Diamondback Journal

PHOENIX — Two season highs took place in the Diamondbacks 9-4 win over the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night.  The D-backs won their season high, eighth straight win and that win gave them a season high, six-game lead in the NL West.

With just 26-games left in the season, Arizona seems to be on their way to a division title after spending the past two seasons at the bottom of the pact.

Arizona used 8-RBIs by Gerardo Parra, Justin Upton, and Miguel Montero over the course of the game to defeat the Rockies, giving their starter, Wade Miley, a comfortable lead to work with for his second straight start.

Miley, who is filling in for the injured Jason Marquis, has been a good asset for the Diamondbacks to fall back on.  In his last two starts, he has lasted a combined 12-innings and allowed just two-runs.

Aaron Cook of Colorado however got roughed up for six runs through 4 1/3 innings.  Arizona put up two three spots in the third and fifth respectively to send Cook on his way.

Already trailing by a run, the D-backs Gerardo Parra hit a 2-run triple to give Arizona a 2-1 lead.  That lead was pushed to 3-1 on Upton’s RBI-groundout.

Colorado inched a run closer in the fourth, but a three-run home run by Montero in the fifth allowed Arizona to jump out to a 6-2 lead.  That home run led to Cook’s departure, but the Rockies bullpen would not be any better as the surrendered a two out RBI-single to Aaron Hill the following inning.

Upton not only homered in the eighth to give Arizona a 9-3 lead before Dexter Fowler hit his first home run of the season for Colorado, but made an amazing catch in the fifth.  For the second straight night, Upton has made unbelievable catches to either rob someone of a hit or run all the way to right field foul wall to record an out.

The D-backs will look for their second straight sweep as they take on Esmil Rogers before traveling to San Francisco for a weekend set with the Giants.  Arizona could do some major damage with wins at San Francisco, potentially putting the Giants ten games out.  Arizona is staring to believe, and the longer they keep winning and remain in first, that belief only gets stronger and could be a problem for opponents come playoff baseball in October.

PHOENIX — Despite three hit batters in the ninth, the Arizona Diamondbacks were able to escape a scare for the seventh straight win, improving their lead over the Giants to five-games.

Tim Hudson earned his 14-win going seven shutout innings and striking out eight in the effort.  Aside from Arizona, only the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies have two starters in the top eight for wins in the majors.

Colorado starter, Alex White however did not have the same stuff rolling.  He surrendered five-runs on seven hits through six, marking his first career loss as a major leaguer.

But the game was close till the sixth when the D-backs unloaded on White for four-runs.  Arizona hit five of their eight hits in the inning too.

Aaron Hill singled to start the run parade, leading to Justin Upton getting hit by a pitch allowing the D-backs to have their first two batters of the inning to reach safely.

Miguel Montero singled on a grounder between the first and second baseman, scoring Hill from second.  The very next batter, Paul Goldschmidt hit an RBI-double for a 3-0 lead and kept the inning going with runners in scoring position and no-outs yet to be recorded.

With the bases loaded, John McDonald’s RBI-single extended Arizona’s lead further at 4-0.  Even the pitcher got into the action by singling on a line drive to left, scoring Goldschmidt, but with Gerardo Parra being thrown out at home for the second out after trying to score from second.

In the ninth however, the wheels seemed to be about to fall off completely as three different Arizona relief pitchers hit three different Rockies.  Troy Tulowitzki led off the ninth and was the first to get by a pitch.  Ty Wigginton then hit a one-out single advancing Tulowitzki to second.

Kevin Kouzmanoff was then hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases for Colorado with one-out and with one perfect swing of the bat, this game could be tied.

In a game where the D-backs led 5-0 entering the ninth the save situation was not possible, but it soon became a possibility and that is exactly why J. J. Putz entered, also probably because he has been lights out lately in the ninth.

But even Putz, the third reliever of the inning, struggled out of the pen hitting Chirs Iannetta, forcing a run in for Colorado.

But as in appearances of the past, Putz settled down and was able to strikeout Jason Giambi and get Dexter Fowler to fly out to end the game, giving Arizona their seventh win in a row after dropping six straight.

Hopefully if the D-backs drop a game in the next day or two it won’t lead to another long losing streak.  Remember the last time Arizona won seven straight; it was not that long ago.

