Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #5: 4/3 @ Padres

The Giants win over the Chicago Southsiders this afternoon, means that all five teams in the National League West currently have a record of 2-2. A win tonight would mean the D-backs go top of the division, albeit tied with whoever wins the game in Los Angeles between the Dodgers and the Rockies. That will, of course, mean beating the Padres, who bounced back after losing the first two games against the Rockies, to end up with a split of their own four-game set. The D-backs have adjusted the batting order slightly, with Kyle Lewis no longer hitting lead-off after striking out six times in nine plate-appearances at the top of the order. Ketel Marte takes over, not that he’s exactly setting the plate on fire.

There was also an update on Madison Bumgarner, and for those of you hoping for an IL stint, I’m afraid it’s terrible news.

Yeah, it’s “fine” that his velocity was palpably lower than last year across the board. Just dandy. I guess we’ll just move on and keep our fingers crossed that there are no more grand-slams allowed on Friday. I’m grumpy about it. Let’s just hope that Ryne Nelson’s performance tonight is good enough to soothe me, not least because I’m on my first recap duty of the season tonight. Nelson made his debut in Petco, last September 5, and it went very well, resulting in seven scoreless innings. The rematch in Chase Field later in the month was less impressive - four runs, three earned in 5.1 innings - but we’ll see. I’d like to see a walk or two from the offense, but let’s not ask for the moon, shall we?