Game #128: Diamondbacks @ Nationals

Wade Miley LHP, 7-9, 4.46

Gio Gonzalez LHP, 6-9, 4.06

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS	WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Ender Inciarte - CF	Denard Span - CF
Cliff Pennington - SS	Anthony Rendon - 3B
David Peralta - RF	Jayson Werth - RF
Mark Trumbo - 1B	Adam LaRoche - 1B
Aaron Hill - 2B	Wilson Ramos - C
Jordan Pacheco - 3B	Bryce Harper - LF
Alfredo Marte - LF	Asdrubal Cabrera - 2B
Tuffy Gosewisch - C	Danny Espinosa - SS
Wade Miley - LHP	Gio Gonzalez - LHP

Remember the days when we had a winning record on the road? How long ago that seems now. Over their last 25 games away from Chase, the Diamondbacks are 7-18. This trip has seen us go 2-7, and has been particularly tough on the offense, who have scored a total of 21 runs over nine games, with a collective line of .191/.256/.287. If it were a player, our hitters would be riding the pine at the very least, and probably designated for assignment. For comparison, the worst-hitting qualified player in the majors, Zach Cosart, has an OPS of .569. We're 26 points worse than him during the East coast sweep.

And that would be why we are now in sole possession of the third spot in the Tankapalooza 2014 standings, being the only team in the bottom four to have lost yesterday. The Astros win over the Yankees in New York propelled them below us: we're 2 1/2 back of the Rockies and 3 1/2 behind the Rangers. Remember how bad a month April was? The Diamondbacks need to go 4-5 over their remaining nine games, or else we will have a worse record for August. The way we've been playing since Goldschmidt went down, I can't say I am confident we can do that, even if three of those games are against Colorado. If the sweep is completed today, in fact, I'd call it unlikely.