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D-backs line-up:
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A.J. Pollock, CF
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Martin Prado, 3B
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Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
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Cody Ross, RF
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Miguel Montero, C
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Alfredo Marte, LF
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Didi Gregorius, SS
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Cliff Pennington, 2B
- Ian Kennedy, P
I was wondering what the team record was in contests after extra-inning games: did the euphoria of such a victory carry forward to the following night? And conversely, did a defeat under such circumstances lead to any hangover the following day? It's probably something that needs more study - ok, considering my "study" consisted of two minutes looking at last year's schedule, it could hardly be any less study - but the results were kinda surprising. Of the seven extra-inning games played by the Diamondbacks last year, all but one had the REVERSE result the next day. If we won in extras, we usually lost the next game; but if we lost, we usually won.
The only exception was the Sep 4 games against the Giants in San Francisco, where we won 8-6 in 11 innings (itself coming on the heels of a 10-inning defeat the previous night), and followed it up with a 6-2 victory over the Giants the following day. I don't generally believe in omens, but it seems a strangely similar pattern to this series. Walk-off loss, extra-inning victory, and the finale in both cases takes place on a Wednesday with the home team sending Bumgarner to the mound. I'd take the win, which would roll the road-trip record to a respectable 4-5, and head back home to take on the (suddenly vulnerable, it appears) Rockies.
Lett-handed line-up, though Didi, as a treat for his 11th-inning hustle last night, gets to start against a left-handed pitcher. Montero is, at least, not batting clean-up, though the fifth spot still seems to high for someone below the Uecker Line, who hasn't shown any power this year either. Marte comes in to replace Gerardo Parra, which seems a bit of a double-edged sword. Parra can't hit left-handers of course (3-for-25 against them this year), but Marte can't seem to hit anyone to date, and is 3-for-19 against southpaws, hardly much of an improvement. Can we get Adam Eaton and Jason Kubel back soon, please?
Finally, a quick rant against the schedule makers. It's a day game today, before the D-backs make the arduous trip back the 653 miles to Phoenix from San Francisco. But when we were in New York, because (one presumes) it was the Yankees, who love money, they got a night game, before we made the 1,631 mile flight from there to Denver, arriving at about 5 am. It's something that needs to be sorted, I think. Simply mandate compulsory day games before any flight of more than X miles. Whatever X might be.