Game #142: Diamondbacks @ Dodgers

Chase Anderson RHP, 8-6, 3.75

Hyun-Jin Ryu LHP, 14-6, 3.18

Ender Inciarte - CF	Dee Gordon - 2B
Cliff Pennington - SS	Hanley Ramirez - SS
Chris Owings - 2B	Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
Mark Trumbo - 1B	Matt Kemp - RF
Aaron Hill - 3B	Carl Crawford - LF
Cody Ross - RF	Juan Uribe - 3B
Nolan Reimold - LF	Joc Pederson - CF
Tuffy Gosewisch - C	A.J. Ellis - C
Chase Anderson - RHP	Hyun-Jin Ryu - LHP

If the Diamondbacks don't hit a home-run tonight, the six-game homerless streak will be tied for the second-longest in franchise history, trailing only an 8-game run in July 2002. It would also set a new team mark for the longest homerless streak ever by the Diamondbacks on the road, at seven games, as we also failed to leave the park in the final game of the series in Washington. Bit of a double-edged sword this evening: a left-handed opposing starter, should help the likes of Trumbo and Ross, But it also means we don't have Miguel Montero or Didi Gregorius, who have combined for 19 homers this year; Pennington and Gosewisch, their replacements, have three.

Interestingly, the team has hit pretty much exactly the same against left- and right-handed pitching:
vs. LHP: .247/.313/.371 = .684 OPS
vs. RHP: .249/.300/.381 = .682 OPS
with a very similar home-run rate too. One every 45.2 at-bats facing a rightie, one ever 45.4 at-bats against a southpaw. However, that conceals a distinct difference in the platoon splits. Our left-handed bats do a lot better than their right-handed counterparts when they have the platoon advantage (.783 vs. .700 OPS), but an awful lot worse when facing a same-handed pitcher (.528 vs. .666). Inciarte is the sole southpaw with an OPS over .600 (he is at .663 in 104 PAs), and that'd be why he is in the line-up tonight.

Our lefties have a total of three HR vs left-handers this season, and one of those was hit by Gerardo Parra, who is no longer with the team; Montero had the others. There are 17 individual players who have more in 2014, led by David Ortiz (11), and it has been an area of sharp decline over the past couple of years. In 2012, we had 17 LHB/LHP homers, but the Diamondbacks have had only a total of four since. That's not quite the worst, as the Brewers have only three since the end of 2012. But it's certainly not good. Could do with Jake Lamb showing some more of his power, but that probably won't be today!