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SteemSports Presenter: Nolan Jacobson, @theprophet0, STEEM Witness & PeerPlays Witness.

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Game Information

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Friday, June 16th

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4:05 PM Pacific Time

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6:05 PM Central Time

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7:05 PM Eastern Time

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Citizens Bank Park

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Pitcher Showdown

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Taking the mound for the Diamondbacks will be the man out of Clay, New York, the man who was drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft, Patrick Corbin! Believe it or not, Corbin did not pitch for his high school team until his JUNIOR season! After his high school career, he attended a small community college, but at that college, he was noticed by scouts and he was transferred to Chipola College.

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After just one, standout season, he was chose by the L.A. Angels in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft. In 2010, Corbin was traded over to the Diamondbacks for a package deal that included sending Dan Haren to the Angels. On April 30th, 2012, Patrick Corbin had his MLB debut. In that game, he picked up a win in 5.2 innings and gave up three runs against the Miami Marlins. After just 5 games in the MLB season, unfortunately, Corbin was sent back to the minor league team in Reno.

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But, that did not stop him, as he came back better than ever in the 2013 season. In fact, after a 5-0 record in May with a 1.53 ERA, he was awarded the NL Pitcher of the Month award! In that 2013 season, Corbin was also named an all star, as he had a 11-1 record by All Star Break. Most recently, Corbin has been horendous, this season he has 5 wins with 6 loses and has a whopping 5.38 ERA! There has not been a game this year where Corbin hasn't gave up one run... that is pretty bad, if I say so myself.

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Pitching for the Phillies will be the righty out of Louisiana State University, Aaron Nola. Nola, who was originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the 22nd round of the 2011 draft decided to go back to college after being signed by them. So, after that, he didn't get drafted until 2014, but he was drafted in the first round, more specific, the seventh pick of the draft.

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After the 2014 season with the minors, he was called up to the Phillies. In 2015, he was very superb, through 13 games, he grabbed 6 wins and only gave up two defeats, and he had a 3.59 ERA. In 2016, he was not very superb, through 20 games, he finished 6-9 with a 4.78 ERA. And, this season, through 8 games, he is 3 and 4 with a 4.40 ERA, so overall, he has just been decent.

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Arizona Diamondbacks

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The Diamondbacks, 41-26, have been absolutely stellar this season! The unfortunate thing is they are in a very good, competitive, and tough division, the NL West, that amazing record doesn't even put them in first place, as of now. But, on a good note, the Diamondbacks are on a 5 game win streak that started against the Brewers and carried through their short series with the Detroit Tigers.

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This year, the Diamondbacks have a WHOPPING five players batting over .290! Those players include Paul Goldschmit, who has the best batting average at .323, David Peralta, who is batting .314, Hazelbaker, who is batting .313, A.J. Pollock, who is batting .299, and finally, Brandon Drury, who is batting .297. The D-Backs also have 2 players who have more than 15 home runs, those players include Goldschmit and Lamb.

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As a team, there stats are pretty superb as well. They are ninth in the league in batting average, 11th in the league in OBP%, 5th in the league in runs scored, 9th in the league in home runs hit, and they are 5th in the league in slugging %. Considering the fact that they have to bat against some damn good pitchers in the NL, these stats are very very superb.

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Philadelphia Phillies

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The Phillies have been one of the worst teams in baseball as long as I can remember. And, this season is not any different then their last 5-10 horrible seasons. On the year, they are 22-43, sitting at the bottom of the NL East division where they trail the fourth worst team by 4.5 games, which is horrible! The Phillies struggle on both sides of the ball, but their main struggle would have to be in their pitching as they have five starting pitchers who are all, so called, bums!

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On an individual note, they do have two batters batting over .300. Those two batters include Howie Kendrick, who is batting .330 and Daniel Nava who is batting .310. They only have two guys on the team with more than 10 HR's who include Joseph and Altherr. 6 out of the 9 starting 9 have more than 50 strikeouts, which if your not familiar with baseball, let me tell you, that's plain out horrible.

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And, as you probably already expected, on the team side, it is even WORSE. They are almost dead last in every important hitting statistic, and they are even almost in dead last for every important pitching statistic as well. How the Phillies have won 22 games is WAY beyond me! I would've never guessed that they could win this many with such a poor record. Well, I'd like to conclude this write-up on a positive, I wish nothing but the best for the Phillies going forward and if they somehow, someway make the play-offs, I will support them!

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