Arizona @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2011 ) Milwaukee 0, Arizona 4
THE STORY: The Brewers cruised to a National League Central crown behind a pair of MVP candidates in Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun and will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of the National League Division Series on Saturday. The Diamondbacks are the latest worst-to-first story in the majors, riding a rebuilt pitching staff and the maturation of Justin Upton to the NL West title.
TV: 2:07 p.m. ET, TBS
PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks RH Ian Kennedy (21-4, 2.88 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Yovani Gallardo, 17-10, 3.52 ERA).
Kennedy is a dark horse Cy Young candidate, tied with the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw for the NL lead in wins. The 26-year old went 6-0 with a 1.66 ERA over his final seven starts but has not worked since beating San Francisco on Sept. 24. Kennedy won his lone start against Milwaukee this season, yielding four hits in seven scoreless innings on July 21.
Gallardo closed strong as well, going 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA in his final three turns and finishing fifth in the NL with 207 strikeouts. The 25-year old last worked on Sept. 23 against Florida. He beat Arizona twice this season, allowing a total of two earned runs in 13 innings.
ABOUT THE DIAMONDBACKS: Arizona’s ascent can be directly traced to Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Josh Collmenter stepping up in the rotation and a bullpen that went from a major-league worst 5.74 ERA in 2010 to 3.71 in 2011. Arizona took over first place for good with a seven-game winning streak from Aug. 9-16 and made it look surprisingly easy, never letting the lead slip below five games in Sept. The Diamondbacks went 4-3 against Milwaukee this season with an identical combined score of 28-28.
ABOUT THE BREWERS: Milwaukee mortgaged the future in trades for Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum over the winter and then added the missing piece to the bullpen at the All-Star break by bringing in Francisco Rodriguez to set up for closer John Axford. MVP-caliber seasons from Fielder and Braun didn’t hurt either. The Brewers took the Central lead for good on July 27 during a stretch of 23 wins in 26 games and closed out with wins in eight of 11 to beat the Diamondbacks for home-field advantage.
FINAL PITCH: The Brewers are a major league-best 57-24 at home and earned the No. 2 seed with their franchise-record 96th win on Wednesday.