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Diamondbacks line-up
- Adam Eaton, CF
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Willie Bloomquist, SS
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Martin Prado, LF
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Matt Davidson, 3B
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Chris Owings, 2B
- Tuffy Gosewisch, C
- Trevor Cahill, P
Yeah, remind me to shut up during the early innings of today's game. After we started off by going triple, homer, I dissed the Rockies - only for things to fall apart for the Diamondbacks the rest of the way. Having mocked those who make incorrect prophecies of doom, it's only fair that I should do the same to myself for an incorrect prophecy of success. And, let me tell you, a hair shirt is not something anyone wants to wear in an Arizona September. I'll be remaining a little more circumspect until this one is genuinely in the bag.
No, that's not a misprint. Chris Owings is starting at second-base for the Diamondbacks this afternoon. It's definitely a bit of a novelty, because his entire professional experience at the position is 11 games played there for Reno earlier this year. It's something Steve Gilbert wrote about last night as TBard noted in this morning's SnakeBytes, and won wonders what it might mean for next season. Clearly, if Owings (as well as Prado) can back-up Hill at second, then it could end up rendering Cliff Pennington more surplus to requirements. Certainly, with the team officially eliminated from the post-season, now's as good a time as any to give it a shot.
Elsewhere, things are getting very interesting, particularly in the race for the American League wild-card spots. Right now, there are six teams within three games of each other: I'm not sure Bud Selig can claim any particular credit, because it'd likely be equally intense, regardless of whether it's one or two of those who made it to the playoffs. The fall from grace of the Texas Rangers has been even more spectacular than ours: they were as many as seven games in front for the AL West at one point, and still had a 97.1% playoff chance at the end of August. But they've lost 15 of their last 20, and would currently miss out altogether, which would be among the top 10 collapses of all time.
In the National League, it's all down to the Central, where the Cardinals are two in front of the Pirates and Reds. All three look almost certain to make the post-season, but the new format makes it a lot more important to win the division. St. Louis appear to have the edge there, with the other two likely to end up facing each other in the play-in game. So that'll be fun. The Cardinals are also two in front, and the Braves three, of the Dodgers for seedings, so if the season ended today, the Braves would face the wild-card winner, and the Dodgers would by taking on the Cardinals in the other division series.