Jul 01 2013 10:21 AM
Well, the Diamondbacks are in town. We're 54-52 all time against the young upstart expansion franchise from the desert, plus, of course, this:
Let's go around the field...
1B: Paul Goldschmidt -- 7th in the NL in WAR (3rd among non-pitchers behind Carlos Gomez and David Wright), 10th in OBP, 5th in slugging, 4th in homers, 1st in RBI -- basically, top ten in the NL in just about everything.
2B: Aaron Hill -- just back from the DL and hitting well; Cliff Pennington held down the fort most of the year so far.
SS: Didi Gregorius -- Acquired from the Reds in the Choo/Stubbs/Bauer blockbuster this winter. Solid, if unexciting. The only Didi in major league history. (His real name is Mariekson.)
3B: Martin Prado -- Seriously? They traded Justin Upton for him? Idiots. He mostly sucks.
LF: Jason Kubel -- Lots of talk about him being traded (to the Mets!) this winter, which never happened, and thank goodness, because he's been mostly terrible. Hit 30 HR in 2012, but has only four this season and is OPSing .710.
CF: Gerardo Parra -- Has three hits, all singles, in his last 24 AB. (Will likely hit six home runs in the series.)
RF: Cody Ross -- Another "almost-Met" in the media, Ross is hitting .389 against left-handed pitching and .187 against right-handed pitching this season.
C: Miguel Montero -- Hitting .226/.310/.322 in 2013. Led the league in CS% two years ago, but has only thrown out 5 of 19 this year.
The bench includes such legendary hitters as Eric Chavez, Willie Bloomquist, backup catcher Wil Nieves, and someone named AJ Pollock.
Fascinating stat from Adam Rubin before we look at the matchups:
| Arizona starters are winless in 22 straight games. That is the longest streak in the majors since San Diego Padres starters went winless in 25 straight games in April/May 2009, according to STATS. The streak is the second longest in Diamondbacks history -- trailing only a 24-game winless streak by their starting pitchers in 1998. |
That's awful.
Pitching matchups:
Monday: RHP Shaun Marcum (1-9, 5.08) vs. LHP Wade Miley (4-7, 4.55), 7:10 p.m. ET
We faced Miley twice last year; we whacked him around in the fourth inning at Citi Field for a loss in May, and then had a much more respectable outing in July in Arizona, except he faced some kid fresh out of Buffalo who struck out eleven in five and a third scoreless innings. Wonder what happened to that guy.
Tuesday: RHP Jeremy Hefner (2-6, 3.72) vs. LHP Patrick Corbin (9-0, 2.22), 7:10 p.m. ET
Still don't know if I trust Hefner, but he has a 2.36 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings over his last seven starts. Corbin, although undefeated, last earned a win June 2. In his string of five straight no-decisions, Corbin has a 2.55 ERA and .197 opponent batting average. Slugfest!
Wednesday: RHP Matt Harvey (7-1, 2.00) vs. RHP Randall Delgado (0-2, 4.05), 7:10 p.m. ET
Beat us as a Brave in April 2012 in a game where they lit up Johan Santana. Delgado twice has faced the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate this season. He surrendered a homer to Andrew Brown while getting charged with five runs in 3 1/3 innings on May 1. Delgado rebounded to limit Las Vegas to one run, albeit on nine hits and two walks, in 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision on May 28.
Thursday: RHP Dillon Gee (6-7, 4.60) vs. RHP Ian Kennedy (3-4, 5.36), 1:10 p.m. ET
It's Fireworks Afternoon! Kennedy went 21-4 in 2011, but has been mostly pedestrian since then. Leads the NL with 9 hit batsmen. 4-0, 3.70 in four career starts against the Mets, however.
Bullpen includes closer JJ Putz (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL) and setup guy Heath Bell (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL). Sidewinder Brad Zeigler (0.94 WHIP, 1.88 ERA) has been excellent. Overall, their bullpen has a 3.15 ERA, good for 5th in the NL.
Metly Snakes: Putz and Bell
Snakely Mets: Brandon Lyon
The Diamondbacks have a veritable 1980s All Star Game of talent on the coaching staff:
Kirk Gibson, Manager
Don Baylor, Batting Coach
Turner Ward, Assistant Hitting Coach
Charles Nagy, Pitching Coach
Steve Sax, First Base Coach
Matt Williams, Third Base Coach
Alan Trammell, Bench Coach
Well, an All Star Game of talent plus Turner Ward, anyway.
LGM!