The Diamondbacks opened a ten-game home stand on a Monday night against arguably baseball's best team, the Philadelphia Phillies. On paper, it was something of a mismatch, little right-hander Ian Kennedy against southpaw Cliff Lee, one of the game's most dominating pitchers.
But Kennedy was the star on this night, throwing his first MLB complete game, a three-hit shutout as Arizona beat the Philly by a score of 4-0.
Nice human-interest note: Kennedy had flown back to Phoenix before the rest of his team to be with his wife for the arrival of the couple's child.
He talks about that and some baseball-related stuff in the above video:
We (and, more importantly, the entire National League) grew to really respect Kennedy's grit during the season. He reminds us of our all-time favorite pitch, the now-retired Greg Maddox, though Maddox only sniffed at 90 mph in the last, say, ten years of his storied career.
Chris Young, who continues to frustrate us as much with the stick as he thrills us with the glove, hit a two-run bomb off Lee early in the game to give the D-Backs all the runs they needed in this good win.