Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Narveson) vs. Diamondbacks (Saunders)

Which Brewers team will show up in Phoenix today? The one that was shut out on Monday? Or the one that scored 11 runs on Tuesday? I'd be okay with something in the middle, as long as good Nav-dog shows up too.

Chris Narveson (6-6, 4.74 ERA, 3.50 FIP) will lead the Crew into battle tonight against the Dbacks. Narveson is coming off an extremely average start in his last time out. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs, all earned, on 5 hits and 3 walks, striking out 5 against the Rockies. That start was his second quality start in a row, a feat Narveson hasn't accomplished since mid-May. Arizona missed Narveson when they were in Milwaukee earlier this season. In his career against the Dbacks, Narv-dog is 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA. No Dback has faced him more than 10 times.

The Narv-dog will be facing off against Joe Saunders (6-8, 3.89 ERA, 4.88 FIP), who is also coming off a very mediocre start, where he gave up 3 runs, all earned, in 6 innings on 5 hits and a walk, striking out 4 Dodgers. This season Saunders has been about as consistent as you can get. He's failed to pitch at least 6 innings only three times, and given up more than 4 runs in a start only 3 times also. Infact, Saunders is a very average pitcher in many ways. He's gives up plenty of hits (8.89/9), doesn't strike out a ton (5.2/9), and walks a few too (3.4/9). Just how average is he? His ERA+ is 101.

In his career against the Brewers, Saunders is 0-1 with a 9.53 ERA. The last time he faced the Brewers was last June 14th as a member of the Angels where he gave up 6 runs over 5.2 innings. Three Brewers have faced Saunders at least 10 times.

Tonight's lineup (via Tom Haudricourt):

Corey Hart RF
Carlos Gomez CF
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Rickie Weeks 2B
Casey McGehee 3B
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Chris Narveson P

In the bullpen...
Marco Estrada pitched 2 innings (31 pitches) last night.
Kameron Loe pitched 1 inning (7 pitches) last night.
Tim Dillard pitched .2 innings (16 pitches) Monday.
LaTroy Hawkins, Takashi Saito, Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford haven't pitched since Sunday.