PHOENIX — The roller coaster ride has gotten underway for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Earlier this month, the D-backs went on a seven-game winning streak, right before they dropped their next six, but amazingly maintained their lead in the West over the San Francisco Giants.

Sunday afternoon Arizona completed their weekend series with the San Diego Padres with a sweep, keeping them on their current six-game win streak and moving a full four games over the Giants for the West crown.

Ian Kennedy got the D-backs rolling on their current streak and kept it intact with a seven-inning performance en-route to his National League leading 17^th win.

San Diego scored their only run of the day on an Orlando Hundson home run in the second.  Otherwise, the Padres’ were kept in check, falling to Arizona, 6-1.

In the home half of the second, the game was quickly tied up by Collin Cowgill who hit his first career home run as a professional to tie things 1-all.  Cowgill would go on to have a perfect 4-for -4 afternoon, helping the D-backs by contributing two of Arizona’s six runs.

A third straight home run in the bottom of the third by Aaron Hill extended Arizona’s lead at 3-1.

However, trailing by just two-runs heading into the eighth, the Padres’ were still within striking distance of upsetting the hot D-backs.

But Arizona would quickly double their run total through seven to go up 6-1 to take their sixth straight victory from the Padres’.

Paul Goldschmidt took a one-out walk, beginning the rally.  Miguel Montero followed with a single, putting Goldschmidt at second with Cowgill hitting his first double to drive home Goldschmidt for a 4-1 lead.

The D-backs offense was not quite done yet as Ryan Roberts stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded after Erik Hamren was intentionally walked.  Back-to-back walks allowed Montero to score the D-backs fifth run.

Aaron Hill completed his 3-for-5 afternoon with an RBI-single to the Padres shortstop, Jason Bartlett.

Zach Duke entered the ninth retiring all three Padres in order.

Arizona will now open a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies to possibly increase their lead further in the West, which is something they will desperately want to do.  After that, they travel to San Francisco for a Labor Day weekend series against the Giants that could determine how soon the D-backs could potentially celebrate or if this division title will be decided by the last games of the season.

WASHINGTON — It was indeed a weird day in the D.C. area Tuesday.  An earthquake struck Virginia which is just miles away from Washington D.C. and Nationals Park which resulted in many buildings in the area being evacuated.  Thank god the ball game was a night game.

The other surprising event that took place Tuesday was a Diamondbacks’ victory against the Washington Nationals.  However, the win was more impressive than what the final box score showed.

While the win finally ended the D-backs current six-game losing streak, Arizona still continues to struggle scoring runs score runs, winning by just a score of 2-0, with the difference in the game being a two-run home run in the seventh.

It is amazing too that Arizona still has a full two-game lead over San Francisco despite their previous skid.  But the defending champs have several injuries to their name and were never that great of a run producing team this season.

Ian Kennedy was able to bounce back from his loss against the Philadelphia Phillies that was the starting point of the D-backs losing streak.  Kennedy has now won eight of his last nine to improve to 16-4, which is tied for first among active National League starters with the other leader being another NL West starter, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers.

Kennedy was able to pitch himself out of a jam in the fifth that could have seen vital damage to a team that cannot score at the moment.  The Nats had the bases loaded with just one out and the powerful Ryan Zimmerman at the plate, making manager Kirk Gibson and D-back fans everywhere wonder when this losing streak would end.

But, Kennedy got Zimmerman to strikeout and also got cleanup hitter Michael Morse to strikeout as well.

In the top of the seventh, Chris Young worked his way to a one-out walk.  Sean Burroughs was due up and wasted no time at the plate like his counterpart at first, smacking the first pitch from Nationals starter, Jordan Zimmermann, out of the park for a 2-0 lead.  It was Burroughs first home run since April 30, 2005; Burroughs since then has spent much of his time in the D-backs minor league organization.

Arizona closer, J. J. Putz, had a clean and easy ninth.  He struck out Laynce Nix and retired the other two batters en-route to his 31-save allowing Arizona to maintain their two-game lead over the Giants’.

Realistically, it may be too much to be so hard on the Diamondbacks’ offense in late August because they are still leading the division.  And typically, the winner of most championships in any sport is the team that gets hot at the end of the season and can take that momentum with them into the postseason (cough cough… UConn Huskies).  This very well could be the skid Arizona goes on before getting hot in September and playing that same baseball in October to knock off the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers for a possible spot and 10-year anniversary in the World Series.

