Defending the National League West title hasn’t been easy
for the Arizona
Diamondbacks. In fact, the overwhelming favorites to
repeat in their
division by preseason pundits often resembled a team in
search of its
identity during the season’s first half.

The D-backs, who touted a deep starting rotation, rock
solid bullpen and
— well, let’s face it — had a penchant for dramatic
late-game heroics,
struggled to find any sort of consistency in the early
going of 2012.

Despite getting off to a franchise-best 4-0 start in
April, the team lost
several key players to injury (Chris Young, Joe Saunders, Daniel Hudson) and sputtered to an 11-17
mark in
May. Kirk Gibson’s troops saw their luck start to turn
around when they
won 16 of their first 25 games in June. But just when you
thought the
D-backs were back on track, they proceeded to drop six
games in a row,
including a sweep at the hands of the lowly San Diego
Padres.

Ouch.

Who are these Arizona Diamondbacks? They’ve continued to
enjoy spurts
of success, followed by strings of head-shaking losses to
inferior
opponents. Of course, the D-backs toyed with our emotions
yet again the
weekend before the All-Star break, taking three of four
from the
first-place Dodgers and shrinking their division deficit
to four games.

As the D-backs recoup over the break (with the exception
of rookie Wade
Miley, who was the team’s lone representative at the 83rd
Midsummer
classic) and leave us scratching our heads wondering
what to make
of
this infuriating yet talented squad, let’s take a look
back month-by-month
at the highlights and lowlights of the season’s first
half:

APRIL

CLEAN SWEEP:
The D-backs bested Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum on Opening
Day April 6 with Chris Young and Paul Goldschmidt
launching first inning
longballs in a 5-4 win, setting the tone for Arizona’s series sweep of their
divisional foes.

STILL PERFECT:
After beating the San Diego Padres 4-2 behind Chris
Young’s electrifying 11th inning two-run home run on April
10, the Snakes
propelled to a franchise-best 4-0 start to the 2012
campaign.

STREAKING SAUNDO:
Veteran lefty hurler Joe Saunders tossed a three-hit
shutout
masterpiece on April 27 against the Miami Marlins, which
lowered his ERA
to 0.90 in the 5-0 victory.

MAY

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