Record: 23-15. Pace 98-64. Change on last season: +3

Maybe I should just run out yesterday's report again, and see if anyone notices the difference. Because, as there, a sterling effort from a starting pitcher is wasted by a dismal bullpen performance, who cough up the Diamondbacks' lead and allow the Cubs to walk away with a win in the late innings. This time, the unlucky loser for Arizona was Edgar Gonzalez: he was a late replacement for Randy Johnson, whom the D-backs opted not to start on a cold (48 degrees), windy (24 mph!) day in Chicago. Said manager Bob Melvin:

I think it's pretty obvious. With a guy that's had the problems he's had with his back, to send him out there in those conditions, not only with what certainly would be a wet field, but windy conditions which play on the back. There are a lot of reasons not to pitch him today.

Can't really argue with that, though Johnson seemed fairly unimpressed: "It was Bob Melvin's decision," he said. "What are you going to do? I was prepared to pitch, but with so much uncertainty, I think that's why... I'm not going to make a big deal about it. I'm not pitching, I'm going to go out and play some catch because I don't want to go this long without playing catch." There's an off-day tomorrow, so the plan is to push everyone back: Johnson will start on Tuesday at Chase Field against the Rockies, and will be followed in that series by Owings and Webb.

And, as we've seen a number of times before, when called upon to be a spot starter, Edgar Gonzalez delivered, even despite an hour-long rain-delay before the first pitch. He gave us five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, and it's a bit surprising that he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the sixth, as Gonzalez had only thrown 87 pitches [He hadn't taken the mound since relieving Max Scherzer on May 5th, so was not on short rest, or anything like that]. I imagine Melvin had no problems about using his bullpen with a day off, though the events of yesterday forced him to diverge from the usual pattern.

And that's where thing got nasty. Cruz was perfectly fine in the sixth, but got into trouble in the seventh. After fanning the first hitter, he walked the next one, and then allowing Reed Johnson to hit his first homer of the season, Cruz supplying enough power to counter the strong wind blowing in at Wrigley. Combined with his outing yesterday, Cruz presents us with the following line against the Cubs this series:
    Juan Cruz: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 3 ER
Like I said, there's rarely a dull moment when Famine takes the mound: he is a real "three true outcomes" pitcher. Of the 15 batters he faced this series, 13 walked, homered or struck out.

Tony Peña rescued him, and got the final two outs to keep the game tied at the end of the seventh. However, the eighth proved just as unpleasant, the Cubs scoring twice on a double to the wall in center-field, after an intentional walk had been issued to Soriano to load the bases. [Today was not a good one for the intentional walk: both teams used it, and it turned round and bit them in both cases] Our defense cost us in that inning too, as a half-decent throw from Montero would have nailed Ramirez as he stole second; instead, it sailed off-line, and Fukudome followed with a perfect bunt.

Again, the offense was quiet, with only five hits and AZ were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The team had a great chance to bust the game open in the fifth, but couldn't take advantage. Bases-loaded walks to Jackson and Upton, after an RBI single by Ojeda tied the game, had given the Diamondbacks a two-run lead, and they still had the bases full with only one down. However, Drew popped out to the shortstop and Reynolds flied out - the failure to add on runs there proved costly down the stretch, especially as the Chicago bullpen faced the minimum 14 hitters over the last 4 2/3 innings, thanks to Burke getting picked off and Ojeda grounding into a double-play.

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Master of his domain: Conor Jackson, +18.2%
God-Emperor of suck: Juan Cruz, -29.0%

Slightly better Gameday Thread attendance today, though we were still well short of overflow level. Present were: TwinnerA, foulpole, hotclaws, unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, csktech, peachy rex, luckycc, seton hall snake pit, 4 Corners Fan, snakecharmer, IndyDBack, srdmad, OnlineHomeopath [welcome!], dahlian, Wimb, DbacksSkins, RAMJB, likeavirgin and TexSkins. Certainly a disappointing loss; I was hoping for better, especially once I heard we wouldn't be facing Zambrano. If our bullpen had held up, we could have come away from Chicago with two victories: it's therefore infuriating to get nothing at all.

