Contrarily, the D’backs (15-13) are coming off being swept at the hands of the Giants, thanks in large part to the bullpen, who accounted for all three losses. Brad Ziegler picked up the loss on Monday, J.J. Putz on Tuesday and David Hernandez on Wednesday. It was an all-around rough series for the pen, adding to the now 10 blown saves on the season. The interesting part, though, is that the D’backs’ pen still owns a 3.08 ERA on the season, good enough for 11th-best in the league. The runs they have given up have come in the worst time of the game it seems. Law of averages say that would turn around at some point, but who knows when.

In the series with the Friars, the D’backs probably have their three best guys on the hill to try to give the pen a break and get back on track.

This will be the first series of the year between the Pads and the Snakes. The Friars got the best of the D’backs in 2012, though, winning 11-of-18.

Game 1 (Friday): Wade Miley (2-0, 2.37 ERA) vs. Jason Marquis (2-2, 4.20 ERA)

Miley is coming off, by far, his worst start of the season. It was also the only start that Miley did not allow a single run. Miley walked seven guys in only 4.1 innings against the Rockies on April 27. That doubled his season total in walks allowed – he had walked only seven in his four previous starts. Miraculously, Miley did not allow any of those seven walks to score, mostly due to three ground-ball double plays the infield turned. Miley will be all out of miracles if he repeats that performance. Marquis also only has one really poor start on the season. Unfortuantely for him, that bad start resulted in seven more runs scoring than Mileys. Marquis allowed seven in only 4.2 innings against the Brewers on April 22. Outsides of that, Marquis has been solid for the Padres.

Game 2 (Saturday): Patrick Corbin (3-0, 1.91) vs. Clayton Richard (0-3, 7.94)

Corbin has been a revelation this season. I’ve written about him several times this season and there’s not much more I can say. He’s been superb and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t keep it up. Obviously, he won’t have a 1.91 ERA all season long, and his HR/FB rate is unsustainable at 2.1 percent, but even if it regresses to last year’s number of eight percent, Corbin will be just fine. And that rate probably won’t make a big jump in this start in Petco, even with their fences moved in. On the flip side, Richard has been hit hard and often so far this season. He’s had one good start, a shutout six-inning affair against the Rockies on April 14. In his last appearance he was knocked around for five runs in five innings against the Cubs on April 29.

Game 3 (Sunday): Ian Kennedy (1-2, 4.78) vs. Edinson Volquez (2-3, 6.39)

Unfortunately for the D’backs, this is probably the type of pitcher they can expect from Kennedy now. All of his peripherals show that Kennedy is prone to give up a lot of fly balls, and in Chase Field, many times those fly balls fly on out, including in his last start against the Giants on April 29, where he gave up four runs in seven innings. In addition, this year, his walk rate has increased while his strikeout rate has decreased. That’s not a good sign for a pitcher with fringy stuff to begin with. However, Kennedy is also better than his 4.78 ERA so far. Expect him to get much closer to 4 soon, and an outing at pitcher friendly Petco may just be the start he needs. Volquez, like Richard, has only had one good start this season. He threw seven shutout innings on April 24 against the Brewers, striking out three and only allowing five hits. However, in his last start, he gave up four runs in only 5.2 innings against the Cubs.

Arizona pitcher Trevor Cahill delivers a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in a spring game. Cahill will make his regular season debut for the Diamondbacks Monday in San Diego against the Padres. (Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE)

Cahill had a decent spring, going 0-3 in five games this spring with a 4.86 ERA giving up five home runs, walking five batters, and struck out 16 batters.  Cahill will be hoping his first start goes better than his spring, but he should do fine considering he will be facing the Padres.

The Padres are hitting a dismal .188, a .314 on base percentage, and a .281 slugging percentage.  They put up these stats against fellow division rival Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Padres will be hard pressed to do much better against the pitching staff of the D-backs.  Not only will they face Cahill, but Joe Saunders and Opening Day starter Ian Kennedy.

