Record: 26-15. Pace: 103-59. Change on last season: +5.

Brandon Webb got his ninth win of the season tonight: no-one else in the National League has more than six. It was also his eleventh consecutive victory, a streak only seen once in the National League since they lowered the pitching mound before the 1969 season. This was, however, not a laugher. The ninth inning, in particular, was a masterpiece of tension worthy of Hitchcock himself, even though the Diamondbacks had a five-run lead as they started on the final trio of outs. Courtesy of Brandon Medders, the Rockies loaded the bases on three hits and forced Melvin to turn to closer Brandon Lyon. A chopper off home-plate and everyone was safe, meaning the Rockies had three chances with the tying run at the plate. However, Lyon yanked his belt up another notch, and retired Spilborghs, Barnes and Holliday to complete the sweep over Colorado.

Webb started off in phenomenal form, facing one batter over the minimum through the first five innings, brutalizing the opposing hitters with his usual mix of sinkers and changeups. He did tire somewhat towards the end, and Melvin admitted in his post-game comments that Webb was probably left out there a little too long. He ended up needing to be rescued in the eighth, and allowed three runs on six hits and a walk, with eight strikeouts, in 7.1 innings. It's the longest winning streak in the majors at the start of a season since Andy Hawkins took care of his first ten games for the 1985 Padres. The way Webb pitched early on, it is difficult to see Webb's streak ending anytime soon. His next start will be Wednesday in Florida.

The offense did a good job of responding whenever the Rockies threatened, doing just enough to ensure that the Diamondbacks were never headed. Early on, Cook's sinker was causing almost as many problems for Arizona, as Webb's was for Colorado. But we still took the lead in the first, Orlando Hudson continuing to be red-hot with runners in scoring position, singling home Chris Young, the third of three consecutive hits for the D-backs to start the game. We couldn't quite capitalize any more there, and over the next three innings, we had further chances that went begging: Drew at third with one down in the third, or getting the first two men on base in the fourth. I did start to wonder if we'd end up rueing all these wasted opportunities.

The fifth inning ended these doubts. Back-to-back doubles from Young and Drew made it a 2-0 game, and after a walk to Hudson, Chris Snyder took an 0-2 pitch, and slammed a three-run homer into the left-field bleachers. It was his third long-ball of the week, and he ended the day with two hits, raising his season average to .284. It was good to see him back in the #5 spot in the lineup: while that was probably because of his excellent record against Cook previously, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets to stay there. Over the past month, Snyder is hitting .333/.400/.600, which are the best figures from any of the eight regular starters. Jackson is next, at .330/.406/.532, and Drew third, with a line of .304/.366/.565.

Speaking of Drew, he went 4-for-5, finishing a homer short of the cycle. You could argue a case that he deserved a five-hit night - he reached in the eighth, but it was called an error on the Rockies' second-baseman. That was his second four-hit game against Colorado this season, and he really seems to enjoy facing them, batting a cool .457 versus them this year [16-for-35]. Young, Hudson and Burke also had two hits each, and it didn't seem that the offense missed Byrnes or Jackson, both of whom were given the night off. The Rockies came back in the eighth, getting the tying man to the plate there, and making the score 5-3, but the D-backs added three crucial insurance runs with two outs. Perhaps the most impressive at-bat was from Justin Upton: it looked like Fuentes was trying to hit him, but J-Up simply ripped a triple to the gap in right-center. The two RBI which resulted certainly came in very, very handy during the ninth.

Remarkably, the win came despite no less than four errors by the Diamondbacks. Reynolds and Hudson muffed ground-balls; Hudson also failed to handle a throw from the outfield (though it may have taken a weird bounce off the second-base bag); and Qualls threw the ball wildly to first. I think the last time we committed so many, was August 7th last year, when we lost 8-3 to Pittsburgh. However, that game will be remembered more for Justin Upton's home debut, where he ended a single short of the cycle.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Co-masters of their domain: Brandon Webb (+20.9%)  and Stephen Drew (+21.3%)
God-emperor of suck: Jeff Salazar, -11.3%

That was a lot of fun - although the final couple of innings were better to look back on, once the win had been clinched, than to experience at the time! The victory was thus strangely reminiscent of last year in that way. Present in the Gameday Thread were 4 Corners Fan, unnamedDBacksfan, kishi, Wimb, foulpole, UofAZGrad (welcome!), dahlian, Azreous, DbacksSkins, hotclaws, singaporedbacksfan, visiting fan PinchHitLancePainter, srdmad, frienetic, Stile4aly, likeavirgin, Augie's Army and the late-arriving Turambar who, wisely, managed to avoid getting tagged with the "albatross" label as a result of his delayed showing.

The win runs our record against the West to an extremely-solid 20-5, and keeps our lead over the Dodgers at 4.5 games. We now head into our first encounter with the American League, in the shape of the underperforming Detroit Tigers, currently tied with the Mariners for fewest wins in the AL, I'm sure they will be glad to be missing Webb, but won't be looking forward to facing Arizona, who now have a 17-7 record n our home park. And an early warning. Sunday is KidKaster day. Those who had to endure that hideous ordeal on television last month will understand why I will be ensuring all exits are available from the living-room that day,

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!

