Their record has fallen to 64-67 on the season, and their playoff hopes appear to get dimmer by the day.

An unsuccessful 10-game homestand now in the rear view mirror, the D-backs are set to embark on a road trip that will take them to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

The stretch of games will be season-defining -- if not season-ending.

"Literally by the time this road trip's over our fate will be sealed one way or the other," D-backs GM Kevin Towers told Arizona Sports 620's Doug and Wolf Wednesday.

Sounds right.

That said, Towers said he still expects his team to make a run at the NL West. Acknowledging his team has dug itself quite a hole, the thought is until the D-backs are eliminated they will always have a chance.

"There's not an X by our name but we're running out of schedule and we're not playing good baseball," he said.

The trick then becomes figuring out how to get this team to play better than it has or, really, play like many thought it would.

The D-backs were a popular pick to not only win the NL West but represent the National League in the World Series, so to see them struggling to stay mediocre has to come as a surprise.

But, then again, big things were expected of this team for a reason, and the GM is not ready to give up on his team just yet.

"I'm not one to raise white flags," he said. "I know we've got a tough task ahead of us...crazy things happen in this game."