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Not just a season-high three-game winning streak, but three consecutive wins in which Dan Haren didn't appear. Y'know the last time we managed that? May 13-15 last year: 163 games ago. Ok, technically, we had some four-win streaks since, where Haren pitched a game in the middle, so there were three victories in non-Haren games consecutively, but not three consecutive games. If you see what I mean. I begin to wish I'd never started this, to be honest...
Instead, let's just say that Billy Buckner shaved 9.40 runs off his season ERA last night, and we won a game I had more or less written off. So that gives our money--in-the-bank, quality-start-at-least ace a chance to make it four wins in four days. And got to fancy our chances, going against the Diamondbacks reject, Edger Gonzalez. He wasn't quite bad enough to make it into the Ten Worst AZ Pitchers Ever article that's coming tomorrow, but his 5.97 career ERA is hugely unimpressive, and since he played six seasons for Arizona, we can't claim a lack of familiarity.
Lineup
- Lopez 2B
- Parra LF
- Upton RF
- Drew SS
- Reynolds 3B
- Montero C
- Byrnes DH
- Tracy 1B
- Young CF, + Haren P
Interesting to see Byrnes as the DH, Parra's glove in left apparently preferred. Reynolds gets to move back to his corner, so we can get Tracy's bat in the lineup as well. That would be because southpaws murder EdGon at a .321/.390/.600 clip over his career, so we want to cram every one of those we've got into the line-up. Here's to Arizona making it four in a row.