Record: 59-57. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -6.

Another day, another dire pitching performance, the only real difference being that this one comes from a starter, so took a lot longer and resulted in a lot more runs. Outside of a 1-2-3 inning to begin the game, Doug Davis was hideous: he allowed four base-runners in the second, wiping out the one-run lead provided by Drew's 14th homer, which led off our half of the first. Four more in the third gave the Braves a 4-1 lead, and only a failed suicide squeeze stopped them from adding more in the fourth. Davis was finally yanked with one out in the fifth, having allowed two walks and a double. His final line: nine hits, four walks and seven earned runs.

Is he running out of steam? One suspects that the strain of his earlier surgery and the resulting recuperation is - perhaps inevitably - beginning to take a toll, as we move into the final third of the schedule. Part of me indeed hopes this is the case: because the alternative is that, of late, a fully healthy Doug has largely sucked. Since the start of July, Davis  - and the team - has just one win in his seven starts, with an ERA of 6.21. His control seems particularly to have suffered, with 17 walks over his last 29.2 innings. Overall, for $7.75m, I'd be looking for something better than the 4.75 ERA he has given us this season. With Davis also signed for $8.75m next year, I wonder if this is something that may be addressed in the off-season, if he continues to struggle.

Between our f.irst pitcher and our last, the bullpen weren't bad,. Buckner, Rosales and Rauch combined to allow one run over 3.2 innings, on two hits and a walk - though Buckner did allow both runners he inherited from Davis to score [which certainly didn't help Davis's box-score for the day] I was a bit surprised to see Rauch in for the eighth and Lyon in the ninth. While I generally support the use of your best relievers whenever games are close - regardless of whether you're ahead of behind - this isn't a philosophy usually subscribed to by Melvin. He generally has had an A-pen, used when we're tied or ahead, and a B-pen, for when we're behind.

Arizona did still have a chance, despite falling into an 8-1 hole by the middle of the fifth inning. We pulled back one in the bottom half there, two in the sixth and another in the seventh. After Tony Clark was hit in the toe with a pitch, we had men on the corners with one out, and Stephen Drew representing the tying run, at the plate. He got badly-squeezed for strike two, and then struck out swinging while trying to protect the plate. Jackson followed and our last, best hope was gone. Any chance of a comeback evaporated entirely in the ninth, as Lyon came in and gave up three runs, on three hits and a walk, also including a homer to Chipper Jones. It took him 30 pitches to get through that inning, so if there's a save situation tonight, I'm wondering if he'll be available.

The offense was fine: six runs is usually enough to win most games, and our BABIP for the game was .375, producing the expected correction. Alex Romero had the first three-hit appearance of his young life, falling a homer short of the cycle. Since becoming the full-time right-fielder just before the All-Star break, he is hitting .292 (21-for-72) when he starts. He also puts the ball in plays, with only ten strikeouts in the past month, and generally, he's proven himself a valuable player. Drew had two hits, extending his streak to eleven games [his line over that period is a healthy .362/.400/.596] and getting his season average up to .279, the highest it's been since May 26. The team had no walks though, reducing our K:BB ratio over the last four games to a disconcerting 26:3 - we have as many HBPs as bases on balls!

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Master of his domain: Chris Snyder, +5.1%
God-emperor of suck: Doug Davis, -30.2%

A decent Gameday Thread, though enthusiasm was largely sapped by the Braves' putting this one away early. I know mine certainly was. Still, present were ZonaBacks10, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, 4 Corners Fan, nargel, unnamedDBacksfan, Scrbl, singaporedbacksfan, srdmad, kishi, Zephon, hotclaws, utahdbacksfan, TwinnerA, Muu, emilylovesthedbacks, soco, Shums, Wimb and, to absolutely no-one's surprise, AZWILDCATS [whose appearances are becoming as predictable as a solar eclipse. Dodgers winning? D-backs losing? Oh, look: there he is.]

The defeat leaves our lead back down to one-half game, so the Diamondbacks certainly need to step it up to avoid a losing home-stand. They do have Webb and Haren going in the next two games, which will certainly help. Mind you, I may be too distracted by the Olympics to watch. It's getting the chance to see the more obscure sports that we revel in. We found ourselves watching the saber quarter-finals last night, which was utterly fascinating [Mrs. SnakePit used to fence]. Why can't ESPN show that, instead of endless frickin' poker tournaments? This morning, it was women's weightlifting - but the smaller competitors, not the obvious behemoths. They had a Turkish teacher taking part, who looked like she wouldn't say boo to a mouse. Then, boom, that's suddenly 210 pounds being lifted clear above her head. Bet that does wonders for classroom discipline. We did draw the line at the air-rifle contest though. Yet they can't find room for baseball?