime hurler since 1899. Stephen Drew chipped in with three hits and drove in three as well, while Ojeda had two hits and scored three runs.

AZ 4, Rockies 2 Though Webb had struggled against the Rockies during 2007, he got the monkey off his back with seven quality innings in Coors, keeping them to two runs. He did allow eight hits and two walks in seven innings, but was helped by some good defense, timely double-plays and poor Rockies base-running. Lyon pitched a scoreless eighth, and Valverde got his 47th save of the year, striking out the side, albeit around two hits.

Meanwhile, the offense was just good enough. Ojeda opened scoring with a heroic sacrifice fly, fouling off pitch after pitch before getting one he could send to the outfield, and a two-run homer by Jackson (his fourth in 22 at-bats against Francis) gave Arizona some breathing room. Drew added an RBI single, but it wasn’t until after the final out that word reached the team that the Mets had lost, meaning Arizona had secured their first playoff spot since 2002.

AZ 1, Rockies 11 The Padres loss, after coming within one strike of clinching the Wild Card, gave the D-backs the division title, and the team responded by…rolling over and performing as if badly-hungover on cheap champagne from the night before. Really, this was probably among the worst performances of the year, though most of the regulars were already gone by the time the Rockies had a six-run fifth inning

Edgar Gonzalez got the start, and was tagged for five runs in three innings - Jailen Peguero fared ever worse, allowing five in only 1.2 frames. Chris Young and Jackson had two hits apiece, as the Diamondbacks kicked back, knowing they’d already secured the top seed in the division, and home advantage until the World Series. Under different circumstances, this would have been a disaster; instead, who cares?

AZ 3, Rockies 4 If the Diamondbacks again rolled out their B-squad, this time, they did at least make a fight of it, leaving the tying run on base after scoring two in the ninth to make it a one-run game. Both starting pitchers were excellent: Jimenez for the Rockies took a no-hitter into the sixth, while Arizona’s Yusmeiro Petit pitched five scoreless innings of his own.

The Rockies scored first, in the bottom of the sixth, though the D-backs immediately struck back with an RBI single from Carlos Quentin to tie it. Colorado plated three in the eighth, in part thanks to an error, and Arizona’s final comeback fell just short, despite RBI from Ojeda and Alberto Callaspo - the latter had two hits, as did Quentin. The Rockies win earned them a one-game play-off with the Padres - that ended dramatically earlier this evening, Colorado overcoming a two-run 13th inning deficit to make the playoffs.

News and Notes
Soaring: Stephen Drew (10-for-23, 8 RBI); Conor Jackson (5-for-11, 5 RBI), Micah Owings (6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R); Juan Cruz (3 IP, 0 H, 5 K). Falling: Chris Snyder (1-for-13); Chris Young (4-for-22, 8 K); Edgar Gonzalez (3 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 5 ER); Jailen Peguero (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 ER).

Roster Report: The playoff roster hasn’t been announced yet, but the additional days off have Melvin leaning to going with only ten pitchers - four starters and six relievers. The rotation has been fixed, with Webb getting the start in Game 1, and being followed to the mound by Davis, Hernandez and Owings.

The Week Ahead: Arizona plays the NL Central winning Cubs in the National League Division Series, with Game One taking place in Phoenix, on Wednesday night with the first pitch at 7pm. Game Two also takes place in Arizona on Thursday; after an off-day Friday, the series moves to Chicago. Game Three will be there on Saturday and, if necessary, Game Four on Sunday.

AZ 5, Giants 8 The series got off to a bad start, as Tony Peña blew a two-run lead, allowing San Francisco to score five runs on only 17 pitches during the eighth inning. Winn and Feliz did all the damage with two homers, costing Brandon Webb the win after he gave the D-backs a quality start, allowing three runs on six hits over six innings.

That was the Giants’ third lead of the day, the D-backs having come back to erase the previous two deficits, taking a 5-3 edge into the disastrous eighth. This was despite only managing six hits, as Arizona took advantage of eight walks from the San Francisco pitchers. Augie Ojeda reached safely three times, while Chris Young had the key hit a two-run triple in the seventh after Mark Reynolds had tied the game with an RBI single.