ATLANTA — The hot Diamondbacks’ are non-existent as they have now become colder than a negative January wind chill day in the Midwest.  Winners of seven straight, Arizona has now lost five in a row to quality playoff opponents as they suffered a sweep to the Braves’ Sunday afternoon.

Arizona is having the same misfortune that the second-place San Francisco Giants have had the entire second half of the season; they cannot hit worth a lick.  The Diamondbacks’ as a team scored a total of six-runs while on their current slump, while the pitching staff has allowed 26-runs in five-games, that equates to early sweep in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Sunday afternoon was the same story as Arizona got shutout while putting just five balls in play.  The only bit of luck the Diamondbacks’ have going from them right now is their division counterpart, the Giants’, are not making any ground in the division.  They have been losers of five of their last seven.

Arizona held a 3 ½-game lead over the Giants’ last Tuesday, but that lead has shrunk on this current road trip to 1 ½.

What was even more disappointing was the effort Arizona starter, Josh Collmenter, brought to ballpark Sunday.  He pitched seven-innings of four-hit ball with his only mistake of the game being a pitch to Alex Gonzalez in the home half of the third that left the park and ended up being the difference maker.

Tim Hudson of the Braves’ just out did Collmenter, blanking the D-backs through seven-innings while allowing three-hits and striking out seven.

Even though the Braves’ just held a 1-0 lead after seven, the game was over as Atlanta sent out their relief guns in Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel.  Both pitchers were not as dominant as they typically are; nevertheless, they did their job to prevent an Arizona rally as Kimbrel earned his major league leading 39-save.

Arizona catches a small break in the schedule as they open a four-game set with the Washington Nationals Monday before heading home for two three-game sets with the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies.  If Arizona wants to be taken seriously in this playoff talk, they needed to win seven of their next ten to close out the month of August and increase their lead over the defending champions.

PHILADELPHIA — Arizona’s bats were finally silenced as Cliff Lee dominated and the Phillies’ scored seven unanswered runs late in the game to end the Diamondbacks’ seven-game winning streak.

Lee threw seven-innings in which his only mistake was a pitch to Paul Goldschmidt that left the park for a two-run blast.  Arizona only got three-hits off Lee and were hitless against the Phillies’ bullpen.

For the first time in a while though, the Diamondbacks bullpen could not live up to its current reputation as it allowed four-runs in the ninth-inning that capped off a late rally by Philadelphia to defeat the first-place Diamondbacks’.  The loss hurts as San Francisco was finally able to beat the Braves, narrowing the lead in the West to 2 ½-games.

Aside from early inning troubles, Joe Saunders seemed primed to deliver Arizona’s eighth straight win against another top pitching prospect.  After a Jimmy Rollins leadoff homerun in the first and an RBI-single in the second tied the game 2-2, Saunders settled down for the next four-innings.

In the bottom of the seventh however, Saunders could not buy an out as he was pulled after allowing three straight batters to reach and surrendering two-runs in the process.

He walked Hunter Pence to start the inning, and followed that by allowing a single to John Mayberry and a double by Wilson Valdez brought both base runners home to gave Philadelphia a 4-2 lead.

But Valdez was still on base and still Saunders responsibility, and he got charged for that run as well, his fifth of night, as Ben Francisco hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Valdez from third.

The Phillies’ were not done yet as they started the ninth-inning with five straight singles that scored Ryan Howard for a 6-2 lead.

Valdez reached for the fourth single on a throwing error that loaded the bases with nobody out.  Brian Schneider concluded the five singles in a row by adding an RBI to his stat sheet.

Rollins continued the run parade by hitting a sacrifice fly with two-outs and Shane Victorino ended the rout by doubling home the fourth and final run of the evening as the Phillies dominated the snakes 9-2.

It should be a good one tonight as the Diamondbacks’ send their ace, Ian Kennedy, to the mound as he searches for his eighth straight win along with his 16-win of the season.  A win would also give Arizona a series victory over a champion caliber team.

PHILADELPHIA — Manger Kirk Gibson is doing all the right things, saying all the right things to his ballclub and has got this Arizona Diamondbacks team believing.  Arizona started a tough road trip by opening it against the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies, who are the best team presently with 78-42 record.

