Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #26: Opening Day redux

Chris Rusin LHP, 1-0, 2.45

Zack Greinke RHP, 2-2, 6.16

Charlie Blackmon - CF	Jean Segura - 2B
Trevor Story - SS	Brandon Drury - 3B
Carlos Gonzalez - RF	Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
Nolan Arenado - 3B	Yasmany Tomas - LF
Gerardo Parra - LF	Welington Castillo - C
Mark Reynolds - 1B	David Peralta - RF
Nick Hundley - C	Chris Owings - CF
DJ LeMahieu - 2B	Zack Greinke - RHP
Chris Rusin - LHP	Nick Ahmed - SS

Hopefully, the outcome will be a bit different from Opening Day, when we went into the game with such expectations, only for Zack Greinke to be treated in a manner entirely unbefitting a man being paid a million bucks for his work on the day. Greinke lasted only four innings, allowing seven runs as he was obliterated by a tsunami of Colorado hitting, the ugly ripples from which are still rocking the team's foundations at the other end of April. But, hey: a win today gives us a .500 record for the month, which would be perfectly acceptable, and also would give us a shot at first place in the division, pending other results (Giants are losing again in New York, at time of writing).

We didn't see Rusin in the first series at Chase Field, but he us 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA against Arizona in the past. All three starts have been at Chase Field, but you're going back as far as 2012, so hard to ascribe much in the way of predictive nature to these. CarGon is back in the Rockies line-up, not that they appeared to have missed him last night - he has largely owned Greinke, in a Timmy/Goldy kind of vein, possessing a line of .357/.400/.893 in 30 PA against Zack. And then there's Trevor Story, who is 2-for-3 with a pair of home-runs, giving him a 3.333 OPS. That's more total bases than Melvin Upton has managed in thirty-four at-bats against Greinke.

Ahmed back at shortstop after his rest day last night, and otherwise looks like a fairly standard line-up for Arizona against a left-handed pitcher. I'm certainly hoping for a better showing than Friday, not least because I am responsible for recapping this one. But also because finishing April at .500, given the clear issues through which the team has had to work, would be quite some achievement. Things - and by "things", I mean the schedule - will be easier the rest of the way, but it's always going to be easier to have that feeling of fan confidence building from that .500 mark, rather than looking up at it.