AZ 5, Giants 0 Micah Owings helped Arizona bounce back from that devastating loss, pitching his first career complete game shutout, restricting the Giants to two hits and one walk, striking out four. Thanks to a pair of double-plays, he faced only one batter over the minimum, and threw just 101 pitches: San Franciso had only one runner get past first all night.

Meanwhile, the offense jumped all over Giants’ starter Sanchez, who was gone after a first inning in which he allowed five hits and two walks, with Arizona rushing out to a 4-0 lead. After that, the offense did struggle against the San Franciso bullpen, with the only run the rest of the way coming on Reynolds’ 15th home-run of the season. He and Chris Young both had two hits and an RBI for the D-backs.

AZ 6, Giants 4 A see-saw battle finally tipped Arizona’s way in the fifth. Doug Davis had just allowed two runs in the top half, giving San Francisco a 4-3 lead. But after the D-backs loaded the bases with no-one out in the bottom of the inning, Chris Snyder gave us back the lead with a two-run double. Reynolds added an insurance run in the sixth, with his third hit of the game; Snyder also had three.

Doug Davis suffered another short outing, failing to get through five for the third straight appearance. However, the bullpen held firm, giving the D-backs 4.1 innings of shutout ball. Jose Valverde got the safe, though made things typically interesting, letting the first two Giants hitters reach, to put the tying run on base with no outs, and into scoring position with two outs, before a fly-ball gave him his 46th save.

AZ 12, Dodgers 3 Arizona came out strong, following a blank day on Thursday, roaring back from a 3-1 deficit by scoring eleven unanswered runs, in one of their best performances of the season. Tony Clark had three hits, including his 16th homer, and was joined in the long-ball by Reynolds (#16) and Young (#32). Clark ended with three hits and four RBI, while Reynolds, Ojeda and Jeff Salazar got two each.

Livan Hernandez looked very wobbly early on, allowing seven hits and three runs through the front third of the game. However, after driving in a run with a single, he settled down and gave us six innings, albeit reaching double-digits in hits for fifth time this year. The rest of the bullpen did the needful, even if, coming into the game with a nine-run lead was not exactly a high-pressure outing. I was at Chase for this one, and it was among the best times ever there.

AZ 6, Dodgers 2 The D-backs captured their fifth series in the past six, with this win, Brandon Webb pitching shutout ball into the seventh inning. He eventually exited with one out in the seventh, having given up two runs on eight hits and two walks, but secured his career-high seventeenth win. The relievers thereafter were impeccable, retiring all eight hitters they faced.

This was possibly David Wells’ penultimate-ever appearance, but he got no respect, right from the first pitch, which Young smoked into the bleachers. Snyder added an RBI single later that inning, and even Webb singled to drive in a run. Reynolds got his 17th homer, as he, Stephen Drew and Eric Byrnes all had two-hit nights. The attendance at Chase was 47,673, a number bested only by the home opener and the Saturday night Boston game.

AZ 1, Dodgers 7 The last home game of the regular season saw another good crowd, but they went away disappointed as the Dodgers outhit the D-backs 15-5, with the final score a good reflection of their domination. Edgar Gonzalez started, but suffered problems with a blister, and was yanked in the fourth inning, having given up eight hits and three runs in 3.1 innings. Cruz allowed the first bullpen runs since Peña’s meltdown on a two-run home by Loney, and eight pitchers in all were used by Arizona.

Things started brightly enough at the plate, as our first two batters hit safely. However, it was all downhill after Reynolds followed with an RBI single, and we managed only two more hits the rest of the way. Reynolds, with a hit and two walks, was the only batter to produce anything offensively, and it was a disappointing note on which to end the home leg of the regular season. However, Arizona ended with a record at Chase of 50-31, the best since 2002.

News and Notes
Soaring: Mark Reynolds (10-for-18, 8 RBI); Chris Young (7-for-17), Micah Owings (9 IP, 2 H, 0 R); Brandon Lyon (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R). Falling: Eric Byrnes (5-for-20); Justin Upton (2-for-11); Edgar Gonzalez (3.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R), Juan Cruz (2.0 IP, 2 ER).

