The Diamondbacks blew it.

The Brewers lost Christian Yelich.

The Phillies lost Jake Arrieta.

The Cubs lost Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Craig Kimbrel.

But Arizona lost its mojo in a wild-card race that would have been the talk of Major League Baseball if the Diamondbacks could have capitalized on those key injuries to scrap their way into the postseason despite being about four games down in a four-team knot about four weeks ago.

With that being the case, there’s really only one thing left for the Diamondbacks to do: Screw things up for Paul Goldschmidt.

Look, we love Goldy around here. A part of us always will. But if you think for a second that this is time to take the high road and wish him the best in his new life, you’d be wrong.

(How wrong? Glad you didn’t ask.)

You’d be as wrong as General Manager Mike Hazen was when he traded the best homegrown player in franchise history to St. Louis in the off-season.

(Cue the rim shot.)

This is the time to lock in and get competitive, and the root word of "competitive" isn’t "petty" — but it should be.

Diamondbacks trap series

Goldschmidt might have moved on. The Diamondbacks franchise might have moved on. But that doesn’t mean we have to, especially since the perennial MVP candidate hasn’t even been back to the ballpark he called home for the first eight years of his career.

Goldschmidt needs to suffer at home watching the National League playoffs just like the rest of us.

And Robbie Ray and the rest of the "middle of the pack" D-Backs can help make sure it happens.

(The guys Goldschmidt was traded for, Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver and Andy Young, probably won't be much help. Kelly is slumping. Weaver is hurt. And Young is in the minors.)

The Cardinals get to town for a three-game set next week. It’s a perfect trap for an Arizona sweep.

Right before the Cardinals visit Arizona, they have four games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Right after the Cardinals leave Arizona, they have three games against the Cubs at Busch Stadium.

The Cubs, of course, are the Cardinals’ arch rival, but the two clubs are also in a tight battle for first place in the NL Central.

Those seven games will determine who wins the division, and who’s stuck scoreboard watching and hoping the Mets, Brewers and Phillies don’t surge.

The Diamondbacks can do their part to hang some losses on the Cardinals, starting with busting up our old pal, Paul.

Goldschmidt's down year

Ray owns Goldschmidt. The two have faced each other three times, and Goldschmidt is 0-3 with two strikeouts.

Same for Zac Gallen. Goldschmidt is 0-2 with two strikeouts and a walk against Arizona’s recently acquired righty.

Merrill Kelly, meanwhile, has held Goldschmidt to a .000/.000/.000 slash line in three at-bats.

Manager Torey Lovullo, pitching coach Mike Butcher and the analytics staff should try to keep Goldschmidt away from Mike Leake. These two have faced each other a few times a season every year since 2012. In 32 at-bats, Goldschmidt is hitting .281 with two home runs and seven RBIs against Leake.

Goldschmidt, for his part, is having a down year.

He’s hitting just .258, way off his career average of .293.

His 31 homers are respectable, but in a year where home run numbers are up across the majors, one might expect to see Goldschmidt’s power stats get a similar bump.

This season marked the first since 2012 that Goldschmidt wasn’t selected for the All-Star team.

If the one active All-Star player on the Arizona roster, Ketel Marte, is in the lineup (he went out Tuesday with a bad back, and might be shut down for the year), he’ll need to step it up to help send Goldschmidt off to rake leaves instead of hits this fall.

Marte might lead the NL in hits, but he’s just 1 for 18 against the Cardinals rotation of Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wacha and Jack Flaherty.

It’s not much better if you expand that out to include the bullpen. Marte is 6 for 31 against the 13 St. Louis pitchers he’s faced in his career.

But if he can play (and pretend the Cardinals are like the rest of the pitchers in the big leagues), he could help Arizona accomplish what should be the top remaining goal for the 2019 season now that a playoff berth is all but out of reach:

Show our guy Goldy the door by feathering him and his new friends.

If we don’t get to see October, then let’s hope they don’t either.

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @WritingMoore.

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Episode 2 — Beyond the Gridiron: The Mountain