Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #3: Take the series

Tyler Chatwood RHP, 0-0, N/A

Patrick Corbin LHP, 0-0, N/A

DJ LeMahieu - 2B	Jean Segura - 2B
Trevor Story - SS	Chris Owings - CF
Carlos Gonzalez - RF	Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
Nolan Arenado - 3B	David Peralta - RF
Mark Reynolds - 1B	Jake Lamb - 3B
Ryan Raburn - LF	Brandon Drury - LF
Nick Hundley - C	Chris Herrmann - C
Brandon Barnes - CF	Patrick Corbin - LHP
Tyler Chatwood - RHP	Nick Ahmed - SS

Rather different look to the Diamondbacks for this afternoon's game, the rubber one of the opening series against the Rockies. Drury and Herrmann make their first starts of the season, with Drury appearing in left-field - alongside Owings and Peralta, that means two-thirds of our outfield have a collective ONE game there in the majors, and the third is a converted pitcher who never played there until his twenties. S'funny how largely unconcerned I find myself with this, however! Curious to see how Herrmann handles things: there has clearly been room for improvement in our pitching, and whether it's the result of poor pitch-calling or a failure to execute is open to debate.

It has been an offensive barn-burner to date, each side scoring sixteen times over the first two games. For the D-backs, it's one off the franchise high, set when they scored 17 times in the opening pair of 2000 contests. They won both those, beating the Phillies 6-4 on Opening Day, then 11-3, and completing the sweep with a narrow 3-2 win. Those 20 runs remain the best for a three-game series to open a season, meaning the team needs to deliver tacos this afternoon to set a new mark. If the team continues to hit the way they have been playing so far, batting a collective .351, I would not bet against it. Six players currently have an OPS+ of 200 or better! Yay for small samples.

That said, I'd not mind if we win this one with our pitching, since the 16 earned runs allowed is also the second most in franchise history. The record there is 18 from 2005, where we were clubbed by the Cubs 16-4 on Opening Day [see? Monday wasn't so bad, was it?] The record through three games is 21 earned runs allowed, so if we can avoid allowing five of those this afternoon, we'll be under the wire. After our two new arrivals have both been found wanting in their first starts for us, we turn to the more tested in Sedona Red shape of  Patrick Corbin, who should be off that fixed pitch count which limited him after his return last year.