Record: 14-10. Change on last season: +4
I'm going to keep this short - which is exactly what the D'backs did yesterday, getting in and out of Petco in under two hours. Kinda like going into Lenscrafters, only we don't have a new pair of glasses to show for it. Though since we're now hitting just .116 in this series [10 for 86], eyeware might not be a bad idea.
And, so much for "we definitely have the edge as far as starting pitching goes." Didn't quite turn out that way, did it? Brian Lawrence locked us down totally, allowing just two hits over eight innings, before turning the ball to Trever Hoffman for a perfect ninth. Counsell and Glaus had the only hits.
This wasted an almost equally solid effort from Estes, who allowed only two hits and one walk in his seven innings. Unfortunately, one of those hits left Petco courtesy of Burroughs, and that was all the runs San Diego would need. Bruney, Lopez and Cormier followed Estes, and allowed one run, though Cormier is now at nine innings without being scored upon.
By all accounts - that being Otacon and azpenguin, the rest of you presumably blinking and missing this one - it was a pitching clinic. That's nice to see, especially coming from the much maligned Estes, but less pleasant to be on the receiving end of it. Otacon wonders whether the lack of Cruz Jr. is hurting, and it certainly seems to be the case that our offense continues to struggle for some reason - 40 runs in the past eleven games. How we have a 7-4 record in that time is something of a miracle.
Okay, a little more later, but with Go Daddy politely enquiring about me doing overtime (I guess my scheduled 10 1/2 hours today isn't enough for them...) and my computer dying, I don't feel like hanging round. And besides, today's game is about to start!