Record: 76-84. Change on last season: +27
Six wins in a row for Arizona, matching our longest streak of the season. Too little, too late? Sadly true. If only we could have played like this earlier - like at the start of August, when we led the division, then won three out of fourteen in the first half of the month. Or that stretch from May 24-June 12, when we went 6-13. Ah, the what-ifs of baseball, are almost as painful as the realities, aren't they?
Five of the wins in the current streak have required us to come back from a deficit in the sixth inning or later. Tonight was no exception, as we found ourselves 3-2 down in the seventh inning, having been able to muster only Tracy's 27th homer, a two-run shot in the first, off Cain. Jackson single, and after Stinnett flied out, McCracken hit for Vargas, causing the Giants to go to their bullpen.
Bad move. Over the remaining 2.2 innings, San Francisco's relievers did a convincing impression of...well, Arizona, allowing six hits, two walks and a hit batter, which led to us scoring five runs. The big blow - which made the final score look a lot more comfortable than it really was - was Alex Cintron's bases-clearing double in the ninth, giving him four RBIs for the night. As well as Cintron, both Green boys - Andy and Shawn - had a pair each.
On the pitching front, Vargas got knocked about quite a lot - ten hits in six innings - but didn't walk anyone and allowed only the three runs. After he left, Villarreal got the win in an innings of relief; Worrell pitched the eighth and stayed in for the ninth after it became a non-save situation. However, with two men on, Valverde was brought on, and threw one pitch for the save, getting Omar Vizquel to fly out.
However, perhaps the most memorable facet of the game was the woman who jumped over the left-field fence and made a beeline for Shawn Green. Chad Tracy was also credited with an assist on the play:
Said Cintron, "That was scary. I was trying to take her out and help. I didn't see security. She was saying, 'I want your hat.' It looked like she was on drugs." Green was less convinced about the 'she' part: "I'm saying girl, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. I'm going by voice."
Also memorably, Luis Gonzalez batted leadoff, for the first time since before he came to Arizona (August 10, 1998, to be exact). He went 1-for-4 this time, but was also hit by a pitch for the 100th time in his career. This was most likely an effort to break up the lefties in the D'backs line-up, and I don't imagine we'll see this on a regular basis.
Thanks to Otacon and, especially, LAT for their comments - in response to the latter, I certainly intend to be here during the off-season. Not, perhaps every day, but whenever there's news to chew over, I'll be chewin'! :-)