Diamondback Journal

The Diamondbacks won two of three this week and they did it against a tough Padres team.  Things didn’t start out all that well because on Tuesday, the Diamondbacks lost their fifth straight game and it wasn’t a happy return for Randy Johnson.  He was hit hard for six runs on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in five pretty poor innings.  Carlos Quentin hit a two run homer in the 10-5 loss and Stephen Drew went two for five with a run and two RBIs.

The Diamondbacks got back on track on Wednesday though.  Jake Peavy shutdown the Diamondbacks but Brandon Webb did the same to the Padres.  In the end, Peavy left and the Diamondbacks jumped all over the Padres’ pen.  The big hit was a two run, walk off homer in the ninth that pushed the Diamondbacks to a 3-2 win.  Miguel Montero drove in the other run with a solo shot.  Webb gave up two runs on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts in eight solid innings and Trevor Hoffman picked up the win with a shutout ninth.

Yesterday’s win was a big cleaner and while the Diamondbacks had to come back from three runs down in the first inning, they had the lead for good in the fifth.  Tony Clark had a big game with two homers and three RBIs and Chad Tracy went two for four with two runs in the 7-4 win.  Livan Hernandez improved to 2-1 with the win and he gave up three runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.

The Dodgers have hit the skids so the Diamondbacks sit just a game and a half back of first.  There’s three teams in front of them but one of them the Diamondbacks can take care of this weekend.  It’ll be three against the red hot giants at home and Doug Davis gets the start tomorrow.

The Diamondbacks dropped three straight in a sweep at the hands of the Giants and in total, they’ve now lost four straight.  The end result is a first to almost last place swing in just under a week. 

Most of the woes this weekend were with the hitters.  On Friday, the Diamondbacks scored two runs and that was the most they’d score in a game against the Giants in the three game series.  Doug Davis gave up four runs on seven hits and he dropped to 1-2 on the season.  Orlando Hudson finished with three hits and he drove in both runs in the 4-2 loss.

Saturday, the Diamondbacks were shutout.  Edgar Gonzalez dropped to 1-2 despite giving up just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings.  All five hits for Arizona were singles in the 1-0 loss as Barry Zito held the hitters in check.

Then yesterday, the Diamondbacks ran into Matt Cain.  A nice start by Yuzmeiro Petit went to waste and lone run came in the ninth when Eric Byrnes scored on Orlando Hudson’s double play.  Final was 2-1 in this one.

The Diamondbacks get a day off tomorrow and then on Tuesday, it’s hopefully just what the doctor order with Randy Johnson making his return.  He’ll face David Wells in the opener.

The Diamondbacks became the third team to reach ten wins this season, it’s just unfortunate that one of those other teams is in your division.  Still, the Diamondbacks sit just a game and a half back of the Dodgers and a good series could wipe out most of that deficit.

Yesterday’s game went well enough.  Brandon Webb struck out 13 in eight innings but because of the lack of offense, he didn’t get a decision.  The pen pitched well and four relievers each threw an inning of shutout ball to keep this going until the Diamondbacks could win it in the thirteenth.  Eric Byrnes drove in the game winner with an RBI single and Orlando Hudson piled on two more to make it 5-2 in the twelve inning win.

In today’s game, Livan Hernandez was rocked.  He gave up seven runs on eight hits and five walks in five innings.  Orlando Hudson drove in two runs and Chris Young hit his second homerun of the season in the 11-6 blowout loss.

Next up is three against the Giants in San Fran.  Don’t let the poor record fool you because the Giants have rattled off three wins in four games this week.  Doug Davis gets the start tomorrow and Sunday’s game will have Micah Owings going up against Matt Cain in a good matchup of young pitchers.

Alright, nobody said this was going to be easy and the Diamondbacks dropped two games to the now NL West leading Dodgers.  On Monday, Arizona couldn’t seem to do much against Brad Penny.  Chad Tracy drove in the only run of the game and all the Diamondbacks managed were six hits.  Eric Byrnes and Carlos Quentin each had two hits a piece in the 5-1 loss.  Edgar Gonzalez was hit hard and he gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Last night’s game was closer but not neccesarily better.  Micah Owings was hit hard and he was gone after four innings and while the Diamondbacks kept up, the pen didn’t hold on so it was another loss.  Tony Pena took the loss when he gave up two runs in the seventh.  Owings actually had the big hit of the game and he helped out his own cause by driving in two runs.

So now it’s time to get back on track and hopefully the Diamondbacks can do that against the Padres, who trail Arizona by just a half game.  Brandon Webb throws today.  Man could we use Randy Johnson back about now.

The Diamondbacks became the first team to win nine games as they wrapped up their series with the Rockies.  They actually got off to a bad start on Friday and lost their second game in a row in a rough start by Brandon Webb.  He gave up five runs on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Eric Byrnes drove in all three Arizona runs with a homerun and a single in the 6-3 loss.

The team got back on track Saturday with a come from behind 5-4 win.  Miguel Montero hit a solo homerun to tie it and then Orlando Hudson hit a sac. fly for the game winner.  Tony Clark also had a nice game with a single and two RBIs.  Livan Hernandez threw six solid innings and Brandon Lyon picked up the win while Jose Valverde picked up the save.

