Diamondback Journal

One bad inning was all it took as the Diamondbacks lost to the Rockies 6-4 as they were swept four games to none in the NLCS.  With two men on and two outs, Owings gave up a double, Connon Jackson made an error, gave up another single, then a three run blast to turn what could have been a salvagable inning into the difference between winning and losing.

On the one hand, Owings couldn’t help the error but he could have stopped the damage by getting the next hitter out.  Still, only two of the six runs he gave up were earned and like the Tigers pitching last year, Connor Jackson will take some heat for making two errors in the series at first base.

Jackson did put the Diamondbacks on the board in the third inning with an RBI single.  Chris Snyder provided the rest of the offense with a three run homer in the eighth inning that turned a blowout into a relatively close game.

The nice thing is, the Diamondbacks head into the offseason without a ton of holes and it’ll be interesting to see how they improve.  I know making the final four isn’t consolation but it’s further then a lot of people thought the Diamondbacks would make it, especially without Randy Johnson.  I’m also interested to see whether the Rockies can keep this outstanding run going so I’ll be watching when the World Series kicks off next week.

Two losses and both at home.  Even worse, the big Rockies inning in extra frames came with three walks in the inning.  What an ugly way to lose and I’m to distraught to write it up. Sigh, the Diamondbacks now have to win at least one in Colorado for the series to come back home.  Maybe the day off will do them some good.

The Diamondbacks got off to a rough start as the hitters were held in check by the Rockies’ pitchers and the offense could manage just a single run.  Eric Byrnes double home Stephen Drew in the first inning to give the Diamondbacks their first and only lead of the game.  Just two innings later, Brandon Webb had been tagged for four runs and the game was essentially out of reach because some top notch Rockies’ pitching.

Byrnes was the only hitter with two hits.  Chris Young reached base twice with a pair of walks and Webb took the loss with the four runs in six innings.  Juan Cruz gave up an unearned run in the eighth inning but that proved to be just an add on.

Doug Davis will try to right the ship tonight.  I like the start time better.  I’ll be able to get home from work and catch the entire game.

The Diamondbacks did it in what was a much closer game then the score indicated yesterday.  From Chris Young’s lead off homer to Livan Hernandez’s outing the mound, things just seemed to click and the end result was a 5-1 win that finished up their sweep over the Phillies.

Chris Young got things going with a solo homer in the very first at bat of the game and from then on, the Diamondbacks never gave up the lead.  Later in the inning, Justin Upton singled home Stephen Drew and they made it 3-0 in the fourth when Eric Byrnes drove home a run on a ground out. 

In the meantime, Livan Hernandez got out of a few james.  He left two runners on in the first, two in the second, and two in the fifth. He was the beneficiary of three of the four double plays the Diamondbacks turned and that’s primary reason how he could give up ten baserunners (five walks and five hits) yet just give up a single run.  The pen also did a nice job and Tony Pena, Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde each threw a scoreless frame.

Stephen Drew hit a solo homer in the sixth and Eric Byrnes went yard in the ninth with solo homers but those two runs were just gravy.  It seems a lot longer, but this is the first time the Diamondbacks have made it to the NLCS since they won the World Series in 2001.  Oddly, because of the sweep, the Diamondbacks and Rockies don’t play until Thursday.  The pitchers haven’t been announced but I find it hard to believe that it’ll be anyone other then Brandon Webb in that first game.

The Diamondbacks were down for the first time in this series in the second inning of last night’s game after Doug Davis was touched up for two runs.  That deficit was short lived though because the Diamondbacks stormed back in the bottom half of the frame with four runs of their own.  Chris Young put the Diamondbacks on the board in a big way with a three run blast and Eric Byrnes tripled home Stephen Drew in the inning.  After that, the Diamondbacks never looked back.

Young had just the one hit but he walked twice and finished with two runs.  Stephen Drew also had a solid day at the plate and he went two for five with two RBIs and a run.

Doug Davis was hardly awesome, but he was good enough to pick up the win.  He gave up four runs on five hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.  Jose Valverde struck out the side in the ninth as he closed out the game.

