Diamondbacks Ups and Downs: April 19-April 25

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My cat just typed that and I feel that it accurately represents how I feel so I'm leaving it. The D-backs were outscored 27-46 and went 2-5, losing series to the Phillies and the Braves. Read on if you feel that you truly must...

And here we go: Stats are through the 25th including today's game

Rotation	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		Another week and another win for Kennedy as he pitched his deepest game of the season against the Braves. He went 7 strong innings allowing three runs off of nine hits along with a 2:5 BB:K rate. Nothing flashy at all but a quality outing when the D-backs really needed it.
Daniel Hudson		15-day DL retroactive to April 19th for a right shoulder impingement. If any of you recall, that was Brandon Webb's initial diagnosis when he went on the DL in 2009. For now, Hudson is expected to return within the coming weeks and is currently set to begin light throwing in the next few days.
Joe Saunders		Since we last boasted about Saunders he's done nothing to shame himself, pitching a quality start against the Braves with a line of 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, and a 1:5 BB:K. Even if he did give up his first homer and eventually take the loss Saunders has been Zeus-like to start the season.
Josh Collmenter		Still hanging on to a spot in the rotation despite another shaky outing. Collmenter finally pitched deeper than the fifth inning in his last two outings but allowed four and six runs respectively in those contests. His ERA is still ballooned at 9.82 and he's already given up six homers.
Trevor Cahill		After two good outings to start the season in which Cahill allowed just two runs, he has backtracked and allowed 11 in his last two games. Meanwhile, Jarrod Parker made his MLB debut for the A's and looked pretty solid.
Wade Miley		Gibson and co. turned to Miley with Hudson on the DL and were not disappointed with the result. Neither were we as Wade dished out a 6 inning, two hit gem against the Phillies on 3 days rest from his last bullpen appearance. We're thinking highly of Miley these days... teehee
Bullpen
J.J. Putz		With the D-backs flat out losing we haven't seen much of Putz lately; just a pair of outings in the past week. Despite getting his fifth save of the season though, he allowed his second home run. That's already half the total that he allowed in 2011.
David Hernandez		Since allowing the winning run to score in a game against Pittsburgh, Hernandez has pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings with a 0:6 BB:K rate. He's regrouping nicely (cue slow evil finger taps).
Bryan Shaw		The Phillies are a bunch of bullies who like to pick on people with the last name of Shaw. See. Robert Shaw, Leslie Shaw, and Lindsey Shaw.
Craig Breslow		A couple of mop-up outings for Breslow against the Braves and Phillies; one with the lead and one without. He kept both scoreless in 3 1/3 innings between them. Then he imploded against the Phillies two days later, giving up three hits and two runs in 2/3 of an inning.
Brad Ziegler		Meh. Ziggy has pitched the same schedule as Breslow, appearing in two mop-up appearances and then again against the Phillies today, but fared a little better by not giving up any runs.
Joe Paterson +++		Victim of mismanagement, injured, not focused, whatever it was it'll have to get taken care of in Reno. Joe-paw had a whopping 90.00 ERA in his last three games and hadn't recorded an out in his last 9 batters faced. Yikes.
Jonathan Albaladejo ^^^		Hi. Bye.
Mike Zagurski ***		Pitched his first big league inning(s) since June 2011 and promptly gave up a Shane Victorino home run. YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
Joe Martinez ***		Pitched his first big league inning since September 2010 and promptly gave up a run scoring double to Placido Polanco. YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
Takashi Saito		15-day DL retroactive to April 1st for a right calf strain. Saito recently had a "setback" during his rehab assignment in Visalia and is "on the shelf" according to Kirk Gibson.
Starters
Miguel Montero		Batted 3-18 with 2 GIDP and a 1:5 BB:K rate since I was last talking about how great and swell Miggy was. He continues to successfully kill stolen bases behind the plate, though. Miggy is 5th best in the league with 6 caught steals and ranks first among starters with a 55% success rate.
Paul Goldschmidt		Gibby listened and Goldschmidt was rewarded with more playing time but the results still aren't there. Goldy hit 4-21 with an OPS below .500 and hasn't hit a home run in his last 14 games (46 at-bats).
Aaron Hill		Nothing going on here that hasn't really set him apart from anyone else. Hill did have a .344 OPS but slugged just four points higher at .348. Need moar.
Willie Bloomquist		Has as many pickoffs as he does stolen bases (2) and batted an ulcer-inducing 5-26 with a 0:12 BB:K rate.
Stephen Drew		15-day DL retroactive to Mar 26, 2012 (Recovery from right ankle surgery). Drew has reportedly been running the bases at full speed. Still no exact timetable for a return, however.
Ryan Roberts		Relegated to the bench since the 21st after batting a collective .528 OPS to start the season. It usually doesn't bode well for you when Cody Ransom is playing in favor of you.
Chris Young		15-Day DL retroactive to April 17th. Recent rumblings from Nick Piecoro indicate that CY might be out for another month.
Justin Upton		Upton batted 5-17 and looked much more comfortable at the plate this go around. We've also officially begun the "see how long it takes for Upton to get hit with a pitch before he goes all Hulk on someone and rips their head clean off their shoulders* tally as he's taken his first HBP in 2012.
Jason Kubel		Five outfield assist you say!? Well, he's still slumping at the plate, right? Three home runs and an OPS above 1.200 you say!? Well, then. *Swoon*
Bench
Gerardo Parra		Grand slam. End of sentence.
Cody Ransom ***		Roberts hath bequeath his starting position unto Sir Cody "GCU" Ransom. At least, until Ransom stops hitting at a 1.400 OPS pace that is.
Lyle Overbay		Just 1-6 with only one start and some pretty low-leverage pinch-hits for Overbay.
John MacDonald		A week later and still...more home runs than Albert Pujols.
Geoff Blum		15-Day DL retroactive to April 16th due to... oldness.
Henry Blanco		Got a rare start and was fortunate enough that it was against Cole Hamels. Has now appeared in just 4 of the team's 19 games.

*** Recalled from Triple-A

+++ Optioned to Triple-A

^^^ Recalled from Triple-A and subsequently designated for assignment