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Diamondbacks line-up:
- Adam Eaton, RF
- Gerardo Parra, CF
- A.J. Pollock, LF
- Martin Prado, 3B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Cliff Pennington, 2B
- Rod Barajas, C
- Didi Gregorius, DH,
- John McDonald, SS
+ pitchers Ian Kennedy, Tyler Skaggs, J.J. Putz and Bo Schultz
The D-backs seek to extend their spring-high three game undefeated streak today. Or maybe it's two games. Or 2 1/2. It depends how you count the split squads on Tuesday, where we played simultaneous contests, winning one and losing the other. Checking the box scores, the victory did take eight minutes longer than the defeat, so as far I'm concerned that's good enough for me. Three games it is, then. Interesting to see how they work Kennedy and Skaggs here: I'd assume IPK will throw at least four, and if they are still looking at Skaggs for the fifth spot, he may well go four too. Putz for the ninth, Schultz on standby in case anyone gets yanked quickly. There you go.
Not much more than two weeks until opening day, and we haven't heard much about Cody Ross's calf. After the MRI sidelined him on March 5, he said, "There should be plenty of time to be able to go on Opening Day." The last we heard was a week past Friday, when it was reported, the hope was Ross "will be able to do full weight-bearing activities by March 18 or 19, at which point they’ll begin to incorporate running into his rehab. If all goes according to plan, he could be ready for the start of the season." We're just about there now, so if we don't hear something over the next couple of days, we may have to start looking at Plan B. Or, perhaps more accurately, Plan AJ.