The series shifts back to Chicago tomorrow and it’d be nice if the Diamondbacks could finish things up.  It’ll be Livan Hernandez against Rich Hill.

The Diamondbacks scored two late runs and they got a really nice start by Brandon Webb to take game one of their series over the Cubs.  Webb held to the Cubs to just a run on four hits in seven solid innings of work.  He walked three and struck out nine en route to the win.  Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde closed out the game with a shutout inning a piece to finish off the Cubs.

Stephen Drew belted a solo homer in the fourth inning to put the the Diamondbacks on the board but it wasn’t until the seventh inning when the Diamondbacks scored their winning run.  Mark Reynolds belted a lead off solo homer to give the Diamondbacks the winning run while Connor Jackson drove home Chris Snyder with a sac. fly gave the Diamondbacks an insurance run.

Game two is tonight.  Doug Davis gets the start and he’ll go up against Ted Lilly.

Well, the 2007 regular season is in the books for the Diamondbacks and it’s hard to be disappointed.  If you would have told me Randy Johnson would miss most of the season, I would have said the Diamondbacks were smoke but they not only won the NL West, they had the best record in the National League so if they can take care of the Cubs beginning Wednesday, there should be plenty of action at Chase Field.

It’s hard to pick a hitting MVP because every played their part.  Chris Young belted 32 homers, but his OPS+ of 88 was hardly stellar.  Eric Byrnes, Conor Jackson and Orlando Hudson all had their hitting highlights and rookie Mark Reynolds made his impact as well.

Brandon Webb followed up his 2006 Cy Young season with a campaign that should give him some Cy Young votes this year but it’s funny that he wasn’t the most exciting pitcher in the second half. Despite going 8-8, that prize has to go to Micah Owings.  And the pen was nothing short of awesome.  From Jose Valverde to Juan Cruz on down, this pen got the job done and that should be huge in this short playoff series.

The time for Wednesday game hasn’t been announced, but the pitchers have.  It’ll be to aces with Brandon Webb going up against Carlos Zambrano.

So far, the Diamondbacks are an unimpressive 3-3 in the season half, and this was after losing five straight heading into the break.  The end result is, the Diamondbacks are now closer to falling into fourth place (tied with the Rockies in the loss column, two wins up) then they are to the Padres in second place.  Needless to say, the Diamondbacks have to be better if they’re going to make a playoff run because they play in what’s looking like the best division in baseball.

I was surprised to see that Chris Young leads the team in homers (tied with Byrnes).  The kid is struggling, but every once in a while he’ll go yard.  You also have to be impressed with his eleven steals without getting caught, you just wish he’d get on base better then his current .275 clip.

Eric Byrnes should be a serious MVP candidate this year especially if the Diamondbacks make the playoffs since he’s carried this team at the plate.  He leads the team in just about every offensive category that matters and while he might not hit his 2006 homer total, everything else is better.  Of course the problem is, Byrnes is a free agent after this season and with all of the outfield talent the Diamondbacks have, it might not make sense to re-sign him at the price tag he’ll command.  I also thought it was priceless when he let his dog go swimming at the All Star Game and hearing Joe Buck chew him out.  Funny stuff.

Brandon Webb has struggled in his last three starts.  He’s lost two of those games and even in the no decision, he gave up four runs in seven innings.  It wasn’t horrible, but you expect more from your ace and Webb is making the offense work more then they’re capable of working.  All I know is, we need Randy Johnson back.

The Diamondbacks finish up their four game series with the Brewers today.  They’re down 2-0 so hopefully they can pull a few runs out of their hat and come back in this one.

The Diamondbacks are 10-9 in June and they just lost to one of the worst teams, the Baltimore Orioles.  Yet, they still sit just a half game back of the first place Dodgers and they’re in a virtual tie with the Padres.  The only thing this mediocre stretch has done for all three contenders in the West is put the hot Rockies back into the mix and they sit just four games out of first and three losses back of the Diamondbacks.

To make matters worse, Randy Johnson is on the shelf with a sore back again.  He had put together four straight wins and six straight decent starts and while he’s due to come off of the DL this week, we’ll have to wait and see whether he’s ready.  Having a mostly healthy Unit would be a huge boost in the second half.

