Game #4 Preview: 4/10, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Brett Anderson LHP, 0-0, N/A

Chase Anderson RHP, 0-0, N/A

Jimmy Rollins - SS	A.J. Pollock - CF
Yasiel Puig - RF	Ender Inciarte - LF
Adrian Gonzalez - 1B	Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
Howie Kendrick - 2B	Mark Trumbo - RF
Yasmani Grandal - C	Aaron Hill - 3B
Carl Crawford - LF	Chris Owings - 2B
Juan Uribe - 3B	Tuffy Gosewisch - C
Joc Pederson - CF	Nick Ahmed - SS
Brett Anderson - LHP	Chase Anderson - RHP

This is the 15th time since 2000 that starting pitchers with the same last name have faced each other.. The most recent occasion was on Aug. 21, 2012 with the Mariners' Felix Hernandez going up against the Indians' Roberto Hernandez. I know there was a game in 2004 where we had a chance to have Gonzalez (Edgar) pitching to Gonzalez (Luis, the Rockies one) and have him fly out to Gonzalez (Luis, our one), but it never quite happened. Last year, the only candidates who made 10+ starts in the same league were the Woods, Travis and Alex, and it does not appear they started against each other. Anyway, here's to a good outing by Anderson. No. The other one...

First meaningful game of the year against the Dodgers, and here's hoping this season goes better against them than last, when we won just four times in nineteen attempts. They come in, having successfully defused the new-look Padres, and with another Gonzalez (Adrian) blowing things up like there's no tomorrow. He has five home-runs already. That is as many as the entire rosters of the Nationals, Braves, Brewers, Phillies, Cardinals, Marlins, Mets and Cubs combined. It can't last, obviously. But if it would mind stopping immediately, this would be perfectly fine by me.

From our point of view, we really need to get much better outings from our starting pitchers. Through three games, they have an 8.16 ERA and have a league-worst line against of .409/.438/.636. Now, as 'hacks mentioned, BABIP (.455!) plays into that - but so do the copious line-drives we've seen whizzing back from the batter's box. On the other hand, our BABIP has been .267, which ranks 12th in the National League, so we should see that regress. But overall - and not that you'd know it from watching our rotation - pitching seems way ahead of hitting to this point, with the National League as a whole batting .229, with an OPS of .639.

Game notes

• Fox Sports Arizona Plus tonight. You know the drill. If not, here you go.
• Oh, yeah. I suppose I should explain the picture. Sean Astin - he of Rudy, the slightly more expressive one from Lord of the Rings and most recently, as far as I'm concerned, The Strain, will be throwing out the first pitch tonight. Insert hobbit-related comment here.
• The MLB RBI leaders, Jake Lamb and Adrian Gonzalez face off in this series. Their 7 RBI apiece are equal to or more than 11 teams.
• Not much experience vs. Anderson (no... the other other one), with Trumbo (3-for-11, with two walks and a home-run) the only person with 10+ PA against the former Diamondback prospect. He started once against us last year, while with Colorado, and took the loss in a 5-3 defeat. Anderson (no, the other one) made three starts vs. LA, and went 1-1 with a 4.96 ERA. Gonzalez is 2-for-6 with one HR.