Brandon Webb RHP, 1-0, 3.00

Jeff Francis LHP, 0-0, 0.00

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After yesterday's drubbing, here's hoping we don't see a repeat of the series against the Reds, where things went steadily downhill, from thoroughly acceptable to extremely unpleasant, after about the eighth inning of the second game. However, momentum is certainly on the D-backs side, and Jeff Francis looked singularly unimpressive in his first outing of the season, being bailed out by the weather while staring down the barrel of a 5-1 deficit. Brandon Webb, on the other hand, was majestic, adding a brutal change-up to his renowned slider, to flummox the Reds.

It should, of course, be noted that he did struggle against the Rockies last year, more than facing any other team. On the other hand, tormentor-in-chief Kaz Matsui - 11-for-26 lifetime against our ace - is no longer with Colorado. Unfortunately, the same can not be said of Taveras, Helton and Hawpe, who are a combined .333 [35-for-105], with 6 HR and 21 RBI, off Webb. Dealing with that trio will go a long way to deciding whether Webb can shrug off the Orckies evil eye. And, no, that's not a misprint, but you'll have to read yesterday's Gameday Thread to get any kind of explanation thereof.

Expect Conor Jackson - 7-for-23 with four homers against Francis - to be in the lineup, if he has to be wheeled to home-plate and given an IV drip between pitches. Hudson (.294) also has decent career numbers against the Colorado starter; Snyder (.238) and Byrnes (.190), less so, among our players with 15+ at-bats. I'd certainly like to see the offense have another day like yesterday, as our team batting average [.205] is nothing to write home about. That's still is twenty points better than Colorado. Curiously, our seven homers lead the league there, even if each one so far has been a solo-shot.

Hoping to be around for almost all of this, one way or another. Leaving this in the trusted hands of the auto-post facility, for a 3pm publish time. Oh, and if you didn't notice it, Shift-A will now mark all comments on a thread as read, thereby saving you from much tiresome Z-ing.