After last week's disappointing home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, I learned from Charlie Feinerman's always-excellent column that even if the Dodgers played .500 ball the rest of the way, it would take the D-backs finishing 69-47 just to tie for the division lead.
But following a four-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers and the news that Matt Kemp will miss at least four more weeks due to his hamstring injury flaring back up, the Dodgers are suddenly looking like paper tigers more than ever.
And to put the cherry on top of this theoretical perfect storm, the Diamondbacks schedule is finally beginning to break in their favor.
Starting tonight in San Diego, the Diamondbacks are currently set to only face three teams above .500 before the July 10th All-Star Break (the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves and the Dodgers). Of course, odds are that number turns to four if the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim continue their white-hot ways but there's still not a lot to be afraid of in Arizona's upcoming 34-game stretch.
In fact, even with those potential threats on the schedule, the combined record of the teams the Diamondbacks will play in the next 11 series is 258-307 as of Friday afternoon. Yes, you read that correctly; forty-nine games under .500. Clearly the baseball gods were quite forgiving when they lined up the Athletics, Mariners, Cubs and Rockies plus two servings of the Padres for a team to right their struggles against (perhaps, my sacrificial burning of my Eric Byrnes jersey paid off after all).
Furthermore, if you average that out by wins and losses per ball club, it's like the D-backs are expected to play a team with 23.45 wins and 27.91 losses over the next five weeks. Ironically enough, Arizona currently sits at 23-28 so it's almost as if the D-backs are slated to face themselves over and over until the Mid-Summer Classic.
I don't know about you, but that sound awfully like the plot to "Face/Off." So here's to hoping that the Diamondbacks are John Travolta's character and kill their inconsistent ways with a spear gun.