Martinez (12-5, 2.86)
Vazquez (10-12, 4.67)
- Craig Counsell, 2B
- Chad Tracy, RF
- Luis Gonzalez, LF
- Tony Clark, 1B
- Troy Glaus, 3B
- Shawn Green, CF
- Royce Clayton, SS
- Chris Snyder, C
- Javier Vazquez, P
Just what we need after losing two games by a total margin of twenty-eight runs: Pedro Martinez. The Diamondbacks have made their reservations at Hotel Swept, and should be checking in around 9:30pm. Mind you, Martinez hasn't actually won a game in over a month - his previous victory was back on July 23rd. Last time out, he was pulled with an 8-0 lead, which his bullpen promptly blew in an almost Arizona-esque fashion, leading to a no-decision.
However, which Javier Vazquez will show up tonight? The one who pitched eight innings of one-run ball? Or the one who survived two innings and allowed nine earned runs? For those were the last two starts for Javy, and fairly reflect his season:
- 0-2 earned runs: 13 times
- 3-4 earned runs: 5 times
- 5+ earned runs: 8 times
So, odds in favour of a good outing, but it's not good, it'll probably be awful. I'm agonising over whether to put him in my fantasy line-up for tonight: given he's facing Pedro, I'm forced to think "no". Odds are against Javy getting the W, and he could easily inflict life-threatening injuries on my team's ERA.
It'd help if our offense showed up, but I'm not overly optimistic - we've made a lot of pitchers this year look like Pedro Martinez, and now we're facing the real deal, having scored just six runs in three games. However, the above lineup is probably about our best offensive chance; Counsell, Gonzalez and Clark have all had surprising success againt Pedro (all .350+ with double-digit ABs: Gonzo is 14-for-37). Glaus, on the other hand, is 4-for-23 lifetime, so don't expect too much there.
It should be an interesting match-up, and I plan to watch a good chunk of it, if we get "good" Vazquez showing up, at least. Our season finale record has been excellent, plus we seem to delight in making things difficult for ourselves - and it doesn't get much more difficult than a three-time Cy Young winner and five-time ERA champ.