Things are going poorly for the Diamondbacks right now, as last night's game demonstrates:

And in what has become a common theme surrounding the bumbling Diamondbacks, it was full of fluky circumstances. Just check out this sequence in the second inning:

• Left fielder Luis Gonzalez lost track of a fly ball hit by Russell Branyon - the white, domed roof of Tropicana often being such a nemesis - and the ball dropped behind him for a one-out double.

• Jonny Gomes followed with a grounder off the end of his bat that ricocheted off the third base bag, bouncing high before Chad Tracy could do anything. Branyon advanced to third.

• With runners at first and third, Brandon Webb was charged with a balk. Branyon, who shouldn't have been on base, scored Tampa Bay's first run. Catcher Toby Hall then doubled to left to make it 2-0.

"I don't know," Webb said. "That's just the way things are going right now, just ridiculous plays and there's nothing we can really do about them."

Of course, it's not all bad bounces as opponents outscored Arizona116-50 over their last 16 games. Not suprisingly, they've won just two of those. The more amazing thing is despite the huge losing streak, they're just 2 1/2 games out of first place.

The strength of this team up until this downturn was the ability of hitters to get on base a little better than league average. Since 6/5, most of the regulars are well below that. Orlando Hudson, the team's weakest hitter, is the only one having a good stretch with the bat.