PHOENIX -- Not taking anything away from the magnitude of the accomplishment, but Brandon Webb's 42-inning scoreless streak was not completely surprising.

After all, this was a pitcher that set the previous club record for consecutive scoreless innings just last season, when he hurled 30 straight shutout frames between May 20 and June 5.

Still, let's not diminish what Webb did. He did more than just put together an impressive streak; he brought a lot more local and national attention to the team, brought more fans out to the ballpark and took a massive step forward in his candidacy for a second straight Cy Young Award.

Most importantly, he won a whole bunch of games for a team that took control of first place in the National League West. When the streak started, Webb's record was .500 and the team was scuffling to stay in the pennant race. That's performance under pressure.

Here's how it happened.

Back on July 20 at Wrigley Field, Jacque Jones hit a sixth-inning bloop single to center that scored Aramis Ramirez. Webb pitched a scoreless seventh and he was on his way.

He threw seven shutout frames in his next start on July 25 at home against the Marlins. This was despite the very unusual occurrence of Webb walking the bases loaded in the first inning before extricating himself from the jam. He also left runners on second and third in both the second and fifth innings, getting out of it each time with a well-timed ground ball.

From there, Webb took the ball on July 31 in San Diego for seven more scoreless innings. This one was a little cleaner than his previous game, as he allowed just three hits. Only one runner reached third base in the game, and that was with two out.

The streak really started to kick into high gear when Webb proceeded to throw a complete-game shutout against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Aug. 5.

He allowed seven hits and no walks, throwing 102 pitches in the gem and pushing his ERA under 3.00 for the season. He worked around a leadoff double in the third and got out of a two-on-and-one-out jam in the fifth. No Dodgers runner reached third base.

It was back home to face Washington on Aug. 11, and Webb threw arguably his best game of the season. In a complete-game shutout, Webb allowed just five hits and one walk while striking out 10. He had no room for error in this one, as his teammates were only able to scratch out a single run for him.

This game extended the scoreless streak to 33 innings, breaking his own team record. Felipe Lopez stole third with two out in the first, but only one other runner even reached second base as Webb was in complete control.

With the buzz building, all Webb did was allow just two hits in another shutout on Friday in Atlanta to push the streak to 42, 17 away from Orel Hershiser's Major League record.

Webb set down the first 10 hitters of the game and faced just two batters over the minimum, allowing just one runner to reach second base. It seemed the further along the streak went, the harder it was for teams to even have a chance to score. The near-misses and runners stranded in scoring position were becoming virtually non-existent.

This game gave Webb three complete-game shutouts in a row, the first time in franchise history that had been accomplished, and he was the first player to do it in the Major Leagues in nine years. Roger Clemens was the last as a member of the Blue Jays in 1998.

Afterwards, Webb had some fun with the attention he was getting.

"Just two more shutouts? Oh, I should have that, no problem," Webb said, rolling his eyes. "It's in the back pocket."

Throughout, Webb was patient and accommodating to the hordes of media asking for his time to pose the same questions about the streak.

But it all came to an end in the first inning on Wednesday night against Milwaukee, which manufactured its run. Gabe Gross, the hottest hitter in the Brewers lineup, grounded a 3-1 pitch into center for a single. He then stole second and took third on a Craig Counsell grounder. Manager Bob Melvin pulled the infield in, but it didn't matter, as Prince Fielder stroked a line drive into left field.

Webb acknowledged the 31,720 fans who gave him a standing ovation with a tip of his cap, and then got back down to the business of winning his sixth straight ballgame.

And it is certain that Webb would tell you that, as long as the team got the win, it was just fine with him.