Game #75 Preview: 6/28, Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Diego Padres

Chase Anderson RHP, 3-2, 3.54

Odrisamer Despaigne RHP, 3-5, 4.83

Nick Ahmed - SS	Matt Kemp - RF
David Peralta - CF	Yangervis Solarte - 2B
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B	Yonder Alonso - 1B
Yasmany Tomas - RF	Justin Upton - LF
Jake Lamb - 3B	Derek Norris - C
Aaron Hill - 2B	Will Venable - CF
Welington Castillo - C	Will Middlebrooks - 3B
Cliff Pennington - LF	Clint Barmes - SS
Chase Anderson - RHP	Odrisamer Despaigne - RHP

The good news is, Anderson is not facing the Rockies today,. They are the only team to have beaten him this season: in his two appearances against Colorado, he is 0-2 with an 11.70 ERA. Against everyone else, he is undefeated in a dozen starts, with a 2.43 ERA. Though, oddly, the Diamondbacks don't have a winning record in these games, having gone 5-7 in them. This is mostly on the offense, as Arizona has scored three runs or fewer in eight of the 12 contests. The bats could certainly do with waking up this afternoon, having a line of .169/.246/.220 in the first two games.

It has been the same all year: our 2015 OPS in the five Petco games is .583, the lowest of any of the ten parks in which we have played to date. Despite what it may have seemed in the past couple of games, San Diego still remains a fairly tough place to hit: the Padres are one of the few teams who have a higher OPS away from their home park. However, it is not as bad as last season: they brought in the outfield fences during the winter, and the overall OPS there has shot up from to .702 for .624. There have already been 71 home-runs hit in the park, compared to 101 over all last season, the fewest in the majors.

It has particularly helped left-handed hitters, whose OPS in San Diego has increased by 94 points; righties have increased, just not by as much (68 points). Shame we don't have Ender Inciarte with us at the moment, as his OPS in Petco this season of 1.711 is third-best among all left-handers to have played there. Instead, the outfield today will be graced again by Cliff Pennington, A.J. Pollock getting a day off, and Chip Hale apparently being unwilling to use Danny Dorn. I think I will abide by a useful philosophical mantra: never make any more explicitly predictive comment than, "Watch this!"