The D-Backs' shutout loss to the scrappy San Francisco Giants should have come as little surprise to anyone even with half-an-eye on the last-place homeboys.
The 3-0 defeat at Chase Field ended Arizona's three-game winning streak (which had come at the expense of the befuddled New York Mets).
Still, "our" guys did keep pace, as it were, with NL West-leading San Diego, who also lost.
Trouble is, the D-Backs are 19 games behind the Padres (sixteen behind second-place San Francisco), and the contrast between those three teams is palpable.
The Giants and Pads are teams filled with overachievers, and each franchise has laid waste to the preseason predictions of many that the 2010 would be dismal to the extreme..
Actually, Arizona has turned out to be much closer to the bottom of the pack, what with a current record of 37 wins and 59 losses. That translates to a winning percentage of 38.5 percent (the New York Yankees have the best mark, winning 63.8 percent of the time).
Oh, last night's game.
Righthander Matt Cain again dominated the D-Backs, a team that looked spent from the start after their ridiculous 14-inning win over the Mets, the longest Arizona game in eight years.
Cain surely has the D-Backs' number, having thrown a one-hitter at them in late May, and last night he had batters flailing at pitches way out of the strike zone, en route to nine K's in eight innings of work.
Rodrigo Lopez threw quite well for Arizona in defeat He's a gutty performer who would fit in very well with any number of teams around MLB.
The four-game series against San Fran continues tonight, with first pitch set for 6:40 at the downtown Phoenix ballpark.
Most nagging question: Will it be "cool" enough tonight for the powers-that-be to open the roof just for the hell of it?
Doubt it.
Game will be telecast on FSAZ (Channel 34). Radio is KTAR-620.
