By Nick Piecoro | Arizona Republic
The Diamondbacks limped into SunTrust Park on Friday, losers of nine of their past 14. Just as alarming as the losses themselves was who they were coming against: quality competition.
For most of the past 2 1/2 months, the Diamondbacks have beat up on the bad teams. For that, they deserve credit. But during that stretch, they consistently fell short against the good ones – the ones they’re eventually going to have to beat, whether it’s in October or before that. Prior to this weekend, the Diamondbacks had won just one series against a winning club since the middle of May.
And so, after blanking the Atlanta Braves 3-0 on Saturday afternoon, their second win in as many days against a surprise playoff contender, the Diamondbacks gave themselves some things to feel good about heading into the All-Star break, regardless of whether they can finish the series sweep on Sunday.