Kennedy hopes to bounce back from his struggles.
Taking it on the Road
Miami (AP) -- A very successful homestand saw the Diamondbacks bounce back from a 3-6 start, as the team went 8-2 in the 10 game homestand to improve to 11-8 on the year. The homestand saw the D'Backs bats really come to life, lead by a string of sublime performances by star right fielder Justin Upton. The emerging MVP candidate through 19 games is now hitting .397/.460/.756 with 7 HR and 20 RBI in what has to be one of the hotter months of April in Diamondbacks, probably major league, history. The homestand also saw the bats of Ryan Roberts, Montero and Kubel finally start to heat up as well to give Upton some support. Continuing to struggle, however, are Chris Young (.200/.350/.354, 25 strikeouts) and Paul Goldschmidt (.211/.273/.394). With Stephen Drew just under a week away from returning to the Diamondbacks lineup, Goldschmidt is starting to appear to be the prime candidate to be sent to AAA in favor of the veteran Lyle Overbay at 1st base if he doesn't show signs of improvement in the forthcoming series against the Marlins.
The D'Backs are set to head off on a 10 game road trip, starting with a set of 4 in Miami against the 11-8 Marlins. The Marlins pitching staff has been off to a red hot start, fueled by the sheer massiveness of their new ballpark. They come in to the series posting a 2.71 ERA which is good for 2nd in the league behind only the Dodgers. And it has most certainly been the pitching that has kept the team afloat at this point as they are managing to hit just .236 as a time, tied for 3rd to last in baseball with the Astros, ahead of just the Pirates .234 and Padres .227. Their 55 runs scored is last in the league, tied with the Mets. However, with the amount of talent on the roster, it would be foolish for the Diamondbacks pitching staff to think this is going to be a lineup to ease off on.
The Diamondbacks will be looking for bounce back performances from their top two starters in this series in Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson. Kennedy has struggled mightily with his control through his first three starts of the year, walking 18. He's managed to keep his ERA fairly down at 5.09, but it's only a matter of time until that balloons if he doesn't figure things out. Hudson, while having fewer control problems, still is walking too many, 10 in 3 starts as well. He pitched fairly well against the Phillies his last time out, allowing 3 over 6, walking 2, and hopes to build on that after his first two poor starts.
Updating Drew and Saito's rehab, both players have been moved to AAA to get their final few games in prior to being recalled to the big club. Drew posted a .316/.381/.526 line in 11 games in AA, while Saito appeared in 4 games, saving 3, striking out 3 in 3.2 IP, not allowing any runs, and just 1 hit. As mentioned previously, it's likely Goldschmidt will be the casualty of Drew's return, although there's always the possibility of Geoff Blum being the send down, as the D'Backs might feel it superfluous to have two light hitting utility players on the bench with Bloomquist moving back there with the return of Drew. As far as the pitcher getting sent down, it's a toss-up right now between Bryan Shaw and Wade Miley. Shaw is the more likely candidate given the need of the D'Backs to keep a long reliever on the roster.
Probable Pitchers
April 27, 2012 7:10 EST
ARI: Joe Saunders (2-1 2.84 ERA 19 K 3 BB 0.79 WHIP)
MIA: Carlos Zambrano (2-0 2.11 ERA 16 K 10 BB 1.50 WHIP)
April 28, 2012 7:10 EST
ARI: Ian Kennedy (1-1 5.09 ERA 15 K 18 BB 1.87 WHIP)
MIA: Josh Johnson (2-1 1.98 ERA 26 K 4 BB 1.10 WHIP)
April 29, 2012 1:10 EST
ARI: Daniel Hudson (2-1 6.00 ERA 17 K 10 BB 1.54 WHIP)
MIA: Anibal Sanchez (3-1 2.54 ERA 31 K 11 BB 1.16 WHIP)
April 30, 2012
ARI: Josh Collmenter (2-2 4.33 ERA 16 K 6 BB 1.33 WHIP)
MIA: Mark Buehrle (1-2 2.59 ERA 14 K 5 BB 1.23 WHIP)