All right, so I did some digging around through statistics, because this kind of stuff interests me. I was curious to find out what kind of precedent there was for a Suns team taking so few shots and getting to the line so frequently. At the very least, I figured it had to have been uncommon since bringing Nash into the fold four years ago. Below are the results:

The 61 FG attempts are the fewest in any game this decade (dating back to the 1999-2000 season). At this late hour I didn't really feel like delving back into further history to see if this was some kind of franchise record, but at the very least it shows what a rarity this is. To contrast, in Nash's first four seasons with the Suns, the team attempted less than 70 field goals in a game just eight times.

Meanwhile, the attempts at the line from the Bucks game (54) were also obscenely high. In fact, it was the highest number of FTA since 2001, which we'll get to shortly. That's 22 more free throws than ANY game in 2005-06. No other game in the past seven years even came close; the only ones in range were a couple of 42-attempt games (3/4/08 against the Jazz, 2/14/05 against the Jazz) and a 44 FT outing (11/26/01 against...the Jazz).

Way back in 2001, when gas was 10 cents a gallon, Mario Elie started and Vinny Del Negro came off the bench for the Suns, Phoenix and Orlando squared off in a matchup that was eerily similar to the game on Saturday. Here are the two lines:

02-20-01 @ Magic: 32-62 FG, 43-55 FT
11-08-08 @ Bucks: 27-61 FG, 44-54 FT

The situations are a little different, of course; Amare contributed 20 of those 54 free throw attempts by himself. The 2001 team had to depend on Shawn Marion getting to the line 13 times, with some significant help from J-Kidd, Uncle Cliffy, Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers (and a nice six-foul contribution from then-Magic player Bo Outlaw). The '01 squad only attempted seven threes, which looks much different than what we've become accustomed too. It becomes clear that such a glaring disparity between a scant amount of shots and a huge number of trips to the line is pretty rare.

One thing worth mentioning: Unlike in the 7SoL era, the FGA/game being this low isn't that uncommon. Out of the seven games so far this season, the Suns have fewer than 70 attempts in five of them, and have yet to take more than 80 shots in any game. It would seem Porter's more deliberate approach on the offensive end -- as well as the discretion on when to run and when to slow it down -- has already taken effect, but not at the expense of winning (or scoring).

Well, just for this season anyway.

I hit up Fry's last night to fill up on gas before my trip to Phoenix this weekend, and they had all their Diamondback stuff on clearance 50-75% off. Hats, t-shirts, beer sleeves, stuff like that. Of particular note: those 10th anniversary DVDs were all the way down to a buck. And there were like 50 of them.

All Fry's stores handle their clearance differently, but there's a good chance one near you could have some good deals going. Might behoove you to check it out.

From ESPN.

Of particular note: "Stoudemire, who will miss the team's public scrimmage on Friday, will likely wear goggles when he returns to the court -- possibly Sunday -- and might wear them for the rest of his career."

Now, the article says it wasn't anything too serious and that it wasn't as bad as if it had been the retina or cornea, but if it's so minor, why is the next 10-12 years an issue?

I'm hoping that somehow Amare will channel some kind of bizarre Bo Outlaw psychotic defensive energy because of the goggles, if nothing else. Or maybe a Kurt Rambis vibe.

ed note: Let's not forget that it was the new tougher Boris Diaw that inflicted this injury. I am glad to see Boris get more aggressive. I hope he would do so with out a) injuring our star player and b) resorting to scratching and clawing to make a point

Record: 76-77. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -10
Elimination number: 6 (and counting). Playoff odds: narwhal to be found

With such fleeting opportunities down the stretch to have any chance of sneaking into the playoffs, nights like tonight are ones that have to be seized. Twiddling thumbs and hoping the Dodgers lose is one thing when you cling to a small division lead, but when coming from behind, that luxury disappears. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of a young phenom and a couple of crushed home runs, that wasn't meant to be on this night.

Max Scherzer put up another fantastic outing, and still came up short of his first big league victory. He went six strong innings, giving up three runs on seven hits but striking out eight and walking just one. The only real damage was a couple of solo shots on pitches that weren't that bad. He looked his best in the sixth, when Iannetta and Barmes came to the plate with runners on second and third with one out after a wild pitch. He struck them both out, setting down Barmes on his 98th pitch, and escaped the jam himself. Still, Max didn't get the memo about having to drive in his own runs, and was stuck hoping for the Diamondbacks to score some runs in the top of the seventh -- which, unsurprisingly, they did not. Here's Max's numbers from his last five starts. Note the Big Unit-esque W/L results:

0-2, 28 IP, 22 H, 7 ER, 10 BB, 39 K, 2.25 ERA, 1.16 run support while on mound

The no decision happened because the offense got off to a slow start. (If the typical start is a slow one, does it really count to call it a slow start anymore?) Only an Upton single forced De La Rosa to face anything above the minimum in the first three innings. That didn't change to start the fourth either, as Young and Jackson quietly grounded out. But Dunn reached on, of all things, an infield hit, and lumbered his way to second on a wild pitch. Upton and Reynolds both drew walks to load the bases...but Snyder lined out to end the inning and the threat. The only other bright spot against De La Rosa was Dunn's solo shot in the sixth. Young reached on a bouncer through the hole at short to lead off the eighth, but was quickly erased when CoJack's hard liner to the right side ended up being hit straight at Atkins.

