Game #3: Diamondbacks vs. Giants

Madison Bumgarner LHP, 0-0, N/A

Brandon McCarthy RHP, 0-0, N/A

Diamondbacks line-up

1. A.J. Pollock, CF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, 3B
5. Mark Trumbo, LF
6. Miguel Montero, C
7. Chris Owings, SS
8. Gerardo Parra, RF
9. Brandon McCarthy, P

The games in Sydney seem a very long time ago, for some reason. In fact, I'm not sure they actually happened at all: I wrote "Game #1" in the title bar, before remembering that those two contests, much as they sucked, still count in the standings. Surely, that was some kind of false start, so both teams get reeled back in, and everything gets reset? I'm fairly certain it's how this is supposed to work, isn't it? Sadly, the standings tell a different story.. Still, at least we're now only 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers, after last night's spectacular Beardplosion. That quite rekindled my love of baseball.

I'm thinking this line-up will turn out to be close to a standard one against left-handers for the Diamondbacks, at least until we get Cody Ross back off the DL. He'll probably then replace Parra in right, probably hitting sixth or thereabout. I generally feel we've got a good line-up to handle left-handed pitching, though Bumgarner is a bit more of a handful than most. He was far and away the Giants' best pitcher last season - his ERA+ 120, the next best of their regular starters was Matt Cain's 83 - so we'll have our work cut out for us. Could certainly do with a victory, as I don't think 0-3 is quite where we want to start the season!

Not sure if I should be admitting to this, but won't be around for the game. Will not actually be too far away from Chase, since we're going to a show at the Crescent Ballroom in downtown Phoenix. I'll be frantically hitting the "refresh" button on my phone, as opportunity permits, however. Clefo will hopefully be recapping the first D-backs victory of 2014 for you later.