Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #53: 5/28 vs. Red Sox

The road-trip may have created heightened expectations with regard to Arizona’s offense. Over the nine games, despite the weeping and wailing about RISP, they scored 48 runs and hit 14 home--runs. But over the past two contests back at Chase, the fawcet has been abruptly turned off. They are hitting .159 (10-for-63) with three extra-base hits, two walks an and a total of three runs scored. However, it’s definitely not the first couple of games where the offense has struggled. Remember the first series in LA, where the D-backs managed only seven runs across four games, with a K:BB ratio of - get this - 29:1? Or the first two games in Miami, where they slugged .219?

Which is kinda my way of saying, “Don’t panic.” At least, not yet, for the odds are that this, too, will pass. A three-game losing streak may seem like the world is ending, not least because it ties the D-backs’ season high. But that’s the exception, not the rule. Already this year, 22 of the 30 MLB teams have had at least a four-game losing streak - in the NL West, the Padres, Rockies and Giants have all had MULTIPLE such runs. Last year, the 12 teams which reached the playoffs combined for 28 four-game losing streaks, including seven L’s in a row by Cleveland and six by Seattle. So, yeah: baseball is hard, and almost every team will have an extended bad patch.

That said, hopefully Arizona’s will end this afternoon, and if we can’t have a Zac Gallen start (the team is 7-4 in those), then a Merrill Kelly one (6-4) will do almost as nicely. He hasn’t lost a game since April 22, since when he is 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA over 31 innings, and a K:BB of 34:6. Perhaps as important, he has averaged six innings per start over his last eight appearances, even though he has yet to throw a hundred pitches in a game this year. After the bullpen was - not for the first time - pressed into quicker than expected service last night, a quality start would be welcome. But the offense getting off its slide, and delivering at leas free tacos, is probably equally as important.