Preview #85: Arizona Diamondbacks @ Los Angeles Dodgers

Hill comes in with a 9-0 record and a 1.83 ERA. However, the D-backs were responsible for Hill's worst start of the season, the last time they saw him on April 21 at Chase Field. He didn't even get through five innings, and was charged with four runs on seven hits and a walk, though got a no-decision, as Arizona's 13-5 victory was the result of nine runs scored in the eighth. But since then, Hill has a 1.50 ERA over nine outings, and a 73-13 K:BB ratio over 60 innings. He has won his last eight starts in a row, and performed like the #2 behind Kershaw the Dodgers have been seeking for quite some time. If he keeps up this level of play, they're going to be formidable in the playoffs.

But Godley is not chopped liver. He has quietly delivered the best overall ERA by anyone who has started any games for the D-backs this year [Randall Delgado has a lower ERA as a starter, but his relief outings push his total above Godley's] It's particularly impressive, considering he wasn't in the rotation on Opening Day, and is only pitching now, as a result of Shelby Miller needing season-ending surgery. But this is one of those cases where you can make a case that the team is better as a result of the injury, if you look at Miller's numbers and compare them to Godley's. But I am still worried whether they are sustainable: His 5.34 ERA before this year weighs on that.

However, Godley's FIP this season is 3.20 which suggest a palpable improvement. The BABIP of .241 is low, but that's partly the result of batters not squaring the ball up. He has allowed a line-drive rate of 18%, which is a third-lower than last year's figure of 27%, and also well below the MLB average of 26%. Those tend to be what drives BABIP, and Godley's transition into a ground-ball machine, with a GO/AO ratio of above two (2.05) suggests, as Sean noted last week,  he could become Brandon Webb Lite. Though even he would have to admit, Lite is probably among the last words anyone would use to describe Godley!