“We had a terrible homestand, we scored 13 runs in our last six games…Everyone’s searching, and the more you search the tougher it gets at times…Guys are frustrated.”

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson (23) looks out over the railing against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Image: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

This about sums up the thoughts of all fans after the Diamondbacks finished their 10 game homestand with a deflating 2-8 record. But are these the quotes of fans around the park? Nope, these are the words from manager Kirk Gibson who is surely disappointed, discouraged, and maybe even a little panicky. The uninspiring play of the young Dbacks club all but mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention. They now sit 9.5 games back in the division and 7.5 back from the final wild card spot with thirty-one games remaining.

Record Notes: The Dbacks suffered their second consecutive sweep with their loss Wednesday to the Reds- the first time this season they’ve been swept in back to back series. They have now suffered losing streaks of at least five games on four occasions this season. Their current six game skid matches their season high losing streak from June 30- July 5^th. It is the first time since 2004 that the Dbacks finished a ten game homestand 2-8.

*Their overall record has slipped to 64-67 and they now sport a losing record at Chase Field at 33-34.

*With their 3-2 loss on Monday the club dropped their record to 10-20 in one run games. Only the Blue Jays have fared worse in such games at 9-20. This is an area where the Dbacks were very fortunate to be on the winning end last season and even if the Dbacks were just .500 in these games it would put them over the .500 mark and within striking distance of a playoff spot.

GOOD: If you were to look at the three left handed rookies’ final line you would say they fared pretty well against the high octane Reds offense as each of them gave up three or fewer earned runs and two of the three lasted into the seventh. And they did really; they put their team in a position to win each game assuming the offense could plate more than two runs a game- which they couldn’t. However, each starter had his own hiccup at some point that tarnished an otherwise great start.

*On Monday Tyler Skaggs rushed a throw to first on a ‘come-backer’ that Goldschmidt misplayed allowing a two out run and he would surrender the go ahead and eventual game winning homerun to the pitcher Bronson Arroyo in the sixth.

*On Tuesday Wade Miley ran into trouble in the first and second accumulating 54 pitches while surrendering all three of his earned runs. The second inning included a 15 pitch walk to Scott Rolen and a bases loaded wild pitch that scored a run. But Miley battled and shut down the Reds the rest of the way completing seven innings of work.

*Wednesday’s game sent Patrick Corbin to the hill who put up goose-eggs through six innings. After retiring Joey Votto to start the seventh things unraveled as the rookie gave up two homeruns and the lead in the blink of an eye. It was Corbin’s 8^th and 9^th homeruns allowed in just 75.1 innings pitched.

*Brad Ziegler continued his stretch of quality appearances with 1 1/3 innings pitched without allowing a run against the Reds. He’s now held his opponents scoreless in eleven of his last twelve appearances allowing just two earned runs in 10 1/3 innings.

BAD: RISP. Admittedly, this team isn’t really getting many opportunities to drive in runs with runners in scoring position, but they sure aren’t taking advantage of these chances when they arise. The team finished just 2 for 12 against the Reds and is now 4 for their last 27 during their six game losing streak.

*Bullpen. The bullpen didn’t offer much relief in this series as they surrendered five runs in 7 2/3 innings including two homeruns given up by Matt Albers on Wednesday as the Reds tacked on three runs in the eighth.

UGLY: Team offense. As stated above, the offense has mustered up just thirteen runs in their last six games.

Here are a few of the lines from this series and recent games:

Young: 1-8 2 K’s in leadoff spot
Hill: 1-11 2 Runs
Kubel 1-9; 4 for his last 33(.121) 3 RBI
Goldie: 1-8;  3 for his last 26 (.115) 1 RBI
Montero: 2-12 1 RBI; 2 for his last 19(.105) 0 runs, 1 RBI
Johnson: 0-5 3 K’s; 4 for his 25 (.160) 0 Runs, 2 RBI

These six hitters combined to go 6 for 53 (.113). Not exactly the production you’d hope to be getting from the ‘core’ of your lineup as you attempt to make the playoffs.

*Defense. The team recorded an error in each of their three games including the crucial error with two outs at first that allowed a run to score.

NOTES: As rosters expand to 40 players from 25 on September 1st, the Dbacks hope to activate relievers Josh Collmenter and Takashi Saito and infielder Willie Bloomquist from the DL. If Fast Willie can come back to the lineup and be as productive as he was prior to the back issues, it could be a big boost for the team.

*Jake Elmore recorded his first career RBI during the Reds series on his second career double. The rookie also

The Dbacks head out on the road tonight for a four game set against the Dodgers with Clayton Kershaw starting against Ian Kennedy.

*This series will kick off a stretch of twenty-four consecutive games against N.L. West teams starting tonight, including ten straight on the road. This includes six against the Dodgers and six against the Giants. Hey, stranger things have happened, right?

Now bring on the Dodgers!!

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

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson (23) takes the ball from starting pitcher

I’ll be the first to apologize to the fans that were able to make it out to the Diamondbacks weekend series against the fourth place Padres as there was very little to cheer about in any of the three games. They were shutout Friday, blown out Saturday and failed to come out on top of yet another one run game on Sunday- a game in which they never had the lead. Of course part of the game of baseball is losing. You’re going to lose a lot over the course of a 162 game season; it’s just hard to watch such an uninspiring series against a team with 70 losses in August as you’re the ones that are supposed to be grinding for a playoff spot.

Credit is due to the Padres however, as they’ve now won seven straight games overall and are an impressive 15-9 in August. Their starters pitched effectively and late into games- something not one of our starters got even close to doing.

Transactions: Joe Saunders was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday morning for hard throwing right handed reliever Matt Lindstrom and either cash considerations or a player to be named later. Saunders had struggled as of late and is 6-10 with a 4.22 ERA on the season. Lindstrom is 1-0 with a 2.72 ERA in 32 appearances for the Orioles.

Record Notes: With the loss on Sunday, the Dbacks fell back to .500 at 64-64. Their home record sits at 33-31 but they’ve now dropped 10 of their last 14 at Chase Field after winning eight straight contests at home in July. With the sweep, the Padres have now taken a franchise high seven straight from the Diamondbacks which includes two sweeps- the first time the Padres have ever swept the Dbacks at Chase Field.

*With their 5-4 defeat Sunday, the team fell to 10-19 in one-run games, a league worst.

*Friday’s 5-0 defeat marked the fourth time since the All Star break that the offense has been shutout.

GOOD: Justin Upton was one of the bright spots this weekend finishing 4 for 8 with an inside the park homerun on his 25^th birthday. He is now 7 for his last 19 (.368) and has reached base safely in 19 straight games. The homerun was his 10^th on the season, the longest it has ever taken the right fielder to hit his 10^th homerun.

*Aaron Hill hit his 19^th and 20^th homeruns on the year on Saturday and Sunday- his highest total since 2010 when he belted 26. He leads all National League second basemen in homeruns and is tied for second in doubles at his position.  He has also matched his RBI total from 2011 at 61.

*Bullpen. For what they were asked to do in this series, this group of guys did a good job. While they gave up at least one run in each game of the series, they did end up throwing more innings combined than all three starting pitchers combined- 14 innings for the bullpen; 13 for the starters. On both Friday and Sunday they threw 5+ innings allowing just one run in each outing. The issue was that by the time the bullpen was summoned, the Dbacks starters had already given up four runs in each affair.

BAD: RISP. The offense in general was pretty flat but it doesn’t help when you have opportunities to cash in and fail. They were a combined 0-10 with runners in scoring position Friday and Saturday and finished just 2-15 in the category during the series. There were multiple occasions where the Dbacks had a guy on second (or third) with a chance to make some damage and a strikeout would ensue killing any momentum the club had built up.

*Paul Goldschmidt was one of a few that went hitless this series finishing 0 for 7. He did walk four times and score two runs but he is mired in a 2-18 and 6-32 (.188) slump currently. With Goldie collecting zero hits, Montero finishing 2 for 12 and Kubel finishing 0 for 9 you’re not going to see too many runs put up for the Dbacks.

UGLY: Ian Kennedy continues to struggle in 2012 with another ugly outing on Saturday allowing another three homeruns (all solo shots) and walking four hitters on his way to giving up six earned runs in just 5 1/3 innings. In the month of August, the team’s ace has surrendered eight homeruns and sixteen walks posting a 5.60 ERA. He has now matched his career high in homeruns allowed in a season (26) which is also tied for the most allowed by any pitcher in the National League. As he struggles with his control he beaned his eighth batter on the season- a career high. At this point we just have to hope that Kennedy can grind out the remainder of 2012 without enduring some type of arm injury that would hinder his chances of coming back strong in 2013.

*Trevor Cahill was hit hard again on Sunday as he provided the Dbacks with the shortest outing of the season at 3 2/3 innings allowing eight hits and four earned runs. He failed to get out of the first inning unscathed for the 19^th time in 26 starts. His first inning was as follows: groundout, groundout, single, walk, RBI single, RBI single, walk, groundout. There’s definitely something going through Cahill’s head in the first as he really struggles to get three outs without allowing a run- he finished the second by striking out the side.

NOTES: The Padres scored ten of their nineteen runs in the series with two outs.

*Rookie Jake Elmore was 0 for 7 in the series and is now 0 for his last 14. He has yet to record a major league RBI or score a run.

*Paul Goldschmidt hasn’t homered in ten consecutive games, his longest streak without a long ball since he went eleven games from May 12- 26^th.

*The team begins the last three games of their ten game home stand tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. Lefty Tyler Skaggs is making his second career start facing Bronson Arroyo. The Reds have lost three of four but Arroyo comes in on a personal three game winning streak.

