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Diamondbacks line-up
- Adam Eaton, CF
- Aaron Hill, 2B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Eric Chavez, 3B
- Jason Kubel, LF
- Miguel Montero, C
- Gerardo Parra, RF
- Cliff Pennington, SS
- Patrick Corbin, P
Despite Gibby's comments yesterday, no day off for Goldschmidt - instead, it's Martin Prado who gets to take a breather for the day, with Eric Chavez continuing his run of games, with another right-handed pitcher on the mound. Anyone want to bet on whether Chavez will be able to make it the rest of the season at this pace without breaking? This will be his 36th time written into the line-up card in the field, on pace for 56. He hasn't had that many non-DH games since 2007, and there's a pretty good reason for that. I hope we kept the receipt. Failing that, I guess there's always the shiny new toy, Matt Davidson, to unwrap.
The other roster move, as noted by Clefo in the recap, is the rapid optioning of Tyler Skaggs back to Reno - that didn't take long, did it? for now, his spot will be used to provide an extra bullpen arm, in the shape of Chaz Roe. However, that will only be for a few days, as the plan is to bring Brandon McCarthy back off the DL when Skaggs' spot in the rotation next comes up, which I think is scheduled to be on the East-coast trip against the Red Sox, though don't quote me on that.
Skaggs' latest stint was inconsistent, shall we say: like his first time up, his debut was so good you wondered if he'd ever go back down. But subsequent performances demonstrated exactly why he was in the minors to start with. His last three outings had a combined line of 13 ER in 14 innings, with a K:BB ratio of 14:8, and an opponent's line of .305/.400/.525. Counterpoint: Tyler turned 22 this month. When Patrick Corbin turned 22, our current staff ace was pitching in Double-A Mobile, and putting up a largely uninteresting 4.21 ERA. Writing Skaggs off, as some appear to be doing, would seem premature, though the drop in velocity we've seen is certainly concerning.
I wonder if Zeke Spruill might get the next shot, if we need another starter. As John reported earlier this morning, Spruill has been almost unhittable for the Aces of late, not allowing a run in his last four starts, which is damn impressive, considering the league in which he pitches. And speaking of Corbin, there was a largely glowing piece on ESPN.com about him, calling him "Arizona's savior" - I particularly liked the paragraph entitled "Slider from hell." :) Nate Shroyer is scheduled to be your guest recapper today, though I'm awaiting a confirmation on that. Otherwise, it'll be me, in between chowing down since we're having a family gathering for Mrs. SnakePit's birthday.