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Diamondbacks Line-up
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Gerardo Parra, RF
- Aaron Hill, 2B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Cody Ross, LF
- Eric Chavez, 3B
- A.J. Pollock, CF
- Didi Gregorius, SS
- Wade Miley, P
A heavy-hearted day in Arizona, as we mourn the loss of 19 fire-fighters, killed battling a blaze threatening Yarnell, up near Prescott. It's a sobering thought which, once again, brings some perspective to what we do here, and how unimportant it is, in the bigger scale of things. Getting upset over a pitching performance or sports injury seems particularly pointless today. Our sympathies go to all those affected, and particularly the families of the fire-fighters. The D-backs have announced they will honor the fallen with a fund-raising campaign to support those left behind, details to follow. For now, keep them in your thoughts, and we'll observe a moment of SnakePit silence.
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Thank you: there'll be one of those before all MLB games tonight too. The Diamondbacks move on to New York, turning the page on a June which will be one to forget. Scoping out the schedule, it looks a lot kinder. Indeed, from now through the series against the Rays which starts on July 30th, every single opponent we will face currently has a losing record. I'm not saying it'll be easy - there are some key sets against our divisional rivals where there will be a lot at stake - but coming off nine straight games against winning teams,it should certainly feel less of a slog. If ever there was a month to re-establish our credentials as contenders, this would be it.
And if ever there were an opposing starter against whom to do it, Marcum might be the man, as he seems to have come within an ace of becoming the first Mets starter since Anthony Young in 1983, to open the season 0-10. However, I'm sure the White Sox were licking their lips too, in anticipation of Marcum's start against them last week in Chicago - only for him to shut them out through eight innings, facing three batters over the minimum. Admittedly, his record is as much due to a lack of run support: the Mets haven't scored more than three runs in a Marcum start since May 26. But he is still the kind of pitcher we should be beating, with an ERA north of five.
Seems a bit moist at Citi Field:
Tarp is down at Citi Field, the grounds crew works on homeplate area as the rain lets up: pic.twitter.com/Q5BNhKma1H
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 1, 2013
Forecast for the evening seems questionable, with a significant chance of thunderstorms, so I'm hoping we can get this one in without issue. A limited slate of games being played elsewhere today: San Diego and San Francisco are in action, both of them playing in the Eastern timezone, against Miami and Cincinnati respectively. We have a two-game lead over the Rockies and Padres right now, with all three teams having gone 4-6 over the last ten Don't look now, but the Dodgers are suddenly only four games back. On the other hand, they're reportedly close to trading for Carlos Marmol. Would they like a bullet for the other foot?
'charmer recapping this one, as we shuffle the recap rotation around for the second half.