Webb (3-0, 2.63 ERA)
Peavy (2-0, 1.30 ERA)
It may be cheap but, by God, it worked: picture of Anna Kournikova in a bikini = third-most visitors in a day ever. And the hits just keep on coming - it's only 1pm, and we've already had as many as on an average day. Not bad, considering the D'backs didn't even play yesterday - and thanks to 6-4-2 for their shameless plug of my shameless plug. ;-) I hereby rename this ship, the AZ Kournikova Pit: god bless her, and all who sail in her.
So, Anna rose early this morning, in preparation for her start tonight, and ate a light but nutritious breakfast of grapefruit and cereal before... Okay, this is harder than I thought - I'm kind of at a loss, unless you want a play-by-play description of Ms. Kournikova taking a shower. And while that might blow the roof off this joint, visitor-wise, I'm not sure my writing skills are quite up to that. Let's just talk about the D'backs, shall we?
Despite the day-off, the Diamondbacks are going to keep their rotation in order, rather than skipping anyone - a wise move given how strong all five members have been so far. This means tonight sees a rematch of last Saturday's ace pitching matchup between Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy. That time, they fought each other to a standstill, allowing one run each through 7 1/2 innings, before we finally pipped it on an RBI single by Cintron in the last of the ninth.
I fully expect tonight's game to be equally as close, especially with Petco continuing to play like the Grand Canyon. Mind you, it doesn't help the Padres that, lately, they have...well, I don't think "sucked" is putting it too strongly, losing five of six, most recently a 10-3 clobbering by the Bonds-less, Benitez-less Giants. For a team expected to challenge for the division, a 9-13 start is not good.
If you want some alternative coverage, from a Pod perspective, check out Gaslamp Ball, who cut straight to the chase, and linked to the Google image page for Anna. The phrase "not safe for work" springs to mind - though I suspect PhotoShop had more to do with some of the images than Ms. Kournikova.
And here's my pledge to you. If the Diamondbacks win tonight, in the presence of Ms. Kournikova, I promise to risk the withering sarcasm of my wife, and include a picture of Anna every day while the win streak continues. Go, D'backs! :-)