We saw some very positive things in Houston from both pitching and offense.  Forget that it’s Houston and let’s just focus on the fact the Dbacks ended their 11-game trip with a 6-5 record.  I’ll take it.

What did we see in Houston?

• Chris Young continues to be hot.  He is now hitting .306.  He also had his 25th RBI of the season tonight.
• Dan Haren found the right track.  He got his first complete game of the season and nine strikeouts this evening.
• Tony Abreu continues to impress.  Given a chance tgo spell Stephen Drew tonight, he went 4-5 with an RBI.
• Ian Kennedy had an outstanding start on Tuesday.  He went 6.2 innings and could have gone longer if not for the high pitch count.
• Kelly Johnson continued his hot start to the season.  He went 2-4 Thursday night, including his 10th home run of the season.
• Chad Qualls even deserves mention for his one inning of relief on Tuesday night and getting the save.

Now it’s time to come home and face the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Dbacks must take care of business at home if they want to make any ground on division leader San Diego.

Scott Allen

The Arizona Diamondbacks once again found their way to victory on Friday night by hitting home runs.  Five of them to be exact. They hit five home runs en route to a 7-4 win over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

Kelly Johnson led the parade with two home runs.  It was his second multi-homer game of the season already.  Both have come at Chase Field.  Also homering on Friday night was Adam Laroche, who finally hit his first of the season.  Chris Snyder added a two-run shot, as did Mark Reynolds, whose homer was his sixth.  None of the home runs were doubters, except maybe for Johnson’s second shot.  Reynolds, Laroche, and Snyder all hit theirs in a five-run fifth.  Phillies starter Cole Hamels gave up all three of those homers.  He also gave up Johnson’s first shot in the sixth before departing.

The Dbacks made it interesting at the end again, coming within one strike of finishing the game 7-3, but instead reliever Aaron Heilman couldn’t close the deal and Chad Qualls came in and actually did.

Maybe it was manager A.J. Hinch’s early ejection after a blown call by second base umpire Dale Scott.  He ruled Dbacks outfielder Justin Upton dropped a catch, when replays show the ball dropped in his transfer from the glove to hand.  It was a close call and honestly Hinch didn’t look too animated at first, but the longer he stayed out on the field arguing, the more it became obvious he wasn’t leaving until he was tossed.  It was clear he was trying to get tossed, most likely trying to light a fire under his team’s belt.  Well, for tonight, it worked.  Tomorrow is another day.

Scott Allen