[Westside]

If Labor Day is indeed the last day of summer, then J.D. Martinez sent us out in style. The Arizona Diamondbacks slugger became the 18th player in major league history to hit four home runs in one game, a feat rarer than a perfect game ... which we had for five innings in this game, making Arizona's 13-0 shutout over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers one of the craziest games of any year.

Even Zack Greinke was seen laughing and chatting things up in the Diamondbacks' dugout in the ninth inning.

Martinez homered against four different pitchers, belting a no-doubter off Rich Hill in the fourth inning and connecting in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings off Pedro Baez, Josh Fields and Wilmer Font. The final blast came off a 1-0 slider from Font, a 406-foot line shot to left field. It was Martinez's shortest home run of the evening; the other three traveled 439, 428 and 424 feet.

Pause for a moment to let that soak in. Think of how difficult it is to hit a baseball. Then think of how difficult it is to hit one 400-plus feet. Then think of the "impossible": doing it four times in one game. Heck, Martinez had more home runs than the Dodgers had hits on Monday. Does summer have to end?


The day actually began with bad news for the Diamondbacks: MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt left the team to fly back to Phoenix to get an MRI on his sore right elbow. Goldschmidt tried to talk himself into the lineup on Monday, as MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reported, and is expected to rejoin the team Tuesday. Considering he had hit four home runs in his past eight games, the elbow didn't seem to be hindering his production. Still, check the news on Tuesday for updates.

Then there was Robbie Ray. Before Martinez, we thought Ray's performance was going to be the big highlight of the night: He threw one of the most dominating games by any pitcher this season as the Diamondbacks won their 11th game in a row -- and the ninth in a row in which they haven't trailed. Only one other team in the past 25 years has done that. It got so ugly that Dodgers fans started booing, and that was before Martinez cracked his final two home runs.


Ray took a perfect game into the sixth inning as he fanned 10 of the first 15 batters he faced, becoming the first pitcher to record four 10-strikeout games against the Dodgers in one season. He finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts and three singles allowed in 7 2/3 scoreless innings. Ray induced 24 swing-and-misses, matching his season high, which also came against the Dodgers. That's a high total: Only 12 times has a pitcher recorded more misses this season, so Ray's dominance against the Dodgers over five outings (53 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings with a 2.27 ERA) is noteworthy because there's a chance he'll get a sixth start against them ... in the postseason.

For that to happen, Arizona will have to get past the wild-card game. Greinke would be the likely starter in that game, which means Ray would be the probable Game 1 starter in the division series. As Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis said as Ray was mowing down the Dodgers, "It's getting to the point where the Dodgers are going to have a rooting interest in that wild-card game."

The D-backs are now 9-8 against the Dodgers. The only other team L.A. has a losing record against is the Washington Nationals, at 1-2. With the Dodgers likely to start three lefties in a playoff series, Martinez's righty bat alongside Goldschmidt's is even more vital. Since joining the Diamondbacks on July 19, Martinez has 18 home runs; only Giancarlo Stanton has more in that span.

As for the Dodgers, they have other concerns besides Martinez and Ray: They've lost nine of 10 games. Maybe we need to remind them that the official last day of summer is Sept. 22. Maybe they need a day at the beach to clear their heads.

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/...n-playoffs