Record: 21-11. Pace: 106-56. Change on last season: +5

For the first ever, I am writing the game recap while it's still taking place. This was pretty much an abomination on a whole number of levels. We came into it with such high expectations, but the reality check came hard and fast, as first-round pick Max Scherzer was cruelly exposed. By the end of three innings, Scherzer had allowed seven hits, a walk, a hit batter and thrown a wild pitch as, with the aid of some more sloppy defense, Arizona had dug themselves a 5-1 hole - one from which they never looked remotely like escaping. Instead, this turned into amomg the biggest drubbings of the season to date. Not quite what we were hoping for, then...

After his debut, certain posters disagreed with me (using various degrees of sarcasm)  for questioning whether Scherzer was quite ready, mentally, to face major-league hitting. It gives me no pleasure to say, "I told you so." He has a nice fastball, to be sure, touching 98 mph, but that isn't enough to get you past a lineup of major-league hitters who have a scouting report, particularly when you can't throw anything else for a strike. They just sit, wait for the fastball, and dispatch it as appropriate. In contrast, Jamie Moyer was nowhere near Scherzer's raw stuff - if he threw anything that touched 90 mph, I must have missed it - but hit his spots, mixed things up, and kept our batters off-balance for seven flummoxing innings. The difference was, Moyer pitched, while Scherzer just threw. 

A few words on our defense: hang on, let me just look up "inadequate" in my thesaurus. Drew made his fourth error, Reynolds his seventh - the latter is now on pace to make 35 this season. Now, I'm the first to say that errors are not a great measure by which to judge...well, anything much, but I think it can hardly be argued that he's been done a dis-service. Another four unearned runs were coughed up by the defense today, giving us 25 on the year to date, tied for the most in the majors. Someone who looked extremely uncomfortable out there today was Orlando Hudson. Despite claims to the contrary, he was very clearly not back to full health; his appearance yesterday was not misleading there. As Mark Grace said, would we rather have Augie Ojeda out there at 100%, or Orlando Hudson at 50%?

Because "50%" is an adequate description of O-Dawg's pace down the first-base line as he grounded into a double-play in the sixth. We'd got the first two on, after singles by Young and - hey! - Byrnes [it's a sad day when the most well-paid player on your roster going 1-for-4 is a pleasant surprise...], and with the score only 5-1 at that point, we had a chance to come back into the game. However, Hudson killed the rally, with extreme prejudice, and the Phillies poured on another four runs in the next half-inning.

Scherzer did get through the fourth without further issue, but had to be lifted, having reached his pitch count - he finished on 92. Ironically, it was Edgar Gonzalez who took over in long-relief, reversing the roles which the two played last week. EdGon posted zeros for two innings, but then gave up the aforementioned four-spot in the seventh, mostly because an ill-advised dive by Upton missed the ball entirely, turning it into a bases-clearing triple. What little was left of our Win Probability at that stage - and it was already down to 5.7% - made its excuses and bolted off to beat the traffic, as that made the score 9-1 to Philadelphia. Slaten and Medders completed the mop-up duty necessary.

We made the score fractionally more respectable by scoring two runs in the ninth, and somehow managed to get eleven hits. On the other hand, we went without a single walk, for the first time in 67 consecutive games (including the post-season), going back to August 29th last year. Young, Upton and Drew had two hits each, and Snyder swatted his second homer of the year. Our catcher is quietly getting back into the groove we expected: after hitting a startling .083 through the first ten games, Snyder put together a line of .326/.421/.587 before tonight's bomb, and has reached base safely, with a hit or a walk, in seventeen consecutive starts. [In three games, he came in as a late-inning replacement] It may be time to think about moving him back up the order, especially considering the struggles of some of our other hitters.

[Click to enlarge, in new window]
Master of his domain: Stephen Drew, +11.0% [shurely shome mishtake?]
God-emperor of suck: Max Scherzer, -31.4%

Don't look now, but the Dodgers hammered the Mets and are only three games behind us. Somehow, we still have the best win percentage in the major-leagues, but can anyone honestly say it feels like that right now? Certainly, many more nights which combine bad starts, poor hitting and defensive mis-handling, and we won't even have the best record in the division... Fascinating thread over at DBBP, where Levski discusses the team problems., that I commend to all interested parties. It's not time to panic yet, but if Hudson, Byrnes and Owings continue to be run out there hurt, then the comfy cushion which we built up in April may soon be replaced, by the cold, hard plastic found in a doctor's waiting-room...

I'll confess, I bailed out of this one early, and wouldn't blame anyone else who did so too. We ended a little short of 500 on the night: thanks to foulpole, dahlian, soco, snakecharmer, RAMJB, hotclaws, DbacksSkins, 4 Corners Fan, Turambar, unnamedDBacksfan, pvlas [welcome], LucaMaz3, TwinnerA, Muu, kishi, srdmad, Azreous, mrssoco, TexSkins and likeavirgin [I'm confused...but welcome!]. soco gets the award for Commentor of the Game, with more posts than anyone else [thanks to 'charmer's roll-call script, I can now see these things!], but picked up the evening's only recommendation for his stalwart defense of the beautiful game. :-)

And off to bed. Here's to better things tomorrow, though with a Randy Johnson start, I think I can hear the bullpen wheezing...