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Our ninth starter of the season takes the mound tonight, in the Diamondbacks' rotational debut of Kevin Mulvey, who essentially came to us as the player to be named later in the Jon Rauch trade. Said AJ Hinch, "I'm excited to see him. We traded for him for a reason. He's going to get a real opportunity here to break through and compete for a rotation spot. He doesn't have to set the world on fire, he doesn't have to be perfect, but we do want him to take these starts as the first steps in competing for a spot next year." The starter's spot would appear to be that occupied by Yusmeiro Petit, for this season at least, but it's as much an audition for 2010 as anything.
Hinch added, "He's got four pitches that are average or better. He's a pretty good athlete on the mound, he attacks it and it will be good to see him for a home start against Milwaukee. I'm sure his adrenaline will be pumping." Not much of a track-record in the majors to go on for the Mulvinator. 4.1 innings of work in total, to be exact, for the 24-year old. The minor numbers aren't bad, a 3.93 ERA in 24 starts for Triple-A Rochester, with a K:BB ratio a little bit better than 2:1 and an almost even split between ground- and fly-balls.
Bush got a no-decision when he faced Arizona in the Milwaukee end of the series, allowing three runs of work in seven innings - we lost 4-3, though that game will be most remembered as the ignominious end of Tom Gordon's time with the Diamondbacks. However, he has been notably less effective away from Milwaukee: his ERA on the roa is all the way up at 7.74 in nine starts. Arizona will need to take advantage of that - oh, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record [younger readers should Google that...], get some hits with runners in scoring position. In the last eight games, Arizona have averaged less than one RISP hit per game, going 6-for-57.
Line-up
- Stephen Drew SS .258
- Gerardo Parra LF .294
- Justin Upton RF .305
- Mark Reynolds 3B .275
- Miguel Montero C .304
- Chris Young CF .199
- Brandon Allen 1B .224
- Augie Ojeda 2B .237
- Kevin Mulvey P .000
Enjoy this one - think it's the last Saturday game on TV of the season, if I hear right. [Edited: Nope, not on TV for Arizona folks. Sorry!] Should be about for most of this one, keen to see what Mulvey is like. Hopefully, he'll be good decent better than Petit. And a quick reminder to Sprankton, that you're scheduled to recap the game tomorrow. Let us know if that's a problem