Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #57: Doing the rain dance

Edwin Escobar LHP, 0-1, 18.90

Jason Hammel RHP, 6-1, 2.09

Jean Segura - 2B	Dexter Fowler - CF
Brandon Drury - RF	Jason Heyward - RF
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B	Kris Bryant - 3B
Jake Lamb - 3B	Anthony Rizzo - 1B
Welington Castillo - C	Ben Zobrist - 2B
Chris Owings - CF	Jorge Soler - LF
Yasmany Tomas - LF	Addison Russell - SS
Nick Ahmed - SS	David Ross - C
Edwin Escobar - LHP	Jason Hammel - RHP

Ideal scenario would probably be something like this. Today's game is postponed due to rain. Because of the weird local ordinances around Wrigley, restricting the number of night games, it can't be rescheduled as a double-header tomorrow, so is postponed until later. Since it proves entirely irrelevant to everything in the standings, it is just quietly forgotten about by everyone. I think that would probably be for the best. Because the fewer games we play against this Cubs outfit, the better; I'm not sure we can handle the emotional scarring. Over the five contests so far, they have outscored us by 19 runs, 33-14. Oh, and we somehow won one of those five.

Today certainly does not look promising, unless Escobar has discovered a magic elixir of pitching at some point last week. For his first outing was bad: even allowing for some poor luck... It was bad. And I dread to think what might happen when he faces a powerful Cubs line-up at Wrigley this afternoon. It's the kind of game which I am largely inclined to write off as a loss before we even begin, and spend the three hours doing something more productive and entertaining. Like weeding the back garden in the projected 117F heat. But, hey: there's always hope. Just not very much for this one.

Things look good at Wrigley Field for now, but the forecast calls for rain this afternoon: amount and duration to be determined. Given the expected conditions in Phoenix today, any kind of precipitation should be considered taunting by the Chicago area, and grounds for them to forfeit the contest. Let's be honest, that would probably be our best shot of winning this one...