Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: September 15th-21st

So close we can practically taste it. And I trust I need not spell out what "it" is. A mixed bag of results for Arizona, who had to salvage the series finale in San Diego, but did then come home and take two of three from Pittsburgh. That's a 3-3 record, fractionally outscoring the opposition, 18-16. With a team ERA of 2.60,.but a collective OPS of .695, seems that, as a whole, the pitchers were up and the hitters down this week. But let's break it down further, and see which players enjoyed riding the roller-coaster of small sample-size, in our final weekly trends. For next time, it'll be a little different...

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		Kennedy became the youngest NL pitcher since Dontrelle Willis to reach 20 wins, with a majestic performance, dominating the Pirates with eight innings of one-hit ball. If we make the post-season, he can go toe-to-toe with anyone.
Daniel Hudson		Hudson's shortest outing since August 8, as he lasted only five innings and took the loss against Pittsburgh. He allowed seven hits and an uncharacteristically-high three walks, dropping back to back decisions.
Joe Saunders		Perhaps the most important start of Saunders' time in Arizona, as he proved a stopper in San Diego, ending a three-game losing streak and calming a lot of nerves. He came within one out of a complete game, and allowed only an unearned run.
Josh Collmenter		Scattered eight hits over seven innings in San Diego, but the three runs allowed, coupled with no run support, were enough to take the loss. However, did get back his control, walking no opposing hitters.
Wade Miley		Two starts for Miley, with similar lines: both resulted in five hits, two runs, both earned, and three strikeouts. Curiously, the loss in San Diego was probably a bit better than the win at Chase, as it lasted an inning longer. But a 3.27 ERA overall is fine.
Bullpen
J.J. Putz		Tied the franchise record by converting his 22nd consecutive save opportunity. Since his last blown save he has worked 20.1 innings, allowing 11 hits, with a K:BB ratio of 25:3.
David Hernandez		Only appeared once, but it wasn't pretty as he gave up a two run homer against the Pirates, that proved to be the margin of defeat. Still, better now than in the play-offs....
Bryan Shaw		Appeared three times, allowing a hit on two runs and a walk, with a trio of strikeouts. I like his stuff, still a work in progress, but should be useful in 2012.
Micah Owings		Gave up a bomb on virtually his first pitch yesterday, but that was it for the week. Not really a long reliever, both appearances lasting one frame. Scattered four hits and a walk.
Joe Paterson		Got a big out yesterday, ending the eighth inning with the tying run at the plate. Over two games, pitched an inning, with a hit, no walks and a strikeout.
Brad Ziegler		Did give up a run in three outings, covering 2.2 innings. However, with four earned runs in 20 innings, is still more valuable for us than Brandon Allen is for Oakland...
Zach Duke		Not seen this week. This is probably a good thing in general for the team, since our record is 4-7 in Duke sightings, since he moved to the 'pen.
Ryan Cook, Sam Demel, Alberto Castillo		Cook was the only one to come into a game, working a scoreless inning with one walk and a K.
Starters
Miguel Montero		Continues to be on fire, tied for the team lead in hits this week. Nothing new there, as he been excellent for more than a month now. Miggy has hit safely in 25 of the last 27 games, averaging .353 over that time, with a 1.030 OPS.
Paul Goldschmidt		Warming slightly. 4-for-14 with a double and a home-run, and a decent K:BB ratio of 3:2. The net result was a .286 average and .924 OPS. I would probably like to see him play every day, but four of six games isn't too bad.
Aaron Hill		A solid week for Hill, who went 6-for-22 and his four RBI led the team. He has 33 hits in less than a month since coming from Toronto, and is hitting .308 in Arizona. He had 37 for the Blue Jays over his last two months with them.
Willie Bloomquist		Bloomquist hit .294 last week, but it was an empty, thoroughly non-Moneyball .294, containing  no walks and one extra-base. The resulting .647 OPS was close enough to Willie's career average (.655) to merit a flat-line, since he also went 2-0 in stolen-bases.
Ryan Roberts		Roberts is on one of his cold streaks, batting .185 since August 21, with a mere 12 hits in that time, though seven of them were for extra-bases. His season average is down below .250, the lowest it has been since late July.
Gerardo Parra		Parra hasn't had back-to-back games without a hit this month, but this week was not one of his best. He did have five hits and stole a couple of bases, but all the hits were singles, leading to a BA = SLG = .217 and a sub-.500 OPS.
Chris Young		Is Young coming back? His second consecutive up-arrow, leading the team in hits (tied), walks and the Triple Crown of BA (.444), OBP (.565) and OPS (1.176). Only three NL players (Fielder, Votto and Cabrera) have as many walks in the second-half.
Justin Upton		Not awful - indeed, a .742 OPS is thirty points above NL average this year. However, this is Justin Upton we're discussing, and standards here are higher. His walk-rate has dropped: four in the last 69 PAs, with 16 strikeouts.
Bench
John McDonald		Seems to have become the late-inning defensive replacement for Willie Bloomquist, doing that twice in the Pirates series. Did get three hits in his seven at-bats.
Collin Cowgill		No sign of him since the 14th.
Sean Burroughs		Squeezed out a Texas Leaguer in four at-bats/
Lyle Overbay		Last hit came on September 10. Of his nine hits since coming to the team, eight came in three games.
Henry Blanco		Didn't even get into the contest on Sunday, a day-game after a night one.
Geoff Blum		Hasn't reached base safely since September 10.
Robby Hammock		And if Blanco doesn't play, you know Robby didn't! Only six games left.....