One Pitch

May 9, 2009

That’s all it took.

It was the fifth inning. Two batters on, two outs, Chad Gaudin on the mound and Hunter Pence at the plate.

The count was 3-2 when Gaudin threw that fateful pitch – the one that would define the game.

When Pence hit that pitch to right field, two runs came in, the only two runs of the entire game.

That’s the story. Unless I should mention Wandy Rodriguez, who threw eight innings of five hit ball with seven strikeouts. Chad Gaudin went seven innings allowing five hits on two runs with five strikeouts.

Each team got five hits total, definitely not much. Nick Hundley, who I’ll have more on later, had two hits. This game was dominated by pitching.

So, we lost our 17th game, but we’re still only 7.5 games behind first place.

Last night I was babysitting, so I had no idea what the final score was. But after I put the kids to bed, I turned on Channel 4 to see if I could get a final score. (Don’t worry, I had permission!) The first thing I saw was that it was the second inning! I knew that wasn’t possible, so I realized that this was the re-run they do after the postgame show. I got to watch a couple innings, which was really neat because I never get to SEE my boys play. All I saw of them was striking out, but it was still a lot of fun to see them.

One thing I realized as I was watching is how buff Nick Hundley is. I guess it should be expected, as he’s a catcher. I have a thing for catchers, and Nick really caught my eye last night. I’ve always heard about what a great arm he has, and I’ve believed it, but I’ve never really seen it. But man, he’s got huge guns! In fact, in between every pitch, he has to adjust his sleeves around those huge arms!

I couldn’t find a good enough picture that shows how strong he is. Oh well. But Nick is now a new favorite of mine. He’s a great player and a great person, and I think he’s going to be hanging around San Diego for a long time.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m going to be going to a Padres game with my brother’s baseball team. Well, that game is a week from tomorrow against the Reds! I’m getting REALLY excited already. I’ll probably start “packing” on Monday (I bring a lot of stuff to games)! It’s going to be so much fun, and I can’t wait!

According to my calculations, we might have a Peavy-Arroyo matchup. Probably not Arroyo, though. It will more likely be Peavy-Owings. The Padres’ rotation might go through some changes this week, as Cha Seung Baek is about ready to come back, plus we need to do some bullpen shuffling. But if all goes as planned, it would be a lot of fun to have some Sunday afternoon baseball, Jake Peavy, a 5 for $5 deal, and a great Padres game. Plus, we’re going to be sitting field level!

It’s not infield field level, but down there nonetheless. I am so excited!! It’s going to be a lot of fun, but we’re probably going to be in direct sunlight for the whole game. Suncreen is essential!

Yesterday we went to a local thrift store. I absolutely love thrift stores! You can get some of the coolest baseball stuff there really cheap. I was really pysched to find this Padres Fan Bag, one that they gave out last year:

It’s going to be so perfect for my ventures to Petco Park, and I can’t wait to use it! Yay for thrift stores!

I also got a great Padres floppy hat, which will be perfect for keeping the sun off my easily-burning face!

Two weeks ago, the Padres gave out replica jerseys of our inagural season of 1969. A friend was at the game and actually gave me one of the jerseys! I’ve been meaning to blog about it, but it never fit until now.

Notice the “40” for forty years of Padres baseball 🙂

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. One pitch, Nick Hundley, thrift stores, I’M GOING TO A GAME!!!, and 40th anniversary jerseys.

Kevin Correia, who really needs a win, is pitching tonight for the Padres. I really hope we can get hitting and get the win. 

GO PADRES!!!

(photo credits: americanlaundrynews.com, me)  

Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies