Diamondbacks Edge Closer To Clinch With Win Over Pirates, 8-5

The Arizona Diamondbacks are almost there. With six games left in the season they hold a six game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the NL West and the magic number (combination of D-backs wins and Giants losses) is down to two.

The D-backs are off Thursday while the Giants have games Wednesday and Thursday night before coming to Arizona for a weekend series. If the Giants should lose both games, the D-backs would be forced to celebrate their division pennant on an off day. Kirk Gibson wouldn't reveal anything about the team's plans, adding that close J.J. Putz is handling that.

Gibson emphasized that Putz has added far more than his 43 saves. The skipper called him the "cement" that brings all parts of the team together.

The more likely scenario for clinching is a Friday show down with the Giants for all the marbles. If it comes to that, center fielder Chris Young is hoping for a full house.

"Hopefully it would be sold out. Hopefully it will be a packed house. We could definitely use the energy that the fans bring on games like that. It will be exciting, it will probably be playoff baseball atmosphere," Young said. (Young now has hits in eight of his last 12 games.)

A decent crowd of 25,296 saw this Wednesday afternoon day game get off to a good start. The D-backs popped for three quick runs behind a sac fly from Justin Upton (88 RBI) and then a two-run home run (his 18th) from Miguel Montero. 

The D-backs piled on in the third inning, adding five more runs. The damage came from a series of hits (5) and walks (2) with Ryan Roberts and Aaron Hill driving in two runs each. Justin Upton batted twice in the inning with a lead-off single and the final out in the air.

Wade Miley got the win after pitching five innings with five hits, one walk and two runs allowed. He threw 89 pitches in his seventh start and improved to 4-2 on the season with an ERA of 4.15. 

 "Anytime the offense goes out and explodes like that it makes things a whole lot easier to go out and throw strikes and get out as quick as possible," Miley said.

The Pirates added a few a run in the sixth, seventh and eighth and were threatening to make the game interesting before Joe Paterson came in with runners on second and third and got a ground out from Ryan Doumit. 

For more on this game visit AZ Snake Pit.

Pittsburgh Pirates Fight Off Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3, But Magic Number Now 3

At the start of spring training, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson talked about how the Diamondbacks were going to be fighters to the end, and that won or lose the team would not quit. Tuesday's 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates was exactly that type of loss. It was a loss that the team walks away from not feeling too badly because of the way they played. 

Sometimes after losses, Gibson seems edgy and even defensive, but after the game, while he does not like to lose, he was not too broken up. Part of that is where the team stands. It is also important for Gibson to not let the team panic, since they are in the driver's seat in the division. 

"We've lost some games; it's going to happen," said Gibson in his postgame press conference.  "It just comes down to at the end of a season like this, for whatever reason, it just doesn't work out that things were going to come off easy."

He continued to preach the 'one game at a time' approach, saying that they try "to pitch good, execute better at the plate" and, if they do those things, "things will take care of themselves."

As for the game, starter Daniel Hudson "wasn't getting the ball where he was wanting to put it," said Gibson. However, it apparently was not an issue of having his good stuff. "I feel like I had really good stuff today," said Hudson after the game. "I almost feel like too good of stuff sometimes, and you're aggressive and you just don't hit your spots."

He gave up two hits to the first two batters of the game to allow a run. Against Ian Kennedy on Monday, Pittsburgh managed only two hits the entire game. Pedro Alvarez then homered in the second inning and Hudson allowed one more run in the fifth, as the team fell behind 3-0. 

Hudson left after the fifth inning, having allowed the three runs on seven hits and three walks. He threw 103 pitches. 

As the team has tended to do over the course of the year, they rallied late, showing the fight that they did not have just a year ago. 

in the seventh, after Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton left the game, Gerardo Parra, Sean Burroughs and Willie Bloomquist all singled to drive in a run. Justin Upton came to the plate with one out with the tying runs on base and got a pitch to crush, but he just missed it, fouling it off. He ended up being retired on a groundout and Miguel Montero flew out to end the inning, but they were able to keep pressure on the Pirates.

Unfortunately in the eighth inning, David Hernandez gave up a two-run homer to Derrek Lee to bring the score to 5-1. But even then the D-Backs had an opportunity in the eighth. 

With one out, Chris Young doubled and then scored on a single by Ryan Roberts. On a perfectly executed hit-and-run, Gerardo Parra singled in the hole that was left when Pirates shortstop Roger Cedeno went to cover the bag. Roberts went to third on the play. With two outs, Willie Bloomquist laid down a squeeze bunt that he did on his own to bring home Roberts and bring the team within two runs. That got Aaron Hill to the plate as the potential go-ahead run for the second inning in a row. He flew out to end the rally. 

Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to save the game. 

Hudson fell to 16-11 on the season with the loss. Morton pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and picked up his 10th win of the year. Hanrahan's save was his 39th on the year.

Despite the loss, Arizona's magic number fell to only three, as the Dodgers beat the Giants 2-1. They can clinch as early as Thursday, an off day, if all things work out. However, the most likely scenario is that they will be able to clinch by beating the Giants when they come to town this weekend. 

The Diamondbacks and Pirates close out the series with a day game on Wednesday.

Kirk Gibson Classic Press Conference, 'I Chased The Guy Down And Got His Ass'

NL Wild Card Race Tightening Up, Could Help Arizona Diamondbacks

As the Arizona Diamondbacks close in on clinching the NL West, there has been plenty of talk about trying position the team somehow to avoid a NLDS matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies. As it stands in the MLB playoff race, the Diamondbacks would need to overtake the Milwaukee Brewers to be able to play the Atlanta Braves in the first round of the playoffs and have home-field. Currently, Arizona is only one game behind the Brewers for home-field.

If Atlanta is the wild card, the Phillies cannot play them in the first round, as they are in the same division. So the D-Backs could only play Philly or Atlanta.

That is what we have all thought.

Recently, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants have been surging and the Braves have been sputtering. Atlanta's lead is now only two and a half games over the Cardinals and three and a half over the Giants.

If one of those teams overtakes the Braves, then Philadelphia would play the wild card team. That would mean Arizona would play Milwaukee.

Naturally, considering the Brewers' record at home (52-23 - best in the National League), in any case, the D-Backs will want to overtake Milwaukee.

With eight games remaining on the schedule, all at home, and only a game separating Arizona from Milwaukee, the previously unimaginable is now within reach - not only a playoff berth, but home-field advantage in the NLDS. 

Ian Kennedy Gem Nets 20th Win, Diamondbacks Plunder Pirates 1-0

Ian Kenndy saved his best game of the season for his 20th win. After struggling in his last attempt when he allowed four early runs, Ian came back in this start and dominated from start to finish. He went eight innings and allowed just one run and struck out 12 including the last six batters he faced.

"I was tired of getting questions about (win number 20). I'm really happy to have done that," Kennedy said after the game. He was very excited about his performance in the game especially considering he had a poor warm up session in the bullpen. 

Kennedy's teammates greeted him in the club house with a standing ovation in appreciation for his accomplishment. Manager Kirk Gibson was very proud of his young pitcher saying, "He just took it to a whole other level...Ian certainly deserve all the credit he'll get."

The offense didn't get much going against the Pittsburgh Pirates but Justin Upton's broken-bat solo home run in the sixth was enough to get it done. He said after the game the ball hit the barrel of the bat and he somehow was able to get it out despite the handle breaking off in his hands. The shot just barely cleared the wall before being intercepted by a fan. After review, the umpires ruled it gone. 

"When the bat breaks, I didn't think it was going to even get close to that far," Upton said.

The Dbacks had five hits and one walk in the game.

Kennedy's final line for the night was eight innings pitched, one hit, one walk, no runs, 12 strikeouts. The win keeps Kennedy in contention for the National League Cy Young Award.

The only hit allowed went to opposing pitcher, Jeff Karstens, a friend of Ian's from days in the minor leagues. 

J.J. Putz came on to close the game in the ninth with Kennedy having thrown 113 pitches with 76 for strikes.

With the win and a Brewers loss, the D-backs are now one game behind Milwaukee in the race for home field advantage and the magic number to clinch the NL West is now four.

For more on the game, visit AZ Snake Pit.

Kirk Gibson Discusses Diamondbacks Division Pennant Celebration Plans...Sort Of

Diamondbacks Bring Up Jarrod Parker, Potential Future Rotation Pitcher

The Arizona Diamondbacks have selected right-handed pitcher Jarrod Parker from the minor leagues and designated Tommy Manzella for assignment, according to an official D-Backs press release.

Parker had the dreaded Tommy John surgery in 2009 and sat out the 2010 season, but had a huge bounce back season in 2001 (3.79 ERA, .236 opponents hitting average). Although he had some early struggles with the Double-A Mobile BayBears, he rebounded strong.

Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson is uncertain about his role quite yet. 

"We'll get him acclimated to our system, our routine, weight room, training room. He'll be out with the (relief) pitchers, they go out early every day. Just kind of take it all in. We'll see if we give him a couple of innings here or there."

With the D-Backs rotation set for the playoffs, he has the potential to get some warmup innings out of the bullpen to prepare for the upcoming season. It's uncertain what situation he might come in for, but you'd have to guess Gibson would only put Parker out there in games that are either blowouts or on the verge of becoming blowouts, particularly on the losing side. You'd have to guess that Arizona fans would be stoked to see him pitch (they've been waiting for him since 2007!), but his more meaningful moments will be down the line in future seasons.

For more on the Diamondbacks, check out AZ Snake Pit.

Arizona Diamondbacks Close To Clinching Start Series With Pirates

The Arizona Diamondbacks open their final home stand of the regular season against the Pirates. Kennedy, Hudson and Miley will take the mound.