Arizona Diamondbacks batter Jason Kubel (13) hits a home run in the fourth inning against Houston Astros at Chase Field. Image: Jennifer Hilderbrand-US PRESSWIRE

Record Notes: With their win on Sunday, the Dbacks improved to 47-48 overall and 26-21 at home. They trail the first place Giants by six games and the final wild card spot by five games. They look to get back to .500 tonight against the Rockies for the first time since July 1^st when they were 39-39.

Transactions: Moves were made over the weekend, some surprising-some not, but either way the team activated third base prospect Ryan Wheeler before Friday’s game after releasing injured Geoff Blum earlier that day. The 39 year old Blum had been placed on the 60 day DL early on in April and hadn’t played in a game since April 16th. The team also designated reliever Bryan Shaw to Reno and activated recently acquired right hander Brad Bergeson. This move was a little surprising although Gibson’s recent public statement about his displeasure with Shaw last week may have been a clue of things to come. Bergeson is expected to fill the role of Josh Collmenter as a long relief guy while Collmenter fills out the final spot in the rotation. Lastly, the team was finally able to activate their veteran reliever Takashi Saito from the DL after the righty spent nearly four months on the disabled list with a leg injury. Jonathan Albaladejo was redesignated to Reno to make room for Saito.

GOOD: Team Offense. This was about as much offense as you could ask for over the weekend as they scored 33 runs on 40 hits over the three game set. Everyone on the club was able to contribute in some context throughout the series and even more impressive was their efficiency with runners in scoring position as they finished 19-39 (.487). Over their last seven games the offense has posted a RISP average of .429.

*Jason Kubel is locked in right now and for the second consecutive month has now recorded at least 20 RBI’s. Despite finishing 0 for 4 with 3 K’s on Friday, the right fielder finished the final two games 6 for 9 with four homeruns, one triple, seven RBI’s and five runs scored. The 10 homeruns for July are a career high for Kubel in one month. He leads the National League in RBI’s with 71 and collected his 500^th career RBI over the weekend.

*Aaron Hill is nearly as hot as Kubel right now riding a 13 game hit streak into their series with Rockies tonight. He finished 5-11 on the weekend with five runs scored and also played in his 1,000 career regular season game. The second baseman leads all N.L. second basemen in hits, AVG, HR, SLG, and OPS. And, no- he did not make the All-Star game.

*Starting Pitching. The starters each pitched well over the weekend with Wade Miley contributing the best outing hurling seven innings and allowing just one earned run. He struck out a career high nine batters en route to his eleventh win. Miley now sports the second lowest ERA among major league rookies (3.02) and is tied for the lead in wins. Trevor Cahill was good enough to win but possibly only because the team exploded for 13 runs as he failed to make it out of the sixth inning for the second straight start and for the fifth time in his last six starts. Collmenter continued his resurgence with the team and is now 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA in July through three starts and one [long] relief appearance.

BAD: In a series sweep with an incredible amount of offense- regardless of the opponent- there aren’t a whole lot of negative points but Bryan Shaw’s appearance on Friday was his second straight appearance where he was unable to get his job done. In his one inning of work the right hander allowed three hits including a three run homerun by third baseman Scott Moore in the ninth inning. The 24 year old Shaw got the news on Saturday and will spend at least a couple weeks in Reno to work on his mechanics.

UGLY: Baserunning. Awful. Horrible. Ugly. It is pretty amazing that this pathetic baserunning continues to occur with this ballclub. This time the culprit is Gerardo Parra who was caught stealing on three occassions over the weekend- two of those were pickoffs coming Sunday while leading off first base where Parra was just plain fooled. The Dbacks have been caught stealing more than any other team in the Major Leagues (37) and hold a 61% success rate where, in all of baseball only two teams have a worse success rate- the Orioles and Pirates for reference in case you didn’t believe someone could be worse than that.

*Defense: Errors. The defense committed three more errors in the series after committing three against the Reds in their last series. Luckily they were playing the inept Astros or they may have made more of an impact. Still, the infield was able to turn four double plays on Sunday and five overall on the weekend.

NOTES: On Friday, Stephen Drewrecorded his first three RBI game since June 3^rd, 2011.

*The offense batted around in both the fifth and seventh innings on Friday. It was the first time they batted around twice in one game all season. They also knocked in seven runs in the sixth inning Sunday- the most in one inning all year.

