After a four game series in San Diego against the San Diego Padres where the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 3 of 4 and a three game home stand against the Colorado Rockies where the Diamondbacks lost 2 of 3 I was not exactly enthusiastic about the Padres coming to Chase Field for another three games. San Diego arrived in a virtual tie with the Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West. The teams seem to be going in opposite directions right now. San Diego is 9-4 in their last 13 games while Arizona is 5-8. That is not exactly the kind of momentum you are hoping for to begin the last series against your divisional rival. The pitching match-ups for this series are quite similar to those last week which didn't work out too well for the Diamondbacks either.
The one positive note was that today's game featured Micah Owings who has been pitching quite well for the Diamondbacks and hitting even better against Greg Maddux. Opposing a future Hall of Famer with a rookie would not usually be classified as a positive note but Maddux has struggled mightily against the Arizona Diamondbacks especially at Chase Field. If ever you could hope for history to repeat itself today would be the day. Unfortunately history had the day off for the holiday. Micah Owings outing went south in a hurry. He gave up 4 hits in 3 innings and each of the hits was a home run putting his team in a 5-0 hole before he even reached the plate. With an outing like his nickname is going to become "Front Loader" because that is the only way can dig a hole that deep and that fast. As the sun began to fade over the Phoenix skyline so did the Diamondbacks grip on the National League Western Division lead. Nobody said making the play-offs or winning the division was going to be easy.
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