PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks had reason to believe their four-year run of mediocrity would end this season, maybe even lead to a playoff berth.The Diamondbacks lured Zack Greinke to the desert, bolstered their pitching staff even more with the acquisition of Shelby Miller and had all those young, talented players coming back. Why not think big?Instead, Arizona fell flat again, costing general manager Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale their jobs. Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa remains, though its unclear what his role will be.We are very grateful to Dave and Chip who are widely respected throughout the game of baseball, Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said in a statement Monday. Ultimately, the results have not been what we had hoped and while that responsibility is shared by all of us, we have decided that a change is necessary.A few of the story lines from this season and the upcoming offseason after Arizona finished 69-93 for its third straight losing season:GREINKES DESERT DEBUT: The Diamondbacks pulled off the biggest surprise of the offseason, luring Greinke away from other top teams with a $206 million contract. The right-hander won the 2009 AL Cy Young Award, was the NL runner-up last year and still considered one of the top pitchers in baseball, so it was a big get for a franchise without a top-end starter since Randy Johnson retired. Greinke showed glimpses of his former greatness, but was inconsistent most of the season. He finished with a team-high 13 wins, but his 4.37 ERA was the second-highest of his career. The pitching, thats mainly what it is. We needed to do better, Greinke said. I dont know if anyone on our team overachieved with what the expectations were.MILLERS STRUGGLERS: Miller was expected to give Arizona one of the NLs best 1-2 starting punches. Instead, the right-hander labored through his first season in the desert, spending six weeks in the minors after struggling. Miller was 3-12 with a 6.15 ERA, which was nearly double his previous worst. He did close the season with two of his best starts, tossing 11 scoreless innings. I wish maybe I would have done this earlier on but the way I just finished these past couple games is huge and just something to build off going into 2017, Miller said.OFFSEASON CHECKLIST: The Diamondbacks have most of their key players signed for at least a couple more seasons, including first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (through 2018) and Greinke. Right-hander Daniel Hudson became emotional after his final game this weekend, a likely sign that he wont re-sign when free agency hits. Arizona has a large batch of players who will be arbitration eligible, including Miller, left-hander Patrick Corbin, catcher Welington Castillo and shortstop Chris Owings. The Diamondbacks will again be young next season, but most of those youngsters gained valuable experience this year.GOLDSCHMIDTS SEASON: Goldschmidt had a rare slow start to the season, hitting .220 the first five weeks. He came around like he always does, earning a trip to his fourth straight All-Star Game while working his batting average to near .300. Goldschmidt finished at .297 with 24 homers, 95 RBI, 33 doubles and 32 stolen bases. At 29, he is still one of the premier players in baseball. Cheap Anaheim Ducks Jerseys . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. 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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- It has been a long time since Virginia won a football game on the road, but their 16th consecutive loss away from home left coach Bronco Mendenhall and his players feeling surprisingly upbeat.The difference in the latest loss was the way his team carried itself on the field, and on the sideline.Its a complete 180, quarterback Kurt Benkert said, comparing the teams demeanor in a 44-26 loss to the No. 22 Oregon Ducks to how the Cavaliers reacted after falling behind in their season-opening 37-20 loss to Richmond. The Richmond game, everyone was sad on the sideline. We werent expecting to lose or any of that and once it started getting really bad, it was like there had been a funeral or something.The Cavaliers trailed Oregon 30-6 at halftime, but never hung their heads or disengaged from the game. On the sideline, they cheered every good play, and offered reassurance to teammates after the Ducks hit a big play. They hope that same resilience this week at Connecticut (1-1) will help them end a road losing streak that dates back to victory at North Carolina State on Nov. 3, 2012.There were players after that game that said in their entire time at UVA theyve never felt like theyve felt after that game, Mendenhall said. That means in terms of confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, and having fun.Its the having fun part that seemed to have the greatest impact on the players.Its been absent, senior right tackle Eric Smith said. Seeing something thats being accomplished thats never been done before, its almost like, `This is an amazing feeling. When guys are out there smiling, were behind a touchdown or two or three touchdowns and were actually smiling, knowing that we feel a chhange within ourselves that has never occurred before.ddddddddddddSo it was just a thrill to know that weve accomplished something and we know were capable of doing much more.Mendenhall repeatedly has said that the attitude change he and his staff are trying instill into a program that hasnt had a winning season since 2011 is the first piece in his rebuilding plan, and one that much of the rest of his program will need to build off of to produce the winning he has promised.The team still has a mountain to climb, he said, but he saw much improvement against Oregon.Being completely present in each moment and flying around as hard as you can with guys that you care about and theyre cheering you from the side, eventually that will become a formidable thing when the execution and consistency and position mastery all then is woven within that, he said Monday. And they see that, and they see its sequential. So I think were gaining momentum, at least from a belief standpoint.Sophomore linebacker Chris Peace said the enthusiasm was infectious, and started in practice.One of the major things I noticed that was a big difference was the effort we played with. Since Ive been here, rarely have I ever seen us finish the game as hard as we did from beginning of the game all the way to the end, he said. The second thing was the sideline. That was the most enthusiastic Ive seen our sideline since Ive been here. It started off with practice. ... The sideline was a big factor this week. It kept everybody energized.---Online: AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '