Sedona Red Fireworks: Because winning is fun.

There are hits! And runs! Lots and lots of hits and runs!

Yes, the Dbacks had 16 hits. And, yes, they scored 9 runs. (Check out the Box Score: HERE)

But, the story of the night was  - without a doubt – Wade Miley.

1. Going into the game, the line-up looked highly similar to last night. But, when it is the line-up that stops a depressing losing streak, it isn’t a surprise that Kirk Gibson didn’t want to mess with it.

2. The offense showed up – big time. Jason Kubel and John McDonald (yes, that John McDonald) both went 3-for-4 on the day. Both Justin Upton and Jason Kubel hit solo-HRs. And, every one of the starters reached base by hit or walk tonight.

3. Speaking of Jason Kubel – Yes, he occasionally takes slightly less-than-efficient routes to balls hit to left field, but he’s shown a surprisingly a strong arm in the outfield. He recorded his 4th assist of the season, firing a one-hopper to home plate, to save a run. He’s tied for the NL lead in assists. Jason Kubel: More than just a bat standing in left field.

4. Not insignificantly, that play at the plate also illustrated that Miguel Montero is, in fact, an immoveable force. Wow.

5. Jonathan Albaladejo (called up from Reno in place of Daniel Hudson) made his Dbacks debut and was solid. 1 innings, 2 hits, no runs. As was Brad Ziegler: 1 inning, 1 hit, no runs. And, coming in for the final three outs of the ninth, so was Craig Breslow (who has pitched 8.1 innings in relief so far this season, tied with David Hernandez for the most number of innings pitched by a reliever who is not Wade Miley).

6. Joe Paterson. He’s had a very shaky 2012. He was solid as solid can be in 2011, but 2012 has been very, very rough (screencap from: here). He came in to start the 9th. He faced 5 batters: single, double, single, home run, home run. The numbers speak for themselves. This was a good game, and there has been so much negative lately, that we’re going to stick with focusing on the positives.

7. And, speaking of positives: Wade Miley. What else can you say about Wade Miley? He’s made a career acting as the stunt double for Josh Collmenter (c/o @dbacksbooth for the appropriate description) this season. He has saved the Dbacks on more than one occasion and tonight, when called upon to spot start because of Daniel Hudson going down…. The Dbacks are treated to this: 6.0 IP, 2H, 1BB, 7K. He was – again – sensational. This win is completely on him.

Score: 9-5, Diamondbacks win! Record 9-8. It’s (almost) all good in the hood.

Conclusion: This was a very fun 8 innings of baseball. For the second day in a row, it was a good day at Chase Field. 

Wrapping up the week that was, while we get ready for the week to come.

From “Snakes on the Grass”:

• Minors Monday focused mostly on an in-depth profile of top prospect Trevor Bauer.
• There was some mild speculation that the Dbacks would be looking for depth at catcher.
• We took a look at why the Diamondbacks and Miguel Montero might be having a bit of difficulty reaching an agreement on an extension.
• MLB announced that an early spring training game against the Cleveland Indians will have the players wearing microphones.
• We took a look at why the Nats would have to be creative to pry Gerardo Parra from the Diamondacks
• Thanks to Charles Brewer, the hazing trip that that the Diamondbacks’ rookie pitchers took to the Renaissance Festival was posted to twitter for us all to enjoy!

Best of the rest of the web:

• AZCentral posted a great interview/profile of John McDonald. It’s a great look into the camaraderie inside the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse. Well worth a read.
• For a complete round-up of spring training news, head over to the blog of MLB.com’s beat reporter Steve Gilbert‘s blog (Inside the Dbacks)
• Trevor Bauer showed up to training camp. He thought he was early. Turns out, he was wrong. This story and a few other nuggets from spring training here at AZCentral.
• Some people have high expectations of Bryan Shaw
• John Sickels at minorleagueball.com took a look back at the history of Miguel Montero‘s career.
• MLB.com reported that the Washington Nationals were interested in Gerardo Parra. The Diamondbacks quickly squashed that rumor – for the moment.
• Speaking of Gerardo Parra, he definitely showed some class in addressing his most-likely-4th-outfielder role in 2012.
• Nick Piecoro revealed that Takashi Saito has a different training program than the other Diamondbacks’ pitchers. And, perhaps more surprisingly, wasn’t required to take a physical prior to signing- because the front office thought he would fail it.