3 Games To Go

How about Micah Owings (again)? After being a last minute, emergency start fill-in for Brandon Webb, Owings went 6 1/3 innings, allowed no runs, four hits, four K's and no walks. A pretty impressive outing for Owings, and that's before you factor in his 4-4 outing at the plate, with 3 doubles and 3 RBI's. All things considered, this could not have come at a better time for the Dbacks.

Webb was scratched not due to health issues, but because of the forecast. There was an 80% chance of rain, and manager Bob Melvin did not want to risk Webb getting into a rain delay situation and possibly nullifying his outing. So he turned to Owings, just an hour before gametime. In a must-win situation, Owings came up big. Webb is now scheduled to pitch on Friday, in the opening game of the season ending three game set at Colorado. Considering Colorado has been ON FIRE lately, winning 11 in a row, Webb is perfect to throw out there and try to get them under control.

The Dbacks lead in the NL West remains 1 game, with just three to go. The Padres end the season at Milwaukee, who despite being in a pennant race are self-imploding at a rate almost equal to the Mets. (Explanation: Milwaukee's manager Ned Yost has gotten ejected three times this week, they've lost 4 of 6, and The Brew Crew's star young player, Ryan Braun, committed three errors in tonight's game, giving him a total of 26 in 109 games this year. And yes, that would be tied for the MLB lead with Jason Bartlett of the Twins. Oh, and Bartlett has played in 27 more games than Braun. But this is your (probable) NL Rookie of the year folks! Fucking ridiculous. Chris Young, anyone? Anyone? Bueller? No worries, he's only 4 stolen bases from being the first 30 home run, 30 stolen base rookie since, oh, ever. Nothing to talk about here... Fuck. That's it, you got me started).

I only ended the parentheses because that parenthetical tangent was getting long. But rest assured, i'm still on it. What about those Amazin' Mets? In the middle of their own pennant race, they've somehow managed to lose their last 4 games, and 11 of 16. They have turned into a disaster. Even with Pedro Martinez looking good, tossing a 7 inning three run outing, they got shutout by Joel Pineiro, a Red Sox castoff with a slightly better than .500 record and a 4.33 ERA. Way to finish a season. They don't even look like a team that wants to win anymore. Even their leader, Paul Lo Duca, has come out and said they are a team that's playing like they're 'waiting to lose'. Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be the best team in the NL?

No! The answer to the best team in the NL? Yeah, that's right, the Arizona Diamondbacks. You scoff? More wins than any teams in the NL by one game. The team behind them, the San Diego Padres? Arizona owned them this season, going 10-8 against them. The Mets are two games behind the Dbacks. For a team that gets very little credit, the Dbacks seem to be doing ok for themselves.

Ok, i think i'm done on that rant. Sometimes i get a bit frustrated, apparently... Anyway, the Dbacks have three games left, with a feisty Colorado team that is on a roll. If they win 1, i think they're in. If they win 2, they're definitely in. Which is why, after today's game, the Dbacks magic number (as far as i'm concerned) is down to 2. Let the final weekend of the regular season commence!