The Arizona Diamondbacks may have only finished 4-6 on their recent road trip, but their closer J.J. Putz took a pretty positive message from their time away from Chase Field.

“I think we learned that we can play with anybody,” Putz told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo Monday. “Philly along with Milwaukee are considered to be the best ones in the National League. We’ve done fairly well against Milwaukee and I think we wound up splitting the season series with Philly so I think we’re right there with the big guys.”

Putz is right, the D-backs have fared well against the best the National League has to offer. They split the season series against the Phillies at three games apiece and they took the season series against the Brewers winning four out of their seven matchups. While it’s easy for a club to get caught up in their success against top teams, they know they have business to take care of before they’d face any of them in the playoffs.

What is standing between the D-backs and the postseason is the defending world champion San Fransisco Giants. While Putz’s club has a four game lead on their division rivals, the teams still go head-to-head six times before the end of the season.

Despite two of the bigger series of the year against the Giants being right around the corner, don’t expect Putz and the D-backs to get caught looking ahead.

“I don’t think our coaching staff will let us look ahead to that thing,” the closer said. “I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of talk about the Giants until we hit that flight on Thursday and head up north.”

It’s that kind of focus and mentality that has the D-backs in first and hanging with the best in the National League. It’s also why Putz and the rest of the team may be heading to the playoffs five weeks from now.

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