Confusion aplenty

So, plenty of confusion on my part today. First off, I was expecting to see the Diamondbacks on ESPN today. Turn on the TV ths evening, and- we get the Braves and the Rangers. While I appreciate Major League Baseball showing off one of my brilliant Interleague matchups (that payment is in the mail, right?) I wasn't terribly impressed. But, confusingly enough, a familiar voice is broadcasting on our Fox Sports Net. We normally get FSN Rocky Mountain , but for some reason were treated to a FSN Arizona broadcast for the evening. It wasn't scheduled in the TV listings, so I'm hoping that there haven't been multiple occasions that I've missed.

But, to be honest, my confusion didn't end there. I was a bit curious- who were these guys in the Diamondbacks uniforms? After barely sneaking one game past the team with the worst record in the league, we cruise to an easy victory against the team with the best record in the league? Estes, who's given up 10 earned runs with 11 innings pitched in his last two starts, giving us a complete game? That might have been out of a sincere desire to keep the bullpen from botching his excellent start, I can't blame him for that. But still. He faced no more than four batters in an inning for the entire game. Impressive.

As a sidenote: I do enjoy checking the game score on ESPN. I only recall parts of the formula sometimes, but I just like being able to look at one number and gauge the starting pitcher's game.

But our offense was pretty solid today, too. Clayton and Clark went hitless, but Clark got a sac fly for our first run, and is still batting .359. But everyone else got a hit, and Gonzales, Glaus, and Green all gave us a home run for our troubles. Our defense, even in troubled times, remains pretty solid, and today it didn't let us down.

So, I guess my question lies in this- where the hell was this team over the weekend?

The answer that comes to mind is my dad's- who, honestly, probably should be writing a baseball blog of his own somewhere, and by 'blog' I mean 'column' and by 'somewhere' I mean the Sporting News or something. If I can get him to write a baseball blog, and my mom to write a football blog, then we'll have something to read. And my family can publish a fairly biased but very enthusiastic sports magazine.

Anyway, the answer that comes to mind is my dad's- the fact that the Diamondbacks have a tendency to play to the level of their opponent, unfortunately so at times. When they face a last place team, they play like they're playing a last place team. When they play a first place team, they frequently play like they're playing a first place team. It leads to a very uneven set of performances. Which can be very true at times. They seem to be prone to slacking off against "gimmee" teams, and that means they lose, which means they hit a slump. But tonight was good. And we've had some good offensive work in the past week or so.

So, I think I'm going to position myself at "Cautiously Optomistic" for right now. Looking at the last turn through the rotation, we've got some really good starting pitching going. Except for Halsey's 6 inning, 6 earned run game, I think we should have won all of those games. Good starting pitching and good offensive production are on board right now, and solid defense has been a product we've been putting out there all season. If the bullpen will get in line, I think we can do something here. We've shown signs of being a good team all year. We just need to get everything working at the same time.

Oh, and, before I forget, Lance Cormier for NL Rookie of the Year!