The Arizona Diamondbacks completely routed the Oakland Athletics Wednesday night by the score of 11-1.  It was a big butt kicking by the D-backs as the offense hit the ball hard and the pitchers had no problems shutting down the A’s offense.

Dan Haren tossed seven innings while only allowing four hits and one run.  Haren picked up the win and is now 7-4 on the season.  Haren struck out eight batters and also lowered his era to 3.26 on the season.  Juan Cruz tossed the eighth inning and struck out the side.  Chad Qualls then came in and pitched the ninth inning to record one more strick out for the D-backs.  Great job by all three pitchers!

Chris Young and Stephen Drew both hit home runs at the plate for the Diamondbacks.  Young’s was a three run shot while Drew hit a two run homer.  Young and Haren led the Diamondbacks with three rbi each while Drew and Chad Tracy both had two rbi in the game.  We can’t forget about Jeff Salazar who also had one rbi in the game.

So will the great pitching and hot hitting carry over to Thursday when they Diamondbacks and Athletics play the rubber match of the three game series?  For Diamondbacks fans, they are sure hoping so.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks completed a three game series with the New York Mets wining two of three.  For a second straight game the Diamondbacks found some offense late and rallied against Mets’ closer Billy Wagner to tie the game late and send it to extra innings.  Today, the Diamondbacks’ were on the wining end beating the Mets 5-4 in ten innings. 

Dan Harren started the game for the Diamondbacks, he went six innings giving up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.  The Diamondbacks’ bullpen gave up two more runs in the bottom of the seventh with Doug Slaten on the mound.  Slaten hit Damion Easley with a pitch; Ramon Castro hit a long fly ball to center that was misplayed by Chris Young, Easley would advance to third on the double.  Both Castro and Easly would score on an RBI single to center off the bat of Fernando Tatis.  Jose Reyes hit a double that advanced Tatis to third, Endy Chavez drew a walk and with one out and the bases loaded, Edgar Gonzalez came in to the game-he would get David Wright to hit a popup in foul territory on the first base side that was caught by Conner Jackson.  However, Gonzalez would have to face Carlos Beltran again, this time with the bases load, but Gonzalez won the battle when he got Beltran to fly out to centerfield.

The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the top of the eighth and Joe Smith on the mound, with one out Augie Ojeda drew a walk, but would be erased on a fielder’s choice, Orlando Hudson was safe at first, Connor Jackson hit a single to center advancing Hudson to second.  Mark Reynolds hit a triple that just missed going over the fence in center field.  Both Hudson and Jackson would score to make it 4-2.   

The top of the ninth inning started when Billy Wagner walked lead off man Miguel Montero, Wagner then gave up a single to Stephen Drew.  Chris Young doubled to left, scoring Montero, and allowing Drew to advance to third.  Augie Ojeda walked to load the bases, Orlando Hudson grounded to Jose Reyes who threw Drew out at the plate.  Connor Jackson hit a grounder to Jose Reyes, who flipped the ball to second base to get the force out, but Drew would score and tie the game at four.  Wagner was able to strike out Mark Reynolds on a called third strike to end the inning, but the damage was done.  With the game tied at 4 in the top of the tenth Aaron Heilman started the inning by giving up a double to Justin Upton, Jeff Salazar moved the runner to third on a sac bunt, and Upton would score on a sac fly by Miguel Montero.  Brandon Lyon shut the Mets down in the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings recording his second win of the season. 

The Diamondbacks return home to start interleague play.  The Kansas City Royals will be in town.  The Diamondbacks will have Doug Davis on the mound and he will be opposed by Zack Greinke.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. 

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The Diamondbacks traveled to Shea Stadium on Tuesday to take on the New  York Mets.  While the Diamondbacks are currently in first place in the NL West, they are not a great road team compiling a 13-18 road record this season.  When the Diamondbacks last saw the Mets they had a 20-8, the lost 2-3 to the Mets and since then are 14-22.  After a fast start, the Diamondbacks as a team are hitting .251 and are struggling to consistently put runs on the board; they still hold first place in the NL West as everyone else in division is playing .500 baseball.  However, the best thing to happen to the Diamondbacks’ offense was Mets pitching.  The Diamondbacks as a team had four homeruns in their 9-5 win over the Mets.  

