Diamondbacks 2, Phillies 1: Corbin Pitches Brilliantly Again

Record: 20-15. Pace: 93-69. Change on last year: +5.

It was another nail biter for the Diamondbacks tonight, with the home team beating the visiting Phillies by a run. Neither team was able to get much going offensively, although both teams had their chances. 5 times the D-backs had a runner on second or further and failed to bring him home, and the Phillies did it 3 times.

Some of the offensive malaise was self-inflicted, with Paul Goldschmidt getting caught trying to steal, Martin Prado getting hung out to dry by Matt Williams and being thrown out between home and third, and both Michael Young and Carlos Ruiz getting thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles.

Ultimately it was the home team that pulled ahead, scoring a single run in two different frames. The first run didn't come until the 5th, when Prado and Gerardo Parra laced back-to-back singles. Pardo then scored on a Pat Corbin groundout. The Snakes then scored again in the 6th on another groundout. This time it was Parra grounding out, and he brought in Cody Ross, who made it on base with a lead-off double.

Philadelphia struck back in much the same way. They got some runners on, hit into a fielder's choice, and scored a run. In their case, it was the top of the 7th, and it was started by an infield single from Delmon Young that probably should have been an out. Goldschmidt made a great stretch to get the out, but the ump though he slid off, so a runner was aboard. This was followed by a Carlos Ruiz single and a John Mayberry, Jr single, setting up Kevin Frandsen to bring in the visitor's only run of the game.

Goldschmidt was certainly robbed on the stretch play in the 7th, but he looked great defensively this game. He always does a great job, but he made a few plays that probably should have been hits on top of being robbed of an actual out. Didi Gregorious was also flashing leather on top of getting yet another double and a single. King Didi is currently sitting on a slash of .422/.469/.733.

Patrick Corbin was simply brilliant tonight, making it 7 straight quality starts for the youngster. He went 6.1 innings, gave up 4 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 4. He only gave up one run, and it was off a hit that was actually surrendered by Matt Reynolds in relief.

The Phillies would make it a little interesting in the 9th by getting a one out double from Demonic Brown. Heath Bell settled down, though, and earned his 4th save of the season. Outside of his early season hiccup, the Heath Bell Experience has actually been a very solid addition. I can't predict whether he will keep it up, but outside the double tonight he looked good. I hope Putz gets well soon and comes back better than ever, but Bell is making a case that things might not be so bad in JJ's absence.

Sugar. Sugar water: Patrick Corbin (30.6%)

the Cricket: Heath Bell (17%), David Hernandez (12.5%)

Edgar Suit: Paul Goldschmidt (-14.5%)

Those stupid bug aliens: AJ Pollack (-7.5%), 'Chad' Pennington (-3.9%)

Happening Gameday Thread for a Thursday night, getting over 650 comments. Part of this might be that the team is coming off a sweep of a division opponent, but the reasons don't really matter. No one reached the Century Club, but Clefo led the way with 75 comments. He was joined by: 5thStarter, BattleMoses, DbackCardsFan, Diamondhacks, Fangdango, GuruB, Jake6233, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Lozenge, Marc Fournier, Paper Clip, Rockkstarr12, Scott Howard, SongBird, The so-called Beautiful, TolkienBard, Turambar, TylerO, azshadowwalker, benhat, blank_38, dbacks79, hotclaws, kishi, onedotfive, porty99, snakecharmer, and soco.

Only three comments got recs, so no Comment of the Day for you tonight.

Should the Barves/Giants score hold, your Arizona Diamondback Terrapins would be tied for first in the NL West again. They're also tied for second in the majors for most wins (of course, there are 3 other teams with 20 wins, and 4 with 21).

Tomorrow night is the second game of the four game set against the Phillies, with Ian Kennedy facing Tyler Cloyd in a non-holds barred cage match <i>to the death.</i> First pitch is at 6:40pm, BYOFC (Bring Your Own Folding Chair), so be here, or be somewhere else. As usual, these are your only logical choices.