Lowry (4-7, 5.25)
Estes (6-5, 3.75)
"No one would have believed, in the last years of the 19th century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless world of space." Yes, no prizes for guessing where I'm going to be tonight - and while this evening's entertainment might still be scary and horrible, at least it a) is intentionally so, and b) won't involve the Diamondbacks. Though if Spielberg wanted to evoke true terror in his audience, I imagine filming our bullpen in action would surpass anything ILM could create.
Lowry vs. Estes, in a battle of lefties which I was hoping would be at least the rubber game, if not us going for the sweep. Instead, it's Arizona that's trying to avoid being swept. With Lowry being so young, no-one has much history against him. Green has 10 at-bats, but is yet to record a hit - as noted earlier today, Green has had real problems with lefties all year. Tracy is 3-for-7 and is going to get the start at first; he's hitting a mere .643 (9-for-14) over the past week.
Estes continues to defy critics, and I almost find myself wishing that he'd been given a long-term contract, rather than the ineffectual and now injured Russ Ortiz. Over his last three starts, Estes has thrown 23.1 innings, and allowed just four earned runs. After a couple of shaky outings early in June, his ERA is down to 3.75, which is very acceptable.
Following the first two games, however, it's clear that a quality start is not going to be enough. Our offense is continuing to falter: in the past dozen games, we've scored three runs or less in nine of them, and lost eight of those nine. The only exception was Estes's last start, a 2-1 victory over Detroit. I wouldn't be surprised if tonight was another low-scoring encounter, but the pressure is all on Arizona: a win is crucial to end June - because July is not going to get any easier.