While the Giants are out of the race, the Diamondbacks are fighting for the third NL Wild Card. The Diamondbacks need to sweep this series.
Although this is a 4-game series, and played in San Francisco, perhaps the Diamondbacks will surprise by sweeping the series. This series is an opportunity because:
This season, the Diamondbacks have won 8 of 9 games against the Giants.
The Giants record in the last 10 games is 3 wins – 7 losses (through 26 August).
The Giants sold at the trade deadline. They traded away 5 MLB players (season total of 7.1 WAR for the Giants) for prospects in the minors plus 23-years old Marcelo Mayer (MLB infielder) who remains on the injured list.
The Obvious.This season, the Diamondbacks are the better team, especially after the trade deadline.
The Subtle. Ketel Marte cannot return from the injured list until after this series. The impact of his absence is uncertain. The negative is that the team will not benefit from his batting, while the possible positive is that he will not distract his teammates.
The Difference that Matters.The Diamondbacks (without Marte) will play with focus and intensity. They are hungry to win every game.
Blade Tidwell played in April as a relief pitcher. He returned in August as a starting pitcher. It's likely he will start the second game of the series.
In August, as a starter, his ERA was 3.92. He had zero quality starts because he never reached a full six innings pitched.
As of noon on Wednesday, three probable starting pitchers had been annouced:
Thursday: Landon Roupp, 5.57 ERA in August. UPDATE: Jose Cabrera will be recalled from the minors to start for the Diamondbacks.
Friday: Blade Tidwell, 3.92 ERA in August games started.
Saturday: Merrill Kelly, 7.46 ERA in August.
UPDATE: As of Thursday morning, no additional starters had been announced.
Who will start the games is not obvious because of the doubleheader on Saturday and the injury to Soroka. Soroka, Burnes, and Gallen will likely return in September (after this series). Eric Longenhagen (FanGraphs) wrote that he saw Burnes and Gallen pitch in backfield games on 25 August. Their stuff looked sharp.
With 24 pitches, Burnes looked comfortable and athletic. Burnes told Nick Piecoro that his next outing would likely be a true rehab start at an affiliate.
With 45 pitches, Gallen's cutters and curves had late movement. Gallen said, "…I think, all-in-all, a good day."
"We're gonna be relying on some of the younger guys to step up and throw some good games for us until the other group comes back." — Mike Hazen
During this series, the Diamondbacks will likely call up a spot starter from the minors. Although none of the candidates seemed an obvious standout choice, Hazen's comment led me toward the younger candidate pitchers. At 23.1 years old is Mitch Bratt (whose MLB debut was 24 June, and who could only be called up for the double header due to being recently optioned). At 24.2 years old is Jose Cabrera (whose MLB debut was 21 June). At 23.4 years old is David Hagaman, who would be a surprise choice (who pitches in AA and is not on the 40-man).
UPDATE: The Diamondbacks picked Jose Cabrera to start the first game of the series.
Game start times follow:
Thursday, 6:45 PM MST.
Friday, 7:15 PM MST.
Saturday Double Header, 1:05 PM & 7:05 PM MST.
