Throwing Strikes For DUMMIES

May 15, 2009

It only took ten minutes.

I switched on the radio about two hours after the game started, deciding that I should probably check the score. The first thing I heard was Cubs fans cheering and Andy Masur saying, “And there’s two more for the Cubs!”

Oh, great.

I was trying to eat lunch while listening, but 0.1 inning and six runs later, I had to turn of the radio. It was giving me indigestion. Once it was 7-1 Cubs, I was done.

But the onslaught went on without me. The Cubs pounded out 11 hits and 11 runs.

The Padres got a few runs, three to be exact. Adrian hit his 14th homer of the season, and he’s now hit at least one homer in four games straight. Man, if he wasn’t in Petco all the time…wow. This guy is now leading the majors in home runs.

“I could [not] care less,” Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t enough.”

Drew Macias hit his first homer of the year, but we only got four hits total. We were disgraced in this series, getting swept for the second straight time.

The pitching is what killed us. Chad Gaudin only went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs. Luis Perdomo gave up three, and Duaner Sanchez gave up four. Cla Meredith had a good inning, and Heath got to pitch as well, getting two strikeouts. I feel so bad for Heath.

The worst part of this game was the walks. We gave up TEN walks. Gaudin gave up SEVEN in his 4.1 innings!! These guys just couldn’t find the plate.

The Padres are back home now, after having a closed-door meeting after the game. I sure hope it worked.

Well, time to call in the Professor.

I called Greg Maddux early this morning, explaining this situation to him. He was busy golfing, but he agreed to come over and talk to the pitchers for us.

I sent all the position players to the batting cages, telling them to stay there, for say, five hours. Then all the pitchers gathered in the clubhouse as Maddux began to speak.

“It’s all about location, location, location.” he started.

“Oooooooh!” said the pitchers.

“When you pitch, you need to focus on where your pitch is going more than how fast it’s going.”

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Duaner Sanchez raised his hand. “Excuse me, sir, I’ve been having trouble understanding what exactly a strike is. Perhaps you could explain to me.”

“Of course.” Greg said, quickly drawing something on the whiteboard next to him. 

“You see, you want to get the ball over the plate, but not so the batter can hit it,” Maddog explained. “A lot of my success came my hitting the corners, but since you guys don’t have much control, I wouldn’t recommend that.”

Duaner rubbed his chin. “Hmmm, I think I’m finally starting to get it!”

“Good,” said GM Kevin Towers as he walked into the room. “Maybe you can work on it more when you get to Triple-A!”

Next, Greg showed the pitchers exactly how to hold the ball.

After Maddux talked to the pitchers for a few more hours, drilling them about where exactly the strike zone was, I walked him out to his car.

“You’ve got an interesting bunch of pitchers there.” he commented.

“Yeah, but a lot of them are probably going to be kicked out soon.” I said. “Hey, Doggie…”

He stopped, looking at me expectedly.

“You miss baseball yet? ‘Cause we could use another starting pitcher.”

He just smiled.

Well, I hope that meeting helped the pitchers realize a bit more about pitching, especially since they got it from the Professor. The Padres are back home for a nine-game homestand, starting with the apparently red-hot Reds for three. I’m scared. Aaron Harang, who scares my sister, is going tonight against Kevin Correia.

I mean, look at those eyes. They’re creepy!

By the way, I hate Tim Sullivan’s ways to improve this team. They are plain wrong!! We must not get rid of Kouz!!!! He just needs time. We didn’t give up on him in 2007 and we can’t give up on him now. If they traded him, I would need a support group for months and months and months!! It would not be pretty.

Speaking of getting rid of players, I heard Trevor’s eighth save in eight chances yesterday. It plain broke my heart. I miss that dude sooo much!!! But you know what, I am so glad he’s on that team right now and not on the Padres. If he was here, he would be completely miserable. At least he’s on a winning team, and he’s getting to pitch. I just miss him like crazy!!

So, I am getting even more excited about Sunday’s game for one simple reason:

This gorgeous dude is pitching against Jake!!

OK, this is really weird, but I am soooo amazingly excited about seeing this guy pitch! Here’s the story.

A few years ago, Bronson Arroyo walked a Padre batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and we won the game. I’m not exactly sure what he was doing pitching in the bottom of the ninth, but I know it was him. I remember him by the hair, which looked like Khalil’s.

I’m not exactly sure why I became so fascinated with him, but it was probably because the Padres did really well against him. Also, he’s really cute!

At first, I thought it was going to be Peavy-Owings this Sunday, because that’s the way the rotation had panned out, but I didn’t realize that the Reds had an off-day this week, thus pushing Arroyo to Sunday.

What a pitching match-up this is going to be! I am so ridiculously excited, it’s ridiculous!! I mean, I’m so super pumped about watching the opposing pitcher! I think all this losing is going to my head.

But seriously, I can’t wait to see Bronson. He’s amazing. Hopefully my Padres will be able to hit him, though 🙂

You know, I don’t really care that the Padres are losing so much right now. I just want to get out to the ballpark, take pictures of my boys, and watch some baseball. It’s almost guaranteed to be a great pitchers’ duel all the way. I’m going to go out there and enjoy some baseball. Who cares that the Padres are heading down the drain, that they’re a million games behind and can’t hit or pitch?

It’s going to be an amazing game, and my boys had better pull away with the win. And if they aren’t able to do that, I at least hope they can play well. I don’t want to have to walk out of there angry and frustrated and embarrased by them. If they try as hard as they can, I’d be satisfied. But they’d better win 🙂

I’m soooooo excited!! AHHH! Only a few more days….

GO PADRES!!!  

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Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies Tagged with bronson arroyo, cubs, duaner sanchez, greg maddux, jake peavy, kevin kouzmanoff, padres, petco park, reds, san diego