Your attention please. During the early stages of today's Gameday Thread, a picture was posted which contained a small typographical error. A corrected version of this photograph follows below.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

A full report will follow in due course. If I can get up the enthusiasm...

Dan Haren RHP, 4-1, 3.12

Ted Lilly LHP, 2-4, 5.97

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Two words, guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of all who experience them. "Flu-like symptoms." Yes, that's what I'm suffering from today. Actuallly, it might the foll-on flu, but no-one in baseball ever gets that. I'm going to follow suit and go with the old standby, "Flu-like symptoms." My voice sounds like the guy who dies the movie trailers ["It was a time of trouble..."] or possibly an announver at a gentleman's club ["Now coming to the main stage, the very lovely...Jezebel..."], and something appears to have crawled into my sinuses and died. Whatever it was, appears to have had tentacles.

Good win yesterday, and today, we get to face Ted Lilly. We love Ted Lilly. Every time we face Ted Lilly, it brings back memories of Game Two in last year's NLCS where Ted Lilly gave up a three-run jack to Chris Young and Ted Lilly threw a temper tantrum on the mound, hurling Ted Lilly's glove to the dirt like a petulant Little Leaguer. 3.1 innings pitched, six earned runs, on seven hits and four walks. Let's just remind Ted Lilly of that moment, how much the Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed facing Ted Lilly.

Gonna be a tough series though, as the Cubs have been hammering the ball, especially at Wrigley where they have scored 7.2 runs per game, and are hitting a collective .315/.401/.505. I'd happily settle for two of the three: Zambrano is the most obvious issue, but we likely are inside Lilly's head after his October meltdown, and I am optimistic we can pounce on that and take the opener.

Jackson back in the lineup, which is good to see; still no Hudson though, and he's replaced by Burke. Young stays in the three-spot, but we are stuck with Byrnes batting lead-off once again. While Byrmes does seem to realize there's an issue, I can't say that is really much help at this point, since we all know that. Fixing it is what we want to see, and the friendly confines of Wrigley would be a good place to start.

Record: 23-12. Pace: 106-56. Change on last season: +4.

Outside of a somewhat wobbly top of the first inning, where our defense again gifted the opposition a run, this was just what the doctor ordered. Brandon Webb gave the bullpen a much-needed day off, with his first complete game of the season, and the offense came through, providing plentiful run support - they've scored eighteen runs for their ace over his last two starts.

Webb was particularly dominant through the first eight innings, allowing only an unearned run. That came as the result of a passed ball by Chris Snyder, through Burke should also have made the play at first, and there could have been a twin-killing during the inning. However, Webb settled down and retired 16 of 17 Phillies, the only one to reach being Bruntlett, hit by a pitch. He had a three-hitter going, entering the ninth: while he did see to flag somewhat there, allowing two runs on three hits, he finished off by getting another double-play with his 104th pitch, to complete his 13th career complete-game.

His final line was six hits, no walks and four strikeouts over the nine innings, with three runs allowed, two earned: up until the final stretch, this was probably his best outing of the year so far. Even so, it still runs Webb's record to 8-0, a stunning achievement given that no-one else in the National League has more than five wins so far. That's also Brandon's tenth victory in a row, the longest run in the National League since John Smoltz won eleven consecutive games for Atlanta near the start of 1996. The only other NL pitcher to reach double-digits over the past 30 years, is Andy Hawkins, who matched Webb, with ten straight in 1985.

After the Phillies took the lead, Arizona jumped right back out there, on Young's two-run homer in the bottom of the first. his eighth of the year, giving him the team lead. But it was in the fourth where the D-backs really blew things open, scoring four times on three hits, two walks, an error and a sacrifice fly. Chris Snyder had the key knock, a two-run double, which meant he went 10-for-24 on the homestand, with six RBI. Over the twenty games he's played after his batting average sunk to .083 on April 11, Snyder has hit .357. It's time for him to be moved out of the eighth spot, and get more use out of his offense.

On the other hand, let us now speak of Eric Byrnes,, who went 0-for-5 this afternoon, and was saved by a Jenkins error from hitting into a double-play. That reduces his season average to .232 - startling, given that he was batting .293 on April 26, less than two weeks ago. Since then, he is 5-for-46, with no walks or extra-base hits, one RBI and ten strikeouts. He batted leadoff for the D-backs today, and was the only position player a) not to get a hit, and b) not to drive in or score a run. There are really only two possibilities left: he's injured, or he sucks. In neither case, should he be in the top third of the batting order any longer - yet as I mentioned in the Gameday Thread, the worse he gets, the higher up the order he moves. His OBP is now below .300, the worst of the regular eight starters. Much as I love Byrnes...he's killing us.

There were a couple of interesting changes in the lineup today, one of them enforced by the absence of Jackson and Hudson, but the other was more optional. Chris Young started out of the lead-off spot for the first time this season, and was in the three-hole instead, somewhere he was last seen late in 2006. And behind him, making his debut batting fourth, was Justin Upton: how many teams have a 20-year old in the clean-up slot? Seemed to work pretty well for both of them: they combined to go 3-for-7 with three runs scored and three driven in, and each had a homer.

