By Bob Baum
The Associated Press

PHOENIX - The Arizona Diamondbacks just completed their worst May in the team's seven-year history, but manager Bob Brenly's job is not in jeopardy - at least for now.

Diamondbacks chairman Jerry Colangelo said Tuesday night that it would be unfair to blame Brenly for the club's woes.

"I wanted Bob to have this year," Colangelo said before Arizona played San Francisco, "and he's going to have this year unless the bottom just absolutely does fall out."

Colangelo was asked what he considered "the bottom falling out."

"A worse June," he said. "I'd say that's the bottom falling out."

The Arizona Diamondbacks, expected to contend in the NL West, haven't been this bad since their expansion season in 1998, and no one expected anything then.

"It's a tough time for us right now because it's a new experience for this franchise, but patience goes a long way, and doing things rationally goes a long way," Colangelo said.

Brenly, in the final year of his contract, has vacillated between exasperation and stubborn optimism.

Asked before Monday's game if he thought his job was in jeopardy, he snapped at the question.

"My job is to help the team win in any way I can," he said. "If the team doesn't win ball games, then everybody can draw their own conclusions. I'm going about my business the same way I always have, and I'm quite honestly getting tired of answering all these questions."

Colangelo said that he would only replace a manager if saw dugout leadership as a major factor in the team's decline.

"It's not my particular style to make change for change's sake," he said. "I think that's unfair. That's a knee-jerk reaction and it's usually done by novices in this business."

Brenly, Colangelo said, "is giving it his best shot and has been dealt some bad cards."

Going into Tuesday night's game against the Giants, the Diamondbacks had lost 10 of 12 and were 15 games under .500 (18-33), the second-worst record in the National League.

No part of the team has been worse than the bullpen, which was supposed to be the team's biggest strength and help shore up a thin starting staff.

"We thought Boy, when we get to the sixth inning, we're going to have all kinds of options to turn a game over to somebody and win it,"' general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said. "It has been the completely opposite experience. That has been a real disappointment, no doubt."

Closer Matt Mantei, who earns $7 million this season, lost his job, then went on the disabled list with tendinitis. Jose Valverde, impressive a year ago, replaced Mantei, was awful, then was demoted, too.

As of now, journeyman Scott Service is the designated closer, although Elmer Dessens - whose poor performances knocked him out of the starting rotation - has the team's most recent save.

There are nine players on the disabled list, including four pitchers. The team is on its third second baseman, Scott Hairston, who was called up from Triple-A Tucson. Roberto Alomar has been out since April 21 with a broken right hand, and Matt Kata dislocated his shoulder diving for a ball on Saturday.

Then there's Richie Sexson. The Diamondbacks gave up six players in a nine-player deal to get the big first baseman as a right-handed power hitter behind Luis Gonzalez.

Sexson tore cartilage and bruised a bone in his left shoulder checking his swing on April 29. He returned three weeks later, but in his second game back, re-injured the shoulder on another check swing. Now team physician Dr. Michael Lee is recommending season-ending surgery.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, is batting just .242. He had a pair of singles to snap an 0-for-11 skid on Monday night, but still had just six hits in 46 at bats.

"It's easy to go up there and say you've got to relax, but you're not winning and you're not scoring runs and you want to make a difference, especially hitting in the middle of this batting order," he said. "I have a lot of responsibilities on this ball club, and one of them is to go out there and perform and try to produce."

Gonzalez, Steve Finley and Randy Johnson - along with Danny Bautista - are the remnants of a team that won the 2001 World Series. Most of the rest of the roster is made up of youngsters in their first or second season in the majors.

"We've turned young in a hurry," Gonzalez said. "People don't realize that."