Strasburg Strong As Arizona Continues Slide

Article by Jeff Demers | Heroes Media Group | May 12, 2018

PHOENIX- Stephen Strasburg went 6.2 innings for the Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon, allowing only one run, and striking out nine.  The Arizona Diamondbacks have now dropped four games in a row, three to the Nationals, and are 3-7 in their last 10 games.

Despite the bad last two weeks (about), Arizona has managed to keep a three game lead over the Rockies in the NL West.  If it wasn’t for the fact that all of the teams are in losing streaks right now in the NL West, this lead would have been gone days ago.  Despite the slide, there are still some positives.  But I’m not going to ignore the following negatives either:

• Arizona is 4-6 in May
• Paul Goldschmidt has gone 3 for 38 from the plate in May and has only 1 hit in 9 home games in May
• Steven Souza Jr also only has 1 hit at home in May, and is 3 for 21 since coming off the DL
• In 2017, AZ ranked #1 in the NL in At Bats Per Home Run at Home with 22.5.  This year, they are 13th in the NL at 40.4 At Bats Per Home Run.  Can you say HUMIDOR????!!!  That was a “great” decision.
• Arizona has only scored 6 total runs in their last 4 games (15 in previous 3 games).

And here are a few positives to maintain some sort of sanity as a Diamondbacks fan:

• The healthy pitchers (Godley, Greinke, Corbin) are still pitching well enough to win (offense pending).
• Shelby Miller pitched 3 perfect innings at an extended Spring Training game, and also had 5K’s.
• Lamb should be back (hopefully) by the end of May pending potential minor league start
• Peralta and Pollock are playing well enough to keep the offense above water while waiting for Goldy and Souza to come around
• Robbie Ray showed a lot of promise after pool exercise as he is still rehabbing from oblique injury

Let’s also keep in mind, that the Diamondbacks have faced Strasburg, Scherzer, along with top pitching from the Astros and Dodgers this month.  A streak that probably won’t repeat itself for a while as far as competition goes.

So, the Diamondbacks are in a slide.  But at this point in the season, it’s more of a kindergarten playground slide, and not the Summit Plummet (12 story drop) at Walt Disney World type of slide.  They are still in first place.  And if they can get healthy, and Goldy and Souza can start hitting (which they will), this team will be even better than their best this season.