This is getting silly.
The Arizona Diamondbacks screwed the pooch over the weekend to the tune of three losses to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. After taking the first of four games on Thursday, AZ couldn't hang with the very average Cubbies. And, aside from Saturday's 7-5 loss, the contests weren't even close.
Friday's game featured the Achilles' heel of the 2010 Diamondbacks, crap-tastic pitching, letting the team down once a-freakin'-gain. Arizona actually led 4-2 after five innings, knocking around Cubs' starter Randy Wells in the process. But then Alfonso Soriano's three-run dong off of Rodrigo Lopez allowed Chicago to take a 6-4 lead after six. It got worse after that. In the seventh, the Cubbies scored two on two bases-loaded walks, and steamrolled their way to an 11-5 win. Ug-ly.
On Saturday afternoon, Arizona spoiled a stellar hitting performance by Mark Reynolds. The slugger blasted home runs eight and nine on the year, which tied teammate Kelly Johnson for the league lead. Then, after the game, Reynolds blasted the D-Backs' bullpen after they blew a two run-lead in the team's 7-5 loss.
"We've got some guys who've proven themselves, veterans," said Reynolds of the bullpen, which allowed Soriano to homer once again as well as Derrek Lee to drive in the go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth. "I keep saying I hope they snap out of it. I hope they do for the sake of the team and for the sanity of a lot of guys in here."
Things didn't get much better on Sunday. Long story short, the Diamondbacks played themselves out of the game just minutes after it began as Edwin Jackson got lit up for the second start in a row. (On Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies, the right-hander gave up 10 runs in 2 1/3 innings. On Sunday, he allowed four runs in the first and eight overall in four innings.)
Hey, at least he's showing some improvement.
Yet again, Soriano lit into Arizona pitching. On Sunday, he hit two more home runs, bringing his series total to four (he also drove in ten runs) in leading Chicago to a 10-5 win, a victory that would have been larger if not for Arizona's three meaningless runs in the ninth.
In other local baseball news, the number-two Arizona State Sun Devils swept fifth-ranked UCLA over the weekend. At least one team in this town can play some ball.
From tonight through Thursday, Arizona takes on the Houston Astros -- the current cellar dwellers in the National League Central -- in a four-game series at Minute Maid Park. The Astros began the season in impressive fashion -- they started 0-8 -- and have backed up that stellar performance with six straight losses to date. First pitch each night takes place at 5:05 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620 AM. More info: www.dbacks.com.
