Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: June 15-June 21 Edition

The Diamondbacks split their six games this week, but were outscored by the opposition 20-24, and with all but one of those games at home, must have been hoping for better. However, they did regain first place in the NL West, albeit mostly because of the Giants' incompetence. There were some blistering individual performances this week, with Justin Upton being National League player of the week. Seriously, the man is so on fire just now, that the sun is suing for plagiarism.  After the jump, we'll see how he and the rest of the D-backs have done: Sprankton is stuck in a meeting from hell today, so I'm pinch-hitting. Or maybe, designated hitting.

And here we go:

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		Normal service was resumed i.e. Kennedy returning to his usual level of awesomeness, throwing eight innings with the only damage an unearned run, and allowing four hits and one walk, while striking out ten. He certainly deserved better than a no-decision, after J.J. Putz blew the lead in the ninth. All-Star buzz is growing around Kennedy, who continues to be the ace we hoped. Or, put another way: Suck it, Yankees.
Daniel Hudson		Anything Ian can do, Dan can do better. He threw his first career complete game to beat his former team, the White Sox, holding them to only three hits and a walk, with one run allowed. His past three starts have covered 22 innings, with only one run given up each time, for an ERA of 0.41 and a K:BB ratio of 19:5.
Joe Saunders		Saunders was the only starter to make two appearances, splitting the decisions. All told, five runs over 14 innings is a 3.21 ERA, so we can't complain about the overall results. Good to see Saunders' numbers heading the right way, after being close to six coming into May. However, six walks to seven strikeouts is not a great peripheral.
Barry Enright ***		Barry got smacked about by the Tucson Padres, to the tune of seven runs in 5.1 innings, but rebounded last night to beat the Las Vegas 51's, striking out eight over six innings of two-run ball. K:BB ratio now at 36:17.
Armando Galarraga #		Still on the 7-Day DL with "shoulder stiffness." Must be from carrying those bi-weekly salary checks to the bank.
Josh Collmenter		Josh faced the White Sox and his usual pattern continued, with a team struggling against him when seeing his funky delivery for the first time. He produced a quality start, getting through seven innings and allowing three runs on five hits and a walk - two home-runs were responsible for the damage.
Zach Duke		Another wobbly outing for our Duke of Hurl, as he lasted 5.1 frames versus Chicago, taking the loss and allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk. A 5.06 ERA is about what you'd expect from a back of a rotation guy, but I think we were hoping for an ERA nearer four than five from him.
Bullpen
J.J. Putz		Two appearances for Putz against the Giants, neither going well, as he gave up four hits and three runs in his two innings of work. Has more blown saves (3) than saves (2) this month.
David Hernandez		The Man With The Rubber Arm - or at least, so Kirk Gibson seems to think - had three hitless and scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out one, so workload seems a bigger concern than performance right now.
Juan Gutierrez		15-Day DL retroactive to May 25 due to right shoulder inflammation. Is due to pitch simulated games on Thursday and Sunday this week.
Sam Demel		15-Day DL retroactive to May 22 due to shoulder tendinitis. Scheduled to make rehab appearances for Reno on Thursday and Saturday, so could return next week.
Aaron Heilman		Eight batters faced, eight batters retired. Can't ask for better than that, can you? A mechanical adjustment seems to have paid off, with one run allowed in his past 7.1 innings.
Bryan Shaw		One scoreless inning.
Joe Paterson		Two-thirds of a scoreless inning. Did allow the bases-clearing double to A.J. Pierzynski, after they had been loaded up by...
Esmerling Vasquez		One outing, and it didn't go well. He retired one batter, and was tagged for five runs, four earned. In mid-May Vasquez had a sub-two ERA. Now it is 4.61, and almost ten for June.
Micah Owings		Helped bail out Zach Duke at SnakePitFest in his only appearance, but then coughed up a three-run homer, which blew open a close game.
Starters
Miguel Montero		4-for-17 with one walk, five K's and a double brought Miggy's hot streak to an end. Did have one of his best throws of the season to nail a base-thief though.
Juan Miranda		Had a horrible home-stand, being held without a hit at all. Did come back with two hits last night in Kansas City, but will need to do much better if he is to stave off you-know-who.
Kelly Johnson		Exactly the same line as Miggu, except with three more K's. While that actually improved KJ's average, we might wonder whether pranking Kirk Gibson was the best use of his time.
Stephen Drew		3-for-24 with a .327 OPS. Ouch. He fell out of the top five in All-Star Game voting, although I suspect these two things are no more than tangentially connected.
Ryan Roberts		6-for-23 with four doubles is a .727 OPS, which is not awful. Admittedly, it's still short of his form early in the season, but it'll do.
Gerardo Parra		4-for-15 with a triple and a double, Parra was what we thought he was. giving us a .733 OPS, though he didn't take a walk this week.
Chris Young		6-for-21 with three home-runs, Young rediscovered his power stroke. However, he also walked as many times as he struck out, to give him a .375 OBP.
Justin Upton		.565/.560/.870. 'Nuff said.
Bench
Willie Bloomquist		Hit his second home-run of the year, and did it for a sick kid. Even though he had only one other hit this week, anything but a large up-arrow would be churlish.
Melvin Mora		Like Bloomquist, went 2-for-8, but no home-runs were hit or young wishes fulfilled.
Sean Burroughs +++		0-for-3 with two K's, sent to Reno - where he had three hits in his first game.
Xavier Nady		One hit in eight at-bats. Continues, inexplicably, to receive playing time.
Geoff Blum		Hurt: 15-Day DL stint retroactive to March 22 due to right knee surgery. No timetable for a return yet.
Henry Blanco		Five at-bats, one hit.
Wily Mo Pena		Proved that Reno power wasn't entirely a myth, homering in his second at-bat after getting the call up to work as DH during inter-league play. Wily float or Wily sink?

***Optioned to Triple-A
# Designated for Assignment and subsequently outrighted to Triple-A
+++ Outrighted to Triple-A