And what can you say about Eric Byrnes.  I know you can’t expect him to keep up this pace, but if he somehow does, you’re looking at a MVP candidate.  He’s getting on base, driving in runs and even stealing bases.  And he’s doing it with some above average defense (three fielding runs above average).  It looks like last year wasn’t a fluke and Byrnes is an above average outfielder.

The guy who’s been disappointing has been Chris Young.  I know you can’t expect much from a rookie but a .285 OBP isn’t going to cut it.  The ten homeruns are nice but the rest of the package isn’t living up to expectations.  With a good second half though, the kid could still pick up rookie of the year.

Brandon Webb is starting to come into his own as well.  After a mediocre May, he’s been very good in June even if the win/loss record doesn’t reflect it.  One thing he’s been doing is striking more guys out. He’s on pace for his first 200 strikeout season and his batting average against is actually better then it was last year when he won the Cy Young. 

Livan Hernandez gets the start tonight and he’ll take on Brian Burres.  Livan’s dropped his last three and he’s been roughed up bad in his last two starts and hopefully this will be the night he turns things around.

This is definitely good news. 

This is a pretty interesting story on the Diamondbacks starting rotation.  I guess anytime you can make Brandon Webb happy, it’s a good thing even though his talk of protection in the rotation doesn’t make much sense.  It also goes into how while the pitching has been good, the hitting hasn’t and that’s cost us some games.  It’s a really good read on the start of the Diamondbacks.

The three game winning streak ended yesterday but the Diamondbacks made up some ground and they now sit just two games back of the Dodgers and the Padres in the loss column.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is, the Giants are right on our tail and even the Rockies, at seven games back, are hardly out of it.  It’s still anyone’s race at this point.

It’s kind of bad when Tony Clark is your homerun leader but it is what it is.  Clark has been solid for the Diamondbacks this year and while the batting average isn’t there, the power is.  A .580 slugging percentage is nothing to scoff at. 

Orlando Hudson has struggled of late and he hasn’t driven in a run in over a week.  He’s also seen his batting average drop from a healthy .310+ to .282 and his OPS has been shaved by over 50 points.  What’s most surprising is that, at least so far, Hudson’s defense hasn’t been that great and he posts a -1 fielding runs above average.  And this is after four straight season where he exceeded 15 in FRAA.  He has a long way to go to get back to that point for a fifth year.

Randy Johnson had another nice start Sunday.  The 10/0 strikeout to walk ratio says it all and you hope that the old Randy Johnson, at least in some form, is back for good.  It’s his third straight solid start and while he’s only pitched into the seventh once, you’re getting some solid production for around 2/3 of the game, which is all we can ask.

Jose Valverde is tied for the National League lead in saves with seventeen.  He’s lost two and those were both pretty ugly, but that’s a fair percentage. I guess I could live with a loss a month if he does his job other 12-15 times he comes out and pitches.

The Diamondbacks finale against the Rockies is tonight.  Then the Astros roll into town for a four game set.  If the Diamondbacks just win, the rest will take care of itself.  Doug Davis gets the start tonight.

We’ve been having some technical difficulties here at Baseball Historians so that’s the reason for the abscence.  Things are fixed now and hopefully just in time for a run by the Diamondbacks.  They continue to struggle and after losing three of their last four games, they site just a game above .500 and in the middle of the pack for second place.  The Dodgers have a three game lead for first but then three teams, including the Diamondbacks, are duking it out for second fiddle.  Hopefully a three game series against the last place Rockies will do the trick.

Max Scherzer made his debut over the weekend, it’s just unfortunate that it wasn’t for a Diamondback minor league affiliate.  He did throw well in his debut the Independent League Fort Worth Cats as a way to showcase his skills.  The Diamondbacks have until the end of the month to sign or he goes back into the draft mix.

Chris Young is finally hitting out of his slump as he makes his bid for the National League Rookie of the Year.  Josh Hamilton with the Reds will be the sentimental favorite but Young now has six homers and five stolen bases (without getting caught) and his six game hitting streak has boosted his batting average from just at the Mendoza line to a more respectable .258.