On the plus side, getting swept by the Cubs is probably not as bad as getting swept by the Astros - and that's what happened to the Dodgers over the weekend, so our lead in the division stayed rock-solid, at 3.5 games. Makes me feel a lot better about taking two of three at home from the Astros. But thus far, the NL West is back to being the NL Worst, having a cumulative record of 16-20 against the East and 20-31 against the Central. [For completion, the Central is 28-32 facing the East]

Ours was not the only bullpen to suffer, LA's Jonathan Broxton coughing up six runs in 1/3 of an inning this afternoon. This not only got the loss, it also took Shawn Chacon off the hook, and gave him his eighth consecutive no-decision. It's not as if he has been pulled that early, throwing 51 innings in those eight starts, but he's just never been involved in the outcome. You have to go back to 1977 to find a longer streak of no-decisions; John D'Acquisto and Randy Lerch each went ten straight starts that season, though the former was a spot starter who only twice pitched past the third. Chacon's streak is more remarkable, in that having reached five innings every time, he would have qualified for the win.

Off-day tomorrow, as noted already. Glad it comes on a Monday, as I am usually scurrying around like a mad fool then anyway! Good to regroup and get ready to face the Rockies once more - I think we'll be happy to get back to taking our our divisional rivals after the last few games!

Master of his domain: Micah Owings, +28.2%
Honorary mention: Brandon Lyon,. +16.8%
God-emperor of suck: Randy Johnson, -36.6%
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Record: 20-8. Pace: 116-46. Change on last season: +4

Coming into this game, Micah's prowess as a hitter had largely not translated to games where he came off the bench. He had just one career pinch-hit - a single - in seven at-bats, with two walks. And this season, his aggressiveness at the plate had become something of a running sore: the majority of his appearances in 2008 had been decided in two pitches or less [7 of 19 on the very first ball he saw]. So, the combination of Owings as a pinch-hitter, and him swinging at the opening pitch, was surely a match made in hell?

Think again. Pwnings instead blasted the ball the opposite way, for a two-run homer that tied the game at seven and set the scene for an improbable victory. Our Win Probability was already reduced to 18.7%, by the time Randy Johnson got his second out of the game, and sank as low as 13.5%, immediately before Conor Jackson's third-inning homer, when the score was 6-2 to Houston. Last season's tean would probably have folded. This year's model chipped away, scoring a run here and a run there, then sent up one of their starting rotation, who promptly hit the first pinch-hit homer by a pitcher since April 22, 2004, when MBrooks Kieschnick  of Milwaukee did it...against Arizona [Matt Mantei, to be specific].

Obviously, small sample-size is the key here, but the homer results in one stunning statistic. Owings now has the fifth-highest all-time OPS among hitters with 75 or more plate-appearances:

After that, the Astros might as well have packed up and gone home. You can't stop the run from rising, the tide from coming in, or the 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks from winning. The Byrnes RBI single which followed was a mere formality, as were the zeroes posted to maintain the one-run lead, by Qualls, Peña and Lyon. It was, in some way, a mirror-image of last night's game, where the loss was largely over-shadowed by the debut of Max Scherzer. Here, the win largely overshadows a very disappointing outing by Randy Johnson, who dug his team-mates a 4-0 hole in the first inning, on three singles and a homer, and lasted only four innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits. After a series of outings where he showed improvement almost each time, this was definitely a step backwards. I was not able to find any post-game quotes from the Big Unit...

