Wow, how things have changed in a week. The Diamondbacks now languish in second place, 4.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and appear to be a baseball team that is simply playing out the string. No fight, no emotion, no execution. The D-Backs didn’t help themselves this weekend by losing 2 out of 3 to the Cincinnati Reds, a team that has had every reason to be playing out the string for the last several months.

Now, the San Francisco Giants, a team that swept three games from the D-Backs last week in California, come to Chase Field for a 4-game series. To make matters worse, the Giants come in red hot, winners of 8 of their last 9. The Diamondbacks have shown absolutely no reason why anyone would believe that this “race” isn’t over, but these 4 games against the Giants are quite simply their last chance to turn things around.

Here’s a closer look at both teams…

San Francisco Giants (68-81, 3rd place in NL West, 9 games behind Los Angeles)

Manager: Bruce Bochy (2nd year with Giants, 139-172)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: Randy Winn, .315

Runs: Fred Lewis, 81

Hits: Randy Winn, 172

HR: Aaron Rowand & Bengie Molina, 13

RBI: Bengie Molina, 86

SB: Randy Winn, 25

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Tim Lincecum, 207.2

Wins: Tim Lincecum, 17

ERA: Tim Lincecum, 2.43

Strikeouts: Tim Lincecum, 237

Saves: Brian Wilson, 39

Bottom Line: There are many reasons why the Arizona Diamondbacks have gone from leading the National League West for most of the season to floundering in second place. Most of them they can pin on themselves. Lack of timely hitting, too many strikeouts, bullpen failure, shoddy defense, and starting pitching that went south at the most important time of the season. You can also point to the Diamondbacks’ failure to retire Manny Ramirez in 9 huge games with the Dodgers, 7 of which L.A. won. Another player the Diamondbacks have had heaps of trouble getting out is San Francisco’s Eugenio Velez. Velez won two games with clutch hits against the Diamondbacks last week and continued his hot hitting in a 4-game series against San Diego. Beginning with the Diamondbacks series, Velez is 11 for his last 23 (.478), with 3 doubles, 2 triples and 9 runs batted in. He’s hitting only .253 on the season.

Tim Lincecum, who pitched shutout ball into the 9th inning with a shutout last Monday in a win against Arizona, followed that performance up with his first career complete game shutout vs. the Padres on Saturday. He is now 17-3, and leads the National League in ERA and strikeouts. He has become the front-runner for the NL Cy Young Award, surpassing Brandon Webb in most people’s eyes. Closer Brian Wilson, after blowing two saves vs. the Diamondbacks last week recovered to register his 38th and 39th saves against the Padres. He’s still second in the league in that category, trailing Houston’s Jose Valverde.

San Francisco’s pitchers vs. Arizona

Tonight: Brad Hennessey (2008: 1-1, 9.64 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 0-2, 4.13 ERA)

Tuesday: Matt Cain (2008: 8-12, 3.96 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 3-2, 3.49 ERA)

Wednesday: Jonathan Sanchez (2008: 9-10, 4.47 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 1-4, 7.01 ERA)

Thursday: Tim Lincecum (17-3, 2.43 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 3-0, 1.98 ERA)

Arizona Diamondbacks (72-76, 2nd place in NL West, 4.5 games behind Los Angeles)

Manager: Bob Melvin (4th year with Diamondbacks, 315-319)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: Orlando Hudson, .305

Runs: Mark Reynolds, 84

Hits: Stephen Drew, 156

HR: Mark Reynolds, 27

RBI: Mark Reynolds, 92

SB: Chris Young, 13

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Brandon Webb, 205.2

Wins: Brandon Webb, 20

ERA: Brandon Webb, 3.28

Strikeouts: Dan Haren, 181

Saves: Brandon Lyon, 26

Bottom Line:The Diamondbacks are struggling. In every aspect of their game really, but they found a new way to beat themselves in losing two of three to Cincinnati. The Diamondbacks left a mind-numbing 37 runners on base in the series, 17 alone on Sunday. The most disappointing thing about their slump is that really outside of flashes by Justin Upton and a strong start on Friday from Brandon Webb, they have showed very little fight. Arizona also missed an opportunity to gain ground on the Dodgers, who lost to Colorado on Sunday.

Closer Brandon Lyon lost that role after his prolonged struggle, and has been replaced by Chad Qualls. Lyon, who was brilliant for much of the first half of the season, including a string of 15 consecutive saves, has the third highest ERA of any closer with more than 10 saves in the National League this season. Only Jason Isringhausen (5.70) of the Cardinals and Eric Gagne (6.41) have higher marks than Lyon’s 5.13. Neither Isringhausen nor Gagne is currently their team’s closer.

Arizona’s pitchers vs. San Francisco:

Tonight: Doug Davis (2008: 6-8, 4.53 ERA; career vs. Giants: 3-5, 4.98 ERA)

Tuesday: Dan Haren (2008: 14-8, 3.39 ERA; career vs. Giants: 5-4, 3.36 ERA)

Wednesday: Brandon Webb (2008: 20-7, 3.28 ERA; career vs. Giants: 12-5, 3.25 ERA)

Thursday: Randy Johnson (2008: 10-9, 4.11 ERA; career vs. Giants: 8-8, 3.22)

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