Randy Johnson LHP, 9-8, 4.24

Ubaldo Jimenez RHP, 8-10, 3.86

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    The night has been unruly: where we lay,
    Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
    Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death,
    And prophesying with accents terrible
    Of dire combustion and confused events
    New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
    Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
    Was feverous and did shake.
        (Macbeth, 2.3.69-76)

It's been an ominous day, though I'm not sure quite what it portends. I was just emptying the spam folder on my Gmail account, and the top message - or, at least, the top one in English - had the subject line, "Stunning porno Penelope Cruz." I somehow doubt it. Then, we were just linked to by The Big Lead in their daily recap - which opens with...a picture of Penelope Cruz, for no readily apparent reason. And we have Azreous on the recap tonight, since I'll be at IZW: his last appearance was accompanied by Doug Davis's stab at a perfect game. All this, and the debut of Adam Dunn as a Diamondback?

Yes, the stars are aligning, and tonight is shaping up to be special in some way or other, our new slugger getting to start off at NASA's Colorado launch facility. I boldly predict that his first home-run in an Arizona uniform will come sometime between now and Thursday. Be nice if it were tonight. In the first inning. After Drew, Ojeda and Jackson all reach base. While that would certainly be memorable, it might be a bit much to ask, and this being Coors, we should bear in mind the First Law of Frisbeetarianism: Never precede any maneoever with a comment more predictive than 'Watch this!'" On that basis, all I am prepared to say about the opener of our series against Colorado is: "Watch this!"

Thanks to all those who took part in the excellent discussion on Adam Dunn yesterday: deserves a roll-call, including both new faces and friendly visiting fans. NewJackCity, DbacksSkins, unnamedDBacksfan, Scrbl, leemellon, kishi, AngryTick, Lisalisa8, TwinnerA, IndyDBack, Wactivist, TAP, Counsellmember, DiamondbacksWIn, Azreous, snakecharmer, Brendanukkah, njjohn, Andrew, garyho, hotclaws, cesarhernandez, ZonaBacks10, nihil67, foulpole, DBacksArb, Man Mountain, soco, dahlian, AZSEAfan, Wimb, dstorm, justin007000, flipgatey3, Diamondhacks, srdmad, golfmanthee and paqs all chipped in. We had over 1,200 visitors on the site yesterday, and north of 850 already today, the busiest of the past  month - and likely the season.

The consensus, going by the poll, seem to involve Tracy going to third and Reynolds to second, though opinion is fairly evenly split between Dunn playing LF or 1B. To me, it's a question of trying to balance offense and defense. The key question seems to be, what hit would we take moving Reynolds to 2B? That's very difficult to quantify - much more so than the related question, what upgrade at the plate does he provide over Ojeda? I'm reluctant to try it in the heat of a pennant race - though it's something we should consider for next year, as a backup plan for if we can't re-sign Hudson. However, there's a reason Reynolds was moved out of the position in the minors: if we could have kept a second-baseman with a 2006 OPS of 1.034 and 31 HR, I think we'd have done so!

Dodgers won last night, so the gap has narrowed to one game again. I read the following over on Dodger Thoughts and it sounds awfully familiar, to the extent it could be something I've written, at any point since about May. "It just gets tiring to settle for solace in the failings of other NL West teams, rather than being able bulk up with pride or, more importantly, confidence in the remaining fate of your own. It's true that getting to the playoffs with 83 victories is more important than winning 93 and missing out, as will be the case in other divisions... It doesn't mean that the losses don't take a beating on you. Getting flogged each time you think you're about to break free is just a rough way to live."

Finally, I have absolutely no idea what to make of this site. It appears to be a mutated combination of posts, taken from both elsewhere and here ["Lolback of the week" ring any bells?]. But as if run through Babelfish a few times, to remove any degree of coherence. The results, however, sometimes reach an almost poetically surreal level. Witness this sample, presented exactly as it appears on the site. Picks the bones out of this, and see if you can find any omens.

What happens?? Reliability, Conor Jackson, gave us the lead, and a sacrifice fly from Tracy added an insurance run. Jon Rauch pitched a independent eighteen, and Lyon worked around a in park homer to secure his 21st save. Philadelphia Phillies by all the writing on the wall is a top dog. Mission responsible - and He is a free agent. in a President Bush, callously premature, way.