At this point of the season, no one is going to want to downplay a sweep, especially in a tight NL West race.  The Diamondbacks just got done dominating the San Francisco Giants on the road to bump their division leading record to 2 games above .500.

We all hear reasons why the NL West is a disaster and the race is embarrassing but the only goal is to make it into the playoffs and from there, see where Haren/Webb can take you (with the way Haren is pitching lately, I thought it appropriate to put his last name first).  Plus, Arizona is doing one of the things it needs to do to win the division and that is beating teams they are supposed to beat.  Next on the list it to, you know, hit, score runs and beat the team they are competing directly against.

Randy Johnson threw 7 shutout innings and extended his scoreless inning streak to 15.  I would expect a 44 year old man with a mullet to have an extended scoreless streak, just off the field not necessarily on.  The Big Unit has won 4 in a row and has been providing the kind of punch after the combination of Webb/Haren (I'll reverse it, just to keep things calm in the clubhouse) that if he is able to sustain it, may be the knockout punch on the Dodgers.

Offensively, Connor Jackson is hitting over .400 over the past 10 days or so.  When Arizona's offense was really struggling, it was because the entire lineup was struggling and the Diamondbacks were doing nothing on the basepaths to jump start their offense.  Now, with one really hot bat, the rest of the lineup seems to be a little bit more relaxed and actually scoring runs.  The question is, how long will it last? 

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to plug along.  They kept pace with Arizona over the weekend and remain just a game out of first place.  They also made a trade over the weekend, acquiring 3B/OF Casey Blake from the Indians for two minor leaguers, one of which was former University of Arizona star Jon Meloan.  The trade adds a reliable veteran bat into the Dodgers lineup and could provide them with an offensive spark, at least thats what they hope.  I'm not so sure what kind of impact he will have though.  Blake has spent his entire career in the American League and will now jump right into a playoff race in the National League.  Thankfully for Blake, he's teammates with Andruw Jones so just making contact will automatically endear him to the LA faithful.

The NL West race is heating up and as we enter August this week, the margin for error becomes slimmer.  The Diamondbacks have the early edge with their pitching and now offense starting to come around.  With the trade deadline just a few days away, with the Dodgers or Diamondbacks make another move?  Stay tuned.