Preview, #45: Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Diego Padres

Victory this afternoon would give the D-backs their sixth win in  row, which is something they've only managed once since the end of 2011 - they won six in a row from July 25-31, 2015. It would also be consecutive sweeps for Arizona, a feat they haven't been able to do in three-game sets since August 2011, when they did so against the Padres and Rockies at Chase Field. That came on the heels of taking three of four from the Nationals in Washington, a nine-game winning streak only surpassed once in franchise history. Back in 2003, the D-backs reeled off 12 straight wins, so we've still got a way to go to challenge that.

But after the emphatic victories of the first two games, outscoring San Diego by a margin of 19-2, you feel they've got a good chance to keep going this afternoon. Godley has been a revelation over his past two starts, dialing up both strikeouts and groundballs with apparent ease, and the San Diego line-up is not one which should be feared by any competent pitcher, with the exception of Myers. However, the D-backs are facing a left-handed starter, something which has given them problems this year: their record against southpaws is only 7-7, something of a surprise considering we have some hitters who SHOULD be destroying them.

Not sure, on that basis, having the left-handed Blanco leading off is necessarily the best idea, but Torey Lovullo has been pushing all the right buttons of late, so we'll let it slide. Not that he's actually needed to do much button pressing in this series. With the D-backs having scored 13 runs in the first inning over the opening two games, he could probably have turned on the autopilot and retired to the locker-room to catch up on some Netflix binge-watching, without any significant impact on the result. A win here and a Rockies loss (if that happens) would see us tied for first in the division. Since I'm recapping this one, I'll be annoyed if I don't get a nice blowout to write about too!