Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #50: 5/24 @ Phillies

Today’s game is not just a painfully early one in Philadelphia - 10:05 Arizona time is one of the earliest starts of the season - it comes on the same day as I’ve got a dentist’s appointment first thing in the morning. Yes, at 8 am, when I should be merely stretching and languidly heading towards a cup of coffee and breakfast with Mrs. SnakePit, I will instead be sternly being told that I need to be flossing more. Hopefully that will be the extent of it, but since my last scheduled check-up was rudely canceled by COVID-19... I’ve a feeling there might be some additional work ahead of me. So, I’m coming to you in this GDT from the past, writing this early on Tuesday evening.

As a result, I’m not quite certain whether Arizona will be going for a sweep in Philadelphia, or if it will be the rubber game. It will be a Zac Gallen start, and we’ll all be curious to see how the D-backs’ ace comes back from what was, arguably, the worst outing of his career, in Pittsburgh last Friday. Perhaps the most disturbing thing was Zac walking four batters in just 3.2 innings. That’s more than he walked in seven starts combined, from April 4 through May 8, a span covering 45 innings. The team has done a very good job through the rest of the rotation, but Gallen’s presence at the top of the rotation is still much needed. Having him back on track today will be a real comfort.

I’m going to drop a few of samath’s charts into the thread today. Due to the situation discussed above, these will not include the result, either way, of Tuesday’s game against the Phillies, but I think there’s still some interesting data here.