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Diamondbacks Lineup
- A.J. Pollock - CF
- Aaron Hill - 2B
- Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
- Martin Prado - 3B
- Miguel Montero - C
- Mark Trumbo - LF
- Chris Owings - SS
- Gerardo Parra - RF
- Brandon McCarthy - P
Well done, Tony Campana and Cliff Pennington. Seven hits between you, and a combined WP added of +94.5% - Campana alone was in the top dozen Win Probabilities ever by a Diamondback position player. Take a seat, and enjoy the weekend. I guess this is Gibson's version of a gambler cashing in his chips while he's ahead, considering Campana had more hits last night than in the entire month of September last season. But there's no doubt his speed was crucial last night, forcing a spot of Kung Fail from the No Longer Obese Raccoon, leading to Arizona tying things up, on their way to victory in extra innings.
Not sure how much longer he'll be around. Cody Ross is likely quite close to returning, having played in five games on his rehab assignment for the Reno Aces (he has gone 4-for-14 to this point, without an extra-base hit). When he is deemed ready, I imagine it will either be Campana or Ryan Rowland-Smith who is deemed surplus to requirements and returned to Reno. Certainly seems like Kirk Gibson has enjoyed having an extra arm in the bullpen, and has made full use of it. We've thrown more relief innings than anyone else in the NL (43), though part of that is having played more games. But this series pits #1 vs. #2, so both bullpens figure to be busy this weekend.
Winning consecutive games was certainly a nice start, but we need to keep doing it, particularly during this early stretch when we're playing against the other teams in the division - effectively, every game counts double, because a loss for us is automatically a win for them, and vice-versa. Getting good McCarthy not to bail after the third inning would help significantly in this regard. I like good McCarthy, but this season, he has been acting like an unwilling guest at a Roman orgy: "Is that the time? Really, I must be going, think I left a casserole on the stove. No, I'll see myself out, you're clearly very busy."
Turambar on the recap tonight, which should be beer-filled. Hopefully, it's a happy drunk, not a mean one.