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From St. Louis, we come a bit nearer home, returning to Denver to face the Rockies, who find themselves locked with the Giants at the moment, in a battle for National League wild-card supremacy, with Colorado coming into the series just half a game behind the Giants. They've gone 8-3 since we took the series from them at Chase earlier in the month - however, if we're going to beat them, we'll have to do it without Dan Haren. Their sole victory was in the game started by de la Rosa, who threw eight shutout innings and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter. Needless to say, better is expected from our offense, even without Felipe Lopez.
Per the team's Twitter, Roberts returns from Reno to occupy the roster spot, and will presumably split playing time at second with Ojeda. That takes care of things for this season, but the question would be, who'll be there next year? Scott Bordow of the Tribune looked at the options, and seems to suggest Rusty Ryal is the most likely candidate internally [though I'm sure we will once again hear the suggestion of moving Reynolds to second - perhaps then moving Miguel Montero to third, if his offence continues to be as potent as it has been]. Bordow also lists the free-agent second-basemen for 2010, though it appears his 'research' consisted of Google and copy/paste, as his list still states Lopez is with Arizona!
Line-up
- Stephen Drew SS
- Ryan Roberts 2B
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 1B
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Chris Young CF
- Luke Carlin C
- Augie Ojeda 3B
- Doug Davis P
So, is this to be the new line-up for the D-backs? 'Cos today's list doesn't exactly have 'offensive powerhouse' written all over it. Half today's starters have an OPS+ of less than eighty, though the absence of Montero (now ranked third on the team at 108) is significant there. And it doesn't help that our two best hitters, Reynolds and Upton, are hitting .228 and .167 this month. I'd rather see Chad Tracy play than Ojeda; he has at least improved a bit of late, batting .310 in July, while Ojeda has only one hit, albeit in limited time.
Forty years ago today, man first landed on the moon. It's also our seventh wedding anniversary, which I guess means that seven years ago today, I first landed on Mrs. SnakePit. :-) 'Charmer has therefore agreed to do a better recap than I will be capable of delivering this evening: not quite sure yet what we are intending to do, but I've a feeling that food will be involved. And probably Long Island Ice Teas. Hence, delegation is likely for the best...