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The La Russa Heartbreakometer
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Aaron Brooks
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Jhoulys Chacin
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| Billy Burns - CF | Ender Inciarte - RF |
| Mark Canha - 1B | A.J. Pollock - CF |
| Josh Reddick - RF | Paul Goldschmidt - 1B |
| Danny Valencia - 3B | David Peralta - LF |
| Stephen Vogt - C | Welington Castillo - C |
| Brett Lawrie - 2B | Jake Lamb - 3B |
| Coco Crisp - LF | Aaron Hill - 2B |
| Marcus Semien - SS | Jhoulys Chacin - RHP |
| Aaron Brooks - RHP | Nick Ahmed - SS |
Nice to see the Heartbreakometer going the right way yesterday, after a series that saw the gap become so sizable, the D-backs started offering mule rides to the bottom and back... Hopefully the narrowing will continue today. A few bits of news to come out of the pre-game press conference. Again, they are extending the rotation, and will be calling someone up to make a spot start for tomorrow's game pushing everyone else back by a day. It seems likely that will be either Allen Webster or A.J. Schugel, since Archie Bradley started last night with Reno, Zack Godley hasn't been down for the minimum 10 days, and Aaron Blair needs a 40-man roster spot.
Neither Webster nor Schugel appeal much, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. Webster is the scheduled starter for the Aces tonight, so if he gets pulled from that, we'll probably know the reason why. Schugel, I believe, started on Tuesday, so he'd line up automatically with a start tomorrow. Also, there's a locker with Phil Gosselin's name in the clubhouse, apparently in preparation for his arrival on Monday. That will need a pair of moves, both to clear room on the 40-man roster and, because rosters don't expand until Tuesday, on the 25-man as well. Could be a return to a more standard 7-man bullpen, in advance of that expansion?
Chacin makes his second start for us, after a solid outing in his first time out, which really didn't deserve a loss. He'll also have to contend with hitting eighth in the line-up: wonder why Chip has now got a new found fascination for that tactic? Maybe it's just to confuse American League opponents, who aren't sure what to do without a DH to write in their line-up!