If the D-backs are going to beat Chacin, looks like they're also going to have to do it without Paul Goldschmidt. After starting the first 20 games of the season, he gets the evening off, with Herrman starting at first. Probably not a bad thing: a rest every once in a while will help keep Goldschmidt fresh, over what will hopefully be a long season of important games. If there's going to be meaningful baseball at Chase Field in September, for the first time since 2011, Paul will be a very important part of that. There probably won't be many better chances, going up against the Padres and with Greinke on the mound.
Of course, it didn't quite work out like that, when these two faced off in San Diego. Chacin prevailed in a 1-0 victory, Greinke being tagged with the loss. Quite the pitching duel, the two men combining for a total Game Score of 153. It was the first time the D-backs had been involved in a game where both starting pitchers went 8+ innings and allowed one run or fewer, since July 28, 2013, when Tyson Ross out-dueled Patrick Corbin for a 1-0 win at Chase Field, with a combined Game Score of 156 (82 for Ross, 74 for Corbin). Maybe I'll have to do a write-up on the best-pitched games of all time involving us.
Of course, YCPB, and so that means tonight will probably be a 12-11 barn-burner, decided when the remnants of the two bullpens start battering each other with dismembered limbs. Which would give Charlie an interesting topic for the recap, at least. I'm feeling optimistic our coaches will have adjusted their game plan appropriately, and the tandem of Greinke and Mathis will be as effective here as they were in San Diego. Revenge will be ours.