We're sure even Harry Houdini had his off days.
During the Arizona Diamondbacks' 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night, Doug Davis, the D-Backs' master escapist of disaster, did coax Dodger hitters into a double and a triple play, but other than that, his effort through 4 1/3 innings was mostly ineffective.
After Davis (2-4) -- who was virtually unhittable against the Chicago Cubs in his previous start -- served up back-to-back, first-inning long balls to Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier, Arizona shaved the margin in half during the top half of the second, thanks to a small-ball approach against L.A. starter Eric Stults (3-1).
Then came the rare triple-killing in the bottom half of the inning.
The franchise's second triple play started when shortstop Josh Wilson caught a screaming line drive off the bat of Casey Blake. Since it was a full-count pitch, Russell Martin (on first base) and Matt Kemp (on second) were running. Wilson then flung the ball to second baseman Felipe Lopez, who then threw to first baseman Conor Jackson to complete the awesomeness.
Aside from a mostly meaningless homer from Mark Reynolds, his seventh of '09, there wasn't much else to cheer about for Arizona, which continues to live up to its reputation of not being able to score for squat.
Los Angeles (19-8) remains undefeated at home thus far this season with an 11-0 record at Dodger Stadium while Arizona dropped to 11-15 overall.
The Diamondbacks and Dodgers square off again tonight in L.A. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Projected starters are Arizona's Max Scherzer (0-2, 3.48) and Los Angeles' Jeff Weaver (0-0, 0.00). TV: FSN-AZ. Radio: KTAR-AM 620. Go to www.dbacks.com.
