Despite Goldy injury, D-backs keep rolling

LOS ANGELES -- Not even the absence of Paul Goldschmidt, it seems, can slow these Arizona Diamondbacks down.
Playing their fourth straight game without their All-Star first baseman and National League Most Valuable Player candidate Wednesday night, the D-backs beat the Dodgers, 3-1, at Dodger Stadium for their franchise-record 13th consecutive win.
"I don't think so," veteran infielder Daniel Descalso said when asked if he'd ever been part of a team on this kind of roll. "And I feel like if I had been, I would definitely remember. I've been on good teams, but I don't think I've been on a team that has rattled off 13 in a row. It's just been a lot of fun."
It was the D-backs' 82nd win of the season, clinching a winning year for the first time since they won the NL West title in 2011. They hold a 7 1/2-game lead over the Rockies for the top NL Wild Card spot.
"It's incredible," outfielder A.J. Pollock said. "It's awesome, man. It's a lot of fun to be a part of. Just really can't explain it. It's just a lot of fun to be at the ballpark, it's fun to play, everyone is just enjoying themselves and expecting good things to happen."

Winning 13 straight is great no matter when you do it, but for the D-backs, the timing of these victories could hardly be better.
The first win of the streak was the final game of a series against the Mets in New York, but the next 12 all came against division opponents. The D-backs swept three-game sets from the Giants and Dodgers at home, before going on the road and sweeping the Rockies and Dodgers in back-to-back three-game series.
"If anybody says they're going to predict that, they're crazy," manager Torey Lovullo said. "There's no way, with the quality of teams that we just ran through, all within our division, we know that it's a very capable group. It speaks volumes about what we are right now as a group, and what we're doing every single night."

It seems ages ago that the D-backs were swept by the Dodgers in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium just prior to the All-Star break. That was when the Dodgers were on a 52-9 run that all but sealed the NL West for them.
In the nine games they've played the Dodgers since that July sweep, the D-backs are 7-2, including six straight wins. Despite that success, the D-backs continue to go out of their way to portray themselves as the underdog.
"They're the best team in baseball," catcher Chris Iannetta said. "They've been the best team all year. They're a great team from top to bottom. It's one of the toughest lineups in baseball to work through. Their pitching staff is great. They're the best team in baseball for a reason. We're just happy to get some wins."