The Diamondbacks reliever has struggled with his command since coming off the disabled list April 18. Medders did not allow a run in one inning of work Friday, but his location was clearly not good and he wound up having to work his way out of a bases-loaded jam.

After the game, he asked Allen Campbell, who handles the video scouting for the Diamondbacks along with Jim Currigan, to pull video of him from last year so he could review it.

Campbell found footage of him facing the Giants last year and put it in a split screen with Friday night's performance so Medders could go frame-by-frame and see if there were any differences in his mechanics.

"I'm doing one small thing different than last year," Medders said. "Last year, I was breaking my hands earlier and exploding towards the plate. Now I'm breaking my hands a little later."

That may be it, or it may simply be a case of trying to overthrow some of his pitches. For instance, with his two-seam fastball, rather than just letting it come out of his hand naturally and trusting in the grip to create the movement, Medders has at times rolled his hand over trying to get the movement with his hand.

"I think when he gets in the game he's muscling the ball a little bit, and that's affecting his release point and his control," pitching coach Bryan Price said. "And that becomes more of an emotional thing. Adrenaline and anxiety, some guys can utilize that to their advantage and I think Brandon can also, but currently it seems like he's trying to do more than he needs to do to be successful. He'll get on a roll. We're going to give him as many opportunities to get out there in game situations and start to get himself back to where he was last year."

Medders, who was 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 27 games for the D-Backs last year, missed all of Spring Training with a pulled muscle in his back and wound up beginning the season on an injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Tucson.

Too much of a good thing: Arizona starter Miguel Batista has struggled to pitch deep in games since his initial start of the year, when he lasted seven inning against the Rockies.

"I think his biggest challenge is harnessing all the movement he creates," Price said. "He doesn't have to be terribly precise, but he creates so much movement on the ball that at times I think it's hard for him to maintain the consistency over the course of three or four times through the lineup. That being said, from what I've seen, he has the capability to create that consistency and that might just come from getting a handful of starts under his belt."

A possible solution could be for Batista to cut down on the number of different pitches he throws. Currently his repertoire includes a cut fastball, a sinker, a split, a slider, a curve and a changeup.

"He might just have too much stuff to keep it as sharp as we'd like to see it," Price said.

Have a question about the Diamondbacks? E-mail your query to MLB.com Diamondbacks beat reporter Steve Gilbert for possible inclusion in a future Inbox column. Letters may be edited for brevity, length and/or content. First Name, Last Initial: Hometown: Email Address: Question:

Speaking of pitching: The Giants have feasted on Arizona pitching thus far in 2006, having collected 36 runs in their first five games.

"It does come down to pitch execution and we have not pitched to our ability against San Francisco," Price said. "Each pitcher has his own strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes those strengths and weaknesses don't match up with a particular team. We're going to take the strengths of our pitchers and utilize those strengths against our opponent, instead of getting beaten on pitches that are the weakness of a particular pitcher.

"That said, we have not executed pitches with any consistency against the Giants, and they've taken advantage of it. It's a veteran ballclub. They can do the little things and they can do the big things. They understand situational offense. The only way for us to control that is to command the strike zone and play good situational baseball."

Almost there: Third-base coach Carlos Tosca is scheduled to resume his duties Monday when the club returns home to open a series with Dodgers.

Tosca has been sidelined since early in Spring Training with a broken bone in his foot. Triple-A manager Chip Hale has filled in for him, but will return to Tucson on Tuesday to resume his duties with the Sidewinders.

Walk this way: Luis Gonzalez collected the 1,000th walk of his career Friday night. In case you're keeping track at home, that means that over his 16-year career he has walked a little over 17 miles.

Just for comparison's sake, slugger Barry Bonds has walked 2,336 times in his career or just under 40 miles.

Up next: The Diamondbacks conclude their three-game series with the Giants as well as a nine-game road trip Sunday at AT&T Park.

Brandon Webb will get the start for the D-Backs. The right-hander has been the club's most consistent pitcher this year.