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Jake Lamb is immediately dropped into the three-hole, probably due to there being a right-handed opposing starter. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this - and getting away from the moist-ball universe that is Chase Field - will help to kick-start the Diamondbacks offense. They have still not yet delivered tacos in a regulation game this month, their only time scoring more than four runs being that 12-inning game in Los Angeles. Those home/road splits have become increasingly brutal after that home-stand, where the team scored 13 runs over seven games and batted a collective .173 with and OPS of only .484. A K:BB of worse than 4:1 didn’t help, either.
As we go onto this swing through New York, Milwaukee and Oakland, the team’s OPS at home is now 97 points lower than on the road - and we haven’t played in Coors Field yet [we’re still a full three weeks away from Arizona’s first visit there]. If the offense does bounce back over the next nine games, then it will be more evidence that the impact of the humidor at Chase Field is significant. On the other hand, if the offense does NOT bounce back... Well, I guess we simply suck. :) Though particularly tomorrow, the weather may play a part, with a lot of rain forecast overnight and through Saturday [I see the Dodgers game in Washington has already been postponed].
Torey Lovullo also announced that Sunday will see Clay Buchholz starting for the D-backs, as they continue to churn through candidates for the fifth starter. Hopefully he’ll last longer than the one-start wonders who preceded him, Kris Medlen and Not Kris Medlen. Clay will become the ninth starting pitcher used by the Diamondbacks this season, in just 46 games. It’s the most the team has used since 2003, when they needed ten different starters to get to this point. That year’s rotation - more of a merry-go-round, really - included one start each by Chris Capuano, John Patterson and Oscar Villarreal, as well as half a dozen from Byung-Hyun Kim. Somehow, this year seems a model of stability in comparison!