DENVER – The Diamondbacks will play their 40th game Friday night, meaning they’re just about a quarter of the way through the season. It’s still early — when you need triple digits to count the number of remaining games, the phrase still applies — but last season’s epic playoff races serve as reminders that every game counts, whether it’s May or late September.

With that in mind, let’s review what’s happened so far, with an eye on what needs to occur for the Diamondbacks to turn things around.

1. Injuries: The Diamondbacks expected to open the season without shortstop Stephen Drew, without whom they were able to win the division last year, but they weren’t expecting to lose their center fielder, Chris Young, or their No. 2 starter, Daniel Hudson.

With the exception of Drew, the Diamondbacks were able to stay healthy last season while their top rivals in the National League West suffered key injuries. The Diamondbacks don’t have the kind of depth — at least not among position players — to where they can suffer too many losses.

The good news is, Young, Hudson and Drew, in that order, appear to be nearing returns. Barring setbacks, they all could be back with the team by mid-June.

2. Slow starters: Last year, the Diamondbacks had a combination of guys who had career years and guys who came out of nowhere to be surprise contributors. Most of them seem to have fallen off so far this season.

Right-hander Josh Collmenter struggled in four starts before getting shifted to the bullpen. Third baseman Ryan Roberts is hitting close to .200. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt has only two home runs.

And then there’s right fielder Justin Upton, who last season put together the kind of year many had predicted for him. But through the first month and a half, Upton has struggled, collecting just 12 RBIs through 39 games.

Perhaps it’s because of the jammed thumb he suffered during the first series of the year. Or perhaps it’s a matter of him just not feeling right at the plate.

Whatever the reason, the Diamondbacks probably won’t contend without more production from Upton.

3. Clutch hits: Numbers guys will tell you that hitting with runners in scoring position might not be the skill that some think it is. There’s little evidence to suggest it’s repeatable from year to year and might instead be a matter of good and bad luck in small sample sizes.

Whatever the case may be, the Diamondbacks haven’t been good in those situations, and it’s been costing them games.

Entering Thursday, the Diamondbacks were hitting just .229 with runners in scoring position, with Upton, who was expected to be their main run producer, going just 3 for 27 (.111).

In the big picture, the team numbers aren’t that bad. The .229 average ranks ninth in the league. But given the way the Diamondbacks have played in close games, the lack of production has felt crippling.

4. Close and late: That brings us another area in which the Diamondbacks thrived last season but have fallen off this year: winning close games. Last year, they lost just four games in which they led after seven innings. They already have lost four of those games this year.

Tied into that is an inability to win one-run games. After going 28-16 last season, they are 4-10 in one-run games this year. One-run games are generally considered a byproduct of luck. Baseball folks like to say that luck balances out. But the luck didn’t balance out for the Diamondbacks last season, so who’s to say it will this year?

5. Pitching: Perhaps most surprising, the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff hasn’t been very reliable.

Their rotation entered Thursday fourth from the bottom of the league with a 4.34 ERA. Granted, those numbers are mostly inflated by their fifth starters’ struggles — Collmenter (9.82 ERA as a starter) and rookie Pat Corbin (5.73) haven’t been reliable — but ace Ian Kennedy’s ERA is about a run higher than it was last season.

The bullpen hasn’t been as dependable, either. A unit that last season blew 13 saves, tied for the second-fewest in the league, already has blown five.

The Diamondbacks entered Thursday at 16-22, the same record they had after 38 games last season. No one thought they were bound for an NL West title, but that’s what happened, partly because they remade roughly a third of their roster.

If the Diamondbacks’ current players can’t sort out the problems they’ve encountered through the first six weeks, the club may have no other choice but to reshuffle the roster again.

Up next: Kansas City Royals

Royals update: Not much has gone right for the Royals so far this season. It started in spring training when they lost C Salvador Perez to a knee injury and RHP Joakim Soria to an elbow injury. More recently, they lost LHP Danny Duffy, also to an elbow injury. 1B Eric Hosmer, who is expected to be a key part of the Royals lineup for years, is struggling, hitting just .174 with five home runs. LF Alex Gordon has a .250 average. RF Jeff Francoeur isn’t doing much, either, hitting .248 with one homer. 3B Mike Moustakas has been a bright spot, with a .303 average, 11 doubles and five homers. Their pitching staff ranks 12th in the league with a 4.37 ERA. The starters have a 5.21 ERA (12th) and relievers a 3.30 ERA (5th).

By the time Ian Kennedy discovered his rhythm Tuesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals already had found themselves enjoying a comfortable six-run lead against the right-hander and the Diamondbacks.

