Cleaning Up the Confetti: Arizona Diamondbacks Game #2 Preview
Game #2 of 162
San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Start Time: 1:05pm MST
Broadcast Information: TV: Fox Radio: 620AM KTAR
Pitching Matchup: Madison Bumgarner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Daniel Hudson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game in a Nutshell:
After all the pomp and circumstance of Opening Day, players and coaches from both teams can exhale a sigh of relief and get back to the day-in-day-out grind of playing and winning baseball games. With that in mind, the Giants will be looking to build on what ended up being a decent day for them, albeit in a losing effort.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will look to build on the strong performance of their bullpen on Friday, as well as the good season debuts of Chris Young, Paul Goldschmidt, and Ryan Roberts at the plate. Roberts hit the game-winning double in the sixth inning, driving in what ended up being the winning runs.
Key Player: Justin Upton
Upton looked like he was trying to hit a 500-foot home run in his first couple of at-bats on Friday, striking out in the first after Young’s home run and grounding out weakly to shortstop in the third inning. He did lace a ground-rule double in that sixth inning, as well as drew a walk in the eighth. If he can build on that at the plate, then he should be in good shape for a solid game Saturday.
Key to Success:
The key for the Diamondbacks will be to do similar work to what they did on Friday. In that game, they staked starter Ian Kennedy to an early 3-0 lead, and that really set the tone for the rest of the game. What they will need to change, however, is adding to that lead, as they really didn’t give themselves another opportunity to do so until the sixth inning. Tacking on runs at different times in the game will lessen the stress on Hudson, and will make things a lot smoother, rather than ratcheting up the drama level.
Headlines:
Have you ever woken up in the morning with a crazy idea in your head that you chewed over, and then decided to act on it? Well, Diamondbacks skipper Kirk Gibson did on Friday, and he acted on it and batted Chris Young second in his Opening Day lineup. It worked, with Young slugging a home run in his first at-bat. Read about it here in an interesting column by Nick Piecoro and Bob McManaman. [Arizona Republic]
For those who didn’t make it out to Chase Field for the Diamondbacks’ opener on Friday, there were some new features around the ballpark that were worth checking out. Scott Coleman has the details on some of them, including improved wi-fi capabilities and new clothing choices, including from some merchant you may have heard of called Victoria’s Secret. [SB Nation Arizona]
Twitter:
Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimNeveauDBacks, or if you’re interested in hockey and golf tweets, you can follow him at @JimNeveau.
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