Game Thread: 07/02 Padres @ Diamondbacks

Coming off a great series victory over the Rockies, our Padres travel to Arizona to take on another division rival, the Diamondbacks. The Dbacks are just 3 1/2 games behind the second-place Dodgers, so this would be a fun series for our boys to start ruining some things.

Arizona has won 16 of their last 26 games, but are coming off a walk-off loss to the Brewers. They've won four of six games against our Padres so far this season, and have dominated us at Chase Field, winning 12 of the last 14 home games against us. Tonight they send Trevor Cahill to the mound to try to continue that domination. And he is just the guy to do that. In two starts against San Diego this season, he has pitched to the tune of a 0.60 ERA, allowing just one run over those two starts and pitching a shutout in his most recent outing against us.

But we will counter with a pitcher who has had even more success than his opponent tonight. Clayton Richard is undefeated in his five career starts against Arizona. He has been pitching very well lately, going 3-1 in his last four starts and making quality starts in eight of his last eleven outings. Our Padres will try to keep their momentum going after the Colorado series and give Richard some runs to work with, especially after Richard's last time out in Houston. He gave up only one run on two hits in seven innings, but our offense gave him no run support and he came out with the loss. Hopefully players like Yasmani Grandal and Alexi Amarista can continue to find success at the plate and lead our boys to another win tonight.

#Padres lineup 7/2/12: twitter.com/PadsCast/statu…

— Andy Masur (@PadsCast) July 2, 2012

After tonight's game, our Padres will have played 81 games and will be exactly halfway through the 2012 season. It would be awesome to end the first half with a win and have some good vibes going into the second half.

GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!