Tonight, the Colorado Rockies, who denied the D'backs the opportunity to clench by sweeping them in a three-game series, towed a limping Arizona into the playoffs. With Craig Counsell, Luis Gonzales, and starting pitcher Brian Anderson all out for the rest of the year--not to mention the long-forgotten Danny Bautista--and the slumping performances of those left, things don't look good for the postseason. Okay, they clinched: another notch in the belt and banner to fly at the BOB. But maybe, like Pedro, the whole team should just call it quits, lest the Big Unit wind up dead.
Without Luis, can they? Most likely not. AZ has one more game with Saint Louis, and then they finish with 4 games at home with Colorado (who just stomped them hard). Saint Louis meanwhile finishes the season with Milwaukee. When Saint Louis and AZ meet in the playoffs the chance of AZ having home field advantage is pretty small. Without Gonzo, I think that all of those little things (you know, like no runs) are going to add up and it will be too much to ask Randy and Curt to cover. As a Tucsonan, I would love to see Durazo step up and help fill the gap, but it is a big big gap.