Roster Report: Orlando Hudson had thumb surgery, and should be ready for spring. Chad Tracy also underwent surgery on his knee, but the prognosis there is less optimistic, with anything between five and eight months expected to pass before he comes back, so Opening Day 2008 is not guaranteed.

The Week Ahead: Arizona enjoyed a day-off today, and picked up half a game as the Padres lost to the Giants, to go three games ahead in the division. They play Pittsburgh in the next three, and will be keen to take care of business there, as far as possible. Because, they finish out the season against the Rockies, who have won eight straight and are right in the thick of the wild-card race, one game behind the Phillies and Padres. Best not have too much to do in Coors…

AZ 5, Giants 3 Jeff Salazar smoked only the second home-run of his career (left) with two outs in the ninth, to give Arizona a stunning victory, coming from 3-0 down. The D-backs entered the ninth one run behind, but Stephen Drew doubled and Justin Upton walked, to set up Salazar’s heroics. With Valverde getting a rest, Tony Peña got the save, retiring the shell-shocked Giants in order.

Livan Hernandez gave up three runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings, and the Giants dominated the first half, Arizona struggling against Tim Lincecum. But Emilio Bonifacio led the fightback with a pair of RBI singles, and Miguel Montero also had two hits. The bullpen also chipped in, keeping the game close with three innings of one-hit ball, and Salazar’s pinch-hit blast proved, once again, this team wins with “anybody, any time”.

AZ 1, Giants 2 Edgar Gonzalez took over the poisonous fifth starter’s spot, recently occupied by Kim, Petit and Eveland with very limited success. And Gonzalez delivered, producing six innings of one-run ball, on only three hits. However, Arizona had almost as much trouble solving the Giants’ pitcher, and the only scoring while the starters were there, was the teams trading single runs in the fourth.

The score remained locked at one until the bottom of the eighth, when David Ortmeier tripled, the ball skidding past Chris Young on the damp grass. A sacrifice fly brought the runner home, and with only three outs left, the D-backs couldn’t fight back. Arizona actually out-hit San Francisco 8-5, with Eric Byrnes getting three of them, though were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

AZ 9, Giants 4 Arizona took the series, and Brandon Webb tied last year’s total with his 16th win of the season, despite being pulled after only 74 pitches. That was enough to get him through seven innings, albeit with four runs allowed, so it wasn’t Webb’s most-effective outing. Fortunately, the offense picked him up, with nine runs of support on eleven hits.

The key inning was the sixth, with Arizona at that point clinging to a one-run edge. Upton and Conor Jackson both delivered two-run, two out hits to make the score 7-2 to the D-backs, though the Giants came back in the bottom half, scoring two and getting the tying run to the plate before Webb escaped. Jackson, Augie Ojeda and Drew got two hits apiece, with the last-named just missing a ninth-inning homer.

AZ 4, Dodgers 7 After an off-day Thursday, the D-backs came down to the coast to face the Dodgers, but went down in the opening game, Doug Davis being pulled during the fifth inning. He was probably left out there too long: entering with a 4-2 lead, six of seven LA hitters reached safely against Davis before Melvin gave him the hook, with the score now 6-4 to Los Angeles.

Arizona were left to rue missed opportunities, such as the first inning, where they loaded the bases with no outs, and could only score one run, on a walk to Mark Reynolds. The team blew three leads all told, each time letting the Dodgers answer back in the bottom half. Reynolds also hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his 14th of the year; Bonifacio had two hits batting leadoff, showing good speed on the basepaths.

AZ 2, Dodgers 6 This one was over, to all intents and purposes, very quickly, as Los Angeles scored four runs in the bottom of the first before Hernandez retired a batter. The big blow was a three-run homer off the bat of former AZ favorite, Luis Gonzalez, that gave the Dodgers all the offense they’d need. Livan settled down, allowing only one more run in six innings, just too late.

The D-backs’ hitters struggled badly against Derek Lowe, whose heavy sinkerball rivals Webb’s. We managed four hits through seven innings by Lowe, with a solo homer from Tony Clark the only score. Arizona threatened briefly in the eighth, the first three men getting on base, but after the first, we never got the tying run to the plate. Arizona’s lead shrunk to two games, with the Padres, Dodgers and Phillies all charging hard.

