Vazquez (10-13, 4.59)
Peavy (11-6, 2.97)
The gods of baseball clearly want us to win this game. Peavy had two wisdom tooth yanked on Friday, and is still bothered by it - though it's quite conceivable he'll pull a Dock Ellis and throw a no-hitter while on pain meds. But he also gashed his hand in an unfortunate trash-removal moment yesterday, leading to stitches and a tetanus shot; however, the baseball gods forgot to check their pitching report, and made it his non-throwing hand. Expect a Final Destination-like incident involving a rogue rutabaga on the buffet table at Petco tonight.
Boy, if we win this series, we're not doing it cheaply. Yesterday, we put out the worst pitcher in our rotation. Today, we face the Padres' ace. Pity poor Javier Vazquez: last time out, he faced Pedro Martinez; this time, it's merely the man with the best ERA in the National League last year. But we're on a roll, winning games somehow, and a win here will definitely prove the Diamondbacks still have to be considered in the hunt.
Vazquez will seek to continue his consistent run of inconsistency. He is in the top 10 major leaguers for getting decisions - be they wins or losses - and has just four no-decisions in 27 starts. [The leader is Dontrelle Willis, who has only one no-decision this year so far]
Unfortunately, I won't be able to see much of the game at all, since tonight is Impact Zone Wrestling in Tempe - we're going to be fully occupied with that, though I might sneak out to the TVs if I get a chance. Otherwise, you're on your own, so play nice in the comments - and feel free to pour a bucket of cold water on icecoldmo if it looks like his head is going to explode! ;-)