Record: 27-29. Pace: 78-84. Change on 2014: +5.

With a chance to steal a series, the Dbacks turned in a lackluster effort in the series finale. Collmenter struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark, Mets starter Jacob deGrom dominated the Dbacks lineup, and the team had a break down of fundamentals in the top of the 9th inning. It's a reminder that the team is young and has some big holes on the roster.

The game did not start well when Dbacks SP Josh Collmenter surrendered a leadoff HR for the second time in three starts. It was a harbinger for his outing, as he would surrender 4 home runs for the game. The Dbacks would counter for two runs in the bottom half of inning. The first three hitters reached on a double, single, and a throwing error. Peralta capped the scoring on a sac fly that took a running catch from Mets CF Juan Lagares. Unfortunately after that, deGrom was able to settle in after the Peralta sac fly.

The lead did not last for even 1 inning as Collmenter served up his 2nd homer if the day. Eric Campbell's 2-run blast turned a Dbacks lead into a deficit. deGrom proceeded to strike out the side in the 2nd and mowed through that lineup. While that happened, Collmenter allowed solo HRs in the 5th and 6th innings to give the Mets a 5-2 lead. The Dbacks put up a tally in the 6th with singles from Paul Goldschmidt, David Peralta, and Chris Owings (bunt single). Dbacks got a mini-rally going in the 7th and got the tying run at the plate in the 7th. After that point, the Dbacks never really threatened at the plate against the Mets bullpen.

To wrap it up, deGrom allowed 2 ER in 7 IP and struck out 10. Collmenter gave up 4 HR, with all four being of the tape measure variety. All in all, it wasn't a disappointing series because they were able to split a series against the NL East leading Mets. We're onto LA.

Bells and whistles (by Jim)

[Click for details, at fangraphs.com]
Welcoming back David Hernandez: Paul Goldschmidt, +9.5%
Not welcoming at all: Josh Collmenter, -25.5%
Chilly: Lamb, -12.3%; Saltalamacchia, -11.9%

Collmenter's early struggles seemed to suck the enthusiasm for this one, and it made the game more of a chore than a pleasure [I didn't even bother turning it on, personally] We did reach 300 comments though, with preston.salisbury, freeland1787 and JoeCB1991 being the most active. Also in and out: Clefo, Craig from Az, Dbackguy, DbacksSkins, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Jim McLennan, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, PhxSunsFan4Life, SenSurround, SongBird, Sprankton, Xerostomia, benhat, circa4, gamepass, hotclaws, onedotfive and xmet. Comment of the thread to hotclaws:

It's off to California for the boys now, as they start with three games in Los Angeles, then after an off-day on Thursday - been a while since we had one of those! - it's up the coast to San Francisco for three, before coming back to Gridlock Central for two against the Angels. Rubby De La Rosa gets the start tomorrow night, with a first pitch in Dodger Stadium of 7:10pm (skunks permitting!). We face a familiar name, in former Diamondback, Mike Bolsinger.