Diamondbacks starting pitcher Wade Miley (36) throws during the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field. Image: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Go ahead, D-Back  fans, think about this for a moment.   If I had told you April 1^st that on June 26^th, (A) Justin Upton would be the fourth-best home run hitter on the team, (B) Daniel Hudson would have three whole wins and (C) Ian Kennedy’s  ERA would be two runs higher than last year’s, do you think the club would be in shouting distance of first place?  You probably would think it was a rotten April Fool’s joke.  Well the joke will soon be on the rest of baseball as Arizona is starting to heat up and will zoom right into the All-Star break as the hottest team in baseball.

The Dodgers are playing the Giants this week so you know much of the baseball world will be focused on that series.  Then we will hear about how every team in the American League East is at least three games over .500.  Fine.   Thursday night, however there better be a big shining light in Atlanta as the highly anticipated debut of  Trevor Bauer  is set to take place.   As of this morning, MLB Network is advertising Yankees-White Sox  and Tigers-Rays as their two marquee games.  Detroit is already being featured tonight against the Rangers.   Yawn.   If the network doesn’t switch and make D-Backs-Braves the big game that night, we will know where Arizona stands in the MLB pecking order.   But that’s a story for a different day.

At 37-35, the D-Backs haven’t even played their best ball yet.  Sure, they have won four in a row and are 7-3 in their last 10 but do you really think they can’t get better?  Watch as Upton hits about .350 from now until the rest of the season and Paul Goldschmidt  gets some consistency and launches about 20 more balls out of the yard.  Maybe when one of those dingers hits an unsuspecting fan in the pool over the right-center field wall will Arizona get the love they deserve.

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Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is congratulated by teammates after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Image Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

As a guy who lives in New York and writes a blog for the Arizona Diamondbacks, I was looking forward to this weekend’s crucial series against the Padres.  Knowing full well I probably wouldn’t be around for the end of Friday’s game, at least I had games on Saturday and Sunday that would allow me to watch the final outs.  I wasn’t disappointed Friday as sleep took over at 1-1 in the fifth inning.  Then Saturday came and that is when it hit me:  not only would I not be able to catch the final outs of Saturday and Sunday, I wouldn’t be able to catch ONE OUT of either game.  For that, I blame television.

Let’s start with Saturday.  D-Backs-Padres was scheduled for 7:15 in the East.  This season, Fox has decided that Saturday evenings are now “Baseball Night inAmerica”.  What that means is there will be five games carried by Fox at the same time.  Since Fox has exclusive rights, the only game I could watch was Yankees-Tigers.  What that also means is that my MLB Extra Innings package in this scenario is useless since Arizona-San Diego was not broadcast on either home feed, just by Fox’s national team.  Hence, I did not see one pitch of Daniel Hudson’s, much-needed, eight inning gem.   Thanks guys.

On to Sunday.  I noticed that this game would start at 6:30 in the East.  Seems kind of a strange time to begin a ballgame on a Sunday, no?  Well, since the Sunday night game on ESPN starts at8 PM and that is a national game, guess who gets the shaft?  I tried to see if Arizona-San Diego was originally scheduled for 8 but it seems ESPN leaves that spot open to determine the best matchup.  So once again, a big fat thank you to the TV folks.

Let’s hope these D-Back blackouts do not become a habit.  Perhaps if they play better, I won’t have to worry about not seeing them on a Sunday.  Then I would owe Kirk Gibson and the boys a genuine thank you.

Follow me on Twitter @ltj41 and at http://cleathebases.net

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