Tied with the most wins in the National League among active starters at 15, Halladay (15-5) demonstrated what the Diamondbacks’ might encounter in a possible first-round playoff matchup.

Halladay pitched a complete game, but suffered the loss; he struck out 14 in nine-innings too.  With just two-outs left in the game, Roy gave up the double that allowed two Arizona runs to come home for a lead change.  It appears there is something in the Diamondbacks’ Gatorade as they continue the ride on their current seven-game winnings streak, now opening up a 3 ½-game lead over the San Francisco Giants who lost in extras to the Atlanta Braves.

Arizona starter, Josh Collmenter, was effective in his 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing just two-runs to this powerful Phillies’ club.  The bullpen continues to dominate as they allowed just one-hit in the final 2 2/3 innings with J. J. Putz striking out two in the ninth en-route to his 30-save.

Lyle Overbay would have two key at-bats that virtually gave Arizona this win over the Phillies; once in his first at-bat with the other taking place in the ninth with his last at-bat.

In the second-inning, Chris Young singled with one-out and would also steal second with Overbay at-bat.  It did not take much longer after that as Overbay lined the pitch into right-field for an RBI-single, giving Arizona a 1-0 lead.

However, in the fifth, the lead disappeared on a swing by Shane Victorino.  After Halladay grounded out to start the inning, Jimmy Rollins singled with Victorino following by sending a two-run shot into right-field for the Phillies’ first lead of the night.

Halladay appeared to find his grove after a Gerardo Parra leadoff single in the fifth as he retired the next 12 Arizona hitters.

Leading 2-1 with eight-innings recorded in the books, Philadelphia had all but locked this one up as they currently post a 66-1 record when leading after eight.

Well, let’s make that 66-2 now.

Justin Upton led the ninth off with a single with Miguel Montero following with a single of his own, putting Arizona in prime position to jump over the more than likely tired Halladay with two runners aboard and no-outs to be found.

Halladay got his 13-strikeout with Young being the victim.  But the damage was far from done with Overbay’s last at-bat due up next.  Overbay did not wait long, sending the first pitch from Halladay over the right-fielder’s head that bounced just in front of the out-of-town score board for a two-run go-ahead double.

Putz locked down after issuing a leadoff walk to Carlos Ruiz.  Michael Martinez was thrown out on a sacrifice bunt.  Putz then got both Ross Gload and Rollins to strikeout swinging.

However, playing the best team in the majors does not get easier with one-win and to win the World Series you need to win series, not A game.  The Diamondbacks’ next battle is to go through Cliff Lee, who is 12-7 with 177-strikeouts and a 2.83-ERA.

PHOENIX — Another injury to add to the books.

Arizona fans got bitter news Friday night when Xavier Nady went down with a broken hand after being hit by Mets, starter, Dillon Gee.  Sunday afternoon the news got worse as starter, Jason Marquis got hit on a line-drive that broke his shin, putting him on the four-to-six week disabled list too.

However, the injury did not affect the NL West leading Diamondbacks who scored three unanswered runs to defeat and sweep the New York Mets in a 5-3 win that kept them two-games ahead of the San Francisco Giants who also won earlier in the afternoon.

Marquis lasted just 3 1/3 innings giving up three-hits and a homerun before he had to call it quits after trying to last through the pain of his then unknowingly broken shin.  Zach Duke entered for Marquis and struggled too, lasting just 2 2/3 innings while surrendering two-runs on four-hits.

New York got the first of the day on Lucas Duda’s leadoff solo homerun in the fourth-inning.  In the bottom-half of the inning, Arizona grabbed a 2-1 lead.

With back-to-back one-out singles by Ryan Roberts and Sean Burroughs, Paul Goldschmidt hit a ground-rule double to bring Roberts home and tying the game.  A wild-pitch with Henry Blanco at-bat allowed the second run of the inning to cross home, giving Arizona their temporary lead.

In the fifth-inning, Angel Pagan hit a single to start the Mets two-run affair.  Justin Turner followed with an RBI-double to tie things up 2-2.  Duda stepped up again big, singling home Turner for the Mets second lead of the game, 3-2.

