Dodgers/D-Backs OVER 10

On a breezy spring evening in Phoenix in which the Chase Roof will be open we see the potential for two under-achieving offenses to have a break-out here, with the starting pitchers and middle relievers (the latter in play because of the former) obliging.

Jon Garland gets more respect than he deserves from the marketplace off of seven straight seasons of double-figure wins, but while he only turns 30 this September, the fact that he worked at least 190 innings in each of those seasons has already taken a toll. The Angels did not try all that hard to re-sign him after his 14-8/4.90 from LY, seeing what the White Sox did the previous season – a guy that has to survive on guile, because he can no longer miss bats. A 24-21 record the past two seasons can not hide the fact that he allowed an awful ratio of 456 hits vs. only 188 strikeouts in that span. Less than half of his starters with the Angels registered for the “Quality” tag LY, and his penchant for getting too many balls hit in the air does not make him conducive to success in this environment. We saw that already this spring, with his 1-3/6.23 in the Cactus League.

Meanwhile James McDonald gets the call from the Dodgers because they do not have a Garland, some veteran that could go out and eat early-season innings while the young prospect develops. McDonald opens in The Show despite only working 22.1 innings at AAA and six in the Majors in his young career, and there was nothing in his 5.03 over 19.2 spring innings that shows that he is ready to be a part of this rotation yet. Of particular concern for tonight’s matchup are extremely high fly-ball tendencies through his Minor League outings. They will likely keep him on a pitch count in the early going, which forces the middle relief corps into play, and Joe Torre lacks a couple of options from that unit tonight, with Corey Wade unlikely to be available after working back-to-back games, and three in four at San Diego, while Ronald Belisario is also doubtful to be an option after throwing 32 Thursday pitches.