Man. For a game that started out so well, what a painful slog that turned out to be. But it was a win. And that's what matters.
Recaps:
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[DBacks.com] Snakes slug way to series win in Miami - That game was way closer than it had any right to be.
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[FS Arizona] Montero powers D-backs past Marlins - Miggy had three doubles and four RBIs- pretty much all of them were necessary.
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[AZ Central] Miguel Montero powers Arizona Diamondbacks over Florida Marlins - "It was a win, which is all that matters." True enough- at the end of the season, it doesn't count any differently if we gave up nine runs or none, so long as we scored more.
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[Fish Stripes] Fish Wrap: Marlins 9, Diamondbacks 12 - The Marlins tried to fight back, but it wasn't enough, and they dropped below .500 for the first time since April 3.
But we come home to a home stand, and a pretty notable home stand, too. Whoever takes the Pandorica- sorry, no, I meant to say that whoever wins the series wakes up Friday morning in first place. No ties here, folks, taking two would give us a 0.5 game lead, while a sweep could put us up 2.5 games.
But that all starts with one game.
Previews:
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[FS Arizona] D-backs to host Giants in first-place showdown - Jack Magruder looks at how the DBacks have gotten close enough to make this series meaningful.
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[DBacks.com] Giants get Panda back for NL West clash - Oh, great, because we've been missing hearing about him.
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[CBSSports.com] Giants-Diamondbacks Preview - "If we hit a lick, we might be 10 games over the Diamondbacks." And if wishes were horses, they'd all have Giants caps, apparently.
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[Miami Herald] San Francisco Giants (37-29) at Arizona Diamondbacks (37-30) - Josh Collmenter made his major league debut against the Giants, pitching two scoreless innings and earning his first win. I'm happy with him continuing that trend.
DBacks News:
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[DBacks.com] D-backs to host top Draft picks this week - Our top two draft choices will be in town next week, so everyone be on their best behavior, okay?
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[AZ Central] News flash: Upton is good; Miranda vs. Nady; & farm report - Nick Piecoro has a quick response to a lot of the comments on AZ Central. It may sound familiar to some of you.
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[DBacks Venom] Diamondbacks Remain Perfect in "Taco" Games - Yesterday's win means the DBacks are one of the two teams in the NL that are undefeated when scoring six or more runs.
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[D Wizzle's World] Why the Arizona Diamondbacks can win the NL West - There may be some skepticism if the DBacks are for real, but this Giants blogger isn't ignoring the possibility that we might be a threat...
Around Baseball:
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[New York Times] M.L.B. Taps Forest Service to Solve Broken-Bat Danger - The rise of maple bats and thinner handles aren't helping, but the main reason we're seeing more bats break? Might just be because they're badly made.
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[Big League Stew] Logic! The Cubs are losing, so it’s time to call Wrigley Field a dump - Well, it's been old and awful for quite a while now. People are just more willing to let that slide when the team is entertaining.
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[St. Louis Today] The problem with perpetual interleague play - A good article, and this note is going to come to mind next time AL fans complain about having to see their pitchers bat: "Last season, during interleague play, only one National League club got a batting average better than .250 from its DH." See, it hinders both sides. But NL teams aren't the ones who pays someone $8 million for a job that adds up to about 30 or 40 hours of playing time in a year.
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[SI.com] Oakland A's had to can Bob Geren; he may be only manager fired - You know, after two years of it, I like not seeing the Diamondbacks mentioned on lists of "managers on the hot seat."