After a rough first series in Los Angeles Blake Snell Jersey , the Dbacks look to rebound with a three game set in beautiful Sane Diamondbacks were hoping. Zack Grienke was roughed up, Zack Godley was roughed up, the bullpen was used and abused, the team is still carrying three catchers instead of an extra bullpen arm right now, things like that. And it wasn’t just that the Dodgers beat us; it was how they beat us. They hit something like eleventy billion home runs, had two blow outs, and got a come from behind win in a game that the Dbacks put up a seven spot in one inning. Just a rough series all around.On the flip side of that, the Padres had a very good first series against the Giants. Currently, they are 3-1 and sitting at the top of the NL West standings with the Dodgers, enjoying a one game lead over the Rockies. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising, given the big moves they’ve made over the past couple seasons, but yet, somehow it still is. Game 1: Merrill Kelly (debut) vs. Matt Stratham (debut/pitched in relief last season)As I’m sure you’ve heard Rob Refsnyder Jersey , the Diamondbacks spent the majority of the offseason cornering the market on players with the last name of Kelly. In this first game of the series, the pitching half of our duel Kellys (Kellyes? Kellies?) will be getting the start. It will be his first MLB start after failing to make the majors with the Rays, and then spent the next four years pitching in Korea and accidentally not paying taxes. I personally will be interested to see how it goes and make the appropriate knee jerk reactions.On the other side of the pitching match up, Matt Stratham will also being making his season debut. He was a trade deadline acquisition for the Padres last season, who picked him up a as a future rotation piece, but used him out of the bullpen, to allow him to ease back into things following a knee surgery. Should make for an interesting pitching matchup, with a couple of unknown factors on the mound for both teams.Game 2:Zack Greinke (0-1, 17.18 ERA) vsEric Lauer (1-0, 0.00 ERA)Game 2 will feature story lines stemming from two very different Opening Day starters. For the Diamondbacks you will have, of course, Zack Greinke, coming off one of the more forgettable Opening Day starts that I remember. As a general rule http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , giving up more home runs than strikeouts recorded is rarely a good thing, but Zack managed it in his 3.2 inning start to open the season. Control issues plagued him all day, and the Dodgers were willing to wait for the mistakes. He’ll be looking and expecting to bounce back tomorrow night against the Padres.Lauer on the other hand will be looking to build off the best Opening Day start for someone his age since some schmuck named Clayton Kershaw. Per dbacks.com, Lauer, at 23, was the youngest player to throw at least six scoreless innings since the aforementioned ace.Game 3: Robbie Ray (0-0, 5.19 ERA) vs. Joey Lucchessi (1-0, 0.00 ERA)Like Greinke, Ray also struggled with his command last start, but ultimately got better results, only giving up three runs while recording nine Ks in five innings. He kept it close enough that the Dbacks were eventually able to come back and win the game . We’ll see if that game was just first start nerves, or a sign of how the season is going to go. Lucchessi was a pitcher who struggled against the Diamondbacks last season, losing five of his six starts against the team. However http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , he excelled in his first start of the season, holding the Giants scoreless, andit will be a very different Dbacks lineup than he faced last season. Which past performance turns out to be predictive remains to be seen.I feel like this series will be more favorable to the Diamondbacks than the first one. Both teams played differently than their expected abilites in the Opening Series, though one positively and one negatively. I expect Dbacks pitching to positively regress towards what we expect from them, and the Padres pitching to come back down to earth. If nothing else, this series will be interesting for the debut of Merril Kelly and the likely debut of Jon Duplantier out of the bullpen. Dbacks take the series 2-1. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell is scheduled to start against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday in his return from a fractured right fourth toe.The announcement Tuesday was made two days after Rays manager Kevin Cash said the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner was ready to be reinstated from the 10-day injured list.Snell threw 18 pitches off a mound Saturday and an eight-pitch bullpen session Monday.“It felt good and I’m ready to go,” Snell said.Snell hurt the toe attempting to move a decorative display in a bathroom on April 14.“I know the first couple days, it was like no shot,” Snell said. “I feel good, I feel I can pitch and feel like I can run. It should be good.”Snell still has some discomfort in the toe when he walks, but says he does not when throwing on a mound.“With the bullpen that I threw, felt very comfortable Christian Arroyo Jersey ,” Snell said. “Wednesday is a day that all of us believe in, and think I’ll be 100 percent.”Cash is completely confident that Snell is not facing any additional risks taking the mound and also does not need a full-length bullpen session.“If Blake waits, then we’re talking about shaving more pitches off his outing, so it was either pitch or go rehab,” Cash said.Snell ran in the outfield before Monday’s short bullpen session but didn’t join other pitchers in defensive drills.Notes: 1B Ji-Man Choi was placed on the restricted list to tend to a personal matter and RHP Austin Pruitt was recalled from Triple-A Durham. Choi will be back Wednesday but may not start because of a strained left calf that forced out of Saturday’s game with Boston. … Cash said RHP Hunter Wood, due to come off the paternity list Wednesday, will be likely be moved to another list because the reliever is not ready yet to return. “Things are going well, baby is fine,” Cash said.