Now bring on the Reds!!

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Chase Field. Image: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

If you told me at the beginning of the 2011 season that in August of that year the team was three games over .500 and within striking distance of the N.L. West lead I would have been impressed. But since that 2011 team had a huge breakout season posting 94 wins, it makes the team of 2012 seem like a flop.

Record Notes: With their win(s) on Wednesday the team improved to 64-61 and sits six full games behind the first place Giants. It was the team’s fourth straight four game split and they’re now 1-1-4 in four game series this season. Luckily for the Dbacks as they continue to play .500 ball this late in the season so do the Giants, Dodgers and the Pirates who Arizona trails in the Wild Card by just 4.5 games. Despite all the ups and downs and disappointing games this team has played they still sit right in the thick of things when it all matters- something we should all be excited about.

*The Diamondbacks completed their first ever doubleheader at Chase Field with a sweep on Wednesday on the backs of two rookies, Tyler Skaggs and Wade Miley.

GOOD: Wade Miley was again exceptional on Wednesday night hurling eight shutout innings while allowing just four hits. He capped his night off by striking out the side in the eighth. It was the fifth time this season he worked at least six innings without allowing an earned run and the thirteenth time in twenty-two starts that he’s allowed one or fewer runs. Miley has to be the front runner for Rookie of the Year honors with 14 wins and an ERA of 2.80.

*David Hernandez and J.J. Putz are the most reliable relievers on the team right now and for the first time since April 12^th Putz can say his ERA is under 3.00 (2.95). Putz had an awful April and May but looks like he’ll still finish with 30-35 saves and his ERA will hopefully hover around the 3.00 mark the remainder of the season. Hernandez worked two innings against the Marlins and struck out five hitters. In his last 9 2/3 innings he has recorded 16 strikeouts and a win while posting an ERA of .93.

*Aaron Hill had six hits against the Marlins while knocking in all three runs in game one of the double header with a two run homerun in the first and an RBI single in the third. He now has five multi-hit games in his last seven contests and has not struck out in his last twenty-nine at bats.

*Tyler Skaggs produced quite the debut on Wednesday working into the seventh before giving way to Brad Ziegler after he allowed a two out walk. Gibson said Skaggs could have finished the inning but because it was his debut he wasn’t going to allow him to get the loss after such a great outing. The two runs he allowed came after a leadoff walk in the second to Giancarlo Stanton and then two pitches later served up a long homerun to dead centerfield. He walked five batters in all- something that he may not be so lucky with minimizing damage next time out. Another advantage to relieving Skaggs in the seventh was that he was able to walk off the field to a standing ovation at Chase Field, something he said was the “greatest feeling I’ve ever had.” It was a pretty great moment being at the game and watching him walk towards us as he tipped his cap.

BAD: Trevor Cahill was not as fortunate as Skaggs in his outing on Tuesday despite being spotted a five run lead in the first inning. He was unable to make it out of the sixth as he allowed seven hits and four earned runs on the day. He escaped without the loss as the team headed to extra innings later in the night. Cahill continues to be inconsistent and unimpressive throughout his first season as a Diamondback and has a 9-10 record with an ERA of 3.86.

*Chris Johnson’s playing time has diminished as of late and he recorded just two hits against the Marlins- although they both resulted in an RBI. He is now just 3 for his last 28 with 8 strikeouts since he hammered two homeruns on August 7^th against the Pirates.

UGLY: Joe Saunders posted his worst outing of his career on Monday working just 3 2/3 innings while allowing nine earned runs on twelve hits. He surrendered two homeruns in the outing and has tossed up four dingers in his last two starts where he’s now allowed 14 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings. Since August 9^th when his ERA was a very respectable 3.52 he has seen his earned run average sky rocket to 4.22 and dropped to 6-10 on the year.

*One-run games. A year ago [when everything went right for the club] the team was a major league best 28-16 but 2012 has been a different story as they’re just 10-18 this season in one-run games. The team blew a five run lead to the Marlins Tuesday to fall in extra innings 6-5 and then won a one run game 3-2 on Wednesday.

NOTES: Jason Kubel gunned down Jose Reyes as he headed to third on Monday to record his 12^th outfield assist tying a club record with Eric Byrnes and Gerardo Parra.

*Ryan Wheeler recorded his first major league multi-hit game on Tuesday finishing 2 for 3.

*With their extra inning loss on Tuesday, the team dropped to 1-2 in such games. The team has played the fewest extra inning games of all major league teams.

*Justin Upton pulled up limping after scoring in the first inning Tuesday and was removed from the game. He sat out both games of the double header but is believed to be ready for action this weekend.

*The homestand continues tonight as the Dbacks take on the San Diego Padres who have won four straight heading to Chase Field. The Dbacks will send their third consecutive rookie starter to the hill in Patrick Corbin who’ll face off with Eric Stults.