May 29, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Melky Cabrera (53) rounds third during the Giants' 3-1 victory over Arizona. Cabrera went 3-4 eith 2 runs scored. Image: Ed Szczepanski

Good teams make their own breaks. Other times, breaks are created for them. Melky Cabrera  just provided the latter for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Cabrera, the All-Star Game MVP and the best player on the Giants this season, has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. The suspension is for 50 games and since the Giants have only 45 games remaining, Cabrera’s season is finished unless the Giants advance to the NLCS. This is unwelcome news for the game of baseball and for the fans of San Francisco. It is yet another reminder that the specter of performance-enhancing drugs still hangs over the sport despite efforts to clean it up. That being said, the suspension is great news for the D-Backs and their fans. Arizona still has nine games with the Giants down the stretch and Cabrera has carved them up this season. In nine games vs. the Snakes, he batted .461 (18-39) with two home runs, six RBI’s and seven runs scored. His absence from the lineup will allow the shaky pitching staff of Arizona to breathe a little bit easier when the teams go head-to-head.

Melky Cabrera will probably not the last player suspended for using PED’s. Hopefully, his punishment will make a guy think twice about using, particularly when they see the effect a missing Cabrera will have on the Giants.

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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.

Bullpen: Again the bullpen worked effectively finishing with this line: 9 1/3 IP 2 ER 2 BB 6 SO. Craig Breslow pitched 1 1/3 scoreless on Saturday including working out of a bases loaded jam in the top half of the 7^th. Breslow hasn’t allowed a run in his five appearances during the month of May.

Josh Collmenter: Since losing his starting role and heading to the pen, Collmenter has worked two separate outings of 3 innings each and allowed just one earned run while striking out five. With Wade Miley now in the starting rotation, Collmenter is an important arm for the bullpen who they need to eat up innings-so far he’s been quite successful.

Paul Goldschmidt: On Friday Goldschmidt went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and hit his first homerun since opening day-a stretch of 88 at bats.

AJ Pollock: The rookie outfielder-called up when Young was placed on the DL- recorded his first career double and homerun on Friday night. He finished the weekend series 3 for 6 with 2 runs, a pair of doubles and one homerun. He added three walks as well to boost his on base percentage over the last 7 days to an impressive .692. He’s 6 for his last 10 at the plate and is beginning to bring the club some much needed results.

Hustle/Fun: Over the weekend two things stood out for me that have been missing within the clubhouse and are encouraging moving forward.

1) Hustle: On Friday night, Willie Bloomquist led off the fifth inning with a hard groundball through the left side and instead of making a wide turn at first before retreating- Willie took off for second with an aggressive head first slide putting himself in scoring position with a ‘hustle double.’ Something I’ve said the team has been missing all season. He would later score on a Montero double.

2) Fun: After Pollock’s first career homerun, the team gave the rookie the silent treatment- offering no immediate congratulations when he returned to the dugout. After about 30-45 seconds of no acknowledgment of the feat, the team all surrounded Pollock with hugs and high-fives adding a little laughter to a club that hasn’t had much to get excited about as of late.

Patrick Corbin: The rookie threw seven innings of one run ball at a time when the team needed it most, ending their five game skid. This outing probably kept Trevor Bauer down in Mobile for at least a little while longer.

BAD: Starting Pitching. Their line: 17 2/3 IP  19 H  11 ER  4 BB  7 SO  2 HR. The starters recorded their first victory since game one of the Nationals series where Cahill recorded a win. The starting rotation is 2-8 over the first 12 games of May.

Offense. The team finished the weekend with 27 more strikeouts and struggled again to plate runs with runners in scoring position-this time finishing 6 for 27 in those opportunities.

3-4-5 Hitters: Over the three game set these hitters were:  6 for 31 with 12 strikeouts, 2 runs, 3 RBI and finished just 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Simply put, the heart of the order is just not getting the job done.

UGLY: Joe Saunders. Since being nominated for the April Pitcher of the Month award, Saunders has been horrible in his second month. He has worked into the seventh only once in his three May starts-6 1/3 IP vs. Nationals- after pitching at least seven innings in all four of his April starts. So far in the month of May the 30 year old lefty has an ERA of 8.59 and a WHIP over 2.00 while surrendering four homeruns.

Justin Upton: The 2011 all-star is in some kind of funk. He finished yet another series without an extra base hit or RBI. He was 1 for 9 with 4 K’s against the Giants this weekend. He is hitting a depressing .214 in May with just one homerun and four RBI’s. He hasn’t homered in 10 games and has struck out 13 times in his 42 at-bats. Even more depressing is Upton’s lack of success with runners in scoring position- in his 24 at-bats he has just 2 hits and 10 strikeouts. That’s an .083 average with RISP. Again, that’s the #3 hitter. If Upton doesn’t begin adjusting to the pitches that he’s getting soon, then it’s just going to make it that much harder for the hitters around him to get good pitches. As soon as Upton can start to drive the pitches on the outside part of the plate to right field, we will see his average begin to rise. Until then however, don’t expect much to change.

Diamondback Killer: Melky Cabrera tore up the Dbacks pitchers finishing 9 for 14 with two doubles, one homerun and four RBI.

Home Struggles: The Dbacks have now lost five straight series at Chase Field. It is the longest such streak since the 2006 season. Since going 4-0 at home to start the season, the team has dropped 12 of 15 at Chase Field.

Note: In 2011, the Diamondbacks were sitting at 15-21 following a three game set against the Giants and heading into a three game set with the Dodgers. They would finish May on a 15-4 tear and never look back on their way to the N.L. West title.

Now bring on those 1st place Dodgers!!!