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Fourteen straight starts for Maddux without a win. That's not quite as impressive as it seems - former D-back Chris Capuano went without a victory for eighteen starts, just last year for Milwaukee. Even though Maddux is a former All-Star, he still has some way to go for the record there, since Fernando Valenzuela had nineteen games without a win over almost a year, from June 17, 1988 to June 2, 1989. As for the record, try twenty-seven games: that was by the otherwise forgotten Anthony Young for the Mets, between 1992-94. Maddux is hardly a drop in the bucket otherwise.
That said, Arizona is not the team he would want to be facing under these circumstances, as we have basically owned his future Hall of Fame ass. In nineteen starts against the Diamondbacks, he has only two wins, with a 5.29 ERA to go along with that 2-11 record. He faced us at Chase early in the season, and basically took one for the team, being left out there for seven innings, giving up 13 hits and nine runs. [That was the day after the Padres had lost in 22 innings to the Rockies] Including that game, he has one win in nineteen attempts, thanks to a combination of poor run support and bad timing.
Arizona enters the cavernous confines of the Litter Box on a roll, having punched the Giants' lights for their first sweep since May. Mind you, the Padres have won three straight for the first time since June 8 themselves, though remain on pace for something near 100 losses. If they can go just a couple beyond that, it'll be San Diego's worst season since the franchise debut in 1969, when they went 52-110. Hopefully, we'll be able to do our part in encouraging them down this road - not having to face Peavy is certainly helpful, even if they miss Webb in turn. We do get the return of the evil Chris Young, pitching for the first time since May, his absence being for reasons we'll no doubt discuss in detail tomorrow.
The Diamondbacks are playing better, in particular an offense which has scored 57 runs in the past ten games, with a line of .281/.353/.487 over that time. I also note that we have apparently ramped up the running game, stealing six bases in seven games, compared to 31 in the first 97. Look for that to continue in a pitcher-friendly park like Petco. Today, Micah Owings makes a return to the rotation, getting his first start since July 9, having been passed over in favor of the Petit Unit last time, and the All-Star break also running interference. We'll be looking for a good outing from him, or he may find himself back in the 'pen down the stretch.
Glad we had the day off today: the weekend was very, very busy. We went to see The Dark Knight this morning: there's something very subversive about going to the movies at 9:30 am! It was good, likely very good, but fell just a little bit short of "great", IMHO. And the busy-ness doesn't stop, since it's comedy tonight, so I'll be at The Grand - likely watching the game but unable to actively comment much. Still, I'm hopeful we can extend our run to four games and put us in a good position to win the series, which is certainly something I want us to do.