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Tonight, we will get the pleasure of watching a rising young team on a bounceback from a disappointing season that is taking serious control of a division title. They'll be opposed by a disappointing team looking forward to 2013. One starting pitcher is a 24-year-old left-handed rookie making his third career start after splitting time between AA and AAA. The other is a veteran playing out the rest of the season with his club before likely moving on in the offseason.
The script is befitting of our expectations of a late August matchup between the Rox and Snakes, but everything is oh-so-wrong. It is the Diamondbacks who have vaulted from worst to first, while the Rockies have faded to future mode. Yet it is the Diamondbacks strolling a rookie pitcher out in their pennant race, with the Rockies employing the grizzled veteran whose best days have long since past.
Tonight, the Diamondbacks get a glimpse of the future while playing for now. The Rockies get neither. So...how about a win, boys?
Playing the part of shoulda-been-Christian-Friedrich is fellow 24yo Wade Miley. As you might have guessed from his name, Miley is a left-handed pitcher. He uses an average at best low-90's fastball most of the time, with his solid change-up being his most prominent secondary offering. His slider is good, but he hasn't used it much in the big leagues yet, and his repertoire is completed by a slow curve. Miley's control comes and goes, and he's walked six in ten big league innings, so a patient approach to figure out the southpaw is probably wise.
