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Another almost "must win" game for Arizona: with a Double-A rookie making his major-league debut tomorrow against the so-far unstoppable Johnny Cueto, I don't fancey our chances too much: today certainly represents a better chance of victory for the Diamondbacks. We'll certainly need Dan Haren to pitch a good deal better than Jon Garland did last night, but that is hardly a question which needs to be asked. He's been so good that last time's "mere" quality start felt like a disappointment. A season-high three runs? The horror...
We'll get to see Micah Owings tonight, which will be nice , Much as he was in his time with us, he seems to be more of a batter who pitches, than a pitcher who bats, with an impressive return at the plate, but more mixed results on the mound. He's only had one quality start in five attempts this year: fairly obviously, no-one on the current team has faced him directly, but there should be a good degree of familiarity with his stuff. I intend to be about, but reserve the right to bail around 8:30pm and watch the finale of Fringe instead [it starts at 8pm, but by 8:30, the Tivo will allow us to watch the episode without adverts!].
As noted elsewhere, some roster moves before the game, with Jackson going on the DL - he's been under the weather for some time, but it must be really bad to necessitate him going on the DL. We also see prospect Clay Zavada making the jump from Double-A to the majors, replacing the ineffective Bobby Korecky. More moves are expected tomorrow, but we'll cross that when we get to it...
Lineup
- Lopez 2B
- Montero C
- Upton RF
- Reynolds 3B
- Byrnes LF
- Whitesell 1B
- Young CF
- Ojeda SS
- Haren P
Montero at #2? Well, that's certainly thinking outside the box, since not one of the 516 plate-appearances his entire career have been there [he has exactly seven in the top-half of the order]. Byrnes' hot streak gets him moved up to fifth, with Whitesell dropping down, and Young also heading towards the bottom of the order. Let's not see any position players pitching tonight, shall we?