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The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies make their first appearance on the diamond at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Saturday afternoon, beginning their 2012 Cactus League schedules. For the Rockies, it will be the first time we get to see (figuratively, since the game is only broadcast on the radio for those of us not in Arizona) how this new-look squad will fair against an Arizona team that surprised everyone last year and won 94 games to make the playoffs.
The lineups have already been released for both teams (via the Rockies 'official Twitter feed and this photo from Steve Gilbert):
| Diamondbacks | Rockies | |
| 1 | Willie Bloomquist, SS | Dexter Fowler, CF |
| 2 | Aaron Hill, 2B | Marco Scutaro, 2B |
| 3 | Jason Kubel, LF | Carlos Gonzalez, LF |
| 4 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | Troy Tulowitzki, SS |
| 5 | Geoff Blum, DH | Michael Cuddyer, RF |
| 6 | Gerardo Parra, RF | Tyler Colvin, DH |
| 7 | Matt Davidson, 3B | Ramon Hernandez, C |
| 8 | Henry Blanco, C | Nolan Arenado, 3B |
| 9 | A.J. Pollock, CF | Ben Paulsen, 1B |
| Trevor Bauer, RHP | Drew Pomeranz, LHP |
Though the two teams share the facilities at Talking Stick, the Rockies will be home team for this contest and have elected to use the designated hitter for the game. Following Pomeranz in this game will be Josh Outman, Rob Scahill, Matt Reynolds, Zach Putnam and Dustin Molloken, reports Joey Nowak. Outman and Putnam are the only two players new to the organization this year, the former acquired as part of the Seth Smith trade and the latter received in exchange for Kevin Slowey (who was here for all of a sneeze, it seemed like).
The Rockies' lineup has most players in it that will play on Opening Day. The only exceptions are Colvin at designated hitter, 20-year-old Arenado starting at the hot corner and Ben Paulsen playing in Todd Helton's spot. Colvin is playing for a reserve spot while Paulsen will start the year in the minors. Arenado, on the other hand, would, in the best of all possible worlds, open the season in the majors, but Casey Blake is penciled in there for the time being.
Game time/date: 1:10 p.m. MT, Saturday, March 3, 2012
Location: Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Scottsdale, Az.
Radio: 850 KOA/MLB Gameday Audio
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