Singling All The Way
Story of the game: Wade LeBlanc.
This guy has been amazing ever since we called him up a few weeks ago. In the three games that he’s started, he’s only allowed one run on 17 hits with 16 strikeouts. Yeah, he’s been good.
Last night, he went 6.1 innings, allowing eight hits, no runs, no walks, and striking out six. I would also like to mention that his ERA is 0.52. 0.52!!!!!!
He even picked a runner off of second.
Not only was he amazingly solid in his pitching, but he turns out to be a bona fide hitter as well!
He went 3-for-3 last night. No joke. He’s now batting a cool .667. Four hits in six at-bats. Yep, that would do it.
When I found out that he had three hits, I was like, no way. That’s just too funny! But man, it’s true. He really helped himself out.
In the bottom of the fourth, we got four runs on four hits. Funny thing is, all of them were singles, The even funnier thing is, all 13 hits in this game were singles. No extra-base hits for these boys. I’d say that this game was the epitome of small ball.
In the bottom of the fifth, we scored five runs. The amazing thing was that we started the inning with seven consecutive singles. Chase Headley, Scott Hairston, Kyle Blanks, Oscar Salazar, Yorvit Torrealba, Wade LeBlanc, and Jerry Hairston Jr. It was soooo cool!! There was really no big blow in the whole game, but we got a bunch of runs the small way.
Tim Stauffer came into the game after Wade left, and he threw 2.2 solid innings. A hit and a walk, and that was it for him.
Let’s take a look at some of the contributions from the lineup last night. Jerry Hairston Jr. hit leadoff, taking the place at shortstop of Everth Cabrera, who is going to go on the DL. Of course, I’m sad that Everth is injured and won’t be able to play for us in a while, but I’m super thankful that we’ve got a solid defender who can replace him. J-Hair is a really, really good player. I think the Hair-Bros are doing better than any of the other Bros combinations that we’ve had.
Anyways, in that leadoff spot, Jerry had two hits and drove in two runs. He also made some ESPN-worthy defensive plays. Man he’s good.
Eck was batting second and drove in a run on one hit. Adrian was batting third, and he was the only one in the starting lineup not to get a hit. He did not have a good night at the plate, but hey, he’s batting .299 and the rest of the team was able to pick him up, so I think he’s good.
Chase Headley, Scott Hairston, and Kyle Blanks each had one hit. Scotty and Blanksie each scored two runs.
It’s the bottom of the lineup that I really want to talk about. Those last three guys, Salazar, Torrealba, and LeBlanc, had the best day of anyone. Salazar and Yorvit each had two hits. Yorvit drove in three runs. And, as we know, Wade had three hits. I love that the bottom of the lineup weren’t easy outs.
Overall, this lineup is extremely solid. I’m looking forward to seeing J-Hair get some more playing time, especially at short. I think he’s going to add a lot as an everyday player.
No Trevor in this game, but I’m sure that he’ll be out there sometime in the next three games. I know that he’s eagar to get out there again and prove that he can still pitch. But at the same time, the only way he’s getting out there is when we’re blowing out the Brewers again and they just want to get him out for some work.
Honestly, though, if we did find ourself in a situation where it’s the bottom of the ninth and we’re losing, I think that we could easily come back against him. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Trevor and miss him like crazy, but the way he’s been pitching…
It would be really ironic if we put T-Gwynn out there against Trevor. Just to rattle him a little bit.
I wish Trevor all the best, and I really do hope that he’ll be able to get out of this funk, but these are my boys now and winning is the priority. If we have to win against Trevor, that’s cool. And you know what, I think it’s even cooler because then the Brewers will be so frustrated with him that they’ll release him and we can pick him up and bring him back where he belongs.
Time for some more domination, boys.
GO FIRST PLACE PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 
What a great April your boys had! They are really surprising a lot of people. I am hoping I can get out to San Diego later this year to see them play the Phils.
Jenn
http://philliesphollowers.mlblogs.com/
Wade LeBlanc is amazing. If he continues to perform like this, I think he may be good enough as a starter. We are doing such an incredible job and hopefully we can keep up. GO PADRES!
http://hyunyoung.mlblogs.com