Welcome back to the major’s Brandon Allen!

After sitting in Reno all season, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman turned left fielder Brandon Allen made his mark on his first major league game of the season by getting two hits, including a game winning grand slam in the seventh inning, leading the Dbacks to a 5-2 win and a series sweep of the San Diego Padres.

Clearly the tide is turning for the Dbacks. They have now won six of their past seven games, and if not for a blown lead on Sunday, would be riding a seven game winning streak. They posted a 16-13 record in the month of August, their first winning month since last August 2009. They start September off with a victory and now get a well deserved day off before facing the Houston Astros this weekend.

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Seven games into an 11 game road trip and the Arizona Diamondbacks have given up 12,11,10, and 7 runs up in the four losses and 11,5, and 3 runs in the three wins.  In case you are scoring at home, that’s 59 runs in seven games, which is more than 8 runs per game.  That is unacceptable, at any level.

Let’s start with the main culprit of the misery. The bullpen.

Blaine Boyer – Here’s a guy that couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.  He’s walked seven batters in his last two outings that lasted all of 2.1 innings.  Also during those 2.1 innings, he’s given up five runs on five hits.  Overall he’s sporting an ERA of 7.56.  rust me, it doesn’t get much better from here.

Juan Gutierrez – Now, Gutierrez was going to be exempt from this conversation, but I think he somehow found out he would be missing from this post and just had to add himself in this miserable conversation after blowing the game in Chicago yesterday.  Two runs, two hits, two walks in his one inning stint yesterday in the 7-5 loss.  He’s now 0-3.  No reliever should be 0-3 after only 25 games.  Not at the major league level anyways.

Aaron Heilman – He has actually pitched well over his past three outings, or gotten lucky, however you want to look at it.  Heilman though had a rough weekend in San Diego a couple of weekend’s ago when he gave up four runs, five hits, and two walks.  His ERA sits at 6.23.

Bob Howry – How”ry” in the world did we end up with this guy?  In 10.2 innings pitched so far this season, he has managed to give up nine runs, 13 hits.  His ERA is 7.59.  He’s give up five home runs in those 10.2 innings.  That’s nuts.  The Dbacks are nuts for keeping him.

Kevin Mulvey – Welcome to club Mulvey.  He just joined the parent club this weekend in Chicago.  He’s been about as impressive as Kentucky Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky, who finished sixth, was in the big race on Saturday.  Mulvey has a horrible outing on Friday, giving up two runs, two hits, and one walk in one inning of work, for an ERA of 18.00.  However he cam in Saturday and lowered his ERA to 6.00 but not giving up a run in two innings.  He still did manage though to give up three hits and one walk.

Chad Qualls – Where do you start with him?  The Dbacks are counting on closing with him, but with his performances, the only thing that’s been closing with any kind of accuracy when he comes in, has been my eyes wondering what will happen next with him?  His ERA is an outstanding 9.00.  He’s given up eight runs in eight innings. How long does he get to be the closer.  He’s been more of a cooler than a closer so far this season.

Daniel Stange – Here’s another new guy that clearly isn’t ready to pitch in Arizona.  He made his debut on Thursday in Chicago and pitched a scoreless inning.  On Sunday, things were different.  Two runs, one hit, two walks, ERA of 9.00.  Sensing a theme here with the ERA?

Esmerling Vazquez – By comparison, he’s the bullpen stud.  Trust me, that’s not much to brag about.  He’s given up three runs in 6.2 innings. His ERA was at 9.00 as well, but after his last two outings against the Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies, he could be poised to turn things around.

Jordan Noberto – Not currently on the active roster.  His ERA, you guessed it, 9.00!  You can only have room for so many pitchers with 9.00 ERA’s you know.

Leo Rosales – Just went on the 60-day DL.  It’s just as well.  His ERA?  8.10.  He is coming off an outing against Colorado this week where he gave up seven runs on six hits.  Don’t blame the injury either.

Your starters:

Kris Benson – 18 hits, eight runs.  ERA of 5.14.  His first couple of outings were good.  His last one, not so much.  The team blames injury.  I blame poor pitching.

Edwin Jackson – This guy was clearly a mistake.  Is it too late to send him back to Detroit for a bag of peanuts?  That’s all he’s worth right now.  Jackson has an ERA of 8.07 after today’s stellar outing against the Cubs.  29 Runs, 48 Hits in 32 innings.  WOW.  In the last two starts alone, 18 runs, 22 hits in 6.1 innings.  Holy cow!  Almost makes you want Willie Blair back.  Almost I said.

Dan Haren – This guy is supposed to be the ace.  At an ERA of 4.50, I guess you can still call him that.  I mean, what has happened to him?  He hasn’t been the same since the All-Star break in 2009.  Five runs, 15 hits in his last two starts.  Maybe they should just him solely as a pinch-hitter.  He’s hitting .529 for the season.

Ian Kennedy – Scratch the ace from Dan Haren.  It’s Ian Kennedy.  His ERA is actually lower at 4.45.  However he has struggled his last two starts as well, giving up six runs and 10 hits in 16 innings.  That actually rates well by comparison lately to other starters though.

Rodrigo Lopez – ERA 4.50.  15 runs and 41 hits in 30 innings.  Again, nothing to write home about.

As you can see, we have issues when it comes to pitching.  You didn’t need me to spell it out for you.  You already knew about the troubles of the pitching staff.  Manager A.J. Hinch finally called them out on Saturday.  Did it work?  Apparently not since they gave up 10 runs on Sunday after that post-game speech.

Something needs to change in a hurry or this Dbacks team will surpass Pittsburgh’s on their way to giving up an all-time record amount of runs in a season.  The Dbacks offense is good, but you can’t expect them to play catch-up every night with the bullpen and starters.  They need to hold up their end as well.

Scott Allen

Our bullpen starts with our right handed closer Chad Qualls who is steadily recovering from a kneecap injury he suffered last season. He is a strong closer who only walked 7 batters in 52 innings last year. His powerful sinker-slider combo is great with forcing double play balls in late innings which will be important for those close games in the division race. The Diamondback relief pitching is led by Juan Gutierrez and Esmerling Vasquez. Juan Gutierrez took over for Qualls after his injury last year to go 8 for 8 in saves. He is an excellent asset to have if he is needed to fill that role again. Esmerling Vasquez is another right handed pitcher, he throws a monstrous 95 mph fastball but with such a strong arm he was inconsistent with throwing strikes last year. As long as he stays confident and leans on that fastball more I think he will have a very productive 2010 season.

The Dbacks bullpen will finish off with Leo Rosales, Blaine Boyer, and they added some veteran strength with Bob Howry and Aaron Heilman through free agent deals. We are heavy with right hand pitching so as we figure out the definite starters there will be room for a needed LHP like Zach Kroenke or Clay Zavada to take a spot in our bullpen. Looking at the rotation, bullpen and batting lineup improvements that have been made over the off season and spring training we can only expect a competitive 2010 season.