DENVER – After Geoff Blum landed on the disabled list for the second time this season, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson began joking about wanting to wrap his veteran infielder in pillows as a way of keeping him healthy.

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Blum laughs at the suggestion, but given that he has called this the most difficult season of his career, games like Monday’s, when he took advantage of a rare start to help his club win a game, must feel that much more rewarding.

“It feels great,” Blum said after he homered and drove in three runs in a 10-7 win over the Colorado Rockies. “I’m just happy to be still standing after this game.”

The victory, the Diamondbacks’ third in a row, came in a Labor Day afternoon game following what was a rousing series in San Francisco over the weekend, and as such Gibson was satisfied with his club’s effort, pleased there was no emotional letdown.

Behind seven innings from rookie left-hander Wade Miley, the Diamondbacks remain seven games up on the San Francisco Giants with 21 to play and their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is down to 15. They have a 98.4 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to simulations run by the site coolstandings.com.

And should they make the playoffs, Gibson said before Monday’s game, Blum is certain to be a member of the postseason roster. Signed in the off-season to provide veteran leadership and stability coming off the bench, he missed the season’s first three months following knee surgery only to return to action in July and break his right pinkie finger after having played just seven games.

He returned from the disabled list when rosters expanded Thursday and has contributed to the past two wins.

On Sunday in San Francisco, he worked an eighth-inning walk against reliever Jeremy Affeldt, setting the stage for Willie Bloomquist’s go-ahead hit.

And on Monday, in his sixth start of the season, he shot a fourth-inning single over shortstop to drive in two runs and in the sixth sparked the rally that drove Rockies right-hander Esmil Rogers from the game by leading off the inning with a solo home run. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt capped the five-run inning with a bases-clearing double to left field to give the Diamondbacks an 8-2 lead.

Expected before the season to be part of a platoon at third base, Blum’s injury opened the door for Ryan Roberts to play. Now, Blum is looking at more of a bench role, one that Gibson still sees as crucial.

“He’s got to play,” Gibson said. “He’s going to be big for us. I see him having a huge role in where we go. We’re going to get him out there, get him some at-bats, get him in the field. He’s a good player and has a lot of experience.”

Blum said it was nice to hear that Gibson still views him as a part of the equation.

“I like what those guys are doing on a daily basis and I want to be a part of it,” Blum said. “I’ve been itching for six or seven months now, it seems like. I’m more than ready to jump on these guys’ coattails and help them out.”

Diamondbacks rewind

No letdown: The Diamondbacks just finished their biggest series of the year, taking two of three from San Francisco, and had to play another day game – in high altitude, no less – after a night of travel, all of which were factors Kirk Gibson worried might contribute to a letdown.

But it didn’t happen.

“I think it’s nice that the guys in here are recognizing the importance of these games now and what it means to our division race and stuff like that,” infielder Geoff Blum said. “I think everybody’s responded good and had a good time doing it.”

Sloppy, but good enough: Gibson mentioned that his team played sloppily, running into three outs on the bases, but he was just glad to see the energy given the situation.

“When we run into outs on the bases, you kind of don’t want to say too much because they’re busting it,” Gibson said. “Maybe we’re not thinking it out as smart as we normally do but we kept coming, put a lot of pressure on them and scored enough runs to get the win.”

Miley wins again: Left-hander Wade Miley gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Dexter Fowler, another long ball in the third to Mark Ellis and pitched out of trouble in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

But Miley wound up going seven innings, retiring the final eight batters he faced, allowing runs only on the homers.

“He seems to struggle early in his starts and then he gets rolling,” Gibson said. “He threw pretty strong there at the end.”

View from the press box

Considering the way Aaron Hill was producing in Toronto before the Diamondbacks acquired him, it’s hard to believe he’s been hitting quite so many balls hard. Perhaps his recent level of success is unsustainable, but maybe it’s also possible that his level of failure in Toronto was unsustainable, too. He wasn’t as bad as he was showing, and the Diamondbacks are benefiting from the recovery.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks failed to secure their first sweep of the San Francisco Giants since 2008 as the Giants pounded the D-backs for an 8-1 victory. The Diamondbacks still won the series 2-1, but they now fall one game behind the Giants after moving into a tie following Tuesday’s Game 2.

The Diamondbacks struggled on offense all game and mustered only two hits through the first six innings. The Giants, meanwhile, had offensive eruptions in the third and fifth innings, when they scored four runs in each to take a commanding 8-0 lead.

Arizona’s two newly acquired pitchers both got playing time on Wednesday as Jason Marquis started and Brad Ziegler came in to relieve him. Unfortunately, neither had very good outings. Marquis surrendered eight runs off of 10 hits in fours innings.

Ziegler came in to replace him in the bottom of the fifth inning and allowed only one hit to Cody Ross, but unfortunately the double secured the Giants’ final two runs of the game. Ziegler was replaced by Zach Duke, who gave up only one hit and no runs over the Giants’ final three innings.

Though the Diamondbacks lost today, they did well in the series by taking the first two games. Arizona entered the Bay Area two games back of the Giants, and after this series they leave only one game back. A huge loss surely won’t help the Diamondbacks’ psyche, but they have to feel good about beating the Giants by a combined eight runs in their other two encounters. If this series is any indication, the NL West race could go right down to the wire.

The Diamondbacks are now 61-50, and they face the Los Angeles Dodgers next at home. Game 1 is set to start at 6:40 p.m. on Friday.

(Sports Network) – First place in the National League West will be on the line
this evening when the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants continue
their three-game series at AT&T Park.

Arizona pulled within a game of the Giants’ division lead in Monday’s opener,
as Willie Bloomquist’s two-run single highlighted a five-run sixth inning,
lifting the Diamondbacks to a 5-2 victory.