AZ 6, Dodgers 1 Not quite a “must win” game, perhaps, but there’s no question, victory in the series finale was a very, very nice gift. Chris Snyder got the D-backs on the board first, with a three-run homer in the second, his 13th. However, that was the only hit we managed off Esteban Loaiza, who walked seven batters: Arizona just couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities.

Edgar Gonzalez gave Arizona another good outing, with five innings of one-run ball, and the bullpen stayed firm, with four shutout frames. Chad Tracy, in his first at-bat since coming off the DL, had a pinch-hit RBI, and Stephen Drew added two in the ninth, with a bases-loaded single. Snyder got two of the D-backs six hits, a figure comfortably outnumbered by the nine walks in total.

News and Notes
Soaring: Stephen Drew (6-for-21); Chris Snyder (5-for-11, 2 HR); Edgar Gonzalez (11 IP, 9 H, 2 ER); Juan Cruz (2.1 IP, 0 H, 5 K). Falling: Chris Snyder (3-for-23, 9 K); Mark Reynolds (4-for-19); Doug Davis (4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R); Dustin Nippert (1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER).

Roster Report Chad Tracy’s knee has proved solid enough for him to be returned to active duty, though it’s expected he will likely be restricted to pinch-hitting duty for the foreseeable future. An off-season operation is still likely. Speaking of surgery, Orlando Hudson had his, repairing his thumb; that all went well, and he should make a full recovery in time for spring training.

The Week Ahead This time of year, every game becomes critical: a good week here in Phoenix could all but seal Arizona’s spot in the post-season, and they have the best home record in the NL, at 46-29. They face the Giants for three games, get Thursday off, and then get the change for revenge on the Dodgers, in the last three regular-season contests at Chase this year. With Webb pitching two of those games, a 4-2 record is the target, and should put Arizona on the brink of the playoffs.

AZ 2, Padres 10 The week started badly, the Padres leaping all over Micah Owings. They homered four times in the first three innings to chase our starter and pull away to a 5-0 lead. Arizona never got closer than four the rest of the way, and the only pitcher to escape unscathed was Jailen Peguero, who got the last out of the Padres’ ninth inning.

Meanwhile, Greg Maddux proved he still has it, in his 22nd season, pitching into the seventh inning and restricting the D-backs to only two runs. Eric Byrnes did swat his 20th homer, and was the only Arizona player to get two hits, as the team managed only six in total. Maddux also allowed no walks, and at time of writing has made eight consecutive starts without a free pass.

AZ 9, Padres 1 Just when things looked bleak, Arizona came back with their biggest margin of victory since May 25, pounding Padres starter Chris Young for the second time in less than a week. Tony Clark had a two-run homer in the first, and Eric Byrnes added a three-run shot in the third. Orlando Hudson also reached base safely all five times he was up, on three hits and two walks.

Meanwhile, Arizona got the start it needed from Doug Davis, who pitched seven innings, and gave up only one run, despite allowing six hits and walking five. He only really hit trouble once, loading the bases with nobody out in the Padres’ fifth. However, he bore down, and San Diego only scored once. Brandon Lyon and Tony Peña completed things, retiring the last six hitters in two perfect innings.

AZ 9, Padres 6 Things looked no easier the next day, as San Diego played their ace, Jake Peavy, on short rest. However, this game showed that two jacks will beat an ace: Conor Jackson homered in the first to give Arizona a 2-0 lead, and after San Diego had tied it, Miguel Montero went deep to reclaim the lead. That wasn’t it, however: the Padres came back, and led 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth.

But Arizona came back in this slugfest once more: an RBI triple by Hudson evened the score, and two walks later, Chris Young had arguably the biggest hit of the year, a three-run double. Livan Hernandez got the win, despite a five inning, five earned run performance, and the bullpen was solid, with only a solo homer, off Brandon Lyon, to spoil four good innings.

