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It's off to Milwaukee, where we face the sinister Brewers this series. I say that, because I believe we'll be facing a trio of left-handed starters this series. The Diamondbacks have done okay against southpaws this year - we're 11-18 against them, a win % of .379, very close to the overall number of .384. Overall, Arizona hits a bit better against lefties. The season line is .262/.349/.450 compared to .250/.323/.408 against righties, a difference of 67 OPS points. But that conceals some quite large disparities - and it's perhaps not who you think that has crushed them.
Leading the charge against left-handed starters have been Kelly Johnson and Adam LaRoche - who are, of course, left-handed batters. They are hitting .320 and .340 respectively, with both having an OPS over 1.000. We are talking about a relatively small number of at-bats, however: about a hundred for each player. Most of the other positions hang in fairly well, though Justin Upton's power seems much less - in 129 PAs aganst an LHSP, he has only two homers. Miguel Montero is the regular who struggles most: against all lefties, he's 7-for-30, with a .686 OPS, a contrast to last year - with the alternative now being John Hester, Miggy needs to improve here.
We will also be keeping an eye on Ian Kennedy, to see if his recent struggles continue. His overall line against hasn't changed much since before the break, except for his strikeout rate being sharply down, which may suggest that he is beginning to run out of gas. We faced Narveson when the Brewers came to Arizona back in May, and he got the win, allowing one run in 5.2 innings, striking out eight Diamondbacks hitters, as Milwaukee pulled away late for a 6-1 victory. Here's to better tonight, or at least a better performance than yesterday, since I have to write the recap!
- Chris Young CF
- Kelly Johnson 2B
- Justin Upton RF
Miguel Montero C - Mark Reynolds 3B
- Stephen Drew SS
- Rusty Ryal 1B
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Ian Kennedy RHP