Fresh off taking two of three from the San Diego Padres, the Arizona Diamondbacks (57-48) continue their divisional road trip with a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (47-57). The D-Backs currently sit in second in the NL West, three-and-a-half games back from the San Francisco Giants.
Led by some strong starting pitching and Justin Upton's continued dominance in the month of July, the Diamondbacks enter this weekend on the heels of winning their third consecutive divisional series, though it may not have been pretty at times. Upton hit 4-for-10 against the Padres, crushing four RBI and three homeruns -- including a towering shot into the third deck at Petco Park that quickly made waves across the internet. Since July 19th, the 23-year-old All-Star has hit 18-for-33, for a scorching .545 average, including five homers and 15 RBI.
Arizona will face a Los Angeles squad currently mired in mediocrity. The Dodgers have gone 6-6 since the All-Star break, including a 2-1 series loss against the Diamondbacks on July 15-17. The snakes lead the regular season series between the two teams, 4-2, having won four of the last five contests.
- Friday: Josh Collmenter (6-5, 2.74) vs. Ted Lilly (6-10, 5.08)
- Saturday: Micah Owings (4-0, 2.36) vs. Chad Billingsley (9-8, 3.92)
- Sunday: Joe Saunders (7-8, 3.63) vs. Rubby de la Rosa (4-4, 3.49)
All games are televised locally on FSN AZ with the live game thread at AZ Snake Pit.
Series Preview #35: Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers
I know what you're all thinking - a series preview for the Dodgers? Didn't we just play them? Yep, we did, a mere two weeks ago at home, where we took two of the three games from them. So I propose we do to them what we unfortunately couldn't do against the Padres, and go for the sweep. You never know, the Dodgers front office might actually like a bunch of Diamondback fans walking around the stadium with their brooms, considering they can hardly afford to play their players, much less their custodians.