One thing is for sure if the Diamondbacks keep getting offensive support from Chris Young, Ryan Roberts, Paul Goldschmidt, and Lyle Overbay, it would not be a stretch to see them play in the Fall Classic.  One thing I have been impressed with is Young’s discipline at the plate.  The changes in the offseason seem to be paying off, but it is still early in the season, however the stats are encouraging.

The bullpen also stepped up and were lights out against the Giants.  J.J. Putz had two saves and Bryan Shaw had another save after Putz rested during the third game.

The Padres will start Volquez, Cory Luebke, and a pitcher to be determined.  Volquez started the first game against the Dodgers and did not have his best stuff losing the game and posting a 3.60 ERA.  The Padres need Volquez to have a monster year if they are going to be in contention for anything this season.

Luebke will start his second game of the year after losing to the Dodgers with a 9.64 ERA.  Needless to say the Padres strength is not its pitching.  The offense has struggled in four games as well.

The Diamondbacks have the back-end of its rotation coming up and they should dominate the Padres hitters.  Arizona’s offense is humming, especially after the six-run comeback on Sunday.  I don’t see the Padres winning any of the games, although I think their best shot is with Volquez on the mound.  I see the D-backs winning at least two out of three, but also with a good shot at starting the season 6-0.

Follow me on Twitter @roberts_843 and at stgeorgesportsguy.wordpress.com. 

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Feb 24, 2012; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson (middle left) talks with members of the coaching staff along side executive vice president and general manager Kevin Towers (middle right) during spring training at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Most, if not all of us here at Venomstrikes think the Arizona Diamondbacks will be in for some big things during the upcoming 2012 season.  This is not because we write a site dedicated to them.  There are legitimate reasons why we feel this team could be special, from Justin Upton, to the depth of the pitching staff to the outstanding 1-2 management punch of Kirk Gibson  and Kevin Towers.  Oh, and don’t forget they won 94 games and the National League West  in 2011.  Yet, it would be fun to offer an opposing view, one that has the D-Backs crashing back down to Earth, something along the lines of a. 82-80 record and third place in the division.  It would go something like this.

The division will be stronger.   The San Francisco Giants  were World Series  Champions two seasons ago.  They know how to win.  Buster Posey  should be 100% healthy and expect closer Brian Wilson to bounce back as well.  There are is also those two starting pitchers, fellows by the names of Tim Lincecum  and Matt Cain.  The Los Angeles Dodgers  finished the 2^nd half a strong 41-28 and possess two of the game’s elite players in Clayton Kershaw  and Matt Kemp.    Hiroki Kuroda  is gone but Chris Capuano  could fill his void nicely.  A bounce-back year is in order for former All-Star Chad Billingsley.  So much went wrong for the Colorado Rockies  in 2011.  You can not discount a team with two offensive forces in Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki.  If their young starting pitching matures quickly, this team will give contenders fits.  The San Diego Padres  have wheeled and dealed the past two offseasons and the results could be interesting for 2012.  Former All-Stars Carlos Quentin and  Edinson Volquez  are ready to jump-start the franchise to bigger and better things. 

Production could drop for several players.  We know Ian Kennedy is an excellent pitcher but if you had to choose between Kershaw and Kennedy to win 21 games again, who would you put your money on?  Kennedy could still be a force and still win only 16 or 17 games.  Trevor Cahill is nice but his career ERA was almost 4.00 pitching half of his starts in the cozy confines of the Oakland Coliseum.    The health of J.J. Putz is always a concern.  Opposing NL hitters may figure out Brad Ziegler the second time around.  If Stephen Drew is not fully recovered from his ankle injury, Shortstop will be a concern for Arizona.

You don’t go from 69 wins one season to 94 wins the very next one without a good deal of luck.  Some of that luck may evaporate during 2012 for the D-Backs. Arizona could still play well enough for 88 victories but that could very well result in a second place finish and out of the wild card mix this season.  What we can say with certainty is that the future is bright for the team in the Valley.

Follow me on Twitter @ltj41 and at www.clearthebases.net