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“I think we’re going to put that idea on hold where we’ll move him across the diamond... We have definitely discussed it. It has come up. And yes, it would be nice to get both of those guys in there. But for the short-term time being, I think we’re going to stand pat at first base. Because we didn’t get a chance to do it in Spring Training, I want to work at it instead of just throwing him in there. I want to make sure he’s prepared before we throw him in there.”
— Torey Lovullo, March 29
Five days later. Jake Lamb starts at third-base. Also Torey Lovullo, regarding first-base: “It’s not going to be a platoon situation.” Seven games in, and in all seven contests it has been a platoon situation - Jake Lamb has been there against a right-handed starter, and Christian Walker against a left-handed starter. Still, considering this Diamondbacks team are apparently the first National League side since the 1927 New York Giants to score 5 or more runs in their first six road games of the season... Yeah, I’m not going to complain too much about Lovullo’s line-up construction. For what it’s worth, if they can score nine today, it’ll be a new franchise record for runs through seven games.
The team has a chance of their first sweep of the season. That’s quite an unexpected sentence to be writing, considering how badly in disarray things seemed on Sunday afternoon. The team had just allowed the Dodgers to set a new record for runs scored, and the series ended with John Ryan Murphy serving an all-you-can-eat buffet of meatballs. Now, the team has a chance to finish the road-trip with a winning record and, potentially, even return to Phoenix tied for first in the division (if the Giants can also beat the Dodgers tonight). That would make for quite the roller-coaster of a trip, and if we get good Robbie Ray pitching this afternoon, there’s every chance we can do our part.