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Diamondbacks Lineup
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Chris Owings - SS
- Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
- Miguel Montero - C
- Martin Prado - 3B
- A.J. Pollock - CF
- Cody Ross - RF
- Cliff Pennington - 2B
- Bronson Arroyo - P
Should be an interesting pitching match-up tonight in St. Louis. Wainwright has been one of the top pitchers in the National League this season, with an ERA that ranks 5th among qualified pitchers. But over his last few outings, Arroyo has been even better, putting up his best three consecutive starts, probably since September 2006. He has likely been the best pitcher in the league this month, and is a very significant part of the reason why our rotation's ERA in May is getting on toward three runs better than it was in April (3.47 vs. 6.29). However, it's still the worst overall in the NL, trailing the Pirates by 0.80.
The offense was on fire during the last home-stand, mostly powered by the record-setting 18 runs scored against the Dodgers on Saturday. But over the last seven days, the Diamondbacks have been the best-hitting team in all baseball, and it's not even close. Their line of .312/.358/.580 gives them an OPS of .938, which is 77 points better than the next-best Athletics - who are nearer to the ninth-placed Tigers, than they are to the Diamondbacks. While a chunk of that is BABIP (.347 is likely not sustainable, unless you're Y*s**l P**g, apparently), there's no doubt we have been hitting better of late.
Wainwright will be a tough test, though after what we did to Disconsolate Amish Farmer, I don''t think anyone in Sedona Red will be running scared tonight. We beat him the only time we faced Wainwright last season, tagging him for 11 hits in six innings, but overall, he has done pretty well against us, with a 2.77 ERA in 11 starts. Current D-backs have done better, with a collective .307 average, led bt Montero's 5-for-14. Arroyo saw a lot of the Cards when with the Reds, and it hasn't gone well. He hasn't beaten them in his last six starts, going 0-4 with a 5.19 ERA. Hopefully, it's not that version who shows up tonight, instead we get the one we've seen so far in May.