Webb Gem: D'Backs 1 - Nats 0

(Photo by Rick Scuteri/AP)

"The guy's throwing the ball unbelievable right now, and it's huge for us, just with the way he's controlling the game and controlling the strike zone, working through guys."

-- Catcher Chris Snyder, on D'Backs ace, Brandon Webb.

Brandon Webb ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 33, eclipsing his own old club record of 30, on the way to a complete game shutout, 1-0 against the Washington Nationals. The victory assured the Diamondbacks of winning their seventh consecutive series.  Along the way, Webb struck out 10 and threw 119 pitches.

The only run web needed came in the fourth inning, when Eric Byrnes singled to left (No. 138), stole second (No. 31), and was driven in by a Justin Upton triple.  Too bad Justin could not score; it was the third triple of his very young career, in all three instances, he cruised into third standing up.

The Diamondbacks have now won 17 of their last 20 games.

The front office made a very smart decision to start this evening's game at 5:05 p.m. instead of the usual 6:40 p.m. The game was over before 7:20 p.m. (What ever am I going to do?  I have an entire evening before me!) Granted, the pitcher's duel ran faster than Diamondbacks' games normally do, but even the typical longer game would have been done by about 8:30 p.m. The next experiment involves starting a Sunday afternoon game at 1:05 p.m. rather than 1:40 p.m. That's a good idea, also.

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