But Justin Upton, who has been unbelievably hot the last few days, was not going to let 30,000+ paying fans go home without at attempted try at a sweep.  He hit homerun number 25 to tie the game 3-apiece after five-innings of play.

With a two-out double in home half of the sixth, Goldschmidt doubled as did Blanco to break the 3-all tie, giving Arizona a 4-3 lead.

Arizona would add a insurance run, they had a great opportunity to really knockout the Mets, as they got the bases loaded on a hits batsman, a walk, and single with Blanco at-bat again and no outs.  Blanco was patient and as a result was awarded a walk to increase the Diamondbacks lead, 5-3.  But the next batter flew out and Willie Bloomquist ended the inning on a double-play in a scenario that could have seen Arizona take complete command of the game.

Arizona however would survive another day as David Hernandez pitched a perfect ninth for his 11-save.  The win kept the Diamondbacks two-games in front of San Francisco who won earlier in a 5-2 win over the struggling Florida Marlins.

The Diamondbacks are now going to really tested in their upcoming ten-game road trip that starts Tuesday night.  They have three series with NL East teams. The first two being against the best team in the majors right now, Philadelphia, and the more than likely Wild Card champs in the Atlanta Braves, both of which are three-game sets.

The Giants have a little more comfortable of a August schedule left, just having to face the Braves before  playing two series with the Houston Astros, with a two-game set with the San Diego Padres in the middle, before finishing the month at home against the hard to figure out Chicago Cubs.

If Arizona wants to prove itself worthy of a division title, they will need to come ready to play, and hit against the great pitchers they will encounter in Philly and Atlanta.

PHOENIX — Are the Arizona Diamondbacks and Ian Kennedy really as good as they are playing right now?  Arizona (66-53) has been on a roll since the All-Star break, going 17-10 while their divisional foe, the San Francisco Giants, have gone 12-15 during the same span of games.

Kennedy (15-3) has been something else this 2011 season.  He continues to win close-knit games with a majority of Arizona’s victories being 1 to 3 runs every time he takes the mound.  His dominance gives him the praise he definitely deserves being tied with Philadelphia’s, Roy Halladay for most wins in the National League, and tied for third among active starters in the majors.

With his seven-innings of work, allowing just one-run on six-hits, Kennedy remains perfect in the month of August with a 3-0 record and a 2.45-ERA for the month as well.  To make the numbers even more impressive, Kennedy has won all of his previous seven starts.  But with all this positive energy coming off from Kennedy, there will probably be a fair share of negativity in the offseason with payroll.  Currently, Kennedy is making just $423,000 for this season, but more likely than not, he will want a pay increase for the phenomenal season he is having and he deserves as long as his numbers do not slide too drastically in the years to come.  Arizona should look him up to a four-year deal; nothing extreme because pitchers who have a season like Kennedy is having typically seem to disappear off the face of the earth.

The close victory was even more valuable for the Diamondbacks entire ballclub because with San Francisco’s 2-1 loss against the Florida Marlins, Arizona was able to increase their lead in the division by another full-game, now leading by 2.

Arizona jumped out early on Mets starter, Dillon Gee, scoring all four of its runs in the first two-innings of play.  In the bottom of the first, Justin Upton hit a two-out solo homerun to get things going for the Diamondbacks.

An inning later, Arizona added more runs, this time three, on three straight doubles after Xaiver Nady was hit by a pitch.  The pitch broke Nady’s hand and has placed him on the disabled list where he will most likely miss most of the regular season, possibly being healthy enough to return to post-season play if Arizona wins the division.

After the hit batter, Sean Bourroughs doubled to put himself and Nady in scoring position with one-out.  Cody Ransom doubled both runners home for 3-0 lead.  Even Kennedy got in on the fun, also doubling home a base runner which as it turned out, would be the game winner in a 4-3 battle with the Mets.

In the fifth, Angel Pagan led-off for the Mets with single.  A wild-pitch by Kennedy allowed Pagan to take second and with two-outs, Jason Bay’s RBI-single brought Pagan in for New York’s first run of the night.

Bay would score the Mets second run as he doubled to lead-off the eighth.  He took third on Josh Thole line-out and with Jason Pridie’s groundout, came home on the ensuing play.

