The .500 Road: Trends for Sept 14th-20th

After losing two of three to the Giants (one of those by only one run), the Diamondbacks were oh-so-close to sweeping the Padres this afternoon. Last week, I'm sure everybody would've said "Hey, let's just beat the Padres one of these games, mmkay?" but when the boys load the bases with nobody out and can't score, it makes it seem like winning two of three is a letdown.

And as the numbers will show, it was a fairly mediocre week, just like the 3-3 record reflects. Read on to see how the Diamondbacks performed.

Starting Rotation
Player	Trend	Notes
Ian Kennedy		A second straight solid start for Kennedy against the Padres - eight innings, one run, six strikeouts. This is why you don't shut your ace down - you give him the opportunity to get things right again, and Kennedy seems on his way to doing that.
Trevor Cahill		A third straight good week for Cahill - six innings, two runs; four strikeouts, but also four walks. Two numbers going around about Cahill right now: 3-0, 2.79 ERA in September, and Cahill is the second pitcher since 1990 to record 10 wins and 30 starts in his first four ML seasons. (The other is CC Sabathia.)
Wade Miley		Miley took the loss against the Giants over the weekend, but he had a quality start - seven innings, three runs, only one walk. Miley just shouldn't have given up that two-out, two-run home run to Buster Posey.
Patrick Corbin		Corbin had probably his best outing this season against the Giants on Sunday. Having loads of run support, Corbin threw eight solid innings, allowing just two runs and striking out five. Oh, and he also hit a bases-loaded triple. Any time you have more RBI than runs allowed is a very good day indeed!
Tyler Skaggs		Two short outings from Skaggs - first, four innings, five earned runs in a loss to San Francisco. This afternoon, he gave up a three-run homer in the 1st inning and another run in the 2nd, but managed to make it through five innings.
Bullpen
Player	Trend	Notes
Matt Albers		Albers finished one of the losses to the Giants with a scoreless 9th, and this afternoon, pitched two scoreless innings to keep the team close to the Padres in a one-run loss.
Brad Bergesen		Brad pitched two scoreless innings after Skaggs' first short outing, but after his next short outing (aka this afternoon), Bergesen allowed two runs in one inning.
Josh Collmenter		Josh closed out Corbin's win on Sunday with a scoreless 9th inning.
David Hernandez		Hernandez had a hold with a scoreless 8th inning on Wednesday.
J.J. Putz		J.J. pitched the 9th in one of the losses to the Giants, striking out two. He earned the save - barely - in a one-run Padres win.
Matt Lindstrom		Lindstrom again pitched a scoreless inning against the Padres.
Takashi Saito		Saito hasn't been in a game since he gave up four runs in a third of an inning a week and a half ago.
Bryan Shaw		Shaw pitched one good inning against the Giants. Today against the Padres, he loaded the bases, but got himself out of the jam.
Mike Zagurski		Zagurski hasn't appeared since the previous Padres series.
Brad Ziegler		Ziegler pitched two clean innings this past week - first, an inning with two strikeouts, and yesterday, he gave up a hit just to get a ground ball double play, his reliever-league-leading 18th.
Starting Lineup
Player	Trend	Notes
Adam Eaton		Eaton is still adjusting to major league pitchers. He had only three hits this week - one of them a triple, and one of them his first home run - but worked seven walks. Just him getting on base is a huge asset - he scored five runs.
Aaron Hill		A great week for Hilly, hitting 8-for-25 (.360), one home run, three RBI, and three runs scored. Striking out with the bases loaded to end today's game, however...
Jason Kubel		Kubel's major meltdown continues - 0-for-13 in three starts this week, though he at least added a walk this afternoon to load the bases.
Paul Goldschmidt		When Goldy got his few hits this week, they mattered. He hit only .250 (5-for-20) but those five hits knocked in four runs.
Miguel Montero		Playing in his 18th consecutive game, Miggy had himself a fabulous week - six hits and five walks makes for an OPS of 1.279, plus another hit this afternoon. He had three doubles and three RBI.
Justin Upton		Upton also was workin' it this week, so much so that I am awarding two stars this week. Justin had at least one hit in every game, for a great line of .350/.409/.800/1.209 - and that was coming in to today, where he added a 3-for-4 and was a homer shy of the in-order cycle. He smacked two home runs, knocked in four, and scored seven runs.
Chris Johnson		Some great numbers for the second week in a row - 7-for-15 (that's .467!) with four RBI.
John McDonald		A fair week from Johnny Mac - four hits, one double, in four games.
Bench
Player	Trend	Notes
Willie Bloomquist		Willie is still out with a sore back.
Jake Elmore		Elmore walked in one pinch hit appearance this week and ground out in the other.
Tyler Graham		Graham pinch ran in three games, and against the Giants, was thrown out stealing in the 9th inning with the team down by one run.
Mike Jacobs		Mike Jacobs, returning to the major leagues after finishing in Reno, pinch hit in two Padres game and popped out. The second pop out, this afternoon, came with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Wil Nieves		Nieves pinch hit and caught the last inning of Sunday's rout vs San Francisco.
Gerardo Parra		Parra was 1-for-8 with two walks in very limited action this week.
A.J. Pollock		Pollock is also back after Reno's season ended and earned a start this afternoon, but went 0-for-3.
Cody Ransom		In this week's series against the Giants, Ransom went 1-for-4 - a double - and scored a run. In this afternoon's game vs San Diego, he was 0-for-3.
Konrad Schmidt		Schmidt hasn't been seen since the other Padres series two weeks ago.
Chris Young		Young tried to play on Tuesday, but was pulled with his injured leg after running down the first out of the game.
Ryan Wheeler		Wheeler is coming along. He was 3-for-12 with one RBI and two runs scored.
Disabled List
Player	Trend	Notes
Henry Blanco		Blanco was transferred to the 60-day DL, so he won't be back this season.
Daniel Hudson		Huddy's still on the rehab train, working its way into the station... verrry slowly...

Stats run from 9/14 - 9/20.