Webb is amazing again to get to 9-0

Brandon Webb....Brandon Freaking Webb goes to 9-0 baby after putting away the Rockies 8-5 at Chase. This guy is sick....nine wins in his first nine starts of the year. I can hear the chants now: 30....30....30. Well, that ain't gonna happen, but I don't think 25 wins for Webby this season is that far out of the realm of possibility. Nails...absolutely nails.

Leading 8-3 going to the ninth, Bo Mel called upon seldom used Brandon Medders to get him some work. Well, Medders brought his gas can to the mound and tried to torch the place. He left with the bases loaded with no outs to yield to Brandon Lyon to clean up the mess (12th save). In fairness to Medders, he just hasn't been able to get any work in this year. The starters always seem to go at least six innings....leaving only room for the Qualls/Pena/Lyon show.

For the first seven innings of tonight's game, Webb was almost untouchable. He ran into some difficulties in the eighth, giving up three runs before yielding to Doug Slaten after one out. Slaten quickly disposed of Todd Helton and then Chad Qualls came in to finish up the inning unscathed. Very nice to see Qualls earn his paycheck tonight after his recent struggles.

Webb threw 111 pitches on the night, and it was obvious that he had tired in the eighth. But, that was after he had worn out Rockies hitters with 8 punchouts and one walk.

Leading 5-3 going to the bottom of the eighth, the D-backs piled on as they put three more on the board thanks to Orlando Hudson (RBI single) and Justin Upton (two-run triple).

On the offensive side, Stephen Drew continues to swing a red hot bat hitting in that two hole that I love so much. He only went 4-for-5 and was just a long ball away from the cycle. That kind of game raised his season average to .295. Drew hasn't sniffed .300 since being called up in the middle of '06...very nice to see.

But it was Chris Snyder that had the biggest hit of the game however. His three-run dinger in the fifth put the D-backs up 5-0 and provided a much needed cushion for Webby to get his ninth win.

Once again Orlando Hudson came to play for the third straight game after being out with that tweaked hammy. He went 2-for-3 with two steaks. He was 6-for-11 in this series as the D-backs add another series sweep to their season resume and take their season record to a major league best 26-15. The Dodgers won again so their NL West lead remains at 4.5.

Nick Piecoro from the Arizona Republic noted before game time that both Eric Byrnes and Conor Jackson would not be in the lineup tonight. Byrnes out because of his well documented horrific slump, and Jackson out apparantly due to a right quad injury he suffered on Sunday against the Cubs (that and the fact that he is 0-for-12 lifetime against Aaron Cook :-) ) Jeff Salazar took Byrnesie's spot in the lineup tonight....Melvin is sure hoping that some time off will get him back into it again. Or maybe Byrnes decided to go search for some new intro music and needed the night off ;-).

Ahh...tomorrow starts that inevitable time of the year...interleague play. Mixed emotions on this one. It will be nice to see the Tigers come into town...albeit that they are the struggling Tigers (16-25). Danny Haren will get the nod tomorrow against Jeremy Bonderman with the familiar 6:40 PM start time at Chase.