Closer, J.  J. Putz came in for relief in the ninth, struggling with his command as he allowed a double to Scott Hairston to start the inning.  Pagan’s groundout allowed Hairston to advance to third and Willie Harris’s sacrifice-fly made it a one-run ballgame.  However, Putz was able to finish the inning without any further damage, getting David Wright to groundout to end the inning.

Arizona’s win Friday marked their 66-win, which surpasses their season win total from a year ago.

PHOENIX — Wow. That is all I can manage to say at the moment about this Arizona Diamondbacks club.  Could Arizona really have to late-inning comebacks against the same time in the same series?  Guess so.

Arizona has tied their win mark from the end of last season when they went 65-97, they are now 65-53 with a full-game lead on the San Francisco Giants.  I for one did not expect this team to go from last to first with a seriously good chance of winning the division in less than a year.  But the Diamondbacks’ seemingly continue to find ways to win games despite the odds.  I hate to make predictions with both San Francisco and Arizona each having 44-games remaining to close out the regular season, but the more I blog about both teams, the more I feel as if Arizona will take the division as the surprise/sleeper team of the year.

San Francisco, as good as they are on the mound with Tim Lincecum, Ryan Vogelsong, and Brian Wilson, they are just awful when standing at the plate.  They rank near the bottom in almost all the major offensive statistics and currently have a -13 run differential.  Pitching can be compared to defense in the NFL in the saying that defense wins games.  But defense on the field cannot lead to runs and that is where San Francisco struggles as opposed to the division leading Diamondbacks.

Arizona can hit the ball, there is no question about that.  Their batting average (.250) is not impressive but they score runs (541) which is good for 7^th in the Majors.  That also gives the Diamondbacks a plus-22 run differential.

That Arizona offense showed up again against the worst team in the majors, the Houston Astros (38-80) who are forty-games under .500.  The Diamondbacks were down 5-1 entering the eighth before they scored seven unanswered runs to defeat the Astros, giving Arizona a full-game lead over the defending champions.

The Astros’ seemed all but poised to win this game and spoil Arizona’s hopes of claiming the division by a full-game as they piled on the runs in the middle frames.  Carlos Lee had an RBI-single in the third to give Houston a 1-0 lead.  In the fifth, the first three batters all reached base safely and J. D. Martinez brought in two-runs on a double.  Lee lined-out to bring in another run to put up a three-spot in the inning.

Arizona got a run back in the bottom half of the frame on Willie Bloomquist’s RBI-single, but, the Astros’ got their four-run lead right back as Jason Bourgeois tripled to lead-off the seventh, coming home Jose Altuve’s RBI-single.

The rally began in the eighth when Bloomquist was issued a one-out walk, scoring on Ryan Roberts double.  After a Justin Upton groundout, Miguel Montero singled home Roberts to cut the Astros previous lead in half, now trailing 5-3.

In the ninth, Arizona had a man on base, but also had two-outs and were down to their last strike with Paul Goldschmidt being the Diamondbacks last prayer.  After running the count even 2-2, Goldschmidt fouled the next two pitchers he saw before slamming a pitch to the left-field stands for a two-run game-tying homerun that sent the game into extras.

The offense was able to remain hot due to J. J. Putz quick mow down of Houston in the tenth, retiring all three batters he faced in eight-pitches.

In the bottom half, Roberts and Upton hit back-to-back singles leading to Chris Young’s one-out, three-run game-winning homerun to give Young his fifth career walk-off and the Diamondbacks’ a full-game lead on the San Francisco Giants.

Both the Giants’ and Diamondbacks’ open up a three-game series with NL East foes as the New York Mets visit Phoenix and the Giants’ travel to south Florida to take on the Marlins.  The Mets’ series starts a span of four series between Arizona and the NL East.  Arizona will go on a ten-game road trip following the Mets’ series, visiting Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington respectively.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks have reclaimed first-place in the NL West for the moment.  The D-Backs 6-3 win along with the Giants’ 9-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates Wednesday gave way for Arizona’s ½-game lead over San Francisco.

Arizona starter, Josh Collmenter, did not let his previous two-starts get to his head as he lasted a total of six-innings while allowing 11-earned runs during that two-game spam.

With the Giants’ game taking place in the afternoon, the D-Backs entered the game tied for first and with a strong outing by Collmenter, could take sole possession of first.  Collmenter and the rest of the Diamondbacks’ did not shy away from the task at hand as they opened the first-inning by scoring three-runs.

