Now 7 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West and 6.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wild card spot, D-Backs team president and CEO Derrick Hall is not happy with how the team has performed so far.

"Here we are, a .500 ball club, and we are all very unhappy," Hall said. "That's because we know we have the talent and that's because we expect to do better than we have."

After a great 2011 season, the Diamondbacks entered the year thinking World Series. However, those hopes were quickly derailed.

"I think to a certain extent, we overachieved (last year)", Hall said. "But I think this year we have underachieved."

Hall feels that the biggest difference between the 2011 team and this year's squad is their ability to win one-run games.

"If I look back and I say what has been the big difference between this year vs. last year, we won so many of the one-run games and we are losing them this year," Hall said. "Teams that go far are the ones that figure out how to win one-run games."

Another thing Hall expects the D-backs to do a better job of is handling teams that are not as talented as they are.

"For whatever reason this year we have seemed to have played well against teams that challenge us more and we seem to let down a little bit against those teams we should beat."

The recent Padres sweep is an example of one a series the Diamondbacks let slip away.

"When your backs are against the wall and you know you've got less than 40 games left, you've got to find a way to win those games, at least two."

Despite being so far out of the playoff picture with just a little more than a month to go, Hall remains optimistic that his team still has a chance.

He said that his ball club is actually in better shape than the eventual World Series Champion Cardinals were last season.

"Do we still have a run in us, yeah," Hall said. "Maybe this is the time we get hot like the Cardinals did last year going into the playoffs."

Hall agrees that it is difficult staying positive after such a disappointing series against the Padres, but he hasn't given up hope.

"Maybe I am being a little optimistic, but I've still got a lot of hope and faith in this group."