In the ninth, however, Mark Reynolds looked at a pitch that juuuuust missed the outside corner for what he thought was ball four, but it was called strike two instead. Mark Reynolds was not pleased as he jogged back to the plate. Mark Reynolds hit the next pitch a good 430 feet or so, and the lead was down to one. Snyder immediately followed that up with a little flare to left, and was replaced by Romero on the basepaths. With one out, Eckstein tried to jump out of the way of a horrific Fuentes fastball, only to end up getting his knee in the way of it. He crumpled, couldn't put enough weight on it to stay in the game, and had to be replaced by Ojeda. Clark got ahead 2-0, and then flailed miserably at three fastballs. Drew pulled a pitch just foul, and fought his way to a full count before drawing a walk. With the bases juiced and two outs, Young flailed miserably at three fastballs, and the game was over.

Master of his Domain: David Eckstein, +10.0%
God-Emperor of Suck: Chris Young, -23.9%
Honorable Mention: Conor Jackson, -18.4%; Tony Clark, -14.2%

An interesting fangraph, if only because somehow Eckstein's HBP and BB contributed the most to our chances even though he didn't end up scoring a run. Dunn and Reynolds were the only other starters in the positive thanks to their home runs. Young and Clark's inability to come through in the ninth are reflected here accordingly.

Let's see, other bright spots...well, Reynolds only struck out once, so thanks to Howard's 2 Ks tonight, they are once again tied for the league lead. Rauch and Lyon both pitched scoreless innings, rareties for them in the past two months. And Scherzer was fantastic again. But all that amounted to was another loss and another day of hoping the Dodgers lose (which they were doing, 3-0, at the time of writing). What little chance remains for the playoffs shrunk even further with a wasted opportunity like tonight.

Less bright spots: 11 consecutive road losses, four-game winning streak snapped, 37 runs in the past 14 games. Twelve of 14 games with three runs or less. Including the wasted chances with the bases loaded, it was another 0-fer night with RISP -- 0-for-5 tonight. A laundry list of futility that no one wants to read.

Quiet GDT, although it's not all that surprising at this point. Less than 200 comments, and they ranged from resigned to noncommittal. Thanks to 4 Corners Fan, DbacksSkins, Jim McLennan, TwinnerA, Shums, kishi, AZWILDCATS, unnamedDBacksfan, Zephon and Scrbl.

Tomorrow, it's Doug Davis against Aaron Cook. Neither gave up an earned run in their last start -- Cook with eight shutout innings, Davis with seven and just an unearned run. Of course, this is Coors FIeld, where baseballs go to die. Even these oft-anemic offenses have the potential to go off at anytime.

Record: 71-73. Pace: 80-82. Change on last season: -10
Elimination number: 16. Playoff odds: i%.

A treatise, of course, is a different way of saying "long-ass explanation." Of course, one isn't really necessary to explain the track this season has taken -- its Fangraph would resemble an old-school roller coaster, with a steady rise, and then a gut-wrenching plummet the rest of the way. Besides, if a lengthy exposition were needed, we've got Jim's fanpost up to discuss the merits of looking ahead to next season.

Meanwhile, the sound you hear in the background is one of nagging persistence. It started out as the hum of what we assumed was inconsistency, given the April results. Over the past two weeks, however, that faint hum has turned into a full-blown buzzing noise that can no longer be ignored. This team is all but done, folks, and the dichotomy of results between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers tonight sum it up perfectly (if the past two head-to-head series weren't enough on their own).

Things got off to a pretty decent start. The second inning was one where both managers probably lost a little of what remains of their hair. In the top half, the Diamondbacks took an early lead when Doug Davis, he of the .108 average, singled in a run with the bases loaded and one out. We managed another run on a Stephen Drew sac fly, but Zito retired Eckstein to stop the bleeding there. Zito, he of the .133 average, got a measure of revenge in the bottom half, singling in a run of his own after a two-out triple and an intentional walk to face him.