Good to see the offense come through. Montero had three hits, with two each for Jackson and Young, as every starter bar Johnson reached base safely. There were six doubles from six different players, and as well as Micah's blast, Jackson added his fifth of the year. And today's trivia is about Shaun Chacon - Pwning's homer got him stuck with his sixth consecutive no-decision. Only a couple of pitchers have had longer streaks this millennium: Darrell May had eight NDs in a row for the 2003 Royals, and the 2005 Brewers saw seven straight by... Doug Davis. The Arizona record, incidentally, is six by Armando Reynoso, from June 22 to July 21, 1999.

Another very impressive Gameday Thread turnout, especially given it was a day game. An overflow thread was required down the stretch, and now contains almost 300 comments: present today were DbacksSkins, hotclaws, seton hall snake pit, TwinnerA, mrssoco, Wimb, dstorm, soco, kishi, Turambar, unnamedDBacksfan, dahlian, 4 Corners Fan, Stile4aly, Azreous, Captain D Bag, Elway4Prez [welcome!], TexSkins, Muu, peeklay, singaporedbacksfan, paqs and SongBird. Again, much credit to the visiting Astros fans, who were gracious in defeat and victory: you're welcome here, any time - and all the best for the remainder of the season [except when we come to Houston, naturally...]

We finish April with a brilliant 20-8 record, far beyond what I hoped for coming in. The next few games will be interesting, as we get to test our mettle against some fo the best that the NL East can offer, including a challenge on Sunday, when our hitters get to face Johan Santana, who will likely be among the Cy Young contenders at the end of the season. A new poll is up, asking you to choose the MVP for the team over the first month: there have been some really great performances for us to enjoy, and it proved something of a challenge to narrow the field down to just four individuals.

Max Scherzer will be starting on Monday against the Phillies, Bob Melvin announced. In related news, the sun is slated to rise in the East tomorrow morning - I think the news of Scherzer's promotion to the rotation definitely counts as among the "Well, duh!" pieces of information to come out of Chase Field recently. It appears he will be there until Doug Davis returns from his surgery - he just began his radiation treatment on Tuesday, and it's not known what effect that will have on his strength and stamina. This is likely the deciding factor on how long he remains out, and so how long Scherzer remains with the team. I have to say, a rotation of Webb, Haren, Johnson, Owings and Scherzer seems pretty fine to me.

Off-day tomorrow. I'll be closing the World Series contest in the morning, so it's your last chance to enter. Will then be going through the stories, to pick a winner: though I've a sneaking feeling I will probably bail out of that responsibility and let Mrs. SnakePit be the judge, since there are far too many good ones there for me to pick just two. I wish I had twenty box-sets so I could let everybody have one! But more on that tomorrow, along with Lolback of the Week, of course.

Record: 7-2. Pace: 126-36. Change on last season: 0

The Arizona Diamondbacks: inhabiting Joe Torre's nightmares since 2001. He may have moved from one coast to the other, but he can't escape the torment caused by the Diamondbacks. We completed the sweep over the Dodgers, racking up our sixth win in a row - and, in sharp contrast to the offensive blowouts of the first two games, this was an old-school nailbiter, where there was never more than one run separating the two teams from the first pitch to the last. Kept homerless for the first time all year, this was much more like the 2007 version of the team, scratching out hits and grinding out a one-run win, as they did 32 times last year.

Micah Owings was just good enough: three runs on seven hits and a walk, but the key was that he pitched seven innings, thereby giving the besieged bullpen a much-needed breather. "There were times when he might not have the command that he did in Colorado, but boy, to give seven innings there when our bullpen was not full up down there, those guys know it," said Melvin after the game. Owings also made an opening statement, plunking Rafael Furcal to lead off the first inning - I have to think that was retaliation for the hit-fest inflicted on Arizona the night before.

Not that it stopped the Dodgers, with Conor Jackson forced to leave the game in the top of the sixth with a bruised left hand after being hit again, this time by Kuroda - CoJack's third HBP in two games. Fortunately, X-rays proved negative, and hopefully he'll be back in the lineup for the weekend series against the Rockies, after tomorrow's off-day. Chris Burke came in as a replacement, and went 1-for-2, though could be the recipient of some blame for Furcal's double down the line, on the first batter after he entered the game. Still, you take your impromptu corner infielders where you can get them, I suppose.

