This is the Florida team who still have a roof, right?
Back over to the East Coast go the Diamondbacks, for another series against the NL East. It’s weird how the schedule has set up, that we’ll have played them a lot more often in the first month of the season. By the time we have our very first game against anyone in the NL West (vs. the Dodgers on May 8), we will already have played eighteen games against the NL East. And a further ten against the NL Central. Heck, we will be entirely done with the Cubs for the year, a full two and a half weeks before we see any of our divisional rivals. At least there’s a reasonable gap between series against the Marlins, with the home leg not being until almost the very end of June.
Merrill Kelly becomes the latest starter to try and get his season back on track. The team has had a decent string from their rotation of late. They’ve posted five quality starts in a row, something that has not happened very often in team history. It’s a 2.67 ERA over the past turn through the rotation, which is a heck of an improvement over starts #1-5 (ERA of 4.68) or #6-10 (an ugly 7.18). However, Kelly’s ERA for the season is an ugly 7.20, with a FIP that’s not much better (6.70). He has walked more batters (9) than he has struck out (7), and the latter is a low number considering he has thrown 15 innings. Another quality start today – ideally, one backed up by the metrics – would be helpful.
Some injury news from the team, courtesy of José M. Romero. Kevin Ginkel and Ketel Marte will both take part in a game at Salt River Fields today. Kendall Graveman (whom, as we noted last week, is a little behind Ginkel) will throw a bullpen. And Blaze Alexander had a minor setback, feeling a twinge in his hip, but he’s back playing with the Aces. We could definitely use Ketel back. Over the eight games up to and including his injury, the D-backs were hitting .271/.359/.476 for an .835 OPS and scored a total of 51 runs. Over the eight games he has been out of action? .239/.337/.393 for a .730 OPS and a total of 31 runs. It’s not just his direct loss, but the way Ketel stirs the offensive drink, I suspect.