Micha Owings started the game for the Diamondbacks.  In his last outing Owings was rocked for four earned runs off eight hits before leaving the game after three innings.  Owings has had two starts against the Mets and has a 0-1 record with a 6.94 era in those two games and didn’t fare much better in Tuesday night’s start.  In 41/3 innings he gave up 5 runs, four earned, on 8 hits with three walks and two strikeouts.  Owings who averages 2.6 walks per nine innings had give up two walks in the first inning of the game.  He was not sharp and lucky for him, neither were any of Mets pitchers.   

The Diamondbacks scored a run in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead.  John Maine gave up a long home run to Orlando Hudson in the top of the fifth to cut the Mets lead 5-3.   In the sixth inning with Mets reliever Claudio Vargas on the mound, the Diamondback’s would score two runs and tie the game.   Vargas walked the lead off man before hitting  Justin Upton with a pitch, Jeff Salazar’s ground out allowed the runners to advance to second and third, with the tying runs on, Augie Ojeda drove them in when he hit a line drive that eluded the glove of Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado and landed in right field.  Ojeda would advance to second on the throw by Endy Chavez, but was stranded there when Chris Young flied out to end the inning. 

In the top of the seventh, with weather reports showing that rain was near and with the wind picking up at Shea Stadium, the Umps suspended play and the Mets grounds crew secured the tarp on the field.  The rain delay would last one hour.  When play resumed, the Diamondbacks took the lead on a homerun by Chris Snyder off Met’s reliever Joe Smith.  In the top of the ninth inning the Diamondbacks scored three more runs when Duaner Sanchez gave up a two run homer to Stephen Drew and a solo shot to Conner Jackson.   

The Diamondbacks will have Brandon Webb on the mound tonight, and he will be opposed by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey.  Game time is set for 7:10 p.m.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks lost for the second straight time to the Pittsburgh Pirates as they feel 5-3 on Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh.  The Diamondbacks had started the four game series off by winning the first two games but then lost the next two to split the series.  Another up and down series as the D-backs just can’t seem to get things going to run off a win streak of five or six games.

On Monday, it was Randy Johnson taking the loss as he threw 5 2/3 innings while allowing six hits and five runs (four were earned).  The Big Unit walked four batters while striking out three so he did have some control issues.

Three errors by the Diamondbacks defense sure didn’t help out the pitchers either.  Johnson, Miguel Montero, and Mark Reynolds all had errors in the game.

At the plate for the Diamondbacks, three different players had a rbi in the game.  Reynolds connected on a solo home run in the fourth inning.  Chris Young had a rbi ground rule double in the seventh inning and in the eighth inning, Stephen Drew hit a solo home run.  The D-backs just needed to have some runners on base when those two home runs were hit.

I should also not that that Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin was ejected from the game in the second inning when he argued about a home run call that was over turned.  Reynolds hit a fly ball to right field that was caught by a fan that put their glove over the wall.  The call was an initial home run, but the umpires later ruled that it was a double instead.  Melvin was quickly tossed after that.

The Diamondbacks will play the New York Mets on Tuesday night.  Diamondbacks Home Plate will also have a new blogger in place as “B” who blogs for our Mets Blog, will be covering the Diamondbacks series here at Diamondbacks Home Plate as well.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks finished off the Philadelphia Phillies 8-3 on Thursday afternoon as they beat the Phillies two out of three games in their three game series.

Brandon Webb improved to 8-0 on the season as he tossed a complete game.  Webb allowed six hits and three runs in the game.  He was cruising along until the ninth inning when he gave up two runs to the Phillies.  Webb still has a 2.41 era after giving up the three runs though.

Chris Young and Justin Upton both hit home runs for the Diamondbacks.

