One week from today, the San Francisco Giants will be going all out during the National League Division Series. The Arizona Diamondbacks, however, will be going on vacation until the spring.
The playoff-bound Giants pummeled the D-backs -- who are one game away from being eliminated from postseason contention -- with authority yesterday during a brutal 7-3 loss on Thursday at AT&T Park.
San Francisco's batters punished Arizona's Patrick Corbin during a six-run second inning, including two-run homers by both Hunter Pence and Marco Scutaro. The woeful D-backs pitcher lasted only three frames before getting yanked by manager Kirk Gibson.
"I just made a couple of bad pitches, the first pitch to Pence that he hit out and left the change up to Scutaro that he hit out," Corbin told the press after the game. "I've just got to make better pitches. It just kind of unraveled a little bit."
No shit.
Arizona's lineup spent their final road game of the season making pop outs swinging at air as San Francisco's Barry Zito struck out three and scattered six hits over the course of as many innings.
The D-backs manufactured a few runs, however, in the fourth frame when Paul Goldschmidt turned into Mr. Hustle. He singled to center, proceeded to steal second base, and then motored to home plate after a line drive by Chris Young that also scored Cody Ransom.
Arizona's only other run of the game came in the sixth when Jake Elmore drove in Ransom with a pop fly to center field that became a ground-rule double.
The Diamondbacks head home to Chase Field for their final two series of the season against the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. Arizona is still technically alive in the National League Wild Card race and both the Cubbies and Rox are beatable teams, but don't get your hopes up true believers. A single win by the St. Louis Cardinals between now and Wednesday will eliminate the Snakes, which we're expecting will happen within the next 24 hours.
At any rate, the D-backs will attempt to end the season on a winning note when Ian Kennedy (14-11, 4.14 ERA) goes for his 15th victory of the year against Chicago's Travis Wood (6-12, 4.23). First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620-AM. More info: www.dbacks.com.
