Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #90: Sunday Night Baseball

Archie Bradley RHP, 3-4, 4.81

Madison Bumgarner LHP, 9-4, 2.09

Jean Segura - 2B	Denard Span - CF
Michael Bourn - CF	Angel Pagan - LF
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B	Brandon Belt - 1B
Welington Castillo - C	Buster Posey - C
Yasmany Tomas - RF	Brandon Crawford - SS
Jake Lamb - 3B	Conor Gillaspie - 3B
Brandon Drury - LF	Gregor Blanco - RF
Archie Bradley - RHP	Ramiro Pena - 2B
Nick Ahmed - SS	Madison Bumgarner - LHP

The last time the Diamondbacks were on Sunday night baseball was August 31st, 2008. Hopefully tonight's contest will go slightly better. On that occasion, our starter was Brandon Webb, who was 19-3 at the time. However, he laid a bit of an egg, as the Dodgers scored four runs in the first inning, and Webb was charged with eight runs (six earned) in just 6.1 innings. Los Angeles rolled to an easy victory, 8-1, with Derek Lowe getting the victory. Future Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer tossed a pair of scoreless innings in relief that day. There were 43.356 in attendance at Chase Field that day: we may not see a crowd ten thousand less the rest of the way.

Other points to ponder:

• This will thus be the Diamondbacks' first time appearing on Sunday Night Baseball in the Obama administration.
  
• Tonight's starting pitcher, Archie Bradley had just turned 16, earlier that month.
• The Billboard #1 on that date was T.I., with the song Whatever You Like. I have absolutely no clue who he/she/it may be. I am entirely unconcerned by this ignorance.
  
• The top film at the box-office, for the third consecutive weekend, was Tropic Thunder.
• On that day, the Toronto Blue Jays traded David Eckstein to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Chad Beck.
  

The D-backs will be trying to avoid the sweep, which would also mean going into the All-Star break having lost four in a row, and twelve of their last 14. It's not going to be easy going up against Bumgarner, who has allowed a total of five earned runs over his last four starts against the D-backs for an ERA of 1.61. Though oddly, his record in those games is only 1-3, so there is hope. We would need Bradley to be truly on his game, and that didn't happen the last time he faced the Giants. Archie lasted only 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks, though escaped with a no-decision there. We'll hope for better tonight.