Neither Nor

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Yeah, the Diamondbacks. You know, the team with a 20-game winner (Ian Kennedy), a pretty solid 2^nd starter (Daniel Hudson), a not-inconcievable MVP candidate (Justin Upton), a closer with 45 saves (JJ Putz), one of the best hitting catchers in baseball (Miguel Montero), and, well, a bunch of other stuff. The right side of their infield is totally different than it was at the start of the year, their starting SS is out with a season-ending injury, and their other two starting pitchers (Joe Saunders and Josh Collmenter) are executing the sort of smoke-and-mirrors act that is bound to eventually get fiigured out. To say the Diamondbacks are top-heavy is an understatement. But, then, the 2001 Diamondbacks squad was similarly top-heavy, though that top had a lot more weight than this bunch.

And, in a non-shocker, it’ll be that soft underbelly that might be the Diamondbacks undoing. Kennedy vs. Yovani Gallardo is a wash, and the same could possibly be said for Hudson vs. this year’s version of Zach Grienke. But I have to imagine that throwing the defense-reliant lefty Sanders against a line-up that’s predominantly right-handed and Braun-y is going to yield results far less favorable than the 7 inning, 2 run performance he gave ARI against the Brewers earlier this year. And while the Brewers do have their weak spots in their lineup (hello Yuniesky Betancourt), they’re much stronger overall than the Diamondbacks are. Granted, they’d kill to have either Drew or Willie Bloomquist playing SS over the aforementioned Mr. Betancourt (AKA the guy whose on-base wouldn’t be within spitting distance of a batting-average crown in any year outside of 1968), but apart from that and Casey McGehee’s career-threatening faceplant, there’s not much happening in the Brewer line-up in terms of easy outs. Ron Roenicke’s decision to use servicable super-sub Jerry Hairson at 3B instead of McGehee helps fill in that hole. I would’ve rather try Hairston at SS, but that’s just me (and my boundless lack of interest in seeing Betancourt play baseball).

That depth disparity extends across all areas of this match-up. No offense to Putz and the equally excellent David Hernandez, but even if the Brewers hadn’t acquired K-Rod from the Mets earlier this year, their bullpen, featuring 46-save man John Axford, would be just fine. And while newish D-Backs Aaron Hill (878 OPS) and Lyle Overbay (840 OPS) have performaed admirably since their arrival in Arizona, their Milwaukee counterparts (you might’ve heard of them) are just a bit better. Unless this is a head-to-head match-up between D-Backs 3B Ryan Roberts and McGehee, I can’t see a situation where the Diamondbacks come out ahead. Granted, that’s if everything goes according to plan. Kennedy could easily outduel Gallardo, some unheralded D-Back (Gerardo Parra, say) could tap into his inner Bonds for 30 at-bats, one of the Copperfield twins could finagle their way against Shaun Marcum or Randy Wolf to a victory that sets up another Kennedy / Gallardo throwdown in the series’ final game. But I honestly don’t even see this thing getting to that “sexy” Collmenter / Wolf war of attrition scheduled for the 4^th game. BREWERS IN THREE.