Game #123: Diamondbacks @ Marlins

Wade Miley LHP, 7-8, 4.61

Henderson Alvarez RHP, 8-5, 2.48

Ender Inciarte - CF	Christian Yelich - LF
Cliff Pennington - SS	Donovan Solano - 2B
David Peralta - RF	Giancarlo Stanton - RF
Mark Trumbo - 1B	Casey McGehee - 3B
Miguel Montero - C	Jeff Baker - 1B
Aaron Hill - 2B	Marcell Ozuna - CF
Jake Lamb - 3B	Adeiny Hechavarria - SS
Xavier Paul - LF	Jeff Mathis - C
Wade Miley - LHP	Henderson Alvarez - RHP

The Diamondbacks offense continues to struggle, in the absence of Paul Goldschmidt. In August, they have scored 49 runs in 13 games, which doesn't sound too bad, until you remember a) 14 of those came in one game against the Rockies, so we're averaging less than three per game for the other dozen and b) four of those contests have gone to extra innings. The team as a while is hitting .228/.291/.341 this month, with resulting OPS of .632 13th in the National League for August, ahead only of the Phillies and Mets. The worst offender among the regular starters is Didi Gregorius, who is at .132/.214/.132, but Jordan Pacheco (.333) and Jake Lamb (.431) aren't far behind.

I think it's safe to say that Lamb has had a rough transition to the majors, going 5-for-25 with one walk and 10 strikeouts so far. Never mind the first #LambBomb, we're still waiting for the first extra-base hit from him. Obviously, it's a tiny sample size, and I guess we can't expect every prospect to come out on fire. But there's something interesting if we compare Lamb to Paul Goldschmidt. The two were almost identical ages when they made their debuts - Goldie was 23 days older. And over his first seven games, Paul was 5-for-26 with ten strikeouts. He did have a home-run and a couple more walks, but it goes to show, even the best may struggle.