Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: September 1st-7th

September under way: the rosters expand, and the Diamondbacks navigated a potentially-tricky road-trip very nicely, taking the series both in San Francisco and Colorado, bringing them ever closer to the NL West title [98.8% according to coolstandings.com]. A 4-2 record is good, and we outscored the opposition 31-27: as you can tell, the offense were a little more impressive than the pitching this week. Though, as ever, there were some wide variations in the performance spectrum...

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		I'm thinking we should maybe just give Kennedy an up-arrow tattoo and be done with it. In his past 11 games, the only non-quality start was when the rain curtailed his outing in Philadelphia. He has a 2.05 ERA since the All-Star break, third-best in the Majors.
Daniel Hudson		Hudson isn't far behind, sporting a 2.64 ERA since the start of August. Both he and Kennedy allowed one run over seven innings in victories over San Francisco; Dan's was slightly better, with only three hits and one walk.
Joe Saunders		Four HR in 11.1 innings, and a wobbly K:BB ratio of 7:5. However, Coors Field didn't help, and he helped himself out with a crucial RBI there. Joe has a record of 8-5 when he walks two batters or less in a start; he's 2-7 when it's more.
Josh Collmenter		Four of his 21 career starts have been against Colorado, but a 2.81 ERA suggests they haven't solved him yet. Another 6.1 innings without a walk this time; since Curt Schilling in 2002, only Dan Haren (2009) has shown better control for Arizona.
Wade Miley		After a (largely unjustified) down-arrow last week. Miley stepped up his game, allowing two runs in seven innings against the Rockies, and getting enough help from the offense to get the W despite a horrific late bullpen meltdown.
Bullpen
J.J. Putz		This is getting silly. Has allowed one hit since August 12 - that's a .040 average against. And with a K:BB ratio of 11:1, they're not getting on any other way.
David Hernandez		When Hernandez blows up, he blows up. He has allowed 24 earned runs this year in 63.1 innings. 14 have come in 0.2 of those innings, including five on Tuesday at Coors.
Bryan Shaw		Three scoreless outings have got him to a 2.74 season ERA. And that's despite a .333 BABIP, so he has actually been somewhat unlucky.
Micah Owings		For the second week in a row, no Arizona pitcher had a worse ERA. This time, however, it was 54.00, not 3.86. Micah faced six batters, four of whom scored.
Joe Paterson		Like Owings, only retired two of the six batters he saw, allowing two hits and two walks, apparently infected by whatever ailed the bullpen.
Brad Ziegler		Faced three batters; got four outs, without a double-play. I'll leave you to ponder how that was possible.
Zach Duke		Has only been seen twice since August 20th. Another inning of mop-up work, another run allowed. Post-season roster spot seems seriously in jeopardy.
Ryan Cook, Sam Demel, Alberto Castillo		None of the three September call-ups worked more than an inning, so get a communal "Meh." Between them, they allowed two runs in their two frames, both of those being charged to Demel.
Starters
Miguel Montero		Hit .300 (6-for-20), with an .864 OPS and actually took a couple of walks, which is nice. Current 15-game hitting streak is tied for the best ever by a Diamondbacks catcher, and his 76 RBI are most in the majors from the position.
Paul Goldschmidt		Strikeouts are inching up again - eight in 23 at-bats this week. However, even his outs seem to be hard-hit, and he was likely a few inches from an average well above .217; a .768 OPS remains solid enough.
Aaron Hill		Hit more than .400 for the second week in a row, and is hitting .375 since coming to us from Toronto. As Dan pointed out, a .408 BABIP won't last, but as long as the power numbers remain decent, should prove valuable the rest of the way.
Willie Bloomquist		Split the six games evenly with McDonald, but did his bit at the plate, going 5-for-13 with a triple and a hit by pitch. Another BABIP beneficiary (.455), so I wouldn't expect it to last.
Ryan Roberts		Missed a couple of games - one after getting spiked in the foot by a Rockie - but his four hits were for a cycle on a week. And was there a bigger knock this year than his home-run to tie the game in San Francisco?
Gerardo Parra		Has appeared everywhere in the line-up bar the clean-up spot, getting his first start at lead-off since 2009. Still continues to do nothing but hit: 7-for-22 this week; since July 22nd Gerardo is hitting .328 in 135 plate-appearances.
Chris Young		Young is off the charts this week, and not in a good sense. His OPS was more than 500 points below anyone else in this section, with a line of .063/.118/.125. Clearly, he's not right, and one wonders if Cowgill would be a better regular for now.
Justin Upton		Hit 8-for-20, but add four walks and an HBP, and get an on-base percentage of .520. With half the hits being for extra bases, including two home-runs, it was an .800 slugging week for Upton as well. Already has career highs for hits, homers and total bases.
Bench
John McDonald		Still not quite clear whether he or Bloomquist is the 'regular' short-stop. Three hits in three games, but a couple of doubles and no strikeouts.
Collin Cowgill		Also had three hits, but none were for extra bases and only drew one walk, meaning a .606 OPS. May see more playing time if we decide to rest CY more
Sean Burroughs		Three games, no starts; a double in three at-bats.
Lyle Overbay		Hasn't appeared in a game since August 30th. Anyone possessing knowledge of his whereabouts, please get in contact with Derrick Hall.
Henry Blanco		One game: 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.
Geoff Blum		4-for-11 with a home-run and three runs driven in. Can't complain about that.
Robby Hammock		Allegedly on the roster. I have been in as many games for the team this year as Robby.