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"Russ Ortiz starts". Three little words, guaranteed to put a damper on things, even on a Sunday morning. Yet, the weird thing is, we still have a chance, since he's facing Brett Tomko, who is possibly even worse a pitcher - career ERA+ of 94 vs. Ortiz's 98 (though by the end of this season, it'll be lower for both). Tomko's main advantage is, he's possibly even worse, for half the salary. That he got a two-year, $8.7m contract this winter, says a lot about the free-agent market, and I'd certainly take the "over" on runs scored today.
A win would be very nice, giving us a series victory, and continuing our "owning" of the Dodgers; we've beaten them nine of the last ten times we've met. Optimism is never warranted when Ortiz takes the mound - he turns Arizona fans into a mass reincarnation of Marvin the Paranoid Android - but this one is less a foregone conclusion than most. Perhaps we should wish for another attack of "cramp", before things get out of hand. Though with a bunch more games before the next off day, our bullpen might prefer six innings, regardless of the consequences.
Should be around-ish. We're about to head out for Sunday brunch, but I anticipate being back in time, though will have to go to work at about 2:15pm, so comments will naturally have to cease till I get there (at least until I get that whole Sidekick, mobile blogging thing implemented - and I wouldn't hold your breath!). And here's the graph for yesterday's game, as promised:
Your daily dose of yummy Fangraphs goodness
Today: Olympic Ski-Jump
