June 17, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton (10) is caught in a run down in the third inning against Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (5) at Angel Stadium. Image: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Record Notes: The Diamondbacks lost both series on the road trip, finishing up at 2-4. They now sit at 32-34 and are 9.5 back of the Dodgers. They are three games out of the second wild card spot behind the Atlanta Braves.

*The Dbacks won game one of the Angels series only to lose the final two games. It is the sixth series this season that they have won game one and then lost the final two contests.

*In their last seven losses the club has scored a total of three runs and have been shutout four times.

*Of their 34 losses, they have been held to one or fewer runs 17 times. They’ve plated two or fewer runs in 23 of their 34 losses.

GOOD: Starting Pitching. The starting rotation was excellent in this series allowing just four earned runs over twenty-one innings of work. They were able to keep the offense in the game all weekend and held the Angels to a 1 for 15 success rate with runners in scoring position. Unfortunately, they were hurt by the long ball. Joe Saunders’ only two runs allowed came on a homerun in the first inning off the bat of left fielder Mark Trumbo. Albert Pujols would hit a solo shot off of Kennedy on Sunday that would be enough run support for the Angels.

*Trevor Cahill has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the month of June posting a 3-0 record and .77 ERA including a complete game shutout. It is Cahill’s best three game stretch since April 17-23^rd 2011, where he went 21 IP allowing just 2 earned runs. This has been a pleasant surprise out of the new Diamondback as he struggled most of the way through April and May.

*Bullpen. The bullpen worked four innings of shutout ball this weekend with Ziegler throwing a pair of shutout innings in relief. It was the second series in their last four that the bullpen didn’t allow an earned run.

*Overall the team has to be very pleased with the way they held this potent offense in check. Their three hottest hitters: Mike Trout, Pujols and Trumbo were a combined 4 for 35 with 10 strikeouts. Unfortunately, three of those hits went for extra bases and accounted for all of the Angels runs on Saturday and Sunday. Still, if the pitching staff can be consistent with these numbers moving forward, they will be able to compete with any team they face.

BAD: I could probably list just about every Diamondback to pick up a bat this weekend aside from Kubel and maybe Upton but it’s not worth the space it would take up on this article. And I want to save that for the next section.

* Leadoff Spot. Well, he finally did it- he had someone hit leadoff in consecutive games. Chris Young led off the final game of the Rangers series and then the first two games of the Angels series. He went 1 for 8 in the Angels series and 1 for 13 in the three consecutive games. Not exactly the best way to gain momentum early on. Including Bloomquist’s day on Sunday at leadoff the team was 2 for 12 in that spot against the Angels. In the last two series they are 3 for 24 filling that role.

* For the record: Bloomquist has the most starts as the leadoff man with a .263 average on 133 at bats- he’s hitting .365 in the two slot. The next most at bats as a leadoff is Gerardo Parra who has fared quite well posting a .315 average and .407 on base percentage in 73 at bats. But I say we keep switching it up everyday just so no one can game plan against Gibby’s strategy. Consistency is overrated.

*Being one-hit by Ervin Santana was pretty embarrassing. Yes, the guy has thrown a no-hitter before but he has been HORRIBLE this season. In his last four starts leading up to Saturday’s near perfect game he had given up 23 earned runs in 20 1/3 innings with six homeruns allowed and FIFTEEN walks! Those numbers are nearly enough to lose your spot in the rotation and I’m not taking a small sample size to prove my point- he is 4-7 with a 5.16 ERA on the year. We never managed to touch second base safely in the game and honestly never really contested the no-no until Upton’s single in the seventh. Too many fly ball outs.

UGLY: Did I mention this team has been shutout four times in their last twelve games? What about being shutout three times in their last five games? It’s good for the Dbacks to face some solid competition and very encouraging the way the pitchers were able to be so effective against two of the best lineups in baseball but the way the offense fell flat on their faces is disconcerting if nothing else. Here are a couple culprits:

*Chris Young is in a six-week slump right now and getting more and more frustrated by the day. He was 1 for 11 in the series and has just one RBI in his last twenty-two games. He has yet to hit a homerun since he returned from the DL- a span of 23 games. His biggest problem this season has been his inability to get on base against right handed pitching. He is now batting just .193 vs. righties while he is hammering left handed pitching at a .333 clip. This may be an opportunity to get Parra his at bats if Young keeps struggling against righties.

*Gerardo Parra finished the Angels series 0 for 8 and has just two hits in his last eighteen at bats.

*Paul Goldschmidt got cold real quick after being one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball for about two weeks. He was 1 for 7 against the Angels and since his 17 game hit streak was snapped he has gone 1 for 14 with 0 walks, 0 RBI’s, and 0 extra base hits.

NOTES: For perspective, the Angels have now won 7 of 9 and 18 of 24 overall. They’re rolling. They’ve also posted the most shutouts in all of baseball with nine. Something to keep in mind before we get too down on the lousy series.

*The Diamondbacks offense are riding a 21 consecutive scoreless streak into their series starting Monday against the Mariners.

*Sunday was the second time this month they were shutout by a rookie pitcher. On June 4^th, Rockies pitcher Christian Friedrich held the Dbacks scoreless in a 4-0 Rockies win. Both Friedrich and Angels’ rookie Garrett Richards were making their sixth career start when they beat the Diamondbacks.

