D-Backs notebook: Friends face off in Webb-Peavy matchup

SAN DIEGO - Another day in the NL West, another top pitching pairing.

D-Backs topped by Padres in 13 innings, 8-7

Brandon Webb will oppose Jake Peavy in a meeting of the past two NL Cy Young Award winners, four days after a pair of All-Star game starters - Dan Haren and Derek Lowe - squared off in Los Angeles.

Webb and Peavy have become friends, and they spent about 15 minutes talking early Friday.

"He's always a fun guy to pitch against," Webb said. "Going against somebody like that makes you step up your game."

Each is 2-2 in their four previous meetings, one last year and three in 2005, and there have been seven quality starts among the eight.

Peavy has given up four runs and 14 hits in 31 innings against Webb, and struck out 16 in seven innings last April 25 but did not get decision when Stephen Drew hit a two-run, walk-off home run against Trevor Hoffman.

Webb has a 3.14 ERA against Peavy and was the beneficiary of Drew's homer.

Webb was the runaway winner of the '06 Cy Young, while Peavy was the unanimous winner in '07, when he became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson (2002) to lead the league in victories, ERA and strikeouts.

Peavy also has gotten to know D-Backs bench coach Kirk Gibson through a mutual friendship with former Padres left-hander David Wells.

Gibson and Wells own property in rural Michigan, and Peavy and his relatives have hunted for white-tailed deer there the past several winters.

DAVIS SET FOR TREATMENT

Doug Davis is scheduled to take his radioactive iodine treatment Monday, 18 days after his cancerous thyroid was removed, the D-Backs said.

Any remaining cancerous cells in the body will pick up the iodine, and the radiation in the iodine will kill the cancer cells, according to medical journals.

The treatment normally makes the patient slightly radioactive for several days, so staff and visitors' time is limited. A Geiger counter may be used to test any objects that leave the room in the first few days after treatment.

Davis should be able to begin taking his thyroid medication again three days after the procedure.

He hopes to return for the D-Backs' series May 9-11 in Chicago, although he might need rehab starts before rejoining the team.

UPTON AT THE MIKE

In case you missed it, here was Justin Upton's call of the D-Backs' starting lineup on Fox:

"Leading things off, team tough guy, Chris Young.

"Batting second, the mustache master, Eric Byrnes.

"Batting third, three-time Gold Glover, Roy Jones Jr. (Orlando Hudson).

"Batting fourth, Freddie Prinze Jr. (Conor Jackson).

"Batting fifth, team doormat, Mark Reynolds.

"Batting sixth, yours truly, young buck Justin Upton.

"Batting seventh, Stephen 'dad gum it' Drew.

"Batting eighth, the bean bag king himself, Chris Snyder.

"Batting ninth, big country boy from Georgia, Micah Owings."

SHORT HOPS

The D-Backs will stay in rotation through Wednesday, with Randy Johnson scheduled to make his next start that afternoon against Houston, manager Bob Melvin said. After an off day Thursday, the D-Backs are expected to stay in rotation starting with a weekend series against the Mets, meaning all five starters will earn an extra day's rest. ...

Chris Snyder was a late scratch because of an upper respiratory infection, missing his second straight game. Conor Jackson, Chris Young and Dan Haren are among the D-Backs who have been affected by that this season.