Whew! My two-week family vacation/journey/ungodly long car ride is finally over. The last of over 5000 miles driven on the way to and from Arizona came to an end at around 6:30 this morning, as much with a cheer as a yawn. 21 hours in the car will do that to you. We all had energy enough to unpack the car before we collapsed into our beds (and the floor of a neighboring room for one; his room was used as the cat's home while we were away, and, between the hair and the smell, it wasn't safe for human habitation).

Five hours later, and here I sit, surrounded by stacks of mail, suitcases – I've got a million things to do. One of which is to discuss last week's Diamondbacks game, as promised. So without further ado, here it is:

* * * *

Each of the last two times we've gone to visit family in Phoenix, I've made it a point to attend a Diamondbacks game, be it with uncles or aunts, brothers or sisters. So you'd think I would have taken the time to secure tickets (or even see if the D-Backs would be in town) prior to leaving home.

But I didn't.

Luckily for me, procrastinator that I am, the D-Backs were not just in town during my stay, but in town playing the Devil Rays, meaning, as with all bad, small-market and far-away teams, tickets would be plentiful. So plentiful, in fact, that the Best Available Tickets cost $175 each and were located all of 10 rows or so behind home plate.

But alas, vacation money being not quite as plentiful as the massive number of tickets available, we settled for the cheaper fare of $50 and tickets just under the upper deck overhand, nestled between home plate and first base. Very good seats, considering we bought them just days before the game.

The game began at 12:40 pm; we arrived an hour or so before then. As I have each time I've gone, I still marvel at how easy it is to get to and from Chase Field by car, parking included in the marveling. A reasonably-priced parking garage across the street from the stadium makes for a far easier and enjoyable traveling experience than the hit-and-miss, slow-as-molasses driving and parking situation at Wrigley. If there's one thing that really bugs me, it's the terrible commute and expensive parking. (The restroom troughs aren't as bad as they sound.)

The last time I saw a game in Phoenix, the stadium was called Bank One Ballpark, or BOB for short, and the Diamondbacks were absolutely awful. Today, the stadium is now known as Chase Field, renamed following the JPMorgan/Bank One merger, and the Diamondbacks are actually good, battling with San Diego and Los Angeles for first in the NL West.

The night before, the Diamondbacks had put on quite a show, rallying from six runs down to win in 10 innings. It will suffice to say I was hoping for a game half as exciting.

(Aside: I didn't get tickets before the trip; similarly, I didn't bring my own scorecard, as I usually do. So we enter the stadium, and then discover, sadly, that you can't just buy a stand-alone scorecard. The only way to get one is by purchasing a copy of D-backs Insider. I'd have probably gotten one anyway as a souvenir, but it speaks volumes about the state of scorekeeping that scorecards aren't available for singular purchase.)

Micah Owings took the mound for Arizona having gone four straight starts without allowing more than three runs, and more than two months without a loss. James Shields entered the game as the talk of the American League, with his surprising 3.04 ERA and lauded stuff. A solid matchup, a pitcher's duel in the making.

And after the first two outs, it sure looked like Owings wasn't going to give up anything. Akinori Iwamura went down on strikes, followed by Brendan Harris, and Owings looked impressive. But then Owings tried to get a little too fine, nibbling at the corners, and walked Greg Norton. The next batter, Ty Wigginton, got hit, and suddenly Tampa Bay was threatening to take an early lead with Carlos Pena and his 16 home runs at the plate.

But then it became obvious that Pena also brought nearly 50 strikeouts to the plate, and Owings was out of the inning. He settled down and didn't surrender a run until the fifth, but the Devil Rays finally chased him in the sixth. He left with a 6-4 lead.

Shields never really got in a groove. Eric Byrnes lead off the game with a blooper down the right field line that he squeezed a double out of for the first of four hits (why can't more players hustle like Byrnes?), and though neither Stephen Drew, Orlando Hudson nor Chad Tracy could drive him in, it was clear Shields didn't have his best stuff.

The floodgates opened in the third, when Tracy launched a three-run homer, and the gates were blown apart in the fourth when Byrnes hit a three-run shot of his own. Shields was gone after five, and he recorded only a single one-two-three inning.

Byrnes' home run was enough for Arizona, whose bullpen shut down Tampa Bay and allowed only one hit in 3.1 innings, and the Diamondbacks won 7-4 in two hours, 55 minutes in front of 31, 805.

Other notes: Delmon Young is one impressive player. He put a charge into every ball he hit, and did so with such a smooth, sweet swing. If he can put his past problems behind him and play like he did on the 20th, he'll have quite a career.

Peña vs. Peña (below). Tony on the mound, Carlos at the plate. The latter struck out looking.

Augie Ojeda sighting: Everyone's favorite journeyman infielder/scrapper recorded a pinch-hit single in the seventh. Has it really been four years since he last played for the Cubs?

Foul ball alert: I've been to quite a few ballgames, and nabbed several batting practice balls, but had never caught a foulball. Our seats were just beneath the upper deck overhand, so I figured we didn't have much of a chance. But luck was once again on our side, and the ball in question, off the bat of Brendan Harris in the ninth, came down just in front of the upper deck balcony, banged off a few ducts, and shot back and down towards us, rolling to a stop at our feet. Good seats, indeed.

* * * *

After last night's thrilling 10-9 victory (which I tried to listen to; by the time we got close enough to Illinois to get anything but static on WGN, the game was over), the Cubs sit just three games under .500. The season's not over yet...

7:05 game tonight, Ted Lilly vs. Rodrigo Lopez.