Collmenter (7-7) has been receiving too much criticism as starter for this club.  His numbers are not THAT bad for a number-FOUR pitcher in his FIRST major league season.  A 3.15-ERA is not something to look over; the starter who should be worried about his status for a possible role in post-season play is Jason Marquis who has struggled since arriving to Arizona.

Collmenter had his best start in a pivotal game that gave Arizona first.  He went seven-innings of four-hit ball while surrendering two-runs in the fifth.  Houston got its first four batters on base leading to its two-runs.  Brian Bogusevic singled and later took third on Jimmy Paredes double.  Clint Barmes and Humberto Quintero both had back-to-back RBI-singles to give Houston its only runs of the evening.

The Diamondbacks’ got rolling fast, scoring three in the first-inning which was all started by Willie Bloomquist’s leadoff solo homerun.  Ryan Roberts doubled, but then two-outs and two-walks were issued to load the bases for Paul Goldschmidt.  Goldschmidt’s single brought in two-runs to give Arizona a 3-0 lead after one-inning of play.

Both Justin Upton and Chris Young doubled in the fifth to add a fourth run, jumping out to a 4-2 lead.

The D-Backs added some insurance runs in both the seventh and eighth-innings to further increase their lead, 6-3.

Young’s RBI-double and Gerardo Parra’s RBI-triple allowed the D-Backs to take a 6-3 lead entering the final inning of play.

David Hernandez came in to close out the ninth and did so with no problems to report as he got all three batters out easily while throwing just 11-pitches as Arizona took first from the Giants’ once again this season.

Arizona will close out their four-game set with the Houston Astros this evening as Joe Saunders gets the start.  With a strong outing and smart offensive patience, the Diamondbacks could gain a full one-game lead over the San Francisco Giants.

PHOENIX — The National League West battle has fully gotten underway as both the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants are poised to remain neck-and-neck to the bitter end.  The Giants shutout the Pirates Monday, while the D-Backs made some of their own thunder as they erased a six-run deficit to come out on top of the Houston Astros to remain just a ½-game back of the division-leading Giants.

Arizona starter, Jason Marquis, had his second consecutive poor outing since joining the club via the end of the trade deadline.  Marquis last just through four-innings of play after he surrendered seven-runs on nine-hits.  He struck out just two while allowing two homeruns in the third.

Marquis put Arizona in a deep hole early; but that’s the key word, “early” as the Diamondbacks’ had plenty of innings to pile up some runs.

The Diamondbacks’ scored early as Justin Upton’s two-out single would come around the entire diamond to score the first run of the game of in the first on Miguel Montero’s RBI-double.

However, Marquis lost his composure from the second-inning on.  Astros’, Brian Bogusevic and Angel Sanchez reached on back-to-back singles with Humberto Quintero tying the game 1-all on his RBI-single.

In the third, J. D. Martinez’s solo homerun gave Houston a 2-1 lead.  That was then followed by Bogusevic’s first career homerun, a two-run blast, to give the Astros’ a 4-1 lead.

For those who thought it could not get worse for a team vying for a division crown, it did as Marqius allowed three more runs to come home.  With two-outs already recorded, a fielding error by Willie Bloomquist kept the inning alive for Houston; which usually means in baseball language a high scoring inning for the opponent.

Martinez doubled to put two Astros’ into scoring position.  Both runners eventually came home on Carlos Lee’s two-RBI single.  Bogusevic was all sorts of trouble in the early going as he had another big hit, a double to bring in Lee, giving the worst team in the majors a 7-1 lead over the Diamondbacks.

But like all good teams fighting for a playoff berth this late in the season, they usually find ways to come back and win ball games, this scenario was no different.

In the bottom of the fifth, Arizona had its first three batters all reach on singles before Ryan Roberts ended the streak on a pop-up.  But All-Star, Upton delivered yet again, this time a double to bring in two-runs while allowing Arizona to still have two runners in scoring position with just one-out.  Montero swung away at the first pitch he saw after the Upton hit, and it paid off as it landed in right-field to give the Diamondbacks’ two more runs, now only trailing 7-5.

