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The Diamondbacks will no doubt arrive at Shea Stadium this afternoon, whistling the theme from The Great Escape after yesterday's victory. We'll see how much of an impact that has on both sides - positive in our case, but sending the Mets to their fifth straight loss. Not quite what they wanted before facing the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young, I suspect.
That said, when they encountered Webb back in May, they didn't do too badly: four runs in six innings is a poor outing by Brandon's standards. He was one out away from a quality start, but allowed a three-run homer to Beltran in the sixth. However, we pounded out fifteen hits and scored ten runs - five of those coming off last night's whipping boy, Duaner Sanchez [He has now allowed eight runs in two innings of work, with D-backs hitters 9-for-15 against him], on the way to a 10-4 win. Pelfrey struggled through five, allowing nine hits and four walks, and taking the loss.
As TwinnerA pointed out, word is that Conor Jackson will be playing in left, with Tracy at first. It's an interesting idea, clearly aimed at getting as many of the best hitters in the lineup, without having to rely on the likes of Romero and Burke. As Nick Piecoro points out, doing it with Webb on the mound makes sense: in each of his last two starts, the left-fielder saw just two balls the entire game. So we hope Jackson is similarly untroubled this afternoon. Given CoJack's lack of experience in the outfield compared to Tracy (18 career innings vs. 417.2), I think the conclusion is that Tracy's surgically-repaired knee is not up to the running and/or sudden turns.