Not Quite Enough

July 7, 2009

My Padres played very, very well last night. They hit, they played great defense, but the pitching was just OK. It wasn’t enough.

Walter Silva only went 3.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits. I’m sorry, but I think Silva’s had enough second chances. We can’t have the starters only going three innings every day, that kills the bullpen. Sure, he only gave up three runs, but he would have given up more if he had been allowed he stay in later.

Arizona helped us out, that’s for sure. In the second, Chase Headley singled. Justin Upton made an error in the outfield, so Chase went to second. Will Venable then grounded out to sent Chase to third. Eliezar Alfonso drove him in. Luis Rodriguez and Walter Silva singled, and Alfonso scored on a wild pitch.

In the fifth, Everth walked, T-Gwynn singled, and Adrian Gonzalez singled in Everth. Very cool. By now, the score was a 3-3 tie.

It stayed that way until the seventh. Tony Gwynn singled and stole second. Kouz hit a booming double that was that close to getting out, scoring Tony. We took the lead, 4-3.

In the eighth, we added an insurance run. With two outs, Everth Cabrera walked. He stole second and third and two consecutive pitches. The catcher threw to third to try to nab him, but the throw bounced off the third baseman’s glove and down the line. Everth easily scored. Yay!!

But in the bottom of the inning, newly-off-the-DL Luke Gregerson gave up two runs to tie the game. It was not good.

In the top of the ninth, the Padres were unable to get anything. I figured that the game was headed to extra innings, espeically when Cla Meredith got two quick outs in the bottom of the inning. But then he walked Justin Upton, and All-Star hopeful Mark Reynolds hit a single to drive him in. Game over.

We were hitting some balls very, very well. I was really pleased by that. We got 13 hits! But we just couldn’t get a big break. The pitching was shaky. Man, it just always seems like we can never get all the parts working together at the same time. We were hitting well, but the pitching couldn’t get it done.

You know what is probably the worst part of this loss? It’s that the Diamondbacks are the only team in the NL West who are worse than us!! So why we are losing to them is beyond me. We’d better take the next two games, or we should be the ones at the bottom of the division. Come on boys!! 

Adrian Gonzalez is going to be in the Home Run Derby!! I am sooo excited for him, he really deserves it. He was leading the majors for quite a while with home runs, until pitchers realized that this guy can actually hit, and then he slowed way down. But that’s going to be really cool for him.

And…I still miss Scotty!! WHAAA!! It’s going to be sooo sad without him. He was such an amazing player. After 2007, whenever we needed a walk-off homer, I was always so excited when he came to the plate because I knew he could do it. He was so amazing for us!! It was a lot of fun to have him here, as a hitter, fielder, and guy off the field. He will be missed a lot. Plus, he looks terrible in that green and yellow uniform. He looked so great in Padre blue!!

I MISS YOU SCOTTY!!!!!

By the way, I got #21 in the Latest Leaders the other day. I’m dedicating it to the Padres’ newest All-Star, Heath Bell.

Heath is going to the All-Star game for the first time in his five years in MLB. He was with the Mets for his first few years, going back and forth on the “Heath Bell Express” from the major league team to the minors. He was finally traded to the Padres in 2007, and had an excellent year with us. He pitched a ton! In 2008, he was set-up man to Trevor Hoffman, and did an excellent job, also throwing a lot.

When Trevor left the team in the offseason of 2008, Heath was given the closer’s job. He has had no problems adjusting to that role, having earned 23 out of 24 saves. His ERA is 1.50.

It’s an amazing story, really. This guy was languishing in the Mets’ minor league system just a few years ago, and now he’s an All-Star. I know he’s going to have a blast.

Well, the Padres are playing the Diamondbacks again tonight.

Our ace Kevin Correia, who was very un-ace-like in his last start, will pitch against Doug Davis. Great pitching matchup there! 

May the better team, in this case the Padres, WIN!!

GO FRIARS!!! (and for goodness sakes, don’t wear the sand uniforms!!!)  

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Written by Kaity Bergquist Posted in Dailies Tagged with diamondbacks, heath bell, padres