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D-backs line-up:
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- A.J. Pollock, CF
- Martin Prado, 3B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Alfredo Marte, LF
- Cliff Pennington, SS
- Josh Wilson, 2B
- Wade Miley, P
Looks like Aaron Hill is getting the day off: fingers cross his being hit on the hand last night does not result in any significant down-time. This line-up shows the likely effect: with all due respect to Josh Wilson... he's Josh Wilson, and not Aaron Hill. Kubel also gets the day off, and it's interesting to consider whether this might continue, or even happen more often, when the right-handed Cody Ross returns from the disabled list. So far, in nine games, Kubel has not been in the starting lineup for three of them. Still plenty of ever-presents though: Goldschmidt and the Killer P's (Parra, Pennington, Prado) are a perfect 9-for-9.
Matinee madness at Chase Field, as the Diamondbacks try to avert a sweep at the hands of the Pirates. Yeah, that's not quite what we were hoping for when we came into this series. The visitors had the reverse of the 5-1 record we owned, and were struggling offensively in season-opening historic way. But after the first two games, we've received shaky starting pitching, extremely sporadic offense and generally not demonstrated the consistent approach Kirk Gibson has wanted. As a result, we find ourselves seeking to avoid the first sweep ever at the hands of the Pirates in Chase Field.
Could be a low-scoring game today, for the D-backs (.121) and Pirates (.082) boast the 2 lowest NL averages vs. left-handed pitchers this season. Miley got a 3-1 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee last tome, allowing one run in six innings - he was a K machine, and his eight strikeouts there were tied for the third-highest total of his career. It's his third career start against the Pirates, having gone 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA He was the unlucky loser last time, allowing only an unearned run in six innings. No-one on the current Pittsburgh roster has more than a handful of at-bats against Miley.
Sanchez is, of course, the greatest pitcher in the world [to new readers: this is a long-running SnakePit reference, dating back to his 2009 no-hitter, when with the Giants which resulted in some quite amusing claims regarding his greatness from certain quarters] Inexplicably, Sanchez has now lost seven consecutive starts, a streak going back to June last year, and now covering three teams. With a 10.41 ERA, he can hardly claim to be hard-done by that run. Perhaps surprisingly, it's not the worst active one in the majors: on Monday, Kevin Slowey lost his 10th straight start: the last time he didn't get the L was back in 2010. Miggy is 5-for-12 with two HR against ZOMGSanchez.
I thus feel kinda optimistic that we can avert the sweep and salvage the series finale. A win this afternoon would leave us at 6-3, going into the Dodgers series, and with 1/2 game covering the top four in the NL West right now, it'd make quite a difference.