Chris Snyder had two rbi in the game as did young.  Augie Ojeda, Mark Reynolds, Chris Burke, and Upton all had one rbi each in the game.

The Diamondbacks will now travel to Chicago to take on the slumping Chicago Cubs in a three game series starting on Friday.  Diamondbacks Blog

The Arizona Diamondbacks blew two different leads and lost to the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 5-4 on Wednesday night.  It was really a game that the Diamondbacks should have won as they out hit the Phillies 13-7 and had the better starting pitching performance.

Chad Qualls only pitched 2/3’s of an inning and gave up two hits and two runs to take the loss.  Qualls is now 0-3 on the season.  Diamondbacks starting pitcher Micah Owings pitched the first seven innings of the game and gave up four hits and three runs to get the no decision.  Owings did give up a two run home run that raelly hurt him and the Diamondbacks.

Chris Young had a solo home run in the fifth inning for the Diamondbacks only home run in the game.  Conor Jackson who was celebrating his birthday led the team with two rbi before leaving the game after colliding with Shane Victorino in the eighth inning.  Jackson said he was just a little dizzy but will be fine.  Stephen Drew and Young both had one rbi in the game.

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Randy Johnson pitched six inning and allowed four runs while the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 6-4 on Tuesday night.  With the win, Johnson improved to 2-1 on the season.

Johnson gave up six hits and four runs including two home runs in his six innings of action.  He still need to locate the ball a little better but I think he will get that location back as he gets a few more innings of action.  Brandon Lyon picked up his tenth save of the season as he closed the door on the Phillies in the ninth inning.

Stephen Drew had the big hit for the Diamondbacks when he hit a three run home run in the fourth inning that put that Diamondbacks ahead for good.  He said he knew he got a good swing on it, but didn’t think it would be a home run.   Well it sure was a home run and proved to be the game winning hit for the D-backs.  Chris Young, Conor Jackson, and Randy Johnson all had one RBI in the game as well.

With the win the Diamondbacks are at 22-11 on the season.  Diamondbacks Blog

The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon by the score of 4-1.  After dropping the first game of the series to the Giants, the Diamondbacks came back to win the next two games in the series.  The Diamondbacks are now 11-4 on the series.

Once again Brandon Webb was a dominate pitcher for the Diamondbacks as he improved to 4-0 on the season.  Webb pitched eight strong innings and only gave up the one earned run.  Webb only gave up three hits on the day and struckout five batters while walking two.

Brandon Lyon closed the game out in the ninth inning to pick up his third save of the season.

At the plate for the Diamondbacks it was actually Webb who led the team in RBI as he had a two-run single in the second inning of the game.  Eric Byrnes had one RBI on a ground rule double in the fifth inning and then Orlando Hudson scored Chris Young in the fifth inning on a single to center.

The Diamondbacks will open up a series with the San Diego Padres on Friday.  Big divisional gams coming up, it will be fun to see how they do against the Padres.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks used strong pitching and the long ball to defeat the San Francisco Giants by the score of 8-2 on Tuesday afternoon.  Micah Owings pitched six strong innings to get the win while Conor Jackson and Chris Young both hit home runs.

With the victory on Tuesday, Owings improved his record to 3-0 on the year.  It was also his fifth straight dating back into last season.  Tony Pena, Chad Qualls, and Brandon Lyon all pitched in relief with Pena the only one giving up a run.

Jackson led the Diamondbacks with three RBI in the game.  Young wasn’t too far behind with two RBI.  Eric Byrnes, Orlando Hudson, and Steven Drew all had one RBI each.

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Mark Reynolds brough his big bat to Monday nights game against the Los Angeles Dodgers as he hit two homeruns and the Diamondbacks went onto win 9-3.  Besides Reynolds going deep, Orlando Hudson and Chris Young also hit long balls.

Starting pitcher Dan Haren picked up his first win of the season as he pitched six innings and allowed six hits but only one earned run.  Great bounce back performance for Haren.

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