Gerardo Parra, Ryan Roberts and Miguel Montero also drove in runs during the
inning to help Arizona win its third consecutive game.

Ian Kennedy (13-3) limited the Giants to two runs in eight innings to pick up
another victory. He has won five consecutive starts and allowed only nine runs
in 34 innings over that span.

Matt Cain (9-7) was responsible for all of Arizona’s runs and took the loss,
San Francisco’s fourth in a row.

“I mean, they’re good. We noticed that, we thought that in spring,” Cain said.
“I’ve always thought that they’re going to be a group of guys that are going
to always hit.”

Getting to even tonight could be a tall task for the Diamondbacks, as they go
up against one of the best hurlers in the game in two-time NL Cy Young Award
winner Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum returned from a stomach ailment to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on
Thursday, scattering three hits over six scoreless innings to improve to 9-8
on the year to go along with a 2.78 ERA. It was his third win in four starts.

Lincecum is 7-2 lifetime versus the Diamondbacks with a 2.42 ERA in 15 starts.

Arizona will rely on righty Daniel Hudson, who has lost his last two starts.
Hudson was beaten by San Diego on Thursday, as he allowed four runs and seven
hits in six innings, dropping him to 10-7, while raising his ERA to 3.81.

Hudson lost to the Giants the last time he faced them and is 2-2 in four
starts against the NL West rivals with a 3.38 ERA.

Despite losing on Monday San Francisco has had Arizona’s number this season,
prevailing in seven of the 10 matchups. The Giants also won last season’s
series with the D’Backs, 13-5.

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Matt Cain didn’t have much time to react at the ball coming straight for his head. The San Francisco pitcher tried to twist out of the way but hit the dirt within seconds, clutching his right hand in pain.
It was the most damage the Arizona Diamondbacks inflicted on Cain all afternoon.
Cain stayed in the game and finished his best outing in nearly a month, Nate Schierholtz added three hits and made an outstanding defensive play and the Giants beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 Thursday to complete a perfect homestand.
“Matty’s so tough,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “He could have come out of that game but he wanted to stay in. He just kept going out there throwing up zeros.”
Cain (3-2) scattered seven hits over 7 2-3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk to win for the first time since April 15. He retired 17 of 18 hitters during one stretch and left to a rousing ovation from the sold-out crowd at AT&T Park after giving up back-to-back hits with two outs in the ninth.
Cain might not have made it that far had the pitch from Arizona starter Daniel Hudson missed a little more inside.
Cain, who was trying to put down a sacrifice bunt, tried to get out of the way but was hit on the back of his hand and immediately dropped to his knees as manager Bruce Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner rushed out from the dugout.
Plate umpire Bill Miller ruled the ball hit Cain’s bat and was a foul. After getting checked out, Cain stayed in the game and got the bunt down, moving Eli Whiteside from second to third. Andres Torres followed with a double and Aubrey Huff’s RBI single made it 3-0.
“Those are the ones where you really don’t have a whole lot of options to get out of the way,” Cain said. “The bat and my hand probably saved my face.”
Whiteside doubled twice to help the surging Giants go 6-0 at home. They swept Colorado and then Arizona to extend their season-high winning streak to six games.
Gerardo Parra, Xavier Nady and Justin Upton had two hits apiece for Arizona, which has lost four straight.
The Diamondbacks scored twice in the eighth and had the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth before Javier Lopez recorded the final two outs for his first save in nearly five years.
“I feel like we got outplayed this series, I got outmanaged and they swept us,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “Those guys are the world champions and they showed it this series. We’ve got to just pick ourselves up.”
Schierholtz, making his 10th start of the season, made big plays in the field and at the plate to give the Giants an early boost. He singled in Cody Ross in the second for a 1-0 lead, then threw out Parra at second base after he singled off the wall in right the next inning.
Schierholtz, who grounded out with the bases loaded in the third, also beat out an infield single in the sixth but was stranded at third.
The Giants tacked on two more and Cain made it stand up with his best outing in nearly a month. He left after giving up back-to-back singles with two outs in the eighth.
“That’s definitely the homestand we needed,” Cain said. “I got those guys in a little bit of a pickle in the eighth and the bullpen really didn’t worry about it.”
Reliever Jeremy Affeldt got Stephen Drew to hit a sharp grounder to first, but the ball glanced off Huff’s glove for a hit. Parra easily scored from third to end the shutout bid.
Upton followed with an RBI single off Ramon Ramirez to cut the gap to 3-2, but Ramirez got Russell Branyan to ground out wit the tying run at second.
Ryan Roberts singled leading off the ninth for Arizona and took third on Chris Young’s pinch-hit single. Lopez, working in the closer role while Brian Wilson rested after pitching five straight games, struck out Kelly Johnson and then got Parra on a swinging strikeout to end the game. It was Lopez’s first save since Sept. 12, 2006.
NOTES: Giants C Buster Posey was held out of the starting lineup after taking two foul balls off his mask on Wednesday night. “There are no concerns or issues,” Bochy said. “We’re just being a little careful.” … Giants RHP Santiago Casilla, on the DL since April 6 with an inflamed right elbow, is scheduled to start for Class-A San Jose on Friday. Bochy said the plan is for Casilla to throw 20-25 pitches, then be stretched out to two innings in his next outing. … Parra’s error on Torres’ fly ball in the third was his first of the season. … The Giants have sold out each of their 15 home games. … This is San Francisco’s first undefeated home stand of five games or more since May 25-30, 2004. … Upton leads Arizona with 10 multi-hit games. … Drew, who had two hits and an RBI, is batting .385 with runners in scoring position.