Game #161: Diamondbacks vs. Cardinals

Lance Lynn RHP, 15-10, 2.73

Wade Miley LHP, 8-12, 4.35

Matt Carpenter - 3B	Ender Inciarte - LF
Randal Grichuk - RF	A.J. Pollock - CF
Matt Holliday - LF	David Peralta - RF
Jhonny Peralta - SS	Mark Trumbo - 1B
Matt Adams - 1B	Miguel Montero - C
Yadier Molina - C	Jake Lamb - 3B
Jon Jay - CF	Cliff Pennington - 2B
Mark Ellis - 2B	Didi Gregorius - SS
Lance Lynn - RHP	Wade Miley - LHP

First, just to update a stat from yesterday's game. Trevor Cahill's performance did indeed tick his bWAR down another tenth of a point, so his 2014 ends at -1.5 bWAR, trailing only three seasons in Diamondbacks history by a pitcher (Chad Qualls, 2010; Omar Daal, 2000; Russ Ortiz, 2005). Another landmark for the 2014 season.

On to today's game, and while it is the epitome of meaningless baseball as far as the Diamondbacks are concerned, the Cardinals can now clinch the NL Central with a win tonight. The Pirates lost in Cincinnati, as the Reds scored six unanswered runs, including four in the tenth inning. That reduces the Cardinals magic number to one. I'm pretty sure they will want to take care of that tonight, and not leave it until the 162nd game, so I expect them to come out with all guns blazing against Miley and the Diamondbacks. Just as long as they don't finish their evening off with a dip in the pool. I'm sure precautions have been taken...

Of course, they might not have to trek all the way to right field... The storm which swept its way across Phoenix this afternoon managed even to penetrate the hermetically-sealed environment which is Chase Field.

So this is a first. It is raining so hard in PHX it is getting wet, thru the roof at Chase Field! pic.twitter.com/0ZsOmHjaGy

— Cindy Brunson (@CindyBrunsonAZ) September 27, 2014

Good job it appears to have eased up, or this could have ended up being the first ever rain-out inside a roofed stadium... It's also my final recap of the season: with Tankapalooza over, I can now go back to rooting unashamedly for a D-backs win. But today is already a win for Arizona fans:

Here's a sight for sore #Dbacks eyes: Paul Goldschmidt takes BP today here at Chase Field. pic.twitter.com/AWgSCEnRuI

— Steve Berthiaume (@BertDbacks) September 27, 2014

Roll on 2015...