It started with managing general partner Ken Kendrick making some strong statements regarding his frustration with injured shortstop Stephen Drew and enigmatic right fielder Justin Upton.

Kendrick feels Drew should be further along in his rehabilitation from a broken right ankle suffered last July and that the D-backs should be getting more production from Upton, who finished fourth in the National League MVP voting last season.

The comments in question were made on Tuesday, as the Diamondbacks had dipped to 25-30 after being shut out 4-0 by the Colorado Rockies Monday night.

Since then, Arizona is 5-0 and playing its best baseball of the season. Their current winning streak, which includes a three-game sweep of the Oakland A's, has the Diamondbacks at 30-30 -- the first time they've been .500 or better since May 5.

So did the boss man's comments have anything to do with the fire this team has played with over the last six days?

"I don't think so," left fielder Jason Kubel said Sunday. "We all knew it wasn't going well at the time, but it's just a different feeling around here. We have a little more confidence and we know what we can do."

Kubel has played like a man possessed in his last four games, hitting .500 (9-for-18) with two home runs, six runs scored and a whopping 12 runs batted in.

Center fielder Chris Young, who's hitting a healthy .357 since Kendrick's outburst, also says the timing of the D- backs' turnaround is probably just a coincidence.

"We have the character on this team to go out there and throw it all out there every day," he said. "Sometimes it doesn't correlate to your wins and losses but we're putting it all out there every day, and we're going to continue to do that."

They'll have to. After an off-day Monday, the Diamondbacks hit the road for a 6-game interleague road trip against the first-place Texas Rangers and the red-hot Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The two-time defending American League champion Rangers lead all of baseball in runs scored (322), while the Halos have gone 14-4 since May 22.