Arizona in the sixth would put up another four spot on the board as Upton would deliver another key hit.  A leadoff single and double allowed Bloomquist to drive in two-runs and tie the game 7-7.  With two-outs in the inning, Upton’s blast broke the tie and gave the Diamondbacks their first lead of the night, 9-7.

However, these Astros’ would not go away easily as Jimmy Paredes also sent his first career homerun out of the park; at least some players on Houston had something to celebrate.

In the eighth, Arizona would add an additional two-runs to put the knockout punch on the Astros’ despite another solo run crossing the plate in the ninth.

Both Ryan Roberts and Kelly Johnson had RBI-doubles to put Arizona out further ahead, leading 11-8.  J. J. Putz entered for the save and got a lucky bounce that otherwise could have led to a disastrous inning.  After getting the leadoff batter, Putz allowed back-to-back singles which was then followed by Clint Barmes ground-rule double.  If it had stayed in the park, there is no idea how many more runs could have scored.  But, Putz calmed down, getting the next two batters out as Arizona would celebrate overcoming only their second six-run deficit in franchise history.

While all seems good and happy in Phoenix, there is one disappointing factor occurring at the moment and that is the attendance at Chase Field.

It is now the middle of August and the Diamondbacks’ have proven themselves to be contenders in this division.  Yet, the stadium was only 36% full.  In most other cities it would be impossible to get a ticket with the only availability being standing room only.  It is time to go out and support your D-Backs fans. As I post this blog, Arizona leads Houston by 3-2 after five.  With the victory, the Diamondbacks will have a ½-game lead over the defending champs.

SAN FRANCISCO — Two streaks ended Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park.  One was the San Francisco Giants five-game losing skid, while the other was their opponent, the Arizona Diamondbacks having their four-game win streak snapped.

In Thursday’s series finale it was winner take all, for a day at least, as whoever came out victorious would claim a full-game lead over the other.  San Francisco was not about to get swept at home and lose their first-place standing all in the same day in front of their fans, using those factors for an 8-1 win to retake sole possession of first in what is sure to be a competitive NL West battle.

Giants’ starter, Ryan Vogelsong, was lights allowing one-run on five-hits through six-innings.  Seven-strikeouts in the effort lowered his already low ERA to 2.19 which is lower than Tim Lincecum’s ERA, 2.77.  The win improves Vogelsong’s record to 9-1, with his last recorded loss taking place May 26, in a 1-0 defeat courtesy of the Florida Marlins.

San Francisco, which scored just three-runs in the first two-games of the series, had twelve-hits, with eight-runs coming upon two four-run innings.

In bottom of the third, it was hit after hit as San Francisco quickly took a 4-0 lead.  Andres Torres leadoff single started things off as Jeff Keppinger followed with a single of his own to advance Torres to third on the play.  Another single, this time an RBI-single, by Pablo Sandoval scored the Giants first run of the afternoon.

Carlos Beltran would also single in the inning, making it four straight singles, as the single brought in the second run, advancing Sandoval to third with still no-outs recorded.

The first-out was finally recorded by Orlando Cabrera, but not before it brought home Sandoval and put the speedy Beltran at second.  Beltran would take third on a fielding error by Diamondback second baseman, Ryan Roberts, to keep the inning going.  Cody Ross then concluded the four-run inning with an RBI-force out.

However, San Francisco would come back with a second batch of four-runs in the fifth with five straight hits in the frame.  Sandoval and Beltran would both single to continue the rout of Arizona.  Beltran was 3 for 5 on the day, scoring two-runs.

With two men on base, and nobody out, Cabrera hit a two-RBI double down the third-base line that saw Beltran score all the way from first.  Aubrey Huff then reached on an infield single, moving Cabrera to third with still no-outs.  Ross then added two more RBI’s to his season stats, hitting a leftfield gapper to take an 8-0 lead after five.

Arizona did manage to score a run in the seventh, a Zach Duke RBI-single, but by then it was too late and too much to overcome for as the Giants’ pitching staff holds the second best ERA in the majors (3.18) and the best batting average against (.229).

Following the win, it is back to business as the Philadelphia Phillies (71-39) come into town for a four-game set to start Thursday evening. A continuation of a potential playoff series, San Francisco already took the first series in Philly July 26-28.   It must feel like October already in San Francisco with all these key series.