As a rookie, Arizona rookie Wade Miley has been nothing short of spectacular the first half of the season, with a 9-5 record and a 3.04 ERA in 14 starts on the season. In a season that has seen little consistency from any other pitcher in Arizona’s starting rotation, Miley has consistently been able to produce day in and day out. Much to the surprise of the staff, and pretty much every Arizona fan, Miley has earned the right to represent his team and the community in Kansas City next week.

Unfortunately for Arizona, Mr. Miley will be alone in his travels next week, as no other Arizona player was selected to represent the National League squad in the All-Star game.  However, I find it hard to believe that Arizona was not able to produce another All-Star given the quality and depth of the roster that we possess. The Arizona Diamondbacks have seven players on the squad with All-Star experience, none of which were selected for this season’s All-Star team. The players are as follows: Justin Upton (11, 09), Miguel Montero (11), Trevor Cahill (10), Chris Young (10), Aaron Hill (09), Joe Saunders (08), and J.J. Putz (07).

Jul. 3, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jason Kubel hits a grand slam in the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

In a season that saw one team (Texas Rangers) send eight players to the All-Star game, the snakes were only able to get one player, an unexperienced rookie who wasn’t even on the starting rotation to begin the season, on the All-star team. So that poses a thought; should Arizona have had another All-Star selection? Let’s look at the possible snubs:

1. Jason Kubel. Kubel is having a comeback season to remember. A season after playing in only 99 games, and hitting 12 home runs and 58 RBI’s, the former American Leaguer has exploded back into the spotlight by hitting .293 through 76 games, accumulating 82 hits, 14 home runs, and 59 RBIs. He is on pace to surpass his 2009 career year when he hit .300, with 28 home runs and 103 RBI’s. He has provided fantastic defense all year, with 11 assists from the outfield (tied for most in the league) and carrying a somewhat stagnant offense the entire season. Unfortunately for Mr. Kubel, he is a very soft spoken player, who plays in a smaller market in Arizona, and doesn’t get as much attention as other players who play in bigger markets on the east coast, such as New York or Washington. If you compare Kubel to All-Star starting outfielder Melky Cabrera, Kubel is better statistically than Cabrera statistically, with the exception of Batting Average.

BA               H              HR                RBI                SLG

.293             82              14                   59                 .529        Kubel

.353            118              8                    44                 .521        Cabrera

2. Aaron Hill. After hitting two cycles in one month, what does a player have to do to earn a spot on the All-Star team? That’s the feat that Aaron Hill completed in June when he hit for the cycle twice in the same month, the first player to hit for the cycle twice in the same season since Babe Hermon accomplished the feat in 1931. After a slow start to the season, Hill has picked up where he left off after a strong second half of last season by hitting .302 with 93 hits, 11 home runs and 40 RBIs through 81 games. He has provided solid defense up the middle and has been a main stay in the lineup since coming to the desert last August. He is a great clubhouse guy, and similar to Kubel, is a soft spoken type of guy and doesn’t get the attention that others might in a bigger market.

3. Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt is yet another player who got off to a sluggish start to the season. His start was so slow offensively that he found himself splitting time regularly at first base with reserve Lyle Overbay. Once Goldy got some consistant playing time, he found his offensive groove and has hit an impressive .297 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs in 72 games this season. His lower RBI numbers may be the statistic holding him back from more All-star consideration, but he has been solid since taking the full-time first base position.

4. Miguel Montero. Montero is another player who came into the season with high expectations after an All-Star career year in 2011. Throughout the first half of the season, Montero seemed to have been distracted by constant contract negotiations that had been ongoing throughout the offseason and beginning of the season. After agreeing to a five-year $60 million contract extension, he seemed to relax at the plate and the results followed. Through 70 games, he is hitting a respectable .269, with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.

Let the debat begin. I personally believe that Kubel and Hill deserve to be in Kansas City. Kubel has a shot to win comeback player of the year, and Hill has been consistant throughout the season, and hitting for the cycle twice in a season for the first time since 1931 definitely deserves more recognition.

Seattle struck first with a solo home run by Justin Smoak in the top of the first, to put the Mariners up 1-0. They added another run in the top of the third when Ichiro Suzuki scored on an RBI single by Kyle Seager.

The D-backs would respond in the bottom of the third when Aaron Hill hit a sacrifice fly to plate Willie Bloomquist, cutting the Seattle lead 2-1. The snakes would add two more runs when Paul Goldschmidt singled to center field, scoring Justin Upton and Jason Kubel. Arizona would plate two more runs on solo home runs by Gerardo Parra and Hill in the bottom of the fourth to put the team up 5-2.

Paul Goldschmidt added a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning of Tuesday night's loss to Seattle. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE=

Just as it seemed like the D-backs were pulling away, Seattle was able to battle back in an offensive explosion in the top of the fifth inning, thanks to two three-run home runs by Seager and Brendan Ryan, to take the lead 8-5.

Fortunately for the D-backs, their offense was just getting warmed up. Goldschmidt hit a home run to right field to get things started in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the lead to 8-6. Lyle Overbay followed with an RBI single to right-center field, plating Josh Bell. Bloomquist would tie things up later in the inning with an RBI single to center, scoring Parra. Miguel Montero would put the snakes up 9-8 in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single to right field.

The Mariners showed a lot of fight in them, coming back in the top of the eighth inning when Ichiro would hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Ryan. They would take the lead in the top of the 10th inning when pinch-hitter Casper Wells smoked an RBI single to center field, plating Munenori Kawasaki and Dustin Ackley. Ichiro added his fourth hit of the night, and added another run by doubling down the left field line, scoring Wells.

With the loss, Hudson provided yet another disappointing performance, allowing ten hits and seven earned runs and picking up his third loss of the season. On a side, note the Arizona bullpen underperformed tonight, providing six innings of relief of Hudson, allowing five hits and five runs combined.

On a positive note, the team continued it’s hot streak at the plate, picking up 14 hits and nine runs with seven different batters picking up hits. They will need to continue that streak tomorrow as Trevor Cahill takes the hill tomorrow in an attempt to take the series win.

Trevor Cahill set the tempo for the club, providing his third consecutive quality start, throwing seven shut out innings while only allowing three hits. He had excellent command of his pitches all night, keeping the powerful Angels offense off balance.

The snakes got off to a quick start when Jason Kubel was able to drive in Chris Young on an RBI single in the top of the first inning.

Jun 15, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill (2) hits a single against the Los Angeles Angels during the eighth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona diamondback Dan Haren was able to keep the boys in check until the top of the sixth inning when Aaron Hill hit a three-run home run to left field, plating Kubel and Miguel Montero. Lyle Overbay would follow with a bases empty double, and would score in the next at bat when Ryan Roberts doubled to right field.

That would be plenty of offense for the Arizona starter, who has pitched his third consecutive dominant performance. In his past three starts, he has combined to allow only two runs in 23.1 innings pitched. He has clearly found his rhythm coming into the third week of the month.

With the win, the club moved back to the .500 mark (32-32), and are 2-2 on the current road trip with two more games to play. Joe Saunders will take the hill tomorrow and attempt to give the d-backs a fourth consecutive quality start.

On a side note, Lyle Overbay was lifted in the eighth inning for Paul Goldschmidt for an undisclosed injury. It didn’t appear that he was showing any sign of discomfort, but was not visible in the dugout after he was pulled from the game, indicating he was taken to the training room for examination.