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It's gonna be a hot one in Arizona tonight. Good thing it's a dry heat, eh? At least they have that roof.
So here we kick off the dreaded west coast road trip. Nine games in nine days. That may be the worst part about it. They play a Thursday night getaway game and then have to travel from Phoenix to Los Angeles where they'll likely get in late, even in the Pacific Time Zone. This stretch could really screw up their internal clocks, which tends to be the worst thing about heading out west.
The good news is that they have a couple of days against the weakest of the three teams to get their feet under them. The bad news is that the Diamondbacks have been playing a little better over the last couple of weeks, though they're still not wowing anyone.
Dan Hudson has been exceptional so far since coming over from the White Sox in the deal for Edwin Jackson. Hudson has pitched at least 7 innings in all three of his starts with the Dbacks and has allowed 2 or fewer runs in each start. His success isn't unexpected as he posted a 30-13 record in the minors with a 2.90 ERA, striking out over 10 batters per 9 IP while walking 2.5 per 9 IP. Not the guy you want to face at the start of a dangerous road trip, that's for sure.
Hopefully Bronson Arroyo can keep the Diamondbacks off balance. They strike out a lot, but that's not really Arroyo's M.O. However, I think Arroyo can take advantage of aggressive hitters, if he can keep it out of the zone. If he ends up leaving fat pitches over the plate, the Diamondbacks are also good home run hitters and Arroyo could find himself in trouble.
I'm seeing a lot of "5-4 will be okay" on this road trip. Poppycock. They'll do 6-3 at a minimum. I'm almost never wrong!
Go Reds!