*Justin Upton Homerun Watch continues into another series as he failed to go yard again. The streak extends to 19 consecutive games now and he’s now gone seven straight games without an RBI, extra base hit, or walk. Again, that’s our number three hitter. –To be fair, he was 4 for 12 in the Angels series.

*The team returns to Chase Field to play the Seattle Mariners (29-39) on Monday and the Chicago Cubs (22-44) over the weekend. Given their recent success at home, this team needs to win both series and could very well pull off at least one sweep.

Now bring on the M’s!!

Follow me on Twitter at @ndougherty313 and our team at @venomstrikes.

Jun 13, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Wade Miley (36) throws a pitch during the seventh inning of the game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark. Image: Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE

Record Notes: The Diamondbacks now sit one game under .500 at 31-32 and are 8.5 games back from the Dodgers. They evened their record on the road at 16-16 and won against the Rangers on Wednesday for the first time in their last eight matchups. My favorite anomaly with this team came true again as they were held to just one run in the series opening loss. They are now 2-8 in their last ten series openers and have scored one or fewer runs in seven of those. Mind boggling really. And they were down 6-0 in the A’s opener before battling back to win 9-8 in dramatic fashion.

GOOD: Wade Miley was again exceptional. It’s one thing to shut down the Rockies but it takes great execution to shut down arguably baseball’s best lineup. Miley did just about everything right in his outing on Tuesday allowing just two hits in the first seven innings. Then came his first and only walk- a leadoff walk in the eighth that would eventually score on a single by their #9 hitter, Craig Gentry-who, by the way, is hitting .337– in the nine slot. This run would credit Miley the loss as the Dbacks weren’t able to plate a run against Matt Harrison who extended his scoreless inning streak to 16 1/3 with Tuesday’s start. Still, the rookie was able to lower his ERA to 2.39 and continues to be the best pitcher on the team.

*Lyle Overbay hadn’t played since June 5^th before Wednesday but didn’t seem phased one bit going 3 for 5 with a two run double and an RBI double later on-both coming with two outs. Overbay has been awesome when filling in for Goldschmidt all season and his average sits .358.

BAD: While the offense as a whole struggled against the Rangers pitching, here are a couple things that stood out:

*1-4 Hitters: In the first two games these four hitters were a combined 4 for 30. Overall they finished 9 for 55 (.164) with 2 RBI’s and 13 strikeouts.

*Leadoff Spot: Gibson is sticking to his guns of never having a player leadoff in consecutive games and in this series his leadoff guys, Parra-Bloomquist-Young, combined for an exciting 1 for 12.

*Ian Kennedy wasn’t very sharp in his start on Monday although he was able to hold the offense down until the sixth when things unraveled pretty quickly. Trailing 1-0 at the start of the sixth, Kennedy retired his first two hitters before giving up six straight hits, five runs and three for extra bases. Let’s chalk this one up to the fact that Kennedy was probably exhausted from leaving the team during the A’s series, flying home to have their second child and then flying in to Arlington on the day of the game to fill his spot in the rotation. He’ll probably throw a complete game his next time out.

UGLY: Chris Young was a combined 1 for 12 in the series with no walks. He is hitting .176 in June and has watched his average drop nearly 160 points in less than one month since returning from the DL.

*Mike Zagurski looks to have done OK on Monday night when looking at his box score as he recorded a pair of outs to end the seventh inning with no runs allowed and two strikeouts. However, he wasn’t good. Again. To his credit he did enter the game with runners on first and second with one out as Ziegler also struggled. Zagurski struck out the first batter he faced for out number two before walking Torrealba on four straight pitches to load the bases. Mitch Moreland hit his first pitch into right field for an RBI single and then Mr. Roly Poly plunked Craig Gentry to walk in a run making it 8-0. Interestingly, since both runs were technically Ziegler’s, Zagurski’s ERA actually dropped and he hasn’t been credited with an earned run in three straight appearances.

NOTES: Paul Goldschmidt’s 17 game hit streak ended on Monday with an 0 for 3 effort. He went hitless in seven at bats against the Rangers and has struck out seven times in his last fourteen at bats.

*Justin Upton Homerun Watch: Our slugger is in the longest drought of the year now with 16 consecutive games without a homerun. He also has two separate streaks of 13 straight games without a long ball this year. I wonder when team’s will stop pitching him away all the time so he can start hitting homeruns? Oh yeah, they won’t. Better adjust soon Upton.

*Miguel Montero hit two homeruns in the Rangers series and now has four in the month of June. He had two in all of April and May.

*The Diamondbacks were shutout on Tuesday for the second time this season. It was also the second time in seven games. Ironically, in the middle of those two shutouts the team averaged over six runs a game. A day after they were shutout against the Rangers they exploded for 11 runs.

*The team now travels to L.A. to play the red hot Angels over the weekend who have won five of six and are hitting the ball very well. Friday’s matchup is Trevor Cahill against the former Diamondback Dan Haren.

Now bring on the Angels!!

Follow me on Twitter at @ndougherty313 and our team at @venomstrikes.