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And they got that courtesy of two home runs from right fielder Carlos Beltran, who belted a two-run shot in the first inning and then unloaded on Kennedy for a grand slam in the second.

It was more than enough for the defending World Series champions to walk out of Chase Field with their second consecutive victory over the Diamondbacks, 6-1 in front of 30,156.

It was the fourth consecutive defeat for the Diamondbacks, who have dropped six of their past seven. Kennedy managed to retire 13 consecutive batters at one point, but Beltran’s carnage put an end to his long-running success at Chase.

Until taking the loss and seeing his record fall to 3-2 this season, Kennedy was 10-0 in his previous 11 starts at home.

“He just didn’t have good rhythm in the beginning and wasn’t able to hit his spots,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “That (St. Louis) team is very good. They don’t leave you a lot of room, and obviously Beltran had him covered up pretty good.

“There’s areas you have to pitch to. He wasn’t able to get it there.”

If there was a positive, it was that Kennedy worked through his mistakes over the plate and settled into a groove, thus allowing Gibson the luxury of not having to tap into his bullpen early again, as was the case Monday when Joe Saunders couldn’t get out of the fourth inning.

Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (4-2), meanwhile, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

The Diamondbacks didn’t score until the ninth inning when Miguel Montero drove in Justin Upton with a double to center field.

“We’ve got injuries, which doesn’t really help. Some guys have got to pick them up,” said Kennedy, who allowed six runs and six hits in seven innings with two walks and six strikeouts. “But guys are going to get healthy, guys are going to start hitting better. We’ve got to pick each other up. That’s what a team does.”

Kennedy was at a loss to explain his being off target to start the game. He was asked if it had anything to do with how he felt after warming up in the bullpen.

“I’ve always said it doesn’t make a difference what I feel like when I’m warming up or how my work was all week,” he said. “… Sometimes you feel great and sometimes you don’t. Today I was medium. I didn’t feel great, I didn’t feel bad.

“But yeah, this really sucks.”

Gibson refuses to stop being optimistic. He said he’s convinced that last year’s National League West champions can turn things around quickly.

“Sure I do. What’s the other choice?” he said. “The other choice would never even be in my vocabulary. We came out of spring training, and how did everybody feel? What’s changed?

“We’re in a tough stretch, we’ve lost four in a row. So everything changes? We went through this last year. There’s no excuses. It’s just the way it is and we will come out of it together.”

Rewind

Beltran’s blasts: It wasn’t quite like Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton’s 5-for-5, four-homer performance Tuesday against the Orioles, but the Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran started just as strong. Beltran launched two long home runs in his first two at-bats against Ian Kennedy, including a grand slam.

After that, however, Kennedy struck out Beltran twice. It was the ninth and 10th homers of the season for Beltran. It was also his 32nd career multi-homer game and his 10th career grand slam.

Upton still struggling: Right fielder Justin Upton continues to scuffle at the plate. It’s unclear as to what degree an earlier thumb injury is still affecting him, but he went 1 for 4 on Tuesday — reaching on a single in the ninth — and is 4 for 25 in his past six games.

The two-time All Star is batting .235 overall with three homers and nine RBIs.

“He’s working hard. He knows what he’s doing. The key is to not get frustrated with it,” manager Kirk Gibson said before the game. “Just try and keep your composure and power through it.”

Molina leaves: Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina left the game in the bottom of the ninth because of a left-wrist injury suffered while trying to catch a pitch from reliever Mitchell Boggs.

Molina had X-rays after the game, but the results weren’t immediately available.

Ransom’s strikeouts: As good as journeyman Cody Ransom has been in limited spurts this season, he acknowledged before this game that he has to do a much better job of cutting down his strikeouts.

That might have to be a work in progress, as Ransom struck out in each of his four plate appearances for the dreaded “Golden Sombrero.” That gives him 16 strikeouts in 41 at-bats.

View from the press box

The Diamondbacks have lost four games in a row, but it’s too early to panic. Don’t forget, they were exactly in this position a year ago, standing 14-17 after 31 games. They went on to win 94 and capture the National League West in comfortable fashion. So relax, enjoy the Coyotes’ success in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and wait for things to turn downtown. It’s only May, people.

The 2012 MLB regular season is well underway with a full month of baseball already in the books. It is still a long road to October baseball but paths are already starting to take shape and many surprises have already occurred along the way. The beginning of the year brings promise but at this point in the season anything can still happen.

The highlight of the day will be when the St. Louis Cardinals visit the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.

Lance Lynn (5-0, 1.60 ERA) will take the mound for the Cardinals looking for his sixth win of the season facing off against Joe Saunders (2-1, 1.24 ERA) of the Diamondbacks. St. Louis is proving that a single superstar does not make for a successful team by leading the National League Central while Arizona is putting up a strong fight to contend in the National League West.

