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Diamondbacks line-up
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Aaron Hill, 2B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Martin Prado, 3B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Mark Trumbo, LF
- Cliff Pennington, SS
- Tony Campana, CF
- Trevor Cahill, P
Couple of changes for the Diamondbacks this evening, with the first starts of the year for Pennington and Campana, replacing Owings and Pollock respectively. Yeah, Pollock's three hits, including driving in the tying run, and scoring the game-winner, were clearly not enough to keep him on the field. But I think, in some ways, it's better to sit a player after a good performance, rather than a bad one - the latter could lead to frustration as he has nothing to do but sit on the bench and think about it all night. Pretty sure Pollock will be a lot happier after last night's performance. Of course, the "hot hand" is the counter-argument, though the jury is still out on whether or not that exists.
We certainly need Cahill to discover his form, rather than the wretched performance he gave us during Game 2 in Sydney, where he got slapped around for eight hits - and, perhaps worse still, four walks - in four innings. We know he had his struggles in spring, but that start was certainly disappointing. We're still early enough in the season that each contest has a big difference in our record: win tonight, and we're back to 2-3, within touching distance of .500. But lose instead, and we'll be looking at 1-4, which seems a great deal worse.
We'll see how the team copes with Tim Hudson. We saw him twice last year which with the Braves, and handled him pretty well, tagging him for nine runs over 10.2 combined innings, on 13 hits and five walks. The current roster hits a collecting .277 off him, and a bit surprised not to see Eric Chavez [3-for-8] in the line-up; maybe they can't get him out of the bubble-wrap? Parra is also 3-for-8 and with more walks than strikeouts, and Mark Trumbo is a perfect 2-for-2 with a home-run. So, no pressure there, Mark. kishi on his first recap of the 2014 season tonight.