The two pitchers, having already asserted themselves at the plate, continued to trade zeroes through the sixth, when San Francisco scratched across another run and chased Davis in the process. Qualls came in and got out of the jam, however, and then put up another zero in the seventh to keep the game tied at 2. In the eighth, when Chad was replaced by Tony Peña, things went downhill. He gave up a leadoff double to Omar Vizquel, who was promptly sacrificed to third. They walked Winn to put the double play in order, but that backfired when Lewis got an RBI single, and Rich Aurilia followed with another single to drive in Winn.

But the Diamondbacks rallied in the top of the ninth against Brian Wilson (much to the chagrin of my fantasy team), with surprising haste. Young singled to lead things off, and Snyder belted a pitch into the left field seats to tie the game up very quickly. Ojeda, Romero and Drew and grounded out to end the inning, but the damage had been done and the Diamondbacks found themselves in a 4-4 game.

Enter Jon Rauch. Why Jon Rauch? Your guess is as good as mine. It can't be about restoring confidence at this point, because seemingly anything would raise his confidence from zero. For the seventh time in his past nine appearances, he was charged with a run, and failed to retire either of the two batters he faced (base hit, walk). In came Juan Cruz to try and escape the jam, and wriggle he did. Cruz retired Vizquel on a liner, but Velez singled with one out, scoring Sandoval, and the game was over in crushing fashion.

Master of his Domain: Chris Snyder, +40.4%
Honorable Mention: Chad Qualls, +21.8%
God-Emperor of Suck: Tony Peña, -31.2%
Dishonorable Mention: Juan Cruz, -18.1%; Jon Rauch, -17.7%, Adam Dunn, -10.3%

This is another of those situations where Fangraphs can't quiteadequately measure the situation. Rauch was certainly more at fault for the events of the ninth inning, but Cruz gave up the game winning run, and that always moves the WE bar to 100 percent. The impact of Snyder's home run and the bullpen's collapse is certainly well represented, though. Dunn gets a slight mention because of his 0-for-4, 2 K performance.

The positive? Snyder had three hits along with his huge home run. Doug Davis pitched decently, albeit not great, and contributed at the plate. Chris Young had a couple of hits, and Conor Jackson reached twice on a hit and a walk. Oh, and Mark Reynolds managed to walk in the one plate appearance where he didn't strike out.

It was a busy GDT that understandably was depressed at the end -- 850ish comments and the first overflow thread we've seen in a while. Present and accounted for: Jim McLennan, foulpole, Scrbl, AF DBacks Fanatic, emilylovesthedbacks, kishi, DbacksSkins, snakecharmer, unnamedDBacksfan, TwinnerA, AZWILDCATS, damdrs1717, mrssoco, soco, singaporedbacksfan, Diamondhacks, victor frankenstein, utahdbacksfan, Wactivist, Augie's Army, jazzbo13, Stile4aly, Turambar and pepperdinedevil.

We have no such "At least the Dodgers lost" tomfoolery to fall back on today, as LA feasted on San Diego's bullpen for five runs in a 6-2 win. That puts us two and a half games back of the dreaded Dodgers, the farthest we've been behind at any point in the season (yes, this is somewhat misleading given the quick start and our clinging to the lead for three months). Needless to say, the window of opportunity is almost completely closed, and considerations are being made to put up bars and iron curtains as well.

It's (Bizarro?) Dan Haren tomorrow, against a pitcher with a 12.46 ERA this season. In other words, it's probably another loss on the schedule. It's an afternoon start, though, so I guess we won't have long to wait and see.

Record: 71-69. Pace: 82-80. Change on last season: -6
Magic number: 22. Playoff odds: TBA

Nothing fancy here, folks. I'm sure Jim's grateful to not have to do the recap tonight, as Lowe pitched masterfully and the Diamondbacks put up a completely feeble effort to try and stop him. The Fangraph sums it up better than I could.

Master of his Domain: Chris Young, +5.8%
God-Emperor of Suck: Dan Haren, -25.9%

Two hits. Two walks. Chris Young, being responsible for two of those four base runners, is the master of what little domain we have left. Dan Haren turned out another disappointing start, although he didn't last long enough to continue his string of seven hits or more in a start. I guess that's good.

No other Diamondback was more than 1 percent to the positive. Conor Jackson was second with 0.6 percent. That also does a good job of summing things up.

An unsurprisingly subdued (and off-topic) Gameday Thread. Present there were: kishi, njjohn, snakecharmer, Jim McLennan, foulpole, DbacksSkins, azwebber17, Diamondhacks, Shums, TwinnerA, Andrew, mrssoco, Scrbl, AZWILDCATS, unnamedDBacksfan, Gravity, 4 Corners Fan and Turambar.

Webb/Billingsley tomorrow. Maybe things will improve. Maybe we'll be in second place. Time will tell.