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Diamondbacks Line-up
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Martin Prado, 2B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Eric Chavez, 3B
- A.J. Pollock, CF
- Didi Gregorius, SS
- Alfredo Marte, LF
- Brandon McCarthy, P
Since that Sunday breakfast, Arizona has avoided the sweep at Coors, taken two of three from the Giants in San Francisco, and held on to win the opening game in this series, here last night. Meanwhile, Colorado were very nearly swept by Atlanta. As a result, if the Diamondbacks win this evening, they'll be tied with the Rockies for first in the NL West. It could be a three-way tie, if the Giants beat the Padres in San Diego. And since the latter are 6-15 this year, I'm expecting them to put up as much resistance as...well, coincidentally, what the name of the city means in German, according to Ron Burgundy. Gonna be an interesting division, this.
McCarthy will attempt to follow Trevor Cahill last night, and pick up his first win of the season - that would leave Matt Reynolds as the only Diamondbacks' pitcher without a W to his name this year. As was noted in this morning's SnakeBytes, Brandon tends to the view that he has just been unlucky this year: there's likely some truth in that, but there have also been rather too many line-drives whizzing off the bats of opposing hitters. But the bottom line is, McCarthy is not a pitcher who should have an ERA north of seven, and I'd like to see that no longer being the case by the end of tonight.
Certainly, with the two pitchers who have been our "aces" so far going over the weekend, a victory this evening would leave Arizona feeling fairly confident about taking the series. It would also tie our season-high four-game winning streak, which was also did with the aid of a sweep in Milwaukee. Perhaps, by Sunday morning, we'll be able to put the Rockies in our rear-view mirror - I've a feeling that that might be where they would then stay for the rest of the season. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. See some offense, a good performance from McCarthy, and solid bullpen work, and take care of business tonight.
Didi Gregorius makes his home debut for the Diamondbacks tonight, and has already been endearing himself to fans. He has certainly done well enough on the road with the bat, and as the subject of this week's SnakeLines post, there will be a lot of people particularly interested in his performance. I get the feeling Didi may well become a fan favorite before long. What's the over/under on Gregorius shirts appearing in the team shop?