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If not a "must win", then this certainly counts as a "would like to win" game, more than usual. Defeat would mean we'd been swept by the Padres, and could well give us sole possession of the cellar in the NL West, depending on how the SF-LA series goes. With the Cardinals and Phillies coming to Arizona next week, we want to kick out of the mini-slump which has affected us for the past two games (plus one out).
Line-ups and other stuff after the jump.
- Conor Jackson LF
- Tony Abreu SS
- Kelly Johnson 2B
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Chris Young CF
- Rusty Ryal 1B
- John Hester C
- Ian Kennedy RHP
Stephen Drew gets the day off against the Padres' left-hander who has been Bensoned up from Triple-A to make the start. Abreu plays at shortstop instead. Adam LaRoche still not in the line-up? Ryal takes the spot at 1B, presumably because moving Jackson there would have meant putting Gerardo Parra in left, and we all know what Parra does against southpaws - mostly wandering sadly back to the dugout. We'll be hoping for better from Kennedy than his last start against the Dodgers; he faced the Padres in the opening series and got a no-decision, allowing three runs in five innings.
Elsewhere, Jason Marquis was lifted by the Nats without recording a single out against the Brewers. They scored ten in the first, capped by a grand-slam from Craig Counsell. He is the first starting pitcher to allow seven earned runs and not retire a batter since former D-backs JD Durbin did so for the Phillies in September 2007. You may remember Durbin, as he allowed seven runs in a 0.2 inning relief outing for Arizona earlier that year, in his only appearance ever for the club.
Won't be about much for this one. soco will be bringing you a recap, and I'll be catching up with other stuff, like writing a review of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and calling my parents in Scotland to see if they have dug themselves out from volcanic ash yet. Boy, did we dodge a bullet getting back from Europe before that...