Game #111: Diamondbacks vs. Pirates

Vance Worley RHP, 4-1, 2.54

Chase Anderson RHP, 6-4, 3.34

Josh Harrison - LF	Ender Inciarte - CF
Gregory Polanco - RF	Aaron Hill - 2B
Andrew McCutchen - CF	David Peralta - RF
Neil Walker - 2B	Miguel Montero - C
Ike Davis - 1B	Mark Trumbo - LF
Russell Martin - C	Jordan Pacheco - 1B
Pedro Alvarez - 3B	Didi Gregorius - SS
Jordy Mercer - SS	Andy Marte - 3B
Vance Worley - RHP	Chase Anderson - RHP

Dear heavens, I look at that line-up for the Diamondbacks this afternoon and am staggered. Hill, Montero and Trumbo are the only players present who would likely have been part of a full-strength Arizona roster at the beginning of the season. Names like Inciarte, Marte and Anderson were likely barely known to fans here, now they're a regular part of the 2014 landscape. Weird how things work out. It'll be curious to see how the team copes with the absence of Goldschmidt for an extended period. It's uncharted territory of late. Since the beginning of 2013, we have played 272 games. Paul has started at first in 266 of them.

For a while there after the All-Star break, it seemed that Tankapalooza might be avoided, but today's news appears to send it back into full effect. There's no over-stating how important Goldschmidt was to this team: Over the past two and a half or so season, Paul has a total of 15.4 bWAR; that's more than twice as much as any other Diamondback in that time, be they hitter or position player. Oh, and the second-placed player is now wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform. while the third is also currently on the DL with a broken hand. It's going to be a long, long last 52 games of the season, folks.