Randy Johnson throws in the series opener today and it sure would be nice to see him pick up his first win.  The strikeout to walk ratio is there (28/7) but hitters are tagging him at a .292 clip. 

The Diamondbacks have put together another extended streak and because of it, they’ve now moved back into first place.  They’ve been in first, then fourth, now back to first.  I’d like to say they’re here to stay, but things are just too tight.

Last night, they got it done behind a nice outing by Brandon Webb.  He gave up just one on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts in seven solid innings.  He’s now pushed his ERA down to 3.21 and he’s put together three nice starts in a row after a couple of shaky ones in first three.

Orlando Hudson continued to hit the ball well.  He went three for five with an RBI and two runs and he’s now hitting .352 on the season.  Chris Young also showed some flashes of what we can hopefully expect from him in the future with two homeruns and three RBIs.  Carlos Quentin had a nice game as well and he went two for three with two runs.

There’s still two more games left in this series.  Picking up this first one was nice though so hopefully now the Diamondbacks can just keep it going.

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.

Prospect guru John Sickels posted what he thinks centerfielder Chris Young will do in his career.  He has him leaving the Diamondbacks after he puts in his six years and he has him putting up a pretty solid career.  No 30/30 seasons but he comes close.  And I guess I could live with that 2007 line although he has Young having some of his better seasons for the Rangers.

I thought we’d get a bit more for Jorge Julio but the Diamondbacks traded for Marlins quasi-prospect Yusmeiro Petit.  Julio came over to the Diamondbacks from the Mets in the Orlando Hernandez trade and he eventually took over as closer.  Now we shipped him off to a 22 year old who was bombed in the majors last year and didn’t do much better at Triple A.  Maybe he was playing over his head and hopefully he can get it worked out at Triple A this year since that’s probably where he’s headed.

In the meantime, Jose Valverde will go back to being the teams closer.  So I wouldn’t call it a bad trade, expecially if Petit pans out.  I just expected more of a sure thing.  We also got some cash and we won’t have to pay Julio’s contract so maybe that played into it as well.  And on top of all that, Julio will be a free agent for the first time at the end of the season so we might have lost him anyway.

Jim McLennan at the Hardball Times previewed the Diamondbacks today and he talks about how, based on the projections from their preview book, the Diamondbacks are expected to have the best record in the National League in 2007.  That seems kind of low, but it also goes to show you that while a lot of people are looking at the Dodgers and Padres to walk away with the division, the Diamondbacks should be in the mix themselves.

It’s in a five question format and he talks about Randy Johnson getting back to form and how the Diamondback’s young talent should perform.  Then it closes it up with a discussion on whether attendance will be up the Diamondbacks come through and play well. 

The Diamondbacks dropped another spring game, this time to the Angels.  Enrique Gonzalez got the start and while he went five innings, he gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks.  Jorge Julio was also hit hard and he was tagged for three runs in a single frame.

Conor Jackson had three hits as did Alberto Callapso.  Miguel Montero drove in two with a double but that was really about it. 

Next up for the Diamondbacks are the Giants.  Dana Eveland is schedule to start.

In an interesting article over at Baseball America, Jack Magruder takes a look at how the Diamondbacks could follow the Tigers as one of the great come back stories.  It wasn’t that long ago that the Diamondbacks lost 111 games and now after getting Randy Johnson back, the team looks primed to compete in the NL West.  There’s a lot in there including what the Dbacks have done in the off season and also how some of their rookies are looking.

Here’s a great column by ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick about Brandon Webb and his sinker.  Some of the quotes from outfielder Eric Byrnes are pretty funny and there’s some good stuff about Webb’s personal life and then there’s some good quotes from some of Webb’s competitors.  Nice read.

The Rangers took it to the Diamondbacks this afternoon in a 9-8 beatdown.  The Diamondbacks did show something though because they stormed back and made a game of it after being down 9-1.  Livan Hernandez gave up all nine runs (seven earned) on ten hits and he gave up two homeruns.  Not a good start for a guy who’s supposed to be our number three.

Danny Richard hit a homerun and he drove in two runs while Rich Thompson had two hits and two RBIs in the loss.  Doug Davis will get the start tomorrow in the D-Backs spring game against the Angels.