Diamondbacks slip back to .500

With Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Arizona Diamondbacks stooped to a place they hadn’t been since April 2 — .500.

At 72-72, the Diamondbacks are .500 for the first time since they were 1-1.

Despite once being nine games over .500, at 34-25 on June 5, Kirk Gibson’s club has slowly, gradually slipped into mediocrity and out of playoff contention — now standing 13 games back from the Dodgers, who they once held an 8.5 game lead over in the National League West, and nine games back of the Cincinnati Reds in the race for the second NL Wild Card.

Tuesday was the tenth time the Diamondbacks had faced falling to .500 this season and Wednesday will be just the second time they’ll face the prospect of a losing record, the last time, of course, being back on April 2.

After going 15-12 in both April and May, the Diamondbacks went 12-15 in June, 13-13 in July, 14-13 in August and they’re now 3-7 in September.

Back in June, the team was outscored 130-120 — a marginal deficit when placed beside the current month’s lackluster efforts. So far in September, the Diamondbacks have scored 23 runs while their opponents have scored 47 runs.

With their struggles, their elimination magic numbers are now at 6 and 9, respectively — the former representing their standing in the NL West and the latter representing their chances at a Wild Card spot.