*With his two run single with the bases loaded on Friday, Miguel Montero is now 5 for 7 with a double, homerun and 14 RBI’s this season with the bases loaded.

*Justin Upton Homerun Watch ended on Friday with an opposite field homerun. He had gone the previous 21 games without going yard.

*Willie Bloomquist Homerun Watch continues at 70 games and 289 at bats. Unfortunately, with Drew returning to the lineup Fast Willie’s at bats are slowing disappearing but the shortstop still contributed in his only game over the weekend going 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s. It was his fourth consecutive multi-hit game.

*Ryan Roberts is now 4 for his last 5 in pinch hit at bats with his single Sunday. He also raised his average and on base percentages over .250 and .300 respectively for the first time all season.

The Rockies come to town for a three game set beginning tonight with Ian Kennedy hoping to get his record back to .500 for the first time since he was 5-5 on June 5^th- a span of seven starts. He will face recently acquired starter Jonathan Sanchez who is 1-6 on the year and making his first start as a Rockie. The Rockies are 16-29 on the road as they come to Chase Field.

Now bring on the Rockies!!!

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

Jun. 20, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Aaron Hill rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at Chase Field. Image: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

 Offensive Explosion: The two teams combined to score 53 runs and 79 hits in three games. That’s an average of just over 17 runs scored in each game combined. There were five lead changes in Tuesday’s game in which the Dbacks fell in just their second extra inning contest all season. Wednesday included three different lead changes before the home team slugged their way to a win. Exciting? Absolutely. The two teams combined to hit 15 doubles, 2 triples, and 15 homeruns in the series. Now, with offensive numbers like these, you can probably bet where the pitching staff fits into this recap and it isn’t ‘good.’

Record Notes: With the series win, the Diamondbacks inched closer to .500 again and sit eight games back of the Dodgers with a 34-35 record. They’re now 10-3 at Chase Field in their last 13 and have an even 17-17 home record. After losing 12 of 15 home games and six consecutive series losses on their home turf it looks as though we’re seeing the style of play we saw last year where the team dominated at home.

*Milestones. Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 2,500 career hit in the major leagues on Monday finishing 4 for 5 with two doubles. Only three players since 1900 took fewer games to reach 2,500 hits: Al Simmons, Ty Cobb, and George Sisler.

GOOD: Wade Miley was virtually the only pitcher who did his job effectively during this series and he was once again brilliant. The rookie went seven strong innings allowing just one run while tying his career high in strikeouts (8) for the second consecutive start. He added a double at the plate for good measure as well. In his last 22 2/3 IP Miley has allowed just three earned runs- one in each of his three starts. He has allowed just one base on balls in his last four starts- a span of 30 innings. He controls the fifth best ERA in the National League and leads all rookies.

*Aaron Hill was just about as good as you could ask in this series going 8 for 12 with three doubles, a triple, and three homeruns. He would hit for his first career cycle in Monday’s win- the eighth cycle in Dbacks history. He is hitting .369 in June with a .417 on base percentage, raising his average to .291 on the year.

*Paul Goldschmidt snapped out of a 1 for 14 dip with five hits in the series including two doubles and a homerun. His defense was also impressive throughout the series.

*Team Offense. As stated above, the offense had no problem scoring against the mediocre pitching of the Mariners and recorded 20 extra base hits including six homeruns in the finale yesterday. It was the first time in club history that six different Diamondbacks had a tater in a single game. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, six of the nine starters had at least two hits. Again, we know this team is capable of having these types of offensive outbursts- it’s the consistency issue that has haunted this team all season as they had gone 21 consecutive innings without a single run heading into this series.

BAD: Starting Pitching. Aside from Miley’s start on Monday, the starters didn’t do much to give the Dbacks a chance to win. Daniel Hudson again struggled- working 4+ innings allowing 10 hits and 7 earned runs. He allowed two homeruns on the day as well but the offense battled back and got the right hander off the hook helping him avoid the loss. Trevor Cahill was a little better although a five run third inning was more runs than he had given up in his previous three starts. With the Dbacks swinging the bats so well it allowed Cahill to remain in the game to throw six complete innings. We will chaulk this start up to the baseball gods looking after Cahill after he was absolutely lights out his last three starts and allowed him to improve to 6-5 on the year. He is now 4-0 in June and has a winning record for the first time as a Diamondback.

*Bullpen. The bullpen struggled about as much as the starting rotation- giving up nine earned runs in eleven innings of work. The unfortunate thing is just about all of the relievers were smacked around at some point in this series too. J.J. Putz came out in the 10^th inning on Tuesday after throwing a scoreless ninth and walked the leadoff man. Really it all unraveled from there and between Ziegler and him the Mariners would plate three runs in the top of the frame on their way to a 12-9 win. Craig Breslow gave up a three run homerun to Brendan Ryan who came into the game with one homerun on the year and a paltry .179 average. Putz would be credited with the loss, David Hernandez blew the lead in the eighth giving up the tying run-his fourth blown save this year- and Brad Ziegler served up a pinch hit two run single in the tenth before capping his inning off allowing Ichiro an RBI double. Four of the six relievers used on Tuesday gave up at least one run and three of the four walks issued in the game would score.

*Mike Zagurski was beat up again on the mound on Wednesday after throwing a scoreless inning the night before. His control and location wrecked any chance of putting together an effective inning and you would have to wonder how long they’ll allow it to go on- 6.32 ERA. His inning Wednesday: Leadoff walk, first pitch single (Kubel threw him out trying to stretch into double), first pitch- RBI single, walk- five pitches, strikeout, pinch-hit three run homerun by Franklin Guttierez- his first on the year- and Zagurski would make the dreaded walk back to the dugout mid-inning while Bryan Shaw would close out the frame. Worth noting as well is on Michael Saunders’ single to first base, if Zagurski wasn’t being a spectator and actually ran to the bag to cover, they would have gotten the runner at first for the second out with nobody on. Instead he walked the next guy and then proceeded to give up the homerun to end his night.

UGLY: Daniel Hudson is having a hard time putting together quality starts and was hit very hard in this game. As mentioned above, he failed to make it through five innings, allowing ten hits. He pitched to five batters in the fifth: Single, walk, three run homerun, single and a single. Breslow would come in to relieve Hudson and after recording two strikeouts, he gave up a long homerun to Brendan Ryan to cap off Hudson’s night. In his last 12 2/3 innings he has allowed 23 hits, 16 runs and 3 homeruns. His ERA in June is now 7.84. If his next start emulates his previous tendencies though we’ll see a great outing from Hudson in his next start as it seems to be every other start that he struggles.

*Chris Young has to be worrying Gibby & Co. at this point. He is pretty much hurting the Dbacks by being in the lineup everyday and the Mariners series was much of the same. He finished 1 for 10 in the series and is now 3 for his last 33 (.090) with two doubles, no RBI, and just two walks. Generally when Young is struggling he is still getting on base via the walk but lately he hasn’t been doing that either. His homerless streak is now at 27 games and hasn’t recorded an RBI in 12 straight games. It’s worth noting that Young’s career average is just .236 and perhaps this is just what we can expect from the center fielder. At which point I would say- play Parra over him and make him a fourth outfielder. Also, since Upton finally hit a homerun, Young will take over the ‘Homerun Watch’ duties until further notice.

NOTES: Heading into Tuesday’s game the Mariners relievers had given up 1 run in their last 19 innings- they gave up four in the first two innings that night and didn’t fare much better the rest of the series allowing eight earned runs in all.

*The Diamondbacks have now grounded into a double play in four straight games and in eight of their last nine games.

*Third basemen Josh Bell had his first multi-hit game as a Diamondback on Monday and his first RBI in 10 games.

*In Tuesday’s loss, the team struck out 14 times. Of their last nine outs- seven of them were by virtue of the K- and four of those were ‘looking.’

*Justin Upton Homerun Watch is over- for now. He took a green light on a 3-0 pitch and smashed it into the left field seats for a three run homerun. It snapped a 21 game-82 at bat- homerless streak. It was his longest streak without a homerun since he went 29 games from July 20- August 21^st 2010.

*Speaking of 3-0 green lights: Upton is now 10-17 on 3-0 pitches with five homeruns in his lifetime. Good call Gibby- good call.

*Miguel Montero continued his hot streak going 5 for 10 in the series and hit his fifth homerun in June. He is hitting .302 with a .409 on base percentage in the month.

*Jason Kubel recorded his N.L. leading seventh outfield assist in the series, tying him with Hunter Pence.

*The Chicago Cubs come to Chase Field for a weekend series with Joe Saunders pitching against Jeff Samardzija Friday night. The Cubs are 10-26 on the road this season and sit in last place in the Central Division.

Now bring on the Cubs!!

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

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.