With a number of great games to be played on the day, this will be one of the better ones.

Check your local listings for game times and channel listings in your area. With MLB.TV all games are also available nationwide (local blackouts apply).

Note: All start times Eastern

Monday, May 7, 2012

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 p.m. (Game 1)

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 p.m. (Game 2)

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m.

Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 p.m.

Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 p.m.

Miami Marlins at Houston Astros, 8:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 p.m.

Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 p.m.

Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:10 p.m.

St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 p.m.

Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 p.m.

Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 p.m.

San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.

Sources:

All data provided by MLB.com

Paul Rados is a Cleveland based freelance sportswriter and Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook.

Target? The Diamondbacks don’t feel like they have one on the backs of their uniforms just because they are the defending National League West champions.

“I don’t feel like we are,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “I don’t know who said that. It says ‘Gibson and there’s a 23 on my back. It’s the same as it was last year.

“I don’t see it as a target.”

Neither does starting pitcher Daniel Hudson, who made his final Cactus League tune-up on Sunday before pitching the second game of the regular season Saturday against visiting San Francisco.

“I can’t speak for everybody but the attitude is great in the clubhouse and we’re all ready to go,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think we need to play like we have a target on our backs because we didn’t last year.

“But we’re obviously not going to sneak up on anybody this year so to get out there and get off to a good start is going to be important for us.”

Gibson recalled the start of the 2008 season when he was Arizona’s bench coach and the team raced out to a red-hot start in April.

“Everybody said we were going to run away with it,” he said. “We all know that didn’t happen. A lot can change. We’ll see how good we are. That’s why we’re here. We know we’re good. How good are we? I don’t know.

“I would say there are many teams that can win our division. We don’t take any of them lightly. We respect all their managers, their players and their competitive spirit.”

But targets? Gibson said he hasn’t felt like he’s worn one of those since winning the World Series in 1984 with the Tigers and 1988 with the Dodgers.

“Well, we were the world champions,” he said. “We’re not the world champions. So I would say the Cardinals got the targets on their backs.”

Just joking

When the Diamondbacks got a look at Gibson’s batting order Sunday morning, they all must have done a double take.

Hitting in the leadoff spot was none other than starting pitcher, Hudson.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Hudson said upon arriving at Camelback Ranch.

Turns out it was nothing but an April Fool’s joke by Gibson, but he tried to lure reporters into thinking it was real for as long as he could. The scorecards in the press box even had Hudson hitting first.

The reason?

To paraphrase Gibson, the Diamondbacks have been hitting like horse bleep “so I’m just putting my best hitter up there.”

Hudson won the National League’s Silver Slugger Award last season, hitting .277 with 14 RBIs. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, entered Sunday’s game ranked last among NL Cactus League teams in hitting with a .259 batting average.

Gibson said his hitters “need to get to work.” A little later, he came clean and said of Sunday’s original batting order, “I was just messing with them.”

Short hops

A day after being sent home from the ballpark because he was feeling ill, second baseman Aaron Hill was back in the starting lineup.

He didn’t say if he was feeling any better, but added, “There’s no way I’m missing two games in a row.”

Gibson said the team was pleased to be able to retain right-hander Brett Lorin, a Rule 5 draft pick obtained from the Pirates.

“We wouldn’t have traded for him if we didn’t like him,” Gibson said of Lorin, who was assigned to Double-A Mobile on Saturday and likely will pitch out of the bullpen. “He’s a tall kid, he’s got a pretty lively arm … and he looks like he’s deceptive.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks won the National League West last season behind strong performances from a number of players, including unlikely breakouts from Ian Kennedy and J.J. Putz. Where should you pick them and some of the other Diamondbacks in your fantasy baseball draft? Here are the top five D-Backs in fantasy baseball for 2012.

Daniel Hudson (SP)

— Since being traded to the Diamondbacks in July of 2010, Hudson is 23-13 with a 3.01 earned run average. Furthermore, in going 16-12 last season, he registered 21 quality starts in 33 outings. All signs point to another solid season in 2012, as he pitched to better numbers (lower ERA, WHIP and BAA) after the All-Star break. The 25-year-old is a great sleeper pick in the later rounds.

J.J. Putz (RP) – Putz registered 40-plus saves for the second time in his career and has the ability to make it three, but there should be a couple of red flags next to his name. First of all, the last time he saved more than 40 games was in 2007. As a matter of fact, he only has a combined 21 saves over the last three seasons. The injury-prone Putz may be a top 10 closer, but he’s also a potential bust.