This was back and forth all game. The Dodgers took the lead in the second on a double by Pierre. The Diamondbacks returned, taking advantage of an error by Loney to score twice, on a groundout by Mark Reynolds and a Justin Upton single, in the fourth. The Dodgers tied it up again in the fifth, and a Loney homer made it 3-2 to them in the sixth. However, a crafty bunt single from Augie Ojeda, a more normal hit by Robby Hammock and a very-disciplined base on balls worked by Micah Owings, loaded the bases with one out. However, to much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, our newest multi-millionaire popped out [Young is 1-for-11 with 6 K's since signing the contract!].

But Eric Byrnes delivered his most important contribution of the season so far, with a two-run single that gave us the lead, this time for good. Byrnes enjoyed his first three-hit game since September 11, and was joined there by Augie Ojeda. The Littlest Ballplayer was making his first start of the year, playing shortstop in place of Drew [sitting this one out due to a sore right quad] and got his first three-hit game since August 28. Er, that's August 2004. Upton added two, his fourth multi-hit contest of the season, while Hammock, starting in place of Snyder after last night's lengthy contest, reached base twice on a hit and a walk.

After Owings completed the seventh inning, it was over to what was left of the bullpen. I can imagine them all looking nervously at each other when the phone rang, and going "Well, it's clearly not for me..." Juan Cruz was the lucky recipient of another outing and got around a one-out walk with the aid of a double-play. Then it was Lyon time, and though he gave up a deep fly to the first batter he faced, got the next man to ground out and then finished with a flourish, sending Andruw Jones down swinging, to notch his second save and seal the season sweep. Despite some qualms, the bullpen has been getting it done, posting a 2.36 ERA thus far, with seven earned runs in 26.2 innings.

Master of his domain: Eric Byrnes, +27.3%
Honorary mention: Brandon Lyon, +16.8%
God-Emperor of suck: Chris Young, -12.6%

Props over the past 24 hours to Azreous, for writing a kickass report after Tuesday's game - I'm hoping to get him doing regular recaps - and for watching over things in today's Gameday Thread, starting an overspill when the molasses crept in to the first one, around the 500 post mark.  We have a double-dose of 'Charmer roll-call goodness, starting with yesterday, where present in the comments w peachy rex, AZDarkKnight, dstorm, soco, foulpole, 4 Corners Fan, snakecharmer, Azreous, DbacksSkins, singaporedbacksfan, Wimb, TwinnerA, Turambar, jsk6788, kishi, hotclaws, Captain D Bag, DisplacedAZfan, Mr. Philosophical, Frank Squishy, peeklay, DiamondbacksWIn, seton hall snake pit, oklahomasooners and calltyriu.

Today was even more of a monster: 935 comments in total, which is not just a regular season best, it surpasses the all-time record of 932 in Game 2 of the NLDS last October. And this was for a weekday afternoon game, without much contribution from me. I think four figures is definitely within reach. jsk6788, 4 Corners Fan, hotclaws, AZDarkKnight, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, soco, dstorm, seton hall snake pit, foulpole, jweech, TwinnerA, smartsnake [welcome!], Azreous, bcloirao, AZSEAfan, kishi, Craig from Az, Wimb, leemellon, batster, Captain D Bag, frienetic, Huxtable Reunion, TuLoRocks2008 [welcome, though you might get comments about your username!] and peachy rex were present this afternoon.

Another sweep against a divisional rival, and I find myself in the unusual position of cheering for the Giants, as they're battling the Padres to a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the eighth at the moment. Be nice if they came out on top, as that'd give us a 2.5 game cushion on top of the the division, as we welcome Colorado into the Shire, ready to administer some further strict discipline to those naughty Orckies. Actually, the imagery that sentence conjures up in my mind, is probably something I could have done without.

