It's been a rough year for the Diamondbacks. They haven't been above .500 since May 4th, when they were 14-13. After last night's win over the Mariners, Arizona is 33-34, and looking to get to that .500 plateau again. They got  to one game of .500 last night in style. Second baseman Aaron Hill, acquired from the Blue Jays along with John McDonald for Kelly Johnson last summer, hit for the cycle and scored three times. Hill has an .827 OPS on the season now, and is pretty much hitting like his old self in Toronto. The D-Backs also got a great start from rookie Wade Miley, who allowed one run over seven innings, allowing nine hits and striking out eight without a walk. Now, if only the rest of the team would start hitting and pitching...

Game of the Night: Brewers 7, Blue Jays 6. Another Brewers game? Yeah, they're playing some exciting baseball this year, even if they're having a crappy year. Brett Lawrie put the Jays on the board in the first with a leadoff homer. The Brewers proceeded to go off over the next two innings, putting six runs on the board to take a 6-1 lead. Toronto fought back though, scoring one in the third on a double play and one in the sixth on an Edwin Encarnacion solo homer. That brought up to the seventh, when Jose Bautista hit a monstrous three-run homer to tie the game at six. That tie game lasted...until the bottom of the seventh, as an Aramis Ramirez solo homer made it a 7-6 Brewers lead. Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford closed out the final two innings, and the Brewers got the win.

After watching my beloved NL East get shellacked this weekend (2-13 overall record, including four interleague series), I had a thought about the common talking point of the American League being the dominant league in baseball. Most teams in the league have four of their six interleague series for the season complete, and the results are shocking: all but one AL team (Indians) has at least a .500 record against the National League this year. Five teams (Yankees, Rays, Tigers, Rangers, Angels) have at least eight wins against the senior circuit. Compare that to the National League, where there are just six teams at .500 in interleague play (Nationals, Reds, Pirates, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres), and no teams with eight wins. In fact, of those six teams at the .500 mark or better, only the Nationals, Pirates, and Diamondbacks have played four series against the AL, with the others only playing three. There is a definite imbalance in the leagues right now, and it's nothing new.

Game of the Day: Royals 5, Cardinals 3 (15 innings). When both starters left the game, this was a 2-1 game in favor of the Cardinals, and it stood that way until the ninth inning...until Billy Butler homered off of Jason Motte to tie the game. The teams traded zeroes until hte 14th, when Yuniesky Betancourt drove in Alex Gordon with a double to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Ned Yost brought in closer Jonathan Broxton, who alternated baseunners with outs during the inning, capped off with a pinch hit, game-tying single from Yadier Molina. That apparently pissed the Royals off, because Betancourt gave them the lead again in the 15th, this time on a two-run homer. Broxton threw a perfect 15th inning to seal the deal, and give the Royals a hard-fought series win over the Cardinals.

I haven't done any significant research on the matter, but is it just me, or have there been a TON of near no-hitters and perfect games this year? Yesterday, we had a pair of one-hitters from interesting sources. Jason Hammel, one of the best comeback stories of the year, had a no-hitter through 6 2/3 innings against the Braves before Jason Heyward broke things up, collecting the only hit the Braves would get for the evening in a 5-0 loss. Meanwhile on the other coast, Ervin Santana was perfect for 6 2/3 against the Diamondbacks before Justin Upton broke things up with a single, one of two baserunners that Arizona would get over their 2-0 defeat. The amount of stellar pitching performances lately is absolutely jarring, but I guess it's not really a bad thing at all.

Game of the Night: Blue Jays 6, Phillies 5 (10 innings). The Phillies led this one 5-2 going into the eighth, and it looked like Cliff Lee would finally pick up his first win of the year. Then, something happened. Edwin Encarnacion singled into left center to put men on the corners, but Jimmy Rollins threw the ball up the right field line in an attempt to stop Encarnacion from taking second. Two runs scored, and it was 5-4. A JP Arencibia double off of Chad Qualls scored Kelly Johnson, who singled after the goofy Encarnacion play . Qualls finished the inning, and the game would go into extras, with Joe Savery on the mound in the tenth for a depleted Phillies pen. Yunel Escobar walked, went to second on a balk by Savery, and moved up to third on a Mike McCoy groundout. With two outs, Rajai Davis stepped in, and walked it off with a ground rule double (ruled a single since Davis was dogpiled after touching first) to give the Phillies yet another difficult loss this season. Toronto looks for the sweep today, and will send Brett Cecil to the mound to make his season debut against Kyle Kendrick.

If you're not a diehard baseball fan, you might not know the name Brandon Moss. He was originally drafted by the Red Sox, and traded to the Pirates in the infamous Manny Ramirez/Jason Bay deal. Moss had a mediocre 2009 with the Pirates, and played in just 22 games in the majors over the next two years with the Pirates and Phillies. The A's signed him as a minor league free agent this offseason, and they called him up last week. Since his callup, Moss has played in nine games for the A's, and has a 1.310 OPS thanks to six homers. He's got nine hits on the season, and six have left the yard, the last of which came tonight in the A's 10-2 drubbing of the Padres.. Moss's peripherals are hilarious. He has a 31.3% strikeout rate, just a .214 BABIP...and yet, an OPS that would make Josh Hamilton blush. But the thing is, when over 40% of the flyballs you hit leave the yard....there's something interesting happening here. His success is absolutely not sustainable. Hell, his line drive rate is hovering around the 5% mark, which is the worst I can remember seeing. Moral of the story? Baseball is awesome.

Game of the Night: Dodgers 7, White Sox 6. The White Sox held an early 5-1 lead in this one, and it looked like they'd coast to a victory with Chris Sale on the mound. But then, Sale's sixth inning happen, and Los Angeles took the lead on a nickel and diming, slap hitting barrage of singles and doubles. An Alex Rios homer off of Ronald Belisario in the eighth tied it at sixth, but the Dodgers took the lead again by scoring what would turn out to be the game-winning run on a wild pitch by Matt Thornton. Kenley Jansen slammed the door shut in the ninth, and the Dodgers earned an impressive comeback win over the AL Central leaders.

During last night's Diamondbacks-Rangers game, Arizona announcer Mark Grace says "aaaaand Kubel's going to homer here" right as Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman releases a pitch to Jason Kubel. Sure enough, Kubel connects on the pitch from Feldman, and it leaves the park.

OK, now that is pretty awesome. There's no real history for success for Kubel in the Ballpark at Arlington (.668 OPS, four career homers) or against Feldman (.762 OPS, with just one extra base hit - last night's homer), so I guess it just was a lucky guess from Grace. Pretty cool, though.

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