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After yesterday's nightmare stopover in Atlanta, Hell Week continues for the Diamondbacks with a road series against the reigning World Series champions. Oh, and we face the man who has been the best starter in the majors since 1997 [his ERA+ over that time is 166 - next best is the Big Unit, all the way down at 145]. That would be Pedro Martinez, eight-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young winner, with a career 1.36 ERA against the Diamondbacks.
Of course, this might not be the same Martinez who terrorized the American League with Boston, or was even an All-Star in his first year with the Mets. The last time he faced Arizona was back in 2006 [only three of the current roster have ever seen him - including Doug Davis] and since that season, his ERA in 49 games is a mediocre 4.75 . He's only made one start this year, and got the win, though that was mostly due to his team-mates scoring him a dozen runs of support by the middle of the fourth inning. Martinez allowed three in five innings, on seven hits and a walk, striking out five.
Garland took the loss in a July 27th game against the Phillies at Chase, allowing six runs on five innings - it was the third time through the order that the visitors did most of their damage, scoring four times, though a walk and error and a hit by pitch didn't help Garland's cause. We could do with some offensive support for Garland - since the start of July, in his nine starts the Diamondbacks have scored a total of 32 runs. The bandbox known as Citizens' Bank Park should hopefully help in this matter, but sound fundamental baseball would be nice too.
Line-up
- Stephen Drew SS
- Ryan Roberts LF
- Gerardo Parra CF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Miguel Montero C
- Rusty Ryal 2B
- Alex Romero RF
- Josh Whitesell 1B
- Jon Garland P