The Diamondbacks won the rubber game yesterday.  Tony Clark had another big game with two homeruns and three RBIs.  Orlando Hudson had two hits and a run in the 6-4 win.  Doug Davis picked up the win despite a mediocre outing.  He gave up four runs on nine hits.

Next up is a two game series against the Dodgers, who sit just a half game back of Arizona.  Edgar Gonzalez gets the start tonight.

The Diamondbacks six game winning streak may have come to an end, but Arizona still finds itself atop the NL West.  This is going to be a tough race all season and the fact that the Diamondbacks are right there is definitely a good thing.

In the opener on Monday, the Diamondbacks were down 2-0 but then they scored single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth to steal the win.  Orlando Hudson hit the game winner with a walk off homerun in the bottom of the ninth and Chris Snyder tied it up in the eight with a sac. fly.  Doug Davis had a solid start but he didn’t get the win because of the comeback.  Brandon Lyon got the win with a shutout eighth and Jose Valverde closed it out for his fourth save of the season in the 3-2 win.

It took the Diamondbacks eleven innings, but they won their sixth straight on Tuesday.  Scott Hairston doubled home Conor Jackson for the game winner in the eleventh and Chad Tracy hit a three run homerun to get thing going for Arizona in the first inning.  Edgar Gonzalez gave up four runs in seven innings in his start but the pen picked him up and Juan Cruz ended up with the win after he shutout the Reds in the eleventh.

The Diamondbacks failed to make it seven straight as they lost a close game yesterday.  Orlando Hudson drove in run on a sac. fly and Chad Tracy doubled home Eric Byrnes and that was all the Diamondbacks got.  Micah Owings had a decent start but it wasn’t good enough as he took the loss.

The Diamondbacks have today off and then the Rockies come to town for a three game series.  Brandon Webb will get the start in the opener and hopefully he’ll kick off a new winning streak for the Diamondbacks. 

All it took was a trip to Washington, D.C. to get the Diamondbacks on track as they dismantled the Nationals with four straight wins.  Thursday’s game was the closest bu the Arizona prevailed 4-3.  Edgar Gonzalez pitched five solid innings and he struck out five and the pen did their job as well.  At the plate, Conor Jackson drove in two runs and Orlando Hudson went two for four with a walk, an RBI and two runs.

Friday was the first of two 7-1 beatdowns.  Chris Young had a big game with a homerun and four RBIs while Alberto Callapso had three hits and a run.  On the mound, Micah Owings made his major league debut with five solid innings shutout innings. He gave up just one hit and three walks and he struck out six.

On Satursday, Brandon Webb bounced back from a rough start with seven nice innings.  He gave up just one run on seven hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in his first win of the season.  Eric Byrnes hit a homerun and Chad Tracy and drove in three in the 7-1 win.

The Diamondbacks made it four straight behind a nice pitching performance by Livan Hernandez.  The right hander threw seven shutout innings and he gave up just three hits and three walks with a strikeout.  Orlando Hudson and Scott Hairston each had two hits in the 3-1 win.

Tonight is the Diamondbacks home opener with the Reds rolling into town.  Doug Davis gets the honors and it’d be nice if the Diamondbacks could pad that half game lead with a couple of more wins in front of the home town fans.

This was pretty ugly.  Doug Davis gave up a ton of baserunners in his five innings of work but he at least kept the Diamondbacks in the game.  I can’t say the same thing about the pen though as J.D. Durbin was tagged for seven run in only 2/3 of inning.  So his ERA stands at a healthy 94.50.

Eric Byrnes doubled and homered in the loss while Miguel Montero had two hits and an RBI.  Conor Jackson made his second error of the season and that’s something that has to be worked on.

Fortunately, the Diamondbacks play four games against what should be the worst team in baseball, the Nationals.  Edgar Gonzalez will get the start in the series opener tomorrow.

The Diamondbacks lost a tough one last night in a eleven inning game.  They actually took the lead in the top of the eleventh but then Jose Valverde gave up two runs in the bottom half of the inning to blow the game.

A great start by Livan Hernandez went to waste.  He gave up two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings of work.  At the plate, four different Dbacks had two hits and Orlando Hudson both scored and drove in a run.

Doug Davis gets the start this afternoon in the rubber game.  It sure would be nice to get this first series under our belt.

I guess this is what’s expected when you open at Colorado.  The Diamondbacks scored three runs in the eighth inning and overcame a 6-5 deficit to win it 8-6 on opening day.  Eric Byrnes and Orlando Hudson each had three hits and two RBIs while Stephen Drew singled and scored twice.  Even Scott Hairston got in on the action and he drove in two runs with a double.

Brandon Webb was hit hard in his five innings of work.  He gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts.  Give some credit to the pen though.  Five relievers gave up just one run on three hits in the final four frames to keep the Diamondbacks in the game.

Livan Hernandez gets the start tomorrow.  He’ll start a tough left hander in Jeff Francis in a late afternoon game in Arizona.