Randy Johnson made his second - and probably final - rehab start down in Tucson. This one seemed to go a good deal better than his first, as the Big Unit struck out seven in six innings, allowing three hits and a walk and throwing a total of 85 pitches. According to Nick Piecoro, "Working off a fastball that sat in the 89-92 mph range, Johnson also was effective with a slider, splitter and change-up," and all being well, should be ready to slot into fellow left-hander Doug Davis's spot in the rotation, when it comes up next on Monday, in San Franciso. Worth repeating at some length Randy's comments after the game:

It's a lot easier to say, 'You know what? I can pitch a major-league start and feel comfortable because I had a game like today. I'll wait and see what they (coaches) say. But I do feel a lot more positive about this start... I was pitching ahead in the count, and that makes all the difference. All three (off-speed) pitches were working. I was pitching both sides of the plate. Now, if you take those pitches and equate them to what would happen if a major-league batter is up? I don't know. But I would take my chances, because I was pitching where I want to pitch.

With the signing of Young, that appears to end the contract discussions for the foreseeable future. The question of Hudson remains lurking on the horizon, and the Tribune thinks O-Dawg is not going be cheap: "Hudson, a three-time Gold Glove winner who will become a free agent after this season, is said to be seeking a yearly salary similar to the $15 million Philadelphia’s Chase Utley will receive." Regrettably, I think this means that we will be playing Where in the World is Orlando Hudson? this off-season. I just do not see the Diamondbacks being prepared to commit to a long-term deal at those rates, especially as he turns 31 before the end of the year. 

Finally, an interesting tidbit at Fangraphs.com who point out that Mark Reynolds has "cut down on swinging at pitches outside the strike zone by 6%." Whatever he's doing, it's clearly having the right effect. And, hooray, the Giants prevailed over the Padres, 1-0, with a ninth-inning run. Surprisingly, Trevor Hoffman was not involved in that loss. But it leaves us with the hoped-for comfortable lead, and a very satisfactory off-day tomorrow. Lolback and random stuff to follow, no doubt.

Record: 2-2. Pace: 81-81. Change on last season: 0

i don't know what the team did on the flight from Cincinnati to Colorado, but whatever it was, clearly worked. Barely 24 hours after being one-hit, Micah Owings, Chad Qualls and Juan Cruz delivered almost the perfect answer, restricting the Colorado Rockies to just two hits. Meanwhile, the bats woke up too, pounding out 13 hits to inflict what I think is the worst defeat the Rockies have ever endured in the 16-year history of Opening Day at Coors Field. If the pre-game NLCS celebrations were designed to get under the skin of the Diamondbacks, then I look forward to them continuing for the rest of the weekend.

Owings was a revelation, particularly in the light of a poor Spring Training campaign, where he allowed 22 hits and 13 walks in only 15.2 innings, for an ERA of 11.32. Really, who would have him then coming to Coors Field, facing a lineup basically unchanged from the one which led the league in BA last year, and restricting them to two hits and one run in 6.2 innings? Oh, and struck out a career-high nine batters, including three from last year's MVP runner-up, Matt Holliday [Cruz also K'd him in the ninth]. Pwnings retired 17 straight batters at one point, and said afterwards, "I felt good today about my command and felt good all around. I felt good about my guys behind me and the offense put up that 3-spot behind me and that helped a lot."

"That 3-spot" would be the first inning, where we sprung out to an early lead, with Chris Snyder giving us an RBI single, and Mark Reynolds adding a two-run double, as we sent eight to the plate, almost getting Owings a chance to bat before he pitched. That set the tone for the afternoon, as we scored runs in six different innings. Reynolds added a solo homer in the fifth, giving him three RBI on two hits for the day, as well as a walk. Orlando Hudson had two hits, and Justin Upton had a homer among his three hits in one game, the latter for the first time since his home debut last August 7, when he was a single short of the cycle.

