Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: September 8th-14th

Seven series victories in a row for Arizona, four of them coming on the road. This would be why we are going to the playoffs. 5-2 over the past week, outscoring the opposition 33-24, and it has now been more than three weeks since we've lost consecutive games. Five of the games since last time were decided by one run, including both losses, so plenty of excitement, even as the magic number continued to shrink. An off-day today, before the team starts up again in San Diego. How has each player performed this week?

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		Two starts for Kennedy. One excellent one against San Diego, but he was undone by a single bad inning versus the Dodgers, four runs in the first preventing him from getting win #20. He'll get two more whacks at that piñata.
Daniel Hudson		Also two starts for Hudson, who also had problems during his first inning against Los Angeles, and was tagged with the L as a result. However, still only allowed three earned runs in 16 innings of work, though did walk five batters.
Joe Saunders		Got the win in the Chavez Ravine opener, though was also scored upon early - our three starters this series allowed seven first-inning runs. But Saunders has a 2.84 ERA over his past four outings, holding hitters to a .211 average.
Josh Collmenter		The Padres took advantage of uncharacteristic wildness by Josh; he walked three in four innings, after a trio of starts without any bases on balls. That, along with seven hits, led to six earned runs, and a definite step-back in his progress.
Wade Miley		Escaped with a no-decision last Saturday, as we came back to beat San Diego in ten. Allowed two runs through five, but failed to retire a batter in the sixth, all three faced coming across home-plate, to give him a line of five runs in five IP.
Bullpen
J.J. Putz		Has allowed two hits in the past month. Over his dozen appearances since August 13; has notched a dozen saves, and no runs, with a 15:2 K:BB ratio.
David Hernandez		Normal service has been resumed i.e. scoreless innings for Hernandez. Two of them this week, striking out three and getting the W over San Diego.
Bryan Shaw		Watching him blow away Matt Kemp on three fastballs was an impressive sight. Season ERA down to 2.49, after a couple of scoreless appearances
Micah Owings		Three zeroes for Micah, who also picked up the W on Wednesday. He's now 7-0, on course to become only the 11th NL pitcher with zero losses and at least seven W's.
Joe Paterson		One appearance, two batters faced; one retired, one walked.
Brad Ziegler		The busiest reliever in the AZ bullpen, appearing four times, and not being scored upon. Allowed one hit and a walk, striking out two. 1.56 ERA in 19 games since coming to us.
Zach Duke		Came in to bail out Collmenter after his short start. Duke did credibly, allowing one run in three innings, and driving in a run himself, giving the offense time to come back.
Ryan Cook, Sam Demel, Alberto Castillo		Cook did pitch 1.2 innings, allowing a run on a hit and three walks. Demel didn't work at all; Castillo hit the only batter her faced.
Starters
Miguel Montero		Extended his hitting streak to 18 games; there hasn't been a longer one by a catcher since Jason Kendall reached 20 games in 2004. This week, Montero went 8-for-22 with a home-run and a .969 OPS.
Paul Goldschmidt		Hit at a .263 clip, with an acceptable .837 OPS, but finished off by collecting a golden sombrero against the Dodgers. That gave him six strikeouts in 19 at-bats, though he also walked three times and homered.
Aaron Hill		The inevitable cooling-off seems to be taking place. Hill started every game, but hit .207 (6-for-29) with an anemic .534 OPS. He also struck-out seven times, walking twice and stealing a couple of bases.
Willie Bloomquist		I don't mind Willie playing - someone has to play short-stop - so much as Willie hitting in the lead-off spot. He went 3-for-16, and a .278 on-base percentage is not what you want from your #1 hitter.
Ryan Roberts		Managed only four hits, resulting in a .182 average and .507 OPS. While three walks did get his OBP up to .280, and RyRo also stole a couple of bases, this wasn't a week he'll want to remember.
Gerardo Parra		Monumentally up. Hit .381 with a 1.189 OPS and succeeded in turning Clayton Kershaw into a screaming drama queen. Parra is batting .321 since the All-Star break, which puts him fourth among all 81 major-league outfielders with 150+ at-bats.
Chris Young		Unfortunately, on the same list, Young ranks #81, having batted .161 in the second-half. However, this week showed signs of hope; he may only have a .250 BA, but five of the six hits were for extra-bases, and six walks led to a .942 OPS.
Justin Upton		Did bang a couple of home-runs, but hit below the Uecker Line this week, going only 5-for-26. The power got his OPS up to a tick below .700, but eight strikeouts led the D-backs and he seemed to be over-swinging on occasion.
Bench
John McDonald		While his defense remains smooth, his reputation as all-glove, no hit was confirmed by McDonald going 0-for-10.
Collin Cowgill		Played in four games, but managed only one hit in seven at-bats. Came in to pinch-run last night, but didn't go anywhere.
Sean Burroughs		Four games, no starts; no hits in three at-bats off the bench.
Lyle Overbay		Don't know where he went, but it seems to have done him good, since he had five hits in nine at-bats since his return.
Henry Blanco		2-for-4 with a home-run. His seven HR remains tied with old friend Wily Mo Pena, for the most in the majors by a player with less than a hundred at-bats.
Geoff Blum		1-for-5, but did have a couple of RBI,
Robby Hammock		Is he on the roster? No, really...