AZ 4, Cardinals 2 Having reclaimed the lead in the NL West, Arizona turned to their own ace to open the series against St. Louis. And, despite not having his best stuff, he prevailed, with six innings of two-run ball, in which he walked four and gave up four hits. He even helped out at the plate, reaching on an error which allowed Augie Ojeda to score all the way from first, with a gymnastic leap over the catcher to reach home-plate (left).

The D-backs struggled against Wainwright, and were 2-1 down in the sixth. However, an RBI double by Byrnes brought us level, and we got another gift later that inning, when the Cardinals’ second-baseman slipped going to the bag, so couldn’t turn a double-play. That allowed the go-ahead run to score, and our relievers added three scoreless innings, Jose Valverde getting his 43rd save.

AZ 9, Cardinals 8 One of the wildest games of the year, saw the Diamondbacks blow a three-run lead, and the Cardinals a four-run lead, with the home-team eventually squeaking out the win. This started well for Arizona, who scored three in the first inning on Jackson’s homer, but Micah Owings fell apart in the third, his own error helping the Cardinals to a seven-run outburst. This one looked over for Arizona.

On the other hand, never underestimate the D-backs. We chipped one away in the bottom of the third, then a Drew three-run homer tied the game again in the fourth: a Montero sac. fly and a Quentin RBI single completed a five-run inning. Micah Owings had another poor outing, failing to end the third, but the bullpen gave up one run in the remaining 6.1 innings. Byrnes had two hits and scored three times.

AZ 6, Cardinals 5 The Diamondbacks completed the sweep, once again coming from behind to take victory. As on Saturday, they got ahead early, with Chris Young’s 29th homer of the year giving them a 2-0 lead. But again, the Cardinals had a big third, scoring four times to take the lead, and kept it until the bottom of the seventh. There, another two-run homer, this one by Justin Upton, tied the game, and Clark added a two-run double.

Doug Davis was gone after four frames, leaving the bullpen, including new reliever Bob Wickman, to give Arizona four shutout innings and the chance to fight back. Valverde got the first two outs in the ninth, protecting a 6-4 lead, but then let the next five hitters reach, to make it 6-5 with the tying run at third. Luckily, he got the final out at the sixth attempt, for his 45th save, and the D-backs 32nd win by one run this season.

News and Notes
Soaring: Eric Byrnes (8-for-20, 5 RBI); Chris Young (6-for-21, 6 RBI); Brandon Webb (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER); Tony Peña (4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER). Falling: Stephen Drew (3-for-24, 6 K); Chris Snyder (2-for-12); Micah Owings (5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 HR, 7 ER); Bill Murphy (1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER).

Roster Report Orlando Hudson looks done for the season, as a sprained thumb is going to need surgery. Alberto ‘No Charges Filed’ Callaspo looks set to get the bulk of the starts down the stretch. Arizona added another arm to the bullpen in the shape of veteran reliever, Bob Wickman. He has 267 saves, but Valverde remains the closer, though on days like today (Jose having pitched three straight), Wickman might get a chance.

The Week Ahead Arizona travel to the Bay Area, taking on the Giants in a three-game series. They then get Thursday off, and come back down the Pacific coast to face the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine. A split of those six games would be adequate, and should keep us in control, as the chasing pack steadily run out of time.

As we enter the final month of the season, Arizona is still very much in the playoff picture. That comes, even after a disappointing week which saw them lose both series in the week, dropping three of four in San Diego against their biggest rivals, and then losing two of three against the Rockies back in Arizona. Still, they currently remain tied for the lead in the NL West, and even if they fell behind the Padres, still have a three-game lead over Philadelphia in the wild-card race. Four weeks to go, it should make for interesting viewing. With this being Labor Day, I’m going to cut this short, since I’m sure you have better things to do than read, and I have better things to do than write.
AZ 1, Padres 3 Livan Hernandez pitched very well, taking a 1-0 lead into the seventh, thanks to Eric Byrnes’ nineteenth home-run of the season. However, after getting the first two outs, a walk and a homer to Blum gave the lead back to the Padres, and they held on for victory. Arizona struggled against likely Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, who fanned eleven D-backs and gave up only three hits in seven innings. Juan Cruz gave the Padres an insurance run in the eighth.

