Estes (4-3, 3.79)
Martinez (5-1, 2.79)
Well, this should be fun, shouldn't it? One of the most dominating pitchers in major-league baseball over the past few years, and we get to face him. Oh, joy. However, the last time the Diamondbacks encountered Martinez, on June 8, 2002, he ended up with an L - he allowed three runs in six innings, while Schilling had two over 7.1. Gonzalez and Counsell, the two survivors from that line-up, combined for three hits off Pedro, and we won 3-2.
Indeed, there are a number of AZ starters with good career numbers against Martinez:
Counsell: 4-for-8
Gonzalez: 14-for-34
Green: 7-for-23
All above .300 - and don't be surprised if Clark (4-for-14) gets a start at first too.
Okay, you say: but Estes is not Curt Schilling. And that's true. Estes has appeared in more than three games this season, to start with, while Schilling's mouth has had much more of a workout than his arm. But do we also remember the last time the Diamondbacks faced a future Hall of Famer? Brad Halsey outpitched Roger Clemens, who gave up three runs in the first innings.
Will it be easy? No. But Martinez is mortal, and the Mets lineup is far from dominant. We've seen that in this series so far - they've scratched out only two runs in seventeen innings and are batting just .239. Estes will need to be on top of his game to give us a chance, but if he can reproduce the form of his last road start (6.1 innings in Detroit, one earned run), there's hope.