Well, well, well ... this season seems to be looking fairly similar to last season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team struggles in the first half and comes on in the second half, as their divisional competition begins to falter. Overall, it was a good week for the team, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are one of the NL West teams ahead of them in the standings.
The D-backs got some somewhat unexpected help against the Dodgers. Catcher Miguel Montero, who's had an okay season, but hasn't had a lot of relative impact. But his bat had some timely life this week, to secure his spot as Player of the Week. Patrick Corbin, back in the Big Leagues after another stint in the minors, shut out L.A. to complete the sweep. He's the Pitcher of the Week.
Montero was pretty quiet against the Philadelphia Phillies (against whom the D-backs lost two of three games), but he was plenty loud in Los Angeles. He hit .444 with two home runs, but more importantly, he had six RBIs to lead a potent offense against one of their division rivals. In a year filled with last year's heros falling short of expectations, Montero's presence at the bat was pleasant to see.
Corbin had just been called up for this third majors stint with Arizona, and expectations were pretty low when he re-took a place in the starting rotation after Josh Collmenter was sent back to the bullpen. But he kicked things off in fine fashion by allowing only two hits over six innings, with no runs and five strikeouts. His timing was pretty impeccable too, helping the D-backs sweep direct playoff competition just as the race to the postseason kicks into high gear.
For those of you keeping score at home:
Player of the Week awards:
Parra (1), Kubel (2), Roberts (1), Goldschmidt (4), Bloomquist (1), Montero (3), Hill (4)
Pitcher of the Week awards:
Saunders (1), Cahill (3), Corbin (2), Miley (5), Collmenter (2), Shaw (1), Kennedy (2)