Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #39: Pivotal game for Corbin

Jake Peavy RHP, 1-4, 8.47

Patrick Corbin LHP, 1-3, 4.12

An abbreviated preview today, without any current line-ups. Mrs. S and I have actually both got the day off - a rare event in itself - so will be taking full advantage of the opportunity. This means being out of the house, and this not engaged in my usual Saturday afternoon couch-sprawlage, from where I can preview in depth. We apologize for this dereliction of SnakePit duties, and trust the absence of a specific line-up will not impact your appreciation and enjoyment of this article too greatly.

Still, I'm optimistic here, simply because Peavy has been so utterly god-awful so far this season. Know how bad Shelby Miller was, even excluding his starts last night and Atlanta? He had an ERA of 8.49 through May 1, basically the same as Peavy's for the entire year. That's how bad Jake has been: one quality start in seven outings. He has been particularly dreadful on the road, having allowed 23 hits and 19 earned runs in just 12 innings of work. Oh, and he is being paid fifteen million dollars by the San Francisco Giants for his 2015 efforts. So, yeah: we're not the only team in the division with question-marks in their rotation.

On the other hand, this is the Diamondbacks who have been stunningly bad at home. Thus far, we have played the same number of games (19) at Chase and on the road. But we have won more than twice as many elsewhere (12) as on our home turf (just 5). It has been all about the pitching, because the number of runs scored by Arizona is almost identical - 85 at home, 86 away. However, we have conceded a monstrous 121 in Phoenix, an average of 6.4 per game. The road figure? 66, or 3.5 per game. That's what Mike Butcher and the rest of the staff need to figure out and address.