The Arizona Diamondbacks kept their playoff dreams on life support this week by sweeping a mini-series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and taking one of three against the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants. The situation is still pretty dire, but at least the games still sort of mean something.
As far as these weekly awards are concerned, it was a very 2011 sort of week for the team and they got good performances from last season's best players. Justin Upton showed that he can still be a powerhouse, so he's the Player of the Week. Last season's ace, Ian Kennedy, pitched like an ace (against an ace) for his Pitcher of the Week award.
Upton has probably been the D-backs' fifth or sixth best offensive player this season, which is thoroughly disappointing considering his pedigree. Just last season, he was right in the NL MVP mix and looked like a true franchise cornerstone. He reminded everyone why this week. He wasn't super hot (hitting only .278 in five games), but he made the contact count. Upton had five hits that amounted to two home runs and six RBIs, which included three in the team's gluttonous offensive display against the Giants on Sunday.
Kennedy had the pleasure of facing L.A.'s Clayton Kershaw in his week's start. Apparently, Ian liked the matchup. The end result was one of the season's best pitching duels, with both starters taking shutouts into the seventh inning. Kershaw finally blinked, allowing a double from Miguel Montero that scored Paul Goldschmidt. That would be the only score of the game, however. But it was enough, as Kennedy got through 7 1/3 innings and the bullpen locked things down from there. Kennedy ended up with six strikeouts, no walks, and just four hits allowed.
For those keeping tracking, here are the scores to date:
Player of the Week awards:
Hill (6), Goldschmidt (4), Montero (3), Kubel (2), Parra (1), Roberts (1), Bloomquist (1), Johnson (1), Young (1), Eaton (1), Upton (1)
Pitcher of the Week awards:
Miley (7), Cahill (4), Corbin (3), Kennedy (3), Collmenter (2), Saunders (1), Shaw (1), Hernandez (1)