AZ 4, Padres 6 The Diamondbacks turned to Brandon Webb to strike back, but again, couldn’t held onto a second-half lead. San Diego scored four times in the bottom of the sixth, overturning a 3-2 lead, and pinning the loss on Webb. He gave up five hits and a walk, as well as hitting a man with the bases loaded. Conor Jackson anchored the offense with three hits, driving in two, including his eleventh homer. The bullpen did well, posting 2.2 perfect innings, Tony Peña, Dustin Nippert Doug Slaten combining for five K’s.

AZ 1, Padres 3 The Padres, once again, struck late, scoring two in the eighth inning to break open a game tied at one. Micah Owings went toe-to-toe with future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux, each man allowing one run on seven innings - Owings only permitted three hits. However, Slaten and Brandon Lyon couldn’t hold things, and San Diego scored twice in the eighth on four hits and a walk. Chris Young and Justin Upton had two hits each, the former driving in the only AZ run, with a third-inning double.

AZ 8, Padres 7 The Diamondbacks avoided being swept, but it was very, very close. Didn’t look that way in the middle of the seventh, as Arizona had an 8-0 lead, but San Diego rallied against our relievers. They scored three in the seventh, three more in the eighth, and a solo homer off Jose Valverde made it a one-run game, but Papa Grande fanned the last two Padres. Mark Reynolds had a three hit, five RBI game, which also included one of the longest home-runs hit in Petco Park history.

AZ 3, Rockies 7 Again, the Diamondbacks ‘pen struggled, and again the opposition scored seven times in the last three innings. This time, however, we only had a three-run lead. Hernandez pitched brilliantly on short rest, escaping every jam to post seven innings of shutout ball, and looked in line for a win when Miguel Montero hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. But Lyon allowed two in the eighth, Valverde blew a save in the ninth, then Peña and Slated combined for four unearned runs in the tenth. We were lucky it went that far, as Colorado outhit Arizona 17-3 in total.

AZ 13, Rockies 7 Neither starting pitcher was effective, both being pulled before the middle of the third, with the score at that point already 8-5 to Arizona. Edgar Gonzalez got the win, for 3.1 scoreless innings on relief of Dana Eveland, and the offense exploded for thirteen runs, matching a season high. Tony Clark drove in five, while Byrnes and Reynolds had three-hit games, and Young, Clark and Jeff Salazar added two apiece. This time, the bullpen held on, Gonzalez, Nippert, Cruz and Lyon allowing two runs in 6.1 innings of work.

AZ 3, Rockies 4 Brandon Webb wobbled badly in the first, with the first four Padres’ hitters reaching base, on two hits and two walks. By the time he escaped, it was 3-0 to San Diego, and though Arizona struck back immediately, scoring two in the bottom of the first, but were unable to get any closer. They outhit the Rockies 10-5, with Orlando Hudson, Clark, Stephen Drew and Upton getting two each. Webb settled down after the first, lasting seven innings with only one more run, but the offense couldn’t get the hits when they needed them.

News and Notes
Soaring: Mark Reynolds (8-for-22, 5 RBI); Stephen Drew (7-for-24, 5 RBI), Livan Hernandez (14 IP, 2 ER); Edgar Gonzalez (3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER). Falling: Eric Byrnes (5-for-29); Chris Snyder (2-for-16); Dana Eveland (2.2 IP, 5 ER); Juan Cruz (2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 ER).

Roster Report: The question of the #5 starter remains unresolved, after Eveland’s poor appearance. Edgar Gonzalez seems a credible candidate, but I said that before… With rosters expanding at the start of September, reinforcements arrived; as well as Eveland, we also activated Carlos Quentin from the DL and brought up Robby Hammock, infielder Emilio Bonifacio, and relievers Jailen Peguero and Bill Murphy.

The Week Ahead: Another crucial series against San Diego is under way as I write - and at the moment, it looks like the Padres will take first blood. Two more games in that follow tomorrow and Wednesday. An off day Thursday, is followed by a trio of match-ups against the St. Louis Cardinals, who are still in the hunt for the NL Central title.