Of particular note, Chris Young reached safely three times on two walks and a hit. It's the walks that are impressive: he has five so far, which is the same number he had on May 4 last year, not April 4. [In 2007, he had five BB in his first 106 PA's - this year, it's taken him just nineteen] He may only be hitting .214, but we'll happily take an OBP of .421 out of the leadoff spot, so good work there, Chris. This performance was also without the presence of Conor Jackson, missing once again with what is now officially "flu", rather than "flu-like" - Chris Burke again took over at first. Jackson was apparently available as a pinch-hitter today, though was hardly needed, and I imagine he'll be back in the lineup tomorrow, since he's 7-for-23 with four homers against Rockies starter, Jeff Francis.

About the only one to miss out on the fun was Stephen Drew, 0-for-5 with two K's; he batted eighth. Even Eric Byrnes - booed lustily before the game, by Rockies' fans who haven't forgotten his "I also don't think the Rockies have outplayed us, because they haven't" comments during the NLCS - got a double, though that still leaves his average thus far languishing alongside Drew at .125. Still, beats the Rockies [and it certainly did today!], who now have six regulars hitting below the Uecker line after the first four games, led by Holliday's 1-for-14. Of course, early-season stats are a funny thing: Upton is on pace to lead the team in homers. With 81.

Still, quote of the day goes to visiting fan, Silverblood. "Can you guys pleas stop this?? Please??! We are sorry we beat you in the NLCS! This isn't even fair, it's like you're playing the.... Casper Ghosts, we suck so badly right now. Can you just please get yourselves out and end this abortion of a game faster?!! Dear god. This is AWFUL. You are kicking us up, down, and sideways, we are so terrible right now." Oh, things aren't so bad: it's only four games, and you are exactly one behind us. Still, thus far, the Rockies seem like a pale shadow of the 20-in-21 team, and have been outscored thus far by a margin of 20-6. And you're facing Brandon Webb tomorrow. Have fun with that. :-)

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Master of his domain: Micah Pwnings, +26.0
Honorary mention: Mark Reynolds, +18.8%
God-emperor of suck: Stephen Drew, -6.3%

Thanks to Devin [aka kishi] for starting the Gameday Thread off for me, as I'd blown off the alleged start time provided by the system here as fictitious - no way we'd play two day games in a row, surely! Er, oh yes, there is... Devin, you've now been granted "authorship" privileges, so if it happens again, you can now post stories on to the front page here! Present down the line were Craig from Az, kishi, seton hall snake pit, dstorm, hotclaws, jweech [welcome!], Russ, bcloirao, TwinnerA, peachy rex, Captain D Bag, singaporedbacksfan, 4 Corners Fan, DiamondbacksWIn, Wactivist, Mr. Philosophical, Silverblood, Azreous and soco. I see the Republic are posting a "live game chat" too. Final tally of comments there: 15. Maybe i should go invite people here?

Forgot to mention Randy Johnson's first rehab start down in Tucson, pitching in the Sidewinder's opener. The results weren't much to write home about, as the Big Unit allowed eight hits, two walks and five runs, in four innings, with the only strikeout that of the opposing pitcher. On the plus side, he had a two-run single in the first, and then was walked on four pitches in his next at-bat, so perhaps he's been taking lessons from Micah. Afterwards, Johnson was blunt: "I didn't feel obviously too good about the performance, the amount of effort that it took to get through four innings... I'd like to think things will improve a little bit from a pitching perspective and I get my amount of work in that I need to get in spread over six innings or five innings." Next, and hopefully final, rehab start for Johnson is on the 8th.

i look forward to actually, perhaps, seeing some of tomorrow's game: thus far, it's been very hard to do so. The only one I've been able to watch thus far was Opening Day, and I had to take off work in order to do that! This may explain why the stories so far have felt, at least to me, more like recaps of the boxscore than an eyewitness report. Should prove a little easier tomorrow and Sunday, so see you there.