Diamondbacks Trends: May 23-29.

'charmer is off at a funeral today - no, not for the 2012 season, though thanks for asking - so I'm pinch-hitting. But as she wrote last week: "Just when it seems like we might be steering the ships right, a wave rolls up and splashes water all over and knocks out the navigation equipment." That's pretty much the way it feels again: we took the series against Milwaukee, but the offense pretty much laid down and let San Francisco trample them. It has been a 3-3 record for the Diamondbacks this week. Hands up if it feels like one. Didn't think so. But let's peel apart the numbers a bit further, and see how the team has done on an individual level.

Starting Rotation
Player	Trend	Notes
Daniel Hudson		Gets an up-arrow, simply for being back. Looked pretty good through the first four innings on Sunday - tired a little in the fifth, but that's only to be expected. If Arizona is to claw their way back, we need Huddy to be at his very best.
Ian Kennedy		Kennedy did pitch into the sixth inning, which is better than his previous start, but four runs in 5.2 innings was still enough for the loss. He has lost all five May appearances, with a 6.00 ERA, and has looked a far cry from an Opening Day starter.
Wade Miley		After an awful third inning against the Brewers, Miley settled down and got the win as we came back to beat Milwaukee 8-5. Technically a quality start - six IP, five runs but only three earned - it wasn't his best, but credit for fighting through it.
Trevor Cahill		The pining for Jarrod Parker has got a good deal more vociferous of late The last time Cahill won was May 1st, and the Giants pounded on a non-sinking sinker on Memorial Day. By the time it was fixed, we were 4-0 down and on the way to defeat.
Joe Saunders		The week's two-start pitcher, the results show how useless Wins are as a measure of ability. Joe won against LA, despite allowing four runs, and got no-decision in an arguably better start vs. SF, where he gave up one. Go figure.
Bullpen
Player	Trend	Notes
Craig Breslow		Allowed one hit this week, mopping up at the end of Friday's 7-1 loss to the Brewers, but that led to a run. Had two other scoreless outings, but walked two and hit a batter.
Josh Collmenter		4.1 innings for our long relief guy, with two good outings, sandwiching one where Milwaukee got him for four hits and two runs in 1.1 IP. Still, someone's gotta pitch these.
David Hernandez		A light week for DH, with only two appearances - now Dan's gone, I think Gibby knows the joke of using David every day is over. No hits and one walk, with three strikeouts, so solid work.
J.J. Putz		Which is exactly the same line as Putz produced, saving consecutive games with a minimum of fuss. Still a sense he's being hit hard, but if he's not actively blowing saves, can't really complain too much.
Bryan Shaw		Shaw seems to have lost his control, with three walks in three innings, and only one strikeout. Those free passes, as much as the two hits allowed, are why his ERA for the week is six. Our "future closer" hasn't looked like it this week.
Mike Zagurski		Somehow, a single down-arrow isn't enough. We only saw Zagurski once, but he retired just one of five batters faced, walking three, and needed to be bailed out by Shaw's first-pitch double-play.
Brad Ziegler		Ziegler has taken over the "let's warm him up every day" role, having appeared in exactly half our games. There were four this week, but he didn't allow a hit in any of them, and his ERA of 2.14 for the year is very nice.
Starting Lineup
Player	Trend	Notes
Willie Bloomquist		Yeah, that up arrow is like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to many, but he hit .294, with a .745 OPS, and a lot of players couldn't say that. There was the obligatory TOOTBLAN, but I think we're used to those by now.
Ryan Roberts		The improvement we've seen from RyRo of late wasn't to be found last week, as he went 3-for-19, though did tie for the team lead in RBI (5). However, he was also the Arizona leader in strikeouts, with six of those.
Justin Upton		Batted .261, but half of his hits were for extra bases, leading to an overall OPS of .824. Did struggle last night against Vogelsong, striking out three times, but of late, that kind of game has been more the exception than the rule.
Miguel Montero		Spent most of the week sitting on the bench, probably humming "We're in the Money." Didn't do much when he came back, going 0-for-6 with a walk: we will be expecting a great deal more from our Sixty-Million Dollar Man.
Chris Young		While it's certainly great to have Young back, a line since his return of .171/.194/.229 is well below what A.J. Pollock had been giving us. Gibby admitted the team may have rushed CY back, and for purposes beyond morale, I knida wish they hadn't.
Jason Kubel		The Kube headed back in the right direction, going 9-for-22 with two doubles, a triple and a home-run, as well as a K:BB ratio of 5:4. He is currently the only Diamondback with 100 PAs to have an OPS+ in three digits, at 126.
Paul Goldschmidt		I think the best number for Goldzilla is not the .353 average, as he went 6-for-17. It's that he walked more times (4) than he struck out (3). Small sample size, sure: but if he can keep that up, it'll be a huge improvement on the year to date.
Aaron Hill		Had the most hits of any Arizona player, going 10-for-22 with a pair of doubles. Not much beyond that - only one walk and two extra-bases - so more than a little BABIP heavy,. but the way the offense has been of late, we'll take it.
Josh Bell		Major contribution so far has been provoking feelings of wistful nostalgia for Cody Ransom. Did drive in a run yesterday, but that was his only hit, as he went 1-for-10 with no walks.
Bench
Player	Trend	Notes
Henry Blanco		2-for-10 with one walk and an RBI. Blanco's gonna Blanco. Hopefully, Miggy goes back to starting 13 games out of 14.
John McDonald		John McDonald led the team in HR (2) and slugging percentage (1.111). I'll repeat that: John McDonald led the team in HR (2) and slugging percentage (1.111). #cantpredictbaseball
Lyle Overbay		Another solid week, going 4-for-10 with a walk and a K. We're almost a third of the way through the season, and Overbay's 163 OPS+ leads all hitters. I'm with 'charmer: this seems to have been a much better signing than we expected.
Gerardo Parra		If you're going to make a case for playing time, hitting .500 for the week is a good place to start. Parra went 5-for-10, but will still likely see limited time - though if CY continues to struggle, that may change.
Konrad Schmidt		Started a game! Went 0-for-4! Was sent back to Reno! [I suspect my attempt to generate excitement through overuse of exclamation marks has been unsuccessful]
Disabled List
Player	Trend	Notes
Geoff Blum		Took swings off a tee and fielded ground-balls on May 25. Blum says he should start a rehab assignment around June 8-10, but isn't sure where.
Stephen Drew		Doesn't seem to have appeared since playing four innings in rehab on May 19, and the D-backs have been observing radio silence on his progress, or lack thereof. Probably not a good sign, given the regular updates when he was going the right direction - no news is likely not good news in this case.
Takashi Saito		Scheduled to throw live batting practice at Salt River Fields on Monday.

Stats run from 5/23-5/29.