Just LOB It Out There

June 26, 2009

Let this be a lesson to us all: if you don’t pitch well, you get sent down.

Wade LeBlanc had a bad outing the last time out. He only pitched three innings, giving up three runs. But the Padres gave him a second chance, and boy did he blow it. He only went 1.1 innings yesterday, giving up four runs on five hits with three walks.

Immediately after the game, he was demoted to Triple-A. Take that!

I am very glad that the Padres would not let him stay. They were swift in their judgement. The guy didn’t get his job done, so he was sent back to where he came from. That’s good, very good.

Josh Banks, who threw 3.1 innings yesterday, giving up two runs on three hits, is expected to take LeBlanc’s spot in the rotation.

Joe Thatcher threw a scoreless 1.1 innings, but Cla Meredith gave up three huge runs in his two innings. By that time, the Padres were fighting back, only down three runs. But Cla gave the Mariners a six-run advantage.

In the top of the sixth, the Padres got a two-run homer from Chase Headley to get on the board. In the seventh, Edgar Gonzalez hit a home run to cut the lead to 6-3. The Padres then proceeded to leave the bases loaded in that inning.

Have you ever thought about how lonely/annoying it is to be a runner LOB? Let’s take Kevin Kouzmanoff in the fourth. He led off the inning with a booming ground-rule double.

So Kouz is standing there, no outs, he’s gotta expect to be driven in eventually (but if he knew our hitters, maybe not). He has to be fully concentrating on the plate in case someone hits the ball, but he also has to be laughing and joking with the Mariners’ shortstop at the same time. He has to be sure to stand on the bag, and if there’s a fly ball, he has to remember to tag up, and on top of all that, he needs to keep an eye out for his third base coach.

Chase Headley comes to the plate. Chase is batting righty, so he might hit a ball to the left side. If so, Kouz will have to stay clear of the ball, which would hinder his already-slow progress to third and possibly home.

Chase hits a few fouls and takes a ball. Then he grounds out right to shortstop. Kouz scrambles back to the bag so he doesn’t get picked off, but he didn’t get moved to third, which was Chase’s job.

Next up is Kyle Blanks. The first pitch he gets is lined down the left field line. Kouz takes off, but it’s just foul. Grrr. Kouz trots back, joking some more with the shortstop.

Two foul balls later, Kyle zinged a ball that was heading for the left field corner. Kouz took off, elated to be able to score. But then Adrian Beltre caught the ball. Kouz trots back to second, breathing heavily now.

Next up, Edgar Gonzalez. Definitely has home run power. First two pitches, foul. Next three pitches, balls. OK, with a full count and two outs, Kouz is running like mad between second and shortstop area. Back and forth, back and forth. Foul ball, running. Trotting back. Heaving ho. And then, finally, a swinging strike.

Kouz sighs, waiting for the ballboy to bring his hat and glove. He boomed a double, no outs, ran back and forth from second and third way to many times, wore himself out, but all for naught. Such is the life of a Padres baserunner.

Scary thing is, we left nine men on base yesterday. We were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Situations like Kouz’s are happening every day in Padres land. The question is, how are we going to stop it?

We need to get more timely hits. Simple as that. Once we get a runner on bases with two or less outs, he should expect to be driven in. And the hitters should expect to rack up their RBI stats. We got two home runs yesterday, but that was about it.

Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit except Scott Hairston and David Eckstein, but they were not timely hits. Henry Blanco had two hits, which was great.

Scott Hairston and Buddy Black were ejected in the third for arguing balls and strikes. Good job guys!! Too bad it didn’t completely fire up the team.

So, we lost the series. I was not very happy with this team in the past two games. They were not good at all.

Tonight we are in Texas to play the Rangers. It’s going to be a fascinating series. We’ll probably get swept. Anyways, hope you can figure out what’s going on, boys! If you can’t get things together, I’m not listening. So get it going.

Walter Silva is pitching against Kevin Millwood. Silva better go more than five innings or else.

GO PADRES!!!  

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Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies Tagged with kevin kouzmanoff, LOB, mariners, padres