Learning curve continues for D’backs outfielder

Chris Young sat on a small equipment truck, family members nearby, watching the Olympics on a small TV outside the visitors' clubhouse in Houston on Saturday night.

That is about all the rest Young gets these days.

It is as much as he wants.

Young has played in 105 consecutive games as the Diamondbacks enter the final six weeks of the season, and he would not have it any other way.

"It doesn't bother me. I'm still young. I can still go every day," Young said.

Young has gone every inning of every game since April 20, his last day off, in San Diego.

He seemed fresh as ever on his visit home last weekend, going 5-for-14 with two home runs and six RBIs, as his streak of consecutive innings played reached 1,000.

Still young, indeed. The more, the merrier.

"I'm glad they are giving me the opportunity," Young, 24, said. "The more you play, the better you are going to get. It's a learning process for me right now."

No one knows that more than Diamondbacks bench coach Kirk Gibson.

A postseason and regular-season MVP during his celebrated career, Gibson described it as a six-year learning curve.

"Almost everyone has to go through it," Gibson said.

Young learned rapidly in his first full season, 2007, when he became the first rookie in major league history with at least 30 home runs and 25 stolen bases. He had 32 and 27, respectively.

He already has set career highs with 35 doubles and four triples this season, and is a big game short of setting a career high in RBIs. He has 65 after getting 68 last season.

With home runs in the first two games of the Houston series, Young has 17 and is on pace to finish with 22.

"My home runs are down, but my doubles are up. I'm still hitting the gaps," Young said.

The Diamondbacks are committed to Young. The $27 million contract extension he signed early this season goes through 2013, with a team option for 2014.

Pitchers already have learned to be wary of Young when he gets to first base, varying their deliveries to the plate and using a slide step more often as a way to give Young less time to steal.

He has nine stolen bases this season, in part for the reasons listed above but also because the Diamondbacks have not needed to run as much to score runs.

Young understands that his career is an evolutionary process.

"I'm still trying to find ways," he said. "I'm still trying to be as productive as possible."

SAN DIEGO PADRES AT ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS, 6:30 TONIGHT, FSN ARIZONA