Upton's line for the season is now .344/.407/.566: I know it's early, but if he sustains an OPS of .973 by the end of the year, it'll be the fourth-best ever by a player his age. He'll be trailing Ted Williams (1.045 in 1939), Alex Rodriguez (1.045 in 1996) and Mel Ott (1.084 in 1929). Even if he loses a hundred points of OPS the rest of the way, that'd still be second only to A-Rod since 1959, when Vada Pinson put up a .316/.371/.509 year for the Cincinnati Red. Today, however, Mark Reynolds was the star, getting his first three-hit game of the season; we'll even forgive Webb going 0-for-4 with five men left on base. Happy to take the complete game any time.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Brandon Webb, +17.8%
Honorary mention: Chris Young, +15.3%
God-Emperor of suck: Chris Burke, -7.2%

The afternoon game inevitably affected Gameday Thread attendance a bit, and perhaps there was a hangover from yesterday's fiasco too. I managed to sneak in for a bit at lunchtime, and also present were paqs, Bcawz, unnamedDBacksfan, soco, El Stuart, IndyDBack, kishi, dahlian, Craig from Az, Lisalisa8 [welcome!], 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, SongBird, peeklay, Azreous, Smoltz's Beard, dstorm, DbacksSkins and singaporedbacksfan. And, hey, no irritating Dodgers fans to be found...and I so wanted to use the ban button for the first non-spamming time on SB Nation 2.0! We'll see what happens tomorrow, but bear in mind that it's another day-game: indeed, more of a morning game here in Arizona, so I will have to remember how to get something up before starting work!

Looks like there'll be no DL for Hudson, with Melvin saying before today's game, "At this point, I look to start [Hudson] Saturday, but he's in a pinch-hit role today and tomorrow." I hope that is indeed true, though I have heard an over-optimistic prognosis out of Melvin before in this case. Conor Jackson also looks to be ready to return, and could have been used as a pinch-hitter today had he been needed. "I'm surprised my arm is OK, to tell you the truth," he said. "I think that kind of took the brunt of it, but the helmet got me pretty good right below the temple, kind of in the orbit of the eye. I never lost consciousness, but I was definitely seeing stars." Remember, folks: please don't try those kind of moves at home, because Conor Jackson is a trained professional... :-)

Here's a reminder of something from last December by Nick Piecoro, which will probably have you gnawing off the odd limb in frustration. "Can you believe what Cliff Lee has been doing? The guy goes into New York last night and improves to 6-0 with seven shutout innings. And to think the Diamondbacks nearly had him. Twice. They were close on a deal last year at the All-Star break and then again prior to the winter meetings. Both deals were built around Carlos Quentin." Yes, the same Quentin whom we eventually handed over to the White Sox for an A-ball first-baseman... Sleep well, folks: see you in Chicago tomorrow!

Brett Myers RHP, 2-2, 4.70

Brandon Webb RHP, 7-0, 2.49

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It's a curiously sucky schedule: no off-day for the Diamondbacks, and they have to fly off to Chicago after this afternoon's game, for a day game tomorrow, with first pitch at 11:20 am AZ time. The casualty list for us is growing like an old-school slasher flick; another body hit the floor last night with Jackson getting his bell run, and his presence in the line-up for today has got to be considered doubtful.

The good news is, Webb is on the mound for us, and he was won his last nine starts, tying RJ's franchise record, set over 2004-2005. The last longer streak in the majors was Jon Garland's ten, covering his final two in 2004 and his first eight in 2005. Before that, Johan Santana won 12 straight, earlier in 2004. We need the win today, to right the ship after some poorly-played contests earlier in the series. Taking two of four would be acceptable; dropping three, is not the way we want to go into Wrigley.

Record: 22-12. Pace: 105-57. Change on last season: +4

The term 'Pyrrhic Victory' originates with King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army defeated the Romans at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC during the Pyrrhic War - however, the cost of the victories was so high that Plutarch quotes Pyrrhus as saying after the second battle, that one more such victory would utterly undo him. Hence, a Pyrrhic victory is one where the cost to the victor is greater than the cost to the loser. Never say this site is not educational. Tonight, however, we managed a Pyrrhic loss: we took all the damage, and still didn't even come up with the win.

Leading off the eighth, Victorino struck out against Qualls, but Snyder couldn't hold onto the ball and it slid away from him. The speedy Phillies leadoff hitter whizzed towards first and our catcher grabbed the ball and unleashed what we used to call, in my days as a soccer fan, a "hospital pass" to Jackson - that's one which puts the recipient into immediate physical danger. He tried to grab the ball but the result was simply a hellacious collision as our first baseman basically clotheslined Victorino, in a manner usually reserved for wrestling pay-per-views, with Victorino's helmet also slamming into CoJack. Both players went down; eventually, Victorino made his way up, but Jackson had to be helped from the field, ending his 26th birthday in a disturbing fashion. There's still no word on his status at time of writing.

That proved to be a turning point: the Diamondbacks entered the inning with a 4-3 lead, but the Phillies scored twice against Qualls and Cruz, to take over. Arizona had a chance to pull things back, after Snyder led off the bottom of the eighth with a double: however, he didn't get to move any further, as Montero flew out, Young struck out and Ojeda grounded out. Lidge came on in the ninth, and retired the side 1-2-3, to end it. It seemed like the departure of Jackson, seemed to suck out the life from Arizona, which is somewhat understandable. Mind you, it was hard to tell: the cable at The Sets was playing up, turning the broadcast into a surrealist mosaic of freeze-frame and strobe effects. It adds a certain Zen-like quality, when the picture jams in the middle of a pitcher's delivery, or just as the batter hits the ball. It turns the game into an edition of "What Happened Next?" - Was that a line-drive or a pop-fly?

Micah Owings was solid, giving the Diamondbacks a quality start, with three earned runs over seven innings, on only four hits and two walks, with seven strikeouts - the most K's since his first start. He seemed to be doing a much better job on the mound than his last couple of outings, which is good to see: with a little more offense, or even a little more luck, he could have picked up his fifth win of the season. Instead, the bullpen got tagged with the loss: that's a somewhat rare event, which has only happened five times in the first thirty-four games of the year. However, Chad Qualls now has three of those L's - despite still having an ERA below one. Nobody else in the majors with that many losses, has an ERA less than three [Roy Halladay is 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA].

Plenty of hits in a losing cause: thirteen in total. It's a statistical oddity, that our past seven losses have seen us total 70 hits, compared to only 62 hits in our past seven victories. Young, Ojeda, Jackson, Salazar and Snyder had two hits apiece, with Snyder also adding a walk. As noted yesterday, our catcher is finally beginning to hit like he was in spring training, and I would like to seem him moved higher up the order. Salazar got the start, replacing an outfielder - though, perhaps surprisingly, it was Upton rather than Byrnes. Eric went 1-for-5, but did steal a base, and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh to give us a 4-3 lead. He was driven in by Jackson, who had two RBI and was also hit by a pitch for the fifth time, in a fairly-eventful game all round...

Hooray. Reports now say it looks like Jackson is okay. He says , "I’m all right, just a little headache. Just kind of a flukey play I guess you could say. I’m all right, though. I’m nauseous, a little headache." I imagine we can probably expect to see a chalk outline on the grass next to first-base at Chase tomorrow. That sniggering sound you can hear from the far side of the diamond, is Mark Reynolds, unimpressed by Jackson's wimpy approach to adversity. "That's nothing," says Special K, "When I was in Double-A, I had my head entirely severed from my body during one game, and I still went 2-for-4 with a run driven in."

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his [somewhat woozy] domain: Conor Jackson, +26.1%
Honorary mention: Chris Snyder, +19.0%
God-emperor of suck: Chad Qualls, -47.3%

The injury to Jackson, combined with the loss, obviously cast a damper over proceedings in the Gameday Thread. Present last night were dahlian, hotclaws, snakecharmer, soco, Silverblood, foulpole, dstorm, Wimb, unnamedDBacksfan, LucaMaz3, Bcawz, kishi, luckycc, singaporedbacksfan, RAMJB, mrssoco, Turambar, IndyDBack, 4 Corners Fan, DbacksSkins, srdmad, TwinnerA and paqs. RAMJB is straying perilous close to sanction, for an ongoing series of remarks which seem nothing but deliberate attempts to provoke reactions. Well done to people for not responding: only the current downtime of the SB Nation site for a RAM upgrade probably saved RAMJB from an official warning. I will monitor the situation more actively today, as I can be around during things. Note, it's a day game, so bear that in mind!

Finally, various bits of team news. The D-backs and Webb are back in contract talks, with the aim being for the Diamondbacks to lock in the ace through 2013. No specifics, but "Some progress has been made," according to Webb. "We've made some headway. We'll see where it goes." And O-Dawg's status remains uncertain. The team are giving it 24 more hours, and will put him through his paces before this afternoon's final game of the series. If Melvin reckons Hudson is okay, he'll be kept on the roster, but probably only as a pinch-hitter for the series in Chicago. If not, then it could be DL time. And Doug Davis is scheduled to make his first rehab start for Tucson on Saturday. He will throw 80-85 pitches, then 100 pitches next week, all being well.

Kyle Kendrick RHP, 2-2, 5.01

Micah Owings RHP, 4-1, 4.42

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Running a bit behind, so this will be be brief. Looking for a victory tonight: Kendrick's wins came against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and his losses the only two times he's faced teams over .500 [the Astros and Mets]. Could certainly do with Micah pitching a bit better: his ankle seemed to affect him badly last outing, and the results were sub-par. Hitting is very nice, but I think we'd all rather have Owings a stud starter with some occasional good hits.

Off to The Sets again tonight; taking the laptop in the hope of some wi-fi connectivity, but I am really not too optimistic. If not, I will at least be able to start on the game recap there, making a few notes while watching the game. We'll see...  I note that the Dodgers got whacked 12-1 by  the Mets today; it's not just us who can't hit Maine, it seems!