Miguel Montero (C)

— Montero played in a career-best 140 games in 2011 and the results showed. He finished the year with career-highs in home runs and RBI with 18 and 86, respectively. A career .271 hitter, Montero is one of the top hitting catchers in baseball, but he has appeared in more than 85 games only one other time in his career (128 games in 2009). Thus, wait until the middle rounds to draft him.

Ian Kennedy (SP) — Kennedy had a breakout season in 2011. The former highly-rated prospect went 21-4 with a 2.88 ERA and 198 strikeouts. He may not win 20 games again, but his second-half numbers suggest more success in 2012. Kennedy went 12-1 after the All-Star break with an ERA of 2.11 and 1.00 WHIP. He may not be among the true aces in the game, but he’s worth drafting as soon as round eight.

Justin Upton (OF) – The five-tool Upton has turned into a fantasy baseball stud. Last season, he set career highs across the board in bashing 31 homers with 88 RBI, 21 stolen bases and 105 runs scored. Don’t sweat his high strikeout rate, he still manages to hit for a decent average (career .277 hitter). At age 24, Upton will be doing damage for years to come. He’s an MVP candidate and first-round pick.

Adam Martini is a freelance sports writer who roots for the New York Mets (and any team that is playing the New York Yankees). A dedicated fantasy baseball player since 1998, his games of choice growing up were Strat-O-Matic and MicroLeague Baseball.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com.

The Official Site of Major League Baseball.

SOUTH BEND — New South Bend Silver Hawks owner Andrew T. Berlin announced Thursday that the club has an agreement with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“We are delighted to announce that we have reached an early agreement to renew our affiliation with one of the best run minor league systems in professional baseball,” Berlin said.

The news comes nearly a month prior to opening day and nearly six months prior to the post-season period when renewals and affiliation deals are normally struck between major and minor league owners.

“There was no reason to wait for this renewal and every reason to do it early,” added Berlin. “The Diamondbacks are a first-class organization.  Not only do they recruit some of the most exciting young players in the world for the Silver Hawks, but they give us Mark Haley, one of the best managers in all of Minor League baseball.  Mark is as much of a draw at the ballpark as some of the players.  And let’s face it, the Diamondbacks are also winners. They won the National League West division title last year.”

“We’re excited to renew the agreement with South Bend,” commented Mike Bell, Director of Player Development for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “We’ve had a great relationship with them and look forward to continuing for the foreseeable future. With Andrew’s leadership and direction, we’re confident it will be great place for our players to learn the game.”

The renewed affiliation agreement between the South Bend Silver Hawks and the Arizona Diamondbacks extends the current agreement, which is scheduled to lapse at the end of the 2012 season, all the way through the 2014 season.

“This is one of the things we knew going in that we wouldn’t have to worry about or change,” added Berlin. “The early renewal means we can focus our attention on all of the other things that fans have been telling us they want to see as part of their game experience.  So, we’re grateful to the Diamondbacks for making this easy.”

The South Bend Silver Hawks are a Class A minor league team affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team is owned and operated by Swing-Batter-Swing, whose sole shareholder is Berlin of Chicago.

Opening day is April 9.

SCOTTSDALE — Padres pitching prospect Joe Wieland struck out four and allowed just two hits in four innings, and San Diego’s split squad beat the Arizona Diamondbacks’ split squad 8-0 on Wednesday.

“I like the use of the fastball hitting both sides of the plate and he mixed in some changes, which he needs to do,” manager Bud Black said. “A good breaking ball and a good curveball to (Aaron) Hill to end the fourth — that was big. A little stress on him and he made some pitches.”

Chase Headley and Carlos Quentin hit back-to-back home runs and Nate Freiman added a three-run homer.

“Our offense stayed on them and a couple of big swings by Q and Chase were good to see,” Black said. “We added on there in the ninth. All three homers were well struck.”

Patrick Corbin started the game for Arizona and allowed three hits and struck out three in three scoreless innings. Trevor Bauer, the third overall pick of last June’s draft, followed Corbin, going two innings and giving up one hit and one walk while striking out three.

“It looked like he had a lot of composure from the first pitch,” Diamondback manager Kirk Gibson said. “Bauer threw the ball well. He hung an 0-2 curveball and stranded the guy out there. I am sure he was not happy with it but the important thing was he got out of the inning.”

Takashi Saito gave up the home runs to Headley and Quentin, the first two batters he faced.

NOTES: Padres second baseman Orlando Hudson was a late scratch because of a strained right groin. He will miss several days. . For the second consecutive day, Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton was hit by a pitch. Last season Upton was hit 19 times to tie for the most in the National league. The Washington Nationals’ Danny Espinosa was also plunked 19 times last season . Both benches were warned after Diamondbacks pitcher David Hernandez hit the Padres’ Will Venerable in the seventh inning.